Seismic Retrofit of Defective RC Beam-Column Joints

Strong earthquakes always occur in countries with seismic risk and can potentially cause multiple deaths. This study investigates the seismic vulnerability of RC beam-column connections. Generally, it is impractical to simultaneously set up the molds of the concrete beam, ceiling and column and achieve a uniform concrete and this can cause numerous constructional deficiencies. Usually, these deficiencies can be instrumental in the failure of RC frames. Therefore, this study investigates the performance of a defective RC beam-column connection and provides a method to improve the behavior of the connection. The defective connection studied herein belongs to a high school in the city of Kermanshah, Iran. Many factors that affect the performance of the retrofitting designs are studied. Also, all of the parameters used in the analyses were obtained based upon the actual behavior of the material through core extraction and tensile tests. Finally, an optimal design is proposed

Forecasting Oxygen Demand in Treatment Plant Using Artificial Neural Networks

Modeling the wastewater treatment plant is difficult due to nonlinear properties of most of its different processes. Due to the increasing concerns over environmental effects of treatment plants considering the poor operation, fluctuations in process variables and problems of linear analyses, algorithms developed using artificial intelligence methods such as artificial neural networks have attracted a great deal of attention. In this research, first using regression analysis, the parameters of biological oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, and pH of the input wastewater were chosen as input parameter among other different parameters. Next, using error analysis, the best topology of neural networks was chosen for prediction. The results revealed that multilayer perception network with the sigmoid tangent training function, with one hidden layer in the input and output as well as 10 training nodes with regression coefficient of 0.92 is the best choice. The regression coefficients obtained from the predictions indicate that neural networked are well able to predict the performance of the wastewater treatment plant in Yazd

Medical expulsive therapy for pediatric ureteral stones: A meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials

To evaluate the efficacy and safety of medical expulsive therapy (MET) for ureteral stones in pediatric patients, Cochrane, PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and the reference list of retrieved studies were searched up to September 2022 to identify RCTs on the efficacy of MET. The protocol was prospectively registered at PROSPERO (CRD42022339093). Articles were reviewed, data were extracted by two reviewers, and the differences were resolved by the third reviewer. The risk of bias was assessed using the RoB2. The outcomes, including the stone expulsion rate (SER), stone expulsion time (SET), episode of pain, analgesic consumption, and adverse effects, were evaluated. Six RCTs enrolling 415 patients were included in the meta-analysis. The duration of MET ranged from 19 to 28 days. The investigated medications included tamsulosin, silodosin, and doxazosin. The stone-free rate after 4 weeks in the MET group was 1.42 times that of the control group (RR: 1.42; 95% CI: 1.26–1.61, p < 0.001). The stone expulsion time also decreased by an average of 5.18 days (95% CI: −8.46/−1.89, p = 0.002). Adverse effects were more commonly observed in the MET group (RR: 2.18; 95% CI: 1.28–3.69, p = 0.004). The subgroup analysis evaluating the influence of the type of medication, the stone size, and the age of patients failed to reveal any impact of the aforementioned factors on the stone expulsion rate or stone expulsion time. Alpha-blockers as medical expulsive therapy among pediatric patients are efficient and safe. They increase the stone expulsion rate and decrease the stone expulsion time; however, this included a higher rate of adverse effects, which include headache, dizziness, or nasal congestion

Inhibition of the mitochondrial calcium uniporter (MCU) rescues dopaminergic neurons in pink1-/- zebrafish

Mutations in PTEN-induced putative kinase 1 (PINK1) are a cause of early onset Parkinson's disease (PD). Loss of PINK1 function causes dysregulation of mitochondrial calcium homeostasis, resulting in mitochondrial dysfunction and neuronal cell death. We report that both genetic and pharmacological inactivation of the mitochondrial calcium uniporter (MCU), located in the inner mitochondrial membrane, prevents dopaminergic neuronal cell loss in pink1Y431* mutant zebrafish (Danio rerio) via rescue of mitochondrial respiratory chain function. In contrast, genetic inactivation of the voltage dependent anion channel 1 (VDAC1), located in the outer mitochondrial membrane, did not rescue dopaminergic neurons in PINK1 deficient Danio rerio. Subsequent gene expression studies revealed specific upregulation of the mcu regulator micu1 in pink1Y431* mutant zebrafish larvae and inactivation of micu1 also results in rescue of dopaminergic neurons. The functional consequences of PINK1 deficiency and modified MCU activity were confirmed using a dynamic in silico model of Ca2+ triggered mitochondrial activity. Our data suggest modulation of MCU-mediated mitochondrial calcium homeostasis as a possible neuroprotective strategy in PINK1 mutant PD

Analytical development and optimization of a graphene-solution interface capacitance model

Graphene, which as a new carbon material shows great potential for a range of applications because of its exceptional electronic and mechanical properties, becomes a matter of attention in these years. The use of graphene in nanoscale devices plays an important role in achieving more accurate and faster devices. Although there are lots of experimental studies in this area, there is a lack of analytical models. Quantum capacitance as one of the important properties of field effect transistors (FETs) is in our focus. The quantum capacitance of electrolyte-gated transistors (EGFETs) along with a relevant equivalent circuit is suggested in terms of Fermi velocity, carrier density, and fundamental physical quantities. The analytical model is compared with the experimental data and the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) is calculated to be 11.82. In order to decrease the error, a new function of E composed of α and β parameters is suggested. In another attempt, the ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithm is implemented for optimization and development of an analytical model to obtain a more accurate capacitance model. To further confirm this viewpoint, based on the given results, the accuracy of the optimized model is more than 97% which is in an acceptable range of accurac

Customized clinical practice guidelines for management of adult cataract in Iran

Purpose: To customize clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) for cataract management in the Iranian population. Methods: First, four CPGs (American Academy of Ophthalmology 2006 and 2011, Royal College of Ophthalmologists 2010, and Canadian Ophthalmological Society 2008) were selected from a number of available CPGs in the literature for cataract management. All recommendations of these guidelines, together with their references, were studied. Each recommendation was summarized in 4 tables. The first table showed the recommendation itself in clinical question components format along with its level of evidence. The second table contained structured abstracts of supporting articles related to the clinical question with their levels of evidence. The third table included the customized recommendation of the internal group respecting its clinical advantage, cost, and complications. In the fourth table, the internal group their recommendations from 1 to 9 based on the customizing capability of the recommendation (applicability, acceptability, external validity). Finally, customized recommendations were sent one month prior to a consensus session to faculty members of all universities across the country asking for their comments on recommendations. Results: The agreed recommendations were accepted as conclusive while those with no agreement were discussed at the consensus session. Finally, all customized recommendations were codified as 80 recommendations along with their sources and levels of evidence for the Iranian population. Conclusion: Customization of CPGs for management of adult cataract for the Iranian population seems to be useful for standardization of referral, diagnosis and treatment of patients. © 2015 Journal of Ophthalmic and Vision Research | Published by Wolters Kluwer - Medknow

Enhanced contrast acoustic-resolution photoacoustic microscopy using double-stage delay-multiply-and-sum beamformer for vasculature imaging

In acoustic-resolution photoacoustic microscopy (AR-PAM) systems, the lateral resolution in the focal zone of the ultrasound (US) transducer is determined by the numerical aperture (NA