BACKGROUND AND AIMS Few randomized controlled trials have evaluated buprenorphine treatment interventions for opioid-dependent youth. Consequently, optimal administration strategies for this cohort are unclear. Our aim was to evaluate the relative efficacy of two different buprenorphine taper lengths in promoting abstinence from illicit opioids and treatment retention among opioid-dependent you...

In this paper we study low-variance multi-taper spectrum estimation methods to compute the mel-frequency cepstral coefficient (MFCC) features for robust speech recognition. In speech recognition, MFCC features are usually computed from a Hamming-windowed DFT spectrum. Although windowing helps in reducing the bias of the spectrum, but variance remains high. Multitaper spectrum estimation methods...

BACKGROUND Previous studies regarding modular head-neck taper corrosion were largely based on cobalt chrome (CoCr) alloy femoral heads. Less is known about head-neck taper corrosion with ceramic femoral heads. QUESTIONS/PURPOSES We asked (1) whether ceramic heads resulted in less taper corrosion than CoCr heads; (2) what device and patient factors influence taper fretting corrosion; and (3) w...

A nonuniform-shape photonic crystal taper integrated with a single-mode optical fiber and a photonic crystal waveguide for high-efficiency mode coupling is presented. The curvature of the tapering section is varied by the parameter alpha. For values of alpha set to 2 and 0.5, concave and convex tapers are obtained, respectively. Numerical calculations yield an average coupling efficiency greate...

A Nyquist filter can have any odd symmetric taper as a transition between its pass band and stop band. The most well known taper is the raised cosine (RC) taper specified in most communication standards. The square root (SRRC) Nyquist filter formed from this prototype exhibits high spectral side lobe levels that fail to meet severe spectral mask requirements. This paper presents a SR Nyquist fi...

BACKGROUND Material loss at the taper junction of metal-on-metal total hip arthroplasties has been implicated in their early failure. The mechanisms of material loss are not fully understood; analysis of the patterns of damage at the taper can help us better understand why material loss occurs at this junction. METHODS We mapped the patterns of material loss in a series of 155 metal-on-metal ...

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a 3-wk taper on the physiology of competitive distance runners. We studied seven collegiate distance runners (20+/-1 yr, 66+/-1 kg) before and after a 3-wk taper. The primary measures included 8-km cross-country race performance, gastrocnemius single muscle fiber size and function (peak force, shortening velocity, and power), baseline and ...

It has been speculated that material loss, either as corrosion or wear, at the head-stem taper junction is implicated in the high revision rates reported for metal-on-metal total hip replacements. We measured the volume of material loss from the taper and bearing surfaces of retrieved devices, and investigated the associations with blood metal ion levels and the diagnosis of a cystic or solid p...

Optical fiber tapers are used to collect photoluminescence emission at approximately 1.5 microm from photonic crystal cavities fabricated in erbium doped silicon nitride on silicon. In the experiment, photoluminescence collection via one arm of the fiber taper is enhanced 2.5 times relative to free space collection, corresponding to a net collection efficiency of 4%. Theoretically, the collecti...

The aquaporin5 (AQP5) is an integral membrane protein that plays an important role in maintaining water homeostasis in the lung during of puberty. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of period of reduced training with Nigella Sativa (NS) supplementation on AQP5 levels in the lung of Male Wistar rats during of puberty. 110 newborn three-week old male Wistar rats with average wei...