The experimental results revealed that applying uniaxial pressure leads to a reduction in the peak intensity of the electric permittivity (epsilon). of the frequency dispersion as well as of the dielectric Selleckchem BLZ945 hysteresis. Moreover.. with increasing pressure the peak intensity of epsilon becomes diffused and shifts to a higher temperature. It was also found that simultaneous application of uniaxial pressure and electric field (perpendicular to each other) in the poling process improves the ferroelectric properties. This indeed indicates new possibility

for poling materials with a high coercive field and/or high electric conductivity. The effects of uniaxial load are weaker than that obtained for soft PZT ceramics. It was concluded that applying uniaxial pressure induces similar effects as increasing the Ti ion concentration in PZT system. The obtained results were interpreted through Cochran soft mode and domain switching processes under applying of pressure (C) 2009 American Institute of Physics [doi:10.1063/1.3234394]“
“In selected populations, pelvic organ prolapse (POP) was associated with bladder/bowel

symptoms, but data on the general female population are lacking. Our aim was to obtain normative data on the GSK2126458 in vitro prevalence of POP and pelvic floor dysfunction (PFD) symptoms and signs and to identify associations.

Validated questionnaires on POP and PFD (urogenital distress inventory, (UDI) and defaecation distress inventory (DDI)) were sent to a general population of 2,979 women (aged 45-85 years). Data were analysed using the Kruskal-Wallis test, chi square test and Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient.

Response rate was 62.7%. Associations between POP stage and parity (0.002) and vaginal bulging (< 0.001)

are significant. Anatomical locations of POP and PFD symptoms correlated significantly with incontinence of flatus, feeling anal prolapse, manual evacuation of stool, vaginal bulging, constipation and pain during faecal urge (p a parts per thousand currency signaEuro parts per thousand 0.005).

Strategies should be developed to alleviate obstructive bowel disorders associated with POP.”
“Platinum (Pt) Schottky contacts (SCs) on hydrothermal grown Zn-terminated (0001) ZnO substrates with the different hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)) treatment time are investigated. Under the treatment KU-57788 price in room temperature, effective SCs are made for 45 min and longer time and the electrical characteristics show the dependence on treatment time. The irregular humps on ZnO surface with roughness measured by atomic force microscope differ as the treatment time and roughness exhibits the large variation between 0.368 and 3.566 nm, indicating the etching effect and near-surface defects related to the lattice imperfections. The evaluated barrier height has the value at 0.89-0.96 eV with the saturation current density in the range of 2.21 x 10(-10)-3.31 x 10(-9) A/cm(2).