The slippery zone in pitchers of the carnivorous plant Nepenthes alata bears scattered prominent lunate cells and displays continuous epicuticular crystalline wax coverage. The aim of this study was to examine the influence of the surface anisotropy, caused by the shape of lunate cells, on insect attachment ability. Traction tests with ladybird beetles Coccinella septempunctata were performed i...

Scapho-trapezio-trapezoid arthrodesis was originally performed for the treatment of scapho-lunate instability. However, only a few publications have described this technique for treatment of osteoarthritis of the scapho-trapezio-trapezoid (STT) joint. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the results of triscaphoid arthrodesis for STT osteoarthritis with a long-term follow-up. Thirteen cases ...

The aim of this study was to identify possible anatomical risk factors for Kienbock's disease. We measured on a posteroanterior radiograph of the wrist, in zero-position, the Lunate Diameter and Height, Lunate Tilting Angle, Lunate Uncovering Index, Lunate Fossa Inclination, Radial Inclination and Ulnar Variance. We measured these seven parameters on the unaffected hand in the Kienböck group (N...

In this work some quantitative structure activity relationship models were developed for prediction of three bioenvironmental parameters of 28 volatile organic compounds, which are used in assessing the behavior of pollutants in soil. These parameters are; half-life, non dimensional effective degradation rate constant and effective Péclet number in two type of soil. The most effective descripto...

Least squares regression based on probability plots, also called rank regression, can be used to estimate the parameters of some distributions. Regression is performed between a function of the empirical distribution function and the order statistic as the independent variable. Using large sample properties of the empirical distribution function and order statistics, weights to stabilize the va...

A 13-year-old girl presented with a 5-month history of right (dominant) wrist pain that resulted from a forced dorsiflexion-type injury. She experienced progressive discomfort in the wrist that subsequently was associated with stiffness and weakness. The pain persisted even though she curtailed her sporting activities, and it became progressive and disabling. She had no history of a fracture or...

Fractures of the lunate are rare injuries that usually result from high-energy trauma and are typically associated with other carpal and ligamentous injuries. The incidence of lunate fractures has been cited as 0.5% to 6.5% of all carpal fractures. These fractures are not frequently reported in the literature, and no consensus exists on the treatment of these injuries in the acute and chronic s...

fuzzy linear regression models are used to obtain an appropriate linear relation between a dependent variable and several independent variables in a fuzzy environment. several methods for evaluating fuzzy coefficients in linear regression models have been proposed. the first attempts at estimating the parameters of a fuzzy regression model used mathematical programming methods. in this the...

a weighted linear regression model with impercise response and p-real explanatory variables is analyzed. the lr fuzzy random variable is introduced and a metric is suggested for coping with this kind of variables. a least square solution for estimating the parameters of the model is derived. the result are illustrated by the means of some case studies.