Lip Print Pattern among Children Visiting Dental Out patient department.

BACKGROUND: Lip print patterns are unique in every individual. The uniqueness of lip print pattern assists in the personal identification. The objectives of the present study were to study the different lip print patterns among the children visiting Kanti Children's Hospital, and to compare the distribution of lip print patterns based on gender and race. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 300 children visiting the Dental Outpatient Department of Kanti Children's Hospital, Kathmandu, Nepal. Convenience sampling method was used to choose the study subjects. Digital photography method was used to record the image of lips. RESULTS: The study showed 'Long vertical' (Type I) as the most frequent (41%) type of lip print pattern, whereas 'Unspecified' (Type V) was the least frequent (2.7%) type. Prevalence of 'Type I' pattern was significantly higher in males as compared to females (p=0.007) whereas prevalence of 'Type IV' pattern was significantly higher in females as compared to males (p=0.006). 'Type I' pattern was the commonest lip print pattern among both Caucasians and Mongolian, whereas 'Type V' (2%) and 'Type IV' (3.7%) were the least common lip print patterns in Caucasians and Mongolian children respectively. CONCLUSIONS: 'Long vertical' (Type I) was the most common lip print pattern among the children visiting the Dental Outpatient Department of Kanti Children's Hospital, Kathmandu, Nepal. Nevertheless, in higher or lesser numbers, all kinds of lip print patterns as described by Suzuki and Tsuchihashi were seen in the study population.

An Innovative Plate Concept for Rotational Guided Growth: A Porcine Pilot Study.

Background Rotational deformities in children are currently treated with an osteotomy, acute de-rotation, and surgical fixation. Meanwhile, guided growth is now the gold standard in pediatric coronal deformity correction. This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of a novel implant intended for rotational guided growth (RotOs Plate) in a large porcine animal model. Methodology A submuscular plate was inserted on the medial and lateral aspect of the distal femoral physis of the left femur in 6 pigs. Each plate was anchored with a screw in the metaphysis and epiphysis respectively. The plates were expected to rotate the femur externally. The right femur acted as a control in a paired design. The animals were housed for 12 weeks after surgery. MRI scanning of both femora was performed before euthanasia after 12 weeks. Rotation was determined as the difference in the femoral version on MRI between the operated and non-operated femur after 12 weeks. Results External rotation in all operated femurs was observed. The mean difference in the femoral version on MRI between operated and non-operated femurs was 12.5° (range 9°-16°). No significant changes in axial growth were detected. Conclusions This study shows encouraging results regarding rotational guided growth, which may replace current invasive surgical treatment options for malrotation in children. However, further studies addressing potential secondary deformities are paramount and should be carried out.

Inkjet printing of heavy-metal-free quantum dots-based devices: a review.

Inkjet printing (IJP) has become a versatile, cost-effective technology for fabricating organic and hybrid electronic devices. Heavy-metal-based quantum dots (HM QDs) play a significant role in these inkjet-printed devices due to their excellent optoelectrical properties. Despite their utility, the intrinsic toxicity of HM QDs limits their applications in commercial products. To address this limitation, developing alternative HM-free quantum dots (HMF QDs) that have equivalent optoelectronic properties to HM QD is a promising approach to reduce toxicity and environmental impact. This article comprehensively reviews HMF QD-based devices fabricated using IJP methods. The discussion includes the basics of IJP technology, the formulation of printable HMF QD inks, and solutions to the coffee ring effect (CRE). Additionally, this review briefly explores the performance of typical state-of-the-art HMF QDs and cutting-edge characterization techniques for QD inks and printed QD films. The performance of printed devices based on HMF QDs is discussed and compared with those fabricated by other techniques. In the conclusion, the persisting challenges are identified, and perspectives on potential avenues for further progress in this rapidly developing research field are provided. .

Characterization of Microstructure, Optical Properties, and Mechanical Behavior of a Temporary 3D Printing Resin: Impact of Post-Curing Time.

The present study aimed to characterize the microstructure of a temporary 3D printing polymer-based composite material (Resilab Temp), evaluating its optical properties and mechanical behavior according to different post-curing times. For the analysis of the surface microstructure and establishment of the best printing pattern, samples in bar format following ISO 4049 (25 × 10 × 3 mm) were designed in CAD software (Rhinoceros 6.0), printed on a W3D printer (Wilcos), and light-cured in Anycubic Photon for different lengths of time (no post-curing, 16 min, 32 min, and 60 min). For the structural characterization, analyses were carried out using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The mechanical behavior of this polymer-based composite material was determined based on flexural strength tests and Knoop microhardness. Color and translucency analysis were performed using a spectrophotometer (VITA Easy Shade Advanced 4.0), which was then evaluated in CIELab, using gray, black, and white backgrounds. All analyses were performed immediately after making the samples and repeated after thermal aging over two thousand cycles (5-55 °C). The results obtained were statistically analyzed with a significance level of 5%. FT-IR analysis showed about a 46% degree of conversion on the surface and 37% in the center of the resin sample. The flexural strength was higher for the groups polymerized for 32 min and 1 h, while the Knoop microhardness did not show a statistical difference between the groups. Color and translucency analysis also did not show statistical differences between groups. According to all of the analyses carried out in this study, for the evaluated material, a post-polymerization time of 1 h should be suggested to improve the mechanical performance of 3D-printed devices.

Is AI 3D-printed PSI an accurate option for patients with developmental dysplasia of the hip undergoing THA?

BACKGROUND: In traditional surgical procedures, significant discrepancies are often observed between the pre-planned templated implant sizes and the actual sizes used, particularly in patients with congenital hip dysplasia. These discrepancies arise not only in preoperative planning but also in the precision of implant placement, especially concerning the acetabular component. Our study aims to enhance the accuracy of implant placement during Total Hip Arthroplasty (THA) by integrating AI-enhanced preoperative planning with Patient-Specific Instrumentation (PSI). We also seek to assess the accuracy and clinical outcomes of the AI-PSI (AIPSI) group in comparison to a manual control group. METHODS: This study included 60 patients diagnosed with congenital hip dysplasia, randomly assigned to either the AIPSI or manual group, with 30 patients in each. No significant demographic differences between were noted the two groups. A direct anterior surgical approach was employed. Postoperative assessments included X-rays and CT scans to measure parameters such as the acetabular cup anteversion angle, acetabular cup inclination angle, femoral stem anteversion angle, femoral offset, and leg length discrepancy. Functional scores were recorded at 3 days, 1 week, 4 weeks, and 12 weeks post-surgery. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS version 22.0, with the significance level was set at α = 0.05. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The AIPSI group demonstrated greater prosthesis placement accuracy. With the aid of PSI, AI-planned THA surgery provides surgeons with enhanced precision in prosthesis positioning. This approach potentially offers greater insights and guidelines for managing more complex anatomical variations or cases.

Real-World Performance Benchmarks in the Reading Ability of Prescription Drug Labels by Community-Dwelling Older Adults.

BACKGROUND: Despite known recommendations regarding standards for print size and the intuitive importance of vision in reading prescription labels, the predictive nature of vision and prescription label readability remains largely undefined. Furthermore, while the importance of vision is recognized, various demographic factors associated with the ability to read prescription labels have not been fully elucidated. OBJECTIVE: Describe relationships between visual acuity, point size, and readability of prescription labels and provide insight into demographic factors associated with prescription label readability. METHODS: Cross-sectional examination of prescription label readability by older, community-dwelling adults. Subjects were evaluated as to demographics, visual acuity, and ability to read test instruments consisting of unaltered prescription label features of five medications dispensed by community pharmacies and two drug samples. Descriptive statistics in conjunction with a logit predictive model were employed for data analysis. RESULTS: Instructions for medication use were most recognizable, identified and correctly read by 95.60% of the study cohort while directions for the use of drug samples were lowest (34.91%). Among prescription label features, auxiliary labels consistently demonstrated poor readability. Level of visual acuity was statistically related to the ability to read prescription labels while identifying prescription label components increased proportionally with point size. Race, gender, and history of a recent eye examination were statistically significant predictors of prescription label reading ability. Visual acuity alone was found to explain approximately 26% of the variablity in ability to read Rx labels. CONCLUSION: Visual acuity is predictive of the ability to access Rx label information and should be considered a modifiable variable for improving prescription label reading ability amenable by appropriate eye care and spectacle correction.

Distribution and Uniqueness in the Pattern of Lip Prints.

Introduction Lip prints are the characteristic pattern of wrinkles and grooves on the labial mucosa. Lip prints can be classified into various patterns and can be used for personal identification as they are unique and do not change during the life of a person. Cheiloscopy is a forensic investigation technique that deals with the identification of humans based on lip traces. Objectives This study aimed to investigate the distribution of lip print patterns, to assess gender differences, and to calculate the lip score using a weighted value scoring system. Material and methods A cross-sectional study was carried out in the Department of Anatomy, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Guwahati, India, from May to October 2023, after getting approval from the Institutional Ethics Committee (IEC). A total of 200 individuals (100 males and 100 females) were included in the study. Each lip print was divided into four quadrants. In each quadrant, up to 14 grooves were marked from the midline, and the pattern of each groove was observed. Each pattern was given an Arabic numeral score. Weighted values were given for the grooves in descending order from 15 to 1 with reference to their position from the midline of the lip print. The product of the Arabic numeral score of the groove and the weighted value of the groove is the lip line score. The sum of the lip line scores was calculated. Results The most common pattern observed in the present study is type II, with 3,816/12,000 (31.8%), followed by type I' with 3,146/12,000 (26.21%), type I with 1,865/12000 (15.54%), type III with 1,491/12,000 (12.42%), type IV with 1,133/12,000 (9.44%), and type V with 549/12,000 (4.5%). The mean total lip score is 1,467.68 (1,486.41 in males and 1448.96 in females). Conclusion Lip prints are unique and useful for personal identification, as the lip score in various quadrants and the total lip score are different for different individuals.

Mechanical Properties of Wooden Elements with 3D Printed Reinforcement from Polymers and Carbon.

The research presented in this article aimed to investigate the differences in mechanical properties between solid structural timber and the same reinforced element in three different ways. A three-point bending test was performed on wood elements reinforced with carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP), 3D printed polycarbonate (3DPC) lamellas, and 3D printed polycarbonate with carbon fiber (3DPCCF) lamellas. In this comparison, the bending strength was large for CFRP samples, which have 8% higher performance than samples with 3DPCCF and 19% higher performance than samples with 3DPC. Conversely, when factoring in theoretical manufacturing costs, the performance of 3DPCCF is almost three times that of CFRP and 3DPC. In addition, 3D materials can be used for more complicated reinforcement shapes than those discussed in the paper.

'A sad inheritance of misery': the cultural life of hereditary scrofula in eighteenth-century England.

This essay argues that scrofula was one of several disorders, including gout, rickets, and venereal disease, that were 'rebranded' as hereditary in response to broader cultural changes that took place during the Restoration and eighteenth century in England. While the purposes of scrofula's recategorisation were more political than medical, they resulted in this heretofore relatively obscure childhood ailment assuming a new prominence within both medical and popular discourses of the period. Scrofula became both emblem and proof of the links between sexual promiscuity, financial profligacy, and physiological degeneration, its symbolic status reinforced by the legal and moral language used to model processes of hereditary transmission. By likening the inheritance of scrofula to the inheritance of original sin-or, more commonly, to the inheritance of a 'docked entail' or damaged estate-eighteenth-century writers and artists not only made this non-inherited ailment into a sign of catastrophic hereditary decline; they also paved the way for scrofula to be identified as a disease of aristocratic vice, even though its association with crowded, unsanitary living conditions likely made it more common among the poor. By the same token, financial models of disease inheritance facilitated a bias toward paternal transmission, with scrofula often portrayed as passing, like a title or an estate, from father to son rather than from mother to daughter.

3D-printed PCL framework assembling ECM-inspired multi-layer mineralized GO-Col-HAp microscaffold for in situ mandibular bone regeneration.

BACKGROUND: In recent years, natural bone extracellular matrix (ECM)-inspired materials have found widespread application as scaffolds for bone tissue engineering. However, the challenge of creating scaffolds that mimic natural bone ECM's mechanical strength and hierarchical nano-micro-macro structures remains. The purposes of this study were to introduce an innovative bone ECM-inspired scaffold that integrates a 3D-printed framework with hydroxyapatite (HAp) mineralized graphene oxide-collagen (GO-Col) microscaffolds and find its application in the repair of mandibular bone defects. METHODS: Initially, a 3D-printed polycaprolactone (PCL) scaffold was designed with cubic disks and square pores to mimic the macrostructure of bone ECM. Subsequently, we developed multi-layer mineralized GO-Col-HAp microscaffolds (MLM GCH) to simulate natural bone ECM's nano- and microstructural features. Systematic in vitro and in vivo experiments were introduced to evaluate the ECM-inspired structure of the scaffold and to explore its effect on cell proliferation and its ability to repair rat bone defects. RESULTS: The resultant MLM GCH/PCL composite scaffolds exhibited robust mechanical strength and ample assembly space. Moreover, the ECM-inspired MLM GCH microscaffolds displayed favorable attributes such as water absorption and retention and demonstrated promising cell adsorption, proliferation, and osteogenic differentiation in vitro. The MLM GCH/PCL composite scaffolds exhibited successful bone regeneration within mandibular bone defects in vivo. CONCLUSIONS: This study presents a well-conceived strategy for fabricating ECM-inspired scaffolds by integrating 3D-printed PCL frameworks with multilayer mineralized porous microscaffolds, enhancing cell proliferation, osteogenic differentiation, and bone regeneration. This construction approach holds the potential for extension to various other biomaterial types.

Experimental study on dimensional variations of 3D printed dental models based on printing orientation.

This research investigates the trueness and precision of 3D printing technology in dental applications, specifically focusing on dimensional variations observed in models printed at different angles. The methodology involved importing a dental model into slicing software, adjusting its orientation, and implementing support structures for stability. Subsequently, the model underwent 3D printing five times for each orientation using appropriate equipment and underwent post-processing steps, including cleaning, washing, and UV-light post-curing. The printed models were then scanned using a specialized desktop scanner for further analysis. Accuracy assessment was carried out using dedicated software, employing an algorithm for precise alignment by comparing the scanned files. Color deviation maps were utilized to visually represent variations, aiming to evaluate how positioning during printing influences the trueness and precision of 3D-printed dental models. Trueness and precision analyses involved the Shapiro-Wilk test for normality and a one-way ANOVA to compare means of three independent groups, with statistical analyses conducted using IBM SPSS Statistics software. The color maps derived from 3D comparisons revealed positive and negative deviations, represented by distinct colors. Comparative results indicated that models positioned at 0° exhibited the least dimensional deviation, whereas those at 90° showed the highest. Regarding precision, models printed at 0° demonstrated the highest reproducibility, while those at 15° exhibited the lowest. Based on the desired level of precision, it is recommended that printed models be produced at an inclination angle of 0°.

Performance of Fabrics with 3D-Printed Photosensitive Acrylic Resin on the Surface.

Additive manufacturing (AM), also known as three-dimensional printing (3DP), has been widely applied to various fields and industries, including automotive, healthcare, and rapid prototyping. This study evaluates the effects of 3DP on textile properties. The usability of a textile and its durability are determined by its strength, washability, colorfastness to light, and abrasion resistance, among other traits, which may be impacted by the application of 3DP on the fabric's surface. This study examines the application of photosensitive acrylic resin on two fabric substrates: 100% cotton and 100% polyester white woven fabrics made of yarns with staple fibers. A simple alphanumeric text was translated into braille and the braille dots were 3D printed onto both fabrics. The color of the printed photosensitive acrylic resin was black, and it was an equal mixture of VeroCyanV, VeroYellowV, and VeroMagentaV. The 3D-printed design was the same on both fabrics and was composed of braille dots with a domed top. Both of the 3DP fabrics passed the colorfastness to washing test with no transfer or color change, but 3D prints on both fabrics showed significant color change during the colorfastness to light test. The tensile strength tests indicated an overall reduction in strength and elongation when the fabrics had 3DP on their surface. An abrasion resistance test revealed that the resin had a stronger adhesion to the cotton than to the polyester, but both resins were removed from the fabric with the abrader. These findings suggest that while 3DP on textiles offers unique possibilities for customization and design, mechanical properties and color stability trade-offs need to be considered. Further evaluation of textiles and 3D prints of textiles and their performance in areas such as colorfastness and durability are warranted to harness the full potential of this technology in the fashion and textile industry.

The odd one out - Orthographic oddball processing in children with poor versus typical reading skills in a fast periodic visual stimulation EEG paradigm.

The specialization of left ventral occipitotemporal brain regions to automatically process word forms develops with reading acquisition and is diminished in children with poor reading skills (PR). Using a fast periodic visual oddball stimulation (FPVS) design during electroencephalography (EEG), we examined the level of sensitivity and familiarity to word form processing in ninety-two children in 2nd and 3rd grade with varying reading skills (n = 35 for PR, n = 40 for typical reading skills; TR). To test children's level of "sensitivity", false font (FF) and consonant string (CS) oddballs were embedded in base presentations of word (W) stimuli. "Familiarity" was examined by presenting letter string oddballs with increasing familiarity (CS, pseudoword - PW, W) in FF base stimuli. Overall, our results revealed stronger left-hemispheric coarse sensitivity effects ("FF in W" > "CS in W") in TR than in PR in both topographic and oddball frequency analyses. Further, children distinguished between orthographically legal and illegal ("W/PW in FF" > "CS in FF") but not yet between lexical and non-lexical ("W in FF" vs "PW in FF") word forms. Although both TR and PR exhibit visual sensitivity and can distinguish between orthographically legal and illegal letter strings, they still struggle with nuanced lexical distinctions. Moreover, the strength of sensitivity is linked to reading proficiency. Our work adds to established knowledge in the field to characterize the relationship between print tuning and reading skills and suggests differences in the developmental progress to automatically process word forms.

Embedding a surface acoustic wave sensor and venting into a metal additively manufactured injection mould tool for targeted temperature monitoring.

Injection moulding (IM) tools with embedded sensors can significantly improve the process efficiency and quality of the fabricated parts through real-time monitoring and control of key process parameters such as temperature, pressure and injection speed. However, traditional mould tool fabrication technologies do not enable the fabrication of complex internal geometries. Complex internal geometries are necessary for technical applications such as sensor embedding and conformal cooling which yield benefits for process control and improved cycle times. With traditional fabrication techniques, only simple bore-based sensor embedding or external sensor attachment is possible. Externally attached sensors may compromise the functionality of the injection mould tool, with limitations such as the acquired data not reflecting the processes inside the part. The design freedom of additive manufacturing (AM) enables the fabrication of complex internal geometries, making it an excellent candidate for fabricating injection mould tools with such internal geometries. Therefore, embedding sensors in a desired location for targeted monitoring of critical mould tool regions is easier to achieve with AM. This research paper focuses on embedding a wireless surface acoustic wave (SAW) temperature sensor into an injection mould tool that was additively manufactured from stainless steel 316L. The laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) "stop-and-go" approach was applied to embed the wireless SAW sensor. After embedding, the sensor demonstrated full functionality by recording real-time temperature data, which can further enhance process control. In addition, the concept of novel print-in-place venting design, applying the same L-PBF stop-and-go approach, for vent embedding was successfully implemented, enabling the IM of defectless parts at faster injection rates, whereas cavities designed and tested without venting resulted in parts with burn marks.

NSP-SCD: A corpus construction protocol for child-directed print in understudied languages.

Child-directed print corpora enable systematic psycholinguistic investigations, but this research infrastructure is not available in many understudied languages. Moreover, researchers of understudied languages are dependent on manual tagging because precise automatized parsers are not yet available. One plausible way forward is to limit the intensive work to a small-sized corpus. However, with little systematic enquiry about approaches to corpus construction, it is unclear how robust a small corpus can be made. The current study examines the potential of a non-sequential sampling protocol for small corpus development (NSP-SCD) through a cross-corpora and within-corpus analysis. A corpus comprising 17,584 words was developed by applying the protocol to a larger corpus of 150,595 words from children's books for 3-to-10-year-olds. While the larger corpus will by definition have more instances of unique words and unique orthographic units, still, the selectively sampled small corpus approximated the larger corpus for lexical and orthographic diversity and was equivalent for orthographic representation and word length. Psycholinguistic complexity increased by book level and varied by parts of speech. Finally, in a robustness check of lexical diversity, the non-sequentially sampled small corpus was more efficient compared to a same-sized corpus constructed by simply using all sentences from a few books (402 books vs. seven books). If a small corpus must be used then non-sequential sampling from books stratified by book level makes the corpus statistics better approximate what is found in larger corpora. Overall, the protocol shows promise as a tool to advance the science of child language acquisition in understudied languages.

Strontium-loaded 3D intramedullary nail titanium implant for critical-sized femoral defect in rabbits.

The treatment of critical-sized bone defects has long been a major problem for surgeons. In this study, an intramedullary nail shaped three-dimensional (3D)-printed porous titanium implant that is capable of releasing strontium ions was developed through a simple and cost-effective surface modification technique. The feasibility of this implant as a stand-alone solution was evaluated using a rabbit's segmental diaphyseal as a defect model. The strontium-loaded implant exhibited a favorable environment for cell adhesion, and mechanical properties that were commensurate with those of a rabbit's cortical bone. Radiographic, biomechanical, and histological analyses revealed a significantly higher amount of bone ingrowth and superior bone-bonding strength in the strontium-loaded implant when compared to an untreated porous titanium implant. Furthermore, one-year histological observations revealed that the strontium-loaded implant preserved the native-like diaphyseal bone structure without failure. These findings suggest that strontium-releasing 3D-printed titanium implants have the clinical potential to induce the early and efficient repair of critical-sized, load-bearing bone defects.

A Printable Hydrogel Loaded with Medicinal Plant Extract for Promoting Wound Healing.

How to promote wound healing is still a major challenge in the healthcare while macrophages are a critical component of the healing process. Compared to various bioactive drugs, many plants have been reported to facilitate the wound healing process by regulating the immune response of wounds. In this work, a Three-dimensional (3D) printed hydrogel scaffold loaded with natural Centella asiatica extract (CA extract) is developed for wound healing. This CA@3D scaffold uses gelatin (Gel) and sodium alginate (SA) with CA extract as bio-ink for 3D printing. The CA extract contains a variety of bioactive compounds that make the various active ingredients in Centella asiatica work in concert. The printed CA@3D scaffold can fit the shape of wound, orchestrate the macrophages and immune responses within the wound, and promote wound healing compared to commercial wound dressings. The underlying mechanism of promoting wound healing is also illuminated by applying multi-omic analyses. Moreover, the CA extract loaded 3D scaffold also showed great ability to promote wound healing in diabetic chronic wounds. Due to its ease of preparation, low-cost, biosafety, and therapeutic outcomes, this work proposes an effective strategy for promoting chronic wound healing.

Multivariate evaluation of the printing process on 3D printing of rice protein.

The combination of printing parameters appropriately improves the printability of 3D-printed foods. In this regard, the present study aims to evaluate the effect of 3D printing process parameters on protein food generation. Printability of a cylinder 3 cm in diameter and 1 cm in height using a protein mixture of rice water and xanthan gum with a ratio of 30:70:0.5 was evaluated in an extrusion printer with an XYZ system. A ½ fractional factorial design was used with three factors: nozzle diameter (1.2 - 2.2 mm), layer height (1.0 - 2.0 mm), and print speed (20 - 50 mm/s). Each combination of factor levels was performed in triplicate for 12 runs plus three central points. Print time (min), sample weight, change in diameter (%), change in height (%), change in volume (%), mass flow rate (mg/s), appreciation (qualitative variable), and textural and rheology characters were obtained as response variables. The linear effects of the factors and combination factors were evaluated by analysis of variance. Additionally, a principal component analysis was performed to visualize the similarity between the observations and the relationship between the variables. The results showed that the layer height and nozzle diameter affect the printing accuracy concerning surface quality, shape stability, resolution, and layer layout. The nozzle with a diameter of 1.7 mm combined with speeds between 35 and 50 mm/s allowed the effects of overextrusion to be overcome, generating a better flow of the material. Low scores in the printability variable were related to low-speed values (20 mm/s) and a high nozzle diameter (2.2 mm), which generated higher deformations in the printed protein cylinder. Additionally, some printing conditions affected the textural and rheological characteristics, which allowed inferring that the capacity of the protein mass to store and recover energy in compression processes is conditioned by the printing parameters.

Some students are more equal: Performance in Author Recognition Test and Title Recognition Test modulated by print exposure and academic background.

Reading is a key skill for university students. The Author Recognition Test (ART) and the Title Recognition Test (TRT) have both been used for decades to measure print exposure which correlates with reading and other linguistic skills. Given the available evidence for interindividual differences in reading skills, this study addresses three open issues. First, to what extent do ART and TRT scores correlate with individual differences regarding students' study programs? Second, how do these results correlate with the self-reported time spent reading different types of text genres (e.g., fiction, nonfiction) per week? And third, this study compares ART and TRT to one another. We tested students from six study programs in the humanities and (medical) sciences which vary in the amount and kind of reading material required for study success. We found that students perform significantly differently in the ART and the TRT depending on their field of study. Students in a study program focusing on fiction and literature perform best overall. We also replicated the well-known effect of age on ART and TRT scores: older students have better scores. We did not find reliable effects of reading time on test performance, whereas individual creative writing habits did positively predict ART/TRT test results. These results raise a number of important questions regarding the ART/TRT in general and regarding interindividual differences in personal reading and writing habits and the change in reading habits in times of media convergence.

Study on the Printability of Starch-Based Films Using Ink-Jet Printing.

Starch-based films are a valuable alternative to plastic materials that are based on fossil and petrochemical raw resources. In this study, corn and potato starch films with 50% glycerol as a plasticizer were developed, and the properties of films were confirmed by mechanical properties, surface free energy, surface roughness, and, finally, color and gloss analyses. Next, the films were overprinted using ink-jet printing with quick response (QR) codes, text, and pictograms. Finally, the print quality of the obtained prints was determined by optical density, color parameters, and the visual evaluation of prints. In general, corn films exhibit lower values of mechanical parameters (tensile strength, elongation at break, and Young Modulus) and water transition rate (11.1 mg·cm-2·h-1) than potato starch film (12.2 mg·cm-2·h-1), and water solubility is 18.7 ± 1.4 and 20.3 ± 1.2% for corn and potato film, respectively. The results obtained for print quality on starch-based films were very promising. The overprinted QR codes were quickly readable by a smartphone. The sharpness and the quality of the lettering are worse on potato film. At the same time, higher optical densities were measured on potato starch films. The results of this study show the strong potential of using starch films as a modern printing substrate.