Volunteered geographic information in crisis management

During the disaster, rescue groups are responsible for tasks that require different types of information to optimize their activities. Preparation and distribution of information are very sensitive. The acquisition of new data and events such as degraded buildings and injured people in some cases using conventional methods is very difficult. With the advancement of technology, people familiar with social networks and smartphones, people produce and generate large amounts of data. This phenomenon is called Volunteered geographic information. Today, this data collected and shared with sites and social networks for free. This paper pays service that Volunteered geographic information provided to crisis management. Experience has shown that the system cannot work without regard to environmental considerations. The current system of data collection, updating and spatial data infrastructure, cannot consider emergency situations. In particular, companies such as Ushahidi and OSM's activities will be described. This article is based on articles and activities conducted in this field and provides the category and in the end, discussed and determine the factors affecting the performance of them

Effective Treatment of Cervical Lymph Node Metastasis of Breast Cancer by Low Voltage High-Frequency Electrochemotherapy

Electrochemotherapy (ECT) is a new local treatment method for solid and superficial tumors. During this new technique, patients experience an unpleasant sensation and slight edema. Most unpleasant and painful is mainly attributed to muscle contractions provoked by high amplitude and low repetition frequency pulses. Recently, we showed that electrochemotherapy using low voltage and higher repetition frequency (LVHF ECT) is an effective tool for inhibiting tumor growth and inducing cell permeabilization. Low voltage high-frequency electrochemotherapy was developed and optimized in vitro and in vivo which and can be used in the clinic. In the present study, we report a case of cervical lymph node metastasis of breast cancer treated by the technique. In our case, LVHF ECT was successful in reducing the size and palliating the symptoms of cervical lymph node metastasis in clinical conditions, whereas other approaches were inefficient. Our electrochemotherapy technique shows good clinical results. However, more studies on this new method are necessary to prove that LVHF ECT can be considered as a standard treatment modality

Can Lucifer Yellow Indicate Correct Permeability of Biological Cell Membrane under An Electric and Magnetic Field?

The effect of external magnetic and electric fields, in the range of electroporation and magnetoporation, on Lucifer Yellow (LY) fluorescence in the absence of cells is studied. Electric-field-induced quenching and magnetic field-induced increase are observed for fluorescence intensity of LY. Regard to the fact that the variation of field-induced fluorescence, even in the absence of cells, can be observed, the application of LY, as a marker, is debatable in electroporation and magnetoporation techniques

The effects of Valerian on sleep spindles in a model of neuropathic pain

Introduction: Valeriana officinalis is known to be one of the most famous herbal supplements for the treatment of anxiety and insomnia. Despite its widespread use in most countries all around the world, there is little scientific information and research on how this medication affects sleep patterns, and there are almost no studies on its effects on the characteristics of sleep spindles. Material and Methods: The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of Valerian extract (VAL) on sleep spindles and induced anxiety in chronic neuropathic pain model in rats. 24 male rats were divided into three groups: neuropathic group (n=9) in which the rats underwent chronic constriction injury (CCI), sham group (n=7) in which the sciatic nerves of the animals were exposed without any constriction and also fed with the vehicle, and the third group was under CCI condition and treated with Valerian (n=8). All the rats underwent electrode implant surgery so that we could record electroencephalogram and electromyography waves. In all the three groups, EEG and EMG recordings were recorded three times (150min each time). The initial recording was just prior to the CCI surgery and the rest were 3 and 6 days following CCI surgery. Moreover, cold allodynia and elevated plus maze tests were performed 3 and 6 days following the CCI surgery. Results: Valerian treatment could repair the allodynia induced by neuropathy. On the other hand, by Valerian treatment (400mg/kg) during neuropathy, the REM sleep, decreased and the non-REM sleep increased. Moreover, there was an increment in sleep spindle density and spindle frequency even in neuropathic condition. Discussion: This herbal supplement improves the quality of sleep in neuropathy conditions

Antitumor Efficiency of Electrochemotherapy by High and Low Frequencies and Repetitive Therapy in the Treatment of Invasive Ductal Carcinoma in Balb/c Mice

Objective: In electrochemotherapy (ECT), there is an unpleasant sensation of muscle contraction when using a low frequency (1 Hz). Therefore, by increasing the pulse frequency above the tetanic frequency this painful sensation can be reduced. The aim of the present study is to compare the treatment efficiencies of low and high frequency ECT, and estimate the effect of its repeated sessions.Materials and Methods: We transplanted invasive ductal carcinoma into the flanks of female Balb/c mice. ECT was performed on the mice by the use of 8 pulses, 1000 v/cm, of 100 μs duration at 1 Hz and 5 kHz repetition frequencies along with intra-tumoral injections of bleomycin. We also used this ECT protocol for the second therapy session six days after tumour regrowth. The effect of treatment was measured by calculating the tumor volumes for 24 days following treatment. Statistical analysis was performed with ANOVA.Results: ECT at 1 Hz and 5 kHz pulse frequencies demonstrated significant inhibition of tumor growth, but after the first treatment the tumours began to regrow. Repetitive ECT sessions increased the curability of tumors up to 40% in the group treated by 1 Hz frequency and 60% in the group treated with 5 kHz frequency.Conclusion: Our results demonstrate that the effects of 1 Hz and 5 kHz pulse repetition frequencies are comparable for inhibited tumour growth. Repetitive treatment can improve the effectiveness of ECT

Finite Element Analysis of Tissue Conductivity during High-frequency and Low-voltage Irreversible Electroporation

Introduction: Irreversible electroporation (IRE) is a process in which the membrane of the cancer cells are irreversibly damaged with the use of high-intensity electric pulses, which in turn leads to cell death. The IRE is a non-thermal way to ablate the cancer cells. This process relies on the distribution of the electric field, which affects the pulse amplitude, width, and electrical conductivity of the tissues. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship of the pulse width and intensity with the conductivity changes during the IRE using simulation. Materials and Methods: For the purpose of the study, the COMSOL 5 software was utilized to predict the conductivity changes during the IRE. We used 4,000 bipolar and monopolar pulses with the frequency of 5 kHz and 1 Hz, width of 100 µs, and electric fields of low and high intensity. Subsequently, we built three-dimensional numerical models for the liver tissue. Results: The results of our study revealed that the conductivity of tissue increased during the application of electrical pulses. Additionally, the conductivity changes increased with the elevation of the electric field intensity. Conclusion: As the finding of this study indicated, the IRE with high-frequency and low electric field intensity could change the tissue conductivity. Therefore, the IRE was recommended to be applied with high frequency and low voltage

ADAPTIVE EDGE DETECTION USING ADJUSTED ANT COLONY OPTIMIZATION

Edges contain important information in image and edge detection can be considered a low level process in image processing. Among different methods developed for this purpose traditional methods are simple and rather efficient. In Swarm Intelligent methods developed in last decade, ACO is more capable in this process. This paper uses traditional edge detection operators such as Sobel and Canny as input to ACO and turns overall process adaptive to application. Magnitude matrix or edge image can be used for initial pheromone and ant distribution. Image size reduction is proposed as an efficient smoothing method. A few parameters such as area and diameter of travelled path by ants are converted into rules in pheromone update process. All rules are normalized and final value is acquired by averaging

The Effect of Rectangular Electric Pulse Number in Electrochemotherapy by Low Voltage and High Frequency on Breast Tumors in Balb/c Mice

Objective: The treatment efficiency of electrochemotherapy (ECT) or the use of a chemotherapyagent with a high electric field and low frequency has been reported. Unfortunatelythis protocol induces an unpleasant sensation to the patient. Therefore, the aim of thisstudy was to investigate the efficiency of combined low electric field and high repetitionfrequency for the treatment of an animal tumor model, invasive ductal carcinoma.Materials and Methods: Female Balb/c mice were transplanted with invasive ductal carcinoma.ECT with bleomycin and two different electric pulse simulation protocols wereused. In the first protocol, eight high pulses at an amplitude of 1000 V/cm with 100 μsduration and repetition frequencies of both 5 kHz and 1 Hz were delivered. In the secondprotocol, low pulse amplitude of 100 V/cm with 5 kHz frequency and different numbers ofpulses 500 (1 pulse with 50 milliseconds duration), 2000 (4 pulses with 50 millisecondsduration), 4000 (8 pulses with 50 milliseconds duration) and 5000 (10 pulses with 50 millisecondduration) at 100 μs were applied.Results: ECT with a higher repetition frequency of electric pulses and low voltage inhibitstumor growth and has a comparable effect to the 5 kHz and 1 Hz pulse repetitions athigh voltage. Based on the results, the best antitumor effect was obtained at 4000 pulsesor higher, with high frequency and low voltage (p<0.05). The rate of inhibition of tumorgrowth statistically increased with electric pulse numbers higher than 2000.Conclusion: The finding indicated that ECT with the use of low pulse amplitude and highfrequency, combined with the best number of pulses has a comparable effect to a clinicalprotocol

Comparison of low voltage amplitude electrochemotherapy with 1 Hz and 5 kHz frequency in volume reduction of mouse mammary tumor in Balb/c Mice

Introduction: Electrochemotherapy (ECT) is an efficient technique that high intensity electric pulses incombination with chemotherapeutic drugs are applied to tumor cells. The most important unpleasantsensation of electrochemotherapy is muscle contraction. To resolve this problem, there are two solutions:first, increasing the repetition frequency of electric pulses above the tetanic frequency; and, second,reducing the voltage amplitude. ECT using 1 Hz or 5 kHz frequency at high amplitude examined and nodifference response of the tumor treatment was observed. But the role of frequency in low amplitude ECTnot examined. Therefore, the present study compared the anti-tumor effectiveness ofelectrochemotherapyusing electric pulses with frequencies of 1 Hz and 5 kHz at 70 v/cm amplitude.Materials and Methods: ECT of spontaneous mouse mammary tumor (SMMT) transplanted in Balb/cwas performed with intratumoral injection of bleomycine and applied four different electric pulse protocols:1- a train of 8 pulses with duration 50 ms, 1 Hz frequency and 70 v/cm amplitude, 2- a train of 4000 pulseswith duration 100 μs, 5k Hz frequency and 70 v/cm amplitude,3- a train of 8 pulses with duration 100 μs, 1Hz frequency and 1000 v/cm amplitude,4- a train of 8 pulses with duration 100 μs, 5 kHz frequency and1000 v/cm amplitude.Results: Our data demonstrate significant differences in tumor volumes between mice treated by 70V/cm and 5 kHz frequencycompared to1 Hz frequency but inhibited tumor growth in high amplitude with 1Hz and 5 kHz is comparable. Based on these results, the pulses with 70 v/cm and 5 kHz frequency are mosteffective.Conclusion: On the basis of these results the frequency effect of electric pulses is important in lowamplitude ECT

DEVELOPMENT OF NEUROMORPHIC SIFT OPERATOR WITH APPLICATION TO HIGH SPEED IMAGE MATCHING

There was always a speed/accuracy challenge in photogrammetric mapping process, including feature detection and matching. Most of the researches have improved algorithm's speed with simplifications or software modifications which increase the accuracy of the image matching process. This research tries to improve speed without enhancing the accuracy of the same algorithm using Neuromorphic techniques. In this research we have developed a general design of a Neuromorphic ASIC to handle algorithms such as SIFT. We also have investigated neural assignment in each step of the SIFT algorithm. With a rough estimation based on delay of the used elements including MAC and comparator, we have estimated the resulting chip's performance for 3 scenarios, Full HD movie (Videogrammetry), 24 MP (UAV photogrammetry), and 88 MP image sequence. Our estimations led to approximate 3000 fps for Full HD movie, 250 fps for 24 MP image sequence and 68 fps for 88MP Ultracam image sequence which can be a huge improvement for current photogrammetric processing systems. We also estimated the power consumption of less than10 watts which is not comparable to current workflows