30 research outputs found

    Evaluating the development of life and progress of heavy vehicles based on Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) in main subsystems

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    The development of automotive products considering product lifecycle is considered as one of the automotive strategic key issues. In this article, Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) is used to evaluate the lifetime of heavy vehicles. To do this research, subsystems of weighted Titan heavy vehicle and the position of desired vehicle compared to other vehicles in the various subsystems and in general by the technical standards, new technologies and aesthetic appearance is evaluated. Finally, the curve of progress and technology life of Titan vehicle is provided. The results show that technical standards in automotive technology growth curve has the greatest impact in comparison with other properties. About Titan vehicle according to the technology lifecycle should be considered this issue that the technology of this vehicle because spending their maturity era is in decline. Regarding the investigation of new technologies, we have to think to make changes in vehicle technology or finding alternative technology. According to the first priority, criteria and the weight of analytic hierarchy process, the technical criteria, first the action should be done in technical improvements of the vehicle, and also considering that the sub-criteria of engine performance assigned the highest weight to itself, most of the studies should be placed in order to improve Titan automotive technology in terms of vehicle performance.Keywords: lifecycle, lifecycle of technology, heavy vehicles, subsystems, Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP

    Detection of bacterial soft-rot of crown imperial caused by Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. carotovorum using specific PCR primers

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    Pectobacterium is one of the major destructive causal agent in most crop plants throughout the world. During a survey in spring of 2005 in the rangeland of Kermanshah and Isfahan, provinces of Iran, samples of bulbs and stems of crown imperial with brown spot and soft rot were collected. Eight strains of pectolytic Erwinia were isolated and purified from these samples. Phenotypic tests indicated that the strains were gram-negative, facultative anaerobic, rod shaped, motile with peritrichous flagella. They were oxidase negative, catalase positive and also able to macerate potato slices. Pathogenicity of all the strains were confirmed on corn, philodendron and crown imperial by inoculation of these crops with a bacterial suspension and reisolation of the strain from symptomatic tissues. A pair of specific PCR primers was used to detect these bacterial strains. The primer set (EXPCCF/EXPCCR) amplified a single fragment of the expected size (0.55 kb) from genomic DNA of all strains used in this study. In nested PCR, the primer set (INPCCR/INPCCF) amplified the expected single fragment (0.4 kb) from the PCR product of first PCR amplification. On the basis of the biochemical and phenotypic characteristics and PCR amplification by the specific PCR primers, these strains were identified as Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. carotovorum. This is the first report of occurrence of crown imperial bacterial soft-rot in Iran

    An Innovation Measurement Model Based on THIO Classification: An Automotive Case Study

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    Many criteria have been presented so far for innovation measurement. Presenting the relation between input and output of innovation, completing other criteria and achieving more comprehensive criteria has also been raised. What is of vital importance is the right utilization of these criteria towards measuring innovation. This paper seeks to present a model to measure innovation that, in addition to the simplicity of its perception and measurement method, has an adequate comprehensiveness. The analyses are undertaken through two real case studies in automotive industry in Iran. The results show that Saipa automotive company should concentrate on Info-ware, Orga-ware and Human-ware while Iran-khodro automotive company needs to focus on Info-ware, Orga-ware and Techno-ware aspects to balance the innovation processes

    TomograPy: A Fast, Instrument-Independent, Solar Tomography Software

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    Solar tomography has progressed rapidly in recent years thanks to the development of robust algorithms and the availability of more powerful computers. It can today provide crucial insights in solving issues related to the line-of-sight integration present in the data of solar imagers and coronagraphs. However, there remain challenges such as the increase of the available volume of data, the handling of the temporal evolution of the observed structures, and the heterogeneity of the data in multi-spacecraft studies. We present a generic software package that can perform fast tomographic inversions that scales linearly with the number of measurements, linearly with the length of the reconstruction cube (and not the number of voxels) and linearly with the number of cores and can use data from different sources and with a variety of physical models: TomograPy (http://nbarbey.github.com/TomograPy/), an open-source software freely available on the Python Package Index. For performance, TomograPy uses a parallelized-projection algorithm. It relies on the World Coordinate System standard to manage various data sources. A variety of inversion algorithms are provided to perform the tomographic-map estimation. A test suite is provided along with the code to ensure software quality. Since it makes use of the Siddon algorithm it is restricted to rectangular parallelepiped voxels but the spherical geometry of the corona can be handled through proper use of priors. We describe the main features of the code and show three practical examples of multi-spacecraft tomographic inversions using STEREO/EUVI and STEREO/COR1 data. Static and smoothly varying temporal evolution models are presented.Comment: 21 pages, 6 figures, 5 table

    Production and Characterization of Monoclonal Antibody against Vit v1: A Grape Allergen Belonging to Lipid Transfer Protein Family

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    Allergy to non-specific lipidtransfer protein (nsLTP), the major allergen of grape (Vit v1), is considered as one of the most common fruit allergies in Iran. Therefore, a specific monoclonal antibody (mAb) can be used for the characterization and assessment of. Accordingly, this study aimed to generate and characterize a mAb against Vit v1 with a diagnostic purpose. To this end, Vit v1 allergen (9 kDa) was extracted using a modified Bjorksten extraction method. Natural Vit v1-immunized mouse splenocytes were fused with SP2/0Ag-14 myeloma cells for generating hybridoma cells. Specific antibody-secreting Hybridoma cells were selected using ELISA. Finally, anti-Vit v1 mAb was characterized by western blotting, ELISA, and isotyping methods. In the current study, a 9 kDa (Vit v1) protein was attained fromcrude and fresh juice of grape extracts and the isotype of desired anti-Vit v1 mAb was determined as IgM with K light chain. In addition, The ELISA results demonstrated that anti-Vit v1 mAb was specified against natural Vit v1 in the grape cultivar and related LTP allergens, such as Pla or 3 (p<0.0001). In the present study, a specific mAb was produced for detecting the LTP allergen. This mAb with a confirmed specificity can be utilized for evaluating the LTP allergens and their allergenicity in different grape cultivars. © 2020 Tehran University of Medical Science

    A comprehensive health effects assessment of the use of sanitizers and disinfectants during COVID-19 pandemic: a global survey

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    COVID-19 has affected all aspects of human life so far. From the outset of the pandemic, preventing the spread of COVID-19 through the observance of health protocols, especially the use of sanitizers and disinfectants was given more attention. Despite the effectiveness of disinfection chemicals in controlling and preventing COVID-19, there are critical concerns about their adverse effects on human health. This study aims to assess the health effects of sanitizers and disinfectants on a global scale. A total of 91,056 participants from 154 countries participated in this cross-sectional study. Information on the use of sanitizers and disinfectants and health was collected using an electronic questionnaire, which was translated into 26 languages via web-based platforms. The findings of this study suggest that detergents, alcohol-based substances, and chlorinated compounds emerged as the most prevalent chemical agents compared to other sanitizers and disinfectants examined. Most frequently reported health issues include skin effects and respiratory effects. The Chi-square test showed a significant association between chlorinated compounds (sodium hypochlorite and per-chlorine) with all possible health effects under investigation (p-value \u3c0.001). Examination of risk factors based on multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that alcohols and alcohols-based materials were associated with skin effects (OR, 1.98; 95%CI, 1.87–2.09), per-chlorine was associated with eye effects (OR, 1.83; 95%CI, 1.74–1.93), and highly likely with itching and throat irritation (OR, 2.00; 95%CI, 1.90–2.11). Furthermore, formaldehyde was associated with a higher prevalence of neurological effects (OR, 2.17; 95%CI, 1.92–2.44). Furthermore, formaldehyde was associated with a higher prevalence of neurological effects (OR, 2.17; 95%CI, 1.92–2.44). The use of sodium hypochlorite and per-chlorine also had a high chance of having respiratory effects. The findings of the current study suggest that health authorities need to implement more awareness programs about the side effects of using sanitizers and disinfectants during viral epidemics especially when they are used or overused

    A statistical framework for assessing pharmacological responses and biomarkers using uncertainty estimates

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    High-throughput testing of drugs across molecular-characterised cell lines can identify candidate treatments and discover biomarkers. However, the cells’ response to a drug is typically quantified by a summary statistic from a best-fit dose-response curve, whilst neglecting the uncertainty of the curve fit and the potential variability in the raw readouts. Here, we model the experimental variance using Gaussian Processes, and subsequently, leverage uncertainty estimates to identify associated biomarkers with a new Bayesian framework. Applied to in vitro screening data on 265 compounds across 1074 cancer cell lines, our models identified 24 clinically established drug-response biomarkers, and provided evidence for six novel biomarkers by accounting for association with low uncertainty. We validated our uncertainty estimates with an additional drug screen of 26 drugs, 10 cell lines with 8 to 9 replicates. Our method is applicable to any dose-response data without replicates, and improves biomarker discovery for precision medicine

    Epidemiology of the wheat stem-base disease complex in a wheat-clover bicropping system

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    SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:DXN011334 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

    Enhance resistence to Alternaria alternata causing potato brown leaf spot disease by using some plant defense inducers

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    Host resistance is an efficient and effective component in integrated management of plant diseases. The aim of this study was to test whether Acibenzolar-S-methyl (ASM), Chitosan, Heads-up and Acetyl Salicylic Acid (ASA), known to induce resistance against various diseases, can help protect potato crop against brown leaf spot. The effect of these inducers, on two potato cultivars, Goldrush and FL1879 against Alternaria alternata, causal agent of brown leaf spot at two different field sites were evaluated. To determine the effects of the application of inducers on disease resistance, the foliage of the potato cultivars was sprayed with appropriate concentrations of ASA, chitosan, and ASM. Heads-up was also applied as a pre-plant treatment on potato tubers. The results obtained from the both field experiments indicated the highest yield performance was achieved in plots treated with ASM, followed by Heads-up and chitosan treatments. However, no significant difference in terms of tuber yield production has been noted between ASA treated potato foliage, and the untreated control plants. Results of experiments with detached leaves showed that there was a significant difference regarding disease index reduction between plots which been treated with defense inducers and untreated, inoculated plots. It was clear that on both potato cultivars, application of chitosan and ASM encouraged enhancement of the disease resistance compared to the ASA and Heads-up treatments. In the laboratory experiment, disease progress was recorded on leaves from three different heights of the crop canopy. The results indicated that disease severity was low in the apex, moderate in the middle and high in the lower parts of the crop, in both potato cultivars. These results suggest that chitosan and ASM may offer alternative methods for controlling brown leaf spot of potato
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