Precontoured buttress plate vs reconstruction plate for acetabulum posterior wall fractures: A biomechanical study

BACKGROUND The purpose of open reduction and internal fixation of acetabulum posterior wall fractures is to restore anatomical structure and stability of the hip joint, in order to start weight bearing as soon as possible and prevent hip arthrosis; restoration of the anatomy should preserve function of the joint as well. Although "special shaped precontoured plates" have been developed in recent years for surgical treatment of this region, studies comparing the traditional plates with the newly designed precontoured plates are lacking.AIM To evaluate the biomechanical properties of precontoured anatomic buttress and conventional curved reconstruction plates(CCRPs) for posterior wall acetabulum fracture treatment.METHODS Twelve pelvis models were created for testing plate treatment of fracture in the posterior wall of the acetabulum. These 12 pelvis models were used to create 24 hemipelvis models(experimental) by cutting from the sagittal plane and passing over the center of gravity, after which the posterior wall acetabular fractures(of similar type and size) were created. In these experimental models, the right acetabulum was fixed with a 5-hole CCRP, while the left was fixed with a precontoured anatomic buttress plate(PABP). Samples were placed through thetest device and were subjected to static load testing, with a constant testing velocity of 2 mm/min until the load reached 2.3 kN or the acetabular fixation failed. Dynamic tests were also performed with sinusoidal wave load, with a maximal load of 2.3 kN and a load ratio of 0.1.RESULTS The average stiffness values were 460.83 ± 95.47 N/mm for the PABP and 291.99± 118.58 N/mm for the 5-hole CCRP. The precontoured anatomic acetabulum buttress plates had significantly higher rigidity than the CCRPs(P = 0.022). There was a statistically significant difference between the unloaded and 2.3 kN-loaded values of AL(posterosuperior fracture line vertical to the ground surface) and CL(posteroinferior fracture line vertical to the ground surface) parameters for both the PABPs and the 5-hole CCRPs(P = 0.036 and P = 0.045, respectively).According to the static tests, the amount of total displacement was significantly less in the PABPs than in the CCRPs. Comparative analysis of the displacement in the BL(posterior wall fracture line horizontal to the ground) parameter yielded no statistically significant differences between the PABP and the 5-hole CCRPs(P= 0.261).CONCLUSION PABP provides more stable fixation in acetabulum posterior wall fractures than5-hole CCRP, allowing for proximal or distal fracture line screw application without reshaping.

CONFORMAL AND GENERALIZED CONCIRCULAR MAPPINGS OF EINSTEIN-WEYL MANIFOLDS

In this article, after giving a necessary and sufficient condition for two Einstein- Weyl manifolds to be in conformal correspondence, we prove that any conformal mapping between such manifolds is generalized concircular if and only if the covector field of the conformal mapping is locally a gradient. Using this fact we deduce that any conformal mapping between two isotropic Weyl manifolds is a generalized concircular mapping. Moreover, it is shown that a generalized concircularly flat Weyl manifold is generalized concircular to an Einstein manifold and that its scalar curvature is prolonged covariant constant.

Guest editorial: special issue on high mobility wireless communications

The high-speed railway and high-way networks are now expanding at a phenomenal speed in Chinaand in many other parts of the world. The related broadband wireless communication over high-speed trains and highway vehicles is a very challenging task due to hostile transmission channel conditions. The demand for such services is growing rapidly, following the proliferation of laptop/tablet computers and smart phones. This motivates the research on wireless communications in the high mobility environments.

Music and Performance as Sonic Acts of Political Struggle; Counter-Political Soundscapes in Urban Realm

The paper takes the relation between soundscapes and power struggles as its problem area and focuses on the role of music that is performed in public protests. It argues that music and street performances are conceived and therefore utilised as sonic acts of political struggle in urban realm. Starting with a general understanding of hearing mechanisms, the study elucidates the relationships among territoriality of soundscape, identity construction, social segregation and polarisation, and finally, power struggle. Within the framework of the intersection area of these concepts, the paper discusses the processes of politisation of soundscape through music as a form of protest event that is performed in public realm. Throughout the paper, it is focused on the significant cases of public protests as well as political events that occured in public space. The main emphasis is on the use of sound technologies to impose power on masses of people. The paper tackles the question of how the salient characteristics of soundscape are sonically adopted as means for counter-political acts in public realm.

Predictive Modeling and Expectable Loss Analysis for Borrower Defaults of Mortgage Loans

Home mortgage loan lending firms are exposed to many business risks.This paper focuses on the mortgage loan borrower risks and proposes a prospective loss analysis approach in regard to loan repayment defaults of borrowers.For this purpose,a predictive modeling is presented in three stages.In the first stage,occurrence of borrower defaults in a mortgage loans portfolio is modeled through the generalized linear models(GLMs)type regressions for which we specify a logistic distribution for default events.The second stage of modeling develops a survival analysis in order to estimate survival probability and hazard rate functions for individual loans.Ultimately,an expectable loss amount model is presented in the third stage as a function of conditional survival probabilities and corresponding hazard rates at loan levels.Throughout all modeling stages,a large and real data set is used as an empirical analysis case by which detailed interpretations and practical implications of the obtained results are stated.

Finance Sector in Eurasian Economies During and After the Global Crisis in 2008

As in the other countries around the world, banking systems in Eurasian economies, comprised of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, were adversely affected by the 2008 global crisis. A common challenge across most economies is to revive private-sector credit growth. Compared with the high increases of 80 percent in the period immediately prior to the crisis, credit growth has slowed sharply and even turned negative in real terms in a number of economies. Governments in many countries have taken measures to address banking sector stress. The measures for restoring credit growth and thus a high economic growth will be discussed in a part of our work. In the short run, such measures include aiding banks to repair balance sheets and also providing liquidity. In the medium term, measures should promote de-dollarization and the development of local debt markets.

Three Decades of External Imbalances and Macroeconomic Fundamentals： The Case of Turkey

The paper aims to investigate the current account imbalances in the context of an overview of macroeconomic fundamentals after the liberalization process in Turkey. Two main questions discussed here are： （1） What is the link between liberalization and current account imbalances; （2） What kind of mechanisms ensured this link to become a vicious circle. The period after 1989, Turkey was characterized by significant fluctuations in macroeconomic activity by the implementation of liberalization policies. Once financial liberalization is adopted, Turkey faced with a new challenge： large current account deficits. On the other hand, foreign capital inflows aggravated a lending boom. Because of excessive risk taken by banks, interest rates began to rise. As mentioned above, the paper studies Turkey＇s liberalization process with a number of indicators that point to a fragility of the external balance： unhealthy structure of financial sector, particularly banking sector, large fiscal imbalances, low savings and investment rates, unstable GDP growth. Domestic structural features combining with macroeconomic policy stance and political factors are examined as well

The straitjacket at workplace： Mobbing

Mobbing has been defined as a chronic asymmetric pattern of power relations and a consequent conflict transformed into a systematic discrimination or mistreatment at workplace which is expressed through unethical or aggressive communication （Leynman, 1996）. Mobbing occurs when an employee in the workplace is steadily subjected to aggressive behavior from more than one colleague or supervisor over a period of time, in a situation where the target finds it difficult to defend him/herself to escape this dire situation. Such a long term incivility tends to stigmatize the mobbed victim and may cause severe psychological trauma since （s）he is metaphorically in a straitjacket. In this double-bind and double-squeeze condition where （s）he can neither get out of the situation nor endure the ordeal, a positive outcome is unlikely. How do we differentiate mobbing from conflict in organizations and how are disputes converted into mobbing behavior, and if one may even do research on mobbing in a culture of＂organizational silence＂ and ＂obedience/submission＂ in a developing country will be the first theoretical research question. Whether systemic silence as a collective level phenomenon is not only an obstacle to healthy organizational communication and relationships, but also a serious barrier to development, participation and learning from malpractices is another relevant question. Most researches investigating the background of mobbing are based on either experiences of targets as victims or the critical cases including the perpetrators as mobber; Therefore, the findings are often at individual level and subjective. They are often ＂ex post facto＂ analysis of psychological dimensions （e.g., personality characteristics of mostly of mobbed victims and rarely of mobbers） or legal dimensions. There are few ＂ex ante＂ analyses of organizational culture dimensions so that preventive measures may be taken prior to any serious mobbing case is reported. This paper＇s objective is to approach mobbing as a function of group conflict and rumor that is uncontrolled for a long time. By exploring the background of mobbing in ten companies from service sector in IstanbuI-Turkey, this view is assessed. The findings confirmed that mobbing is a function of relational conflict and gossip particularly in companies with high positional power distance and highly centralized decision-making where high power imbalance between supervisors and subordinates are salient. Such organizations seem to be more conducive to concealed mobbing and survival than to development and participation of employees as ＂modus operandi＂.

Building for Capturing Public Mind Through Ears： Evolution of Architectural Typology as a Mechanism of Auditory Deception and Urban Control

The paper takes the notion of soundscape and its relation to power relations within the scope of architecture. Indeed, sound has long been devised as a tool so as to control people and urban realm. The paper discusses the politics, aesthetics and social character of urban soundscape by elucidating the materialized shape of sound, that is to say; the close relationship between architecture and sound, between materiality of the physical form and its audio-spatial experience to understand how soundscape is controlled by architectural means for establishing power over masses and class segregation in various contexts. Similar to the case of physical-landscape, the soundscape in various types of buildings also manifests the idealized power relationships in any society through the control of sound in architectural space. Therefore, the auditory characteristics of these spatial precedents are elucidated in this study. It is argued that sound is a very political entity and auditory mechanisms are utilized for the purposes of both surveillance and suppression of political opponents. The paper intends to demonstrate that sound has a very dark history under the disguise of grandiose aesthetics, and thus, it is very important in establishing power. Spatial typologies are classified according to their auditory functions in relation to establishing power in urban realm.

Temperature Effect on Elasticity of Swollen Composite Formed from Polyacrylamide(PAAm)-Multiwall Carbon Nanotubes(MWNTs)

Composites formed from Polyacrylamide (PAAm)-Multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) were prepared via free radical crosslinking copolymerization with different amounts of MWNTs varying in the range between 0.1 and 50 wt%. The temperature variations of the elastic modulus, G of the PAAm-MWNT composite due to volume phase transition were measured by using tensile testing technique. The composite preserves the ability to undergo the volume phase transition and its elastic modulus and toughness (T) are found strongly dependent on temperature. It is observed that elastic modulus increased when temperature is increased from 30?C to 60?C. Toughness, however presented the reversed behavior versus temperature compare to the elastic modulus.

Determination of epidemic parameters from early phase fatality data： A case study of the 2009 A（H1N1） pandemic in Europe

This paper demonstrates that the susceptible-infected-removed （SIR） model applied to the early phase of an epidemic can be used to determine epidemic parameters reliably. As a case study, the SIR model is applied to the fatality data of the 2009 fall wave cycle of the A（H1N1） pandemic in 12 European countries. It is observed that the best estimates of the basic reproduction number R0 and the mean duration of the infection period l/r/ lie on a curve in the scatterplots, indicating the existence of a nearly-invariant quantity which corresponds to the duration of the epidemic. Spline interpolation applied to the early phase of the epidemic, an approximately 10-week period, together with a future control point in the stabilization region, is sufficient to estimate model parameters. The SIR model is run over a wide range of parameters and estimates of R0 in the range 1.2- 2.0 match the values in the literature. The duration of the infection period, 1/η is estimated to be in the range 2.0-7.0 days. Longer infection periods are tied to spatial characteristics of the spread of the epidemic.

A comparison study of fuzzy-based multiple-criteria decision-making methods to evaluating green concept alternatives in a new product development environment

Purpose-In this paper,the four popular multiple-criteria decision-making(MCDM)methods in fuzzy environment are utilized to reflect the vagueness and uncertainty on the judgments of decision-makers(DMs),because the crisp pairwise comparison in these conventional MCDM methods seems to be insufficient and imprecise to capture the right judgments of DMs.Of these methods,as Fuzzy analytic hierarchy process(F-AHP)is used to calculate criteria weights,the other methods;Fuzzy Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution(F-TOPSIS),Fuzzy Grey relational analysis(F-GRA)and Fuzzy Preference Ranking Organization METhod for Enrichment of Evaluations(F-PROMETHEE II)are used to rank alternatives in the three different ways for a comparative study.Design/methodology/approach-The demand for green products has dramatically increased because the importance and public awareness of the preservation of natural environment was taken into consideration much more in the last two decades.As a result of this,especially manufacturing companies have been forced to design more green products,resulting in a problem of how they incorporate environmental issues into their design and evaluate concept options.The need for the practical decision-making tools to address this problem is rapidly evolving since the problem turns into an MCDM problem in the presence of a set of green concept alternatives and criteria.Findings-The incorporation of fuzzy set theory into these methods is discussed on a real-life case study,and a comparative analysis is done by using its numerical results in which the three fuzzy-based methods reveal the same outcomes(or rankings),while F-GRA requires less computational steps.Moreover,more detailed analyses on the numerical results of the case study are completed on the normalization methods,distance metrics,aggregation functions,defuzzification methods and other issues.Research limitations/implications-The designing and manufacturing environmental-friendly products in a product design process has been a vital issue for many companies which take care of reflecting environmental issues into their product design and meeting standards of recent green guidelines.These companies have utilized these guidelines by following special procedures at the design phase.Along the design process consisting of various steps,the environmental issues have been considered an important factor in the end-of-life of products since it can reduce the impact on the nature.In the stage of developing a new product with the aim of environmental-friendly design,the green thinking should be incorporated as early as possible in the process.Practical implications-The case study was inspired from the previous work of the author,which was realized in a hot runner systems manufacturer,used in injection molding systems in a Canada.In a new product development process,the back-and front-ends of development efforts mainly determine the following criteria:cost,risk,quality and green used in this paper.The case study showed that the three fuzzy MCDM methods come to the same ranking outcomes.F-GRA has a better time complexity compared to the other two methods and uses a smaller number of computational steps.Moreover,a comparative analysis of the three F-MCDM methods;F-PROMETHEE II,F-TOPSIS and F-GRA used in ranking for green concept alternatives using the numerical results of the case study.For the case study;as seen in table 20,the three F-MCDM methods produced the numerical results on the rankings of the green concept alternatives as follows;{Concept AConcept C-Concept B-Concept D}.Social implications-Inclusion of environmental-related criteria into concept selection problem has been gaining increasing importance in the last decade.Therefore,to facilitate necessary calculations in applying each method especially with its fuzzy extension,it can be developed a knowledge-based(KB)or an expert system(ES)to help the DMs make the required calculations of each method,and interpret its results with detailed analysis.Originality/value-The objective of the research was to propose a F-AHP based F-MCDM approach to green concept selection problem through F-PROMETHEE II,F-TOPSIS and F-GRA methods.As the F-AHP is used to weight evaluation criteria,the other methods are respectively used for ranking the concept alternatives and determine the best concept alternative.

A hesitant fuzzy linguistic terms set-based AHP-TOPSIS approach to evaluate ERP software packages

Purpose–In this paper,two popular multiple-criteria decision-making(MCDM)methods with hesitant fuzzy logic approach;hesitant fuzzy analytic hierarchy process(hesitant F-AHP)and hesitant fuzzy the technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution(HF-TOPSIS)are integrated as HF-AHP-TOPSIS to evaluating a set of enterprise resource planning(ERP)alternatives and rank them by weight to reach to the ultimate one that satisfies the needs and expectations of a company.Design/methodology/approach–Selecting the best ERP software package among the rising number of the options in market has been a critical problem for most companies for a long time because of the reason that an improper ERP software package might lead to many issues(i.e.time loss,increased costs and a loss of market share).On the other hand,finding the best ERP alternative is a comprehensive MCDM problem in the presence of a set of alternatives and several potentially competing quantitative and qualitative criteria.Findings–In this integrated approach,the hesitant F-AHP is used to determine the criteria weights,as the hesitant F-TOPSIS is utilized to rank ERP package alternatives.The proposed approach was also validated in a numerical example that has five ERP package alternatives and 12 criteria by three decision-makers in order to show its applicability to potential readers and practitioners.Research limitations/implications–If the number of the alternatives and criteria are dramatically increased beyond reasonable numbers,the reaching to final solution will be so difficult because of the great deal of fuzzy based calculations.Therefore,the number of criteria and alternatives should be at reasonable numbers.Practical implications–The proposed approach was also validated in a illustrated example with the five ERP package options and 12 criteria by the three decision-makers in order to show its applicability to potential readers and practitioners.Originality/value–Furthermore,in literature,to the best of our knowledge,the authors did not come cross any work that integrates the HF-AHP with the HF-TOPSIS for ERP software package selection problem.

Assessing architectural color preference after Le Corbusier’s 1931 Salubra keyboards:A cross cultural analysis

Color preference for the interior of a bedroom of Le Corbusier’s Swiss Pavilion was studied using 1931 Salubra color keyboards in a cross-cultural analysis.Results indicate that students from architecture and interior design slightly dislike or are indifferent to Le Corbusier color combinations and prefer pale and low saturated colors for interior architecture.The least preferred colors belong to green and brown hues.Scarce significant gender differences are found that follow a stereotyped tendency,with females preferring pinks,light blues and light greens,while males vivid oranges and Vermilions.Near Easterners are significantly more likely to green colors,while Western Europeans to dark greys.These data indicate that not only hue,but also value and saturation are important color features to inform preference for interior architecture.

Evaluating the phyto-complexity and poly-pharmacology of spices: The case of Aframomum melegueta K. Schum (Zingiberaceae)

The seeds of Aframomum melegueta K. Schum (grains of paradise, Zingiberaceae) are used as a common spice in African countries and a fine condiment in the European cuisine. In this study, we evaluated the phytochemical profile of various seed extracts of A. melegueta as well as their antimicrobial, antioxidant and enzyme inhibitory effects. In total, 25 diarylheptanoids, five gingerol derivatives and nine phenolic/organic acids were tentatively annotated in A. melegueta by liquid chromatography hyphenated with high resolution tandem mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS/MS). A. melegueta showed a moderate inhibitory activity against different human pathogenic microbial strains, with H. pylori the most sensitive microorganism. A strong antioxidant and enzyme inhibitory potential was shown in various radical scavenging, reducing and chelating assays as well as in cholinesterase, tyrosinase and glucosidase assays. Several specialized metabolites from A. melegueta (diarylheptanoids, gingerols) were shown to be directly linked with the investigated antioxidant and enzyme inhibitory activities, as evaluated through the correlation analysis. In addition, two diarylheptanoids (one heptan-3-ol and one heptan- 3,5-diol) displayed the strongest binding to acetylcholinesterase (AChE) via multiple H-bonds, a couple of π-π interactions and van der Waals interactions all over the catalytic channel of the enzyme, as evidenced by the molecular docking study. Overall, our work brings new contributions to the phyto-complexity and poly-pharmacology of spices from genus Aframomum than can find future applications in pharmaceutical, nutraceutical or cosmeceutical industry.

The Way Forward with Historic Urban Landscape Approach Towards Sustainable Urban Development

The pace of urbanisation,with the increase in the number of metropolitan areas,has been paralleled with the heritage discourse of past generations that valorises monuments in isolation,and has pushed the ap­preciation of urban heritage to a grim corner in the face of development.Since the turn of the millennium there are international efforts to reverse this trend by placing culture and people-centred approaches into the heritage discourse in order to allow inclusive policies that see culture and cultural heritage as an asset and driving force for sustainable urban development.As one of such instruments,the UNESCO Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape,as an integrated management model,is considered in this article to have potentials to bridge existing divides to achieve sustainable urban development.With this belief,the paper looks into the future,with supporting arguments that come from discussions as a result of the WHITRAP International Expert Meeting on the Implemen­tation of the HUL approach which took place in 2018,Shanghai,China.

Generalized Einstein Tensor for a Weyl Manifold and Its Applications

It is well known that the Einstein tensor G for a Riemannian manifold defined by Gα^β = 1/2α^β ,Rα^β=g^α^β γ where Rγα and R are respectively the Ricci tensor and the scalar curvature of the manifold, plays an important part in Einstein s theory of gravitation as well as in proving some theorems in Riemannian geometry. In this work, we first obtain the generalized Einstein tensor for a Weyl manifold. Then, after studying some properties of generalized Einstein tensor, we prove that the conformal invariance of the generalized Einstein tensor implies the conformal invariance of the curvature tensor of the Weyl manifold and conversely. Moreover, we show that such Weyl manifolds admit a one-parameter family of hypersurfaces the orthogonal trajectories of which are geodesics. Finally, a necessary and sufficient condition in order that the generalized circles of a Weyl manifold be preserved by a conformal mapping is stated in terms of generalized Einstein tensors at corresponding points.

Nano-design of ultra-efficient reversible block based on quantum-dot cellular automata

Reversible logic has recently gained significant interest due to its inherent ability to reduce energy dissipation,which is the primary need for low-power digital circuits.One of the newest areas of relevant study is reversible logic,which has applications in many areas,including nanotechnology,DNA computing,quantum computing,fault tolerance,and low-power complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor(CMOS).An electrical circuit is classified as reversible if it has an equal number of inputs and outputs,and a one-to-one relationship.A reversible circuit is conservative if the EXOR of the inputs and the EXOR of the outputs are equivalent.In addition,quantum-dot cellular automata(QCA)is one of the state-of-the-art approaches that can be used as an alternative to traditional technologies.Hence,we propose an efficient conservative gate with low power demand and high speed in this paper.First,we present a reversible gate called ANG(Ahmadpour Navimipour Gate).Then,two non-resistant QCA ANG and reversible fault-tolerant ANG structures are implemented in QCA technology.The suggested reversible gate is realized through the Miller algorithm.Subsequently,reversible fault-tolerant ANG is implemented by the 2DW clocking scheme.Furthermore,the power consumption of the suggested ANG is assessed under different energy ranges(0.5Ek,1.0Ek,and 1.5Ek).Simulations of the structures and analysis of their power consumption are performed using QCADesigner 2.0.03 and QCAPro software.The proposed gate shows great improvements compared to recent designs.

Rapprochement in Israel-Saudi Foreign Policy:Moving on Tiptoes to a Normalization Process?

The possibility of a Saudi rapprochement with Israel has been continuously influenced by the the domestic barriers within the Saudi community and the Saudi historical narratives on the regional security perceptions of the Saudi decision-makers.After the appointment of Prince Mohammed bin Salman as the Minister of Defense in 2015,King Salman’s government adopted a new discourse in domestic and foreign policy built upon a redefined Saudi identity rhetorically distanced from its Islamic neighbours and moved towards a nationalised tone.The unstable nature of the regional security dynamics forces the kingdom to actively reconstruct new security routines based on the emerging regional security dynamics and repositions the alliances.At this juncture,this research aims at understanding the rationality of the rise and fall of the intensity of Saudi foreign policy towards a normalisation process with Israel within the borders of the redefined Saudi national identity and regional threat perceptions.

A metamodel for heritage-based urban development:enabling sustainable growth through urban cultural heritage,by Matthias Ripp.Springer Cham,2022.209pp.ISBN9783031082375

1Introduction 1.1 What is the book a bout?This article provides a review on the new publication of Matthias Ripp titled Meta-model for Heritage-based Urban Development:Enabling SustainableGrowth through Urban Cultural Heritage released by Springer in 2022.The subtitle is an inspirational,hope-giving,new perspective to heritage studies,if one puts aside the growthbased world economic systems towards development.