Do laparoscopic pelvic trainer exercises improve residents' surgical skills? A randomized controlled trial.

Objective: The impact of surgical simulation devices on the training of gynecology residents has not been well defined. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the use of a laparoscopic pelvic trainer improved the surgical performance of residents.

Study Design: This randomized controlled trial enrolled gynecology residents who were randomized into group A or group B in a 1:1 fashion.

Speciation of adsorbates on surface of solids by infrared spectroscopy and chemometrics.

Speciation, i.e. identification and quantification, of surface species on heterogeneous surfaces by infrared spectroscopy is important in many fields but remains a challenging task when facing strongly overlapped spectra of multiple adspecies.

Contribution made by multivariate curve resolution applied to gel permeation chromatography-Fourier transform infrared data for an in-depth characterization of styrene-butadiene rubber blends.

We evaluate the contribution made by multivariate curve resolution-alternating least squares (MCR-ALS) for resolving gel permeation chromatography-Fourier transform infrared (GPC-FT-IR) data collected on butadiene rubber (BR) and styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) blends in order to access in-depth knowledge of polymers along the molecular weight distribution (MWD). In the BR-SBR case, individual polymers differ in chemical composition but share almost the same MWD. Principal component analysis (PCA) gives a general overview of the data structure and attests to the feasibility of modeling blends as a binary system.

Fast and robust method for the determination of microstructure and composition in butadiene, styrene-butadiene, and isoprene rubber by near-infrared spectroscopy.

In the tire industry, synthetic styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR), butadiene rubber (BR), and isoprene rubber (IR) elastomers are essential for conferring to the product its properties of grip and rolling resistance. Their physical properties depend on their chemical composition, i. e.