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Background: Low back pain, especially nonspecific chronic low back pain (LBP), the leading cause of disability worldwide, represents both social and economic problems. Different therapeutic management techniques can be used, but their effects vary. Clinicians and researchers attribute the variation in the efficacy of therapeutic and management techniques to the heterogeneity of the nonspecific chronic low back pain population, and they agree that nonspecific chronic LBP must be subgrouped. Objective: This study aims to identify nonspecific chronic LBP subgroups based on a multifactorial approach, including biomechanical, physical, and psychosocial data. Methods: A total of 100 nonspecific chronic LBP patients and 30 healthy participants aged between 18 and 60 years will be recruited for this prospective study. A psychosocial profile will be established using questionnaires on anxiety, depression, functional disability, pain, fear of pain, avoidance belief, and physical activity. A physical capacity evaluation will be conducted. It will evaluate flexibility of the hips, lumbar spine, and lateral thoracolumbar segment, as well as trunk (extensor and flexor) muscle endurance. The subjects will perform functional daily life activities, such as walking, object lifting, forward bending, sit-to-stand, stand-to-sit, balance, and usual postures. Full body kinematics, kinetics, and surface electromyography of the trunk and hip muscles will be assessed during these tasks. The clustering classification methods for the statistical analysis will be determined according to the data and will be used to identify the subgroups of nonspecific chronic LBP patients. Results: Data collection started in September 2017 and will be completed with the inclusion of all the participants (100 nonspecific chronic LBP and 30 control). The study results will be published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at relevant international conferences. Conclusions: Numerous studies have showed that the therapeutic management of nonspecific chronic LBP is difficult and has inconstant effects caused by the complexity and heterogeneity of nonspecific chronic LBP. Identifying subgroups with a multifactorial approach is more comprehensive and closer to the pathophysiology of nonspecific chronic LBP. It also represents benefit interests and a challenge both clinically and socially. The perspective of this study is expected to support clinicians for a more adapted therapeutic management for each subgroup. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thin SiO x interlayers are often formed naturally during the deposition of transition metal oxides on silicon surfaces due to interfacial reaction. The SiO x layer, often only several atomic layers thick, becomes the interface between the Si and deposited metal oxide and can therefore influence the electrical properties and thermal stability of the deposited stack. This work explores the potential benefits of controlling the properties of the SiO x interlayer by the introduction of pregrown high-quality SiO x which also inhibits the formation of low-quality SiO x from the metal-oxide deposition process. This work demonstrates that a high-quality pregrown SiO x can reduce the interfacial reaction and results in a more stoichiometric MoO x with improved surface passivation and thermal stability linked to its lower D it . Detailed experimental data on carrier selectivity, carrier transport efficiency, annealing stability up to 250 °C, and in-depth material analysis are presented.