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The present study tested the hypothesis that 30 low-intensity (10%) eccentric contractions (10%EC) or two maximal voluntary isometric contractions at a long muscle length (2MVIC) that were performed at two days before maximal eccentric exercise of the elbow flexors consisting of five sets of six maximal eccentric contractions (MaxEC) would reduce increases in biceps brachii distal myotendinous junction displacement (MTJd) over the eccentric contractions during MaxEC. Sedentary young men were randomly placed (n = 12/group) to a control group that performed two bouts of MaxEC (CONT-1st, CONT-2nd) separated by two weeks, or one of two preconditioning groups that performed 10%EC or 2MVIC at 20° elbow flexion at two days prior to MaxEC. All exercises were performed by the non-dominant arm. MTJd of each contraction was assessed by B-mode ultrasound, and its changes over sets were compared among the groups. The average MTJd from the start to the end of six eccentric contractions in the first set was similar among the groups (6.4 ± 0.7 mm). The MTJd increased from the first to fifth set, but the increase was smaller (P

The demand for smart and multi-functional applications in the terahertz (THz) frequency band, such as for communication, imaging, spectroscopy, sensing and THz integrated circuits, motivates the development of novel active, controllable and informational devices for manipulating and controlling THz waves. Metasurfaces are planar artificial structures composed of thousands of unit cells or metallic structures, whose size is either comparable to or smaller than the wavelength of the illuminated wave, which can efficiently interact with the THz wave and exhibit additional degrees of freedom to modulate the THz wave. In the past decades, active metasurfaces have been developed by combining diode arrays, two-dimensional active materials, two-dimensional electron gases, phase transition material films and other such elements, which can overcome the limitations of conventional bulk materials and structures for applications in compact THz multi-functional antennas, diffractive devices, high-speed data transmission and high-resolution imaging. In this paper, we provide a brief overview of the development of dynamic and active functional electromagnetic metasurfaces and their applications in the THz band in recent years. Different kinds of active metasurfaces are cited and introduced. We believe that, in the future, active metasurfaces will be combined with digitalization and coding to yield more intelligent metasurfaces, which can be used to realize smart THz wave beam scanning, automatic target recognition imaging, self-adaptive directional high-speed data transmission network, biological intelligent detection and other such applications. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Advanced electromagnetic non-destructive evaluation and smart monitoring’.

This study investigated whether low-intensity eccentric contractions of the knee extensors would attenuate the magnitude of muscle damage induced by maximal eccentric exercise of the same muscle performed 7 days later using elderly individuals. Healthy older men (66.4 ± 4.6 years) were assigned to control or experimental (Exp) group (n = 13 per group). The control group performed six sets of ten maximal eccentric contractions (MaxECC) of the knee extensors of non-dominant leg. The Exp group performed six sets of ten low-intensity eccentric contractions of the knee extensors on a leg extension machine by lowering a weight of 10 % maximal voluntary isometric knee extension strength (10 %ECC) 7 days prior to MaxECC. Changes in maximal voluntary isokinetic concentric torque (MVC-CON), angle at peak torque, range of motion (ROM), upper thigh circumference, muscle soreness, plasma creatine kinase activity and myoglobin (Mb) concentration and B-mode ultrasound echo-intensity before and for 5 days after MaxECC were compared between groups by a mixed factor ANOVA. No significant changes in any variables were observed following 10 %ECC. Following MaxECC, all variables changed significantly, and changes in all variables except for angle at peak torque were significantly different between groups. MVC-CON and ROM decreased smaller and recovered faster (P < 0.05) for Exp than control group, and changes in other variables were smaller (P < 0.05) for Exp group compared with control group. These results suggest that preconditioning knee extensor muscles with low-intensity eccentric contractions was effective for attenuating muscle damage induced by subsequent MaxECC of the knee extensors for elderly individuals.

The implementation of an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is known to be time consuming and resource demanding. The success rate of implementation has been notoriously low. This may be attributed to the contextual factors of the implementing organisation. Previous studies of the success factors of ERP system implementation often overlook the contextual factors of post-implementation maintenance and knowledge management. This study intends to examine the extent to which these two contextual factors affect the performance of a business. In this study, we classify post-implementation into system maintenance and data maintenance. A sample of 600 large firms in Taiwan was surveyed and 110 usable questionnaires were collected. Using regression analysis to test the hypotheses, we found that post-implementation maintenance of an ERP system has significant influence on the performance of a business. Furthermore, system maintenance has a significant direct effect on business performance and the moderating ...

An experiment with six treatments: CK1 (rainfed), CK2 (irrigated with freshwater), and 4 treatments of saline aquaculture effluent blended with brackish groundwater at different ratios of 1:1, 1:2, 1:3, and 1:4 (v/v) was carried out during 2004 to assess the effect of saline aquaculture effluent on plant growth and soil properties in the Laizhou region, Shandong Province, China and to determine an optimal salinity threshold for aquaculture effluent. Cumulative evapotranspiration for the saline aquaculture effluent irrigation and non-irrigation treatments was lower than that for the freshwater irrigation treatment. Soil electrical conductivity was higher with respect to saline aquaculture effluent irrigation treatment compared to that with respect to non-irrigation or freshwater irrigation treatment. For Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus L.), in comparison to the freshwater treatment, plant height and aboveground biomass for the 1:3 and 1:4 treatments were constrained, whereas stem width and root biomass were enhanced. Concomitantly, higher tuber yield was obtained for the 1:3 and 1:4 treatments compared to that for CK1 and 1:1 treatments. Nitrogen and phosphorus were higher in tubers of the 1:4 treatment. This study demonstrated that saline aquaculture effluent could be used successfully to irrigate Jerusalem artichoke with higher tuber yield and nutrient removal.

A method for extending displacements of comb drive actuators has been demonstrated in this paper. Differing from other methods which modify the shape of suspension to shift the maximum of the lateral spring constant curve, or adjust the lengths of the individual comb fingers to reduce the equivalent electrostatic spring constant, this method changes the configuration of comb electrodes to shift the minimum of the equivalent spring constant curve. In addition to the original set of comb electrodes, a set of secondary comb electrodes was added into a comb drive actuator. By sequentially powering these two sets of electrodes, the comb drive can acquire more displacement than the original. The feasibility of this method was examined based on the existing theories and simulation software. An inequality that predicts the extending displacement after using this method was given. Based on this inequality, additional displacement could be achieved by adding one set of secondary comb electrodes and switching them sequentially. In our experiment, a case with 40.6% additional displacement has been observed. This value is consistent with the result derived by the model presented in this paper.

Background Asthma is one of the most common childhood illnesses. Guideline-driven clinical care positively affects patient outcomes for care. There are several asthma guidelines and reminder methods for implementation to help integrate them into clinical workflow. Our goal is to determine the most prevalent method of guideline implementation; establish which methods significantly improved clinical care; and identify the factors most commonly associated with a successful and sustainable implementation. Methods PUBMED (MEDLINE), OVID CINAHL, ISI Web of Science, and EMBASE. Study Selection: Studies were included if they evaluated an asthma protocol or prompt, evaluated an intervention, a clinical trial of a protocol implementation, and qualitative studies as part of a protocol intervention. Studies were excluded if they had non-human subjects, were studies on efficacy and effectiveness of drugs, did not include an evaluation component, studied an educational intervention only, or were a case report, survey, editorial, letter to the editor. Results From 14,478 abstracts, we included 101 full-text articles in the analysis. The most frequent study design was pre-post, followed by prospective, population based case series or consecutive case series, and randomized trials. Paper-based reminders were the most frequent with fully computerized, then computer generated, and other modalities. No study reported a decrease in health care practitioner performance or declining patient outcomes. The most common primary outcome measure was compliance with provided or prescribing guidelines, key clinical indicators such as patient outcomes or quality of life, and length of stay. Conclusions Paper-based implementations are by far the most popular approach to implement a guideline or protocol. The number of publications on asthma protocol reminder systems is increasing. The number of computerized and computer-generated studies is also increasing. Asthma guidelines generally improved patient care and practitioner performance regardless of the implementation method.

Background This study investigated the status of the p53 tumor suppressor gene in patients less than 40 years of age who had squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue develop with no known risk factors. Methods Histologic sections from 21 patients were prepared from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue and were processed for standard immunohistochemistry for detection of the p53 protein. In addition, tumors were evaluated by single-strand conformation polymorphism and by DNA sequencing to identify potential mutations in the conserved exons (5–9) of the p53 gene. Results Eighty-one percent (17 of 21) of the patients overexpressed p53 by immunohistochemical analysis. However, none of these patients demonstrated mutations in exons 5–9 of the gene. Conclusions These data suggest that the molecular mechanisms by which the young individuals with no risk factors had altered p53 function in oral squamous cell carcinoma may differ from those of the more typical population of individuals who have this malignancy develop. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Head Neck 22: 328–335, 2000.

Recently, thermal metamaterials have attracted more and more attention, and they have been used to manipulate the flow of heat flux. As a typical case, the thermal cloak can conceal the heat signature of an object. To the best of our knowledge, most of researches on cloak have focused on the case in which the background is a single homogeneous medium. However, cloaking in the layered and gradually changing backgrounds is very common in our real life such as hiding the buried mines in several soil backgrounds. In this paper, on the basis of transformation thermodynamics, a general expression of the thermal conductivity for two-dimensional thermal cloak with arbitrary shape in the layered and gradually changing backgrounds is derived by the coordinate transformation method. According to the expression, we design the thermal cloak in different inhomogeneous backgrounds. Results of full wave simulation show that heat flux can travel around the protection area and eventually return to their original path. The temperature profile inside the thermal cloak keeps unchanged, and the temperature field outside the thermal cloak is not distorted, which proves that the cloak has a thermal protection and thermal stealth function. In the end, we propose a useful method of utilizing homogeneous isotropic materials to construct a thermal device according to the equivalent medium theory. The method is closer to the practical application of the project because of considering the complex backgrounds. At the same time, this technology provides a feasible method to control heat transfer in the future and has great significance for thermal stealth and thermal protection.

Air Force Research Laboratory published the non-lethal Millimeter wave weapon “Active Denial System” (ADS). Because of the thermal shallow penetration induced by its high frequency, the penetration depth is always less than 1mm. Heat gathers at the skin surface, caused the strong thermal effect on the skin. We built up a transient thermal multilayer model for heating of human skin by high power millimeter waves by finite volume method (FVM) based on Pennes' bioheat transfer equation in this paper. The transient temperature distributions of the cross-section profiles were calculated, and we analyzed the calculated results and compared them with the experimental ones. The veracity and reliability of finite volume model were validated. This model provides the theoretical basis for the study of the inverse problem of Active Denial System (ADS).

Objective.To study possible associations between extended mannose-binding lectin (MBL) expression genotypes and clinical manifestations and infections in children with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).Methods.Clinical and laboratory variables for a cohort of 125 patients with pediatric-onset SLE were obtained by clinical examinations and chart reviews. Controls were 137 age-matched and sex-matched healthy children and adolescents. MBL gene polymorphisms were genotyped by polymerase chain reaction. Serum MBL concentrations were measured by ELISA.Results.The frequencies of extended MBL expression genotypes did not differ between patients and controls. There were 82 patients with SLE who had high MBL expression genotypes and 43 who had medium and low MBL expression genotypes. Patients with the high MBL expression genotype had renal disorders more frequently than patients in the group with medium and low MBL expression genotypes [54/82 (65.9%) vs 18/43 (41.9%), respectively; p = 0.013] and fewer serious bacterial infections [22/82 (26.8%) vs 20/43 (46.5%); p = 0.030]. Using logistic regression for patients with SLE, a high MBL expression genotype was independently associated with renal disorders (OR 2.49, 95% CI 1.15–5.39, p = 0.021) and had a protective effect against serious bacterial infections (OR 0.29, 95% CI 0.12–0.71, p = 0.007). MBL levels decreased significantly when patients with active SLE reached an inactive stage (1.56 ± 0.55 μg/ml vs 1.08 ± 0.65 μg/ml; p = 0.001), but these levels were still higher than those in controls.Conclusion.Our findings suggest that a high MBL expression genotype is a risk factor for renal disorder, while it has a protective effect against infections. Serum MBL levels reflect SLE activity.

OBJECTIVES In the first part of this study, we analyzed clinical factors associated with pediatric-onset systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and patient susceptibility to herpes zoster (HZ). In the second part of this study, we characterized MBL2 genotype polymorphisms in pediatric-onset SLE patients and their possible associations with HZ. METHODS This 10-year prospective cohort study compared pediatric-onset SLE patients from Taiwan with and without histories of HZ. By using 2 years as a standard interval, patients with early-onset and late-onset of HZ were compared. MBL2 gene polymorphisms in exon 1 at codon 54, and in the promoter at the position -221 and -550, were tested immediately after patient enrollment. RESULTS We initially enrolled 98 SLE patients, and analyzed complete clinical characteristics of 82 patients (35 patients with HZ, 47 patients without HZ). The incidence of HZ was higher in SLE patients who had methylprednisolone pulse therapy, cyclophosphamide pulse therapy, and received higher cumulative steroid dose (P < 0.05 for all 3). There were no significant associations of HZ with MBL2 genotype or serum level of mannose-binding lectin. CONCLUSIONS Pediatric-onset SLE patients were highly susceptible to HZ, with an incidence of 35.7%. Patients given steroid, cyclophosphamide, and high cumulative steroid dose were more likely to have had HZ. Deficiency of serum mannose-binding lectin and MBL2 gene polymorphism were not associated with HZ.

Plate finned-tube heat exchanger (PFTHX) is a kind of simple and frequently used heat exchanger in industry. A bacterial colony chemotaxis (BCC) optimization algorithm is applied to the optimization of geometry parameters such as the fin number, tube row number, tube column number, etc. of a PFTHX, and the optimization objective is the total manufacture cost or the thermodynamics performance indices. The BCC optimization algorithm is derivatively-free, and the convergence speed is fast, especially, it is irrelevant to the kind of the heat exchanger. A simple verification case was conducted and the result is acceptable.

The identification of defect parameters in thermal non-destructive test and evaluation (TNDT/E) was considered as a kind of inverse heat transfer problem (IHTP) and a kind of structure design optimization problem, and the design results should meet the surface temperature profile of the apparatus with defects. An improved bacterial colony chemo taxis (IBCC) optimization algorithm and a radial basis function neural network (RBFNN) are applied to the identification of defects parameters. The RBFNN is a precise and convenient surrogate model for the time costly finite element computation, which obtains the surface temperature with different defect parameters. The IBCC optimization algorithm is derivatively-free, and the convergence speed is fast. This method is applied to a simple verification case and the result is acceptable. The algorithm is also compared with the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm, and the IBCC algorithm can access the optimum with faster speed.

A gastric carcinoid tumor concomitant with gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) is rarely encountered in clinical practice. We report a 65-year-old female who had a 0.8 cm gastric carcinoid tumor on the posterior wall of the upper gastric corpus detected during an esophagogastroduodenoscopy at a routine physical examination, and a concomitant 1.1 cm GIST on the anterior wall of the upper gastric corpus incidentally found during surgery of the gastric carcinoid tumor. Normal serum gastrin level and histological findings suggested that she had a type III gastric carcinoid tumor and a GIST which were categorized a very low risk of malignancy, based on their small size and lack of mitosis. Both tumors were treated successfully by surgical excision. The patient had an uneventful recovery. Neither recurrence nor metastasis was found after a 28-mo follow-up.

High power LED converter combined with switching power supply and current adjustment device for is presented. The switching power supply provides one stabilized voltage source, and the current adjustment device controls the output currents with a desired constant current and the over-load protection. The experiment results shows the circuit can work well and pass the load test and the electromagnetic interference test.

Background: Unintended consequences of computerized patient care system interventions may increase resource use, foster clinical errors, and reduce users' confidence. Objective: To evaluate three successive interventions designed to reduce serum magnesium test ordering through a care provider order entry system (CPOE). The second, modeled after a previously successful intervention, caused paradoxical increases in magnesium test ordering rates. Design: A time-series analysis modeled weekly rates of magnesium test ordering, underlying trends, the impact of the three successive interventions, and the impact of potential covariates. The first intervention exhorted users to discontinue unnecessary tests recurring more than 72 hours into the future. The second displayed recent magnesium, calcium, and phosphorus test results, limited testing to one test instance per order, and provided education regarding appropriate indications for testing. The third targeted only magnesium ordering, displayed recent results, limited testing to one instance per order, summarized indications for testing, and required users to select an indication. Participants: Clinicians at Vanderbilt University Hospital, a 609-bed academic inpatient tertiary care facility, from 1998 through 2003. Measurements: Weekly rates of new serum magnesium test orders, instances, and results. Results: At baseline, there were 539 magnesium tests ordered per week. This decreased to 380 (p = 0.001) per week after the first intervention, increased to 491 per week (p < 0.001) after the second, and decreased to 276 per week (p < 0.001) after the third. Conclusion: A clinical decision support intervention intended to regulate testing increased test order rates as an unintended result of decision support. CPOE implementers must carefully design resource-related interventions and monitor their impact over time.

We have proposed and fabricated a new mid-infrared reflector using the guided-mode resonance (GMR). The GMR reflector consists of subwavelength Ge grating on GaAs substrate with a low-refractive-index SiOx layer in between. With a total thickness of about 2 μm, a near-100% reflectivity at 8 μm has been obtained both theoretically and experimentally.

A microdeformable mirror was designed. One important design issue was whether or not the gap between substrates would be airtight. Another design issue was whether residual stress and annealing would affect the deformation. A theoretical description of the deformation of the mirror was obtained by means of the ideal gas law and the theory of plates and shells. It was found that an airtight gap would require application of greater voltages to deform the mirror, but would help the device avoid pull-in phenomena. The results showed that an annealed mirror would have a larger deformation and would be reliably useful even with a large voltage. To test the theory, an electrostatically actuated microdeformable focusing mirror was fabricated by bulk micromachining. To avoid high-temperature bonding, SU-8 photoresist was used as a wafer bonding layer. The results show that electrostatic force can be used to deform the mirror into a parabolic shape and that the parabolic mirror focuses light well. The theoretical predictions were confirmed by the experimental results.

The term gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) is defined diagnostically as the main group of mesenchymal tumors with spindle or epithelioid cells arising from the wall of the gastrointestinal tract with immunohistochemical reactivity for CD117 antibody. Previous studies revealed that cells in GISTs express a growth factor receptor with tyrosine kinase activity (termed c-kit), which is the product of the c-kit proto-oncogene. The most specific and practical diagnostic criteria for GISTs are: immunohistochemically determined c-kit (CD117) expression; mitotic score; and tumor size. A small GIST concomitant with early gastric cancer is rarely encountered clinically. Herein we have reported a case of a 1.1-cm GIST detected by esophagogastroduodenoscopy concomitant with a IIc type of early gastric cancer (signet ring cell type). It was detected during a routine physical health examination. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a small GIST concomitant with a signet ring cell type of early gastric cancer.

We report the first fully implanted InP junction field-effect transistor (JFET) with an abrupt p+-n junction. The device was made on a semi-insulating InP substrate with Si++implant for the n-channel and Be/P co-implant for the p+-region. A novel self-aligned process was used to reduce the gate-source spacing and thus minimize the series resistance. Good pinch-off characteristics and very low gate leakage current were obtained. The extrinsic transconductance is approximately 40 mS/mm for a gate length of 5 µm and a channel doping of 6 × 1016/cm3.

A review of the techniques developed for using infrared reflection spectroscopy to study properties of heavily implanted semiconductors is presented. Several structural models are considered and calculations based on them are applied to measurements of implanted Si, Ge and GaAs. These comparisons of model calculations and measured spectra show how a number of important physical parameters can be obtained as well as new information concerning implantation-induced amorphous material.© (1984) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.