We consider conditions necessary for a successful implementation of so-called assisted inflation. We generalize the applicability of assisted inflation beyond exponential potentials as originally proposed to include standard chaotic (λφ or mφ) models as well. We also demonstrate that in a purely 4-dimensional theory, unless the assisted sector is in fact decoupled, the additional fields of the ...

How to improve placement accuracy of needle insertion into liver tissue is of paramount interest to physicians. A robot-assisted system was developed to experimentally demonstrate its advantages in needle insertion surgeries. Experiments of needle insertion into porcine liver tissue were performed with conic tip needle (diameter 8 mm) and bevel tip needle (diameter 1.5 mm) in this study. Manual...

abstract introduction: hypertension is one of the most prevalent chronic diseases worldwide. because of its chronicity, hypertension requires life-long therapy. many patients tend to discontinue therapy and seek alternative treatments. in this study, we evaluated the efficacy of two behavioral therapeutic techniques, namely relaxation and biofeedback-assisted relaxation in reducing blood pressu...

background: abnormal oocyte morphology has been associated with the hormonal environment to which the gametes are exposed. objective: in this study, we evaluated the oocytes morphology, fertilization rate, embryos quality, and implantation rate resulted of retrieved oocytes in different times after human chorionic gonadotrophin (hcg) administration. materials and methods: a total of 985 metapha...

purpose: to evaluate the corneal endothelial cell density and polymegathism one year after laser assisted keratomileusis using mitomycin c. methods: one hundred and three eyes from 52 patients who underwent laser assisted sub-epithelial keratomileusis using mitomycin c 0.02% for 30 seconds entered this study. corneal endothelial cells were evaluated using specular microscopy before and one year...

purpose: to evaluate and compare tear secretion and tear film instability following laser in situ keratomileusis (lasik) and laser assisted subepithelial keratectomy (lasek). methods: in a randomized clinical trial, 30 eyes of 15 patients underwent lasik and 30 eyes of 15 patients underwent lasek to correct myopia. tear secretion and tear film instability were tested preoperatively, 2 and 6 wee...

a new dynamic friction model for modeling of elliptical vibration assisted turning (evat) was developed in this research. the periodic change of the friction force direction is known to be one of the most important causes of this phenomenon. in modeling of machining processes (including the evat process), static coulomb friction model was employed by most of the researchers. because of the peri...

liquid membrane processes have attracted many interests in recent years for removal of heavy metals such as cadmium from industrial wastewaters. in this study, a modified hybrid liquid membrane system is introduced. the setup is worked by applying the water-insoluble dioctyl phthalate as the organic solvent. n-octanol and tetra butyl ammonium bromide are added to the organic phase to increase t...

the present study compares the performance of two tefl reading classes: one taking place in a regular classroom and the other held in a computer lab, with the learners practicing reading online. the results of an independent samples t-test showed that the difference between the learners’ scores on their reading comprehension post-tests and pretests did not differ statistically significantly fro...

the interaction of radiation with cells and tissues has a random nature. therefore, understanding the random nature of cell killing that is determined by poisson distribution statistics is an essential point in education of radiation biology. radbiostat is a newly developed educational matlab-based software designed for computer-assisted learning of the target theory in radiation biology. altho...