bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Forced Sex and Early Marriage: Understanding the Linkages and Norms in a Humanitarian Setting
Authors: Seff Ilana , Williams Anaise , Hussain Farah , Landis Debbie , Poulton Catherine , Falb Kathryn , Stark Lindsay
Published: May 2019

This mixed-methods study uses baseline data from a program evaluation in the Democratic Republic of Congo to examine two outcomes of interest: self-reported exposure to forced sex and belief that a girl’s community would force her to marry her hypothetical rapist, for married and unmarried 13- to 14-year-old girls ( n = 377). Married girls are more likely to report both outcomes. Qualitative in-depth interviews with girl participants ( n = 30) and their caregivers ( n = 31) were analyzed for themes related to forced sex and marriage, revealing the normalcy of girls marrying perpetrators and suggesting that some married girls in this setting may have been forced to marry their rapist.
Has the Development of Health Promotion Competencies Made a Difference? A Scoping Review of the Literature
Authors: Battel-Kirk Barbara , Barry Margaret M.
Published: May 2019

Introduction. Competency-based approaches have been developed in health promotion over the past four decades but, to date, there has been limited focus on the evaluation of their use and impact. In 2016, 5 years after publication of the CompHP Core Competencies Framework for Health Promotion, an evaluation of their use and impact across the health promotion community in Europe was initiated. As a first step in this process, a scoping review of the literature was undertaken which aimed to explore the current status of health promotion competencies, with a particular focus on developments in Europe and ascertain what evidence exists about the use and impact of health promotion competencies on practice, education, and training. Method. Searches of the electronic databases and gray literature were conducted between February 2016 and December 2017. The searches were limited to sources published in English between 2009 and 2017, which focused on health promotion competencies. Results. A total of 39 sources were identified for in-depth analysis, of which 26 were theoretical papers and 13 were papers reporting on empirical studies. Many of the sources presented health promotion competency frameworks or described their development. Some examples of the use of health promotion competencies were found but only two instances of their evaluation were identified. Conclusions. The review found few empirical studies on the implementation and use of health promotion competencies and highlights a lack of evaluation studies on their impact on practice, education, and training.
Determination of thermoelastic stress wave propagation in nanocomposite sandwich plates reinforced by clusters of carbon nanotubes
Authors: Safaei Babak , Moradi-Dastjerdi Rasool , Qin Zhaoye , Behdinan Kamran , Chu Fulei
Published: May 2019

Adding small amounts of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) into the face sheets of sandwich structures can significantly improve their thermo-mechanical responses. However, the formation of CNT clusters, especially at high volume fractions of CNTs, dramatically affects the mechanical properties of the resulted nanocomposites, which is usually ignored. In this paper, by considering the formation of CNT clusters, we have investigated transient heat transfer and stress wave propagation in polymeric sandwich plates with two nanocomposite face sheets. The face sheets were made of clusters of CNTs embedded in a polymeric matrix. The volume fractions of CNTs and their clusters were assumed to be functionally graded along the thickness of face sheets. The proposed sandwich plate was subjected to thermal and impact pressure loads. Eshelby–Mori–Tanaka’s approach was applied to evaluate the material properties of the resulted nanocomposite with components with temperature-dependent material properties. Reddy’s third-order shear deformation theory and a moving least square shape function-based mesh-free method were utilized for thermoelastic dynamic analysis. The effects of CNT cluster size, distribution, and volume fraction as well as thermal load on the thermoelastic dynamic behavior of nanocomposite sandwich plates were investigated. It was observed that the distribution and cluster size of CNTs had significant effects on the amplitude and speed of thermoelastic stress wave propagation in the nanocomposite sandwich plates.
Waveform parameters of retrobulbar vessels in glaucoma patients with different demographics and disease severity
Authors: Carichino Lucia , Harris Alon , Lapin Sergey , Guidoboni Giovanna , Cassani Simone , De Silvestri Annalisa , Tinelli Carmine , Milano Giovanni , Siesky Brent , Verticchio Vercellin Alice C
Published: May 2019

Introduction:

To identify novel velocity waveform parameters of the ophthalmic artery and central retinal artery by computer-aided image processing of Doppler ultrasonography measurements, and to evaluate correlations between the waveform parameters and different demographics and disease severity of open-angle glaucoma patients.

Methods:

Thirty-six images of 36 open-angle glaucoma patients were considered. A semiautomated image processing code was used to detect the digitalized ophthalmic artery and central retinal artery velocity waveforms and to extract the waveform parameters. Concordance correlation coefficient, two-sample t-test, and Pearson’s correlation coefficient were used to test for similarities, differences, and associations among variables.

Results:

Female glaucoma patients showed a statistically higher ophthalmic artery normalized distance between ascending and descending limb (p = 0.004), hypertensive glaucoma patients a statistically higher ophthalmic artery peak systolic velocity time (p = 0.025), glaucoma patients with hyperlipidemia a statistically higher ophthalmic artery resistivity index (p = 0.023) and a statistically higher ophthalmic artery peak systolic velocity acceleration (p = 0.025), glaucoma patients with cardiovascular diseases a statistically lower central retinal artery normalized distance between ascending and descending limb of the wave (p = 0.033) and a statistically higher central retinal artery period (p = 0.028), and patients with different body mass index a statistically different central retinal artery normalized distance between ascending and descending limb of the wave (p = 0.016). Groups with different disease severity, classified following the Brusini glaucoma staging system 2, showed statistically different central retinal artery normalized distance between ascending and descending limb of the wave (p < 0.001) and central retinal artery period (p = 0.016). No statistical differences were found in regard to race, diabetes status, glaucoma family history, and smoking.

Discussion:

Ophthalmic artery and central retinal artery computer-aided analysis of velocity waveforms could identify novel waveform parameters capable of differentiating among different demographics and disease severity of open-angle glaucoma patients.
Custom-made Doppler ultrasound flow simulator for dialysis access using continuous renal replacement therapy machine
Authors: Lee Hyung Seok , Park Pyoungju , Han Sohee , Joo Narae , Song Young Rim , Kim Jwa Kyung , Choi Sun Ryoung , Kim Hyung Jik , Kim Sung Gyun
Published: May 2019

The purpose of this article was to introduce an easy and inexpensive way of making a simulator for training in Doppler ultrasound flow rate measurement using a continuous renal replacement therapy machine and home-made phantoms. A Doppler ultrasound flow simulator was made using a continuous renal replacement therapy machine and vascular phantoms for flow rate assessment of dialysis access with readily accessible components including rubber tube, keyboard cleaning gel, and freeze-dried instant coffee granules. The simulator is an affordable and easy method of Doppler ultrasound flow rate measurement training for dialysis staff using materials readily available in dialysis centers.
Kappa free light chains is a valid tool in the diagnostics of MS: A large multicenter study
Authors: Leurs CE , Twaalfhoven HAM , Lissenberg-Witte BI , van Pesch V , Dujmovic I , Drulovic J , Castellazzi M , Bellini T , Pugliatti M , Kuhle J , Villar LM , Alvarez-Cermeño JC , Alvarez-Lafuente R , Hegen H , Deisenhammer F , Walchhofer LM , Thouvenot E , Comabella M , Montalban X , Vécsei L , Rajda C , Galimberti D , Scarpini E , Altintas A , Rejdak K , Frederiksen JL , Pihl-Jensen G , Jensen PEH , Khalil M , Voortman MM , Fazekas F , Saiz A , La Puma D , Vercammen M , Vanopdenbosch L , Uitdehaag BMJ , Killestein J , Bridel C , Teunissen C
Published: May 2019

Objective:

To validate kappa free light chain (KFLC) and lambda free light chain (LFLC) indices as a diagnostic biomarker in multiple sclerosis (MS).

Methods:

We performed a multicenter study including 745 patients from 18 centers (219 controls and 526 clinically isolated syndrome (CIS)/MS patients) with a known oligoclonal IgG band (OCB) status. KFLC and LFLC were measured in paired cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and serum samples. Gaussian mixture modeling was used to define a cut-off for KFLC and LFLC indexes.

Results:

The cut-off for the KFLC index was 6.6 (95% confidence interval (CI) = 5.2–138.1). The cut-off for the LFLC index was 6.9 (95% CI = 4.5–22.2). For CIS/MS patients, sensitivity of the KFLC index (0.88; 95% CI = 0.85–0.90) was higher than OCB (0.82; 95%CI = 0.79–0.85; p < 0.001), but specificity (0.83; 95% CI = 0.78–0.88) was lower (OCB = 0.92; 95% CI = 0.89–0.96; p < 0.001). Both sensitivity and specificity for the LFLC index were lower than OCB.

Conclusion:

Compared with OCB, the KFLC index is more sensitive but less specific for diagnosing CIS/MS. Lacking an elevated KFLC index is more powerful for excluding MS compared with OCB but the latter is more important for ruling in a diagnosis of CIS/MS.
Health-service Evaluations: Should We Expect the Results to Change Practice?
Authors: Alexander Helen
Published: May 2019

Evaluation is being given an ever-increasing emphasis within the health service, but there is a big question over what happens to the evidence from these evaluations. This research describes three different levels of implementation for three health-service evaluations. In broad terms, the results suggested that one had influenced practice, that parts of the second had been useful, but that the third appeared to have been largely ignored. In exploring the reasons for this, an attempt is made to extend the theoretical context of influences by identifying some moderators of health-service evaluation.
Ex Ante Evaluation and the Changing Public Audit Function
Authors: Ling Tom
Published: May 2019

This article defines the public audit function and identifies pressures changing Value for Money (VFM) auditing in the public sector in the UK. These pressures have prompted a range of innovations in how organizations such as the National Audit Office carry out their evaluations. Related to these pressures is the rise of formal futures within the public sector. The implications of this thinking for VFM public auditing are examined. It is argued that, although conventional VFM auditing remains appropriate for much of the public sector, there are a growing number of public sector activities requiring a different approach. Such approaches include scenario planning. These not only present methodological problems for auditors but also raise important issues about the role of audit more generally. Finally, although these new tools may be helpful in many respects, it is suggested that they may increase the tension between anchoring parliamentary accountability in some statements of fact and contributing to improvements in the quality of public services.
Evaluability Assessment: A Tool for Incorporating Evaluation in Social Change Programmes
Authors: Thurston Wilfreda E. , Potvin Louise
Published: May 2019

In this article we discuss the evaluation of a particular type of health promotion programme where social change is a central theme of programme development, implementation and evaluation. Evaluation of social change programmes requires a politics of accountability and a utilization focus. These require a process of planning evaluations that mirrors the process of programme planning and implementation. Such an approach must be open to the possibility that the demands on evaluation research may change over the lifecycle of the programme. We propose an evaluability assessment framework as a participatory tool for planning evaluations that meet the need for credible evaluative accounts of social change and contribute to social change. This framework is a tool that can be used at any time to plan and review evaluations.
Individual and social stress, social capital, and depressive symptoms as predictors of adolescent suicide in South Korea: A mediated moderation model
Authors: Bae Sung Man
Published: May 2019

This study examined the interactive effects of strain induced by individual and social stress and social capital on suicide, highlighting depressive symptoms as mediator in these relationships. This study used data from 5000 adolescents aged 14–18 years. Strain due to individual stress was found to have a direct effect on suicide, but strain due to social stress did not have a direct effect on suicide. The interactive effect of strain and social capital significantly predicted depressive symptoms and suicide. In the relationship between strain and suicide, the interactive effect of strain and social capital was mediated by depressive symptoms.
Intrusions of violence: Afro-pessimism and reading social death beyond solitary confinement
Authors: Chavez Ernest K
Published: May 2019

Any serious engagement with the theory of social death must contend with Afro-pessimism. Socio-Legal Studies advances social death as an un-raced and universalizable phenomenon. Lisa Guenther’s Solitary Confinement, is exemplary of this kind of work. In order to construct a phenomenology of race, Guenther attempts to analogize a theory of slavery (social death) with a theory of phenomenology and solitary confinement. Furthermore, Guenther takes up a humanistic reading of Frantz Fanon’s work, as if Fanon was affirming the possibility of a “new humanism” that could restore social life against social death in the post-colonial wake. This essay is an attempt to provide an Afro-pessimist reading of social death; one that engages anti-blackness as a fundamental condition of civil society and provides a close reading of Fanon’s psychopolitics of racial violence.
Distressing encounters in the context of climate change: Idioms of distress, determinants, and responses to distress in Tuvalu
Authors: Gibson Kari , Haslam Nick , Kaplan Ida
Published: May 2019

Across the globe there is a critical need for culturally informed and locally valid approaches to mental health assessment and intervention, particularly among disadvantaged and marginalized populations. To be optimally effective, such approaches must be informed by a sound understanding of locally relevant idioms of distress and its determinants, including those caused or exacerbated by global power disparities and structural inequities. Climate change, arising due to anthropogenic sources located predominantly in industrialized nations, is one potential determinant of distress having disproportionate adverse impacts on already marginalized populations. The present study formed part of a broader project examining the intersections of culture, climate change, and distress in the Polynesian nation of Tuvalu – a focal point of global concern over the human costs of climate change. The study explored determinants and idioms of distress and culturally prescribed responses to coping with distress. Results are based on fieldwork conducted in 2015 entailing semi-structured interviews with 16 key informants and 23 lay residents of Funafuti atoll, recruited using maximal variation purposive sampling. Findings are examined in consideration of the unfolding impacts of climate change and the threat it portends for the future, both of which were identified as salient determinants of distress, in keeping with theorized relationships between climate change and mental health. The study underscores the necessity of attending to the relationships between global forces, local cultures, and individual experiences of distress, as efforts to provide access to culturally informed social and mental health services expand globally.
Psychometric properties of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) in Brazil
Authors: Stivaleti Colombarolli Maíra , Carolina Zuanazzi Ana , Koich Miguel Fabiano , Giromini Luciano
Published: May 2019

Internationally, the most widely used self-report instrument to assess alexithymia (a clinical condition characterized by serious deficits in the cognitive processing of emotions) is the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). Because this measure has been poorly investigated in Brazil and emerging research suggests that TAS-20 scores might vary from one culture to another, we sought to: (1) investigate the psychometric properties of a Brazilian TAS-20; and (2) examine the degree to which Brazilian non-clinical TAS-20 scores differ from the scores of non-clinical samples from other cultures. A sample of 850 non-clinical Brazilian adults were administered a number of questionnaires and performance-based measures via online data collection. Data analyses inspected internal consistency and factor structure of the TAS-20, and tested the association of TAS-20 scores to emotional functioning and psychopathology. In line with previous international research, the Brazilian TAS-20 showed acceptable to adequate psychometric properties. Furthermore, TAS-20 scores associated negatively with empathy and emotional perception, and positively with emotion dysregulation and personality traits like dependency, abrupt changes in mood, and avoidance of criticism. Also noteworthy, our non-clinical Brazilian TAS-20 scores were very similar to those observed in other previously published non-clinical TAS-20 scores from seven non-Brazilian cultures.
Polysyllabic shortening in Spanish-English bilingual children
Authors: Gibson Todd A , Bernales Carolina
Published: May 2019

Aims and objectives:

Polysyllabic shortening is thought to contribute to the perception of stress-timed rhythm in some languages. Little is known about its use in the speech of children exposed to a language that incorporates it more frequently (e.g. English) and one that incorporates it less frequently (e.g. Spanish). The purpose of the current investigation was to explore polysyllabic shortening in bilingual children’s two languages compared to monolingual Spanish and English comparison groups.

Method/Design:

We performed a group-level, cross-sectional study comparing the magnitude of polysyllabic shortening for monolingual English- and Spanish-speaking children and Spanish-English bilingual children.

Data/Analysis:

Sixteen monolingual English speakers, 23 monolingual Spanish speakers, and 16 Spanish-English bilingual speakers produced two- and four-syllable words in English only, Spanish only, or both English and Spanish, respectively. Ages ranged from 4;5 to 7;7 ( M = 5;10, SD = 7 months). English and Spanish words had the same syllable shapes and primary stress locations. Articulation rate was measured by syllables per second. A language history questionnaire and standardized vocabulary test were also administered. Comparisons were made both between and within groups.

Results:

Both monolingual English and Spanish speakers utilized polysyllabic shortening to similar degrees. Bilingual children produced polysyllabic shortening in English and Spanish to the same degree as their monolingual peers, but they produced it to a greater degree in their own Spanish than in their own English.

Conclusion:

Polysyllabic shortening might be a universal feature of speech that results from universal phonetic constraints. For the bilingual children, greater use of polysyllabic shortening in Spanish than English may be related to better Spanish than English articulatory control.
Time and the other in crisis: How anthropology makes its displaced object
Authors: Ramsay Georgina
Published: May 2019

Displacement is typically approached in anthropology as an exceptional experience that is associated with refugees and forced migration. Recent representations of a migration ‘crisis’ have reinforced the exceptionality attached to displacement. Drawing on research conducted with people in both refugee and non-refugee contexts, in this article I put forward a more expansive theorisation of displacement as a sense of temporal dispossession. Additionally, I describe how, by characterising refugees and other migrants as people who occupy a temporality that is distinguished by their migration status, anthropology denies coevalness with and between migrants and non-migrants and thereby reinforces the very logics of otherness that we might otherwise seek to critique. Recognising the shared temporal rhythms of displacement, and how these manifest broadly as the effects of global capitalism and neoliberal restructurings, is one way through which anthropologists can strengthen our analyses and critiques of bordering structures. We must firmly situate refugees and migrants within these shared rhythms of displacement, rather than exceptionalise them through the lens of ‘crisis’.
Visible minorities in the Canadian Labour Market: Disentangling the effect of religion and ethnicity
Authors: Khattab Nabil , Miaari Sami , Mohamed-Ali Marwan
Published: May 2019

Studies on labour-market disadvantages of ethnic and visible minorities in Canada have focused, primarily, on earning differentials leaving other important socioeconomic indicators such as employment and occupational distribution insufficiently examined. These studies have rarely included religion as one of the explanatory variables, despite the presence of sizable religious communities and considerable religious diversity in Canada. Given the rise in anti-Muslim sentiment and the increase in Islamophobia, religion becomes an important factor. In this study, we argue that the Canadian labour market excludes/includes individuals based on their physical visibility and religious affiliation. We analyse data obtained from the Canadian 2011 National Household Survey. The analysis supports the existence of a hierarchy of labour market outcomes predicated on both visibility and religious affiliation. It is suggested that the existing labour market inequality among the various ethno-religious groups is shaped largely by physical visibility and cultural proximity to the dominant group. The results provide evidence for a ‘Muslim penalty’.
Qualitative research synthesis: An appreciative and critical introduction
Authors: Drisko James W
Published: May 2019

This paper introduces models and techniques for synthesizing multiple qualitative studies on a topic. Qualitative research synthesis is a diverse set of methods for combining the data or the results of multiple studies on a topic to generate new knowledge, theory and applications. Use of qualitative research synthesis is rapidly expanding across disciplines. Aggregative and interpretive models of qualitative research synthesis are defined and distinguished. Several interpretive models are detailed. Their strengths are identified, and their limitations and areas of methodological ambiguity are critically examined. The steps of qualitative research synthesis are discussed and challenges specific to doing qualitative synthesis are identified and explored.
Creating critical mass in cultural management education: Learning from an arts and cultural management programme in Turkey
Authors: Ada Serhan
Published: May 2019

If today the departments of “cultural management” (in its broadest term) have been in existence for almost four decades, it is in part because of the existence of the “cultural industries”. If this concept’s founder and critical theorist, Theodore Adorno, indeed stigmatised cultural industries as “predominance of profit … over culture”, how can the rise and importance of this academic field be accounted for? This article proposes to reconstruct, analytically, a narrative of the rise of arts and cultural management departments, established almost two decades ago in Istanbul and which has been producing graduates in Turkey since that time. This article argues that, as a micro-case, the knowledge that this experience affords us is worth discussing and taking into consideration while trying to address the question of “cultural industries” as a pedagogic field.
Teaching the cultural and creative industries: An international perspective
Authors: O’Connor Justin , Gu Xin , Vickery Jonathan
Published: May 2019

Dedicated to the memory our late colleagues, Dr Anna Upchurch (1957–2016) and Dr Lorraine Lim (1980–2017), both of whom attended the symposium from which this Special Issue emerged (Prato, September 2016), and both of whom were to make valuable contributions.
Organisational aesthetics and pedagogy: Deframing the creative and cultural labour formation
Authors: Poprawski Marcin
Published: May 2019

The first objective of this paper is to provide an overview of the curricula offered by Polish higher education institutions aimed at future workers in the culture and creative sectors. Desk research is supplemented by a qualitative analysis of students’ needs on professional education and the perception of cultural labour in Poland, and concluding remarks attempt to provide a preliminary response to the key expectations and gaps highlighted in the reported analysis. The paper argues that to sustain the trends of growth and to support the professionalisation of managing cultural and creative initiatives, higher education institutions in Poland have to develop a more explicit balance between pure cultural studies and cultural management education approaches. The breakthrough achievements require support from a parallel breakthrough – formation tools that adapt alternative methods from organisation studies.
Mechanics of the influx phase in the jet regurgitant mode of a powered resonance tube
Authors: Thethy Bhavraj , Tairych David , Edgington-Mitchell Daniel
Published: May 2019

Time-resolved visualisation of shock wave motion within a powered resonant tube (PRT) is presented for the regurgitant mode of operation. Shock position and velocity are measured as functions of both time and space from ultra-high-speed schlieren visualisations. The shock wave velocity is seen to vary across the resonator length for both the incident and reflected waves. Three mechanisms are explored as explanations for the variation in velocity: change in local fluid velocity, variation in shock strength and variations in local temperature. For the incident wave, local fluid velocity and shock strength are extracted from the data and both are demonstrated to contribute to the observed variation, with a non-trivial remainder likely explained by variation in temperature.
Services and support for nontraditional students in higher education: A historical literature review
Authors: Remenick Lauren
Published: May 2019

While nontraditional students are a growing population in colleges and universities today, their presence can also be seen throughout history. National policies and practices throughout United States history enabled a more diverse population of students to enter higher education, thus increasing the nontraditional student population. In this historical literature review, I examine four time periods in which nontraditional students persisted and the unique services and support offered to them. Common among the four time periods were three ways that nontraditional students were supported historically: institutions (1) awarded credit for nonacademic activities, (2) increased flexibility in their policies and procedures, and (3) provided resources specific to nontraditional students’ needs. While policies have allowed greater numbers of nontraditional students to enter higher education, admitting these students does not guarantee their retention and degree completion. Therefore, this manuscript offers suggestions, taken from historical trends, for how institutions can continue to support current and future nontraditional students. Although institutions today are certainly more aware, understanding, and inclusive of diverse students’ needs, lessons from history can still be used to make improvements. Examining past students, services, and practices may help to improve future policies and attainment strategies for this diverse population of students in higher education.
Performance of plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 as a biomarker in patients undergoing coronary angiography: Analytical and biological considerations
Authors: Jung Richard G , Simard Trevor , Di Santo Pietro , Labinaz Alisha , Moreland Robert , Duchez Anne-Claire , Majeed Kamran , Motazedian Pouya , Rochman Rebecca , Jung Young , Hibbert Benjamin
Published: May 2019

Introduction and objective:

Target lesion failure continues to limit the efficacy of percutaneous coronary intervention despite advancements in stent design and medical therapy. Identification of biomarkers to risk stratify patients after percutaneous coronary intervention has the potential to focus therapies on cohorts with increased benefits. Plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 has been identified as a candidate biomarker. Herein, we evaluate biological variables which impact plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 levels and analytical characteristics which impact its utility as a biomarker in humans.

Methods:

Plasma plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 was measured in 689 patients undergoing coronary angiography. Plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 levels were measured. Clinical and procedural characteristics were collected in a prospective registry.

Results:

Plasma plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 analytical ( CVa = 4.1%), intra-individual ( CVi = 44.0%) and inter-individual ( CVg = 118.6%) variations with reference change value of 122.3% were calculated. Plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 levels were elevated in patients with cardiovascular risk factors, including type 2 diabetes, pre-diabetes, smokers, obesity, hypertension, and daytime variation in procedure and blood draw.

Conclusion:

Variation in plasma plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 levels is influenced by multiple biological and procedural characteristics. The performance of plasma plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 is consistent with biomarkers in clinical use (N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide and C-reactive protein) and its applicability is promising.
Preparation of flexible microwave interactive fabric for 8.2 to 18.0 GHz frequency: Functional evaluation and validation
Authors: Kumar Gupta Krishna , Abhyankar Ashutosh C , Srivastava Anurag , Mohammed Abbas Sayad
Published: May 2019

In this study, for the first time, coating formulation based on milled carbon fibre has been applied on textile substrate to prepare flexible covering material for microwave protection. Cotton fabric with its inherent high dielectric property and finite length with close network of carbon milled fibre has synergised to generate highly conducting surface (σ = 96.22 S/m). The samples are prepared by coating of milled carbon fibre in various concentrations with polyurethane as binder on cotton fabric. Polyurethane contains hydroxyl and hexamethylene diisocynate groups which are polar under external electric field (dielectric constant 3.2–6.5) and also contribute high dielectric properties in coated fabric. Samples were evaluated for surface resistivity and microwave properties, i.e. permittivity, scattering parameters, reflection, transmission, absorption and reflection loss. Permittivity of high level (ɛ′: 21–31, ɛ″: 60–84) and attenuation of high order (α = 1971–2354 Np/m) are achieved. The sample coated with milled carbon fibre and polyurethane in ratio of 1: 1.67 on weight basis has shown 67–70% reflection, 28–30% absorption, 0.1–0.5% transmission, and EMI shielding of 28–30 dB in X (8.2–12.4 GHz) and Ku (12.4–8 GHz) frequency band. The results were further analysed theoretically and correlated with the scattering parameters and other microwave properties.
Comparison and characterization of different polyester nano/micro fibres for use in tissue engineering applications
Authors: Mikes Petr , Horakova Jana , Saman Ales , Vejsadova Lucie , Topham Paul , Punyodom Winita , Dumklang Manita , Jencova Vera
Published: May 2019

The study focuses on a comparison of the electrospinning of various polylactide and polycaprolactone (PLCL) copolymers and poly-L-lactide (PLLA) and polycaprolactone (PCL) homopolymers. The chemical characterisation, electrospinnability, fibrous morphology, degradation rate and interactions with fibroblasts were assessed with respect to copolymers and homopolymers with both lower (around 50,000) and higher (around 95,000) molecular weights. The research investigated commercially available as well as synthesised copolymers. The results revealed that the electrospinnability of polymeric solutions depends on both the molecular weight and the PLA/PCL ratio in the final copolymer. It was determined that PLCL copolymers with a higher content of PCL (≥20%) were not spinnable via the electrospinning process. With the exception of PCL, the resulting fibrous materials were found to be homogeneous and with fibre diameters of slightly more than 1 µm with respect to both the tested molecular weights. The degradation rate was tested under simulation conditions via the utilisation of the lipase and Proteinase K enzymes. The degree of degradation was found to depend on the molecular weight, the crystallinity of the polymer and the specificity of the enzyme applied. While lipase was responsible for the degradation of the PCL polymer, it exerted a minor impact on the PLLA and the copolymers. Proteinase K degraded all the tested polymers with a higher specificity towards PLLA and the PLCL copolymers. All the tested polymers were affected by the surface erosion degradation process via fibrous morphology changes and mass loss with no accompanying shift in the molar mass. The electrospun PLLA materials supported both fibroblast adhesion and proliferation. All the tested materials were determined to be cytocompatible with 3T3 mouse fibroblasts.
Prevalence of Dementia Among Older Patients: A Hospital-Based Study in Iran
Authors: Kamalzadeh Leila , Moghaddamnia Moein , Malakouti Seyed Kazem , Rashedi Vahid , Bahrampour Sara , Sharifi Niloufar , Talebi Mina , Sina Farzad , Shariati Behnam
Published: May 2019

Background:

Dementia constitutes a public health hazard in developing countries. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of dementia and its associated factors in older hospitalized patients.

Methods:

The participants of this cross-sectional study consisted of older patients admitted to medical wards in Rasoul-e Akram hospital in Tehran, Iran. Mini-Mental State Examination, Mini-Cog test, Geriatric Depression Scale, Activities of Daily Living-Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (ADL-IADL) scale, and socioeconomic questionnaires were used.

Results:

A total of 205 elderly inpatients were included. The mean age was 71.33 ± 7.35 years; 63.4% of the participants had normal cognitive function, while 36.6% had some degree of cognitive impairment. There was a statistically significant relationship between gender, age, number of children, and occupation and the prevalence of dementia.

Conclusion:

Appropriate cognitive screening of older patients upon admission to hospitals could help identify potential adverse events and enhance the quality of care for patients with comorbid dementia.
Creating a Successful Poster: “Beauty Is Truth, Truth Beauty”
Authors: Papanas Nikolaos , Georgiadis George S. , Demetriou Maria , Lazarides Miltos K. , Maltezos Efstratios
Published: May 2019

Posters are an established mode of disseminating scientific research. They require careful preparation and presentation. During the former, the authors need to pay attention to the following features: choice of text, fonts and colors, illustrations and graphics, adequate presentation of methods and results, as well as to-the-point discussion of key messages. The latter is regrettably slightly neglected but very important. Indeed, poster presenters need to give a brief talk highlighting the research question and communicating the findings of the study, their novelty, and the anticipated clinical implications. In conclusion, practice is needed to create successful posters, but the result may be useful and pleasing.
An Innovative Technique in Local Antibiotic Delivery Method in Open Infected Wounds of the Musculoskeletal System
Authors: Shekhar Chander
Published: May 2019

Bone and soft tissue infections are difficult problems in orthopedic surgery. Infections resulting in chronic osteomyelitis if established are difficult to eradicate. The delivery of local antibiotics for the treatment of open infected wounds of the musculo skeletal system is a more logical approach to treat these infections. Antibiotics given systemically are unable to achieve minimum inhibitory concentration in areas of infected wounds which are ischemic or relatively avascular. And also these antibiotics given over a prolonged period lead to significant toxicity and side effects and emergence of resistant bacteria. The author has been treating difficult cases of infected wounds sustained in road accidents, wounds (diabetic ulcers) in Diabetes Mellitus with necrotizing fasciitis and post operative infections with discharging sinuses with infected implants inside by his own innovative method of antibiotic delivery. The infected open wounds have been treated by application of Vitamin D3 granules impregnated with Tobramycin or Tobramycin and Vancomycin combined. All the patients responded successfully to this novel method of treatment which is extremely simple, effective, low cost, without any complications or side effects and has shown excellent results. Not only the Vitamin D3 granules act as a carrier of the antibiotic locally but also have properties of boosting immunity, and promote tissue healing. It also produces an antibiotic like substance Cathelicidin which kills bacteria and promotes growth of the bone and restores the bone mineral density.
Optimal design of side roller to minimize the roundness errors of lead wire sides
Authors: Kim Se Jong , Kim Jin Ho
Published: May 2019

This study improved the roundness error of the side portion of a lead wire produced by rolling operations. In the conventional method, the side portion is cut after rolling. As an improvement, a side roller was designed for use after flat rolling to directly form the side portion of the lead wire to reduce the roundness error. A rolling analysis of lead wires was performed using LS-DYNA, which is a simulation program capable of analyzing the dynamic behavior of the material. Finite element modeling of the lead wire was carried out, and the change of the cross section was observed after the wire rolling process. The shape of the side roller was optimized to reduce the roundness error. The angle of the side roller, the installation position, and the shape radius were selected as the design variables. PIAnO (Process Integration, Automation, and Optimization), a commercial PIDO (Process Integration and Design Optimization) tool, was used for the optimum design of the side roller, and the results confirmed that the roundness error was reduced.
Pilot study on the use of infrared thermal imaging to predict infrainguinal bypass outcome in the immediate post-operative period
Authors: Al Shakarchi J , Inston N , Dabare D , Newman J , Garnham A , Hobbs S , Wall M
Published: May 2019

Objectives

Early bedside post-operative monitoring of infrainguinal bypass surgery is currently based on subjective clinical findings and handheld Doppler signals. Infrared thermal imaging is an objective and reproducible technique that has been proven to be a reliable and accurate method to measure skin temperature. The aim of this prospective study was to assess infrared thermal imaging as a predicting tool of bypass graft outcome in the immediate post-operative period and assess the angiosome concept.

Methods

This was a prospective cohort study of 25 patients undergoing infrainguinal bypass. Demographic and clinical data were prospectively collected and included gender, age, co-morbidities, pre- and post-operative ankle brachial pressure indices, surgery undertaken and patency of run-off vessels. Infrared thermal imaging was undertaken pre- and post-operatively to assess thermal changes to the feet following revascularisation.

Results

We found that an increase in temperature from pre- to post-operative was significantly associated with bypass patency. An increase in temperature was found to have a positive predictive value of 75%, a negative predictive value of 100%, a sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 89% for predicting graft patency.

Conclusions

Infrared thermal imaging can be used to measure temperature related changes of the microcirculation post-operatively and predict bypass outcomes in the immediate post-operative period.
Radiation exposure during non-thrombotic iliac vein stenting
Authors: Chait Jesse , Davis Nikolay , Ostrozhynskyy Yuriy , Rajaee Sareh , Marks Natalie , Hingorani Anil , Ascher Enrico
Published: May 2019

Objective

Fluoroscopic-guided interventions have become a major part of the modern vascular surgeon’s practice. Imaging is typically required to safely and effectively perform both simple and complex endovascular interventions. With an ever-increasing volume of fluoroscopic-guided interventions being performed each year, the minimization of harmful radiation exposure has become of paramount concern for both patients and providers. The purpose of this study was to identify the extent of radiation exposure associated with venography and iliac vein stenting, an intervention utilized in the management of chronic venous insufficiency.

Methods

This was a single-center, retrospective analysis of 40 venograms performed on 29 unique patients over a three-month period. Patients with signs and symptoms of chronic venous insufficiency who failed conservative therapy underwent evaluation of the vena cava and iliofemoral veins with venography and intravascular ultrasound. Stent placement was performed if a >50% cross-sectional area or diameter reduction was identified via intravascular ultrasound. All patients were found to have non-thrombotic iliac vein lesions. All patients wore two individual film badge dosimeters – one on their chest and the other on the abdomen. The same mobile C-arm system was used for all interventions.

Results

There were 15 males and 14 females, with an average age of 70.6 years old (SD ± 9.5; range 53–89) and a mean body mass index of 33.9 kg/m2. Sixteen limbs had C6 disease, 10 had C4 disease, and 14 had C3 disease. Thirty-eight of the 40 procedures resulted in stent placement, with an average of 1.13 stents placed per intervention. The average fluoroscopy time was 76.5 s (SD ± 36.9; range 7.8–209.5), and the mean cumulative air kerma was 1.08 mGy (SD ± 0.55; range 0.362–2.24). Average cumulative air kerma was higher in procedures resulting >1 stent placement compared to those with placement of ≤1 stent (1.44 vs. 1.02 mGy; p = 0.04). Fluoroscopy time was also higher in procedures with >1 stent placed (120.1 vs. 68.8 s; p = 0.0004). The mean deep dose equivalent per procedure from the patient-worn abdominal badge was 0.221 mSv.

Conclusion

With the adjunctive use of intravascular ultrasound, iliac vein stenting can be safely and effectively performed with very low utilization of fluoroscopy, and therefore radiation exposure can be minimized for both patients and surgeons. Placement of >1 iliac vein stent resulted in higher cumulative air kerma and fluoroscopy time.
Convolutional neural network target detection in hyperspectral imaging for maritime surveillance
Authors: Freitas Sara , Silva Hugo , Almeida José Miguel , Silva Eduardo
Published: May 2019

This work addresses a hyperspectral imaging system for maritime surveillance using unmanned aerial vehicles. The objective was to detect the presence of vessels using purely spatial and spectral hyperspectral information. To accomplish this objective, we implemented a novel 3-D convolutional neural network approach and compared against two implementations of other state-of-the-art methods: spectral angle mapper and hyperspectral derivative anomaly detection. The hyperspectral imaging system was developed during the SUNNY project, and the methods were tested using data collected during the project final demonstration, in São Jacinto Air Force Base, Aveiro (Portugal). The obtained results show that a 3-D CNN is able to improve the recall value, depending on the class, by an interval between 27% minimum, to a maximum of over 40%, when compared to spectral angle mapper and hyperspectral derivative anomaly detection approaches. Proving that 3-D CNN deep learning techniques that combine spectral and spatial information can be used to improve the detection of targets classification accuracy in hyperspectral imaging unmanned aerial vehicles maritime surveillance applications.
Disturbance observer–based adaptive integral sliding mode control for the hybrid automobile electro-coating conveying mechanism
Authors: Yuan Wei , Gao Guoqin
Published: May 2019

This article seeks to achieve high tracking performance of the hybrid automobile electro-coating conveying mechanism with disturbances and uncertainties. An integral sliding mode control scheme is first presented to eliminate the reaching phase in sliding mode control. Then, an adaptive integral sliding mode controller is designed without knowing the disturbance information. Finally, a composite strategy, referred to as nonlinear disturbance observer (NDO)-based adaptive integral sliding model control, is put forward to further reduce the switching gain. By compensating the lumped disturbances via a NDO, the switching gain is only required to be higher than upper bound of the disturbance estimation error which is much smaller than actual disturbance. The results of both numerical simulations and experiments show that the proposed approach has good control performance especially in reducing the switching gain and alleviating the chattering problem.
A hand-drawn map-based navigation method for mobile robots using objectness measure
Authors: Niu Jie , Qian Kun
Published: May 2019

Correct cognition of the environment is the premise of mobile robots to realize autonomous navigation control tasks. The inconsistency caused by time-varying environmental information is a bottleneck for the development and application of cognitive environment technologies. In this article, we propose an environmental cognition method that uses a hand-drawn map. Firstly, we use the single skeleton refinement and fuzzy c-means algorithms to segment the image. Then, we select candidate regions combining the saliency map. At the same time, we use the superpixels straddling method to filter the windows. The final candidate object regions are obtained based on a fusion of saliency segmentation and superpixels clustering. Based on the above objectness estimation results, we use a human–computer interaction method to construct an inaccurate hand-drawn environment map for navigation. The experimental results from PASCAL VOC2007 validate the efficacy of the proposed objectness measure method, where our result of 41.2% on mean average precision is the best of the tested methods. Furthermore, the experimental results of robot navigation in the actual scene also verified the effectiveness of the proposed approach.