Spinal manipulation or mobilization for lumbar disc herniation with radiculopathy : a protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis

Introduction: The purpose of this study is to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis into the effects of spinal manipulation or mobilization for Lumbar Disc Herniation with Radiculopathy (LDHR). Methods: An electronic database search of titles and abstracts of articles published in English will be conducted in the following databases: PEDro (Physiotherapy Evidence Database), CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature), PubMed, Science Direct, Google Scholar, and The Cochrane Library. The specific search strategies will be dependent on the particular database being searched and hand searches of the reference lists of the included articles will also be performed. Studies will be included if they reported an acceptable comparison group, and also reported at least one of the main clinically relevant outcome measures for LDHR. Two independent reviewers will screen the identified records, and all disagreements will be resolved. The internal and external validities of the included studies will be assessed using the PEDro scale and the External Validity Assessment Tool (EVAT) respectively. The clinical relevance and risk of bias of the studies will be determined using the 5-Criteria developed by the Cochrane Back Review Group and the Cochrane Risk of Bias Assessment Tool respectively. Studies will be pooled into meta-analysis where appropriate using RevMan software and the outcomes will be reported using the PRISMA guidelines. Discussion: This review will summarize the current evidence about the effects of spinal manipulation or mobilization compared with other interventions in the management of individuals with Lumbar Disc Herniation with Radiculopathy (LDHR). A meta-analysis will also be conducted where appropriate in this review to compare the effects of spinal manipulation or mobilization with other interventions with a view to finding out which technique is better in the management of individuals with LDHR. Review Registration: This review has been registered with the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO; registration number: CRD42019131292). Keywords: Spinal manipulation; spinal mobilization; lumbar disc herniation; systematic review; meta-analysi

Impacts of plug-in hybrid vehicles and combined heat and power technologies on electric and gas distribution network losses

Distribution network operators (DNOs) require strategies that can offset the tradeoffs new embedded technologies have on their assets. This paper employs modelling to show that through control device manipulation, gas and electric (G&E) network operators can influence savings in energy losses under the presence of plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) and combined heat and power technologies (CHPs). An integrated gas and electric optimal power flow (OPF) tool is introduced to undertake various case studies. The OPF tool evaluates the technical impacts experienced in the networks when DNOs apply a "plug and forget" operation strategy and then compares the results against a "loss minimisation" strategy. Results show the benefits in applying different strategies are more considerable in electric networks than in gas networks. The study corroborates that an integrated G&E analysis offers a fresh perspective for stakeholders in evaluating energy service networks performance under different operation strategies

Manipulation in the Agricultural Commodities Futures Market: Application of Benford\u27s Law

This paper proposes that Benford’s Law is an effective tool for determining futures market irregularities and therefore should be adopted and used in efforts to detect and prevent manipulation in the agriculture commodities futures market. Market manipulation, while hard to define and even harder to detect and prevent, has long been a concern for traders and regulators alike. Market power manipulation – the intentional use of monopolistic power to cause market prices to diverge from their competitive level – harms the market by eroding its efficiency and impairing market integrity thereby driving away potential traders and ultimately undermining financial markets, investments, and the economy as a whole. An effective, accurate, and readily understood economic analysis method for easy detection of market manipulation is needed. This paper examines the data from the alleged 1989 Ferruzzi soybean futures market “squeeze” with the hypothesis that a deviation from uniform price distribution should be found in 1989. Through the application of Benford’s Law, this paper confirmed the existence of market manipulation in May of 1989. Moreover, the findings further suggest: 1) the possibility of manipulation in the soybean futures market in 1987 and 1988 prior to the Ferruzzi incident, 2) that the Chicago Board of Trade’s forced liquidation orders prevented or minimized the effects of the Ferruzzi squeeze in July of 1989, and 3) Benford’s Law is an effective method for detecting futures market irregularities and therefore promises to be a potentially useful tool in the early detection and prevention of market power manipulation

Design automation of microfluidic droplet sorting platforms

Both basic research and biological design require high throughput screening to parse through the massive amounts of variants generated in experiments. However, the cost and expertise needed for use of such technology limit accessibility. Simple and reproducible designs of a sorting platform would reduce the barrier for implementation of affordable bench-top screening platforms. Droplet microfluidics present a promising approach for automating biology, reducing reaction volumes to picoliter droplets and allowing for deterministic manipulation of samples. Droplet microfluidics have been used extensively for high throughput screening and directed evolution, yet limitations in fabrication have prevented the characterization needed for a design tool and subsequent widespread adoption. Here, we present a finite element analysis (FEA) model-based design framework for dielectrophoretic droplet microfluidic sorters and its preliminary experimental validation. This framework extends previous work from our group creating microfluidic designs tools, increasing their usability in the lab

spectrino Software: Spectra Visualization and Preparation for R

spectrino is a spectra preparation software utility for the R language and environment for statistical computing. It is an operating-system specific tool, for use under Microsoft Windows, with specialized visualization, organization and preprocessing features for spectra. The software accepts spectral data from analytical instruments and then prepares a data structure to be introduced in R. spectrino has a rich set of features to create data structures and visually manipulate/compare spectra. The application is accessible by a library of functions from within R. These commands allow for the creation and manipulation of data structures in spectrino and the selective extraction of spectral data. Before exporting, the spectra are preprocessed according the requirements of consecutive discriminant analysis. This preprocessing is adjustable by a series of options.