Treatment of a case of macrodactyly of the thumb

An unusual association between macrodactyly of the thumb and a severe abnormality of the thenar eminence is presented. A reduction of the soft tissues and opponens transplant gave a satisfactory cosmetic and functional result.     

A general fuzzy TOPSIS model in multiple criteria decision making

Decision making is the process of finding the best option among the feasible alternatives. In classical multiple criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods, the ratings and the weights of the criteria are known precisely. Owning to vagueness of the decision data, the crisp data are inadequate for real-life situations. Since human judgments including preferences are often vague and cannot be expressed by exact numerical values, the application of fuzzy concepts in decision making is deemed to be relevant. In this paper, we proposed the application of a fuzzy distance formula in order to compute a crisp value for the standard deviation of fuzzy data. Then, we use this crisp value of the standard deviation to normalize the fuzzy data using the distance formula again. In our normalization approach, we have enough flexibility to consider various types of fuzzy numbers (such as triangular, trapezoidal, and interval). Finally, we use the technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution to determine the ranking order of the alternatives. A numerical example from the literature is solved to demonstrate this applicability of the proposed model. We also compare our proposed approach with similar methods in the literature using some examples with known results and a number of randomly generated test problems. The results point to the applicability of our method and signify its effectiveness in identifying solutions.     

Synthesis and Characterization of Electro-Crystallized Alumina Nanoparticles and Investigation of Their Application in Removal of Cobalt and Cadmium from Seimareh and Karoon Rivers in Iran

Al₂O₃ nanoparticles were successfully synthesized in an electrolytic cell containing two Al sheets as electrodes and an aqueous solution in the presence of an amine. To measure the effect of growth parameters on the properties of alumina nanoparticles, different samples were synthesized under different voltages (5–25 V), electrolyte concentration (0.02–0.1 M) and growth temperatures (10–60°C). X-ray diffraction patterns clearly approved the formation of the Al₂O₃ phase with cubic structure after annealing at 600°C for 2 h, and no sign of impurities was observed. SEM images showed that the particles are quasi-spherical and their mean size ranged from 7 to 270 nm depending on the growth conditions. The ultraviolet–visible results showed that the alumina nanoparticles mainly disperse rather than absorb light. The photoluminescence emission spectrum of nanoparticles showed an original peak at 395 nm, which is related to the electron transition between the levels and the photon emission. The removal of cobalt and cadmium from experimentally polluted water and the Seimareh and Karoon Rivers in Iran has been investigated. The water treatments were studied in an electrochemical cell with polluted water as the electrolyte, and by mixing the alumina nanoparticles with polluted water in a shaker. The results of atomic absorption spectroscopy showed that it is possible to remove about 100% of cadmium from the Seimareh and Karoon rivers. Also, by mixing the alumina nanoparticles with polluted water in a shaker, about 37.77% and 91.06% of cobalt were removed from the Seimareh and Karoon rivers, respectively.