637 research outputs found
Modeling of thermal pollution in coastal area and its economical and environmental assessment
The Persian Gulf is one of the aquatic ecosystems which has recently
faced with different pollutions. Cooling water discharges due to
various industries such as power plants can cause important disorders
on present ecosystem balance because of its high temperature.
Obviously, due to thermal pollution, a great number of aquatic
creatures face with a new situation that they can not tolerate. Thermal
pollution leads to their migration, creates a potential for new coming
species which in turn can thoroughly change the marine ecosystem
feature. The other impacts of this phenomenon are: disorders in
reproduction, nourishment and other biological habits. In this
research, thermal pollution due to Bandar Abbas Thermal Power Plant
(BATP) development plan was modeled using MIKE21 software. In order to
avoid a decrease on the power plant efficiency in development plan, the
distance between inlet and outlet was determined by comparing the
results of different scenarios and economical aspects. After
determining the distance between inlet and outlet, the water
temperature in the coastal area was compared with standards of Iranian
Department of the Environment (DOE). The model results represent that
the water temperature, in Bandar Abbas coastal area, exceeds than the
permissible limit (3 °C) in a distance equal to 200 m. far from
the discharging location, and in order to reduce its harmful impacts,
some suggestions are made to reduce the associated thermal pollution
Systematics of g factors of 2_1^+ states in even-even nuclei from Gd to Pt: A microscopic description by the projected shell model
The systematics of g factor of first excited 2^+ state vs neutron number N is
studied by the projected shell model. The study covers the even-even nuclei of
all isotopic chains from Gd to Pt. g factors are calculated by using the
many-body wavefunctions that reproduces well the energy levels and B(E2)'s of
the ground-state bands. For Gd to W isotopes the characteristic feature of the
g factor data along an isotopic chain is described by the present model.
Deficiency of the model in the g factor description for the heavier Os and Pt
isotopes is discussed.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure
No evidence of association between CTLA-4 polymorphisms and systemic lupus erythematosus in Iranian patients
Aim: Cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen-4 (CTLA-4) is an important negative regulator of T-cell responses. CTLA-4 polymorphisms have been confirmed to be associated with several autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). We analyzed the role of CTLA-4 polymorphism at positions -1661 and -1722 in Iranian patients suffering from SLE. Methods: One hundred and eighty SLE patients and 304 ethnically and age-matched healthy controls were studied. Polymerase chain reaction restriction fragments length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) was used to analyze the genotype and allele frequencies of these polymorphisms. Results: There was no significant association between the studied genotypic and allelic frequencies between SLE patients and the controls. Although the TC genotype in 1722TC polymorphism was more common among the control group, the correlation was not statistically significant. Conclusion: Our results suggest that the -1661AG and -1722TC polymorphisms in the promoter region of the CTLA-4 gene does not play any role in genetic susceptibility to SLE. However, further studies on larger sample sizes are needed to approve our results. © 2013 Asia Pacific League of Associations for Rheumatology and Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd
Association between CTLA-4 gene polymorphism and the risk of systemic lupus erythematosus: Brief report
Background: Cytotoxic lymphocyte antigen-4 (CTLA-4) plays an important role in regulating T cell activation. CTLA-4 gene polymorphisms are related with genetic susceptibility to various autoimmune diseases, including systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). We analyzed the role of CTLA-4 polymorphisms at positions -318CT in patients who suffer from SLE. Methods: This study was performed on 180 SLE patients referred to 5th Azar University Hospital in Gorgan, Iran. Three hundred and four ethnically-and age-matched healthy controls with no history of autoimmune diseases entered the study between 5th May 2008 and 23rd October 2009. DNA was extracted from blood samples according to the standard procedure. Polymerase chain reaction- restriction fragments length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) was used to analyze the genotype and allele frequencies of this polymorphism. PCR was carried out using the following primers: forward 5′- AAATGAATTGGACTGGATGGT-3′ and reverse 5′-TTACGAGAAAGGAAGCCGT G-3′. The frequency of alleles and genotypes were assessed using direct counting. Chisquare test and Fisher’s exact test were used to compare the association between the alleles and genotype frequencies and SLE. P<0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results: The CC genotype was observed in 94.5% of the SLE patients and 82.4% of the controls; the difference was statistically significant (P=0.0001, OR=3.51, CI95%=1.77- 7.53). The CT genotype, on the other hand, was more frequently observed in the control group (17.1% vs. 5.5%, P=0.0001, OR=0.28). T allele was significantly more common in the controls compared to SLE patients (P=0.0001, OR=0.26, CI95%=0.13-0.53). Conclusion: Our results suggest that the -318C/T polymorphism of CTLA-4 gene might play a significant role in the genetic susceptibility to SLE. Therefore, further studies on populations, especially from other Middle East countries, are needed to confirm our results. © 2015, Tehran University of Medical Sciences. All Rights Reserved
Isovector and isoscalar superfluid phases in rotating nuclei
The subtle interplay between the two nuclear superfluids, isovector T=1 and
isoscalar T=0 phases, are investigated in an exactly soluble model. It is shown
that T=1 and T=0 pair-modes decouple in the exact calculations with the T=1
pair-energy being independent of the T=0 pair-strength and vice-versa. In the
rotating-field, the isoscalar correlations remain constant in contrast to the
well known quenching of isovector pairing. An increase of the isoscalar (J=1,
T=0) pair-field results in a delay of the bandcrossing frequency. This
behaviour is shown to be present only near the N=Z line and its experimental
confirmation would imply a strong signature for isoscalar pairing collectivity.
The solutions of the exact model are also discussed in the
Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov approximation.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, submitted to PR
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