Sharif Digital Repository

The use of pesticides may pose a serious threat to soil and water quality, human health, food safety, aquatic species and beneficial insects. Biological control is an effective component of integrated pest management comprising importation, augmentation and conservation. Conservation of natural enemies could enhance or limit the efficiency of herbivorous insect pests. The present study was designed to evaluate the efficiency of Diaeretiella rapae (McIntosh) and other food resources impacts on parasitoid’s fecundity, survival and efficiency. The effect of different insecticides [Carbosulfan, Imidacloprid, Diafenthiuron and Lufenuron] was also evaluated in a laboratory controlled experiment.... 

Transferring large models in federated learning (FL) networks is often hindered by clients' limited bandwidth. We propose $ extsf {FedAA}$ , an FL algorithm which achieves fast convergence by exploiting the regularized Anderson acceleration (AA) on the global level. First, we demonstrate that FL can benefit from acceleration methods in numerical analysis. Second, $ extsf {FedAA}$ improves the convergence rate for quadratic losses and improves the empirical performance for smooth and strongly convex objectives, compared to FedAvg, an FL algorithm using gradient descent (GD) local updates. Experimental results demonstrate that employing AA can significantly improve the performance of FedAvg,... 

Growth arrest-specific gene 6 (GAS6) is a growth factor-like cytokine whose function is related with vitamin K. This protein interacts with receptor tyrosine kinase proteins such as Tyro3, Axl, and TAM Receptor family, therefore affecting the tumorigenic processes via different mechanisms. GAS6-antisense 1 (GAS6-AS1) is a long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) that is transcribed from a genomic regions nearby GAS6. This lncRNA is also implicated in the pathobiology of cancer. We intended to judge the role of GAS6 and GAS6-AS1 in the pathogenesis of breast cancer through appraisal of their expression levels in breast cancer tissues and their paired neighboring non-cancerous samples. Expression of... 

Organic-inorganic halide perovskites (OIHPs) have emerged as a promising semiconductor for the fabrication of efficient optoelectronic devices such as photodetectors (PDs). Among all the perovskite compositions, the mixed-halide MAPb(BrxI1-x)3 formulations have gained more attention for photodetection application thanks to their tunable optoelectronic properties and great stability. However, there is still a lack of sufficient understanding of the effect of Br doping on the stability and physical properties of MAPb(BrxI1-x)3 based PDs. In this work, we prepare a series of MAPb(BrxI1-x)3 (x = 0, 0.04, 0.08, 0.12, and 0.16) single crystals (SCs) and investigate the influence of the Br content... 

We study learning algorithms when there is a mismatch between the distributions of the training and test datasets of a learning algorithm. The effect of this mismatch on the generalization error and model misspecification are quantified. Moreover, we provide a connection between the generalization error and the rate-distortion theory, which allows one to utilize bounds from the rate-distortion theory to derive new bounds on the generalization error and vice versa. In particular, the rate-distortion-based bound strictly improves over the earlier bound by Xu and Raginsky even when there is no mismatch. We also discuss how 'auxiliary loss functions' can be utilized to obtain upper bounds on the... 

Hi-C is a genome-wide chromosome conformation capture technology that detects interactions between pairs of genomic regions and exploits higher order chromatin structures. Conceptually Hi-C data counts interaction frequencies between every position in the genome and every other position. Biologically functional interactions are expected to occur more frequently than transient background and artefactual interactions. To identify biologically relevant interactions, several background models that take biases such as distance, GC content and mappability into account have been proposed. Here we introduce MaxHiC, a background correction tool that deals with these complex biases and robustly... 

Simvastatin, a well-known antihyperlipidemic drug, has antibacterial activity against a broad range of bacteria, especially Staphylococcus aureus. In present study, a nanoemulsion gel-based formulation containing Simvastatin was developed for infected wound therapy. Therefore, different formulations of Simvastatin nanoemulsion were prepared. Based on droplet size, polydispersity index and zeta potential, the best nanoemulsion formulation containing Simvastatin was selected for development of nanoemulsion gel formulation of drug using carbomer 934 as gelling agent. Thermodynamic stability of Simvastatin nanoemulsion was assessed at different conditions. The in vitro antibacterial activity... 

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) emit near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence that is ideal for optical sensing. However, the low quantum yields diminish the sensor's signal-to-noise ratio and limits the penetration depths for in vivo measurements. In this study, we perform a systematic investigation of the plasmonic effects of Ag and Au nanoparticles of various geometries to tune and even enhance the fluorescence intensity of single-stranded DNA-wrapped SWCNTs (ssDNA-SWCNTs). We observe a chirality-dependent NIR fluorescence enhancement that varies with both nanoparticle shape and material, with Au nanorods increasing (7, 5) and (7, 6) chirality emissions by 80% and 60% and Ag nanotriangles... 

Porphyrin-POM hybrid materials with excellent NLO properties are supposed to be a worthy entrant for forthcoming telecommunication, optical fibers, optical data storage and optical limiting devices, but due to adverse solubility problems, they are replaced by polymeric materials. Herein, we assessed third order NLO and second hyperpolarizability of porphyrin-polyimide compounds (NH-PI and Zn-PI) synthesized from the reaction of 4,4ʹ-hexafluoroisopropylidene-diphthalic anhydride (6FDA) with C44H32N6 (NH-DATPP) and C44H30N4Zn (Zn-DATPP) porphyrins under ambient conditions. The Z-scan measurement of these compounds revealed reverse saturation absorption as well as self-defocusing performance.... 

ABSTRACTs: The need for fully dense material with well-engineered microstructures has led to the promising emergence of innovative sintering technologies among which the Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) is one of the most favorite. Unlike the conventional sintering processes, SPS takes advantage of a current flow passing through the sintering die and metallic powders by which fast densification with minimal grain growth and enhanced physicomechanical properties can be obtained. Albeit there is a growing interest in the exploitation of SPS in producing sufficiently consolidated metallic parts, no analytical review has been released over the effects of SPS parameters on the densification behavior,... 

The need for fully dense material with well-engineered microstructures has led to the promising emergence of innovative sintering technologies among which the Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) is one of the most favorite. Unlike the conventional sintering processes, SPS takes advantage of a current flow passing through the sintering die and metallic powders by which fast densification with minimal grain growth and enhanced physicomechanical properties can be obtained. Albeit there is a growing interest in the exploitation of SPS in producing sufficiently consolidated metallic parts, no analytical review has been released over the effects of SPS parameters on the densification behavior,... 

Beta-amyloid (Aβ) peptide is one of the main characteristic biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Previous clinical investigations have proposed that unusual concentrations of this biomarker in cerebrospinal fluid, blood, and brain tissue are closely associated with the AD progression. Therefore, the critical point of early diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of AD is to monitor the levels of Aβ. In view of the potential of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) for diagnosing and treating the AD, much attention has been focused in recent years. This review discusses the latest advances in the applications of MOFs for the early diagnosis of AD via fluorescence and electrochemiluminescence (ECL)... 

The chemical analysis of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) reprocessing is a very challenging research field due to the high radioactivity of process streams and their complex composition. The process managing requires thorough chemical analysis to ensure safe and efficient performance. Traditional ways of chemical control of SNF reprocessing are based on sampling methods and involve long and tedious procedures, failing to provide immediate information on the process status. Recent literature suggests that potentiometric multisensor systems can be employed for on-line control. However, up to now these systems were only studied in very simple model media. This work reports on the potentiometric... 

Abstract: Cells of the inner cell mass (ICM) acquire a unique ability for unlimited self-renewal during transition into embryonic stem cells (ESCs) in vitro, while preserving their natural multi-lineage differentiation potential. Several different pathways have been identified to play roles in ESC formation but the function of non-coding RNAs in this process is poorly understood. Here, we describe several microRNAs (miRNAs) that are crucial for efficient generation of mouse ESCs from ICMs. Using small-RNA sequencing, we characterize dynamic changes in miRNA expression profiles during outgrowth of ICMs in a high-resolution, time-course dependent manner. We report several waves of... 

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are a major class of pollutants that are hazardous to human health and environment. An emerging and successful technology for the treatment of VOC, even at low concentrations is nonthermal plasma (NTP). However, it has the disadvantages of generating undesired by-products and is less energy efficient. In this work, the NTP is combined with ferrite-based catalysts Co–Zn–Fe2O4, Co–Fe2O4, and Zn–Fe2O4 are prepared by the coprecipitation method to study the impact of input power (11–44 W), CO2 selectivity, NOx, O3, and undesired by-product generation for the degradation of toluene as representing VOC. The NTP with catalysts significantly improves the removal... 

Sulfur Mustard (SM) is a potent alkylating agent and its effects on cells and tissues are varied and complex. Due to limitations in the diagnostics of sulfur mustard exposed individuals (SMEIs) by noninvasive approaches, there is a great necessity to develop novel techniques and biomarkers for this condition. We present here the first nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) metabolic profiling of serum from and healthy controls to identify novel biomarkers in blood serum for better diagnostics. Of note, SMEIs were exposed to SM 30 years ago and that differences between two groups could still be found. Pathways in which differences between SMEIs and... 

Protein fibrillation process (e.g., from amyloid beta (Aβ) and α-synuclein) is the main cause of several catastrophic neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson diseases. During the past few decades, nanoparticles (NPs) were recognized as one of the most promising tools for inhibiting the progress of the disease by controlling the fibrillation kinetic process; for instance, gold NPs have a strong capability to inhibit Aβ fibrillations. It is now well understood that a layer of biomolecules would cover the surface of NPs (so called "protein corona") upon the interaction of NPs with protein sources. Due to the fact that the biological species (e.g., cells and amyloidal... 

Delivery of the Smart Grid is a topic of considerable interest within the power industry in general, and the IEEE specifically. This paper presents the smart grid landscape as seen by the IEEE Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Society (DEIS) Technical Committee on Smart Grids. We define the various facets of smart grid technology, and present an examination of the impacts on dielectrics within power assets. Based on the trajectory of current research in the field, we identify the implications for asset owners and operators at both the device level and the systems level. The paper concludes by identifying areas of dielectrics and insulation research required to fully realize the smart... 

Due to the noise that is present in remote sensing data, a robust method to retrieve information is needed. In this study, the active learning method (ALM) is applied to spectral remote sensing reflectance data to retrieve in-water pigment. The heart of the ALM is a fuzzy interpolation method that is called the ink drop spread (IDS). Three datasets (SeaBAM, synthetic and NOMAD) are used for the evaluation of the selected ALM approach. Comparison of the ALM with the ocean colour 4 (OC4) algorithm and the artificial neural network (ANN) algorithm demonstrated the robustness of the ALM approach in retrieval of in-water constituents from remote sensing reflectance data. In addition, the ALM... 

Ground-state pluripotency is a cell state in which pluripotency is established and maintained through efficient repression of endogenous differentiation pathways. Self-renewal and pluripotency of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are influenced by ESC-associated microRNAs (miRNAs). Here, we provide a comprehensive assessment of the “miRNome” of ESCs cultured under conditions favoring ground-state pluripotency. We found that ground-state ESCs express a distinct set of miRNAs compared with ESCs grown in serum. Interestingly, most “ground-state miRNAs” are encoded by an imprinted region on chromosome 12 within the Dlk1-Dio3 locus. Functional analysis revealed that ground-state miRNAs embedded in the...