Preferences and Motivations of Women Who Use Traditional Contraceptive Methods to Avoid Pregnancy in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Systematic Review

Introduction: When it comes to family planning, requirements and preferences vary among couples. Because of their mixed effectiveness, traditional contraceptive methods are often associated and accounted as unmet needs. However, interest in these methods is growing significantly. Nevertheless, knowledge of the reasons for the decision and using traditional contraceptive methods remains limited. The purpose of this study was to identify the preferences and motivations of women who use traditional contraceptive methods to avoid pregnancy in Sub-Saharan Africa. Method: A literature search was conducted in three electronic databases (PubMed/Biomed Central/Medline, Embase, CINAHL). Two independent individuals selected the eligible quantitative, qualitative, and mixed studies published between 2011 and 2020. We conducted a narrative synthesis to organize and group preferences and motivations that facilitate traditional contraceptive methods use. Results: Abstinence, withdrawal, breastfeeding, rhythm method were the main preferences to contraceptive planning methods identified. Factors influencing the use of traditional contraceptive methods were the lack of knowledge, the side effects, the bad experience with the modern contraceptive methods, spousal communication around family planning, the husband’s opposition to modern methods, availability, accessibility, and the absence of side effects as well as the character of the traditional methods, the fact of living in an urban environment as well as the age beyond 30 years. Conclusion: This review identified preferences and motivations for using traditional contraceptive methods. These findings could be considered in different family planning programs to understand their role and help to estimate the contraceptive prevalence better.

C^1 natural element method for strain gradient linear elasticity and its application to microstructures

C^1 natural element method （C^1 NEM） is applied to strain gradient linear elasticity, and size effects on mi crostructures are analyzed. The shape functions in C^1 NEM are built upon the natural neighbor interpolation （NNI）, with interpolation realized to nodal function and nodal gradient values, so that the essential boundary conditions （EBCs） can be imposed directly in a Galerkin scheme for partial differential equations （PDEs）. In the present paper, C^1 NEM for strain gradient linear elasticity is constructed, and sev- eral typical examples which have analytical solutions are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the constructed method. In its application to microstructures, the size effects of bending stiffness and stress concentration factor （SCF） are studied for microspeciem and microgripper, respectively. It is observed that the size effects become rather strong when the width of spring for microgripper, the radius of circular perforation and the long axis of elliptical perforation for microspeciem come close to the material characteristic length scales. For the U-shaped notch, the size effects decline obviously with increasing notch radius, and decline mildly with increasing length of notch.

Robotic natural orifice specimen extraction surgery I-type F method vs conventional robotic resection for lower rectal cancer

BACKGROUND Robotic resection using the natural orifice specimen extraction surgery I-type F method(R-NOSES I-F)is a novel minimally invasive surgical strategy for the treatment of lower rectal cancer.However,the current literature on this method is limited to case reports,and further investigation into its safety and feasibility is warranted.AIM To evaluate the safety and feasibility of R-NOSES I-F for the treatment of low rectal cancer.METHODS From September 2018 to February 2022,206 patients diagnosed with low rectal cancer at First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University were included in this retrospective analysis.Of these patients,22 underwent R-NOSES I-F surgery(RNOSES I-F group)and 76 underwent conventional robotic-assisted low rectal cancer resection(RLRC group).Clinicopathological data of all patients were collected and analyzed.Postoperative outcomes and prognoses were compared between the two groups.Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS software.RESULTS Patients in the R-NOSES I-F group had a significantly lower visual analog score for pain on postoperative day 1(1.7±0.7 vs 2.2±0.6,P=0.003)and shorter postoperative anal venting time(2.7±0.6 vs 3.5±0.7,P<0.001)than those in the RLRC group.There were no significant differences between the two groups in terms of sex,age,body mass index,tumor size,TNM stage,operative time,intrao-perative bleeding,postoperative complications,or inflammatory response(P>0.05).Postoperative anal and urinary functions,as assessed by Wexner,low anterior resection syndrome,and International Prostate Symptom Scale scores,were similar in both groups(P>0.05).Long-term follow-up revealed no significant differences in the rates of local recurrence and distant metastasis between the two groups(P>0.05).CONCLUSION R-NOSES I-F is a safe and effective minimally invasive procedure for the treatment of lower rectal cancer.It improves pain relief,promotes gastrointestinal function recovery,and helps avoid incision-related complications.

Optimal control of natural resources in mining industry

The paper focuses on the optimal control of natural resources in mining industry. The purpose is to pro- pose an optimal extraction series of these resources during the lifetime of the Mine＇s maintenance. Fol- lowing the proposed optimal control model, a sensitivity analysis has been performed that includes the interest rate impact on the optimal solution. This study shows that the increasing of the interest rate sti- mulates faster extraction of the resources. The discounting factor induces that the resource has to be extracted faster hut this effect is counterbalanced by the diminishing returns of the annual cash flow. At higher parameters of ＂alpha＂ close to one of the power function about 80% from the whole resource will be extracted during the first 4 years of object/mine maintenance. An existence of unique positive root with respect to return of investment has been proposed and proved by two ways： by the ＂method of chords＂ and by using specialized software.

Evaluating Value of Natural Landscapes in China

Natural landscapes consist of the natural substances, environment, and phenomena, all of which provide many benefits to people, including a sense of place, sightseeing, relaxing, and recuperating. However, the economic value of natural landscapes has only been recognized in recent decades, and the resulting large-scale decline and degradation of ecosystems now severely threatens the sustainable provision of their services to society. There is an emerging consensus that natural capital should be incorporated into the current socioeconomic accounting system. Many studies valuated natural resources at local and regional scales, but there are very few empirical studies at a national level. To provide a benchmark for natural landscape management on a national scale, we use the travel cost method(TCM) and the contingent valuation method(CVM) to determine the economic value and the spatial distribution of natural landscapes across China. Our results show that the total economic value of China′s natural landscape was 9.75 × 10^(11) U.S. dollars(USD) in 2012. Of this value, the highest proportion was in the eastern and southwestern regions of China, which accounts for 23.7% and 18.3%, respectively. The provinces of Guangdong, Sichuan, Yunnan, Inner Mongolia, and Heilongjiang were the top five in terms of the largest number of natural landscapes and largest economic values. Together, these five provinces accounted for 32.9% of the total number of natural landscapes and 29.4% of the total economic value in 2012. We believe this study will increase awareness of the value of natural landscapes, and more importantly provide a scientific basis for resolving conflicts between development and resource conservation.

Natural Transform for Solving Fractional Models

In this paper, we present a novel technique to obtain approximate analytical solution of fractional physical models. The new technique is a combination of a domain decomposition method and natural transform method called a domain decomposition natural transform method (ADNTM). The fractional derivatives are considered in Caputo sense. To illustrate the power and reliability of the method some applications are provided.

A natural neighbour method based on Fraeijs de Veubeke variational principle for materially non-linear problems

The natural neighbour method can be considered as one of many variants of the meshless methods. In the present paper, a new approach based on the Fraeijs de Veubeke （FdV） functional, which is initially developed for linear elasticity, is extended to the case of geometrically linear but materially non-linear solids. The new approach provides an original treatment to two classical problems： the numerical evaluation of the integrals over the domain A and the enforcement of boundary conditions of the type ui = hi on Su. In the absence of body forces （Fi = 0）, it will be shown that the calculation of integrals of the type fA .dA can be avoided and that boundary conditions of the type ui = hi on Su can be imposed in the average sense in general and exactly if hi is linear between two contour nodes, which is obviously the case for tTi = O.

Hybrid natural element method for viscoelasticity problems

A hybrid natural element method（HNEM） for two-dimensional viscoelasticity problems under the creep condition is proposed. The natural neighbor interpolation is used as the test function, and the discrete equation system of the HNEM for viscoelasticity problems is obtained using the Hellinger–Reissner variational principle. In contrast to the natural element method（NEM）, the HNEM can directly obtain the nodal stresses, which have higher precisions than those obtained using the moving least-square（MLS） approximation. Some numerical examples are given to demonstrate the validity and superiority of this HNEM.

Hybrid natural element method for large deformation elastoplasticity problems

We present the hybrid natural element method（HNEM） for two-dimensional elastoplastic large deformation problems. Sibson interpolation is adopted to construct the shape functions of nodal incremental displacements and incremental stresses. The incremental form of Hellinger–Reissner variational principle for elastoplastic large deformation problems is deduced to obtain the equation system. The total Lagrangian formulation is used to describe the discrete equation system.Compared with the natural element method（NEM）, the HNEM has higher computational precision and efficiency in solving elastoplastic large deformation problems. Some numerical examples are selected to demonstrate the advantage of the HNEM for large deformation elastoplasticity problems.

An efficient and rapid method to detect and verify natural antisense transcripts of animal genes

High-throughput sequencing has identified a large number of sense-antisense transcriptional pairs, which indicates that these genes were transcribed from both directions. Recent reports have demonstrated that many antisense RNAs, especially lnc RNA（long non-coding RNA）, can interact with the sense RNA by forming an RNA duplex. Many methods, such as RNA-sequencing, Northern blotting, RNase protection assays and strand-specific PCR, can be used to detect the antisense transcript and gene transcriptional orientation. However, the applications of these methods have been constrained, to some extent, because of the high cost, difficult operation or inaccuracy, especially regarding the analysis of substantial amounts of data. Thus, we developed an easy method to detect and validate these complicated RNAs. We primarily took advantage of the strand specificity of RT-PCR and the single-strand specificity of S1 endonuclease to analyze sense and antisense transcripts. Four known genes, including mouse β-actin and Tsix（Xist antisense RNA）, chicken LXN（latexin） and GFM1（Gelongation factor, mitochondrial 1）, were used to establish the method. These four genes were well studied and transcribed from positive strand, negative strand or both strands of DNA, respectively, which represented all possible cases. The results indicated that the method can easily distinguish sense, antisense and sense-antisense transcriptional pairs. In addition, it can be used to verify the results of high-throughput sequencing, as well as to analyze the regulatory mechanisms between RNAs. This method can improve the accuracy of detection and can be mainly used in analyzing single gene and was low cost.

Theoretical solution of transient heat conduction problem in one-dimensional double-layer composite medium

To make heat conduction equation embody the essence of physical phenomenon under study, dimensionless factors were introduced and the transient heat conduction equation and its boundary conditions were transformed to dimensionless forms. Then, a theoretical solution model of transient heat conduction problem in one-dimensional double-layer composite medium was built utilizing the natural eigenfunction expansion method. In order to verify the validity of the model, the results of the above theoretical solution were compared with those of finite element method. The results by the two methods are in a good agreement. The maximum errors by the two methods appear when τ（τ is nondimensional time） equals 0.1 near the boundaries of ζ =1 （ζ is nondimensional space coordinate） and ζ =4. As τ increases, the error decreases gradually, and when τ =5 the results of both solutions have almost no change with the variation of coordinate 4.

Study of elastic wave propagation in two phase anisotropic media by numerical modeling of pseudospectral method

When there exists anisotropy in underground media elastic parameters of the observed coordinate possibly do not coincide with that of the natural coordinate. According to the theory that the density of potential energy, dissipating energy is independent of the coordinate, the relationship of elastic parameters between two coordinates is derived for two-phase anisotropic media. Then, pseudospectral method to solve wave equations of two-phase anisotropic media is derived. At last, we use this method to simulate wave propagation in two-phase anisotropic media four types of waves are observed in the snapshots, i.e., fast P wave and slow P wave, fast S wave and slow S wave. Shear wave splitting, SV wave cusps and elastic wave reflection and transmission are also observed.

A meshless model for transient heat conduction analyses of 3D axisymmetric functionally graded solids

A meshless numerical model is developed for analyzing transient heat conductions in three-dimensional （3D） axisymmetric continuously nonhomogeneous functionally graded materials （FGMs）. Axial symmetry of geometry and boundary conditions reduces the original 3D initial-boundary value problem into a two-dimensional （2D） problem. Local weak forms are derived for small polygonal sub-domains which surround nodal points distributed over the cross section. In order to simplify the treatment of the essential boundary conditions, spatial variations of the temperature and heat flux at discrete time instants are interpolated by the natural neighbor interpolation. Moreover, the using of three-node triangular finite element method （FEM） shape functions as test functions reduces the orders of integrands involved in domain integrals. The semi-discrete heat conduction equation is solved numerically with the traditional two-point difference technique in the time domain. Two numerical examples are investigated and excellent results are obtained, demonstrating the potential application of the proposed approach.

Simulation of oxygen transfer in liquid lead under influence of nanoparticles by using lattice Boltzmann method

Oxygen transfer presents a serious challenge in the application of liquid lead as a nuclear coolant in advanced reactors. To mitigate corrosion by liquid lead in contact with steel, carefully controlling the oxygen concentration has been used as an effective way. Oxygen needs to mix in liquid lead uniformly and quickly. To enhance oxygen transport in liquid lead, nanoparticles are added to the liquid metal. In the current study, a lattice Boltzmann method is applied to investigate natural convection of copper/lead and aluminum oxide/lead in two-dimensional simplified container. Two thermal boundary cases are evaluated in order to check the effect of different natural convection flow patterns on oxygen transport. Some useful information are obtained such as improvement in natural convection and reduction in oxygen equilibrium time.

Regarding Deeper Properties of the Fractional Order Kundu-Eckhaus Equation and Massive Thirring Model

In this paper,the fractional natural decomposition method(FNDM)is employed to find the solution for the Kundu-Eckhaus equation and coupled fractional differential equations describing the massive Thirring model.Themassive Thirring model consists of a system of two nonlinear complex differential equations,and it plays a dynamic role in quantum field theory.The fractional derivative is considered in the Caputo sense,and the projected algorithm is a graceful mixture of Adomian decomposition scheme with natural transform technique.In order to illustrate and validate the efficiency of the future technique,we analyzed projected phenomena in terms of fractional order.Moreover,the behaviour of the obtained solution has been captured for diverse fractional order.The obtained results elucidate that the projected technique is easy to implement and very effective to analyze the behaviour of complex nonlinear differential equations of fractional order arising in the connected areas of science and engineering.

THE COUPLING METHOD FOR TORSION PROBLEM OF THE SQUARE CROSS-SECTION BAR WITH CRACKS

By coupling natural boundary element method (NBEM) with FEM based on domain decomposition, the torsion problem of the square cross-sections bar with cracks have been studied, the stresses of the nodes of the cross-sections and the stress intensity factors have been calculated, and some distribution pictures of the stresses have been drawn. During computing, the effect of the relaxed factors to the convergence speed of the iterative method has been discussed. The results of the computation have confirmed the advantages of the NBEM and its coupling with the FEM.

The Investigation of the Fractional-View Dynamics of Helmholtz Equations Within Caputo Operator

It is eminent that partial differential equations are extensively meaningful in physics,mathematics and engineering.Natural phenomena are formulated with partial differential equations and are solved analytically or numerically to interrogate the system’s dynamical behavior.In the present research,mathematical modeling is extended and the modeling solutions Helmholtz equations are discussed in the fractional view of derivatives.First,the Helmholtz equations are presented in Caputo’s fractional derivative.Then Natural transformation,along with the decomposition method,is used to attain the series form solutions of the suggested problems.For justification of the proposed technique,it is applied to several numerical examples.The graphical representation of the solutions shows that the suggested technique is an accurate and effective technique with a high convergence rate than other methods.The less calculation and higher rate of convergence have confirmed the present technique’s reliability and applicability to solve partial differential equations and their systems in a fractional framework.

NONLINEAR STABILITY OF NATURAL RUNGE-KUTTA METHODS FOR NEUTRAL DELAY DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS

Presents the stability analysis of theoretical solutions for a class of nonlinear neutral delay-differential equations (NDDE). Discussion on the numerical analogous results of the natural Runge-Kutta (NRK) methods for the same class of nonlinear NDDE; Review of the related concepts and results on RK methods; Information on the asymptotic stability and global stability of the induced NRK method.

A study on the multi-componentsubstrom current

A new technique of eigen mode analysis, Method of Natural Orthogonal Components (MNOC) is used to analyze the ionospheric equivalent current systems obtained on the basis of magnetic data at six meridian magnetometer chains in the northern hemisphere during March 17 19, 1978. The results show that the whole current pattern for any given instant consists of a few eigen modes with different intensities. The first eigen mode exhibits a two cell current construction, characterizing the large scale magnetospheric convection and directly driven process, while the second eigen mode shows a concentrated westward electrojet at midnight sector, characterizing the substorm current wedge and the loading unloading process. The first mode consistently exists whenever during quiet periods or at substorms, and its intensity increases from the beginning of the growth phase of substorms, then quickly intensifies in the expansion phase, followed by a gradual decrease in the recovery phase. On the other hand, the intensity of the second mode remains to be near zero during both quiet time and the growth phase of substorms. Its rapid enhancement occurs in the expansion phase. These characteristics in the current patterns and the intensity variations coincide with the defined physical processes of the directly driven and loading unloading components.

Upper Bound Shakedown Analysis of Plates Utilizing the C^(1) Natural Element Method

This paper proposes a numerical solution method for upper bound shakedown analysis of perfectly elasto-plastic thin plates by employing the C^(1) natural element method.Based on the Koiter’s theorem and von Mises yield criterion,the nonlinear mathematical programming formulation for upper bound shakedown analysis of thin plates is established.In this formulation,the trail function of residual displacement increment is approximated by using the C^(1) shape functions,the plastic incompressibility condition is satisfied by introducing a constant matrix in the objective function,and the time integration is resolved by using the Konig’s technique.Meanwhile,the objective function is linearized by distinguishing the non-plastic integral points from the plastic integral points and revising the objective function and associated equality constraints at each iteration.Finally,the upper bound shakedown load multipliers of thin plates are obtained by direct iterative and monotone convergence processes.Several benchmark examples verify the good precision and fast convergence of this proposed method.