The Characterization of Mechanical Properties of a Rabbit Femur-Anterior Cruciate Ligament-Tibia Complex During Cyclic Loading

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of cyclic loading, which produced the condition of ACLs during sports activities, on tensile properties of femur-ACL-tibia complexes (FATCs). Paired FATCs of 40 New Zealand white rabbits were tested on a materials testing machine. One specimen of each pair was designated as a control and loaded until failure. The contralateral specimen was loaded cyclically (1.4 Hz, 1 hr.) with 20%, 30%, 40%, or 50% of ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of the control and then loaded until failure. The UTS and mode of failure were recorded after each test. Five specimens ruptured during cyclic loading in the 50% group. In the 40% group, the mean value of UTS of cycled specimens was significantly lower than that of controls. There was no statistically significant difference in UTS values between control and cycled specimens in the 20% and 30% groups. Cycled specimens had a significantly higher incidence of substance failure than controls. Our results demonstrated that FATCs have the strength to withstand cyclic loading within normal sports activity levels. However, FACTs can be damaged by cyclic loading under strenuous sports activity levels. We speculate that cyclic loading makes the ACL substance weaker than the insertion site

Information Technology Investment and National Productivity

Using the country-level information technology (IT) expenditures and productivity data for the period from 1992 to 2000, we estimate production function augmented with IT capital stock in the first-difference form. As discussed in prior studies, we confirm that IT expenditures have significant positive effects on national productivity growth. The effects of IT expenditure on productivity growth hold for a short-term (1-year) as well as for a longer-term (4-year and 8-year). Using two theory-based measures of IT maturity, we find that the IT maturity is an important factor that explains the relationship between IT expenditures and national productivity. In addition, we find that the effect of IT expenditures is even higher when the countries are at the mature stage of IT expenditures. Furthermore, we present evidence that IT externalities improve the effect of IT expenditures on productivity growth

International Comparison of Japanese and Korean Banking Efficiency

This study investigates the pattern of changes in efficiency and productivity of the banking sectors at the firm level for the period of 1991-2005 using output distance function and applying the one-stage stochastic frontier approach. This study pools Japanese and Korean bank dataset to effectively compare the pattern of change between Japanese and Korean banking efficiency. Our results indicate that estimates of technical progress, technical efficiency, and total factor productivity (TFP) depend on the viewpoint about the true function of bank: intermediation approach, value-added approach, or operating approach. While intermediation approach results imply that the productivity has overall declined over the sample period for the both country banks, operating approach results are mixed for the two countries. Value-added approach indicates positive TFP growth for the both countries. In most cases, the levels of technical efficiency were further behind the technological frontier for the Korean banks than for the Japanese banks

Multiphasic analysis of whole exome sequencing data identifies a novel mutation of ACTG1 in a nonsyndromic hearing loss family

BACKGROUND: The genetic heterogeneity of sensorineural hearing loss is a major hurdle to the efficient discovery of disease-causing genes. We designed a multiphasic analysis of copy number variation (CNV), linkage, and single nucleotide variation (SNV) of whole exome sequencing (WES) data for the efficient discovery of mutations causing nonsyndromic hearing loss (NSHL). RESULTS: From WES data, we identified five distinct CNV loci from a NSHL family, but they were not co-segregated among patients. Linkage analysis based on SNVs identified six candidate loci (logarithm of odds [LOD] >1.5). We selected 15 SNVs that co-segregated with NSHL in the family, which were located in six linkage candidate loci. Finally, the novel variant p.M305T in ACTG1 (DFNA20/26) was selected as a disease-causing variant. CONCLUSIONS: Here, we present a multiphasic CNV, linkage, and SNV analysis of WES data for the identification of a candidate mutation causing NSHL. Our stepwise, multiphasic approach enabled us to expedite the discovery of disease-causing variants from a large number of patient variants

Recovery of off-state stress-induced damage in FET-type gas sensor using self-curing method

The need for high-performance gas sensors is driven by concerns over indoor and outdoor air quality, and industrial gas leaks. Due to their structural diversity, vast surface area, and geometric tunability, metal oxides show significant potential for the development of gas sensing systems. Despite the fact that several previous reports have successfully acquired a suitable response to various types of target gases, it remains difficult to maintain the reliability of metal oxide-based gas sensors. In particular, the degradation of the sensor platform under repetitive operation, such as off-state stress (OSS) causes significant reliability issues. We investigate the impact of OSS on the gas sensing performances, including response, low-frequency noise, and signal-to-noise ratio of horizontal floating-gate field-effect-transistor (FET)-type gas sensors. The 1/f noise is increased after the OSS is applied to the sensor because the gate oxide is damaged by hot holes. Therefore, the SNR of the sensor is degraded by the OSS. We applied a self-curing method based on a PN-junction forward current at the body–drain junction to repair the damaged gate oxide and improve the reliability of the sensor. It has been demonstrated that the SNR degradation caused by the OSS can be successfully recovered by the self-curing method

Cu2Se-based thermoelectric cellular architectures for efficient and durable power generation

Thermoelectric power generation offers a promising way to recover waste heat. The geometrical design of thermoelectric legs in modules is important to ensure sustainable power generation but cannot be easily achieved by traditional fabrication processes. Herein, we propose the design of cellular thermoelectric architectures for efficient and durable power generation, realized by the extrusion-based 3D printing process of Cu2Se thermoelectric materials. We design the optimum aspect ratio of a cuboid thermoelectric leg to maximize the power output and extend this design to the mechanically stiff cellular architectures of hollow hexagonal column- and honeycomb-based thermoelectric legs. Moreover, we develop organic binder-free Cu2Se-based 3D-printing inks with desirable viscoelasticity, tailored with an additive of inorganic Se-8(2-) polyanion, fabricating the designed topologies. The computational simulation and experimental measurement demonstrate the superior power output and mechanical stiffness of the proposed cellular thermoelectric architectures to other designs, unveiling the importance of topological designs of thermoelectric legs toward higher power and longer durability

APOE Promoter Polymorphism-219T/G is an Effect Modifier of the Influence of APOE ε4 on Alzheimer's Disease Risk in a Multiracial Sample

Variants in the APOE gene region may explain ethnic differences in the association of Alzheimer's disease (AD) with ε4. Ethnic differences in allele frequencies for three APOE region SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms) were identified and tested for association in 19,398 East Asians (EastA), including Koreans and Japanese, 15,836 European ancestry (EuroA) individuals, and 4985 African Americans, and with brain imaging measures of cortical atrophy in sub-samples of Koreans and EuroAs. Among ε4/ε4 individuals, AD risk increased substantially in a dose-dependent manner with the number of APOE promoter SNP rs405509 T alleles in EastAs (TT: OR (odds ratio) = 27.02, p = 8.80 × 10-94; GT: OR = 15.87, p = 2.62 × 10-9) and EuroAs (TT: OR = 18.13, p = 2.69 × 10-108; GT: OR = 12.63, p = 3.44 × 10-64), and rs405509-T homozygotes had a younger onset and more severe cortical atrophy than those with G-allele. Functional experiments using APOE promoter fragments demonstrated that TT lowered APOE expression in human brain and serum. The modifying effect of rs405509 genotype explained much of the ethnic variability in the AD/ε4 association, and increasing APOE expression might lower AD risk among ε4 homozygotes