Characteristics of porous implant steel 316L for orthopedic applications

The porous materials are recently considered to be the prospective biomaterials for restorative medicine. The Young’s modulus of porous metallic biomaterials is much lower than those of non-porous and comparable to modulus of hard tissues, which can improve the conditions of bone remodeling and heading. The porous structure is also interesting from tribological point of view. The usage of porous material for friction elements of joint endoprostheses changes the wear mechanisms and causes decrease of resistance to motion and material wear loss. The aim of present research was to analyze the structure of porous 316L implant steel and its influence on main functional properties of sinters. Samples with porosity of 26, 33, and 41% were made of the 316 stainless steel by the powder metallurgy method. Microstructure was described using conventional image analysis techniques. The mechanical properties were determined in static compressing tests. Fatigue tests were conducted under the fully reversed strain controlled mode. A good correlation has been found between structural parameters and tribological as well as mechanical properties. The low-cyclic fatigue investigations confirm the steady properties of porous materials in the certain range of strai

Traditional to Evidence-Based Psychiatric Nursing Practice: Use of The Transformative Learning Theory to Promote a Change in Psychiatric Nursing Practice

Background: Nursing leaders, regulatory and government agencies insist nurses incorporate evidence-based nursing interventions into their practice. Nurse educators are challenged to change nurses\u27 use of interventions from those based on tradition to those based on science. Providing adults with new infom1ation does not guarantee learners will actualize or even remember new infonnation. Objective: This ai1icle describes the use of Transformative Leaming theory as framework for an educational event to change current practice of psychiatric nurses. Design: Qualitative, descriptive surveys evaluated the effectiveness of the education to motivate learners \u27 change in practice. Results: Participants recognized gaps between current nursing interventions and those supported by evidence. Conclusion: Transformative Learning theory provided an effective framework for assisting the participants to acknowledge false assumptions in current practice. Identification of false assumptions created discomfort with existing nursing practice and critical evaluation of this current practice led to agreement of the need to adopt evidence-supported interventions Keywords: transformative learning theory, evidence-based practice, psychiatric nurses, nurse educato

Calcium Oxide and Ammoniated Whey Treatment of Cornstalks, Oat Hulls, Wheat Straw and Drought Stressed Corn Plants

Calcium Oxide (CaO) treatment of cornstalks, oat hulls, wheat straw or drought stressed corn plants when added at five percent of the feed dry matter will reduced neutral detergent fiber (NDF) levels of these feedstuffs and improve NDF digestibility and in-vitro digestibility to varying degrees due to the strong base reacting with the plant fiber. Ammoniated whey when added to the above mentioned feedstuffs likewise improves these same measures but does so in an additive manner since the ammonia level in these products is not high enough to initiate the desired reaction seen with the CaO. Therefore the rate at which the ammoniated product is added should be done so based on final desired outcome in terms of crude protein

Calcium Oxide and Calcium Hydroxide Treatment of Corn Silage

Nutrient analysis of Calcium Oxide (CaO) and Calcium Hydroxide (Ca(OH)2) treatment of corn silage will show a reduced neutral detergent fiber (NDF) levels, increased calcium, increased crude protein and a slightly improved invitro digestibility of these feedstuffs due to the strong base degrading the plant fiber. Treated corn silage does appear to ferment eventually, but not as rapidly as non treated corn silage. The moisture present in the harvested forage is adequate for the reaction to take place and provides a heat sink for the heat generated from the reaction to prevent combustion. Additional work including feeding trials would help determine any real potential benefit

Calcium Oxide and Calcium Hydroxide Treatment at Various Moisture Levels of Cornstalks and Fescue Hay

Calcium Oxide (CaO) and Calcium Hydroxide (Ca(OH)2) treatment of forage when a fresh alkali product is used can improve the digestibility of some forage, but not all forages stand to benefit. In these trials the treatments at lower moisture did not combust and there was evidence that the treatment was effective in increasing digestibility at moistures less than 50%. Less water or possible no water addition might allow for easier treatment of forages. Larger scale treatments should be evaluated. It would be interesting to see if the alkali treatment has different effect on different particle sizes of forage

Integration of Pasturing Systems for Cattle Finishing Programs—A Progress Report

This progress report is an introduction to a study to evaluate the incorporation of rotational pasturing systems into cattle finishing programs. Because the first year is still in progress and the first trial is not complete, few data are available. However, there is a suggestion that feeding an ionophore to young calves on pasture may result in improved daily gains

A wavelet based numerical method for nonlinear partial differential equations

The purpose of this paper is to present a wavelet–Galerkin scheme for solving nonlinear elliptic partial differential equations. We select as trial spaces a nested sequence of spaces from an appropriate biorthogonal multiscale analysis. This gives rise to a nonlinear discretized system. To overcome the problems of nonlinearity, we apply the machinery of interpolating wavelets to obtain knot oriented quadrature rules. Finally, Newton’s method is applied to approximate the solution in the given ansatz space. The results of some numerical experiments with different biorthogonal systems, confirming the applicability of our scheme, are presented.Instituto de Cooperação Científica e Tecnológica Internacional - Acções Integradas Luso-Alemãs (DAAD/ICCTI) - Projecto DAAD/ICCTI nº 01141

Accelerated Projected Gradient Method for Linear Inverse Problems with Sparsity Constraints

Regularization of ill-posed linear inverse problems via $\ell_1$ penalization has been proposed for cases where the solution is known to be (almost) sparse. One way to obtain the minimizer of such an $\ell_1$ penalized functional is via an iterative soft-thresholding algorithm. We propose an alternative implementation to $\ell_1$-constraints, using a gradient method, with projection on $\ell_1$-balls. The corresponding algorithm uses again iterative soft-thresholding, now with a variable thresholding parameter. We also propose accelerated versions of this iterative method, using ingredients of the (linear) steepest descent method. We prove convergence in norm for one of these projected gradient methods, without and with acceleration.Comment: 24 pages, 5 figures. v2: added reference, some amendments, 27 page

Progress Report: Pasture Finishing of Beef Steers Using Contemporary Feedlot Protocols

Environmental regulations in Iowa can place animal population restrictions on a given site. This study explores the possibility of finishing cattle in a remote pasture location to handle an overflow of animals and yet remain in compliance with environmental mandates