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Flooding in urban areas poses serious risks to citizens, infrastructures, and transportation. Precise and real-time delineation of the inundated areas is crucial for a better understanding of the extent of damage and high-risk areas and people evacuation actions. It also increases citizens' awareness that living in areas with high flood risk. Yazd city is characterized by low rainfall (

Soil moisture content plays a pivotal role in biomass development of vegetation coverage at various growth stages. Moisture content of the soil is considered as a crucial parameter for agricultural studies which directly leads to higher fertility rate. Remote sensing techniques, specifically Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) sensors, provides suitable opportunity for continuous soil moisture monitoring at various spatial and temporal resolutions. In this study, field campaigns conducted to measure soil surface parameters, including soil moisture and roughness, synchronized with Sentinel-1 pass over an agricultural region near Mohammadshahr, Iran. Fieldwork for soil moisture sampling have done during plants’ (canola and winter wheat) growth stages. The Gradient Boosted Regression Tree (GBRT), eXtreme Gradient Boosted (XGB), and Random Forest (RF) machine learning algorithms were employed to model the relationship between the ground measured soil moisture and polarimetric SAR derived features from Sentinel-1 imageries. The results showed promising results obtained for soil moisture estimation using the dual-polarized SAR dataset over crop-covered agricultural fields with R2 = 0.95 and RMSE = 0.023 m3 m−3 using the GBRT regression model.

Eustrongylides excisus is a parasitic nematode species whose life cycle requires two intermediate hosts, an aquatic oligochaete and a benthophagous fish. In the present study, 100 specimens of Esox lucius Linnaeus weighing 550-800 g were collected from Freidoonkenar, south of the Caspian Sea (Mazandaran province, Iran) and were examined for the presence of Eustrongylides. The bright red nematode larvae were found in the testes and encapsulated in the body musculature of 90% of E. lucius fish. The larvae were diagnosed as Eustrongylides excisus. Tissue samples were collected from the muscles and testes for histopathological examination of the lesions caused by the parasitic larvae. For molecular analysis, the nematode larvae genomic DNA was extracted and molecular characterisation of Eustrongylides and comparison with the corresponding sequences available in the GenBank was done. The histopathological damages caused by parasites in the muscle included external nodules, inflammation, necrosis, and granulomas. Granulomas containing multi-nucleated giant cells, epithelioid cells, lymphoid cells, macrophages and necrotic debris were observed. Microscopic examination of the testes revealed mild vacuolar degeneration in some Sertoli cells. Molecular analysis confirmed obtained larvae as E. excisus. Comparison of DNA sequences showed that isolated nematodes were very similar to those obtained from freshwater fish in China. The present study reported Eustrongylides nematodes in Esox lucius, and inflammatory lesions caused by E. excisus larvae in the muscle and testis of this species of fish for the first time. In addition, molecular characterization and phylogenic analysis of recovered larvae showed presence of microvarients.

Disease can be spread through contact with contaminated surfaces (fomites). For example, fomites have been implicated in the spread of meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Antimicrobial surface treatments are a potential method of reducing disease transmission from fomites, and broad-spectrum activity is desirable.To test cuprous oxide (CuWe fabricated two surface coatings. The CuThe coatings rapidly killed nine different micro-organisms, including Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, mycobacteria and fungi. For example, the CuThe combination of broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity, abrasion resistance, and low toxicity of the Cu

In this paper, a photonic crystal containing graphene and metamaterial layers is investigated. The absorption spectrum of the structure in the terahertz range is obtained using the transfer matrix method. The results show that by adding a Si, SiO2 or metamaterial layer between two graphene layers, the terahertz absorption increases significantly. The results also reveal that in wide range of physical parameters, the approximately complete absorption occurs. Furthermore, the results indicate that the structure with metamaterial layer has the highest absorption performance., 12 pages, 6 figures

Venetoclax requires a 75% dose reduction when coadministered with voriconazole. In a 10-year historical cohort of treatment with venetoclax, we did not observe a worse hematologic outcome in patients who received voriconazole prophylaxis versus those who did not. Subtherapeutic voriconazole levels and a triazole exposure history may contribute to breakthrough invasive fungal infection.

This paper proposes an ILP framework to optimize metro-aggregation filterless horseshoe networks for digital subcarrier multiplexing point-to-multipoint (P2MP) transceiver deployment. The results show that this significantly reduces amplifier requirements while ensuring end-to-end performance.

Nowadays, along with the developments in the industry, many machines and structures are exposed to very high-temperature environments, which has caused various types of thermal load in them. These conditions have led to focused studies on thermal stresses in structures. Heat exchangers are among the structures in which the temperature difference causes thermal stress. In this paper, “finite volume” and “finite element” methods are used to solve flow equations and thermal stress equations in solids, respectively. In addition, the effect of changes in the shape of the annular finned pipe on the thermal stresses in the heat exchanger is investigated. The study results on changing the pipe shape from circular to elliptical show that by changing the pipe shape, the thermal stress in the fin can be significantly reduced; for instance, in the cases reviewed in this paper, the thermal stress has decreased by 9%. Furthermore, the results of thermal stress show that the Maximum Effective Stress point, both before and after changing the shape, is still located at the fin’s base. So, according to the results of this study, examining the effect of pipe shape changing on thermal stress is an imperative measure when designing heat exchangers.

Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text., Background. Several studies have described the clinical features of COVID-19 in solid-organ transplant recipients. However, many have been retrospective or limited to more severe cases (hospitalized) and have not routinely included serial virological sampling (especially in outpatients) and immunologic assessment. Methods. Transplant patients diagnosed with COVID-19 based on a respiratory sample PCR were prospectively followed up to 90 d. Patients provided consent for convalescent serum samples and serial nasopharyngeal swabs for SARS-CoV-2 antibody (antinucleoprotein and anti-RBD) and viral load, respectively. Results. In the 161 SOT recipients diagnosed with COVID-19, the spectrum of disease ranged from asymptomatic infection (4.3%) to hospitalization (60.6%), supplemental oxygen requirement (43.1%), mechanical ventilation (22.7%), and death (15.6%). Increasing age (OR, 1.031; 95% CI, 1.001-1.062; P = 0.046) and ≥2 comorbid conditions (OR, 3.690; 95% CI, 1.418-9.615; P = 0.007) were associated with the need for supplemental oxygen. Allograft rejection was uncommon (3.7%) despite immunosuppression modification. Antibody response at ≥14 d postsymptoms onset was present in 90% (anti-RBD) and 76.7% (anti-NP) with waning of anti-NP titers and stability of anti-RBD over time. Median duration of nasopharyngeal positivity was 10.0 d (IQR, 5.5–18.0) and shedding beyond 30 d was observed in 6.7% of patients. The development of antibody did not have an impact on viral shedding. Conclusions. This study demonstrates the spectrum of COVID-19 illness in transplant patients. Risk factors for severe disease are identified. The majority form antibody by 2 wk with differential stability over time. Prolonged viral shedding was observed in a minority of patients. Reduction of immunosuppression was a safe strategy.

The typical demagnetization mechanism is applicable in magneto-optic recording systems on a nanoseconds timescale. To develop data processing speed in communication systems and the recording industry, much faster magnetization dynamics must occur on a timescale of femtosecond. Interest in this area has expanded rapidly since understanding the physics of ultrafast magnetization processes by experiment are an acutely challenging task. As a result, in order to explain the quenching of magnetization by laser heating in ferromagnetic alloys such as permalloy thin film with thickness varying from 1 nm to 5 nm, we executed a new theoretical study. In particular, we demonstrate that the magnetization decays in a timescale of picoseconds by the microscopic three-temperature model.

Introduction: Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is one of the most important staple food crops in the world. However, rapid increase in world population and adverse effects of climate change, such as prolonged drought, has resulted in challenges in food security. One of the important factors in reducing rice yield can be the emergence and poor establishment of seedlings in the field. Seed treatment before sowing is the foundation for activation of seed resources that in combination with external ingredients could contribute to the efficient plant growth and high yield. Various physiological and non-physiological techniques are available for enhancing seed performance as well as to combat environmental constraints. Pre-sowing seed treatment such as seed coating and seed priming could improve the seed germination and vigor particularly under unfavorable environmental conditions.Materials and Methods: In order to investigate the effect of priming and seed coating on emergence characteristics, yield and yield components of rice, a field experiment was conducted in the 2020 growing season, Rice Research Institute of Iran (RRII). The experiment was performed as a factorial in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Experimental factors include rice cultivars (Hashemi and Gohar) and treatment of rice cultivars in seven levels including 1- Priming with calcium chloride (-1.25 MPa in 24 hours), 2- Priming with potassium chloride (1.25 MPa in 24 hours), 3- Priming with zinc sulfate (concentration of 0.5 mM in 12 hours), 4- Hydropriming (48 hours) + Coating the seeds with calcium chloride, 5- Hydropriming (48 hours) + Coating With potassium chloride, 6- Hydropriming (48 hours) + coating with zinc sulfate and 7- Hydropriming (48 hours as control).Results and Discussion: The results showed that the highest emergence percentage with 87% and 94% and the emergence rate with 0.17 and 0.19 (1.day-1) were obtained in Hashemi and Gohar cultivars, respectively. From these results, it is inferred that Gohar cultivar has higher genetic potential and physiological quality than Hashemi cultivar. The results of mean comparison showed that the highest height of rice plant with 147 and 143 cm was observed in coating and priming with potassium chloride in Hashemi cultivar, respectively. The results of this study attributed the increase in height to the effect of pretreatment on increasing the rate of emergence and better establishment of seedlings due to better plant use of related resources. The results showed that seed pretreatment with calcium chloride, potassium chloride and zinc sulfate increased the panicle length by 27, 24 and 12% under priming and 37, 34 and 17% under seed coating, respectively. The results of the mean comparison table showed that the highest panicle weight with 1.35 and 1.32 g was observed by seed coating with potassium chloride and calcium chloride, respectively. However, priming with calcium chloride, potassium chloride and zinc sulfate also increased the cluster weight by 12, 17 and 5%, respectively, compared to the control treatment. The results showed that the highest 1000-seed weight was obtained among the two cultivars with 24.63 g in Gohar cultivar. Also, the findings of this study showed well that pretreatment of rice seeds can increase the 1000-seed weight. Pretreatment of rice seeds with calcium chloride, potassium chloride and zinc sulfate 10, 12 and 5% under priming and 18, 22 and 10% under seed coating, respectively, increased 1000-seed weight. The results of mean comparison showed that grain yield in Hashemi and Gohar cultivars were 3046 and 4929 kg.ha-1, respectively. Pretreatment of rice seeds with calcium chloride and potassium chloride 14 and 20% under priming and 19 and 23% seed coating respectively, increased rice grain yield. In general, the increase in grain yield can be due to the improvement of antioxidant properties, proper establishment and optimal use of environmental factors such as light, soil moisture and nutrients.Conclusions: According to the results of this study, priming and seed coating treatments with calcium chloride and potassium chloride in rice cultivars can increase rice yield by improving seedling characteristics. Therefore, farmers can be advised to use a simple and inexpensive crop management method to pre-treat seeds with calcium chloride and potassium chloride.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a complex neurodegenerative disease in which the understanding of the underlying molecular mechanisms can be constructive in the diagnosis and treatment. Matrix metalloproteinase (MMPs) elevation and damage to the blood-brain barrier (BBB) are critical mechanisms involved in the PD separation. Studies have revealed that changes in miR-149-5p and CoQ10 are associated with BBB damage, and CoQ10 can affect the levels of some miRs. Hence, in the present study, we aimed to evaluate CoQ10 and miR-149-5p mimic on miR-149-5p, MMPs and TH expression, and behavioral functions of the PD models. PD was induced by injection of 6-OHDA into the rats' Medial Forbrain Bundle (MFB). The behavioral tests, including the Rotation test, Rotarod test, and Open field test, have been directed two weeks after PD induction. Next, the MiR-149-5p mimic (miR-mimic) and CoQ10 have been administered to rats. The same behavioral tests have been evaluated two weeks after administration to investigate the effect of miR-149-5p mimic and CoQ10. The rats were followed extra four weeks, and the behavioral tests have performed again. Finally, the expression of MMPs and miR-149-5p genes was measured using RT-qPCR, and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) was assessed through immunohistochemistry analysis. According to the obtained results, the level of miR-149-5p has decreased, followed by PD induction in rats. RT-qPCR analysis has represented upregulation and downregulation of miR-149-5p and MMP-2,9, respectively, after miR-mimic and CoQ10 treatment. The treated rats have also represented improved motor function and increased TH + cells in the striatum according to the behavioral tests and immunohistochemistry assay. Taking together miR-149 and CoQ10 has shown to have an impressive potential to prevent damage to dopaminergic neurons caused by 6-OHDA injection through reducing MMP-2,9, increased TH expression, and improved motor function.

ImportanceVaccine effectiveness studies have rarely implemented strategies to reduce the healthy vaccinee bias arising from differences in health care–seeking behavior between vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals. Although previous observational studies suggest that influenza vaccination is associated with a reduced risk of SARS-CoV-2–associated outcomes, the healthy vaccinee bias may have led to overestimating the vaccination effect.ObjectiveTo estimate the association between influenza vaccination and SARS-CoV-2–associated outcomes.Design, Setting, and ParticipantsThis cohort study was conducted over 2 consecutive influenza vaccination campaigns (2019-2020 and 2020-2021), owing to the substantial COVID-19 burden and the greater validity of influenza vaccination data in the studied age group. The study population included community-dwelling adults aged 66 years or older in Ontario, Canada.ExposureInfluenza vaccination for a given season.Main Outcomes and MeasuresThe outcomes of interest included SARS-CoV-2 infection, SARS-CoV-2–associated hospitalization, SARS-CoV-2–associated death, and a composite of SARS-CoV-2–associated hospitalization or death. Cox proportional hazards models were used to measure the association between influenza vaccination and SARS-CoV-2–associated outcomes, censoring individuals who moved into long-term care, received COVID-19 vaccines, or died before the observation period end date. Primary care periodic health examinations (PHEs) were explored as a negative tracer exposure (ie, no association expected with SARS-CoV-2 outcomes) and as an effect modifier of the association between influenza vaccination and SARS-CoV-2 outcomes.ResultsOf 2 922 449 individuals aged 66 years or older (54.2% female) living in Ontario, 2 279 805 were included in the study. Among these, 1 234 647 (54.2%) were female and 1 045 158 (45.8%) were male; their mean (SD) age was 75.08 (7.21) years. Those who had received influenza vaccination exhibited a lower incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection than unvaccinated individuals for the 2019-2020 cohort (adjusted hazards ratio [aHR], 0.78; 95% CI, 0.73-0.84) and the 2020-2021 cohort (aHR, 0.76; 95% CI, 0.74-0.78). This association was also observed for SARS-CoV-2–associated hospitalization or death (2019-2020: aHR, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.74-0.92; 2020-2021: aHR, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.63-0.70). Similarly, undergoing a PHE was also associated with a lower incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection (aHR, 0.85; 95% CI, 0.78-0.91) and SARS-CoV-2–associated hospitalization or death (aHR, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.70-0.90), and modified the association between influenza vaccination and SARS-CoV-2 infection for vaccinated individuals who underwent PHE (aHR, 0.62; 95% CI, 0.52-0.74) and for vaccinated individuals who did not undergo PHE (aHR, 0.81; 95% CI, 0.76-0.87), and also SARS-CoV-2–associated hospitalization or death in vaccinated individuals who underwent PHE (aHR, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.49-0.88) and vaccinated individuals who did not undergo PHE (aHR, 0.85, 95% CI, 0.76-0.95).Conclusions and RelevanceThe findings of this cohort study suggest that undergoing a PHE may at least partially modify the association between influenza vaccination and SARS-CoV-2–associated outcomes in individuals aged 66 years or older, providing evidence of the healthy vaccinee bias that may affect vaccine effectiveness studies.

In recent years, myoelectric control systems have emerged for upper limb wearable robotic exoskeletons to provide movement assistance and/or to restore motor functions in people with motor disabilities and to augment human performance in able-bodied individuals. In myoelectric control, electromyographic (EMG) signals from muscles are utilized to implement control strategies in exoskeletons and exosuits, improving adaptability and human–robot interactions during various motion tasks. This paper reviews the state-of-the-art myoelectric control systems designed for upper-limb wearable robotic exoskeletons and exosuits, and highlights the key focus areas for future research directions. Here, different modalities of existing myoelectric control systems were described in detail, and their advantages and disadvantages were summarized. Furthermore, key design aspects (i.e., supported degrees of freedom, portability, and intended application scenario) and the type of experiments conducted to validate the efficacy of the proposed myoelectric controllers were also discussed. Finally, the challenges and limitations of current myoelectric control systems were analyzed, and future research directions were suggested.

Saline environments are largely unexplored sources of actinomycetes with the potential to produce biologically active secondary metabolites. A total of 34 actinomycete isolates from water, sediments and mostly rhizosphere (82%) were collected from different sites at Howz Soltan Lake in Iran. Based on phylogenetic analysis, the isolates belonged to the genera Streptomyces, Nocardia and Saccharomonospora. Cytotoxic assay revealed extract from isolate act9 as the most potent (19.716±5.72 µg/ml) against the MDA-MB-231 human breast cancer cell. Also, 38% of the isolates showed antimicrobial activity against some of the test microorganisms. The ethyl-acetate extract of isolate act18 showed the strongest antibacterial effect against Staphylococcus aureus and MRSA, and was further analyzed by GC/MS. Ar-tumerone (26.41%) and butyl isodecyl phthalate (21.77 %) were the main constituents detected in the extract. This is the first time Ar-tumerone is being detected in a prokaryote. Isolate act18 showed a high 16S rRNA sequence similarity to that of Streptomyces youssoufiensis DSM 41920. In addition, a number of the isolates produced different enzymes including lipase, amylase, protease, gelatinase, urease and lecithinase. Some of the isolates belonging to the genera Streptomyces and Nocardia exhibited plant growth promoting activity such as increased seed germination, stem length and the number of Echium leaves during the 20 days. Findings from this study indicated the diversity and biosynthetic potential of actinomycetes from saline environment.

In Germany, around 58 million people currently use a smartphone. 1 Not to use this communicative access to potential customers on the part of the health market would not only be negligent, but also unrealistic. Digitalization in the health sector has developed strongly in many areas in recent years and is described with different terms. These include 'e-health', 'digital health' or 'health 2.0'. However, all these terms mean the same thing: techniques and digital applications for preventing, improving and maintaining the health of the population. The tools of this technology are websites, portals, forums and, above all, apps. They are all intended to support people in actively shaping their health. 2

The aim of this paper is to retrieve the temperature-dependent refractive index distribution in parallel-plane semi-transparent media with combined conduction-radiation heat transfer, by the measur...

In the case of explosions and fires, the rocks undergo a cycle of heating and cooling. For that, first, they are exposed to considerable heat and then cooled after extinguishing the fire. Temperature variations and subsequent contraction and expansion affect the physical and mechanical properties of rocks. Through two series of tests, the effects of temperature and the number of heating-cooling cycles on the mode I, mode II and the effective mixed-mode I-II fracture toughness of Lushan sandstone were investigated. In the first series, the effect of temperature was studied in a heating–cooling cycle at ambient temperature (25°C) and 60, 150, 200, 300, 500, and 700°C. The highest and lowest mode I, mode II and the effective mixed-mode I-II fracture toughness were, observed at 150 and 700°C, respectively. In the second series of tests, the effect of the number of heating–cooling cycles was investigated on the mode I, mode II and the effective mixed-mode I-II fracture toughness of sandstone specimens at 150°C (for hydraulic fracturing modeling) and a crack inclination angle of 45°. According to the results, the mode I, mode II and the effective mixed-mode I-II fracture toughness increased in the first cycle and decreased with increasing the number of heating–cooling cycles. As the crack inclination increased, the effective mixed-mode I-II fracture toughness of the sandstone specimens increased. The mode II fracture toughness increased up to a crack inclination angle of 45° and then decreased. Moreover, the mode of fracture changes from opening mode (mode I) at the crack inclination angle of zero degree to mixed mode (tension-shear) at the crack inclination angle of less than 28.8°. The mode of fracture changes from tensile-shear to compression-shear at the crack inclination angle of greater than 28.8°.

Using the semiclassical WKB method and considering the WKB quantization condition, the alpha decay half-lives of 420 alpha emitters were calculated with eight forms of the proximity and Woods–Saxon type potentials. The effect of quantization condition on the nuclear potential, effective potential, assault frequency, tunneling probability, alpha decay half-life, and root mean square deviation between theory and the experiment were investigated. Significant differences between calculated half-lives with and without inclusion of the quantization condition were observed specially for proximity potentials. By including the quantization, the Woods–Saxon potential was found as the best potential for even–even, even–odd, odd–even, odd–odd, and all alpha emitters. The quantization condition normalized the nuclear potentials. Therefore, by considering this condition, the thirteen forms of the prox77 potential with different sets of the surface energy and surface asymmetry constants gave the same results. This result was justified with two sets of parameters.