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Quantum-dot cellular automata (QCA) technology represents a promising approach in quantum electronics and nanoscale digital systems. Nevertheless, QCA-based circuits continue to face challenges related to minimizing cell count, optimizing area efficiency, and reducing delay. This study proposes a novel D-latch with set and reset capabilities, along with a rising-edge-triggered D flip-flop featuring similar functionalities, and a compact 4-bit shift register. The proposed D flip-flop employs 28 cells, occupies an area of 0.02 μm², and achieves a delay of 0.5 clock cycles. Similarly, the D-latch consists of 18 cells, occupies 0.01 μm², and demonstrates comparable delay performance. Relative to previous designs, the proposed D-latch shows a 34.87% reduction in cell count and a 60% decrease in area, while the D flip-flop exhibits improvements of 44.5% and 55.6% in these metrics, respectively. These results suggest enhanced compactness and efficiency compared to selected existing works, supporting the potential for low-power, high-density circuit implementations within QCA technology. All simulations were conducted using QCA Designer version 2.0.3, following established QCA design principles.

As a nanoscale computing paradigm, quantum-dot cellular automata (QCA) technology demonstrates significant advantages over conventional CMOS implementations, including improved device density, minimized power dissipation, and increased operational speed. As fundamental building blocks in QCA architectures, time-to-digital converters (TDCs) enable the operation of all-digital delay-locked loops, systems paramount to contemporary timing solutions. These digital loops particularly excel in applications requiring (1) multi-phase clock synthesis and (2) sub-clock-cycle temporal resolution. This work introduces an optimized QCA-based TDC with 228 cells (30% reduction) and 0.2668 μm 2 area. The design achieve delay of 1 QCA clock cycle and 40% lower complexity than conventional approaches. Our architecture enables precise timing for digital PLLs/DLLs in nanoelectronics. The compact cell arrangement overcomes CMOS scaling limits through QCA’s nanowatt power and terahertz speeds. These advancements position QCA-TDCs as prime candidates for next-gen terahertz computing systems. Simulation outcomes validate the effectiveness of the developed architecture, marking a significant step forward in the practical realization of QCA-based timing circuits.

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has initiated digital developments in higher education while closing in-person university classes. As this crisis continues, the need to revive virtual learning opportunities was seriously felt. The present study was conducted to determine the online flipped classroom’s effect on nursing students’ self-directed learning readiness and metacognitive awareness. Methods This quasi-experimental single-group study with pretest-posttest design recruited 34 sophomore students of a nursing school in Lorestan province, Western Iran selected by census according to the inclusion criteria. Online asynchronous learning and online flipped classrooms were used during the semester’s first and second eight weeks, respectively. Students filled out self-directed learning readiness scale and metacognitive awareness inventory online before, in the middle of, and at the end of the semester. Data were analyzed using paired t-test in Stata-14 software. Results There was no significant difference between the mean score of metacognitive awareness before and after Online asynchronous learning (P=0.15), but the mean score of self-directed learning readiness increased significantly after OA (P=0.0004). After applying online flipped classrooms, students’ mean (SD) scores of metacognitive awareness and self-directed learning readiness were 272.03 (53.03) and 162.03 (21.77), respectively, which confirmed their significant improvement compared to before the intervention. A comparison of the mean score changes of both methods indicated that their implementation did not lead to significant differences between the mean total score of metacognitive awareness (P=0.15) and the mean total score of self-directed learning readiness (P=0.07). Discussion Online flipped classroom approach can be used as an effective method in nursing education by improving self-directed learning and metacognitive awareness, which are essential in online education for nursing students.

Background Although recent studies have indicated that imbalance in the respiratory microbiome composition is linked to several chronic respiratory diseases, the association between the lung microbiome and lung cancer has not been extensively studied. Conflicting reports of individual studies on respiratory microbiome alterations in lung cancer complicate the matter for specifying how the lung microbiome is linked to lung cancer. Consequently, as the first meta-analysis on this topic, we integrate publicly available 16S rRNA gene sequence data on lung tissue samples of lung cancer patients to identify bacterial taxa which differ consistently between case and control groups. Results The findings of the current study suggest that the relative abundance of several bacterial taxa including Actinobacteria phylum, Corynebacteriaceae and Halomonadaceae families, and Corynebacterium , Lachnoanaerobaculum , and Halomonas genera is significantly decreased ( p < 0.05) in lung tumor tissues of lung cancer patients in comparison with tumor-adjacent normal tissues. Conclusions Despite the underlying need for scrutinizing the findings further, the present study lays the groundwork for future research and adds to our limited understanding of the key role of the lung microbiome and its complex interaction with lung cancer. More data on demographic factors and tumor tissue types would help establish a greater degree of accuracy in characterizing the lung microbial community which accords with subtypes and stages of the disease and fully capturing the changes of the lung microbiome in lung cancer.

This study introduces a new framework for combining calibrated mobile mapping system (MMS) data and low-cost unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) images to generate seamless, high-fidelity 3D urban maps. This approach addresses the limitations of single-source mapping, such as occlusions in aerial top views and insufficient vertical detail in ground-level data, by utilizing the complementary strengths of the two technologies. The proposed approach combines cloth simulation filtering for ground point extraction from MMS data with deep-learning-based segmentation (U²-Net) for feature extraction from UAV images. Street-view MMS images are projected onto a top-down viewpoint using inverse perspective mapping to align diverse datasets, and precise cross-view alignment is achieved using the LightGlue technique. The spatial accuracy of the 3D model was improved by integrating the matched features as ground control points into a structure from the motion pipeline. Validation using data from the campus of Yonsei University and the nearby urban area of Yeonhui-dong yielded notable accuracy gains and a root mean square error of 0.131 m. Geospatial analysis, infrastructure monitoring, and urban planning can benefit from this flexible and scalable method, which enhances 3D urban mapping capabilities.

Background Urinary catheterization (UC), a commonly performed procedure in emergency departments (EDs), is often associated with significant patient discomfort and pain. This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of two non-pharmacological techniques in reducing pain during UC. Methods This randomized clinical trial included 54 male participants aged 18–65 years who underwent UC in the ED of Imam Khomeini Hospital. After obtaining ethical approval and informed consent, eligible patients were randomly assigned to one of three groups: Intervention Group 1 (nasal pressure technique with closed epiglottis exhalation), Intervention Group 2 (deep cough technique), or the control group (routine UC procedure). Pain levels were assessed using the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) at three time points: immediately before, immediately after, and 15 min after the intervention. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 18. Results The mean age of participants was 49.09 ± 19.61 years. Both Intervention Group 1 and Intervention Group 2 showed significant differences in pain levels compared to the control group immediately after the intervention ( P  = 0.046). Specifically, Intervention Group 1 experienced lower pain levels than the control group, while Intervention Group 2 reported higher pain levels. At 15 min post-intervention, pain levels in Intervention Group 1 were lower than in Intervention Group 2, and the control group reported lower pain levels than Intervention Group 2, though this difference was not statistically significant ( P  = 0.09). Conclusion The nasal pressure technique demonstrated a significant reduction in pain during UC, suggesting its potential as a simple, non-pharmacological intervention for pain management. Further studies are recommended to validate these findings and explore their applicability in clinical practice. Trial registration This study was retrospectively registered in the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (IRCT) under the registration number IRCT20191217045764N3 on March 17, 2021.

Today, the implementation of computer systems and digital circuits is done using CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) technology, but problems such as high-power consumption and physical limitations of CMOS have led researchers to use the emerging technology such as quantum-dot cellular automata (QCA). In this paper, new structures for D-latch in QCA technology are presented. At first, a D-latch with 25 cells, a cross-sectional area of ​​0.02 µm 2 , delay of 0.5 clock cycle and 22.89 meV energy consumption is presented, and then, using the proposed D-latch, a reset-based D-latch is also proposed, which has more advantages than the previous structures and has only 29 cells, a cross-sectional area of ​​0.02µm 2 and a delay of 0.5 clock cycles. Then the D-latch with set and reset terminals is proposed, which has better conditions than the previous structures and has only 29 cells, a cross-sectional area of ​​0.02 µm 2 and a delay of 0.5 clock cycle. The proposed D-latch designs have better energy consumption than previous structures. The simulation of the proposed methods has been done with the help of QCADesigner and QCAPro tools and compared with other designs in terms of area and energy consumption.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate a new drug combination for small ruminant respiratory diseases to find a better treatment protocol for the potential replacement of older methods. Materials and Methods: A total of 6,886 animals received common respiratory disease therapies out of 15,845 animals that had respiratory disorders. The new combination therapy technique treated the remaining animals (8,968). The animals were given an oral suspension of triclabendazole or levamisole at an initial dosage of 0.2 ml/kg body weight (BW). The following day, 0.2 mg/kg of 1% ivermectin was subcutaneously administered. Then, on the third and fifth days of treatment, a subcutaneous injection of 30 mg/kg BW of florfenicol (30%) was administered. The survival and recovery rates for both groups were tracked throughout a 6-month period of observation. Postmortem and histopathological signs were also assessed. Results: In the group of the novel combination therapy, group A, clinical, postmortem, and his¬topathological signs were significantly reduced compared to group B. Clinical signs and mortality in group A were 90% and 93% lower than in group B, respectively. Animals that received the new combination therapy were healed of their disease and stayed immune for 6 months. Conclusion: This novel therapy demonstrated significant efficacy against respiratory diseases in a 10-year field study. The paper proved that the protocol introduced could be a new therapeutic approach.

Understanding the trends of reference evapotranspiration (ETo) and its influential meteorological variables due to climate change is required for studying the hydrological cycle, vegetation restoration, and regional agricultural production. Although several studies have evaluated these trends, they suffer from a number of drawbacks: (1) they used data series of less than 50 years; (2) they evaluated the individual impact of a few climatic variables on ETo, and thus could not represent the interactive effects of all forces driving trends of ETo; (3) they mostly studied trends of ETo and meteorological variables in similar climate regions; (4) they often did not eliminate the impact of serial correlations on the trends of ETo and meteorological variables; and finally (5) they did not study the extremum values of meteorological variables and ETo. This study overcame the abovementioned shortcomings by (1) analyzing the 50-year (1961–2010) annual trends of ETo and 12 meteorological variables from 18 study sites in contrasting climate types in Iran, (2) removing the effect of serial correlations on the trends analysis via the trend-free pre-whitening approach, (3) determining the most important meteorological variables that control the variations of ETo, and (4) evaluating the coincidence of annual extremum values of meteorological variables and ETo. The results showed that ETo and several meteorological variables (namely wind speed, vapor pressure deficit, cloudy days, minimum relative humidity, and mean, maximum and minimum air temperature) had significant trends at the confidence level of 95% in more than 50% of the study sites. These significant trends were indicative of climate change in many regions of Iran. It was also found that the wind speed (WS) had the most significant influence on the trend of ETo in most of the study sites, especially in the years with extremum values of ETo. In 83.3% of the study sites (i.e., all arid, Mediterranean and humid regions and 66.7% of semiarid regions), both ETo and WS reached their extremum values in the same year. The significant changes in ETo due to WS and other meteorological variables have made it necessary to optimize cropping patterns in Iran.

This study conducted a literature review to investigate the immunomodulatory effect of levamisole in both humans and farm animals. The following procedure was followed for database searching: PubMed, Google Scholar, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library. All research works were updated to September 2022. The terms used in the literature search were included: (“levamisole” OR “immunity” OR “immune system”) AND (“adjuvant” OR “fish” OR “poultry” OR “farm animal” OR “cattle” OR “sheep”). The current review enlightens the extensive potential of levamisole as an adjuvant immunotherapeutic agent and explains its divergent applications beyond its antiparasitic use as an adjuvant, dietary supplement, immunostimulant, antiviral, and anti-cancer drug in humans and farm animals. In the articles examined, various mechanisms have been proposed for levamisole immunoprotective effects, but hormonal alteration and stress hormone reduction are indicated as the main mechanisms in various animal species.