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BACKGROUND: Access to full-text articles is an essential element of evidence-based practice. OBJECTIVE: Estimate the percentage of articles in the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) that have free full-text access and compare free access between PEDro and PubMed. Secondary objectives for access via PEDro: determine if publication year and geographic location impact on free access; determine if adding a link to a portable document format (PDF) locator website would improve free access; and evaluate the association between article characteristics and free access. METHODS: This observational study used a random sample of 200 articles published in 2000-2019 and indexed in PEDro. Data collectors in Australia, Brazil, Nepal, and Spain attempted to access free full text for each article via PEDro. One data collector attempted to access free full text via PubMed. One data collector attempted to access full text via a PDF locator (http://www.pdfsearchengine.net/). The percentage (95% confidence interval [CI]) of articles with free full-text access from PEDro, PubMed, and the PDF locator website were calculated. Logistic regression was used to evaluate the association between free full-text access and article characteristics. RESULTS: Free full text could be accessed via PEDro for 51% of the articles (95% CI: 44, 58). PEDro had 4% higher free access than PubMed (95% CI: 1, 7). Access via PEDro did not vary systematically with time, geographic location, or article characteristics. Access improved by 9% (95% CI: 6, 14) by adding a PDF locator website. CONCLUSIONS: PEDro is a good source of free full-text articles for physical therapists and other rehabilitation professionals. Evidence resources, professional organisations, employers, researchers, and research agencies could all help to increase access to free full text.

This research aims to determine if the observed improvements using polyethylene (PE) waste in asphalt binder translate into better performance at the asphalt mixture scale in the laboratory environment while overcoming the stability and homogeneity issues experienced at the binder level. This is accomplished through a round-robin multinational experimental program covering four continents, with the active participation of eleven laboratories within the RILEM TC 279-WMR. PE modified AC16 mixtures were prepared employing the dry process using local materials with the PE waste provided by one source. Various mechanical tests were performed to investigate the compactability, strength, moisture sensitivity, stiffness and permanent deformation. Compared to the control mixtures, the following observations were made for PE modified mixtures: easier to compact, lower time dependence of stiffness, higher elastic behavior, lower creep rate, and higher creep modulus. Furthermore, cyclic compression test results showed that the resistance to permanent deformation is improved when using PE in asphalt mixtures, whereas the wheel tracking tests showed relatively similar or better results when 1.5% PE was added to the control mixture. The wheel tracking test results in water showed an increase in deformation with increasing PE content. The interlaboratory investigation showed that the use of PE as a performance-enhancing additive in asphalt pavements is a viable, environmentally friendly option for recycling waste plastic and could potentially reduce the use of polymer additives in asphalt.

Se muestra el método utilizado para realizar mediciones de velocidad en diferentes movimientos de voleibol, a través del sistema DSD Laser System. Se diseña un protocolo experimental para medir, con fotocélulas, el tiempo de movimiento y la velocidad de desplazamiento en situaciones específicas de defensa en campo en voleibol

Background: The perioperative management of antiplatelet therapy in noncardiac surgery patients who have undergone previous percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) remains a dilemma. Continuing dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) may carry a risk of bleeding, while stopping antiplatelet therapy may increase the risk of perioperative major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE). Methods: Occurrence of Bleeding and Thrombosis during Antiplatelet Therapy In Non-Cardiac Surgery (OBTAIN) was an international prospective multicentre cohort study of perioperative antiplatelet treatment, MACE, and serious bleeding in noncardiac surgery. The incidences of MACE and bleeding were compared in patients receiving DAPT, monotherapy, and no antiplatelet therapy before surgery. Unadjusted risk ratios were calculated taking monotherapy as the baseline. The adjusted risks of bleeding and MACE were compared in patients receiving monotherapy and DAPT using propensity score matching. Results: A total of 917 patients were recruited and 847 were eligible for inclusion. Ninety-six patients received no antiplatelet therapy, 526 received monotherapy with aspirin, and 225 received DAPT. Thirty-two patients suffered MACE and 22 had bleeding. The unadjusted risk ratio for MACE in patients receiving DAPT compared with monotherapy was 1.9 (0.93e3.88), P¼0.08. There was no difference in MACE between no antiplatelet treatment and monotherapy 1.03 (0.31e 3.46), P¼0.96. Bleeding was more frequent with DAPT 6.55 (2.3e17.96) P¼0.0002. In a propensity matched analysis of 177 patients who received DAPT and 177 monotherapy patients, the risk ratio for MACE with DAPT was 1.83 (0.69e4.85), P¼0.32. The risk of bleeding was significantly greater in the DAPT group 4.00 (1.15e13.93), P¼0.031. Conclusions: OBTAIN showed an increased risk of bleeding with DAPT and found no evidence for protective effects of DAPT from perioperative MACE in patients who have undergone previous PCI.

Se muestra el método utilizado para realizar mediciones de velocidad en diferentes movimientos de voleibol, a través del sistema DSD Laser System. Se diseña un protocolo experimental para medir, con fotocélulas, el tiempo de movimiento y la velocidad de desplazamiento en situaciones específicas de defensa en campo en voleibol

Liver iron overload is the histological hallmark of hereditary hemochromatosis and transfusional hemosiderosis, and can also occur in chronic hepatopathies. Iron overload can result in liver damage, with the eventual development of cirrhosis, liver failure, and hepatocellular carcinoma. Assessment of liver iron levels is necessary for detection and quantitative staging of iron overload and monitoring of iron-reducing treatments. This article discusses the need for noninvasive assessment of liver iron and reviews qualitative and quantitative methods with a particular emphasis on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Specific MRI methods for liver iron quantification include signal intensity ratio as well as R2 and R2∗ relaxometry techniques. Methods that are in clinical use, as well as their limitations, are described. Remaining challenges, unsolved problems, and emerging techniques to provide improved characterization of liver iron deposition are discussed.

Liver iron overload is the histological hallmark of hereditary hemochromatosis and transfusional hemosiderosis, and can also occur in chronic hepatopathies. Iron overload can result in liver damage, with the eventual development of cirrhosis, liver failure, and hepatocellular carcinoma. Assessment of liver iron levels is necessary for detection and quantitative staging of iron overload and monitoring of iron-reducing treatments. This article discusses the need for noninvasive assessment of liver iron and reviews qualitative and quantitative methods with a particular emphasis on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Specific MRI methods for liver iron quantification include signal intensity ratio as well as R2 and R2∗ relaxometry techniques. Methods that are in clinical use, as well as their limitations, are described. Remaining challenges, unsolved problems, and emerging techniques to provide improved characterization of liver iron deposition are discussed.

Hydro power is one of the most flexible sources of electricity production. Power systems with considerable amounts of flexible hydro power potentially offer easier integration of variable generation, e.g., wind and solar. However, there exist operational constraints to ensure mid-/long-term security of supply while keeping river flows and reservoirs levels within permitted limits. In order to properly assess the effective available hydro power flexibility and its value for storage, a detailed assessment of hydro power is essential. Due to the inherent uncertainty of the weather-dependent hydrological cycle, regulation constraints on the hydro system, and uncertainty of internal load as well as variable generation (wind and solar), this assessment is complex. Hence, it requires proper modeling of all the underlying interactions between hydro power and the power system, with a large share of other variable renewables. A summary of existing experience of wind integration in hydro-dominated power systems clearly points to strict simulation methodologies. Recommendations include requirements for techno-economic models to correctly assess strategies for hydro power and pumped storage dispatch. These models are based not only on seasonal water inflow variations but also on variable generation, and all these are in time horizons from very short term up to multiple years, depending on the studied system. Another important recommendation is to include a geographically detailed description of hydro power systems, rivers' flows, and reservoirs as well as grid topology and congestion., QC 20161101

The amount of wind power and other timevariable non-dispatchable renewable energy sources (RES) is rapidly increasing in the world. A few power systems are already facing very high penetrations from variable renewables which can surpass the systems' consumption during no-load periods, requiring the energy excess to be curtailed, exported or stored. The limitations of electric energy storage naturally lead to the selection of the well-known form of storing potential energy in reservoirs of reversible hydropower stations, although other technologies such as heat storage are also being used successfully. This paper reviews the storage technologies that are available and may be used on a power system scale and compares their advantages and disadvantages for the integration of fast-growing renewables, such as wind power, with a special focus on the role of pumped hydro storage., QC 20120114

The quasiclassical theory of superconductivity provides the most successful description of diffusive heterostructures comprising superconducting elements, namely, the Usadel equations for isotropic Green’s functions. Since the quasiclassical and isotropic approximations break down close to interfaces, the Usadel equations have to be supplemented with boundary conditions for isotropic Green’s functions (BCIGF), which are not derivable within the quasiclassical description. For a long time, the BCIGF were available only for spin-degenerate tunnel contacts, which posed a serious limitation on the applicability of the Usadel description to modern structures containing ferromagnetic elements. In this paper, we close this gap and derive spin-dependent BCIGF for a contact encompassing superconducting and ferromagnetic correlations. This finally justifies several simplified versions of the spin-dependent BCIGF, which have been used in the literature so far. In the general case, our BCIGF are valid as soon as the quasiclassical isotropic approximation can be performed. However, their use requires the knowledge of the full scattering matrix of the contact, an information usually not available for realistic interfaces. In the case of a weakly polarized tunnel interface, the BCIGF can be expressed in terms of a few parameters, i.e., the tunnel conductance of the interface and five conductancelike parameters accounting for the spin dependence of the interface scattering amplitudes. In the case of a contact with a ferromagnetic insulator, it is possible to find explicit BCIGF also for stronger polarizations. The BCIGF derived in this paper are sufficiently general to describe a variety of physical situations and may serve as a basis for modeling realistic nanostructures., Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Applied Sciences

The quasiclassical theory of superconductivity provides the most successful description of diffusive heterostructures comprising superconducting elements, namely, the Usadel equations for isotropic Green’s functions. Since the quasiclassical and isotropic approximations break down close to interfaces, the Usadel equations have to be supplemented with boundary conditions for isotropic Green’s functions (BCIGF), which are not derivable within the quasiclassical description. For a long time, the BCIGF were available only for spin-degenerate tunnel contacts, which posed a serious limitation on the applicability of the Usadel description to modern structures containing ferromagnetic elements. In this paper, we close this gap and derive spin-dependent BCIGF for a contact encompassing superconducting and ferromagnetic correlations. This finally justifies several simplified versions of the spin-dependent BCIGF, which have been used in the literature so far. In the general case, our BCIGF are valid as soon as the quasiclassical isotropic approximation can be performed. However, their use requires the knowledge of the full scattering matrix of the contact, an information usually not available for realistic interfaces. In the case of a weakly polarized tunnel interface, the BCIGF can be expressed in terms of a few parameters, i.e., the tunnel conductance of the interface and five conductancelike parameters accounting for the spin dependence of the interface scattering amplitudes. In the case of a contact with a ferromagnetic insulator, it is possible to find explicit BCIGF also for stronger polarizations. The BCIGF derived in this paper are sufficiently general to describe a variety of physical situations and may serve as a basis for modeling realistic nanostructures., Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Applied Sciences

We study the proximity effect in hybrid structures consisting of superconductor and ferromagnetic insulator separated by a normal diffusive metal (S/N/FI structures). These stuctures were proposed to realize the absolute spin-valve effect. We pay special attention to the gaps in the density of states of the normal part. We show that the effect of the ferromagnet is twofold: It not only shifts the density of states but also provides suppression of the gap. The mechanism of this suppression is remarkably similar to that due to magnetic impurities. Our results are obtained from the solution of one-dimensional Usadel equation supplemented with boundary conditions for matrix current at both interfaces., kavli institute of nanoscience, Applied Sciences

We study the proximity effect in hybrid structures consisting of superconductor and ferromagnetic insulator separated by a normal diffusive metal (S/N/FI structures). These stuctures were proposed to realize the absolute spin-valve effect. We pay special attention to the gaps in the density of states of the normal part. We show that the effect of the ferromagnet is twofold: It not only shifts the density of states but also provides suppression of the gap. The mechanism of this suppression is remarkably similar to that due to magnetic impurities. Our results are obtained from the solution of one-dimensional Usadel equation supplemented with boundary conditions for matrix current at both interfaces., kavli institute of nanoscience, Applied Sciences

Applied Sciences

Applied Sciences