Different Methods Of Investigation Research Articles

Bengin Tuomrs of the Spine: A Systematic Review

Abstract Background Spine tumors are classified as primary tumors which originate from the spine itself and its adjacent structures and secondary (metastatic) tumors of distant organs which spread hematogenously and lymphatically and are located in the spine and its surrounding tissues. As the spine is well vascularized and has close relationship with regional lymphatic and venous drainage systems (especially Batson’s venous plexus), it is generally susceptible to metastasis. Metastatic tumors are the most common (97%) tumors of the spine. Aim of the Work to give an overview of the most important benign tumors of the spine, their clinical pictures and the typical features in imaging. Patients and Methods Search results will be conducted to systematic review management software and manually screened for eligibility to be included. PRISMA flowchart will be produced based on the search results and the inclusion/exclusion criteria. We will search the MED-LINE database, PubMed, Cochrane Bone and Muscle Trauma Group Specialized Register, Cochrane Register of Controlled Trails (The Cochrane Library) using the following keywords related to: Bengin tumors, spine. Results Giant cell tumors in the spine, particularly lumbar region, are rare but can present with pain and neurologic deficits. Osteoid osteomas and osteoblastomas, more common in the thoracolumbar spine, exhibit distinct radiological features. Osteoblastomas, locally aggressive, cause persistent pain, stiffness, and neurological deficits, often diagnosed in later stages. Spinal osteoblastoma diagnosis relies on CT scans, superior to plain radiography, and may necessitate biopsy for confirmation. Vertebral hemangiomas, usually asymptomatic, can cause compression-related symptoms and are identified through characteristic radiographic and CT appearances. Conclusion Searching the literature, Comparison between clinical picture in various types of begnin tumors we found that all begnin tumors have similar symptoms such as localized pain, neurological symptoms. Hence different methods of investigation should be used such as plain x-ray, CT scan and MRI.

Integrated GPR and ERT Surveys for the Investigation of the External Sectors of the Castle of Melfi (Potenza, Italy)

The Castle of Melfi is placed on a hilltop overlooking the modern town and it includes many buildings that have been modified and expanded over time. Its Norman-era core was probably built between the end of the 11th and the start of the 12th century on top of an earlier Byzantine castrum; it was enlarged during the reign of Frederick II and additional alterations were undertaken during the reigns of the Angevin and Aragonese. Integrated ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) surveys were carried out inside two courtyards of the westernmost part of the castle, the Cortile degli Armigeri and the Cortile del Mortorio, and in an external eastern wall area in order to identify ancient buried structures through two different methods of investigation and to compare the results.

Evaluation of void space of complicated potentially oil-bearing carbonate formation using X-ray tomography and electron microscopy methods

The Vereiskiy reservoir (Perm Region, Russia) is one of the complicated oil-bearing carbonate formations. It consists of interbedded carbonates and clayey rocks with low interbedded thickness (3–6 m), which makes its development unprofitable. But this reservoir is promising for oil production in the case of application of new technologies (especially proppant hydraulic fracturing method). The different methods of investigation (core description, geophysical, X-ray tomography, electron microscopy, well logging, difference parameters, well test, Warren-Root model, etc.) are used for description its rock pore space. The four lithotypes are distinguished, and their unhomogeneous structure is found out. The presence of large number of intergranular pores, orienting along definition direction, weakly leaching voids, decompaction zones, local thickening of microcracks are the real prerequisite factors promoting the formation of channels for active oil migration under the influence of the factors of hydraulic fracturing technology.

Numerical and Experimental Investigation of Pressure Drop in Periodic Open Cellular Structures for Intensification of Catalytic Processes

Periodic Open Cellular Structures are envisioned as potential enhanced catalyst substrates for heat and mass transfer-limited processes. To enable their rational design, in this study, we propose a combined numerical and experimental approach to assess the pressure drop in the tetrakaidekahedral and diamond lattices since generalized correlations are not present in the literature. Deviations are observed between the model predictions available in the literature, which are possibly due to the different methods of investigation, that is, numerical on ideal geometries and experimental on reproductions. To reconcile the two approaches and prevent discrepancies, careful attention is paid here to the quality of 3D-printed replicas for experimental investigation to obtain results representative of ideal lattices. Computational Fluid Dynamics simulations and experiments are then employed together to cross-validate the results and then to perform a parametric analysis of the effect of the morphological properties on the pressure drop. The effect of the cell size and the porosity are discussed, enabling the derivation of engineering correlations for the prediction of the pressure drop across the lattices within the range of 1 < Reds < 300. Finally, the performances of lattice materials are compared with those of conventional structured supports by evaluating the trade-off between the fluid–solid mass transfer rate and the pressure drop, which is crucial for several catalytic processes. Results show that the diamond lattice outperforms other cellular materials and can outperform ceramic honeycomb monoliths at low Reynolds numbers.

The Acceptance of COVID-19 Vaccination Under Different Methods of Investigation: Based on Online and On-Site Surveys in China.

As Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) vaccines became available in December 2020, increasingly more surveys were organized to examine the acceptance of vaccination, while most of them were conducted online. This study aimed to explore the difference between online and traditional on-site surveys in terms of COVID-19 vaccine acceptance. From November to December 2020, an online survey (n = 2013) and an on-site survey (n = 4,316) were conducted simultaneously in China. Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify influencing factors of acceptance, and propensity score matching (PSM) was adopted to balance the outcomes. As a result, 90.0% of the online respondents accepted COVID-19 vaccination, while it was only 82.1% in the on-site survey. After applying PSM, the acceptance rate of the on-site survey was declined to 78.6%. The age structure, residence location, education, and health status were observed as important factors in addressing vaccination acceptance, which needed to be specifically considered when designing online surveys.

Spatiotemporal heterogeneity of &amp;lt;i&amp;gt;b&amp;lt;/i&amp;gt; values revealed by a data-driven approach for the 17 June 2019 &amp;lt;i&amp;gt;M&amp;lt;/i&amp;gt;&amp;lt;sub&amp;gt;S&amp;lt;/sub&amp;gt; 6.0 Changning earthquake sequence, Sichuan, China

Abstract. The spatiotemporal heterogeneity of b values has great potential for helping in understanding the seismogenic process and assessing seismic hazard. However, there is still much controversy about whether it exists or not, and an important reason is that the choice of subjective parameters has eroded the foundations of much research. To overcome this problem, we used a recently developed non-parametric method based on a data-driven concept to calculate b values. The major steps of this method include (1) performing a large number of Voronoi tessellations and Bayesian information criterion (BIC) value calculation, selecting the optimal models for the study area, and (2) using the ensemble median (Q2) and median absolute deviation (MAD) value to represent the final b value and its uncertainty. We investigated spatiotemporal variations in b values before and after the 2019 Changning MS=6.0 earthquake in the Sichuan Basin, China. The results reveal a spatial volume with low pre-mainshock b values near the mainshock source region, and its size corresponds roughly with the rupture area of the mainshock. The anomalously high pre-mainshock b values distributed in the NW direction of the epicenter were interpreted to be related to fluid invasion. The decreases in b values during the aftershock sequence along with the occurrences of several strong aftershocks imply that b values could be an indicator of the stress state. In addition, we found that although the distribution characteristics of b values obtained from different methods of investigation are qualitatively consistent, they differ significantly in terms of their specific values, suggesting that the best way to study the heterogeneous pattern of b values is in the joint dimension of space-time rather than separately in time and space. Overall, our study emphasizes the importance of b-value studies in assessing earthquake hazards.

Optimization of radiological diagnosis of periapical distructive diseases

The basic paraclinical method of diagnosis in dentistry is the radiological examination. It is constantly used in therapeutic dentistry – in diagnosis and in the treatment process. The analysis of the literature and comparative study have concluded that out of all the radio-diagnostic methods, cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) is the most effective in determining periapical destructive diseases. In this study we aimed to confirm this moment based on our own clinical data. Conclusions: 1) The radiological examination gives us information on the shape, size and structure of periapical lesions and different methods of investigation give us different degrees of veracity of the results. 2) The comparative analysis of the effectiveness of radiological examination methods of patients with periapical destruction showed that CBCT is the most informative method of imaging examination compared to orthopantography and periapical radiographs.

Seawater intrusion and submarine groundwater discharge along the Indian coast

Intrusion of seawater into the coastal aquifers is a major concern as it affects the quality of groundwater. The objective of this study is to delineate the extent of seawater intrusion in the Indian coast based on previous studies and estimate the area as well as locations of seawater intrusion and submarine groundwater discharge based on the groundwater level of the years 2007 and 2017. Several researchers have reported seawater intrusion in the coastal regions of India by different methods of investigation. These studies indicate that the east coast of India is affected greater than the west coast by seawater intrusion. The maximum extent (about 14 km) of seawater intrusion in India is reported in regions north of Chennai. It is estimated that around 7% of the total coastal area is affected by seawater intrusion, where groundwater is below mean sea level. Around 57% of the coastal area of India has groundwater level in the range from 0 to 10 m msl. Future research needs to focus on the areas where seawater intrusion and submarine groundwater discharge were identified based on this study.

Корреляция параметров диска зрительного нерва и поля зрения у пациентов с разной стадией глаукомы и разными методами исследования (HRTи OCT)

Корреляция параметров диска зрительного нерва и поля зрения у пациентов с разной стадией глаукомы и разными методами исследования (HRTи OCT)

Anatomic variations of the round window niche: radiological study and related endoscopic anatomy.

In the last decades, literature has shown an increasing interest in round windows (RW) anatomy due to its pivotal role in deafness surgery. The high variability of this anatomical region, with particular regard to the round windows niche (RWN), has been studied by several authors through different methods of investigation. The aim of the present research was to radiologically examine the morphological variability of the RWN and to link the imaging findings to the endoscopic view. High-resolution CT scans of 300 temporal bones without neuro-otological pathologies were retrospectively reviewed by 2 neuroradiologist and 1 ENT surgeon who independently evaluated the RWN morphological variations. To link the radiological to the endoscopic data, 45 cadaveric human temporal bones were submitted to a radiological evaluation and to an otoendoscopy conducted through a posterior tympanotomy approach. Three variants of the RWN were detected on coronal CT scan reconstructions: 155 "cylindrical-type", 97 "j-type" and 48 "truncated cone-type". For each radiological type the endoscopic findings showed a specific endoscopic position of the RW chamber, which results in different degrees of RW membrane visibility when analysed through a posterior tympanotomy approach. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first description of the above-mentioned RWN radiological variations supported by endoscopic data. This study suggests an additional anatomical evaluation that could be useful to predict the RW membrane visibility through a posterior tympanotomy approach. Further studies are required to support the clinical implications of our observations.

Re-Reading, Re-Writing, Re-Contextualising Shakespeare

Abstract All in all, the scholars whose papers are included in this issue of LINGUACULTURE come from different cultures and countries, share a common love for and interest in Shakespeare‘s work, from which they select highly different texts and resort to highly different methods of investigation. Although inevitably limited in number, these studies take us a long way from the ‗originals‘ in their home culture, to mid-twentieth century Romania, to Orson Welles in the 1950‘s or the 2016 American elections, to Japanese contemporary manga or…to the opera, at different times in history, once again testifying to the amazing plurality of response Shakespeare‘s works have received. In addition, as is well known, these studies are all tiny fragments of the same gigantic puzzle that is called Shakespearian scholarship. The editors of this issue hope that the readers will find here new stimulating pieces of information in a field that will never cease to fascinate us.

A new approach in separating microplastics from environmental samples based on their electrostatic behavior.

Numerous studies on microplastics (MPs; Ø<5mm) in the aquatic environment have been published, but knowledge about the occurrence and ecological risks of MPs is limited. This is in part because current data on the distribution of MPs are comparable only to a limited extent, due to the many different methods of investigation. In addition, sample preparation is often difficult such that standard procedures are lacking. The aim of this work was to simplify the preparation of different kinds of MP samples. Our method makes use of the electrostatic behavior of plastic particles to facilitate their separation from sample matter, with up to 99% of the original sample mass removed without any loss of MPs. To determine the efficacy of this approach, four different materials (quartz sand, freshwater suspended particulate matter, freshwater sediment, and beach sand) were spiked with MPs (size: 0.063-5mm from the seven most common types of plastics, one bioplastic type, polyethylene fibers, and tire wear. A modified electrostatic metal/plastic separator was used to reduce the sample mass and concentrate the plastics based on their physical separation. The recovery achieved with this method was as high as nearly 100% for each type of material. The method was then tested on plastic particles of different shapes and types isolated from the Rhine River. These were successfully electroseparated from the four materials, which demonstrated the utility of this method. Its advantages include the simplified handling and preparation of different field samples as well as a much shorter processing time, because after the last separation step there is hardly any biological material remaining in the sample fraction.

Minimally-invasive and endovideosurgical technologies in diagnosis and treatment of choledocholithiasis.

. The paper presents the results of the use of minimally-invasive methods in the diagnosis and treatment of choledocholithiasis. The results of treatment of 595 patients aged from 24 to 92 years with the diagnosis of choledocholithiasis were evaluated. In 552 (93,0%) patients, clinical ma­nifestations of mechanical icterus were noted. In 508 (85,3%) patients, choledocholithiasis was combined with the presence of gallstones, in 15 (2,5%) cases – with calculous cholecystitis, in 69 (11,6%) cases - choledocholithiasis was residual. For the diagnosis of choledocholithiasis, ultrasound of the abdominal cavity, computed tomography, endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatogy, percutaneous fistulocholangiography, intraoperative cholangiography or cholangiography were used. Surgical treatment included both mini-invasive interventions and traditional operations. 227 (38,1%) patients underwent endoscopic papillosphincterotomy, which was effective in a size of concrement up to 7 mm in 83,7%. The percutaneous drainage of the bille ducts was performed in 88 (14,7%) patients, the efficacy was achieved in 82,9%. 313 (52,6%) patients subsequently underwent the second stage of surgical treatment of choledocholithiasis by laparoscopy – 263 (84,0%) and laparotomy – 50 (16,0%) with cholecystectomy with choledocholithoextraction and subsequent external or internal drainage of choledochus. Comparison of different methods of investigation showed that none of the diagnostic techniques had 100% of accuracy and informative value. The efficacy of transpapillary manipulation directly depended on the size of the stones.

Design, manufacturing, assembling and testing of a transparent PEM fuel cell for investigation of water management and contact resistance at dead-end mode

PEM fuel cell can operate at two different modes. At first mode the outlet of gas flow field is open and at the second mode the outlet of flow field is closed. The second mode is known as dead-end PEMFC. Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) with dead-ended anode and cathode can obtain high hydrogen and oxygen utilization by a comparatively simple system. Nevertheless, the accumulation of the water in anode and cathode channels can lead to a local fuel starvation degrading the performance and durability of PEMFCs. There are different methods for investigation of water management such as: neutron radiography, gas chromatography, capturing by use of X-ray and capturing by use of infrared ray. Due to high cost and many hazards these methods at most cases cannot be used. According to the above mentioned problem we recommend a transparent PEMFC as a simplest, cheapest and the most suitable method for investigation of water management. Designing and manufacturing this type of PEMFC require special techniques. In this paper at first an optimal flow field is numerically designed and according to numerical results a transparent PEMFC is designed, manufactured and tested. Furthermore the performance of PEMFC at dead-end mode and open-end mode is studied. The applied design with a higher efficiency could have a same polarization curve as open-end mode. The results showed that by setting the purge interval time on 5 s and then opening purge valve for 1 s, there isn't any degradation on PEMFC performance but for purge interval of 10 s gradual performance degradation is recorded.

The Effects of Exercise and Kinesio Tape on Physical Limitations in Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of kinesio taping (KT) in combination with moderate adapted exercise on the functional outcome of patients with knee osteoarthritis. We included 66 patients who presented pain and functional impairment with osteoarthritis. At the end of the treatment, only 57 patients remained because nine patients were excluded. Patients were randomly allocated to three treatment groups: (1) exercise group; (2) exercise KT with tension application (stabilizing effect) group; (3) exercise KT without tension application (draining effect) group. We used different methods of investigation: the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Arthritis Index, the Visual Analogue Scaling Score for Pain, the Timed Up and Go test and analgesic consumption. Our results showed a reduction in knee pain, improvement in knee function and also less need for medication in patients with knee osteoarthritis treated with kinesio taping in combination with exercise for, at least, a period of three months. In conclusion, we can assert that therapeutic knee kinesio taping in association with a moderate adapted training is an effective method for the management of pain and disability limitations in patients with knee osteoarthritis.

Understanding auditory verbal hallucinations: a systematic review of current evidence.

Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) are core features of psychotic illness and remain significant in predicting poor outcome and risk. There has been a wide range of approaches to understanding these experiences. A systematic literature review summarizing different methods of investigation and their results; phenomenology, descriptive psychopathology, psychological, cognitive neurobiology, and neuroimaging. A number of 764 papers and texts were screened and 113 reviewed. Phenomenological studies are comparably few in number, and psychopathology remains based on concepts defined in the early 20th century. Psychological models focus on voice content and emotional reaction, and suggest a continuum of AVHs from normal experience. Neuropsychological models include AVHs as misattribution of inner speech, whilst functional neuroimaging studies focus on the spontaneous activity and connectivity of auditory networks. There has been a large growth in research on AVHs in recent decades dominated by neurobiological and neuroimaging studies. Future research should include focus on phenomenological aspects and AVHs change over the course of developing illness. Integration between branches of enquiry is needed, and the risk is that without this, models are proposed and investigated that bear scant relevance to the symptom itself.

O ateliê musical de Claudio Ptolomeu

Music is an art with a special place in the technical domain, since from long ago musical performance made use of instruments. From Antiquity to modern era, musical instruments instigated acoustic investigations, and served both as devices for the observation of musical phenomena and as models for representing sound. The article expounds Ptolemy's approach in his Harmonics to the different methods of investigation involved, on the one hand, in the Pythagorean musical conception, with its arithmetical foundation and, on the other hand, the Aristoxenian conception, that puts musical phenomena into the same domain as human faculties like auditory perception and reason, while giving musical instruments a special role from both empirical and mathematical points of view. Harmonica is crucially important in bringing together a considerable part of science of harmonics in antiquity, and also going a step beyond this to expound the ancient conception of universal harmony.

Exploration and Exploitation Tradeoff using Fuzzy Reinforcement Learning

Difficulty of making a balance between exploration and exploitation in multiagent environment is a dilemma that does not have a clear answer and there are still different methods for investigation of this problem that all refer to it. In this paper, we provide a method based on fuzzy variables for making exploration and exploitation in multiagent environment. In this method, an effective agent (e in e-greedy method) is obtained which is updated using fuzzy variables in each step to manage tradeoff between exploration and exploitation.The proposed algorithm is investigated for determination an optimized path in the Grid World. In this method, agents effort to reach locations with a highest gain in a cooperative environment. Outcomes of the suggested fuzzy based algorithm compared with the results by conventional e-greedy method. In addition, quality improvement of interaction between exploration and exploitation is discussed.

Effect of the groundwater contribution, the climatic change, and the human-induced activities on the hydrological behavior of discharge playas: a case study Sidi El Hani discharge playa, Tunisian Sahel

This study is meant to provide an insight into how discharge playas, which are strongly influenced by a regional salty groundwater flow regime, such as the discharge playa of Sidi El Hani, would respond to the climatic variability and to the materials coming from the subsurface of the Sahel area. In order to choose the appropriate method, a special care was given in this paper to different methods of investigation of the groundwater contribution in water and salt budgets of saline systems. The hydrogeological map of the surrounding aquifers proved their convergence toward Sidi El Hani discharge playa. As consequence of the dominance of a salty groundwater contribution, the climate variability may be considered minor. Accordingly, the model proposed by this study showed the dominance of the salty water coming from the hydrogeology at the expense of the fresh water coming from the climatic contribution. Moreover, according to the adopted model, the effect of the human-induced activity on the hydrogeological contribution such as the installation of dams in the Tunisian center and the overexploitation of the phreatic aquifer of Kairouan was judged increasing the convergence of Kairouan aquifer towards Sidi El Hani discharge playa. On the other hand, the consumption of salt reserves from the discharge playa tends to decrease its salinization.

Bone Healing after Tooth Extraction with or without an Intervention: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials

To assess whether the use of a graft and/or membrane post-tooth extraction improves healing of the site dimensionally, radiographically, and/or histologically. MEDLINE and EMBASE and the Cochrane Central register of controlled trials (CENTRAL) were searched up until August 2011. Randomized controlled trials that included and compared healing post-tooth extraction between a control (no intervention) and a graft and/or membrane (test) were selected. Titles and abstracts of 2,861 papers were screened. A total of 42 papers were selected for full text reading. Nine papers met the eligibility criteria and were selected for further analysis. Because of the varying graft materials used and the different methods of investigation, as well as the variation in follow-up times, a meta-analysis was not possible. The present review found that clinically, there was a range in loss of width in the control sites of 2.46 mm (SD 0.4 mm) to 4.56 mm (SD 0.33 mm) compared to 1.14 mm (SD 0.87 mm) to 2.5 mm (SD 1.2 mm) in the test sites. The range in loss of height in control sites was 0.9 mm (SD 1.6 mm) to 3.6 mm (SD 1.5 mm) compared to a gain of 1.3 mm (SD 2 mm) to a loss of 0.62 mm (SD 0.51 mm) in test sites. Radiographically a range of change in bone height of between 0.51 mm (No SD) to 1.17 mm (SD 1.23 mm) was noted in control sites compared to a change of between 0.02 mm (SD 1.2 mm) and 1 mm (SD 1.4 mm) in test sites. There is limited data regarding the effectiveness of alveolar ridge preservation therapies when compared to the control. Overall the socket intervention therapies did reduce alveolar ridge dimensional changes post-extraction, but were unable to prevent resorption. Histology did demonstrate a large proportion of residual graft material that may account for some of the difference in alveolar ridge dimensions at follow up.