54,041 research outputs found
Validity of the Novel Taiwan Lymphoscintigraphy Staging and Correlation of Cheng Lymphedema Grading for Unilateral Extremity Lymphedema
No full textOBJECTIVE: The aim was to validate the new Taiwan Lymphoscintigraphy Staging, correlate it with Cheng Lymphedema Grading (CLG) and evaluate the treatment outcomes of unilateral extremity lymphedema. BACKGROUND: No consensus has been reached for diagnosis and staging for patients with lymphedema among medical specialties. METHODS: We included 285 patients with unilateral extremity lymphedema using lymphoscintigraphy. Lymphoscintigraphy was correlated to clinical symptoms and signs, and classified into normal lymphatic drainage, partial obstruction, and total obstruction. Inter- and intraobserver reliability of Taiwan Lymphoscintigraphy Staging, correlation between Taiwan Lymphoscintigraphy Staging and clinical findings were conducted. Patients were categorized in "surgical" (n = 154) or "nonsurgical" (n = 131) groups for outcome evaluation. RESULTS: Lymphoscintigraphy found 11 patients (3.9%) with normal lymphatic drainage, 128 (44.9%) with partial obstruction, and 146 (51.2%) with total obstruction. Taiwan Lymphoscintigraphy Staging showed high interobserver agreement [intraclass correlation coefficient: 0.89 (95% confidence interval, 0.82-0.94)], and significantly correlated to computed tomography volumetric difference (r = 0.66, P < 0.001) and CLG [intraclass correlation coefficient: 0.79 (95% confidence interval 0.72-0.84)]. At a mean follow-up of 31.2 ± 2.9 months, significant improvement in the circumferential difference (from 23.9% ± 17.6% to 14.6% ± 11.1%; P = 0.03) with a mean circumferential reduction rate of 40.4% ± 4.5% was found in surgical group. At a mean follow-up of 26.6 ± 8.7 months, the nonsurgical group had increase of mean circumferential difference from 24.0% ± 17.2% to 25.3% ± 19.0% (P = 0.09), with a mean circumferential reduction rate was -1.9% ± 13.0%. CONCLUSIONS: The Taiwan Lymphoscintigraphy Staging is a reliable diagnostic tool, correlated with clinical findings and CLG, aiding in the selection of the appropriate treatment to achieve favorable long-term outcomes in unilateral extremity lymphedema
Characterization of Dissipated Energy Demand
No full textPerformance-Based Earthquake Engineering (PBEE) aims at designing structures that are able to satisfy multiple target performance levels at different ground motion intensities. The performance levels can be introduced into the overall design process through energy concepts. It is acknowledged that the design of structures protected by control systems such as base isolation or energy dissipation devices can be efficiently optimized by using an energy-based approach. The energy-based design approach incorporated within the probabilistic framework of the performance-based design is a promising design method. In its development, three important energy-based dissipation parameters are critically needed to evaluate, which are the ratio of hysteretic energy to input energy EH/EI, normalized cumulative damage η, as well as the equivalent number of cycles neq. Therefore, this study has taken a comprehensive investigation of these parameters for four hysteretic systems of structures with the vibration period of 0.05s–4s for 7 damping ratios, that is 0.02, 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5, and 6 ductility factors, that is 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8. Empirical formulas of predicting the mean values and standard deviations of the energy-based dissipation parameters are proposed as a function of vibration period, damping ratio, and ductility factors. The proposed predictive models can be easily and conveniently used to evaluate the energy-based dissipation parameters in a deterministic and probabilistic manner in the energy-based design in the framework of PBEE
Ground-motion prediction equations for constant-strength and constant-ductility input energy spectra
No full textIn this study, new ground motion prediction equations are proposed for both constant-ductility and constant-strength absolute and relative input energy spectra. The proposed equations are developed using mixed-effects models calibrated through empirical regressions of inelastic responses derived from nonlinear dynamic analyses on single-degree-of-freedom systems subjected to a large number of strong ground motions. Parametric analyses are carried out to show the variation on the predicted inelastic spectra produced by the level of inelastic demand in terms of constant ductility factors and strength ratios, and by the type of hysteretic model adopted to describe the nonlinear behavior of the system. It is shown that the latter has a moderate influence only on constant-strength spectra at short periods. With the increase of the inelastic demand level, the input energy decreases at long periods while increases at short periods. In general, differences between elastic and inelastic constant-strength spectra are negligible except in the very short period range. The increase in the damping ratio reduces such differences. Comparisons between the present proposals and already existing predictive equations available in the literature are finally discussed
Endosymbiotic copepods may feed on zooxanthellae from their coral host, Pocillopora damicornis
No full textThe infection process of the reef coral Stylophora pistillata by the parasitic copepod, Xarifia obesa
No full textEmpirical Correlations between the Spectral Input Energy and Spectral Acceleration
No full textCorrelating different intensity measures (IMs) enables the joint consideration of multiple IMs in various performance-based earthquake engineering applications, such as ground motion selection. The correlations between the spectral input energy and spectral accelerations have not been previously examined. This study develops a correlation model quantifying the uncertainties due to GMPE selection and a finite sample size. The results show a strong correlation between the spectral amplitudes at the same period, and the correlation decreases as the period difference increases. With the proposed model, ground motion characteristics reflected by the input energy can be explicitly considered in performance-based earthquake engineering applications
On some equations y'(x) = f(x,y(h(x)+g(y(x))))
No full textIn [4] W. Li and S.S. Cheng prove a Picard type existence and uniqueness theorem for iterative differential equations of the form y'(x) = f(x,y(h(x)+g(y(x)))). In this article I show some analogue of this result for a larger class of functions f (also discontinuous), in which a unique differentiable solution of considered Cauchy's problem is obtained
Digital Enhanced V2-Type Constant On-Time Control using Inductor Current Ramp Estimation for a Buck Converter with Small ESR Capacitors
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