Optimizing an Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System for Spatial Prediction of Landslide Susceptibility Using Four State-of-the-art Metaheuristic Techniques.

Four state-of-the-art metaheuristic algorithms including the genetic algorithm (GA), particle swarm optimization (PSO), differential evolutionary (DE), and ant colony optimization (ACO) are applied to an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) for spatial prediction of landslide susceptibility in Qazvin Province (Iran). To this end, the landslide inventory map, composed of 199 identified landslides, is divided into training and testing landslides with a 70:30 ratio. To create the spatial database, thirteen landslide conditioning factors are considered within the geographic information system (GIS). Notably, the spatial interaction between the landslides and mentioned conditioning factors is analyzed by means of frequency ratio (FR) theory. After the optimization process, it was shown that the DE-based model reaches the best response more quickly than other ensembles. The landslide susceptibility maps were developed, and the accuracy of the models was evaluated by a ranking system, based on the calculated area under the receiving operating characteristic curve (AUROC), mean absolute error, and mean square error (MSE) accuracy indices. According to the results, the GA-ANFIS with a total ranking score (TRS) = 24 presented the most accurate prediction, followed by PSO-ANFIS (TRS = 17), DE-ANFIS (TRS = 13), and ACO-ANFIS (TRS = 6). Due to the excellent results of this research, the developed landslide susceptibility maps can be applied for future planning and decision making of the related area

Appraisal of intra-reservoir barriers in the Permo-Triassic successions of the Central Persian Gulf, Offshore Iran

Owing to their tightness, intra reservoir barriers have the potential to prevent homogenization of reservoir fluids and so cause compartmentalization. Identification of these barriers is an important step during reservoir evaluation. In order to achieve this, three main approaches: i) detailed petrographic and core analysis, ii) petrophysical studies (flow unit concept) and iii) geochemical analysis (strontium residual salt analysis) were applied systematically in the Permo-Triassic carbonate reservoirs (Dalan and Kangan formations) of a supergiant gas reservoir located in the Central Persian Gulf. Integration of these approaches has led to a fullclarification of the intra reservoir barriers. Petrographic examinations revealed the potential stratigraphic barriers to fluids flow created by various depositional/ diagenetic characteristics. Petrophysical data such as poroperm values, pore throat size distribution and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis were used to differentiate the reservoir flow units from non-reservoir rock. According to different trends in 87Sr/86Sr ratios of residual salts, the existence of flow barriers was evaluated and proved. Finally, by integrating these approaches, three intra reservoir barriers were introduced in the studied reservoir interval. These intra reservoir barriers are depositional and diagenetic in nature and are located in stratal positions with sequence stratigraphic significance. The possibility of reservoir compartmentalization was evaluated in the studied wells, and then their existence was predicted at the adjacent fields. As shown in this study, integration of petrographic examinations with flow unit determination in a sequence stratigraphic framework has the potential for recognizing intra reservoir barriers and predicting compartmentalization of the studied Permo-Triassic reservoirs

Influence of tempering and normalising on the structure and properties of low alloy and plain carbon-manganese steels

The influence of tempering on the impact and tensile properties of various types of microstructures has been examined. The following heat treatments were investigated during the course of this project. • The structure property relationships for two quenched and tempered C- Mn-Al steel flanges made to ASTM A350 LF2 specification have been determined. Samples heated to temperatures in the range 900 - 1250°C to produce a wide range in 7 grain size and quenched in oil or iced water followed by tempering at 300, 600, 650 and 700°C to produce a variety of commercially obtainable micro-structures. Impact transition curves as well as the tensile strength and the Vickers hardness values were obtained. Increasing the cooling rate and quenching temperature increased the hardness and strength. The microstructural parameters have been determined and related to the Vickers hardness, the yield stress, and impact behaviour. The re-sults obtained have been analysed and it has been found that 7 grain size is the major structural parameter controlling the mechanical prop-erties of these quenched and tempered flanges. Tempering improved the impact behaviour of quenched steels while the strength and hardness fell. The fall in strength and hardness was found in part to be related to a reduction in dislocation density. How-ever spheroidization of carbides and a reduction in the ky value after tempering are also possible reasons for the further fall in strength. The improvement in impact behaviour, however, is associated with the fall in strength and coarsening of the grain boundary carbides. • A V free and a V containing steel flange have been examined and the impact and tensile behaviour determined after normalising at 900° C and austenitising at 1050°C . After normalising, both steels had fine grain sizes and passed the ASTM A350 LF2 specification. Austenitising at 1050°C coarsened the grain size and produced a large amount of precipitation hardening in the V steel. However, because of its low S level and higher shelf energy the V steel met the impact requirement, while the V free steel in which there was no precipitation hardening failed the specification

Evaluating urban housing development patterns in developing countries: Case study of Worn-out Urban Fabrics in Iran

The restoration of Worn-out Urban Fabrics (WoUFs), i.e., the disfiguration of fabric components of the city from their main shape, and the implementation of the urban housing development plan have always been pivotal activities for designing livable cities – especially in developing countries. Prior research, however, did not identify an appropriate model of sustainable housing development for the recovery of WoUFs. To fill this gap, housing development patterns – i.e., supportive housing, Mehr housing, rental, and social housing – aimed at restoring the WoUF of the Hemmatabad district in Isfahan city (Iran) were studied. Expert opinions, on the criteria affecting the selection of housing development patterns, from 40 professionals in urban management and urban development models were collected and then analyzed by the Analytic Hierarchical Process and VIKOR method. It resulted that, in order to revive the WoUF of Hemmatabad, social housing is the more desirable pattern of housing development (Qi = 1) compared to supportive housing (Qi = 0.911), Mehr housing (Qi = 0.117) and rental housing (Qi = 0.004). Results help governments of developing countries in directing their effort in the decision of which housing development pattern for WoUFs to implement

The Role of Proper Use Factor Model for the Prediction of Available Forage in Rangeland in the South of Iran

In Iran, 80 to 90% of the livestock production is associated with rangeland but 48% of the rangeland has been classified as in poor condition (Farahpour, 2002). Available Forage (AF) is that portion of the forage production accessible for use by a specified kind or class of grazing animal. Estimates of AF by plant species, consumption by the animal, and the contribution of the forage to the animal\u27s diet must be synchronised with each other in the same time frame (Valentine, 2001). The Proper Use Factor (PUF) is the degree of utilisation of current year\u27s growth of the vegetation that, if continued, will achieve management objectives and maintain or improve the long-term productivity of the site. The objective of this study was to identify and determine the PUF of forage that cause effect the qualitative and quantitative aspects of AF in rangeland of Bakkan, south Iran

A green vehicle routing problem with customer satisfaction criteria

This paper develops an MILP model, named Satisfactory-Green Vehicle Routing Problem. It consists of routing a heterogeneous fleet of vehicles in order to serve a set of customers within predefined time windows. In this model in addition to the traditional objective of the VRP, both the pollution and customers' satisfaction have been taken into account. Meanwhile, the introduced model prepares an effective dashboard for decision-makers that determines appropriate routes, the best mixed fleet, speed and idle time of vehicles. Additionally, some new factors evaluate the greening of each decision based on three criteria. This model applies piecewise linear functions (PLFs) to linearize a nonlinear fuzzy interval for incorporating customers' satisfaction into other linear objectives. We have presented a mixed integer linear programming formulation for the S-GVRP. This model enriches managerial insights by providing trade-offs between customers' satisfaction, total costs and emission levels. Finally, we have provided a numerical study for showing the applicability of the model

Client-Level Coverage of Needle and Syringe Program and High-Risk Injection Behaviors: A Case Study of People Who Inject Drugs in Kermanshah, Iran

Background: Needle-syringe programs (NSP) have been running in Iran since 2002. However, the coverage of such program among the NSP clients at the individual level was not studies yet. This study aimed to determine the client coverage of NSP and its correlation with high injection-related risk behaviors. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Kermanshah province, Iran, in 2014. 230 people who inject drugs (PWID) recruited from two drop-in centers (DICs) from April to September 2014, participated in a face-to-face interview to provide information related individual coverage of NSP, demographic characteristics, and injecting behaviors 30 days prior to the interview. Findings: Overall, the average of syringe coverage was 158% [95% confidence interval (CI) = 65.7-205.5], while 56% (95% CI = 40-97) have individual converge less than 100%. Needle/syringe sharing was significantly higher among individual with low NSP coverage [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 2.6, 95% CI = 1.3-6.2]. About 85% participants with coverage of less than 100% reported reuse of syringe within the last 30 days (AOR = 3.2, 95% CI = 1.4-7.7). Conclusion: PWID are different regarding their NSP individual-level converges. There are certain clusters of PWID, who do not receive sufficient number of syringes. Given that insufficient individual syringe coverage level is highly associated with injection risk behaviors, reasons for such low converge need to be assessed and addressed carefully

The effect of on-site and outreach-based needle and syringe programs in people who inject drugs in Kermanshah, Iran

Background: Needle and syringe programs (NSPs) are widely used to reduce harms associated with drug injecting. This study assessed the effect of facility-based (on-site services at drop-in centre) and outreach models of NSP on injection risk behaviours. Methods: Self-reported data from 455 people who injected drugs (PWID) during 2014 in Kermanshah, Iran, were examined to measure demographic characteristics and risk behaviors. Self-reported and program data were also assessed to identify their main source of injection equipment. Participants were divided into three sub-groups: facility-based NSP users, outreach NSP users and non-users (comparison group). Coarsened exact matching was used to make the three groups statistically equivalent based on age, place of residence, education and income, and groups were compared regarding the proportion of borrowing or lending of syringes/cookers, reusing syringes and recent HIV testing. Results: Overall, 76% of participants reported any NSP service use during the two months prior to interview. Only 23% (95%CI: 17-27) reported outreach NSP as their main source of syringes. Using facility-based NSP significantly decreased recent syringe borrowing (OR: 0.27, 95%CI: 0.10-0.70), recent syringe reuse (OR: 0.38, 95%CI: 0.23-0.68) and increased recent HIV testing (OR: 2.60, 95%CI: 1.48-4.56). Similar effects were observed among outreach NSP users; in addition, the outreach NSP model significantly reduced the chance of lending syringes (OR: 0.31, 95%CI: 0.15-0.60), compared to facility-based NSP (OR: 1.25, 95%CI: 0.74-2.17). Conclusion: These findings suggest that the outreach NSP model is as effective as facility-based NSP in reducing injection risk behaviours and increasing the rate of HIV testing. Outreach NSP was even more effective than facility-based in reducing the lending of syringes to others. Scaling up outreach NSP is an effective intervention to further reduce transmission of HIV via needle sharing

Effects of temperature on hematological and histopathological changes and survival rate of juvenile Fenneropenaeus vannamei experimentally challenged to White Spot Virus

Many shrimp farmers were suffering from White Spot Disease (WSD) onset in last decades. Oscillation of environmental factors could lead mortality in susceptible hosts. Our study was aimed to investigate the effect of different temperatures on juvenile Fenneropenaeus vannamei experimentally exposed to White Spot Virus (WSV). Five hundred and forty juveniles were distributed among 3 treatments in triplicates, 22, 25 and 30°C and experimentally WSV were injected in the shrimps. Our results showed mortality started at 36 h post inoculation (hpi) in the treatment at 25°C (T25), meanwhile the mean value of mortality percent at 54 hpi in T25 (71.10±17.35) showed the significant difference (p=.045) with T22 (3.33±3.33) and T30 (Not Observed, NO.). Our results suggest that in site selection, in primary stage of farm designing, water temperature at more than 29°C, should be considered as key environmental factor. This finding can lead us that why the White Spot Disease occurred with high mortality in some area when the days of shrimp culture were prolonged until mid autumn