Investigating perceptions of ‘dose creep’ amongst student radiographers: A grounded theory study

IntroductionThe dose creep phenomenon is now a widely recognized concept in diagnostic radiography in light of recent technological advancements transnationally. However, this still remains underexplored amongst radiography students preparing to enter the radiography profession. In response, this study explores the perceptions of dose creep amongst undergraduate student radiographers.MethodsThe methodological approach utilized in this research study was grounded theory. The qualitative approach aimed to uncover findings from a higher education institution in Australia. Six students were recruited and took part in semi-structured interviews. This enabled the exploration of previously uncovered data, leading to the construction of original theory within the clinical and academic environment. The data analysis employed was constant comparative analysis (CCA).ResultsA number of insights emerged from the qualitative data set. For instance, the radiography students understanding of the term ‘dose creep’ and decision making leading to dose creep in the clinical environment is captured. This is further supported with assessment of image evaluation determining appropriate exposure factor selection and future impact upon graduation as diagnostic radiographers. The findings identify some important learning needs and actions for both clinical and academic settings which may help foster good use of X-ray exposures.ConclusionThis paper concludes by affirming some challenges surrounding optimal exposure selection and the known phenomenon, dose creep. Further, this study identifies the importance of learning and teaching in the clinical environment whereby learned behaviour leads to suboptimum practices.Implications for practiceThis study advances the existing evidence base by providing a unique lens into the knowledge and understanding of dose creep amongst radiography students in both academic and clinical contexts. It is anticipated this paper will help practitioners and educators better understand potential instances of dose creep within the clinical environment.     

颈椎牵引时间的初步探讨

目的通过研究正常人颈椎应变与牵引时间之间的关系,探讨颈椎牵引的合适治疗时间。方法20例健康男性行颈椎牵引,每分钟测量一次颈椎的应变,并作出应变-时间关系曲线图。结果在牵引开始阶段(0～5min),应变增加迅速,此后逐渐减慢并保持稳定,大约18min后,应变表现出下降的趋势。结论颈椎牵引时间不应太长,15～20min可能较为合适。     

A New Viscoelasticity Dynamic Fitting Method Applied for Polymeric and Polymer-Based Composite Materials

The accurate analysis of the behaviour of a polymeric composite structure, including the determination of its deformation over time and also the evaluation of its dynamic behaviour under service conditions, demands the characterisation of the viscoelastic properties of the constituent materials. Linear viscoelastic materials should be experimentally characterised under (i) constant static load and/or (ii) harmonic load. In the first load case, the viscoelastic behaviour is characterised through the creep compliance or the relaxation modulus. In the second load case, the viscoelastic behaviour is characterised by the complex modulus, E*, and the loss factor, η. In the present paper, a powerful and simple implementing technique is proposed for the processing and analysis of dynamic mechanical data. The idea is to obtain the dynamic moduli expressions from the Exponential-Power Law Method (EPL) of the creep compliance and the relaxation modulus functions, by applying the Carson and Laplace transform functions and their relationship to the Fourier transform, and the Theorem of Moivre. Reciprocally, once the complex moduli have been obtained from a dynamic test, it becomes advantageous to use mathematical interconversion techniques to obtain the time-domain function of the relaxation modulus, E(t), and the creep compliance, D(t). This paper demonstrates the advantages of the EPL method, namely its simplicity and straightforwardness in performing the desirable interconversion between quasi-static and dynamic behaviour of polymeric and polymer-composite materials. The EPL approximate interconversion scheme to convert the measured creep compliance to relaxation modulus is derived to obtain the complex moduli. Finally, the EPL Method is successfully assessed using experimental data from the literature.     

Mechanical,Thermomechanical and Reprocessing Behavior of Green Composites from Biodegradable Polymer and Wood Flour

The rising concerns in terms of environmental protection and the search for more versatile polymer-based materials have led to an increasing interest in the use of polymer composites filled with natural organic fillers (biodegradable and/or coming from renewable resources) as a replacement for traditional mineral inorganic fillers. At the same time, the recycling of polymers is still of fundamental importance in order to optimize the utilization of available resources, reducing the environmental impact related to the life cycle of polymer-based items. Green composites from biopolymer matrix and wood flour were prepared and the investigation focused on several issues, such as the effect of reprocessing on the matrix properties, wood flour loading effects on virgin and reprocessed biopolymer, and wood flour effects on material reprocessability. Tensile, Dynamic-mechanical thermal (DMTA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and creep tests were performed, pointing out that wood flour leads to an improvement of rigidity and creep resistance in comparison to the pristine polymer, without compromising other properties such as the tensile strength. The biopolymer also showed a good resistance to multiple reprocessing; the latter even allowed for improving some properties of the obtained green composites.     

Creep Behavior of a Sn-Ag-Bi Pb-Free Solder

Compression creep tests were performed on the ternary 91.84Sn-3.33Ag-4.83Bi (wt.%, abbreviated Sn-Ag-Bi) Pb-free alloy. The test temperatures were: −25 °C, 25 °C, 75 °C, 125 °C, and 160 °C (± 0.5 °C). Four loads were used at the two lowest temperatures and five at the higher temperatures. The specimens were tested in the as-fabricated condition or after having been subjected to one of two air aging conditions: 24 hours at either 125 °C or 150 °C. The strain-time curves exhibited frequent occurrences of negative creep and small-scale fluctuations, particularly at the slower strain rates, that were indicative of dynamic recrystallization (DRX) activity. The source of tertiary creep behavior at faster strain rates was likely to also be DRX rather than a damage accumulation mechanism. Overall, the strain-time curves did not display a consistent trend that could be directly attributed to the aging condition. The sinh law equation satisfactorily represented the minimum strain rate as a function of stress and temperature so as to investigate the deformation rate kinetics: dε/dt_min = Asinhⁿ (ασ) exp (−ΔH/RT). The values of α, n, and ΔH were in the following ranges (±95% confidence interval): α, 0.010–0.015 (±0.005 1/MPa); n, 2.2–3.1 (±0.5); and ΔH, 54–66 (±8 kJ/mol). The rate kinetics analysis indicated that short-circuit diffusion was a contributing mechanism to dislocation motion during creep. The rate kinetics analysis also determined that a minimum creep rate trend could not be developed between the as-fabricated versus aged conditions. This study showed that the elevated temperature aging treatments introduced multiple changes to the Sn-Ag-Bi microstructure that did not result in a simple loss (“softening”) of its mechanical strength.     

改性玻璃离子水门汀应力松弛蠕变实验

文题释义：黏弹性力学：连续介质力学的重要分支,又称黏弹性理论,研究黏弹性物质的力学行为、本构关系及其破坏规律,以及黏弹性体在外力和其他因素作用下的变形和应力分布。聚合物、混凝土、金属、岩石、土壤、石油、肌肉、血液和骨骼等,在一定条件下既具有弹性性质又具有黏性性质,这种兼具弹性和黏性性质的材料称为黏弹性材料,含黏弹性固体与黏弹性流体,又可分为线性黏弹性体和非线性黏弹性体。线性黏弹性体的两种极端情况即为胡克体(遵循胡克定律)和牛顿流体(遵循牛顿粘性定律)。 生物力学：是应用力学原理和方法对生物体中的力学问题定量研究的生物物理学分支,其研究范围从生物整体到系统、器官(包括血液、体液、脏器、骨骼等),从鸟飞、鱼游、鞭毛和纤毛运动到植物体液的输运等。 物力学的基础是能量守恒、动量定律、质量守恒三定律并加上描写物性的本构方程。生物力学研究的重点是与生理学、医学有关的力学问题,依研究对象的不同可分为生物流体力学、生物固体力学和运动生物力学等。 背景：以往对改性玻璃离子水门汀的力学性能研究多以压缩、弯曲实验居多,关于玻璃离子水门汀加入锶羟基磷灰石后的应力松弛、蠕变实验研究鲜有报道。 目的：对比分析传统玻璃离子水门汀、复合树脂釉质粘接剂、改性玻璃离子水门汀的应力松弛、蠕变特性。 方法：按质量比15%向玻璃离子水门汀中加入掺锶羟基磷灰石,制备改性玻璃离子水门汀。制作改性玻璃离子水门汀、复合树脂釉质粘接剂与传统玻璃离子水门汀试样,3组各取10个试样进行应力松弛实验,另取10个试样进行蠕变实验。 结果与结论：①应力松弛实验7 200 s时,传统玻璃离子水门汀组应力下降了1.18 MPa,复合树脂釉质粘接剂组应力下降了1.39 MPa,掺锶羟基磷灰石复合玻璃离子水门汀组应力下降了1.38 MPa;传统玻璃离子水门汀组应力下降量小于掺锶羟基磷灰石复合玻璃离子水门汀组、复合树脂釉质粘接剂组(P < 0.05),掺锶羟基磷灰石复合玻璃离子水门汀组和复合树脂釉质粘接剂组应力下降量无差异(P > 0.05)。②蠕变实验7 200 s时,传统玻璃离子水门汀组应变上升了0.24%,复合树脂釉质粘接剂组应变上升了0.33%,掺锶羟基磷灰石复合玻璃离子水门汀组应变上升了0.32%;传统玻璃离子水门汀组应变上升量小于掺锶羟基磷灰石复合玻璃离子水门汀组、复合树脂釉质粘接剂组(P < 0.05),掺锶羟基磷灰石复合玻璃离子水门汀组试和复合树脂釉质粘接剂组应变上升量无差异(P > 0.05)。③结果表明,15%掺锶羟基磷灰石提高和改善了玻璃离子水门汀的黏弹特性,有利于其与黏结物体的黏结,有利于提高黏结强度。 ORCID: 0000-0003-1024-5733(丁洁) 中国组织工程研究杂志出版内容重点：生物材料;骨生物材料; 口腔生物材料; 纳米材料; 缓释材料; 材料相容性;组织工程     

Viscoelasticity of repaired sciatic nerve by poly（lactic-co-glycolic acid） tubes

Medical-grade synthetic poly（lactic-co-glycolic acid） polymer can be used as a biomaterial for nerve repair because of its good biocompatibility, biodegradability and adjustable degradation rate. The stress relaxation and creep properties of peripheral nerve can be greatly improved by repair with poly（lactic-co-glycolic acid） tubes. ＂Fen sciatic nerve specimens were harvested from fresh corpses within 24 hours of death, and were prepared into sciatic nerve injury models by creating a 10 mm defect in each specimen. Defects were repaired by anastomosis with nerve autografts and poly（lactic-co-glycolic acid） tubes. Stress relaxation and creep testing showed that at 7 200 seconds the sciatic nerve anastomosed by poly（lactic-co-glycolic acid） tubes exhibited a greater decrease in stress and increase in strain than those anastomosed by nerve autografts. These findings suggest that poly（lactic-co-glycolic acid） exhibits good viscoelasticity to meet the biomechanical require- ments for a biomaterial used to repair sciatic nerve injury.     

Viscoelastic evaluation of fetal umbilical vein for reconstruction of middle cerebral artery

The transplantation of artificial blood vessels with 〈 6 mm inner diameter as substitutes for human arterioles or veins has not achieved satisfactory results. Umbilical vein has been substituted for ar- tery in vascular transplantation, but it remains unclear whether the stress relaxation and creep be- tween these vessels are consistent. In this study, we used the fetal umbilical vein and middle cere- bral artery from adult male cadavers to make specimens 15 mm in length, 0.196-0.268 mm in tu- nica media thickness, and 2.82-2.96 mm in outer diameter. The results demonstrated that the stress decrease at 7 200 seconds was similar between the middle cerebral artery and fetal umbilical vein specimens, regardless of initial stress of 18.7 kPa or 22.5 kPa. However, the strain increase at 7 200 seconds of fetal umbilical veins was larger than that of middle cerebral arteries. Moreover, the stress relaxation experiment showed that the stress decrease at 7 200 seconds of the fetal umbilical vein and middle cerebral artery specimens under 22.5 kPa initial stress was less than the decrease in these specimens under 18.7 kPa initial stress. These results indicate that the fetal umbilical vein has appropriate stress relaxation and creep properties for transplantation. These properties are advantageous for vascular reconstruction, indicating that the fetal umbilical vein can be transplanted to repair middle cerebral artery injury.     

具有双特征时间参数的生物软组织黏弹性性质的理论研究

目的 探索描述生物软组织黏弹性特性的普遍行为或规律。方法 根据生物软组织的力学结构,构建由两个线性弹簧和两个黏壶的不同组合构成的四元件黏弹性结构模型;并通过弹性理论,结合不同黏弹性模型的几何构型推导其运动微分方程,利用其微分方程分析不同四元件模型的应力松弛和蠕变行为以及反映弹性和黏性相结合的应力松弛时间和蠕变推迟时间。结果 所有可能的四元件黏弹性模型都具有普遍的本构关系、应力松弛和蠕变函数形式。通过比较模型预测结果与主动脉瓣、韧带和脑动脉等生物软组织的实验数据发现,四元件黏弹性模型能够很好地描述生物软组织的力学行为。“快”和“慢”两个特征时间τ1和τ2对生物软组织的应力松弛具有显著的影响。“快”松弛时间τ1对应力达到稳定态所需时间有明显的影响,而“慢”松弛时间τ2对松弛率的影响不显著,但对应力松弛的稳定态有明显的影响。结论 生物软组织的时间依赖性行为可以通过两个特征时间尺度来表征,即“快”和“慢”时间;且具有两个特征时间的生物软组织的应力 应变关系、应力松弛和蠕变函数具有相同的数学形式,这与所选择的弹簧和黏壶的配置和排列无关,但为保证模型力学参数的合理性,针对不同的生物软组织应选取适合的模型。