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This paper has proposed a new perspective of studying internal structure-based tests, the results of which will improve the present experimental methods and enrich our understanding of rock structure-based modeling without any core preparations, with low cost in a short time. Pore volume compressibility (PVC) is an important feature of rock and is related to mechanical and structural behavior of porous rock sample. An accurate evaluation of pore volume compressibility depends on experimental test which is time-consuming and costly. This paper outlines new method for evaluation of PVC of rock cores using a computed tomography (CT) scan-based finite element method (FEM). The verification studies were performed on a series of porous rock cores which were extracted from deep oil reservoirs in Iran. In order to construct a finite element model, a relationship between spatial elastic properties of samples and CT-scanned data images was derived. The samples were scanned by a conic beam computed tomography (CBCT) machine, and the scanned data were converted into a model to simulate PVC tests. The pore volumetric strains were obtained from a linear elastic analysis for each stress and pore pressure step. To validate the finite element analysis (FEA) results, a series of experimental PVC tests were conducted on the pre-scanned samples and PVC curves were extracted. As a result, the predictions calculated from the CT scan-based numerical models have shown a good correlation with the results obtained from laboratory experiments. The results revealed that it is possible to simulate PVC tests using this numerical proposed evaluation method in such a way that the cost and time of the tests were lowered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Metastasis is a major leading cause of mortality in female breast cancer (BrCa). Cellular motility is a pathological process of metastasis remarked by the overexpression of cortactin (CTTN), Ras homolog family member-A (RhoA), and Rho-associated kinase (ROCK) genes. Their balance is responsible for upholding the integrity of healthy epithelial cell junctions. This study aimed to explore the associations between a posteriori dietary patterns and the expression levels of pro-metastatic genes in primary BrCa. Methods: In this consecutive case series, 215 eligible women, newly diagnosed with histologically confirmed non-metastatic BrCa (stage I-IIIA), were recruited from Hospitals in Tabriz, Northwestern Iran (2015–2017). The tumoral expression levels of genes were quantified using real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. Dietary data assessment was carried out using a validated food frequency questionnaire. Results: Three dietary patterns were identified using principal component analysis (KMO = 0.699). Adherence to the "vegan" pattern (vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, seeds, and whole grains) was inversely associated with the expression levels of RhoA (ORAdj.T3vs.T1 = 0.24, 95%CI 0.07–0.79) and ROCK (ORAdj.T3vs.T1 = 0.26, 95%CI 0.08–0.87). In addition, the highest adherence to the "prudent" pattern (spices, seafood, dairy, and vegetable oils) decreased the odds of overexpressions at RhoA (ORAdj.T3vs.T1 = 0.26, 95%CI 0.08–0.84) and ROCK genes (ORAdj.T3vs.T1 = 0.29, 95%CI 0.09–0.95). The highest adherence to "Western" pattern (meat, processed meat, hydrogenated fat, fast food, refined cereals, sweets, and soft drinks) was a risk factor associated with the overexpression of RhoA (ORAdj.T3vs.T1 = 3.15, 95%CI 1.12–8.85). Conclusion: Adherence to healthy dietary patterns was significantly associated with the downregulation of pro-metastatic genes. Findings provided new implications to advance the nutrigenomic knowledge to prevent the odds of over-regulations in pro-metastatic genes of the primary BrCa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fifteen sedimentary rock samples from four rock types, including sandstone, limestone, travertine, and conglomerate, were collected from northern Iran’s Damghan area. Mineralogical studies and laboratory experiments were performed to assess the rocks’ physical properties, Schmidt hardness, P-wave velocity, slake-durability index, uniaxial compressive, point load, Brazilian tensile, and block punch strengths. The studied rock samples are mainly composed of quartz, calcite, and dolomite with different textures. The slake-durability test was carried out up to ten cycles in fluids with different pHs. The utilized test fluids were natural water with a pH of 7 and sulfuric acid solutions with pH of 5.5 and 4. Based on the results, the slake-durability index is affected by the pH of the test fluids. Also, the different rock types had distinctive slaking behaviors. The decreasing rate of the slake-durability index at initial cycles is higher than the end cycles. Regression analyses showed that the evaluated parameters are correlated to the slake-durability index. In other words, the slake-durability index of the studied rock samples is greatly affected by their mineral composition, texture, physical properties such as porosity, and it is closely related to the strength parameters of the rocks. These preliminary results led to the extraction of empirical equations for determining essential characteristics of the rocks from the slake-durability index. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following earlier reports of water contamination and arsenic (As) toxicity symptoms in residents of Kurdistan Province, As was determined in rock, soil and plant samples to investigate its fate from rock to crops and its potential effects on human health. Total As content ranged from 4.9 to 10,000 mg/kg, 7.7–430 mg/kg and < 0.05–25,079 µg/kg (dry weight) in rock, soil and plant samples, respectively. The Qorveh–Bijar region data indicated that magmatic differentiation has enriched late magmatic fluids in As. High rare earth elements concentration, dissociation coefficient, and positive Eu anomaly in volcanic rocks, indicated the prevalence of intermediate to felsic composition. The highest As concentration was measured in travertine. In soil, As average level in Qorveh and Bijar was 48.5 and 107 mg/kg, respectively. Higher pollution index and geoaccumulation index (Igeo) were also calculated for Bijar County. The As concentration in crop samples was greater than the recommended maximum permissible concentration for foodstuff. Mann–Whitney U test revealed significant differences between As concentration in different plant species and no difference between plants in Bijar and Qorveh. Also, alfalfa displayed the highest biological accumulation coefficient among the investigated plants. The calculated chronic daily intake of As in Bijar County was higher than the recommended levels for wheat and barley grains. Moreover, the hazard quotient (HQ) and incremental lifetime cancer risk assessments revealed high non-cancer (HQ > 1 for both adults and children) and cancer (particularly for barley in Bijar) risks for inhabitants via consumption of As contaminated crops cultivated in the study area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes ground-motion prediction equations(GMPEs) for the horizontal component of earthquake in Iranian plateau. These equations present the velocity and acceleration response spectra at 5% damping ratio as continuous period functions, within range of 0.1 to 4 seconds. So far many equations have been presented and the recent suggested proportions are functions of several parameters. In this research, due to easy usage and lack of information in Iran, only the magnitude of earthquake, the distance between earthquake source and the location and the ground type are used as important factors. Iranian plateau is divided into two zones: Alborz-Central Iran and Zagros, each of which is divided into rock and soil region according to the ground type. Regarding the fact that the occurred and reported earthquakes in Iran are shallow, surface wave magnitude (Ms) is used in this study. Moreover, hypocentral distance is considered as distance between the earthquake source and the location. To obtain the velocity and acceleration response spectra, a Gene Expression Programming(GEP) algorithm is used which utilizes no constant regression model and the model is acquired smartly as a continuous period function. The consequences show a consistency with high proportionality coefficient among the observed and anticipated results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using statistical methods and information from petrophysical logs of eight wellbores, the porosity changes that are considered as important features to evaluate quality of reservoir were studied in the Asmari reservoir layer located in one of the fields of southwest Iran. Logs used to measure the porosity usually involve neutron and sonic logs. Normal distribution test, regression, and variance analysis are among the statistical processing methods suitable to examine changes in porosity with the depth of each wellbore and to compare these changes in the studied wellbores. The results showed that these processes are regarded as the fast and efficient ways for examining porosity in the fields with large area. Considering the results of tests conducted, it was determined that the porosity has not the same changes in the studied wellbores. Furthermore, it was determined that there is no particular trend between porosity and depth. This can be due to the dominant lithology type in the reservoir layer that is mostly the rock carbonate. These rocks are heterogeneous and their porosity are often secondary that was formed due to diagenesis and tectonic processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to complete the previous research publication of the first author on the subject of ground-motion prediction equations (GMPEs) for Iran [Ghodrati Amiri et al., 2007]. Several studies are being conducted to systematically assess the seismic hazards of areas within the seismic zones of Iran. Therefore, there is an inevitable need for appropriate GMPEs of spectral ordinates. Similarly, suitable relations of Arias intensity (AI) for this region are useful to capture the potential destructiveness of an earthquake. This article derives new relations using the strong-motion database for two seismic zones of Zagros and Alborz-Central Iran according to tectonic conditions, following a new processing of all of the records. A total of 725 strong-motion accelerograms recorded from 379 earthquakes with magnitudes between 4.0 and 7.7 and with hypocentral distances larger then 5 kilometers and mostly smaller than 200 kilometers are used to obtain equations. Analogous to the previous study, relations are derived for soil and rock site conditions to obtain better results. Each record is individually filtered and then the needed parameters are extracted from the earthquake acceleration record data. Finally, the relationships between the spectral acceleration (SA), Arias intensity (AI), and earthquake parameters are obtained. The earthquake independent parameters chosen are hypocentral distance and magnitude in order to make it easier to use the relationships for seismic hazard analysis. The predictions are found to be consistent with those from previous studies in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to derive the attenuation relationships for PGA, PGV, and EPA parameters for areas within the seismic zones of Zagros, Alborz and Central Iran with rock and soil substructures. In order to do so, at first the available scientific data including the methods used for deriving attenuation relationships and the parameters involved have been gathered. Afterwards, all the efforts have been focused on gathering a thorough catalogue of earthquakes occurred in Iran. In this regard, a majority of the available catalogs in Iran have been gathered and corrected through different methods and finally a set of 89 earthquake events including 307 earthquake records with reliable data was chosen. Since in order to derive the attenuation relationships it is essential to extract the parameters from the acceleration records, a great effort was placed on gathering the earthquake acceleration records of Iran. This resulted in building a database of a majority of the earthquake records up to the year of 2004. Afterwards, correction methods applicable to earthquakes records of Iran considering the type of machines used and the ground type were examined which resulted in certain guidelines for correction of earthquake acceleration record data related to Iran. In the next step the needed parameters were extracted from the earthquake acceleration record data which were consequently divided into two seismic zones of Zagros, and Alborz and Central Iran according to tectonic conditions. After examination of the parameters and choosing the most appropriate among them, the attenuation relationships were derived for such parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High stress and anxiety in healthy individuals may lead to use different pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapies. The study aimed to investigate the effect of different genres of music on anxiety and relaxation in healthy participants. This study was a randomized controlled trial with a cross-over design. Forty-six healthy undergraduates participated in the study and randomly received different genres of music (Pop, Rock, Western Classical, and Persian Traditional) and silence for five consecutive days between February and June 2018. Each participant was her/his own control. Relaxation and the State Anxiety were checked with Smith Relaxation States Inventory 3 and The State Anxiety Inventory before and after listening to 15 min of music or laying down in silence. None of the five procedures were preferred for a more relaxing effect (P > 0.05). Also, none of the interventions were preferred for reduction of the state anxiety (P > 0.05). Although different genres of music, i.e., Pop, Rock, Western Classical, Persian Traditional, could reduce state anxiety and improve relaxation, they had no extra effect compared to Silence., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)