We firstly redefine the operations of Molodtsov’s soft sets to make them more functional for improving several new results. We also define products of soft sets and
uni–
int decision function. By ...using these new definitions we then construct an
uni–
int decision making method which selects a set of optimum elements from the alternatives. We finally present an example which shows that the method can be successfully applied to many problems that contain uncertainties.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
Drug-loaded porous membranes have been deemed to be effective physicochemical barriers to separate postoperative adhesion-prone tissues in tendon healing. However, cell viability and subsequent ...tissue regeneration might be severely interfered with the unrestricted release and the locally excessive concentration of anti-inflammatory drugs. Herein, we report a double-layered membrane with sustained and uni-directional drug delivery features to prevent peritendinous adhesion without hampering the healing outcome. A vortex-assisted electrospinning system in combination with ibuprofen (IBU)-in-water emulsion was utilized to fabricate IBU-loaded poly-ʟ-lactic-acid (PLLA) fiber bundle membrane (PFB-IBU) as the anti-adhesion layer. The resultant highly porous structure, oleophilic and hydrophobic nature of PLLA fibers enabled in situ loading of IBU with a concentration gradient across the membrane thickness. Aligned collagen nanofibers were further deposited at the low IBU concentration side of the membrane for regulating cell growth and achieving uni-directional release of IBU. Drug release kinetics showed that the release amount of IBU from the high concentration side reached 79.32% at 14 d, while it was only 0.35% at the collagen side. Therefore, fibroblast proliferation at the high concentration side was successfully inhibited without affecting the oriented growth of tendon-derived stem cells at the other side. In vivo evaluation of the rat Achilles adhesion model confirmed the successful peritendinous anti-adhesion of our double-layered membrane, in that the macrophage recruitment, the inflammatory factor secretion and the deposition of pathological adhesion markers such as α-SMA and COL-III were all inhibited, which greatly improved the peritendinous fibrosis and restored the motor function of tendon.
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•Uni-directional and sustained release of ibuprofen (IBU) was achieved in an asymmetric fibrous scaffold.•IBU release was prolonged by the porous and bundle structure of poly-l-lactic acid (PLLA) fibers.•Uni-directional drug release (release rate = 81.1% and 0.3% at two sides) was achieved to selectively inhibit cell growth.•Anti-adhesion was realized at the high IBU concentration side without affecting tendon healing at the other side.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Introduction
Sonography is a practice‐based discipline where outcome of ultrasound examination is highly dependent on the practitioner's expertise. Sonography trainees therefore require a sustained ...period of high level intense clinical supervision in the workplace which in turn severely impacts on productivity of supervising sonographers. This paper aims to evaluate the worth and merit of a 12‐week accelerated intensive ultrasound course, implemented at the University of Auckland, via the Kirkpatrick Four Level Evaluation model.
Methods
This paper draws its data from three sources: the quantitative data obtained from the course evaluations conducted by the University, and the qualitative data from the two independent evaluations commissioned by Health Workforce New Zealand.
Results and Discussion
All Kirkpatrick's four levels of evaluation were assessed to be achieved. The course is determined to be worthy as it meets the needs of the workplace in terms of student work‐readiness and the reduced level of supervision.
The course is also of merit as each criterion has been rated as excellent. The 12‐week accelerated model of training has a positive impact on the workplace. Due to the success of the 12‐week intensive course, as of July 2016, the course is now funded by both major public and private providers from the Northern region of Auckland.
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Metallosis is the result of metallic wear debris in the soft tissues and is associated to both local and systemic inflammatory response. Metallosis has been reported after total hip and total knee ...arthroplasty (TKA), but rarely after a unicompartimental knee arthroplasty (UKA). In the context of UKA metallosis, surgeons often opt for revision using a TKA. However, in this paper, the authors successfully treated UKA revising the metal back only.
Prior to treat our patient we conducted a literature research through which we identified eleven cases of metallosis after UKA, ten (90.9%) were treated revising using though a TKA. Only one case was managed through a uni-on-uni revision, reporting high knee function. Our patient complained worsening pain and function after a snap occurred at 16 mo after UKA implantation. At 18 mo following surgical debridment and uni-on-uni revision surgery, our patient exhibited a relevant improvement in Oxford Knee Score and a reduction of metal ion levels in the blood.
Our study highlights that in case of metallosis after UKA, the treatment may be based on surgical debridement and just revising the mobilized components.
This study presents the experimental results on a scaled bridge model with a newly proposed unidirectional rocking isolation bearing system (referred to as Uni‐RIBS) on a shaking table. The bridge ...model features one superstructure girder and four bearings. The experimental input encompassed a variety of recorded, design, and harmonic ground motions, characterized by differing peak accelerations, with or without vertical components, and time‐scaled attributes. The superstructure girder's mass was altered for two conditions (full and half). The test results validate the rocking mechanism inherent in the Uni‐RIBS and demonstrate the analytical model's accuracy in predicting the system's dynamics, including its negative stiffness, mass‐independent, and energy dissipation characteristics during bearing rotation reversals. Additionally, this study examines the effectiveness of a simplified numerical model in varying complexities for predicting the seismic responses of the bridge model.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Si illustrano le caratteristiche dell’edizione 2023 della norma UNI 11535 sulla figura professionale del bibliotecario. Rientra infatti nel normale iter procedurale dell’Ente italiano di normazione ...UNI che ogni norma tecnica venga sottoposta periodicamente a revisione, conservando l’impianto e l’articolazione originale e modificando il testo in funzione dell’evoluzione della normativa italiana e internazionale. Conseguentemente le principali novità introdotte in questa edizione sono relative a: l’introduzione del concetto di autonomia e responsabilità, l’attribuzione della fascia di ottavo livello, lo stretto collegamento alle disposizioni definite dall’AIB in merito ai requisiti per accesso, mantenimento e rinnovo dell’attestazione dei propri associati. L’articolo ripercorre inoltre alcuni momenti del riconoscimento professionale con riferimento al contesto AIB e alla legge n. 4 del 2013, che evidenzia come le disposizioni in materia di professioni non organizzate hanno di fatto reso possibile una sinergia tra legislazione, normazione tecnica e ruolo delle associazioni.
With the continuous increase in data traffic and enormous consumption of data in terms of video on demand services and cloud computing, there is an increasing demand for high speed and high ...sensitivity short reach receivers for passive optical networks (PON) access network which are point to multi‐point networks. Avalanche photodiodes (APD) are the standard receivers in PON networks due to their high sensitivity and low cost. However, it is currently not clear if they can provide high bandwidth above 40 GHz with good performance (gain, noise, etc.). Furthermore, standard PIN photodiodes do not provide sufficient sensitivity for PON networks. Therefore, in this article a SOA‐UTC receiver is proposed, which is a photonic integrated circuit (PIC) comprising a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) for optical preamplification and a high‐speed uni‐travelling‐carrier (UTC) photodiode for opto‐electronic conversion. A very high responsivity of 140 A W−1 is demonstrated, with a polarization dependent loss (PDL) around 1 dB and a 3 dB bandwidth of 48 GHz, which is very promising for future PON network with 50 Gbit s−1 capacity and above.
A high speed and high sensitivity preamplified receiver for Passive Optical Network (PON) is proposed. We demonstrate a very high responsivity of 140 A/W, with a Polarization Dependent Loss (PDL) around 1 dB and a 3‐dB bandwidth of 48 GHz, which is very promising for future PON network with 50 Gbit/s capacity and above. W−1, with a polarization dependent loss (PDL) around 1 and a 3 dB bandwidth of 48 GHz, which is very promising for future PON network with 50 Gbit s−1 capacity and above.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
8.
Advances in Mg corrosion and research suggestions Atrens, Andrej; Song, Guang-Ling; Cao, Fuyong ...
Journal of magnesium and alloys,
September 2013, 2013-09-00, Volume:
1, Issue:
3
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Recent research is summarised with an emphasis on the use of Mg alloys for biodegradable medical applications. Mg melt purification using Zr has been shown to provide the opportunity to produce ...ultra-high-purity Mg alloys, which could lead to stainless Mg. Nor's solution may be a good starting model for the study of Mg for biodegradable medical implant applications. A systematic laboratory investigation is needed to elucidate the details of how the corrosion behaviour is controlled by the various constituents of the body fluids.
In the evaluation of the Mg corrosion mechanism there is a critical lack of understanding of (i) the amount of hydrogen dissolved in the Mg metal during corrosion, and during anodic polarisation, and (ii) the size film-free area where corrosion occurs, and how to measure this area.
In the evaluation of the apparent valence of Mg using an applied anodic current density, for reliable values, it is important to apply a sufficiently large applied current density.
The available data are consistent with the slightly modified uni-positive Mg+ ion mechanism, which maintains that (i) the surface of Mg is covered by a partially protective film, and the film-free area increases as the potential becomes more positive (i.e. a catalytic activation process), (ii) corrosion occurs preferentially at breaks in the partial protective film, (iii) corrosion at the breaks in the partially protective film involves the uni-positive Mg ion, (iv) undermining of particles occurs when Mg is severely dissolved, and (v) there may be some self-corrosion not covered by these four processes, which may be associated with crevice-like features on a severely corroded surface or hydride dissolution at relatively negative potentials. Self-corrosion might also be possible under condition of essentially uniform corrosion.
Mg+ has not been experimentally observed. Its existence is postulated as an extremely-short lifetime intermediate in the reaction sequence between metallic Mg and the equilibrium ion Mg++. There has been no direct experimental examination of this sequence, and a key challenge remains to devise an experimental approach to study the details of this reaction sequence and the intermediate steps.
The apparent valence of Mg continues to be a critical question. If defendable values of effective valence for Mg less than 1.0 were measured, this would indicate that some phenomena contribute to these low values that are not currently accounted for in the uni-positive Mg+ corrosion mechanism. The most likely candidate would be self-corrosion.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Tubular steel members with slender cross-sections in compression are prone to local buckling. Different approaches, such as infilling concrete, installation of internal stiffeners and externally ...bonding fiber-reinforced polymer reinforcement, have been developed to retard the local buckling of steel tubular sections, and hence to improve the performance of tubular structures. In this study, a total of 35 circular hollow-steel-tube (HST) stub columns with both non-slender and slender cross-sections confined by different types of external confinements, namely steel ring, spiral and jacket confinements were tested in the experimental program. The uni-axial behavior of externally confined HST columns, including the failure mode, ultimate load-carrying capacity, stiffness and ductility, were studied and discussed. The enhancements in strength, stiffness and ductility of HST columns with different external confinements were assessed. The results indicated that the improvements on strength and stiffness of the confined HST columns were insignificant for columns with non-slender cross-sections and were considerable for columns with slender cross-sections, whilst the ductility of the HST columns was substantially enhanced by external confinements. Based on the results, equations for column ductility evaluation considering the effects of cross-section slenderness ratio, steel strength and external confinement, are proposed in this study, which are able to predict the column ductility for unconfined and externally confined HST columns.
•Behavior of hollow steel tube columns with different external confinements was investigated.•Three external confinement schemes, namely ring, spiral and jacket confinements were adopted.•The effects on strength, stiffness and ductility of columns were studied.•Accurate column ductility equations are proposed for unconfined and externally confined hollow steel tubes.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Con el objeto de hacer una reflexión sobre la importancia de inculcar y mantener los valores en los individuos y su necesario reforzamiento en la formación profesional, se presenta una investigación ...con un enfoque metodológico de tipo cualitativo, con un diseño documental apoyado en una amplia revisión bibliográfica, que destaca la postura reflexiva de la autora en un proceso hermenéutico en el que se indaga sobre axiología y sus inicios, así como de la importancia en incluirla en la formación profesional. Para ello, se hizo una conceptualización de las categorías: formación universitaria, aparecimiento de la axiología y formación axiológica, con lo cual se hizo una conclusión final que condujo a emitir algunas recomendaciones de acogida factible por las instituciones académicas. La indagación revela experiencias exitosas y actualizaciones en función a la tecnología, que orientan las incorporaciones en diferentes instancias educativas
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