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Post-extraction alveolar ridge resorption is a common sequela when missing mandibular molar spaces are not managed in a timely fashion. The situation becomes more complicated in patients who seek orthodontic treatment if closure of the edentulous space is the major objective in order to avoid prosthetic rehabilitation. In the present article, two cases are reported, in which different bone augmentation graft materials were used and treatment duration and post-orthodontic alveolar ridge characteristics were compared. A regional acceleratory phenomenon after the grafting procedure facilitated uneventful orthodontic space closure. The status of the investing alveolar bone was compared using post-treatment cone-beam computed tomography. Both autogenous bone graft and allograft ridge augmentation procedures aided in successful molar protraction through the resorbed mandibular alveolar ridge, as well as preventing periodontal attachment loss.

ABSTRACT Gilles Lipovestsky claims that the mass production of ready-to-wear clothing was initially expected to create a democratic dynamic of fashion. These democratic aspirations were anticipated by scholars foreseeing a [...]

Under the impact of climate change, the world is facing various extreme weather challenges. Cities face higher frequency and severity of these challenges due to high population density and high levels of business and commerce activities. How to reduce disaster risk has become an important connotation of risk city governance. People’s attitudes toward disaster prevention can help reduce disaster risk and management efforts and reduce mortality and economic losses. Using a stratified random sampling method, this study selected 600 respondents from four different environmentally sensitive districts in Taipei to examine the relationships between their socio-economic backgrounds (age and residence duration) and flood preventive behavioral attitudes. The analyses of the Chi-squared test indicate that there is a high correlation between residents’ age and flood preventive behavioral attitudes, while a low correlation in different regions. There are moderate to low correlations between the prevention behavioral attitudes and age of the residents in Zhongshan and Wenshan districts with low natural vulnerability / low social vulnerability. The relationship between residence duration and flood prevention behavioral attitudes was only associated in districts with high natural vulnerability / high social vulnerability, while the respondents in other districts did not show correlation relationships. It is recommended to increase the residents’ flood prevention behavioral attitudes to encourage positive behavior in the reduction of flood risk in different areas and similar environments.

Uniqlo, Japan's largest fashion brand, operates over 2200 stores internationally; however, it is largely pan-Asian as 92% of the stores are in Asia. Taiwan is no exception where the notion of fashion, rather than clothing, originally arrived under Japanese rule in the early twentieth century. After being independent of Japan in the mid-twentieth century, many Taiwanese still preferred Japanese rather than Western designs and trends due to the cultural similarities between Taiwan and Japan. This became further evident when Uniqlo opened its first Taiwanese store in 2010. However, Uniqlo's business model of providing simple design products of high quality can be explained by neither Laver's Law of fashion cycle nor the strategy of European fast fashion brands that offer fast cycle fashion items without guaranteeing quality. To discover motives and reasons behind the Taiwanese mindset, we have conducted 15 interviews, including two with former Uniqlo workers, at various locations in Taiwan. We then conclude that Taiwanese consumers seek quality clothes from Uniqlo, tangible features of clothing rather than symbolic elements of fashion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) affects many children, and adenotonsillar hypertrophy is the most common cause of paediatric OSA. Aim: Despite the growing treatment options, there is no comprehensive comparison of all interventions. We aimed to compare and rank the effectiveness of various treatments in a network meta‐analysis. Design: Literature was searched from inception to 13 May 2018 for paediatric OSA with adenotonsillar hypertrophy. The outcomes were the changes in apnoea‐hypopnea index (AHI), oxyhaemoglobin desaturation index (ODI), and lowest arterial oxygen saturation (SaO2). Frequentist approach to network meta‐analysis was used. Treatment hierarchy was summarized according to the surfaces under the cumulative ranking curves. Results: Fourteen trials comprising 1064 paediatric OSA participants evaluating ten interventions (adenotonsillectomy, adenotonsillectomy + pharyngoplasty, adenotonsillotomy, antimicrobial therapy, steroids, leukotriene receptor antagonists [LTRAs], steroids + LTRAs, rapid maxillary expansion [RME], placebo, and no treatment) were identified for network meta‐analysis. In terms of effectiveness in AHI reduction, surgical approach was still the most effective intervention than no treatment. RME was one of the most effective interventions to improve lowest SaO2. No comparisons showed statistical significance in reducing ODI. Conclusions: Irrespective of the intervention used, complete resolution of OSA was not achieved in most trials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globalization and population growth have put great pressure on the environment over the last few decades, and climate change has increased associated negative effects. Researchers examine the interactions between human and the environment. Among them, the relationship between place attachment and pro-environmental behavior has attracted particular research attention. However, few studies have addressed the relationships among flood risk perceptions, place attachment, and climate change coping behavior in a densely populated urban area. This study examines the effects of perceptions of climate change and flood risk on coping behavioral intention, and determines whether place attachment plays a mediating or moderating role therein in Taipei, the flood-prone capital city of Taiwan. A total of 1208 questionnaires were collected. An analysis of the mediation effects based on a three-level regression model (Phase I) suggested that place attachment is not a mediator. Adjustment of the model and analysis of moderation effects using structural equation modeling (Phase II) suggested no moderation effect. In Phase III, the mediation effect was reexamined, with the replacement of dependent variables (adaptation/mitigation) with high-effort/low-effort coping behaviors, and one dimension of place attachment was replaced with four dimensions thereof (place dependence and place identity, place satisfaction, place affect, place social bonding). The results thus obtained reveal that the paths of place satisfaction exhibit significant mediating effects between attitudes and high-effort coping behavior. Some paths exhibit significant mediating effects between perceptions and low-effort coping behavior through place satisfaction. Another four paths exhibit partial significant mediating effects through place dependence and place identity and place social bonding. These results suggest that affective attachment of people to local places results in a behavioral tendency to protect or improve those places. The main contribution of this study is its support of meta-analyses of the effects of each dimension of place attachment to provide a better understanding of the effects of place attachment on flood risk perception and coping behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long-cavity colorless laser diodes with different front-facet antireflection (AR) coatings are employed to perform the wavelength injection-locked ON–OFF-keying (OOK) data transmission. By changing front-facet reflectance of laser diode from 0.2% to 1.2%, the received OOK data enhance its Q factor by 6.3% and reduces its bit error rate (BER) by more than two orders of magnitude, which benefits from the improved signal-to-noise ratio and extinction ratio by up to 8.0%. Enlarging the injection-locking power from –6 to –3 dBm essentially helps the long-cavity colorless laser diode to promote its receiving power sensitivity from –27.9 to –29.2 dBm at BER of 10^-9. However, the similar device with lower AR reflectance shows an opposite trend. The injection-locking-induced enhancement is limited within a frequency region controlled by the injection power, which results from a large disparity between continuous-wave injection and stimulated emission inside the long-cavity colorless laser diode. At same biased current and front-facet reflectance, a higher injection level provides a larger modulation throughput at a cost of decreasing bandwidth. The overinjection causes a limitation on frequency bandwidth of the long-cavity colorless laser diodes with lower front-facet reflectance. The numerical simulations with modified rate equations for the injection-locked long-cavity colorless laser diode with lower front-facet reflectance also elucidate that the transmission degrades distinctly at larger injection powers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]