42 research outputs found
Comparison of mathematical models and artificial neural networks for prediction of drying kinetics of mushroom in microwave vacuum dryer
Drying characteristics of button mushroom slices were determined using microwave vacuum drier at various powers (130, 260, 380, 450 W) and absolute pressures (200, 400, 600, 800 mbar). To select a suitable mathematical model, 6 thin-layer drying models were fitted to the experimental data. The fitting rates of models were assessed based on three parameters; highest R2, lowest chi square () and root mean square error (RMSE). In addition, using the experimental data, an ANN trained by standard back-propagation algorithm, was developed in order to predict moisture ratio (MR) and drying rate (DR) values based on the three input variables (drying time, absolute pressure, microwave power). Different activation functions and several rules were used to assess percentage error between the desired and the predicted values. According to our findings, Midilli et al. model showed a reasonable fitting with experimental data. While, the ANN model showed its high capability to predict the MR and DR quite well with determination coefficients (R2) of 0.9991, 0.9995 and 0.9996 for training, validation and testing, respectively. Furthermore, their predictions Mean Square Error were 0.00086, 0.00042 and 0.00052, respectively
Interpretation of the large-deformation high-spin bands in select A=158-168 nuclei
The high-spin rotational bands in Hf-168 and the triaxial bands in Lu nuclei are analyzed using the configuration-constrained cranked Nilsson-Strutinsky (CNS) model. Special attention is given to the up-sloping extruder orbitals. The relative alignment between the bands which appear to correspond to triaxial shape is also considered, including the yrast ultrahigh-spin band in Er-158. This comparison suggests that the latter band is formed from rotation around the intermediate axis. In addition, the standard approximations of the CNS approach are investigated, indicating that the errors which are introduced by the neglect of off-shell matrix elements and the cutoff at nine oscillator shells (N-max = 8) are essentially negligible compared to other uncertainties. On the other hand, the full inclusion of the hexadecapole degree of freedom is more significant; for example it leads to a decrease of the total energy of similar to 500 keV in the triaxial superdeformed (TSD) region of Hf-168
Optimization of transfection methods for HuhΒ7 and Vero cells: a comparative study
Availability of an efficient transfection protocol is the first determinant in success of gene transferring studies in mammalian cells which is accomplished experimentally for every single cell type. Herein, we provide data of a comparative study on optimization of transfection condition by electroporation and chemical methods for Huh-7 and Vero cells. Different cell confluencies, DNA/reagent ratios and total transfection volumes were optimized for two chemical reagents including jetPEIβ’ and Lipofectamineβ’ 2000. Besides, the effects of electric field strength and pulse length were investigated to improve electroporation efficiency. Transfection of cells by pEGFP-N1 vector and tracking the expression of GFP by FACS and Fluorescence Microscopy analysis were the employed methods to evaluate transfection efficiencies. Optimized electroporation protocols yielded 63.73 Β± Β± 2.36 and 73.9 Β± 1.6 % of transfection in Huh-7 and Vero cells respectively, while maximum achieved level of transfection by jetPEIβ’ was respectively 14.2 Β± 0.69 and 28 Β± 1.11 % for the same cells. Post transfectional chilling of the cells did not improve electrotransfection efficiency of Huh-7 cells. Compared to chemical based reagents, electroporation showed the superior levels of transfection in both cell lines. The presented protocols should satisfy most of the experimental applications requiring high transfection efficiencies of these two cell lines.ΠΠ°Π»ΠΈΡΠΈΠ΅ ΡΡΡΠ΅ΠΊΡΠΈΠ²Π½ΠΎΠ³ΠΎ ΠΏΡΠΎΡΠΎΠΊΠΎΠ»Π° ΡΡΠ°Π½ΡΡΠ΅ΠΊΡΠΈΠΈ ΡΠ²Π»ΡΠ΅ΡΡΡ ΠΏΠ΅ΡΠ²ΡΠΌ ΡΡΠ»ΠΎΠ²ΠΈΠ΅ΠΌ ΡΡΠΏΠ΅ΡΠ½ΡΡ
ΠΈΡΡΠ»Π΅Π΄ΠΎΠ²Π°Π½ΠΈΠΉ ΠΏΠΎ ΠΏΠ΅ΡΠ΅Π½ΠΎΡΡ Π³Π΅Π½ΠΎΠ² Π² ΠΊΠ»Π΅ΡΠΊΠΈ ΠΌΠ»Π΅ΠΊΠΎΠΏΠΈΡΠ°ΡΡΠΈΡ
, ΡΡΠΎ Π΄ΠΎΡΡΠΈΠ³Π°Π΅ΡΡΡ ΡΠΊΡΠΏΠ΅ΡΠΈΠΌΠ΅Π½ΡΠ°Π»ΡΠ½ΠΎ Π΄Π»Ρ ΠΊΠ°ΠΆΠ΄ΠΎΠ³ΠΎ ΠΊΠΎΠ½ΠΊΡΠ΅ΡΠ½ΠΎΠ³ΠΎ ΡΠΈΠΏΠ° ΠΊΠ»Π΅ΡΠΎΠΊ. ΠΠ΄Π΅ΡΡ ΠΌΡ ΠΏΡΠΈΠ²ΠΎΠ΄ΠΈΠΌ Π΄Π°Π½Π½ΡΠ΅ ΡΡΠ°Π²Π½ΠΈΡΠ΅Π»ΡΠ½ΠΎΠ³ΠΎ ΠΈΡΡΠ»Π΅Π΄ΠΎΠ²Π°Π½ΠΈΡ ΠΏΠΎ ΠΎΠΏΡΠΈΠΌΠΈΠ·Π°ΡΠΈΠΈ ΡΡΠ»ΠΎΠ²ΠΈΠΉ ΡΡΠ°Π½ΡΡΠ΅ΠΊΡΠΈΠΈ ΠΊΠ»Π΅ΡΠΎΠΊ Huh-7 ΠΈ Vero Ρ ΠΏΠΎΠΌΠΎΡΡΡ ΡΠ»Π΅ΠΊΡΡΠΎΠΏΠΎΡΠ°ΡΠΈΠΈ ΠΈ Ρ
ΠΈΠΌΠΈΡΠ΅ΡΠΊΠΈΠΌΠΈ ΠΌΠ΅ΡΠΎΠ΄Π°ΠΌΠΈ. ΠΠ»Ρ Π΄Π²ΡΡ
Ρ
ΠΈΠΌΠΈΡΠ΅ΡΠΊΠΈΡ
ΡΠΎΠ΅Π΄ΠΈΠ½Π΅Π½ΠΈΠΉ, jetPEIβ’ ΠΈ Lipofectamineβ’ 2000, Π±ΡΠ»ΠΈ ΠΎΠΏΡΠΈΠΌΠΈΠ·ΠΈΡΠΎΠ²Π°Π½Ρ ΡΠΎΡΠ΅ΡΠ°Π½ΠΈΡ ΡΠ°Π·Π»ΠΈΡΠ½ΡΡ
ΠΊΠ»Π΅ΡΠΎΠΊ, ΡΠΎΠΎΡΠ½ΠΎΡΠ΅Π½ΠΈΡ ΠΠΠ/ΡΠ΅Π°Π³Π΅Π½Ρ ΠΈ ΠΎΠ±ΡΠΈΠ΅ ΠΎΠ±ΡΠ΅ΠΌΡ ΡΡΠ°Π½ΡΡΠ΅ΠΊΡΠΈΠΈ. ΠΡΠΎΠΌΠ΅ ΡΠΎΠ³ΠΎ, Π΄Π»Ρ ΡΠ»ΡΡΡΠ΅Π½ΠΈΡ ΡΡΡΠ΅ΠΊΡΠΈΠ²Π½ΠΎΡΡΠΈ ΡΠ»Π΅ΠΊΡΡΠΎΠΏΠΎΡΠ°ΡΠΈΠΈ Π±ΡΠ»ΠΎ ΠΈΠ·ΡΡΠ΅Π½ΠΎ Π²Π»ΠΈΡΠ½ΠΈΠ΅ ΡΠΈΠ»Ρ ΡΠ»Π΅ΠΊΡΡΠΈΡΠ΅ΡΠΊΠΎΠ³ΠΎ ΠΏΠΎΠ»Ρ ΠΈ Π΄Π»ΠΈΠ½Ρ ΠΈΠΌΠΏΡΠ»ΡΡΠ°. Π’ΡΠ°Π½ΡΡΠ΅ΠΊΡΠΈΡ ΠΊΠ»Π΅ΡΠΎΠΊ Ρ ΠΏΠΎΠΌΠΎΡΡΡ Π²Π΅ΠΊΡΠΎΡΠ° pEGFP-N1, ΠΎΠΏΡΠ΅Π΄Π΅Π»Π΅Π½ΠΈΠ΅ ΡΠΊΡΠΏΡΠ΅ΡΡΠΈΠΈ GFP Ρ ΠΏΠΎΠΌΠΎΡΡΡ FACS ΠΈ ΡΠ»ΡΠΎΡΠ΅ΡΡΠ΅Π½ΡΠ½Π°Ρ ΠΌΠΈΠΊΡΠΎΡΠΊΠΎΠΏΠΈΡ Π±ΡΠ»ΠΈ ΠΈΡΠΏΠΎΠ»ΡΠ·ΠΎΠ²Π°Π½Ρ Π΄Π»Ρ ΠΎΡΠ΅Π½ΠΊΠΈ ΡΡΡΠ΅ΠΊΡΠΈΠ²Π½ΠΎΡΡΠΈ ΡΡΠ°Π½ΡΡΠ΅ΠΊΡΠΈΠΈ. Π ΠΎΠΏΡΠΈΠΌΠΈΠ·ΠΈΡΠΎΠ²Π°Π½Π½ΡΡ
ΠΏΡΠΎΡΠΎΠΊΠΎΠ»Π°Ρ
Π΄ΠΎΡΡΠΈΠ³Π°Π»Π°ΡΡ ΡΡΠ°Π½ΡΡΠ΅ΠΊΡΠΈΡ Π½Π° ΡΡΠΎΠ²Π½Π΅ 63.73 Β± 2.36 ΠΈ 73.9 Β± 1.6 % Π² ΠΊΠ»Π΅ΡΠΊΠ°Ρ
Huh-7 ΠΈ Vero ΡΠΎΠΎΡΠ²Π΅ΡΡΡΠ²Π΅Π½Π½ΠΎ, Π² ΡΠΎ Π²ΡΠ΅ΠΌΡ ΠΊΠ°ΠΊ ΠΌΠ°ΠΊΡΠΈΠΌΠ°Π»ΡΠ½ΡΠΉ ΡΡΠΎΠ²Π΅Π½Ρ ΡΡΠ°Π½ΡΡΠ΅ΠΊΡΠΈΠΈ Ρ ΠΏΠΎΠΌΠΎΡΡΡ jetPEIβ’ ΡΠΎΡΡΠ°Π²Π»ΡΠ» 14.2 Β± 0.69 ΠΈ 28 Β± 1.11 % Π΄Π»Ρ ΡΠ΅Ρ
ΠΆΠ΅ ΠΊΠ»Π΅ΡΠΎΠΊ. ΠΡ
Π»Π°ΠΆΠ΄Π΅Π½ΠΈΠ΅ ΠΊΠ»Π΅ΡΠΎΠΊ ΠΏΠΎΡΠ»Π΅ ΡΡΠ°Π½ΡΡΠ΅ΠΊΡΠΈΠΈ Π½Π΅ ΡΠ»ΡΡΡΠ°Π»ΠΎ ΡΡΡΠ΅ΠΊΡΠΈΠ²Π½ΠΎΡΡΡ ΡΠ»Π΅ΠΊΡΡΠΎΡΡΠ°Π½ΡΡΠ΅ΠΊΡΠΈΠΈ ΠΊΠ»Π΅ΡΠΎΠΊ Huh-7. Π ΠΎΠ±Π΅ΠΈΡ
ΠΊΠ»Π΅ΡΠΎΡΠ½ΡΡ
Π»ΠΈΠ½ΠΈΡΡ
ΡΠ»Π΅ΠΊΡΡΠΎΠΏΠΎΡΠ°ΡΠΈΡ ΠΏΠΎΠ·Π²ΠΎΠ»ΠΈΠ»Π° Π΄ΠΎΡΡΠΈΡΡ Π±ΠΎΠ»Π΅Π΅ Π²ΡΡΠΎΠΊΠΎΠ³ΠΎ ΡΡΠΎΠ²Π½Ρ ΡΡΠ°Π½ΡΡΠ΅ΠΊΡΠΈΠΈ ΠΏΠΎ ΡΡΠ°Π²Π½Π΅Π½ΠΈΡ Ρ ΠΈΡΠΏΠΎΠ»ΡΠ·ΠΎΠ²Π°Π½ΠΈΠ΅ΠΌ Ρ
ΠΈΠΌΠΈΡΠ΅ΡΠΊΠΈΡ
ΡΠ΅Π°Π³Π΅Π½ΡΠΎΠ². ΠΡΠ΅Π΄ΡΡΠ°Π²Π»Π΅Π½Π½ΡΠΉ ΠΏΡΠΎΡΠΎΠΊΠΎΠ» ΠΌΠΎΠΆΠ΅Ρ Π±ΡΡΡ ΠΏΡΠΈΠ³ΠΎΠ΄Π½ΡΠΌ Π΄Π»Ρ Π±ΠΎΠ»ΡΡΠΈΠ½ΡΡΠ²Π° ΡΠΊΡΠΏΠ΅ΡΠΈΠΌΠ΅Π½ΡΠ°Π»ΡΠ½ΡΡ
ΠΌΠ°Π½ΠΈΠΏΡΠ»ΡΡΠΈΠΉ, ΠΊΠΎΡΠΎΡΡΠ΅ ΡΡΠ΅Π±ΡΡΡ Π²ΡΡΠΎΠΊΠΎΠ³ΠΎ ΡΡΠΎΠ²Π½Ρ ΡΡΠ°Π½ΡΡΠ΅ΠΊΡΠΈΠΈ ΠΈΡΡΠ»Π΅Π΄ΡΠ΅ΠΌΡΡ
ΠΊΠ»Π΅ΡΠΎΡΠ½ΡΡ
Π»ΠΈΠ½ΠΈΠΉ
Coronary graft patency after perioperative myocardial infarction: a study with multislice computed tomographyβ
A total of 55 consecutive patients who experienced perioperative myocardial infarction (MI) after coronary artery bypass grafting were
studied using multislice computed tomography (MSCT) angiography to evaluate for graft patency. The MSCT detected acute graft occlusion
in 23% grafts. Of the 55 patients, 40% patients had occluded grafts and perioperative MI in the area of the grafted vessels; remaining 60%
had patent grafts with infarction in the area of the grafted vessels. Compared with the patients with patent grafts, those with occluded
grafts had a higher blood sugar level. In addition, graft occlusion was higher in grafts with severe distal disease. Among the patients with
patent grafts, luminal stenosis of the native vessels supplying the infarcted myocardium was higher than that in the native vessels supplying
the non-infarcted myocardium. In conclusion, MSCT is feasible for the assessment of graft patency in the setting of perioperative MI. Graft
occlusion is detected in less than half of the cases and usually occurs in the grafts with severe distal involvement and the patients with
uncontrolled hyperglycemia. In patients with patent grafts, the severity of luminal stenosis of the native grafted vessel is the main
predisposing factor for perioperative MI
Comparing the cardiac MRI and thallium-201 SPECT findings in assessing myocardial viability in patients with ST elevation myocardial infarction
Background and purpose: Viable tissue detection after STEMI can lead to successful revascularization for reversing myocardial dysfunction. The purpose of this study was to compare the Thallium-201 SPECT and MRI findings in viability assessment. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was performed on 17 patients with STEMI. In addition to Thallium SPECT, contrast enhanced MRI imaging was done. Viability was determined as more than 50 percent thallium uptake after 4 hours in SPECT and lower than 50 percent gadolinium enhancement after 10 minutes in each segments in CMRI. Results: Two hundred eighty nine segments were studied using both methods. TL SPECT showed 15.6 of the segments as non-viable tissue while MRI showed 35 non-viable tissue. There was a substantial agreement between these methods in apical septal and apical segments (k: 0.653, k: 0.757, respectively). Conclusion: The percentage of non-viable myocardium in MRI was found to be higher than that of Thallium SPECT and also considerable agreement was seen between MRI and Thallium SPECT in determination of myocard viability in apical septal and apex segments. ΓΒ© 2016, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved
Efficacy of transarterial chemoembolization on lesion reduction in colorectal liver metastases
Following failure of systemic chemotherapy, transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) is an available method to control unresectable liver metastases from colorectal carcinoma (CRC). The aim of present study was to evaluate the efficacy of chemoembolization for inoperable metastatic liver lesions from CRC. Forty-five CRC patients with liver metastases resistant to systemic chemotherapy were enrolled in our study. For each patient, three session of TACE were conducted with 45 days interval. A combination of mitomycin, doxorubicin, and lipiodol were used for TACE. A tri-phasic computed tomography scan and biochemical laboratory tests were performed for all patients at baseline and 30 days after each TACE. Image analysis included measurement of lesion diameters as well as contrast enhancement. Eleven patients deceased before completing three session and the final analyses were performed on the remaining 34 patients. Evaluation of a total 93 lesions in all patients after chemoembolization sessions revealed a 25.88 reduction in anteroposterior (AP) diameter, 33.92 transverse (T) diameter, and 42.22 in product of APxT diameter of lesions (P<0.001 for all instances). CT scan showed a total disappearance of 33 of lesions and evident reduction in contrast enhancement in 16 of them. There were no changes in contrast enhancement in 51 of lesions. Evaluation of single largest lesion in each patient revealed 57.32 reduction in AP diameter, 59.66 in T diameter, and 62.17 in product of APxT diameters (P<0.001 for all diameters). TACE offers a viable option for CRC patients with unresectable liver metastases by significantly reducing lesion size and contrast enhancement. ΓΒ© 2012 Tehran University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved
Hybrid microwave-hot air tunnel drying of onion slices: Drying kinetics, energy efficiency, product rehydration, color, and flavor characteristics
Effect of Parameters on the Separation of Almond Shell and Kernel, and Design and Development a Pneumatic Separator
Introduction
Almonds (Prunus amygdalus) belongs to the family of Rosaceae and the subspecies of Pronoideae. Its kernel contains a lot of energy, amino acids, sugars and mineral elements. Iran is ranked fifth in terms of producing almonds after United States, Australia, Spain, and Morocco, but at the same time, Iran's position is not very suitable in the world export market. The processing of this product involves three stages of shell breaking, kernel separation, and packaging. One of the important methods of separation of the kernel from the wooden crust is the use of pneumatic separation and this method can be used to grade, clean, and separate the seeds of different materials.
Materials and Methods
Almond samples of the Shokofeh variety (A.H.3) were obtained from Maragheh gardens in East Azarbaijan province. The moisture content of the shell, the kernel, and mixture of them was determined using the oven drying method. Also, some physical and mechanical properties were measured. In order to design the almond separator system, it is important to determine aerodynamic properties. The most important aerodynamic properties such as terminal velocity and drag force were determined. The first step in designing and manufacturing a device is to select the cross-sectional shape and dimension. The cross-section of the machine is selected based on parameters such as simplicity and construction costs. With the assumption of a machine with a separation capacity of 2 kg (mixed product) per minute, the length and the width of the machine were obtained to be 18 cm and 15 cm. Using the terminal velocity and dimensional data, the blower distance to the outlet, the tunnel length, the power and flow rate of the blower were calculated and then the design and construction were done. To evaluate the separation and evaluation of the apparatus, parameters such as blower speed, shell size, and moisture content of the mixture were investigated for each parameter at three levels. Airflow rates of the wind tunnel were 3, 5, and 7 m s-1, moisture content (7%, 13%, and 19%), shell size in three groups: small, medium, and large.
Results and Discussion
The average geometric properties including length, width, thickness, geometric mean diameter, and spherical coefficient for almonds were 20.64, 13.25, 7.4, 12.64 mm, and 0.612, respectively, as well as properties for large shells (25.17, 16.5, 11.15, 16.66 mm, and 0.66), for average size (17.36, 13.5, 6.4, 11.44 mm, and 0.65) and fine size (13, 9.9, 3.5, 7.66 mm, and 0.59), respectively. The mechanical properties of the samples (shell and almond kernel) were measured at three levels of moisture content of 7%, 13%, and 19%. The results showed that by increasing the moisture content, the fracture force for both shell and kernel increases. Almond shell had the highest angle of rotation at all levels of moisture. This was due to its heterogeneous shape, broken edges and rough surface. On the other hand, almonds had the lowest degree of rotation, due to the greater weight of the kernel and the more homogeneous and spherical shape than the shell. The results obtained from measuring the terminal velocity of the samples selected from the kernel and shell in terms of their weight indicated that the velocity limit for the almonds was 10.2-12.2 m s-1 and for the shell, the range was 1.8-6 m s-1. The variance analysis of the effect of particle size, velocity, and moisture parameters on the level of separation of shell in almond mixture showed that all major effects and interactions of factors were significant at 1% probability level. Particle size and moisture content did not affect the separation rate at 7 m s-1. With decreasing velocity, the separation rate in the particle size was reduced, which was due to the higher speed of the separation rate. At low velocity, the best separation was related to the fine particle size, which was due to the harmonization of the fine particle velocity and the separation rate.
Conclusions
Pneumatic separation of almond kernel and shell was affected by air velocity, particle size and moisture content. As the flow rate increases, the amount of shell separation from the kernel increases. Particle size and moisture content did not affect the separation rate at 7 m s-1. The results at medium moisture content indicated that in addition to the acceptable separation level (relative to other moisture levels) at this level (13%), the harvesting time of this product can be managed and the use of additional energy in the processing of this product is prevented
Drying kinetics of dill leaves in a convective dryer
Thin layer drying characteristics of dill leaves
under fixed, semi-fluidized, and fluidized bed conditions were
studied at air temperatures of 30, 40, 50, and 60Β°C. In order to find
a suitable drying curve, 12 thin layer-drying models were fitted to
the experimental data of the moisture ratio. Among the applied
mathematical models, the Midilli et al. model was the best for
drying behavior prediction in thin layer drying of dill leaves. To
obtain the optimum network for drying of dill leaves, various
numbers of multilayer feed-forward neural networks were made
and tested with different numbers of hidden layers and neurons.
The best neural network feed-forward back-propagation topology
for the prediction of drying of dill leaves (moisture ratio and drying
rate) was the 3-45-2 structure with the training algorithm trainlm
and threshold functions logsig and purelin. The coefficient of
determination for this topology for training, validation, and testing
patterns was 0.9998, 0.9981, and 0.9990, respectively. Effective
moisture diffusivity of dill leaves during the drying process in
different bed types was found to be in the range from 7.10 10-12 to
1.62 10-10 m2 s-1. Also, the values of activation energy were determined
to be between 75.435 and 80.118 kJ mol-1
Performance assessment and optimisation of a large information system by combined customer relationship management and resilience engineering: a mathematical programming approach
ISs and ITs play a critical role in large complex gas corporations. Many factors such as human, organisational and environmental factors affect IS in an organisation. Therefore, investigating ISs success is considered to be a complex problem. Also, because of the competitive business environment and the high amount of information flow in organisations, new issues like resilient ISs and successful customer relationship management (CRM) have emerged. A resilient IS will provide sustainable delivery of information to internal and external customers. This paper presents an integrated approach to enhance and optimise the performance of each component of a large IS based on CRM and resilience engineering (RE) in a gas company. The enhancement of the performance can help ISs to perform business tasks efficiently. The data are collected from standard questionnaires. It is then analysed by data envelopment analysis by selecting the optimal mathematical programming approach. The selected model is validated and verified by principle component analysis method. Finally, CRM and RE factors are identified as influential factors through sensitivity analysis for this particular case study. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study for performance assessment and optimisation of large IS by combined RE and CRM