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In DEMO, the ex-vessel Remote Maintenance Systems (RMS) are responsible for the replacement and transportation of the plasma facing components. The ex-vessel operations of transportation (e.g. blankets or divertors) are performed by cranes or by means of trolleys. The blankets are extracted and transported vertically by cranes along galleries from the reactor to the storage or maintenance areas. An alternative is the transportation in horizontal configuration by means of trolleys along the galleries. A failure may occur in any situation, interrupting the current nominal operation. The work identifies a functional breakdown structure for the ex-vessel RMS operations and develops a Functional Failure Modes, Effects and Criticality Analysis (FFMECA). The results of the different FFMECA studies lead to the conclusions in terms of the most critical failure scenarios and the pros and cons of the horizontal versus the vertical transportation of blankets. In case of failure, a recovery procedure shall be triggered. The results will help the design process to improve and thus reduce the criticality index of the identified failures.

Electronic components normally experience functional failure due to vibration loads. To envisage the episode of this failure, it is necessary to estimate the vibration response of electroni...

Objective : to evaluate the efficacy, tolerability, and safety of intra-articular hyaluronic acid (hyalurom) in patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA). Patients and methods. A 6-month prospective trial enrolled 20 women aged 45–75 years (61±7 years) with primary knee OA of Kellgren–Lawrence grades II (85%) and III (15%) who needed nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). The disease duration averaged 6.6±2.4 years. The mean body mass index was 33±5 kg/m2. Intra-articular administration of hyalurom was made; its cycle included 3 injections at a 1-week interval; a further follow-up was performed during 6 months. All the participants completed the trial. Results. In the first month of therapy, its effect was developed in the majority (75%) of the patients. There was a substantial reduction in total WOMAC scores by an average of 29% at 1 month, by 27% at 3 and 6 months (p

Introduction/Background Maintaining the metabolic processes in lymphocytes (LF) is one of the conditions for their effective functioning. The purpose of the study was to analyze the antioxidant defense in tumor-infiltrating LF and blood LF of patients with ovarian cancer (OC). Methodology Levels of A and E vitamins and activity of catalase (C), SOD and glutathione peroxidase (GP) were determined by ELISA in LF isolated from malignant ovarian tissues and blood of patients with OC T3-4NxMx. Results The amount of LF in tumors was 1.5 times higher than in intact ovarian tissues, while protein amount in them was 1.8 times lower. E and A vitamins in tumor LF were 3.1 times lower than in intact ovaries, and their ratio did not change. C activity in tumor LF was 2.1 times lower, SOD and GP were similar to control values, but a natural enzyme cascade characterized by their ratio was 1.9 times higher than in intact organs. The amount of LF in the blood of OC patients was similar to the norm, while protein amount in them was 1.8 times higher. Levels of E and A vitamins in blood LF in patients were 2.4 and 4.1 times lower, and their ratio was 1.8 times higher than in healthy donors. SOD activity was 2 times lower than in donors, and GP was 6 times higher. The SOD/GP ratio was 3 times higher than in the blood of healthy people. Conclusion Tumor-infiltrating LF in ovarian cancer demonstrated disrupted natural cascade of antioxidant enzymes with the suppression of C activity. This may result in hyperproduction of superoxide anion radical in cells leading to self-poisoning of lymphocytes by active oxygen species. Low levels of E and A vitamins playing an important role in the maturation of immunocompetent cells can be the main cause of lymphocyte functional failure. Disclosure Nothing to disclose.

Alzheimer disease (AD) is a progressive and deleterious neurodegenerative disorder that affects mostly the elderly population. At the moment, no effective treatments are available in the market, making the whole situation a compelling challenge for societies worldwide. Recently, novel mechanisms have been proposed to explain the etiology of this disease leading to the new concept that AD is a multifactor pathology. Among others, the function of mitochondria has been considered as one of the intracellular processes severely compromised in AD since the early stages and likely represents a common feature of many neurodegenerative diseases. Many mitochondrial parameters decline already during the aging, reaching an extensive functional failure concomitant with the onset of neurodegenerative conditions, although the exact timeline of these events is still unclear. Thereby, it is not surprising that mitochondria have been already considered as therapeutic targets in neurodegenerative diseases including AD. Together with an overview of the role of mitochondrial dysfunction, this review examines the pros and cons of the tested therapeutic approaches targeting mitochondria in the context of AD. Since mitochondrial therapies in AD have shown different degrees of progress, it is imperative to perform a detailed analysis of the significance of mitochondrial deterioration in AD and of a pharmacological treatment at this level. This step would be very important for the field, as an effective drug treatment in AD is still missing and new therapeutic concepts are urgently needed.

Human errors and poor ergonomics are attributed to a majority of large-scale accidents and malfunctions in complex engineered systems. Human Error and Functional Failure Reasoning (HEFFR) is a framework developed to assess potential functional failures, human errors, and their propagation paths during early design stages so that more reliable systems with improved performance and safety can be designed. In order to perform a comprehensive analysis using this framework, a wide array of potential failure scenarios need to be tested. Coming up with such use cases that can cover a majority of faults can be challenging or even impossible for a single engineer or a team of engineers. In the field of software engineering, automated test case generation techniques have been widely used for software testing. This research explores these methods to create a use case generation technique that covers both component-related and human-related fault scenarios. The proposed technique is a time based simulation that employs a modified Depth First Search (DFS) algorithm to simulate events as the event propagation is analyzed using HEFFR at each timestep. This approach is applied to a hold-up tank design problem and the results are analyzed to explore the capabilities and limitations.

Increasingly tight coupling and heavy connectedness in systems of systems (SoS) presents new problems for systems designers and engineers. While the failure of one system within a SoS may produce little collateral damage beyond a loss in SoS capability, a highly interconnected SoS can experience significant damage when one member system fails in an unanticipated way. It is therefore important to develop systems that are “good neighbors” with the other systems in a SoS by failing in ways that do not further degrade a SoS’s ability to complete its mission. This paper presents a method to (1) analyze a system for potential spurious emissions and (2) choose mitigation strategies that provide the best return on investment for the SoS. The method is suited for use during the system architecture phase of the system design process. A functional and flow approach to analyzing spurious emissions and developing mitigation strategies is used in the method. Use of the method may result in a system that causes less SoS damage during a failure event.

As one of the most important means of nature gas peak shaving and energy strategic reserving, the reliability assessment of underground gas storage (UGS) system is necessary. Although many methods have been proposed for system reliability assessment, the functional heterogeneity of components and the influence of hydrothermal parameters on system reliability are neglected. To overcome these problems, we propose and apply a framework to assess UGS system reliability. Combining two-layer Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) technique with hydrothermal calculation, the framework integrates dynamic functional reliability of components into system reliability evaluation. To reflect the state transition process of repairable components and their impact on system reliability, the Markov model is introduced at system level. In order to improve the calculation speed, artificial neural network (ANN) model based on off-line MCS is established to replace the on-line MCS at components level. The proposed framework is applied to the reliability assessment and operation optimization of an UGS under different operation conditions. Compared with the traditional single-layer MCS method, the proposed method can not only reflect the variation of UGS reliability with hydrothermal parameters and operation time, but also can improve evaluation efficiency significantly.

Nanoprobing technique plays an increasingly significant role during debug on failed devices. Either higher or lower current may induce device mismatch, which will cause the functional failure of logic gate or memory cell if magnitude increases further. This paper will share a new detect type - poor Gate Oxide (Gox) uniformity - which can induce lower on-state current (I ON ) with/without asymmetry. Further solutions and possibilities are also discussed for this kind of cases.

Through silicon via (TSV) is a key enabler for 3D integration technology to provide high-density and high-speed transmission channels. However, the serious defects including open circuit and short circuit will result in functional failure. In this paper, a method to identify the open and short defect and detect the defect position is developed based on machine learning approach. Taking S parameters as training dataset, the predictive model is trained and evaluated, the performance of models based on bagging method and boosting method are compared. The results demonstrate the predictive model could correctly classify the defect type and predict the defect position accurately.

Detection of potential failures and human error and their propagation over time at an early design stage will help prevent system failures and adverse accidents. Hence, there is a need for a failure analysis technique that will assess potential functional/component failures, human errors, and how they propagate to affect the system overall. Prior work has introduced functional failure identification and propagation (FFIP), which considers both human error and mechanical failures and their propagation at a system level at early design stages. However, it fails to consider the specific human actions (expected or unexpected) that contributed toward the human error. In this paper, we propose a method to expand FFIP to include human action/error propagation during failure analysis so a designer can address the human errors using human factors engineering principals at early design stages. The capabilities of the proposed method is presented via a hold-up tank example, and the results are coupled with digital human modeling to demonstrate how designers can use these tools to make better design decisions before any design commitments are made.

In the search of the ideal dacryocystorhinostomy (DCR) that avoids a surgical scar in the medial canthus, transcanalicular laser-assisted dacryocystorhinostomy (TCL-DCR) is considered a fast and relatively simple alternative procedure for the management of nasolacrimal duct obstruction. The success rates of TCL-DCR are between 34% and 95.2%, and anatomical success rates up to 100% have been published. The functional failure rate of TCL-DCR is higher, often related to a sump syndrome in the majority of patients, when compared to non-laser-assisted DCR methods. Complications, such as tissue necrosis and proximal lacrimal drainage system trauma, have been reported. Surgical modifications to decrease the amount of laser energy delivered have resulted in better anatomical and functional outcomes.

The Molten Salt Fast Reactor (MSFR) with its liquid circulating fuel and its fast neutron spectrum calls for a new safety approach including technological neutral methodologies and analysis tools adapted to early design phases. In the frame of the Horizon2020 program SAMOFAR (Safety Assessment of the Molten Salt Fast Reactor) a safety approach suitable for Molten Salt Reactors is being developed and applied to the MSFR. After a description of the MSFR reference design, this paper focuses on the identification of the Postulated Initiating Events (PIEs), which is a core part of the global assessment methodology. To fulfil this task, the Functional Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FFMEA) and the Master Logic Diagram (MLD) are selected and employed separately in order to be as exhaustive as possible in the identification of the initiating events of the system. Finally, an extract of the list of PIEs, selected as the most representative events resulting from the implementation of both methods, is presented to illustrate the methodology and some of the outcomes of the methods are compared in order to highlight symbioses and differences between the MLD and the FFMEA.

The paper considers logical - linguistic model of software functioning process of the data control systems in the mode of functional failure formation. In addition, the structure of the process model of a functional failure formation is studied and illustrated as a fuzzy mapping of functional failures to the set of input sets of investigation object.

Product infant failure is the most crucial part of product quality risk that critically affects customer satisfaction. However, most of manufacturers lack sufficient understanding of the formation mechanism of product infant failure and quantitative infant failure risk modeling technology. These issues cause the inefficiency of warranty policy in preventing and controlling infant failure risk. Therefore, first, on the basis of the reverse mapping process of axiomatic design, an infant failure risk formation chain, that is, “process quality variation—physical defect—functional vulnerability—infant failure,” is proposed in this study by considering quality variation propagation and functional failure dependency to determine the inherent formation and dependent enlarging process of the risk. Second, on the basis of the risk formation chain, the infant failure risk is modeled from inherent risk and dependent risk. Specifically, the inherent infant failure risk is computed based on the stream of quality variation in production, whereas the dependent infant failure risk is computed by a Bayesian network by considering the functional failure dependency. Finally, a case study of an illustrative electromechanical system is introduced to verify the applicability of the proposed method. Result shows that the proposed method has a better performance in infant failure risk modeling.

The performance of packaged Fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors with carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) may degraded even functional failure with the working time increases. The reliability of this kind of packaged FBG sensors has been analyzed by using the FMEA method in this paper. Considering the working environment of FBG sensor, such as alternating loads and ageing, the related failure modes are discussed. The risk index of each failure mode is calculated. The relationship between different failure modes is analyzed, and as well as the weak links of the packaging design and process of the FBG sensor. The results are helpful to improve the availability and the reliability of packaged FBG sensor by CFRP.

E-commerce service failures have been the bane of e-commerce, compelling customers to either abandon transactions entirely or switch to traditional brick-and-mortar establishments. Yet, there is a paucity of studies that investigates how such failures manifest on e-commerce websites and their impact on consumers. This paper, therefore, synthesizes extant literature on e-service and system success to arrive at a novel classification system that delineates e-commerce service failures into information, functional, and system categories, each with its own set of constituent dimensions. Extending expectation disconfirmation theory (EDT), we further distinguish among disconfirmed outcome, process, and cost expectancies as major consequences of e-commerce service failures. A theoretical model of e-commerce service failure classifications and their consequences was constructed together with testable propositions that relate the three failure categories to consumers' disconfirmed expectancies. Finally, we explore the validity of our theoretical model based on descriptive accounts of actual occurrences of e-commerce service failures and their corresponding consequences. Consistent with our theoretical model, information and functional failures were found to be associated with disconfirmed outcome and process expectancies respectively. System failures, on the other hand, do not affect consumers' disconfirmed expectancies, thereby contradicting our predictions. Post hoc analysis on constituent dimensions of information, functional, and system failures yielded additional insights on the preceding observations.

As performance of electronic personal dosimeter (EPD) used for auxiliary personal dosimeter in nuclear power plants (NPPs) has been being continuously improved, we investigated application cases in Korea and other countries and also tested it in NPPs to assess the performance of EPD for external radiation dosimetry. Result of performance tests done in domestic NPPs was similar to those obtained by IAEA in cooperation with EURADOS (IAEA-TECDOC-1564). In addition, EPD/TLD dose ratio has shown similar tendency of EPD/Film-badge dose ratio from the research by the Japan Atomic Power Company (JAPC) and EPD provided more conservative value than TLD or Film-badge. Although some EPD's failures have been discussed, EPD has shown continuous improvement according to the report of Institute of Nuclear Power Operation (INPO) and data from domestic NPPs. In conclusion, It is considered that the general performance of EPD is adequate for external radiation dosimetry compared with that of TLD, providing appropriate performance checking procedure and alternative measures for functional failure.

In this study, a progressive damage modeling is developed to predict functional failure pressure of GRP pipes subjected to internal hydrostatic pressure. The modeling procedure predicts both first-ply failure pressure and functional failure pressure associated with the weepage phenomenon. The modeling procedure is validated using experimental observations. The random parameters attributed to the filament winding production process are identified. Consequently, stochastic simulation is conducted to investigate the influence of induced inconsistencies on the functional failure pressures of GRP pipes. The obtained results are compared to realize the degree to which random parameters affect the performance of the pipe in operation.

In the 1990s, epicardial implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) patches were frequently implanted to treat life-threatening ventricular arrhythmia. However, owing to the high rates of functional failure, the patch system has been replaced by transvenous ICD leads system. Although morphological abnormalities such as dense fibrosis around the patch are quite frequent, epicardial ICD patch-induced localized constrictive pericarditis is very rare. We encountered a patient who had severe heart failure due to constrictive pericarditis, 23 years after the implantation of epicardial ICD patches. The heart failure was treated after complete resection of the patches and dense fibrosis on the surface of both the right and the left ventricles. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the treatment of epicardial ICD patch-induced localized constrictive pericarditis.

Permeable pavements are often affected by pore clogging, which leads to their functional failure and reduced service life. However, the clogging mechanism and its impact on the permeability and complex pore microstructures in pervious pavement remains unclear. The aim of current study is to quantify the clogging behavior in pervious pavement materials (PPMs) and carry out investigations on the development of pore characteristics and permeability. Novel Polyurethane bound Pervious Mixture (PUPM) were adopted for comparative study in present research with conventional Porous Asphalt (PA). The Aachen Polishing Machine (APM) was selected to perfectly serve as a simulator for clogging process of pavement in the actual service condition. The permeability and pore microstructure of the pervious pavement material was then characterized by using the self-developed permeameter and X-ray Computed Tomography (CT) scanning respectively. The development of pore characteristics in terms of clogging was experimentally illustrated. The developed experiments and analysis can further strengthen the understanding of the clogging mechanism within the porous pavement material. The results can also serve for the optimization of the pervious pavement design in the engineering application.

Purpose To investigate prognostic factors related to the surgical outcome of vitrectomy in myopic traction maculopathy (MTM). Methods Medical records of patients with MTM who underwent pars plana vitrectomy with internal limiting membrane peeling and follow-up over 12 months were reviewed retrospectively. Best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), fundoscopic examination and spectral-domain optical coherence tomography findings were evaluated postoperatively. Functional success was defined as visual acuity gain and anatomical success was defined as reduction or resolution of foveoschisis without complications. Results This study included 40 eyes of 36 patients. BCVA improved from 0.70 ± 0.44 to 0.63 ± 0.57 logarithm of minimum angle of resolution and central macular thickness decreased from 526.6 ± 132.1 to 277.8 ± 92.1 µm at final follow-up. Functional success was achieved in 24 (60.0%) eyes, and 33 (82.5%) eyes reached anatomical success. Presence of foveal detachment (FD) and higher category of myopic maculopathy were associated with both functional (p = 0.014, 0.021, respectively) and anatomical (p = 0.011, 0.022, respectively) failure. Longer preoperative axial length showed an association with functional failure but not with anatomical failure (p = 0.041). In multivariate analysis, FD was the only prognostic factor for both functional and anatomical outcome (p = 0.041, 0.043, respectively). Preoperative BCVA (r2 = 0.259, p = 0.001), axial length (r2 = 0.172, p = 0.008), and myopic maculopathy category (r2 = 0.336, p < 0.001) showed significant correlation with final BCVA. Conclusions More severe myopic maculopathy and the presence of FD are associated with poorer functional and anatomical outcomes of pars plana vitrectomy in MTM. Better preoperative BCVA, shorter axial length, and less severe myopic maculopathy are correlated with better final BCVA.

With the rapid development of integrated circuits and microsystems, the security of this IC industry is getting more and more attention [1]. Therefore, there may be malicious circuit insertion at various stages, resulting in functional failure, performance degradation. In order to prevent the circuit from being plugged into the hardware Trojan, there are now some hardware Trojan protection technologies, including logic encryption, BISA technology and so on. Among them, logic encryption technology makes it difficult for hardware Trojan attackers to insert Trojans for rare nodes by obfuscating the circuits. This paper proposes a novel hardware Trojan protection technology based on logic encryption, which not only defenses against this attack technique of Hamming distance, but also proposes a fake rare node to confuse the circuit.

Detection of potential failures and human error and their propagation over time at an early design stage will help prevent system failures and adverse accidents. Hence, there is a need for a failure analysis technique that will assess potential functional/component failures, human errors, and how they propagate to affect the system overall. Prior work has introduced FFIP (Functional Failure Identification and Propagation), which considers both human error and mechanical failures and their propagation at a system level at early design stages. However, it fails to consider the specific human actions (expected or unexpected) that contributed towards the human error. In this paper, we propose a method to expand FFIP to include human action/error propagation during failure analysis so a designer can address the human errors using human factors engineering principals at early design stages. To explore the capabilities of the proposed method, it is applied to a hold-up tank example and the results are coupled with Digital Human Modeling to demonstrate how designers can use these tools to make better design decisions before any design commitments are made.

The presence of hemiparesis on arrival in patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is presumed to affect prognosis; intracranial hematomas with mass effect responsible for hemiparesis are frequently observed in these patients. The aim of this study was to clarify characteristics and outcomes of patients who presented with hemiparesis on arrival with no responsible hematomas (hemiparesis without hematoma) having mass effect demonstrated on computed tomography.Consecutive patients with SAH treated with surgery for ruptured cerebral aneurysms within 5 days of onset between 2003 and 2015 were retrospectively reviewed.Hemiparesis without hematoma was present in 25 of 858 surgically treated patients (2.9%). Internal carotid artery aneurysms were significantly more common in patients with hemiparesis without hematoma than in the other patients (P0.05). In 19 of 21 surviving patients (90.5%) with hemiparesis without hematoma on arrival, the hemiparesis improved at discharge. Favorable outcomes were achieved in 16 of 25 patients with hemiparesis without hematoma (64%) and in 13 of 59 patients with hemiparesis with hematomas (22.0%); this difference was significant (P0.05).Hemiparesis can be expected to improve in patients with SAH with hemiparesis without hematoma, and such patients appear to have a better prognosis than patients with SAH with hemiparesis and responsible hematomas. A possible major mechanism of hemiparesis without hematoma based on the characteristics identified is a combination of transient ipsilateral hemispheric functional failure caused by the impact of aneurysmal rupture and transient ischemia of the perforators originating from the internal carotid artery.

In this paper, we investigate the effectiveness of active shielded copper and MWCNT bundle interconnects to eliminate the crosstalk induced functional failure in ternary systems. This study is done for the intermediate and global level interconnects at 22 and 14 nm technologies. The results indicate that the copper interconnects, even with the Shield lines, are not able to eliminate the crosstalk-induced functional failures in ternary logic systems while active shielded MWCNT bundle interconnects is able to omit the crosstalk induced functional failure for interconnects in global and intermediate level at the technologies under investigation. The average worst-case crosstalk noise peak in ternary logic using active shielded MWCNT bundle interconnects is reduced by 33% and 40% for the intermediate interconnects at 22nm and 14nm technologies and 37% and 42% for global level interconnects at 22nm and 14nm technology nodes compared to their Cu counterparts. In addition, active shielded MWCNT bundle interconnects have lower crosstalk delay for long wires compared to active shielded copper interconnects.

Background There are numerous available plates, almost all of which are compact one-piece plates. During the placement of relatively long plates in the treatment of multi-level cervical pathologies, instrument related complications might appear. In order to overcome this potential problem, a novel 'articulated plate system' is designed. We aimed to delineate finite element analysis and mechanical evaluations. Material and methods A new plate system consisting of multi partite structure for anterior cervical stabilization was designed. Segmental plates were designed for application onto the ventral surface of the vertebral body. Plates differed from 9 to13 mm in length. There are rods at one end and hooks at the other end. Terminal points consisted of either hooks or rods at one end but the other ends are blind. Finite element and mechanical tests of the construct were performed applying bending, axial loading, and distraction forces. Results Finite element and mechanical testing results yielded the cut off values for functional failure and breakage of the system. Conclusions The articulated system proved to be mechanically safe and it lets extension of the system on either side as needed. Ease of application needs further verification via a cadaveric study.

Helium Cooled Pebble Bed (HCPB) blanket concept is one of the DEMO (Demonstration Power Plant) blanket concepts running for the final design selection. Concept relevant safety needs to be addressed at the early stage of the design. In this paper the preliminary safety studies for the current concept have been performed with respect to the FFMEA (Functional Failure Mode and Effect Analysis), the confinement strategy, identification of source terms, and selection of critical event sequences. © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Non-metallic inclusions (NMIs) determine to a high degree the quality and cleanness of steel and are often the reason for functional failure, especially in dynamic-stressed components. Therefore, it is important to have accurate, fast, and reliable characterization methods for these unwanted material inhomogeneities. In this paper, two different methods for the detection of NMIs are compared: X-ray-computed tomography (XCT) and fatigue life testing. XCT allows the detection and analysis of material inhomogeneities and their positions in a 3D volume. The evaluation of XCT-data of Fe-based materials can be rather difficult, since the results are usually prone to image noise, offer poor contrast, and the interpretation is affected by artifacts. Suitable evaluation strategies for detection and classification are presented. The degradation of steel samples by dynamic fatigue testing is a destructive way of determining the existence of harmful NMIs. If there is an NMI of critical size in the sample, a functional failure may occur. The fracture surface is investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), equipped with an energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy unit in order to identify shape, type, and chemical composition of the harmful NMI.

Ischemia and reperfusion (I/R) are of fatal consequence for the affected organs, as they provoke a profound inflammatory reaction. This thoroughly destroys cells and tissues, inducing functional failure or even complete loss of organ function. Since I/R is primarily a vascular problem, the interaction between the endothelium and the surrounding environment is of great significance. The angiopoietins (ANG) and the TIE receptors are key players for the vascular homeostasis. This review summarizes biochemical and cellular mechanisms leading to I/R injury. After a brief introduction to the ANG/TIE system, a comprehensive overview of its role for the development of I/R syndrome is given. Finally, current therapeutic approaches to mitigate the consequences of I/R by modulating ANG/TIE signaling are reviewed in detail.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate clinical success of primary teeth class II lesions restored with different restorative materials [Hybrid Composite Resin (HCR), Resin Modified Glass Ionomer Cement (RMGIC), compomer, and Giomer Composite Resin (GCR)] followed up for 24 months. Study Design: This study was carried out on 146 primary molars of 41 children in the age range of 5–7 years. The class II lesions in primary molars of a patient were restored using different restorative materials. Restorations were evaluated according to FDI-criteria and their survival rates were determined. Data were analysed with Pearson chi-square, Kaplan-Meier and Wilcoxon (Breslow) tests (α = 0.05). Results: The failure rates of restorative materials were as follows: compomer 33.3%, RMGIC 28.1%, HCR 22.5% and GCR 21.1%. Conclusions: While the functional failure was the most important factor in restorative material failure, RMGIC was the most successful material in terms of biological evaluation criterion and GCR had the longest survival rate.

Background Male and female condom (FC) functional performance failure declines with user experience. With the recent availability of a wider range of FCs, it is important to know if women with experience in using one type of FC are more proficient in using another type, even if the FC design is quite different. Study design A randomized, noninferiority crossover clinical trial assessed the function of four FCs (FC2, Woman's Condom, Cupid and VA w.o.w) among 300 women in Durban, South Africa. FC functional failure (breakage, slippage, invagination and misdirection) by condom type and use period was investigated in women using five FCs of each type (20 FC uses in total). Results Of the 5364 condoms used during intercourse by 272 women, 200 clinical failures occurred in 195 condoms (190 condoms had one failure, and 5 had two failures). Total clinical failure was comparable across FC types. Of the 195 condoms in which failures occurred, the number of failures in the first condom use period was 103 (7.7%), decreasing to 43 events (3.2%) in the second, 33 (2.5%) in the third and 16 (1.2%) in the fourth. Only 2 failures were reported in the 20th use of an FC compared to 29 in the first use, irrespective of condom type. Conclusions FC failure rates decreased markedly after use of the first five condoms regardless of FC type and continued to fall across the next three use periods. Implications FC failure rates decrease over 20 uses, regardless of FC condom type used. The decrease is higher at the beginning of use, indicating that improvement is greatest after the first five uses.

The purpose of the study The research is aimed at examining histologic and morphometric aspects of the major duodenal papilla which has opisthorchiasis invasion. Materials and methods The research uses cadaveric material taken in the department of morbid anatomy of Surgut regional clinical hospital. All the cases which were included in the study (98 dead patients) had the direct evidence of infection with opisthorchiasis according to post-mortem examination together with information about the length of opisthorchiasis invasion during the life of the patients. The control group included 30 dead patients without the pathology of hepatobiliary tract. The study showed that the opisthorchiasis invasion brings about successive changes in papilla tissues which can be divided into three stages according to morphological criteria - the adenomatous stage, the adenofibrous stage and the sclerotic stage (the names reflect the nature of changes). The analysis of the material was carried out using statistical approach. Results and their discussion Morphological research with sufficient evidence demonstrated specific changes which take place in the tissues of the major duodenal papilla at different stages of papillitis. It also determined that the luminal diameter of papilla is the indicator of these changes. Conclusion The general tendency of changes in the major duodenal papilla brought about by opesthorchiasis can be described as progressive degradation of morphological structures that constitute the tissue of the major duodenal papilla, which results in functional failure of the given anatomical structure.

Water pipes corrode as the endurance period elapses, or become deteriorated according to the buried environment, sometimes causing functional failure and problems with stable water supply. Stable and continuous water supply for consumers requires the risk assessment of water pipes. The safety factor has been used in many fields as a direct evaluation index that can express the state of a facility and is also used as a reference to judge the necessity of pipe renewal. In this study, the safety factor was calculated in order to establish the Probability of Failure model, by using result data such as the pipe property and ratio of residual stress from the technological inspection of waterworks.

Total ionizing dose (TID) effects and radiation tests of complex multifunctional Very-large-scale integration (VLSI) integrated circuits (ICs) rise up some particularities as compared to conventional ?simple? ICs. The main difficulty is to organize informative and quick functional tests directly under irradiation. Functional tests approach specified for complex multifunctional VLSI devices is presented and the basic radiation test procedure is discussed in application to some typical examples.

ObjectiveThe present research was an experimental test that aimed to quantify the impact of two dominant front-of-pack (FOP) nutritional label formats on consumer evaluations of food products that carried them. The two FOP label types tested were the traffic light label and the Percentage Daily Intake.DesignA 4×5 partially replicated Latin square design was used that allowed the impact of the FOP labels to be isolated from the effects of the product and the consumers who were performing the evaluations.SettingThe experiment was conducted on campus at the University of Otago, New Zealand.SubjectsThe participants were 250 university students selected at random who met qualifying criteria of independent living and regular purchase of the products used in the research. They were not aware of the purpose of the research.ResultsThe presence of FOP labels led to significant and positive changes in consumer purchase intentions towards the products that carried them. These changes were not affected by the nature of FOP labels used, their size or the product nutritional status (good/bad) that they were reporting.ConclusionsThe result is consistent with the participants paying attention to the FOP label and then using it as an adimensional cue indicating product desirability. As such, it represents a complete functional failure of both of these FOP label types in this specific instance. This result supports calls for further research on the performance of these FOP labels before any move to compulsory deployment is made.

Mohammad Javed Ali,1 Alkis James Psaltis,2 Peter John Wormald2 1Dacryology Service, L V Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, Telangana, India; 2Department of Surgery–Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia Aim: This study aims to provide a systematic protocol for the evaluation of a dacryocystorhinostomy (DCR) ostium and to propose a scoring system to standardize the assessment.Methods: Retrospective evaluation of 125 consecutive lacrimal ostia post-DCR was performed. Medical records were screened, and photographs and videos were assessed to note the details of various ostial parameters. The major time points in evaluation were 4 weeks, 6 weeks, 3months, and 6months post-DCR. The ostia were defined and parameters like shape, size, location, and evolution of ostium were noted. Evaluation parameters were defined for internal common opening (ICO), ostium stents, and ostium granulomas. Ostium cicatrix and synechiae were graded based on their significance. Surgical success rates were computed and ostium characteristics in failed cases were studied.Results: A total of 125 ostia were evaluated on the aforementioned ostium parameters. Because five ostia showed a complete cicatricial closure with no recognizable features, the remaining 120 ostia were studied. The ostium location was anterior to the axilla of middle turbinate in 85.8% (103/120) of the cases. Moreover, 76.6% (92/120) of the ostia were circular to oval in shape, with a shallow base. The ostium size was >8×5mm in 78.3% (94/120) of the cases. The ICO was found to be located in the central or paracentral basal area in 75.8% (91/120). The anatomical and functional success rates achieved were 96% and 93.6%, respectively. All the five cases with anatomical failures showed a complete cicatrization and the ICO movements were poor in all the three cases of functional failure.Conclusion: The article attempts to standardize the postoperative evaluation of a DCR ostium and provides a systematic protocol and scoring system for possible use by surgeons and researchers alike. Keywords: DCR, ostium, score, lacrimal, nasal endoscopy

Successful failure isolation from front side becomes very expensive and time consuming as the technology nodes becoming increasingly difficult. Electro Optical Techniques, composed of Electro Optical Frequency Mapping (EOFM) and Probing (EOP), are dynamic optical analysis techniques. Most EOP/EOFM applications have focused on design debug or design characterization of integrated circuits (ICs), but these techniques are seldom used for global functional failure isolation. In this paper, we discussed the implementation of EOP/EOFM applications in global functional failure isolation of the advanced analogue devices. Two kinds of failure mode (SPI logic faulty and timing delay issue) are talked in this paper, in both case, EOP/EOFM made the difference between successful electrical isolation and successful root cause identification.

Failure analysis on static condition (static leakage and standby current level) failed device would not cost long time to find root cause, but dynamic functional failure will. Failure analysis with dynamic strategy to localize a failure point is more significant in complicated function failed IC (Integrated Circuit). This paper would present an efficient strategy to locate the defect using dynamic current monitoring on failed block or signal combined with probe laser simulation analysis.

Relative to traditional bulk materials, nanomaterials are used not only as structural units but also as functional units. Like the traditional bulk materials, damage and failure also occur in nanomaterials and nanodevices under the influence of service or external conditions. Similar phenomena have also been observed in the investigation of one-dimensional (1D) ZnO nanomaterials and nanodevices. Typical characterisation includes structural damage, performance degradation, stability degradation, functional failure, short life etc. Problems are exposed under some experimental or service conditions such as illumination, currents or electric fields, external pressure or forces, some chemical gases or solvents, and so on. These problems seriously obstruct the process of the investigation of 1D ZnO nanomaterials and nanodevices. For the above phenomena, the concepts of nanodamage and nanofailure in nanomaterials and nanodevices have been proposed by our group, and have attracted more and more attention. To guarantee the stability, reliability, safety, and long life of the nanodevices when applied in daily life and other areas, it is necessary to investigate the nanodamage and nanofailure security service parameters and mechanisms of 1D ZnO nanomaterials and nanodevices thoroughly under simulated and actual applied conditions before the large-scale industrialization of 1D ZnO nanodevices. In addition, the investigation into nanodamage and nanofailure would not only guide us in improving and promoting the properties of existing applied nanodevices, but also guide us in developing and designing some new potential nanodevices to satisfy/meet the needs of daily life or industrialisation. To facilitate investigating the nanodamage and nanofailure phenomena, damage and failure mechanisms, and security service parameters of 1D ZnO nanomaterials and nanodevices, typical nanodamage and nanofailure were classified per their service conditions. The current classifications mainly include: electrical, mechanical, electromechanical, and chemical nanodamage and nanofailure.

A network consisting of highly reliable repairable edges and varying random external load is being considered. Distribution functions of failure-free operation and repair time of edges are supposed to be of general type. The capacity of the network is determined by the states of its edges. A required capacity is a function of the semi-Markov process state. A fast simulation method enabling to evaluate the probability of functional failure of the network when its real capacity is less than the required one is being proposed.

The air flows, occurring in the nasal cavity and maxillary sinus during breathing have been simulated by the method of computational fluid dynamics (CFD). It has been found that in the normal state the maxillary sinus is not actively ventilated, due to the peculiarities of the anatomy of the structures forming ostiomeatal complex. In particular, the normal structure of processus uncinatus protects the maxillary sinus against the penetration of the inhaled air into the sinus cavity. The authors present abnormal maxillary sinus ventilation in patients without the chronic rhinosinusitis relapse with anatomical and functional failure of the processus uncinatus. The authors recommend sparing attitude to the middle meatus structures during endonasal surgery.

Objective To evaluate multi-institutional outcomes of bulbar urethroplasty utilizing a standardized cystoscopic follow-up protocol. Methods Eight reconstructive surgeons prospectively enrolled urethral stricture patients in a multi-institutional study and performed postoperative cystoscopy at 3 and 12 months. Anatomic failure was defined as the inability to pass a flexible cystoscope without force. Functional failure was defined as the need for a secondary procedure. Men not compliant with the 12-month cystoscopy were called and asked if any interval secondary procedures had been performed. Patients with bothersome voiding complaints at cystoscopy were considered symptomatic. Results Of 213 men in study, 136 underwent excisional urethroplasty (excision and primary anastomosis [EPA]) and 77 underwent repair with buccal grafts. Cystoscopy compliance was 79.8% at 3 months and 54.4% at 12 months. Anatomic success rates were higher at 3 vs 12 months for EPA repairs (97.2% [106 of 109] vs 85.5% [65 of 76; P = .003] but not buccal repairs (85.5% [53 of 62] vs 77.5% [31 of 40]; P = .30). Functional success rates at a year were higher but statistically similar to anatomical success rates (EPA—90.3% [93 of 103]; P = .33; buccal—87% [47 of 54]; P = .22). Of the 20 anatomic recurrences, only 13 (65%) were symptomatic at the time of cystoscopic diagnosis. Conclusion Rates of success are lower when using the anatomic vs traditional definition. Of recurrences found by cystoscopy, only 65% were symptomatic. One-year patient cystoscopy compliance was poor and its ability to be used as the gold standard screening methodology for recurrence is questionable.

A redundant system whose structure is determined by the fault tree with efficiencies is considered. External load on the system is the function of state of a semi-Markov process. A fast simulation method enabling to evaluate the probability of functional failure when the real system efficiency becomes less than required ones is proposed. The conditions that guarantee the boundedness of the relative error estimate as the reliability of elements increases are found. The numerical example illustrates the the accuracy of estimates obtained by the proposed method.

Fascial healing following acute injury, such as that occurring during surgical procedures, is defined functionally. For example, failure of fascial healing following celiotomy is only identified when incisional hernias are diagnosed. Such hernias incur billions of dollars per year in medical costs. Despite the importance of fascial healing, there is a paucity of data regarding the quality such healing. In clinical settings, the quantification of fascial wound healing is limited to a binary state: either there is no clinically apparent functional deficit and full fascia healing is assumed, or an incisional hernia or other functional failure is visible and the fascia did not heal. There are no clinical methods to isolate and functionally test fascia in patients. Recent studies have revealed unexpected findings regarding the recovery of tensile strength, specific surgical methods that optimize fascial healing, and the potential impact of biological pharmaceuticals in eliminating fascial healing failure. However, much remains unknown about the biology of fascial healing.