Effects of Long-term Heat Exposure on Adaptive Mechanism of Blood Acid-base in Buffalo Calves

Korde, J.P.,Singh, G.,Varshney, V.P.,Shukla, D.C. Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2007 Animal Bioscience Vol.20 No.5

In order to investigate the mechanism of adaptation to long-term heat stress, six female buffalo calves of about 7 to 8 months age, were exposed to the cool-comfort environment (THI 65) for 21 days to obtain normal values of blood acid-base. An adaptive response of acid-base regulation was determined to long term (21 days) exposure of buffalo calves to hot-dry (THI 80) and hot-humid (THI 84) conditions. Higher rectal temperature and respiratory rate was recorded under hot-humid exposure compared to hot-dry. Significant reduction in the rectal temperature and respiratory rate on day 21 of hot-dry exposure indicated early thermal adaptation compared to hot-humid. Decreasing rectal temperature and respiratory rate from day 1 to 21 was associated with concurrent decrease in blood pH and pCO2. Increased plasma chloride concentration with low base excess in blood and in extracellular fluid suggested compensatory response to respiratory alkalosis. Reduced fractional excretion of sodium with increased fractional excretion of potassium and urine flow rate indicated renal adaptive response to heat stress.

Evaluation of Biofilm Formation and Presence of Ica Genes in Staphylococcus epidermidis Clinical Isolates

Maryam Kord 질병관리본부 2018 Osong Public Health and Research Persptectives Vol.9 No.4

Objectives Biofilm formation is one of the important features of Staphylococcus epidermidis, particularly in nosocomial infections. We aimed to investigate the biofilm production by phenotypic methods and the presence of ica genes in S epidermidis. Methods A total of 41 S epidermidis isolates were recovered from different clinical specimens. Biofilm formation was evaluated by microtiter plate, tube method and Congo red agar method. The presence of icaA and icaD genes was investigated by PCR. Validity of methods (sensitivity and specificity), and metrics for test performance (positive/negative predictive value, and positive/negative likelihood ratio) were determined. Results By both microtiter plate and tube method, 53.6% of S epidermidis isolates were able to produce biofilm, whilst only 24.4% of isolates provided a biofilm phenotype on Congo red agar plates. icaA and icaD genes were found in 100% and 95.1% of isolates, respectively. Biofilm phenotypes accounted for 4.8% by microtiter plate assay, despite the absence of the ica gene. Congo red agar and PCR exhibited a lower sensitivity (18% and 45.5%, respectively) for identifying the biofilm phenotype in comparison to microtiter plate. Conclusion The microtiter plate method remains generally a better tool to screen biofilm production in S epidermidis. In addition, the ability of S epidermidis to form biofilm is not always dependent on the presence of ica genes, highlighting the importance of ica-independent mechanisms of biofilm formation. The use of reliable methods to specifically detect biofilms can be helpful to treat the patients affected by such problematic bacteria.

A Robust Solution to Resource-Constraint Project Scheduling Problem

Milad Keshavarz Kord Mahalleh,Behzad Ashjari,Fereshteh Yousefi,Morteza Saberi 한국지능시스템학회 2017 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL of FUZZY LOGIC and INTELLIGE Vol.17 No.3

This paper aims to propose a solution to the resource-constraint project scheduling problem (RCPSP). RCPSP is a significant scheduling problem in project management. Currently, there are insufficient studies dealing with the robustness of RCPSP. This paper improves the robustness of RCPSP and develops a Robust RCPSP, namely RRCSP. RRCSP is structured with relaxing a fundamental assumption that is ‘the tasks start on time as planned’. Relaxing this assumption makes the model more realistic. The proposed solution minimizes the makespan while maximizing the robustness. Maximizing the robustness requires maximizing floating time of activities (it is NP hard). This creates more stability in the project finishing time. RCPSP stands as the root cause of many other problems such as multi-mode resourceconstrained project scheduling problems (MRCPSP), multi-skill resource-constrained project scheduling problem (MSRCPSP), or similar problems and hence proposing a solution to this problem contributes to pave a new line for future research in other mentioned areas. The applicability of the proposed model is examined through a numerical example.

A DFT and QSAR Study of Several Sulfonamide Derivatives in Gas and Solvent

Robabeh Sayyadi kord Abadi,Asghar Alizadehdakhel,Soghra Tajadodi Paskiabei 대한화학회 2016 대한화학회지 Vol.60 No.4

The activity of 34 sulfonamide derivatives has been estimated by means of multiple linear regression (MLR), artificial neural network (ANN), simulated annealing (SA) and genetic algorithm (GA) techniques. These models were also utilized to select the most efficient subsets of descriptors in a cross-validation procedure for non-linear -log (IC50) prediction. The results obtained using GA-ANN were compared with MLR-MLR, MLR-ANN, SA-ANN and GA-ANN approaches. A high predictive ability was observed for the MLR-MLR, MLR-ANN, SA-ANN and MLR-GA models, with root mean sum square errors (RMSE) of 0.3958, 0.1006, 0.0359, 0.0326 and 0.0282 in gas phase and 0.2871, 0.0475, 0.0268, 0.0376 and 0.0097 in solvent, respectively (N=34). The results obtained using the GA-ANN method indicated that the activity of derivatives of sulfonamides depends on different parameters including DP03, BID, AAC, RDF035v, JGI9, TIE, R7e+, BELM6 descriptors in gas phase and Mor 32u, ESpm03d, RDF070v, ATS8m, MATS2e and R4p, L1u and R3m in solvent. In conclusion, the comparison of the quality of the ANN with different MLR models showed that ANN has a better predictive ability.

Improvements of the CMFD acceleration capability of OpenMOC

Wenbin Wu,Guillaume Giudicelli,Kord Smith,Benoit Forget,Dong Yao,Yingrui Yu,Qi Luo 한국원자력학회 2020 Nuclear Engineering and Technology Vol.52 No.10

Due to its computational efficiency and geometrical flexibility, the Method of Characteristics (MOC) has been widely used for light water reactor lattice physics analysis. Usually acceleration methods are necessary for MOC to achieve acceptable convergence on practical reactor physics problems. Among them, Coarse Mesh Finite Difference (CMFD) is very popular and can drastically reduce the number of transport iterations. In OpenMOC, CMFD acceleration was implemented but had the limitation of supporting only a uniform CMFD mesh, which would often lead to splitting MOC source regions, thus creating an unnecessary increase in computation and memory use. In this study, CMFD acceleration with a non-uniform Cartesian mesh is implemented into OpenMOC. We also propose a quadratic fit based CMFD prolongation method in the axial direction to further improve the acceleration when multiple MOC source regions are contained in one CMFD coarse mesh. Numerical results are presented to demonstrate the improvement of the CMFD acceleration capability in OpenMOC in terms of both efficiency and stability.

Adsorption of Bisphenol A Using Dried Rice Husk: Equilibrium, Kinetic and Thermodynamic Studies

( Davoud Balarak ),( Ferdos Kord Mostafapour ),( Seung Mok Lee ),( Choong Jeon ) 한국공업화학회 2019 공업화학 Vol.30 No.3

The adsorption of bisphenol A from an aqueous solution onto dried rice husk was investigated. Batch adsorption experiments were performed as a function of the pH, contact time, bisphenol A concentration, adsorbent dose and temperature. The concentration of Bisphenol A was measured by HPLC. The results showed that bisphenol A removal was highest at a solution pH value of 3, adsorbent dose of 4 g/L, and contact time of 75 min. The bisphenol A removal percentage decreased from 99.1 to 66.7%, when the bisphenol A concentration increased from 10 to 200 mg/L. The Langmuir isotherm and pseudo-second order kinetics provided the best fit for the experimental data. Thermodynamic parameters such as △G⁰, △H⁰ and △S⁰ were also evaluated and it was found that the sorption process was feasible, spontaneous and exothermic in nature. Overall, the studied absorbent can be used as an effective and low cost material to treat the industrial wastewater and aqueous solution containing phenolic compounds.

Relationship between Opium Abuse and Severity of Depression in Type 2 Diabetic Patients

Sepehrmanesh Zahra,Sarmast Hossein,Kord Valeshabad Ali 대한당뇨병학회 2012 Diabetes and Metabolism Journal Vol.36 No.2

Background: Opium use in diabetic populations is associated with major depressive disorder (MDD). This study was designed to investigate the relationship between opium use and severity of depression in Iranian diabetic patients. Methods: In this case-control study, 642 type 2 diabetic patients were recruited from those presenting at two outpatient clinics at the Akhavan Hospital in Kashan, Iran; of them, 600 diabetic patients were included in the study and divided into two groups: opium-abusers (150 patients) and non-opium-abusers (450 patients). Clinical and demographic information was obtained through a detailed questionnaire. Depression symptomalogy and severity were assessed with the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and a corresponding diagnosis was made based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV, Text Revision, 2000 (DSM-IV TR) criteria. Results: The mean depression score was higher in the opium abuse group than in the non-abuser group (29.27±1.44 vs. 18.29±1.31, P<0.001). In general, a significant association was found between opium abuse and depression among patients (odds ratio [OR], 4.54; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.87 to 7.44; P=0.001). No significant relationship was found between dysthymia and opium abuse (OR, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.18 to 1.192; P=0.155), while MDD was significantly higher in the opium abuser group (OR, 7.32; 95% CI, 5.20 to 12.01; P<0.001). Conclusion: Depression is more frequent in opium-dependent diabetic patients, and its severity is also greater. Given these findings,opium-dependent diabetic patients should be advised about the increased risks of depression and related comorbidities.

On the diffusion coefficient calculation in two-step light water reactor core analysis

Choi, Sooyoung,Smith, Kord S.,Kim, Hanjoo,Tak, Taewoo,Lee, Deokjung Atomic Energy Society of Japan 2017 Journal of nuclear science and technology Vol.54 No.6

<P>This paper presents consistent and rigorous accuracy assessments of various methods for calculating the diffusion coefficients in a two-step reactor core analysis of light water reactors (LWRs). The diffusion coefficients are significantly affected by the transport correction and critical spectrum calculations. There are various methods for the transport corrections (inflow/outflow/hybrid corrections) and critical spectrum calculations (B-1/P-1/CASMO-4E methods) so that it is necessary to decide the best combination to achieve a high accuracy in the transport/diffusion two-step analysis. Numerical tests are performed step-by-step to search for the best combination of the methods by comparing each other the transport one-step results, transport/diffusion two-step results, and Monte Carlo results. Numerical test results with a large and a small LWR core show that the combination of inflow transport correction and CASMO-4E critical spectrum calculation is most accurate than the other combinations in terms of eigenvalues and assembly power distributions.</P>

Adsorption of Bisphenol A Using Dried Rice Husk: Equilibrium, Kinetic and Thermodynamic Studies

Balarak, Davoud,Mostafapour, Ferdos Kord,Lee, Seung Mok,Jeon, Choong The Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering C 2019 공업화학 Vol.30 No.3

The adsorption of bisphenol A from an aqueous solution onto dried rice husk was investigated. Batch adsorption experiments were performed as a function of the pH, contact time, bisphenol A concentration, adsorbent dose and temperature. The concentration of Bisphenol A was measured by HPLC. The results showed that bisphenol A removal was highest at a solution pH value of 3, adsorbent dose of 4 g/L, and contact time of 75 min. The bisphenol A removal percentage decreased from 99.1 to 66.7%, when the bisphenol A concentration increased from 10 to 200 mg/L. The Langmuir isotherm and pseudo-second order kinetics provided the best fit for the experimental data. Thermodynamic parameters such as ${\Delta}G^0$, ${\Delta}H^0$ and ${\Delta}S^0$ were also evaluated and it was found that the sorption process was feasible, spontaneous and exothermic in nature. Overall, the studied absorbent can be used as an effective and low cost material to treat the industrial wastewater and aqueous solution containing phenolic compounds.

A DFT and QSAR Study of Several Sulfonamide Derivatives in Gas and Solvent

Abadi, Robabeh Sayyadi kord,Alizadehdakhel, Asghar,Paskiabei, Soghra Tajadodi Korean Chemical Society 2016 대한화학회지 Vol.60 No.4

The activity of 34 sulfonamide derivatives has been estimated by means of multiple linear regression (MLR), artificial neural network (ANN), simulated annealing (SA) and genetic algorithm (GA) techniques. These models were also utilized to select the most efficient subsets of descriptors in a cross-validation procedure for non-linear -log (IC50) prediction. The results obtained using GA-ANN were compared with MLR-MLR, MLR-ANN, SA-ANN and GA-ANN approaches. A high predictive ability was observed for the MLR-MLR, MLR-ANN, SA-ANN and MLR-GA models, with root mean sum square errors (RMSE) of 0.3958, 0.1006, 0.0359, 0.0326 and 0.0282 in gas phase and 0.2871, 0.0475, 0.0268, 0.0376 and 0.0097 in solvent, respectively (N=34). The results obtained using the GA-ANN method indicated that the activity of derivatives of sulfonamides depends on different parameters including DP03, BID, AAC, RDF035v, JGI9, TIE, R7e+, BELM6 descriptors in gas phase and Mor 32u, ESpm03d, RDF070v, ATS8m, MATS2e and R4p, L1u and R3m in solvent. In conclusion, the comparison of the quality of the ANN with different MLR models showed that ANN has a better predictive ability.