Incorporating mutation probability into priority-aware protection in optical networks

A persisting major challenge for optical network operators is to meet the various availability requirements of the different subscribed services through the deployment of effective protection strategies. Priority-aware shared protection is a promising scheme that has been proposed in the open literature as a potential approach to tackling this challenge. However, the priority-aware protection strategy is rigid in the sense that it privileges the high priority connections regardless of the low priority ones. Hence, this letter proposes to improve priority-aware protection by introducing the mutation probability parameter. This parameter expresses the likelihood that a highpriority connection be relegated temporarily to a lower priority level during recovery. In this way, the mutation-based protection strategy offers optical operators the possibility to increase the availability of their low-priority clients without violating the availability requirements of their high-priority ones. Performance of this novel protection strategy is analyzed in this letter by precisely calculating the connection availabilities resulting from its deployment.     

Removal of ciprofloxacin from aqueous solution by a continuous flow electro-coagulation process

This study deals with the performance and modeling of the electro-coagulation process for ciprofloxacin (CIP) removal by using aluminum electrode as anode in a continuous electrochemical reactor. The initial pH, temperature, current density, time and flow rate were selected as independent variables in response surface methodology (RSM) involving a five-level central composite design (CCD), while CIP removal efficiency was considered as the response function. The result of optimization showed that the maximum amount of CIP removal efficiency (88%) presented at the optimal condition of pH=5.6, t=100min, T=25.5 °C, I=5.6mA/cm² and V=25.9 mL/min. In addition, the mineralization of the CIP was investigated by chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total organic carbon (TOC) measurements that showed 77% COD removal and 49%TOC removal.     

Putative mechanism for anticancer properties of Ag–PP (NPs) extract

One of the most important challenges in treating cancer is the invasion and the angiogenesis of cancer cells. The synthesis of green nanoparticles (NPs) and their use in therapeutic fields is one of the most effective methods with minimal side effects in cancer treatment. In this study, cytotoxic and anti‐angiogenic effects of silver NPs (AgNPs) coated with palm pollen extract [Ag–PP(NPs)] were evaluated. For this purpose, the cells were treated with NPs and then were subjected to trypan blue testing (48 h). Then, the cancer invasion was evaluated by the scratch procedure and the expressions of the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and its receptor (VEGF‐R) genes were estimated using real‐time PCR assay. Also, the angiogenesis effect of the NPs was investigated with chick chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay. The Ag–PP(NPs) induced cytotoxicity on MCF7 cells. The findings also showed that Ag–PP(NPs) inhibit invasive cancer cells and reduce the expression of VEGF and VEGF‐R and significantly reduced the number and vessels lengths and the lengths and weights of the embryos in CAM assay. Ag–PP(NPs) with the induction of cytotoxic effects, metastatic inhibition and anti‐angiogenesis properties should be considered as an appropriate option for treatment of cancerInspec keywords: nanomedicine, genetics, cellular biophysics, toxicology, patient treatment, silver, cancer, biochemistry, biomedical materials, nanoparticles, nanofabrication, membranesOther keywords: minimal side effects, cancer treatment, silver NPs, cancer invasion, vascular endothelial growth factor, receptor genes, VEGF‐R, real‐time polymerase chain reaction assay, angiogenesis effect, chick chorioallantoic membrane assay, MCF7 cells, invasive cancer cells, cytotoxic effects, putative mechanism, anticancer properties, antiangiogenic effects, antiangiogenesis properties, Ag–PP‐induced cytotoxicity, metastatic inhibition, palm pollen extraction, trypan blue testing, time 48.0 hour, Ag     

Transmission of human T cell lymphotropic virus (HTLV) type II by transfusion of HTLV-I-screened blood products

Blood donors have been screened for antibodies to human T cell lymphotropic virus (HTLV) type I since December 1988. Screening for HTLV-II has been simultaneously done because of cross-reactivity between antibodies to the two viruses. Currently, < 1 in 10,000 US blood donors is positive for HTLV-I or -II. Lookback studies led to the identification of 6 HTLV-II-infected patients. Three received transfusions before introduction of HTLV-I screening tests, while the other 3 received blood components that tested negative for HTLV-I. The HTLV-II subtypes of each of 4 donor/recipient pairs, as determined by DNA amplification using polymerase chain reaction, were identical, supporting the view that transfusions were the source of infection. In conclusion, currently licensed blood donor screening tests for HTLV-I lack sensitivity for HTLV-II, and transfusion of blood from HTLV-II-infected donors that test negative on HTLV-I screening tests may result in infection.     

Multipass precedence analysis

Summary This paper defines a hierarchy of languages which is properly contained in the context sensitive languages and which starts with the context free family. The hierarchy is defined inductively by controlling labeled linear grammars with languages in one family to yield languages in the next larger family. The families of the hierarchy have properties analogous to those of the context free family, in particular, the new mechanism introduced is very suitable for parsing.A language in the n-th family is specified by a sequence of n — 1 labeled linear grammars and a context free grammar. By assuming that the reversals of the first n — 1 grammars and the last labeled linear grammar are precedence grammars, the concepts and parsing algorithm of Wirth and Weber extend to yield a parsing algorithm within the hierarchy. This considerably enhances the usefulness of the construction and allows much of the power of the context sensitive languages to become accessible in measured amounts for potential programming applications.     

Foliar and stem epidermal anatomy of the tribe Cynoglosseae (Boraginaceae) and their taxonomic significance

Foliar and stem epidermal anatomical features of the tribe Cynoglosseae have been studied in detail for the taxonomic identification using light microscopy (LM) and scanning electron microscopic (SEM) techniques. A comparative study was conducted on different plant parts (leaf and stem epidermal anatomy) of 25 species belonging to eight genera of the tribe Cynoglosseae (Boraginaceae) collected from different phytogeographical regions of Iran for the first time. Different qualitative and quantitative characteristics were observed in detail using LM and SEM. Results showed that although generally the stem and leaf anatomical traits were similar, but some diagnostic features were examined for distinguishing the closely related genera in the tribe. The ratio of cortex/diameter of stem and phloem/xylem, the average row number of collenchyma, palisade and spongy cells, structure of trichomes, type of indumentum and palisade arrangement were found taxonomically important. The anatomical characters were statistically analyzed using cluster analysis and principal component analysis. The study found that stem and leaf eccentrics are variable in the genus but constant within species of the same genus. Most species had typical isobilateral leaves, but some showed an incipient dorsoventrally symmetry with a layer of abaxial palisade tissue. Eglandular trichomes were observed found in all the studied species, which were recognized based on structure and function. In present study some novel characters have been observed which are of great interest to the taxonomist for the correct identification some genera delimitations. The characters studied here are of less taxonomic value and delimitating at species level.     

Influence of particle contact models on soil response of poorly graded sand during cavity expansion in discrete element simulation

The discrete element method (DEM) has been extensively adopted to investigate many complex geotechnical related problems due to its capability to incorporate the discontinuous nature of granular materials. In particular, when simulating large deformations or distortion of soil (e.g. cavity expansion), DEM can be very effective as other numerical solutions may experience convergence problems. Cavity expansion theory has widespread applications in geotechnical engineering, particularly to the problems concerning in situ testing, pile installation and so forth. In addition, the behaviour of geomaterials in a macro-level is utterly determined by microscopic properties, highlighting the importance of contact models. Despite the fact that there are numerous contact models proposed to mimic the realistic behaviour of granular materials, there are lack of studies on the effects of these contact models on the soil response. Hence, in this study, a series of three-dimensional numerical simulations with different contact constitutive models was conducted to simulate the response of sandy soils during cylindrical cavity expansion. In this numerical investigation, three contact models, i.e. linear contact model, rolling resistance contact model, and Hertz contact model, are considered. It should be noted that the former two models are linear based models, providing linearly elastic and frictional plasticity behaviours, whereas the latter one consists of nonlinear formulation based on an approximation of the theory of Mindlin and Deresiewicz. To examine the effects of these contact models, several cylindrical cavities were created and expanded gradually from an initial radius of 0.055 m to a final radius of 0.1 m. The numerical predictions confirm that the calibrated contact models produced similar results regarding the variations of cavity pressure, radial stress, deviatoric stress, volumetric strain, as well as the soil radial displacement. However, the linear contact model may result in inaccurate predictions when highly angular soil particles are involved. In addition, considering the excessive soil displacement induced by the pile installation (i.e. cavity expansion), a minimum distance of 11a (a is the cavity radius) is recommend for practicing engineers to avoid the potential damages to the existing piles and adjacent structures.     

Engineering geological properties of the pyroclastic cone-shaped rocky houses of Kandovan,Iran

Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment - Kandovan is one of the geo-tourism attractions in the East Azarbaijan Province of Iran, where rural houses were carved within the cone-shaped...