Quantumness and memory of one qubit in a dissipative cavity under classical control

Hybrid quantum–classical systems constitute a promising architecture for useful control strategies of quantum systems by means of a classical device. Here we provide a comprehensive study of the dynamics of various manifestations of quantumness with memory effects, identified by non-Markovianity, for a qubit controlled by a classical field and embedded in a leaky cavity. We consider both Leggett–Garg inequality and quantum witness as experimentally-friendly indicators of quantumness, also studying the geometric phase of the evolved (noisy) quantum state. We show that, under resonant qubit-classical field interaction, a stronger coupling to the classical control leads to enhancement of quantumness despite a disappearance of non-Markovianity. Differently, increasing the qubit-field detuning (out-of-resonance) reduces the nonclassical behavior of the qubit while recovering non-Markovian features. We then find that the qubit geometric phase can be remarkably preserved irrespective of the cavity spectral width via strong coupling to the classical field. The controllable interaction with the classical field inhibits the effective time-dependent decay rate of the open qubit. These results supply practical insights towards a classical harnessing of quantum properties in a quantum information scenari

Heart surgery waiting time: Assessing the effectiveness of an action

Background: Waiting time is an index assessing patient satisfaction, managerial effectiveness and horizontal equity in providing health care. Although heart surgery centers establishment is attractive for politicians. They are always faced with the question of to what extent they solve patient’s problems. Objectives: The objective of this study was to evaluate factors influencing waiting time in patients of heart surgery centers, and to make recommendations for health-care policy-makers for reducing waiting time and increasing the quality of services from this perspective. Patients and Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed in 2013. After searching articles on PubMed, Elsevier, Google Scholar, Ovid, Magiran, IranMedex, and SID, a list of several criteria, which relate to waiting time, was provided. Afterwards, the data on waiting time were collected by a researcher-structured checklist from 156 hospitalized patients. The data were analyzed by SPSS 16. The Kolmogorov Smirnov and Shapiro tests were used for determination of normality. Due to the non-normal distribution, non-parametric tests, such as Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney were chosen for reporting significance. Parametric tests also used reporting medians. Results: Among the studied variables, just economic status had a significant relation with waiting time (P = 0.37). Fifty percent of participants had diabetes, whereas this estimate was 43.58% for high blood pressure. As the cause of delay, 28.2% of patients reported financial problems, 18.6% personal problem and 13.5% a delay in providing equipment by the hospital. Conclusions: It seems the studied hospital should review its waiting time arrangements and detach them, as far as possible, from subjective and personal (specialists) decisions. On the other hand, ministries of health and insurance companies should consider more financial support. It is also recommend that hospitals should arrange preoperational psychiatric consultation for increasing patients’ emotionally readiness. © 2015, Iranian Red Crescent Medical Journal

Modification of Moment Connection of I-Beam to Double-I Built-Up Column by Reinforcing Column Cover Plate

AbstractTraditional moment connections of I-beam to double-I built-up column have some problems. They are the stress concentration, brittle fracture of the welds and semi-rigid behavior of the connection. To upgrade the connection behavior, it is proposed to replace parts of the column cover plate, situated in critical areas where the beam flanges (or flange plates) connect to the column cover plate, by thicker and larger plates. To investigate the cyclic behavior of the proposed connection, a series of nonlinear finite element analysis were carried out on different models. Results indicate that the modified connection has such a strength and ductility that can be used in special moment frames. Its stiffness is also in the range of a fully restrained connection

Prevalence of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Klebsiella Pneumoniae isolates in nosocomial and community-acquired urinary tract infections

Background: Klebsiella pneumoniae is a family member of Enterobacteriaceae. Isolates of K. pneumoniae produce enzymes that cause decomposition of third generation cephalosporins. These enzymes are known as extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL). Resistance of K. pneumoniae to beta-lactamase antibiotics is commonly mediated by beta-lactamase genes. Objectives: The aim of this study was to identify the ESBL produced by K. pneumoniae isolates that cause community-acquired and nosocomial urinary tract infections within a one-year period (2013 to 2014) in Kashani and Hajar university hospitals of Shahrekord, Iran. Patients and Methods: From 2013 to 2014, 150 strains of K. pneumoniae isolate from two different populations with nosocomial and community-acquired infections were collected. The strains were then investigated by double disk synergism and multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Results: The study population of 150 patients with nosocomial and community-acquired infections were divided to two groups of 75 each. We found that 48 of the K. pneumoniae isolates in the patients with nosocomial infection and 39 isolates in those with community-acquired infections produced ESBL. The prevalence of TEM1, SHV1 and VEB1 in ESBL-producing isolates in nosocomial patients was 24%, 29.3% and 10.6%, and in community-acquired patients, 17.3%, 22.7% and 8%, respectively. Conclusions: Theprevalence of ESBL-producing K. pneumoniae isolate is of great concern; therefore, continuous investigationseems essential to monitor ESBL-producing bacteria in patients with nosocomial and community-acquired infections. © 2016, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences

Phytotherapy for Bacillus cereus: A review of the most important medicinal plants of Iran effective on B. cereus

Infectious diseases are spreading day-to-day with excessive health care costs. Bacillus cereus is a known causative agent of foodborne diseases. Because of emergence of antibiotic resistance, it is necessary to develop nature- and plant-based antibiotics. Many of the medicinal plants are highly able to fight bacterial and fungal pathogens in humans. Scientists are interested in using these plants to treat infections because these plants cause much fewer side effects than chemical drugs. This review article reported the native medicinal plants effective on B. cereus. The findings indicate that Eucalyptus camaldulensis Dehnh, Zataria multiflora, Mentha pulegium, Artemisia persica, Cuminum cyminum, Cordia myxa L, Scrophularia striata, Mentha longifolia, Rosmarinus officinalis, and Lavandula sp. are effective on B. cereus. Because these plants have antimicrobial effects according to traditional medicine, their anti-B. cereus effects have been confirmed in scientific investigations, and their compounds have already been identified in phytochemical investigations, their effective compounds can be used to produce naturebased, anti-B. cereus antibiotics

The study of antibiotic resistance of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Klebsiella strains isolated from urinary tract infections in teaching Hospitals in Shahrekord

زمینه و هدف: سویه ‌های کلبسیلا به ویژه کلبسیلا پنومونیه، از جمله پاتوژن ‌های فرصت طلب در ایجاد عفونت ادراری به عنوان یکی از شایع ترین عفونت‌ ها در انسان محسوب می ‌شوند. این مطالعه به منظور بررسی مقاومت آنتی ‌بیوتیکی در سویه ‌های کلبسیلا مولد ESBL که از عفونت ادراری بیماران بستری و سرپایی مراجعه کننده به بیمارستان ‌های آموزشی شهرکرد جدا شدند، صورت پذیرفت. روش بررسی: مطالعه حاضر در سال ‌های 1393-1392 بر روی 150 ایزوله کلبسیلا جدا شده از عفونت ادراری بیماران بستری و سرپایی انجام گرفت. با انجام تست ‌های تشخیصی بیوشیمیایی و استفاده از محیط ‌های افتراقی، هویت ایزوله‌ های جدا شده تعیین گردید. شناسایی ارگانیسم ‌های مولد ESBL با انجام تست ‌های غربالگری و تست ‌های فنوتیپی تأییدی صورت پذیرفت. به منظور ارزیابی الگوی مقاومت آنتی ‌بیوتیکی، از روش دیسک دیفیوژن بهره گرفته شد. یافته ها: از مجموع 150 ایزوله جدا شده از عفونت ادراری، فراوانی سویه ‌های مولد ESBL، در بیماران بستری و سرپایی مراجعه کننده به بیمارستان ‌های آموزشی شهرکرد به ترتیب 64 و 48 گزارش شد. نتایج الگوی مقاومت آنتی‌ بیوتیکی در بیماران بستری و سرپایی به ترتیب برای آنتی ‌بیوتیک ‌های آمیکاسین 49 و 31، تری متوپریم سولفامتوکسازول 61 و 52، جنتامایسین 59 و 39، نیتروفورانتوئین 55 و 32، نورفلوکساسین 59 و 44، نالیدیکسیک اسید 72 و 53، سفپیم 45 و 33، ایمی ‌پنم 8 و 3، سفتریاکسون 41 و 35، سیپروفلوکساسین 60 و 48، سفتازیدیم 64 و 48 گزارش شد. نتیجه گیری: بر اساس مطالعه حاضر، سویه‌ های کلبسیلا جدا شده از عفونت ‌های ادراری بیماران بستری به میزان بالاتری ESBL تولید کردند که می‌تواند به علت مصرف بی رویه و مکرر سفالوسپورین‌ های نسل سوم و عدم تشخیص سویه‌ های کلبسیلا مولد ESBL در محیط ‌های درمانی باشد

Assessing of channel roughness and temperature variations on wastewater quality parameters using numerical modeling

Nowadays, problems and barriers to supply adequate water and addressenvironmental issues have caused wastewater treatment (WWT) to be considered a high priority. In light of high costs of WWT, using natural capacities to reduce pollution could be potentially economically significant. In this paper, the impact of varying temperature and channel roughness has been investigated on the wastewater quality parameters using theQUAL2K (Q2K) Numerical Model. The results show, as temperature increases, the reduction rate of Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) is more than the Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD). Also, organic nitrogen (ON), organic phosphorus (P), coliforms, total organic carbon (C), total suspended solids (TSS) and total nitrogen (TN) decrease; but nitrate concentration (NO3) increases. This numerical assessment indicates that the purification rate is greater as temperature rises above 30°C. The results show that by increasing channel roughness, BOD, COD, Particle Organic Matter (POM), organic nitrogen, phosphorus and coliforms havedescending trends while inorganic phosphorus and ammonium concentrations have ascending trends. According to the obtained results, nitrate (NO3) has a decreasing trend when the Manning Roughness Coefficient (N) is higher than 0.04 along the channel, but is reducedwhen “N” is less than 0.04. © JASE

Prevalence of class D carbapenemases among extended-spectrum β-lactamases producing Escherichia coli isolates from educational hospitals in Shahrekord

Introduction: Extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs) are a set of plasmid-borne, various and quickly evolving enzymes that are a main therapeutic issue now-a-days for inpatient and outpatient treatment. Aim: The aim of this study was to determine multi-drug resistance (MDR) and ESBLs producing E. coli strains, prevalence of class D Carbapenemases among ESBLs producing Escherichia coli isolates from educational hospitals in Shahrekord, India. Materials and Methods: Uropathogenic Escherichia coli strains were isolated from patients with Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs). The agar disc diffusion test was used to characterize the antimicrobial sensitivity of the E. coli isolates. The ESBL positive strains were identified by phenotypic double-disk synergy test, by third-generation cephalosporin in combination with or without clavulanic acid. Multiplex PCR was carried out for detection of the three families of OXA-type carbapenamases including OXA-23, OXA-24, and OXA-48 in E. coli strains. Results: All bacterial isolates were susceptible to meropenem. Ninety isolates produced ESBL, 55 E. coli isolates from inpatients, and 35 isolates from outpatients, with a significant association (p< 0.05). The prevalence of OXA-23, OXA-24, and OXA-48 in the ESBLs producing isolates was respectively 21%, 18%, and 11% for inpatients, and 10%, 8%, and 6% for outpatients. Conclusion: ESBL-producing E. coli isolates are also a major threat in the clinical setting. The findings of this study indicated the high occurrence of ESBLs and multiple antibiotic resistance in E. coli isolates

Chemical, microbiological and sensory evaluation of gutted kilka coated with whey protein based edible film incorporated with sodium alginate during frozen storage

The effects of whey protein (12%) and sodium alginate (0.5%) on chemical, microbial and sensory changes and shelf life in kilka during frozen storage are investigated for up to 6 months. Total bacteria count and Staphylococcus bacteria counts(2 / 51 and 1 / 44 log CFU/g) in coated samples showed decrease in comparison with control samples(3.21- 2.28 log CFU/g). Moisture of coated samples had significant increase than control treatment (p<0.05). Protein, lipid, ash and calorie were higher in test samples as compared with the control samples. Free fatty acids, TBRS, peroxide value, TVN and pH in coated samples showed significant decrease in comparison with control (p<0.05). Sensory evaluation of coated samples showed significant difference in comparison with control (p<0.05). It is suggested that whey protein edible coating incorporated with sodium alginate can enhance quality and increase shelf life of kilka fish in storage of freezing up to 6 months