3D Numerical Investigation of Ground Settlements Induced by Construction of Istanbul Twin Metro Tunnels with Special Focus on Tunnel Spacing

One of the most important considerations of tunneling in urban areas is controlling the amount of surface settlement that occurs during construction stages. The goal of this paper is to investigate the effect of spacing of Istanbul Twin Metro Tunnels on the surface settlement excavated by NATM method in YENIKAPI-UNKAPANI metro line. For this purpose, the focus has been placed on the effect of longitudinal and transversal spacing between tunnels supported by an umbrella arch protecting method. (FLAC3D) was implemented to simulate the excavation sequence. According to the analysis, the amount of settlement by numerical approach was about 23.5 mm which was in good agreement with the field monitoring results that was 26.5 mm. Moreover, the interaction between twin tunnels by the increase in spacing between twin tunnels in the direction perpendicular to tunnel axis decreases and becomes less effective at the location about 3 times of the tunnel diameter. Similarly, the interaction between twin tunnels in the direction parallel to tunnel axis decreases as the spacing increases. In other words, by increasing the distance between tunnel faces in longitudinal direction at a distance about 3 times of the tunnel diameter, there is still interaction between tunnels and it doesn’t disappear completely. Therefore, it is recommended to keep this distance at about more than 2.5 times of tunnel diameter so that settlement can stay within acceptable range

Seizure following removal of Swan Ganz Catheter

Venous air embolism (VAE) is an infrequent incident with fatal consequences during insertion or removal of central venous catheters. It is befalling when air or gas arrives at the vascular system. In this case report, we present a case of a 38-year-old female patient with an air embolism after removal of the Swan Ganz catheter that caused the seizure and cardiac arrest. There is an overview of the causes and ways to prevent VAE in the patien

Statistical and Numerical Study of Chipping and Cracking in Segmental Lining

Some of the most frequent damages of concrete segments in shield tunnels are chipping and cracking, which are followed by degradation of lining system. In this paper, these types of damages are studied in four subway and two water conveyance tunnels. More than 2100 concrete rings are examined for chipping inspection and another 3000 for determination of the cracking. Statistical analysis of the research data showed that corners of the key and counter-key segments carry the highest number of chipping, while most of the cracking occur in the middle zones and shape of the segments and number of trust jacks affect the cracking pattern. Two kinds of numerical models are used to examine the underlying damages, which are based on geometrical characteristics of tunnel lining and boring machine besides operational mistakes. Findings of the numerical simulation revealed that installation of segmental lining with the least amount of erection tolerances results in low amount of chipping, this is while using key-segments with 12–17 degrees of insertion angle reduces total magnitude of damage due to tensile and compressive stresses. Furthermore, the deviation angle of TBM’s jack and segment’s axis should never be more than 5 degrees; otherwise even high-quality concrete segments wouldn’t remain undamaged. Employment of boring machines with articulated system is proposed in this case

A study on the pattern of drug abuse and demographic characteristics of addicts referred to addiction treatment centers of Kermanshah City, Iran, in 2016

BACKGROUND: The problems of drugs and addiction and the consequences of drug into abuse are considered as a phenomenon that affects different aspects of human life and is one of the main problems of modern age. The main goal of performing this investigation was identifying general demographic factors which affect the process of addiction in order to make available the facility of diagnosis and practice of therapeutic programs.METHODS: In this cross-sectional and descriptive study, a number of 500 addicts in Kermanshah, Iran, were selected using sampling method. Data were analyzed using SPSS software and descriptive statistics (frequency, percentage frequency, cumulative frequency, and average).RESULTS: The mean age of the subjects in this study was 36.6 + 8.80 years. Most addicts were in the age category of 31 to 40 years old. 62.8% of them began drug use for the first time in the age range of 10 to 20 years. 47% had primary education and 68.4% were unemployed and had no specific source of income. The top cause of drug use was reported as entertainment and enjoyment (47.6%) and the other cause was curiosity (26.4%). The most common cause of drug cessation was being tired of drug use.CONCLUSION: With regard to the fact that most addicts are unemployed with no source of income, thus it seems that the authorities have to assess effective treatments and find ways to create youth employment and also healthy entertainment activities and source of income on which one can rely

Immunoinformatics and Similarity Analysis of House Dust Mite Tropomyosin

Background: Dermatophagoides farinae and Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus are house dust mites (HDM) that they cause severe asthma and allergic symptoms. Tropomyosin protein plays an important role in mentioned immune and allergic reactions to HDMs. Here, tropomyosin protein from Dermatophagoides spp. was comprehensively screened in silico for its allergenicity, antigenicity and similarity/conservation.Materials and Methods: The amino acid sequences of D. farinae tropomyosin, D. pteronyssinus and other mites were retrieved. We included alignments and evaluated conserved/ variable regions along sequences, constructed their phylogenetic tree and estimated overall mean distances. Then, followed by with prediction of linear B-cell epitope based on different approaches, and besides in-silico evaluation of IgE epitopes allergenicity (by SVMc, IgE epitope, ARPs BLAST, MAST and hybrid method). Finally, comparative analysis of results by different approaches was made.Results: Alignment results revealed near complete identity between D. farina and D. pteronyssinus members, and also there was close similarity among Dermatophagoides spp. Most of the variations among mites' tropomyosin were approximately located at amino acids 23 to 80, 108 to 120, 142 to 153 and 220 to 230. Topology of tree showed close relationships among mites in tropomyosin protein sequence, although their sequences in D. farina, D. pteronyssinus and Psoroptes ovis are more similar to each other and clustered. Dermanyssus gallinae (AC: Q2WBI0) has less relationship to other mites, being located in a separate branch. Hydrophilicity and flexibility plots revealed that many parts of this protein have potential to be hydrophilic and flexible. Surface accessibility represented 7 different epitopes. Beta-turns in this protein are with high probability in the middle part and its two terminals. Kolaskar and Tongaonkar method analysis represented 11 immunogenic epitopes between amino acids 7-16. From comparative analysis of predicted probable consensus epitope regions by machine learning approaches these epitopes were gained: AA23-48, AA59-80, AA91-110, AA114-143, AA154-168, AA182-200, AA208-225, and AA254-272. Prediction of allergenic proteins by AlgPred server showed 10 matches for IgE epitope, and prediction by hybrid approach showed that IgE epitope is undoubtedly the major allergen.Conclusion: Immunoinformatic approaches in allergenic protein analysis are now reliable tools for explanation/interpretation of clinically observed complexities. Results of present study, would help in HDM immunotherapy against several species of parasites as a wide range epitopic desensitization or prevention (vaccine) regime

The Role of C-reactive Protein in Diagnosis of Acute Complicated Appendicitis: A Diagnostic Accuracy Study

Introduction: Acute appendicitis is one of the most common emergencies of general surgery. Contrary to simple appendicitis, the complicated cases are associated with higher morbidity and mortality. Except for pathology, no accurate diagnostic test has been found to identify complicated cases. Objective: Here in, we aim to evaluate the serum C-Reactive Protein (CRP) level in both acute simple and complicated appendicitis. Methods: In this diagnostic accuracy study, 199 patients with acute appendicitis were enrolled. The serum CRP level was evaluated in patients. Post-operatively, the patients were divided into simple and complicated appendicitis based on histopathological examination. Eventually, analysis of the CRP level and type of appendicitis was performed. Results: Fifty-three patients were categorized into complicated appendicitis and 146 patients into simple appendicitis. The median of CRP was significantly higher in the complicated group. Additionally, the optimal cutoff point was as follows: [65.0 (25.0) vs 25.0 (51.0); P-value< 0.001]. The optimal cutoff point for CRP was more than 42 with 81.1% sensitivity (95% CI: 68.0 to 90.6), and 67.8% specificity (95% CI: 59.6 to 75.3). The positive (PPV) and negative predictive values (NPV), based on the prevalence of complicated appendicitis (26.6%) for optimal cutoff point, were 47.8% (95% CI: 37.1 to 58.6) and 90.8% (95% CI: 83.8 to 95.5). Conclusion: Our study revealed that evaluation of serum CRP levels could be useful and beneficial in the diagnosis of acute complicated appendicitis

Association of the high-sensitive cardiac troponin T levels and long-term mortality in patients with acute aortic dissection type A

Introduction: Acute aortic dissection type A is a life-threatening cardiovascular emergency necessitating rapid diagnosis and treatment. We sought a new prognostic tool with cardiac biomarkers and simple inflammatory factors. Methods: from 2003 to 2014, 50 patients with documented acute aortic dissection type A were entered to this study. These patients were followed up until December 2020; within median follow up of 93.6 months. The patients were evaluated on the association of the baseline characteristics, first laboratory investigation, echocardiographic findings, surgical approach, and long-term mortality. Results: Total number of mortality during the follow up was 29 (58%) patients, which was significantly higher in medical group (89.4% vs 38.7%, P value=0.001). Multivariable analysis showed only an increase in hs-cTnT levels was suggested as a predictor of mortality (95% CI: 1.06–1.38; HR=1.21; P=0.005), so that for every 100 units increase, patients were 21% more likely to have mortality in long term. Also, performing surgical treatment for aortic dissection was determined as the independent predictor of surviving, so that death was 74.6% less than those who received medical treatment (95% CI: 0.13–0.58; HR=0.27; P=0.001). Conclusion: hs-cTnT is a potential predictor of mortality in patients with acute aortic dissection type A

Energy/economic analysis and optimization of on-grid photovoltaic system using CPSO algorithm

Today, the use of renewable energy is increasing day by day, and this development requires the optimization of these technologies in various dimensions. Solar systems have a higher acceptance due to their high availability and accessibility; the most common solar technology is photovoltaic cell. In this research, modeling was done to achieve the most economically optimal arrangement of photovoltaic panels, inverters, and module placement to generate more electrical energy by considering economic parameters, for which the CPSO algorithm was used. Four different combinations of module and inverter were studied in this research, among which the second combination, which included PV module type one and inverter type two, was the best case. One of the significant results of the present study is 191,430 kWh of electrical energy during the studied year by the solar cell connected to the grid, which requires $42,792,727 to produce.https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainabilitydm2022Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineerin