Analgesic Effect of Extracorporeal Shock-Wave Therapy in Individuals with Lateral Epicondylitis: A Randomized Controlled Trial

this study was conducted to investigate the effect of extracorporeal shock-wave therapy (ESWT) on pain, grip strength, and upper-extremity function in lateral epicondylitis. a sample of 40 patients with LE (21 males) was randomly allocated to either the ESWT experimental (n = 20) or the conventional-physiotherapy control group (n = 20). all patients received five sessions during the treatment program. the outcome measures used were the Visual Analog Scale (VAS), the Taiwan version of the Disabilities of the Arm, shoulder, and hand (DASH) questionnaire, and a dynamometer (maximal grip strength). forty participants completed the study. participants in both groups improved significantly after treatment in terms of VAS (pain reduced), maximal grip strength, and DASH scores. however, the pain was reduced and upper-extremity function and maximal grip strength were more significantly improved after ESWT in the experimental group. ESWT has a superior effect in reducing pain and improving upper-extremity function and grip strength in people with lateral epicondylitis. It seems that five sessions of ESWT are optimal to produce a significant difference. further studies are strongly needed to verify our findings

Melatonin serum level, sleep functions, and depression level after bilateral anodal transcranial direct current stimulation in patients with Parkinson’s disease: a feasibility study

Objective: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is associated with non-motor complications such as sleep disturbance and depression. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) showed therapeutic effects on the motor dysfunctions. However, the potential effects of tDCS therapy on melatonin hormone, sleep dysfunctions, and depression in patients with PD still unclear. This feasibility study aimed to identify any potential changes in melatonin serum level, sleep functions and depression after the bilateral anodal tDCS in patients with PD. Material and Methods: Tensessions of bilateral anodal tDCS stimulation applied over left and right prefrontal and motor areas were given to twenty-five patients with PD. Melatonin serum level, Pittsburgh sleep quality index, and geriatric depression scale examined before and after tDCS stimulation. Results: After bilateral anodal tDCS, there was a significant reduction in melatonin serum level, improvement in depression, improvements in overall sleep quality, and sleep latency. Correlations test showed significant associations between melatonin serum level reduction and changes in subjective sleep quality, and sleep duration, as well as between improvements in depression and overall sleep quality, sleep latency, and sleep disturbance.Conclusion: Bilateral anodal tDCS therapy was a feasible and safe tool that showed potential therapeutic effects on melatonin serum level, sleep quality, and depression level in patients with PD. Although the further large scale and randomized-control trial studies are crucially needed, there is still a need for such a feasibility study to be established before such trials can be implemented as is recommended in the new medical research council guidelines

The effect of soot and diesel contamination on wear and friction of engine oil pump

The effect of oil contamination and oil degradation on friction and wear of engine oil pump are addressed in this paper. It provides a summary of an experimental study on the effects of oil contamination and oil degradation on tribological performance of a Variable Displacement Vane Pump (VDVP); a particular focus is on the vane-rotor contact. Firstly, a lab-based artificial ageing of fully-formulated engine oil (FFO) with the addition of contaminants such as carbon black (CB) and diesel is conducted. Secondly, the impact of these contaminants on the bulk property of the oil during the ageing process is investigated, using rheometry and Attenuated Total Reflectance/Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (ATR/FTIR). Thirdly, the performance of these oils on friction and wear of the vane-rotor contact under boundary lubrication regime is evaluated. The wear mechanism and chemical nature of tribofilms formed in tribological tests are addressed using Scanning Electron Microscopy/Energy Dispersive X-ray analysis (SEM/EDX) and Raman spectroscopy. It is found that the consumption of the additives by soot (additive adsorption) in the engine oil during the ageing process has a significant effect on wear of the components. This mechanism has a higher impact on producing high wear than abrasion by soot particles

Sand Particles Impact on the Tribological Behavior of Sliding Contact

Lubricant contaminants cause severe problems to machines. Substantial research has been conducted to study the impact of such contaminates on the tribological performance of lubricated contacts. The primary goal of such studies is to find solutions to avoid the dirtiest cause of damaging machines’ parts and to reduce energy consumption and maintenance costs. The current study investigates the tribological behavior of contaminated lubricated contacts; the contaminants considered in this research are sand particles. The effect of the sand particles concentration levels on friction and wear of a tribological system under sliding contact was studied. Three different concentration levels were tested; 5%, 10% and 15%.The experimental program was carried out using an in-house built ball on disc machine at room temperature, constant normal load, constant speed, constant running time and constant travelling distance. Results showed that both friction coefficient and wear volume of the contacting surfaces are dependent on the concentration level of the sand particles. Both friction coefficient and wear volume increased by increasing the sand particles concentration. SEM was utilized to study the wear mechanisms of the contacting surfaces, it was found that the dominant wear mechanism in all cases was abrasive wear

Sand Particles Impact on the Tribological Behavior of Sliding Contact

Lubricant contaminants cause severe problems to machines. Substantial research has been conducted to study the impact of such contaminates on the tribological performance of lubricated contacts. The primary goal of such studies is to find solutions to avoid the dirtiest cause of damaging machines’ parts and to reduce energy consumption and maintenance costs. The current study investigates the tribological behavior of contaminated lubricated contacts; the contaminants considered in this research are sand particles. The effect of the sand particles concentration levels on friction and wear of a tribological system under sliding contact was studied. Three different concentration levels were tested; 5%, 10% and 15%.The experimental program was carried out using an in-house built ball on disc machine at room temperature, constant normal load, constant speed, constant running time and constant travelling distance. Results showed that both friction coefficient and wear volume of the contacting surfaces are dependent on the concentration level of the sand particles. Both friction coefficient and wear volume increased by increasing the sand particles concentration. SEM was utilized to study the wear mechanisms of the contacting surfaces, it was found that the dominant wear mechanism in all cases was abrasive wear

The effect of the quality level of the services provided to customer satisfaction ( A case study on five-star Hotels in Amman)

The study aimed to reveal the importance of the quality of services in hotels and assess the extent of customer satisfaction with the services provided to them, and try to reach some of the suggestions and recommendations that have helped enrich the Subject of the study. The importance of the study of the importance of service quality and operational productivity by revenue for hotels where the study population of customers from five-star hotels in the capital Amman. The most important findings of the study that the evaluations customers of the quality of services to hotels in Amman were negative. Study recommended the need to work to increase the interest level of services, especially food and beverage services provided by hotels from five-star hotels because the evaluation of customers for these services was negative, And the necessity of adopting departments Supreme program the application of total quality management through moral and material support technician key words: Service quality, Customer Satisfaction, Hotels, Jorda

Vortex Tube Impact on Cooling Milling Machining

Abstract In this paper, the authors will present the use of a vortex tube in cooling milling operations. The focuses will be regarding the surface finish and temperature of the tool during the cutting operation. Three cooling setups, cutting without coolant, cooling with a water base traditional coolant, and cooling with vortex tube will be compared. A Flir E320 UV camera has been used to capture the heat map around the tool during the cutting process. The surface roughness has been measured and analysed for all three samples using Taylor/Hobson Precision Surtronc 3+ apparatus. The findings of this study have shown comparative efficient cooling using the vortex tubes. The vortex tube cooling is also cleaner and can be directed in such a way to collect the chips as they develop with the least mess or no mess. Vortex tubes have no moving parts, and it is very much maintenance free device. Compressed air is needed to feed the vortex tube, which is available usually in any machine shop

Doped conductive polymers and single-walled carbon nanotubes as charge storage devices

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs), introduced as nano-fillers, were used as charge storage elements. Organic semiconducting polymers were produced by doping organic plasticizers with nonconductive polymers. The nano-fillers were embedded along with organic semiconducting and insulating polymers in constructing metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) capacitors classified as organic capacitors. The capacitors were constructed by conventional spin-coating method with metallic electrodes fabricated by means of thermal evaporation. A comparative study was investigated on two device configurations that were built. One with the use of the organic semiconducting polymers and the other with commercially available doped silicon wafer as the semiconductor. Capacitance versus voltage measurements were analyzed on the two configurations to evaluate the storage performance of the devices. The results showed that the device that contained the organic polymeric charge transport layer stored more charge in the SWCNT nano-fillers when compared with the device that contained the silicon wafer. The results also depicted that the embedded SWCNTs were responsible for storing the charge when compared with reference devices that did not contain these nano-fillers