Static Properties of Trapped Bose Gases at Finite Temperature: I. Thomas- Fermi Limit

We rely on a variational approach to derive a set of equations governing a trapped self-interacting Bose gas at finite temperature. In this work, we analyze the static situation both at zero and finite temperature in the Thomas-Fermi limit. We derive simple analytic expressions for the condensate properties at finite temperature. The noncondensate and anomalous density profiles are also analyzed in terms of the condensate fraction. The results are quite encouraging owing to the simplicity of the formalism.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures, revised versio

Characterization of typical Tunisian fermented milk, rayeb

Traditional Tunisian fermented milk, rayeb, was produced according to the traditional method. Physicochemical, microstructural, microbiological characteristics and major aromatic compounds evaluation were studied. The results show a decrease in lactose content and pH value and an increase in lactic acid during spontaneous fermentation. The microstructure of rayeb consisted of individualized particles that were coalesced in chains leading to relatively homogeneous sieve. Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and yeasts present in rayeb were responsible for lactic acid fermentation and aroma development. Dynamic headspace (DHS) extraction procedure shows the existence of four major volatile compounds: acetaldehyde, ethanol, diacetyl and acetoin in the rayeb.Key words: Rayeb, spontaneous fermentation, physicochemical composition, microstructure, microbiological, volatile compounds

Antimicrobial effects of folk medicinal plants from the North of Iran against Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Background: Medicinal plants have been used traditionally in Golestan province (north of Iran), against Mycobacterium tuberculosis or the clinical signs of tuberculosis (TB). Objectives: This study aimed to define the inhibitory effects of ethanolic extracts of six of these medicinal plants against Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Materials and Methods: Peganum harmala (seed extract), Punica granatum (peel extract), Digitalis sp. (leaf extract), fruit extract of Citrus lemon, Rosa canina and Berberis vulgaris were extracted in ethanol and their activity against M. tuberculosis isolates were determined by the agar diffusion method. The zone of inhibition (at 200 to 1.6 mg/mL) was measured and the results were compared with isoniazid and rifampin as standard positive controls. Also the concentration of vitamin C of each the extracts was evaluated. Results: The ethanolic extract of Peganum harmala seed and Punica granatum peel exhibited potential activity against all M. tuberculosis isolates with mean inhibitory zone of 18.7 and 18.8 mm, at 200 mg/mL concentration. The mean inhibitory zone around isoniazid and rifampinwere 19.2 and 18.8 mm. Ethanolic extract of Citrus lemon showed moderate inhibitory activity only against sensitive (non MDR; non multi drug resistant) strains of M. tuberculosis, and Digitalis sp. showed inhibitory effects on five isolates. Ascorbic acid content was 43.3 mg/dL in Punica granatum and Digitalis sp. and only 9.1 mg/dL in ethanolic extract of Peganum harmala. Conclusions: The highest content of vitamin C was observed in the extract of Punica granatum, which was observed to be highly active against Mycobacterium tuberculosis, while the P. harmala must have contained other phytochemical constituents that contributed to the anti-tuberculosis effects of this plant. Our findings showed that ethanolic extracts of P. granatum and P. harmala had anti-TB effects comparable to isoniazid and rifampin and can be good candidates for novel and safe natural products against tuberculosis. © 2015, Pediatric Infections Research Center

Querying Probabilistic Neighborhoods in Spatial Data Sets Efficiently

$\newcommand{\dist}{\operatorname{dist}}$ In this paper we define the notion of a probabilistic neighborhood in spatial data: Let a set $P$ of $n$ points in $\mathbb{R}^d$, a query point $q \in \mathbb{R}^d$, a distance metric \dist, and a monotonically decreasing function $f : \mathbb{R}^+ \rightarrow [0,1]$ be given. Then a point $p \in P$ belongs to the probabilistic neighborhood $N(q, f)$ of $q$ with respect to $f$ with probability f(\dist(p,q)). We envision applications in facility location, sensor networks, and other scenarios where a connection between two entities becomes less likely with increasing distance. A straightforward query algorithm would determine a probabilistic neighborhood in $\Theta(n\cdot d)$ time by probing each point in $P$. To answer the query in sublinear time for the planar case, we augment a quadtree suitably and design a corresponding query algorithm. Our theoretical analysis shows that -- for certain distributions of planar $P$ -- our algorithm answers a query in $O((|N(q,f)| + \sqrt{n})\log n)$ time with high probability (whp). This matches up to a logarithmic factor the cost induced by quadtree-based algorithms for deterministic queries and is asymptotically faster than the straightforward approach whenever $|N(q,f)| \in o(n / \log n)$. As practical proofs of concept we use two applications, one in the Euclidean and one in the hyperbolic plane. In particular, our results yield the first generator for random hyperbolic graphs with arbitrary temperatures in subquadratic time. Moreover, our experimental data show the usefulness of our algorithm even if the point distribution is unknown or not uniform: The running time savings over the pairwise probing approach constitute at least one order of magnitude already for a modest number of points and queries.Comment: The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44543-4_3

Nonlinear contractions involving simulation functions in a metric space with a partial order

Very recently, Khojasteh, Shukla and Radenovic [F. Khojasteh, S. Shukla, S. Radenovic, Filomat, 29 (2015), 1189-1194] introduced the notion of Z-contraction, that is, a nonlinear contraction involving a new class of mappings namely simulation functions. This kind of contractions generalizes the Banach contraction and unifies several known types of nonlinear contractions. In this paper, we consider a pair of nonlinear operators satisfying a nonlinear contraction involving a simulation function in a metric space endowed with a partial order. For this pair of operators, we establish coincidence and common fixed point results. As applications, several related results in fixed point theory in a metric space with a partial order are deduced

Synthesis and biological evaluation of platinum complexes of highly functionalized aroylaminocarbo-N-thioyl prolinate containing tetrahydropyrrolo[3,4-c]pyrrole-1,3(2H,3aH)-dione moieties

Platinum complexes, derived from two families of bidentate funcionalized aroylaminocarbo-N-thyoyl prolinates, are prepared using mild conditions from prolinates, which are available via 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions. The resulting four coordinated neutral square-planar platinum(II) complexes are very stable and are fully characterized. Their structures are determined by spectroscopic and analytical methods and one of them by single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. In this pattern, the platinum exhibits distorted square planar geometry, with cis-bond angles ranging from 89.42(2) and 94.37(6)° and trans-bond angles of 176.19(6) and 177.08(6)°, respectively. Anti(myco)bacterial and antifungal studies of all these new compounds are carried out under standardized protocols.This work is a part of Samet Belveren's ongoing PhD thesis granted by Mersin University (Project no. BAP-SBE TEB(SB) 2017-2-TP3-2564). We gratefully acknowledge financial support from Mersin University and the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO) (projects CTQ2013-43446-P and CTQ2014-51912-REDC), the Spanish Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad, Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI) and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER, EU) (projects CTQ2016-76782-P and CTQ2016-81797-REDC), the Generalitat Valenciana (PROMETEOII/2014/017), University of Alicante and Mersin University (Project. MEU-2017-COL-01007-M150D)

Treating Homeless Opioid Dependent Patients with Buprenorphine in an Office-Based Setting

CONTEXT Although office-based opioid treatment with buprenorphine (OBOT-B) has been successfully implemented in primary care settings in the US, its use has not been reported in homeless patients. OBJECTIVE To characterize the feasibility of OBOT-B in homeless relative to housed patients. DESIGN A retrospective record review examining treatment failure, drug use, utilization of substance abuse treatment services, and intensity of clinical support by a nurse care manager (NCM) among homeless and housed patients in an OBOT-B program between August 2003 and October 2004. Treatment failure was defined as elopement before completing medication induction, discharge after medication induction due to ongoing drug use with concurrent nonadherence with intensified treatment, or discharge due to disruptive behavior. RESULTS Of 44 homeless and 41 housed patients enrolled over 12 months, homeless patients were more likely to be older, nonwhite, unemployed, infected with HIV and hepatitis C, and report a psychiatric illness. Homeless patients had fewer social supports and more chronic substance abuse histories with a 3- to 6-fold greater number of years of drug use, number of detoxification attempts and percentage with a history of methadone maintenance treatment. The proportion of subjects with treatment failure for the homeless (21%) and housed (22%) did not differ (P=.94). At 12 months, both groups had similar proportions with illicit opioid use [Odds ratio (OR), 0.9 (95% CI, 0.5–1.7) P=.8], utilization of counseling (homeless, 46%; housed, 49%; P=.95), and participation in mutual-help groups (homeless, 25%; housed, 29%; P=.96). At 12 months, 36% of the homeless group was no longer homeless. During the first month of treatment, homeless patients required more clinical support from the NCM than housed patients. CONCLUSIONS Despite homeless opioid dependent patients' social instability, greater comorbidities, and more chronic drug use, office-based opioid treatment with buprenorphine was effectively implemented in this population comparable to outcomes in housed patients with respect to treatment failure, illicit opioid use, and utilization of substance abuse treatment

Multi-Step Processing of Spatial Joins

Spatial joins are one of the most important operations for combining spatial objects of several relations. In this paper, spatial join processing is studied in detail for extended spatial objects in twodimensional data space. We present an approach for spatial join processing that is based on three steps. First, a spatial join is performed on the minimum bounding rectangles of the objects returning a set of candidates. Various approaches for accelerating this step of join processing have been examined at the last year’s conference [BKS 93a]. In this paper, we focus on the problem how to compute the answers from the set of candidates which is handled by the following two steps. First of all, sophisticated approximations are used to identify answers as well as to filter out false hits from the set of candidates. For this purpose, we investigate various types of conservative and progressive approximations. In the last step, the exact geometry of the remaining candidates has to be tested against the join predicate. The time required for computing spatial join predicates can essentially be reduced when objects are adequately organized in main memory. In our approach, objects are first decomposed into simple components which are exclusively organized by a main-memory resident spatial data structure. Overall, we present a complete approach of spatial join processing on complex spatial objects. The performance of the individual steps of our approach is evaluated with data sets from real cartographic applications. The results show that our approach reduces the total execution time of the spatial join by factors