Modeling and monitoring pathogen transport through vegetated filter strips

Contamination of natural waters by microorganisms directly affects public health. Field application of manure can potentially result in surface and groundwater contamination. The objective of this study was to observe and quantify the effects of vegetated filter strips (VFS) on surface and subsurface transport of fecal oviform (FC) surrogates for bacterial pathogens released from a surface - applied bovine/swine manure. The study included a field-based lysimeter equipped with multi-sensor moisture probes to monitor real-time water content through the soil profile, and with other proper instrumentation to monitor and quantify the spatial and temporal release rates of pathogenic bacteria. Another component of this study involved development and testing of a computer model to predict the surface and subsurface transport of FC. Results showed that bare plots offered no resistance to surface flow, thus FC were detected in runoff at 600 cm from the ridge of the lysimeter within 10 minutes of the rainfall initiation. Results from vegetated plots showed that vegetation substantially attenuated surface flow of water as compared to bare plots. Unlike the bare soil, the results showed that the vegetated soil surface created a much less uniform transport pattern for FC. Vegetation changed transport patterns and levels of FC concentrations much more significantly than soil texture did. Results showed that E.coli and Salmonella cholerasuis behaved similarly and resulted in similar transport patterns in both bare plots. Results also showed that both organisms demonstrated a two-stage exponential release rate with a fast release rate in the first 10 minutes of the rainfall simulation. A one-dimensional convective-dispersive equation using the continuity equation and the Manning's equation were used in MODCHOI model (a modified version of KORMIL2) to predict the surface transport of FC. To simulate the vertical movement of FC, a one-dimensional kinematic wave model was developed and used. Green and Ampt, Philip, and Schmid infiltration models were also applied to the vertical water flow movement. The models simulated the spatial and the temporal distribution of FC in runoff assuming an exponential release of FC from the manure. Simulation results satisfactorily modeled both flow and FC

Efficiency of Banks in Iran: Semi-Parametric Approach

ABSTRACT Objective of the present survey is to measure and compare efficiency of ten commercial and specialized banks in Iran and introducing the efficient banks in various years as well as studying why these banks are efficient or inefficient and then evaluating the impact of environmental variables such as unemployment rate, inflation rate and gross domestic product (by fixed price) on efficiency level of banks during the period [2005][2006][2007][2008][2009]. Results demonstrate a reverse significant relationship among unemployment rate and inflation rate and direct significant relationship of gross domestic product on banks' efficiency

Hypocalcemia in COVID-19: A prognostic marker for severe disease

Background & Objective: Previous studies have addressed the electrolyte abnormalities such as hypocalcemia in COVID-19 patients. We aimed to compare the laboratory findings especially the electrolyte levels among COVID-19 patients and healthy controls and evaluate their prognostic values. Methods: This case-control study included 91 COVID-19 patients and 169 healthy individuals. Their laboratory parameters including electrolytes, albumin, liver enzymes, complete blood count, vitamin D, and parathyroid hormone (PTH) were compared. We also analyzed the association between these markers and the major outcomes including severity, mortality and hospitalization. Results: Among patients with COVID-19, 59.3 of the patients had hypocalcemia on admission while in control group only 32.5 had low calcium level (OR=3.02, 95 CI: 1.79-5.13, P<0.001). The rates of death and ICU admission were significantly higher among the patients in hypocalcemic group than those of eucalcemic group (85.7 vs 14.3 and 33.3 Vs 9.1, respectively). However, there was no significant difference in the mean PTH and vitamin D levels between the two groups. In terms of the severity of the infection, 74.1 of patients in hypocalcemic group had a severe infection while 24.3 of the patients in eucalcemic group were diagnosed with severe infection (OR=8.89, 95 CI: 3.38-23.37, P<0.001). Conclusion: Patients with COVID-19 may present with considerable laboratory abnormalities including hypocalcemia. The hypocalcemia would be also associated with worse major clinical outcome and higher mortality risk

Conceptualization of category-oriented likelihood ratio: a useful tool for clinical diagnostic reasoning

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In the diagnostic reasoning process medical students and novice physicians need to be made aware of the diagnostic values of the clinical findings (including history, signs, and symptoms) to make an appropriate diagnostic decision. Diagnostic reasoning has been understood in light of two paradigms on clinical reasoning: <it>problem solving </it>and <it>decision making</it>. They advocate the reasoning strategies used by expert physicians and the statistical models of reasoning, respectively. Evidence-based medicine (EBM) applies <it>decision theory </it>to the clinical diagnosis, which can be a challenging topic in medical education.</p> <p>This theoretical article tries to compare evidence-based diagnosis with expert-based strategies in clinical diagnosis and also defines a novel concept <it>of category-oriented likelihood ratio (LR) </it>to propose a new model combining both aforementioned methods.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>Evidence-based medicine advocates the use of quantitative evidence to estimate the probability of diseases more accurately and objectively; however, the published evidence for a given diagnosis cannot practically be utilized in primary care, especially if the patient is complaining of a nonspecific problem such as abdominal pain that could have a long list of differential diagnoses. In this case, expert physicians examine the key clinical findings that could differentiate between broader categories of diseases such as organic and non-organic disease categories to shorten the list of differential diagnoses. To approach nonspecific problems, not only do the experts revise the probability estimate of specific diseases, but also they revise the probability estimate of the <it>categories of diseases </it>by using the available clinical findings.</p> <p>Summary</p> <p>To make this approach analytical and objective, we need to know how much more likely it is for a key clinical finding to be present in patients with one of the diseases of a specific category versus those with a disease not included in that category. In this paper, we call this value <it>category-oriented LR</it>.</p

Arquicriaturas: a coexistência como um futuro alternativo

En el siglo XX, el futuro se ha representado habitual e insistentemente en los imaginarios colectivos por "robots" y "objetos mecánicos" basados en una "comprensión física" de la realidad, pues esta idea se ha manifestado en cualquier propuesta de pensamiento del mundo futuro. De ahí que la arquitectura y los espacios habitables humanos modernos sean siempre una combinación de gigantescas estructuras metálicas y piezas mecánicas dinámicas programadas. Lo que aquí Mohamad Rasoul presenta es una investigación-imaginación sobre un tipo de futuro en el que la arquitectura, los edificios y el mundo -en lugar de la comprensión física- se basan en un profundo entendimiento biológico sintético (se usa la inteligencia artificial para ello) y, la arquitectura y los edificios, sobre todo, se producen a partir del conocimiento de las criaturas vivas o semi-vivas que inspiran su estructura o infraestructura. Prácticamente, imaginar en el presente "la vida humana" requerirá un cambio que irá de vivir en objetos silenciosos a coexistir con y dentro de criaturas vivas, entendidas como "seres habitables". La creación de la arquitectura y de los edificios será posible siguiendo un proceso diferente con la participación de expertas y expertos de otras disciplinas y el uso de nuevas herramientas. El autor propone que su idea puede cambiar el significado y el concepto de la arquitectura y de quienes la llevan a cabo, así como las relaciones que se dan en el mundo que conocemos y que posibilitará el hacer nuevas preguntas para las que esta colección aún no tiene respuesta. De lo que se trata con el artículo visual que aquí publicamos es, en suma, de mostrar una etapa de transición para pensar nuevos problemas y preguntas y, tal vez, como el autor lo denomina, en un "nuevo futuro".In the 20th century, the future has been habitually and insistently represented in the collective imagination by “robots” and “mechanical objects” based on a “physical understanding” of reality, as this idea has manifested itself in every proposed way of thinking about the future world. Hence, modern human architecture and living spaces are always a combination of gigantic metallic structures and programmed dynamic mechanical parts. What Mohamad Rasoul presents here is an investigation-imagination of a kind of future in which architecture, buildings and the world - rather than physical understanding - are based on a deep synthetic biological understanding (artificial intelligence is used for this), and architecture and buildings, above all, are produced from knowledge of the living or semi-living creatures that inspire their structure or infrastructure. Practically, imagining “human life” in the present will require a shift from living in silent objects to coexisting with and within living creatures, understood as “habitable beings”. The creation of architecture and buildings will be possible following a different process with the participation of experts from other disciplines and the use of new tools. The author proposes that his idea can change the meaning and concept of architecture and those who carry it out, as well as the relationships in the world we know, and that it will make it possible to ask new questions to which this collection does not yet have answers. What the visual article published here is about, in short, is to show a transitional stage in thinking about new problems and questions and, perhaps, as the author calls it, a “new future”.No século XX, o futuro tem sido habitual e insistentemente representado no imaginário coletivo por “robôs” e “objetos mecânicos” baseados numa “compreensão física” da realidade, uma vez que esta ideia se manifestou em todas as propostas de pensamento sobre o mundo futuro. Assim, a arquitetura humana moderna e os espaços habitacionais são sempre uma combinação de estruturas metálicas gigantescas e peças mecânicas dinâmicas programadas. O que Mohamad Rasoul apresenta aqui é uma investigação-imaginação de um tipo de futuro em que a arquitetura, os edifícios e o mundo - em vez da compreensão física - se baseiam numa profunda compreensão biológica sintética (para tal, utiliza-se a inteligência artificial), e a arquitetura e os edifícios, acima de tudo, são produzidos a partir do conhecimento das criaturas vivas ou semi-vivas que inspiram a sua estrutura ou infraestrutura. Na prática, imaginar a “vida humana” no presente exigirá uma passagem da vida em objetos silenciosos para a coexistência com e dentro de criaturas vivas, entendidas como “seres habitáveis”. A criação de arquitetura e de edifícios será possível através de um processo diferente, com a participação de especialistas de outras disciplinas e a utilização de novas ferramentas. O autor propõe que a sua ideia possa mudar o significado e o conceito de arquitetura e daqueles que a executam, bem como as relações no mundo que conhecemos, e que permita colocar novas questões para as quais esta coleção ainda não tem respostas. O que o artigo visual aqui publicado pretende, em suma, é mostrar uma fase de transição no pensamento sobre novos problemas e questões e, talvez, como o autor lhe chama, um “novo futuro

FREQUENCY AND SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS OF ATOMIC FORCE MICROSCOPE (AFM) CANTILEVER CONSIDERING COUPLED FLEXURAL-TORSIONAL VIBRATIONS

Frequency analysis and modal sensitivity of an atomic force microscope (AFM) cantilever is presented in this paper. Closed-form expressions for frequency equation and sensitivity of vibration modes are derived for the tip-cantilever system as the cantilever undergoes coupled lateral-vertical bending with torsional vibration. In this work, the effects of the sample surface contact stiffness and the cantilever to tip lengths ratio on resonant frequencies and sensitivities are assessed. The results show that the resonant frequency is constant in low and high values of the normal and lateral contact stiffnesses and there is a shift of frequency in a specific value of stiffness. Also, in comparison with the values of normal contact stiffness, frequency shift, due to the tip-sample interaction, occurs in lower values of lateral contact stiffness. In the low values of contact stiffnesses, the lower-order vibration modes are more sensitive than the higher-order modes. The situation is completely reversed in very high contact stiffnesses. In addition the resonant frequencies are more sensitive to the variation of lateral contact stiffness with respect to the variation of normal contact stiffness

Linear and non-linear QSAR models on platinum (II) anticancer drugs with N-donor ligands

677-686This research presents a quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) of IC50 values of Platinum(II) derivatives. Twenty one different platinum(II) anticancer derivatives have been selected as a sample set and the geometry of the complexes are optimized using Gaussian 03W. The activity of the 21 different Platinum(II) derivatives is estimated by means of multiple linear regression (MLR), artificial neural network (ANN), simulated annealing (SA) and genetic algorithm (GA) techniques. These methods are also utilized to select the most efficient subsets of descriptors in a cross-validation procedure for non-linear −log(IC50) prediction. The results obtained using the GA-ANN have been compared with those obtained using MLR-MLR, MLR-ANN, SA-ANN and GA-ANN approaches. A high predictive ability has been observed for the MLR-MLR, MLR-ANN, SA-ANN, MLR-GA and GA-ANN models, with root mean sum square errors (RMSE) of 0.127, 0.013, 0.011, 0.0125 and 0.0099, respectively (N=21). The results obtained using the GA-ANN method indicate that the activity of the derivatives of Platinum complexes depends on different parameters such as Mor9v, RDF140v and G2e descriptors. In summary, a comparison of the quality of ANN with different MLR methods shows that ANN has a better predictive ability

Evidence-based history taking under “time constraint”

Physicians all through the world visit patients under time limitations. The most important troubled clinical skill under “time constraint” is the diagnostic approach. In this situation, clinicians need some diagnostic approaches to reduce both diagnostic time and errors. It seems that highly experienced physicians utilize some special tactics in this regard. Evidence-based medicine (EBM) as a relatively new paradigm for clinical practice stresses on using research evidences in diagnostic evaluations. The authors aimed to evaluate experts’ strategies and assess what EBM can add to these tactics. They reviewed diagnostic strategies of some veteran internists in their busy outpatient clinics and proposed an evidence-based diagnostic model engaging clinical experience and research evidence. It appears that every clinician utilizes a set of “key pointer” questions for decision-making. In addition to use of evidence-based resources for making differential diagnosis and estimating utility of various diseases, clinicians should use “key pointers” with significant likelihood ratios and from independent systems to reduce time and errors of history taking. Clinical trainees can improve their practice by constructing their own set of pointers from valid research evidences. Using this diagnostic model, EBM can help physicians to struggle against their “time constraint”