A compact low-loss optical tap technology is critical for the incorporation of optical interconnects into mainstream complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) processes. For this work, an effort has been made to establish an optimal integrated optical tap design in terms of optical loss, bandwidth, economy, and process compatibility with multimetal layer CMOS circuits. A new device, which is based on a variation of the multimode interference effect, has been found to be especially promising. Two-dimensional (2-D) and three-dimensional (3-D) simulation results show low excess optical loss (<0.1 dB) for the design, and a nominal 40% (2.2 dB) optical coupling into the CMOS circuitry over a wide range of guide to substrate distances. Simulated tap devices are on the order of 15 [tin in length. Polymer waveguide materials are targeted for tap fabrication due to planarization properties, low cost, broad index control, and poling abilities for modulation-tuning functions. Low-cost silicon CMOS-based processing makes the new tap technology especially suitable for computer multichip module and board level interconnects, as well as for metro fiber to the home and desk telecommunications applications.


In this paper, a novel event-based dynamic IR vision sensor is presented. The device combines an uncooled microbolometer array with biology-inspired (ldquoneuromorphicrdquo) readout circuitry to implement an asynchronous, ldquospikingrdquo vision sensor for the 8-15 mum thermal infrared spectral range. The sensor's autonomous pixels independently respond to changes in thermal IR radiation and communicate detected variations in the form of asynchronous ldquoaddress-events.rdquo The 64times64 pixel ROIC chip has been fabricated in a 0.35 mum 2P4M standard CMOS process, covers about 4times4 mm2 of silicon area and consumes 8 mW of power. An amorphous silicon (a-Si) microbolometer array has been processed on top of the ROIC and contacted to the pixel circuits. We discuss the bolometer detector properties, describe the pixel circuits and the implemented sensor architecture, and show measurement results of the readout circuits. Subsequently, a DFT-based approach to the characterization of asynchronous, spiking sensor arrays is discussed and applied. Test results and analysis of sensitivity, bandwidth, and noise of the fabricated IR sensor prototype are presented.


Gong Wengao, Hong Huaqing, Koh Kim Hong (1&2 National University of Singapore, 3 CRPP, NIE, Nanyang Technological University) Abstract English, Maths, and Mother Tongue are three very important subjects for primary students in Singapore. Among them, the first two are of extreme importance. The successful learning of the latter is often affected by that of the former. Nevertheless, teachers of content subjects are often not fully aware of this. One indicator of this unawareness is that students' poor performance in content learning is often attributed to their lack of effort or poor intelligence. In fact, the real barrier leading to students' poor performance often lies in their incompetence in understanding the specific language used in mathematics. In other words, it is more of a language problem than an intelligence problem. This is especially the case in Singapore where the language of instruction is nobody's mother tongue, which inevitably increases the difficulty of learning abstract subjects such as Maths. A possible way out would be to raise teachers' and students' language awareness in this subject. That is where corpus linguistics comes to play a role. As a preliminary study, we will build a small corpus based on the Maths teaching and learning materials (course-books, workbooks, and practice books) used at primary 5 in Singapore and identify the most important words and sentence patterns by interfacing the corpus with Wordsmith Tools (a corpus processing software). The resulted list of key words and structures can be offered to language teachers, Maths teachers themselves, pupils, and even pupils' parents to attract their special attention, thus reducing the potential negative influence from the part of the language itself.


This article is a case study of the emergence of an evaluation culture in the public sector and particularly in education in Ireland. It suggests that the emergence of this culture was strongly influenced by external bodies, particularly the EU and, to a lesser but significant degree, the OECD. It is further argued that the continuation of systematic evaluation is still dependent on external forces, since a commitment to evaluation as a tool of governance has not taken hold among key policy-makers in Ireland. However it is postulated that, notwithstanding its arguably insecure foundations, evaluation practice has moved beyond the confines of externally funded EU programmes, which saw its first introduction into Ireland. In recent years a broad quality assurance agenda within the public service and to an extent beyond has emerged.The article concludes by making the point that an evaluation culture in a particular country is hugely contextualized and influenced by the constraints of existing ideologies and relationships between different interest groups.Thus, in Ireland, in line with the corporatist and partnership-driven approaches to economic policy and industrial relations which have been dominant in recent decades, the form of evaluation which has emerged is consensual, collaborative and negotiated.


In a historical retrospective, although the existing literature names the sector of management consulting industry as an extraordinary and unique phenomenon in business and in fact these claims have not been substantiated by academic studies that will assess these same interpretations. This article therefore aims to address the lack of studies in this emerging field, and, from the analysis of a set of semi-structured interviews and questionnaires with management consultants and managers of SMEs, aims to discuss the paradox of the concept of management consulting, presenting the results of a prospective analysis linked to the search field of strategy-as-practice and four business paradigms that constitute it.


Demonstration, discussion, and talk methods applied in teaching chemistry to grade XI students at SMA Swadhipa Natar are not optimum to improve students' achievement and activeness, especially because demonstration is rarely carried out due to the limited chemical substance available at school. This research has an objective to know the improvement of students' achievement and psychomotoric activity by experimenting the use of substance from the student environment for teaching chemistry at the first semester of grade XI. The subjects of this study are 38 students of IPA (8 males and 30 females). The research is carried out in 3 cycles, and every cycle cocnsists of planning, implementation, evaluation, and reflection. The teaching process is carried out using experiment and discussion. The result shows that there is an improvement of students' achievement and psychomotoric activity from cycle to cycle.


Objectives: This article intends to describe the status of and challenges for physical activity in Korean university students. Methods: National level secondary data and related articles were reviewed including KNHANES(Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey) and Online Youth Health Behavior Survey. Four tables and two figures were generated from original data and related articles. Results: The proportion of Korean university students practicing regular physical activity appear to be about half of that in American students. Gender difference in physical activity practicing rate seems to be maintained in university years. The main reason for physical inactivity was that physical activity was bothersome. The trends of physical activity practice in Korean students since middle school years needs further research. Conclusions: To increase the rate of physical activity in Korean university students, evidence-based comprehensive approaches are needed including campaign and informational approaches, behavioral and social approaches and policy and environmental approaches adapted to Korean university students.


Tropical rain forests (TRFs) occupy approximately 3.6 million square miles, or about one-fourteenth of the earth's land surface.' These forests offer a wide variety of material goods and environmental services whose complexity and diversity have yet to be unravelled and tapped.2 Despite the great potential TRFs possess, they have received little attention until recently. Indeed, they have been overused and mismanaged, resulting in a tremendous depletion of existing fauna and flora. The failure to recognize the misuse and overuse of TRFs has led to the characterization of the problem as "one of the great 'sleeper issues' of the late twentieth century. ' 3 It is difficult to conceive of a challenge which is more profound in its implications, and yet ignored and unappreciated by the international community until now.


ZnO films containing Er and Ge nanocrystals (nc-Ge) were synthesized and their photoluminescence (PL) properties were studied. Visible and near-infrared PL intensities are found to be greatly increased in nc-Ge-containing film. Er-related 1.54 μm emission has been investigated under several excitation conditions upon different kinds of Ge, Er codoped ZnO thin films. 1.54 μm PL enhancement accompanied by the appearance of nc-Ge implies a significant correlation between nc-Ge and PL emission of Er3+. The increased intensity of 1.54 μm in Ge:Er:ZnO film is considered to come from the joint effect of the local potential distortion around Er3+ and the possible energy transfer from nc-Ge to Er3+.


The UK government's clinical governance strategy places emphasis on the provision of evidence-based, effective and client-focused care. This provided the framework for developing nurse-led venepuncture and immunization clinics. Evidence from research and examples of good practice were used to guide the structure and ethos of the new service. The professional development required to train one staff member in venepuncture and immunization techniques was adapted from already existing training. A specific training package was then developed to facilitate professional development of further staff. Audit was used, both to identify the need forthe service and to assess its quality and cost-effectiveness. Consumer views were obtained through informal discussion and interviews with parents. This article explores how the concepts of clinical governance, together with the commitment of the multi-professional team, have resulted in a transformation of care for children undergoing invasive procedures in the outpatient department.


EV(Electric Vehicle) has many benefits such as prevention of global warming and so on. But due to driving source changing from combustion engine to battery and e-motor, new R&D difficulties have arisen which changing of desired vehicle performance and multidisciplinary design constraints by means of strong coupled multi-physics domain problems. Additionally, dynamics performances of EV becomes more important due to increasing customer's demands and expectations for EV in compare with internal combustion engine vehicle. In this paper suggests model based development platform of EV through integrated simulation environment for improving analyse & design accuracy in order to solve multi-physics problem. This simulation environment is integrated by three following specialized simulation tools IPG CarMaker , AVL Cruise, DYMOLA that adapted to each purpose. Furthermore, control algorithm of TV(Torque Vectoring) system is developed using independent driven e-motor at rear wheels for improving handling performance of EV. TV control algorithm and its improved vehicle performances are evaluated by numerical simulation from standard test methods.


Lands and peoples on the northern edge of an empire never fail to arouse curiosity; and their first entry into history exhibits sharp contrasts. The Hyrcani made a notable impact when Alexander in the year 330 invaded their country. Hyrcania permits a fairly close definition. It occupied the southeastern corner of the Caspian (a sea which frequently took that name). To the north was the wide steppe, inhabited by the Dahae, on the east the region Margiana. To the south Hyrcania extended into the Elburz mountains; and under the last Achaemenid it formed one satrapy with Parthyene, its neighbour on the southeast. Belonging to the narrow neck between the Caspian and the Salt Desert, Hyrcania lay beside the highroad from Ecbatana to Bactra. Hence a vital link for successive imperial powers.


A basic step in integration is the identification of linkage points, i.e., finding attributes that are shared (or related) between data sources, and that can be used to match records or entities across sources. This is usually performed using a match operator, that associates attributes of one database to another. However, the massive growth in the amount and variety of unstructured and semi-structured data on the Web has created new challenges for this task. Such data sources often do not have a fixed pre-defined schema and contain large numbers of diverse attributes. Furthermore, the end goal is not schema alignment as these schemas may be too heterogeneous (and dynamic) to meaningfully align. Rather, the goal is to align any overlapping data shared by these sources. We will show that even attributes with different meanings (that would not qualify as schema matches) can sometimes be useful in aligning data. The solution we propose in this paper replaces the basic schema-matching step with a more complex instance-based schema analysis and linkage discovery. We present a framework consisting of a library of efficient lexical analyzers and similarity functions, and a set of search algorithms for effective and efficient identification of linkage points over Web data. We experimentally evaluate the effectiveness of our proposed algorithms in real-world integration scenarios in several domains.


s— PHARYNX.—Ludwig's Angina.—Peritonsillar Abscess, followed by Osteomyelitis, Necrosing Encephalitis and Meningitis.—Bacteriology of Tonsil Crypts.—Results obtained by Tonsillectomy in the Treatment of Systemic Diseases 208 NOSE.—Very Rare Case of Foreign Body in the Nose.—Vasomotor Rhinitis followed by Asthma and Symptoms of Paranoia.—Asthma from the Point of View of the Rhinologist.—Asthma Considered in its Relationship to the Vegetative Nervous System.—A Vaccine for the Treatment of Bronchial Asthma: Report of Twenty Cases ... 210 LARYNX.—Acromegaly of the Larynx.—A New Camp Disease of the Larynx: " Pneumococeus Ulcerative Laryngitis."—Laryngeal War Injury; Death from Acute Miliary Tuberculosis.—An Implantation Cyst of the Larynx.—Cartilaginous Tumour of the Larynx 212 EAR.—Studies on the Origin of the Labyrinthine Fluid.—The CotugnoHelmholtz Theory of Hearing. — Comparative Researches on the Lesions Caused by Air-conduction and Kody-conduction of Floor Vibrations on the Auditory Apparatus 215 BRONCHI AND (ESOPHAGUS.—A New Diagnostic Sign of Foreign Body in Trachea or Bronchi—the " Asthmatoid Wheeze."—Foreign Bodies in the Larynx, Trachea, Bronchi, and (Esophagus .iEtiologically Considered. — Difficult Mechanical Problems of Bronchoscopic Foreign-Body Extraction 217 MISCELLANEOUS.—Disruptive Phenomena in Gun-shot Injuries. — A Further Investigation into Influenzo-pneumococcal and InfluenzoStreptococcal Septicaemia : Epidemic Influenzal '' Pneumonia" of Highly Fatal Type and its Relation to "Purulent Bronchitis" ... 219 Lists of Original Papers 200


THE DIAGNOSIS of Gaucher's disease (lipid histiocytosis of kerasin type) is made on the basis of the following typical findings: hepatosplenomegaly, wedge-shaped pingueculae in the conjunctivas, pigmentation on the lower part of the legs, bone lesions which tend to occur in the head, neck and lower end of the femurs and a normal blood cholesterol level. Most usually there are hypochromic anemia, leukopenia and thrombocytopenia. The diagnosis is made conclusive by demonstration of typical Gaucher cells, and this is easily done by sternal marrow aspiration. 1 Potter and McRae described a case of Gaucher's disease treated with liver extract. 2 Their patient was admitted with hypochromic anemia. No bone marrow studies were made. Because of macrocytosis, the patient received 3 to 4 vials of liver extract daily for 11 months. There was symptomatic improvement, and a decrease in skin pigmentation, pingueculae and spleen size occurred. The erythrocyte count returned to


This paper describes the quality determination of heights above mean sea level using RTK GNSS-levelling and new height reference surface SLO_VRP2016/Koper on the city area of Ljubljana. At 57 chosen benchmarks, quasigeoid heights were determined using ellipsoidal heights, determined with RTK GNNS-levelling technique and heights above mean sea level in the new height system SVS2010. The measured quasigeoid heights were compared with values interpolated from the new height reference surface SLO_VRP2016/Koper.


A number of existing multiprocessors are based on the hypercube interconnection network. The popularity of the hypercube is due to its small communication diameter, which grows logarithmically with the cube size, its fault-tolerant properties, and its modularity which makes it possible to build a larger cube from smaller subcubes. The star graph has been studied as a network topology for fault-tolerant parallel com puting. Unfortunately, the size of the network grows too sharply with n to be affordable for values of n larger than 7 or 8. We introduce a novel intercon nection network known as the incomplete star graph, which overcomes the above problem while retaining the most of the advantages of the star graph. We present the architecture of the incomplete star graph and compare its performance with the full star as well as competing architectures such as the incomplete hy¿ percube and arrangement graphs. We provide routing algorithms for both non-faulty and faulty incompletestar graphs, and study their performance.


Over the past several years, long non‐coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have attracted more and more attention due to their special functions. They are vital biomarkers in multiple diseases. LncRNA HOMEOBOX A11 (HOXA11) has been found to be aberrantly expressed in some kinds of malignant tumors. In this study, we mainly discuss the oncogenic role of it in promoting malignant progression and chemoresistance in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) cells. The expression of HOXA11‐AS was much stronger in cisplatin‐resistant LUAD cells. Based on The Cancer Genome Atlas database, patients with high expression of HOXA11‐AS had shorter survival time. Additionally, knockdown of HOXA11‐AS caused positive changes in cell activities of LUAD. For example, cell proliferation and migration were weakened, the epithelial mesenchymal transition process was reversed, and apoptosis was induced. These changes were more obvious in cells treated with cisplatin. Next, the HOXA11‐AS/miR‐454‐3p/Stat3 (signal transducer and activator of transcription 3) pathway was found to influence the cisplatin resistance of LUAD cells. HOXA11‐AS specifically acted as a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) in LUAD cells. The combinations among these three genes were demonstrated. Finally, rescue assays were applied to demonstrate the ceRNA pattern consisting of HOXA11‐AS, miR‐454‐3p and Stat3. In conclusion, lncRNA HOXA11‐AS acted as a ceRNA to promote cisplatin resistance of human LUAD cells via the miR‐454‐3p/Stat3 axis.


Upon exposure to biological fluids, the fouling of nanomaterial surfaces results in non-specific capture of proteins, which is particularly important when in contact with blood for in vivo and ex vivo applications. It is crucial to evaluate not just the protein components but also the glycans attached to those proteins. Polymer-tethered glycosylated gold nanoparticles have shown promise for use in biosensing/diagnostics, but the impact of the glycoprotein corona has not been established. Here we investigate how polymer-tethered glycosylated gold nanoparticles interact with serum proteins and demonstrate that the protein corona introduces new glycans and hence off-specific targeting capability. Using a panel of RAFT-derived polymers grafted to the gold surface, we show that the extent of corona formation is not dependent on the type of polymer. In lectin-binding assays, a glycan (galactose) installed on the chain-end of the polymer was available for binding even after protein corona formation. However, using sialic-acid binding lectins, it was found that there was significant off-target binding due to the large density of sialic acids introduced in the corona, confirmed by western blotting. To demonstrate the importance, we show that the nanoparticles can bind Siglec-2, an immune-relevant lectin post-corona formation. Pre-coating with (non-glycosylated) bovine serum albumin led to a significant reduction in the total glycoprotein corona. However, sufficient sialic acids were still present in the residual corona to lead to off-target binding. These results demonstrate the importance of the glycans when considering the protein corona and how 'retention of the desired function' does not rule out 'installation of undesired function' when considering the performance of glyco-nanomaterials.


The majority of the uninsured population in the Western Cape, estimated at about 4.5 million, are dependent on public dental clinics. Dental caries remains the most common chronic disease world-wide. Caries experience among 6-year-old children in the province increased from 82% to 84% in the period 2002 – 2015. Oral health programmes to promote good oral health at schools and clinics are very limited. A cross-sectional study investigated 128 dental clinics in the Western Cape to determine the availability of the basic oral health care package, which includes promotion of oral health, preventing oral disease and basic oral health treatment. Less than a third (31.5%) offered the basic treatment package and slightly less than two thirds (65%) were only offering dental extractions. Despite clear policy guidelines, public dental care delivery in Western Cape is seen to be not adherent to the guidelines, norms and standards. There is an unavailability of dentists outside the main clinics and it appears there is a minimal focus on oral disease prevention and promotion of good oral health. Dental caries must be recognized as an epidemic in the Western Cape, and basic oral health care should be made available.


Current developments indicate a significant increase in hotel investment inflows from hotel chains throughout Africa. Specifically, large multi-national players such as Hilton, Accor or Marriott have confirmed their interest in further investments and revealed specific plans for expansion on the continent. This paper comprises an explorative study to identify the status and attractiveness of the tourism sector, hotel properties and related investment markets in Angola. This paper collects and interprets a variety of tourism-and property market-driven primary data in order to gain a fundamental understanding of risks, the competitiveness and upside potential in a developing hospitality market with high orientation in the business tourism segment. The paper analyses the tourism fundamentals as well as the development pipeline of major hotel chains and elaborates typical regional hotel investment patterns. The overall finding is that, while well-known for business tourism within the Southern African Development Community, Angola's hotel market is perceived in the context of high volatility and risk due to its dependency of the oil and gas sector, which will impact foreign visitor spending going forward.


In view of the paucity of the literature and the difficulty in making a diagnosis in cases of retroperitoneal abscess in the male, the report of this case is considered worth while. In 1886, Burchard 1 presented reports of five cases seen by him in fourteen years, several of these in consultation. He also cited one case reported by Bowditch, and stated his belief that these cases were more frequent than was usually supposed. He stressed the pathologic changes and recounted the tendency of these abscesses to burrow and dissect in every direction, up as far as the diaphragm and down into the thigh. He especially emphasized the difficulty in making a diagnosis and commented on the obscurity of the etiology. In several of these cases, diagnosis was made when the abscess ruptured, either into the rectum or exteriorly. In the six cases mentioned, three patients died, one directly of


Wavelet transform-based pitch period estimation is well known in the literature. This approach to pitch estimation assumes that the glottis closures are correlated with the maxima in the adjacent scales of the wavelet transform and for pitch period estimation, one needs to detect these correlated maxima across these scales, which is often prone to error especially in the case of noisy signals. In this paper, we develop an optimization scheme in the wavelet framework using a multipulse excitation model for the speech signal and the pitch period is estimated as a result of this optimization. We report experiments on both clean and noisy conditions and show that the proposed optimization works better than wide used heuristic approach for maxima detection.


While it is well known that there are substantial differences between the accounting rules in the UK and the US, comparison between the two systems is far from simple. In "UK/US GAAP Comparison", Ernst & Young have succeeded in providing an accessible analysis of these differences, and provide the means of putting the two systems of financial reporting on a common footing. The volume explains the various factors which influence reporting and accounting rules in each country and gives an overview of the main differences between UK and US GAAP. The core of the book, however, is the detailed side-by-side comparison of all such topics, complete with source references to the authoritative literature in the respective countries. Fully updated in the light of recent changes in practice, this edition also includes a chapter containing commentary, analysis and extracts from US accounts filed by UK companies.


In patients undergoing peritoneal dialysis (PD), Gram positive species such as staphylococcus are commonly grown. Most causes of PD peritonitis come from touch contamination but streptococcus gordonii causing PD peritonitis is postulated to originate from the oral cavity. We report a rare case of streptococcus gordonii PD peritonitis in a patient with poor dental hygiene. This is the third reported case of streptococcus gordonii PD peritonitis in the literature. We have demonstrated that early identification of the organism and source can lead to successful treatment


Swietenia mahagoni (West Indian mahogany) has been reported to have medicinal uses, such as treatment for hypertension, cancer, amoebiasis, chest pains and intestinal parasitism. The present study was performed to evaluate, the acute toxicity and anti-ulcer activity of S. mahagoni ethanol leaf extract against ethanol-induced gastric ulcer. 24 rats included in this study were divided into 4 groups with 6 rats each group. Group 1 rats (ulcer control group) were pre-treated with vehicle (Carboxyl methyl cellulose). Group 2 (reference group) was orally pretreated with 20 mg/kg omeprazole. Group 3 and 4 (experimental groups) were orally pre-treated with S. mahagoni ethanol leaf extract at 250 and 500 mg/kg doses, respectively. After one hour later, all groups received absolute ethanol to generate gastric mucosal injury. After an additional hour, all the rats were sacrificed and the ulcer areas of the gastric walls were determined. Grossly, the ulcer control group exhibited severe mucosal injury, whereas pre-treatment with either omeprazole or plant extract resulted in significantly protection of gastric mucosal injury and increase in mucus production. Flattening of gastric mucosal folds was also observed in rats pretreated with S. mahagoni leaf extract. Histological studies of the gastric wall of ulcer control group revealed severe damage of gastric mucosa, along with edema and leucocytes infiltration of the submucosal layer compared to rats received either omeprazole or S. mahagoni leaf extract where there was marked gastric protection along with reduction or absence of edema and leucocytes infiltration of the submucosal layer. Acute toxicity study with a higher dose of plant extract at 5 g/kg did not reveal any toxicological signs in rats. In conclusions, the present findings suggest that S. mahagoni ethanol leaf extract exhibit an anti-ulcer activity against ethanol-induced gastric ulcer in experimental animals.

 Key words: Swietenia mahagoni leaf extract, gastric ulcer, histology.


Since the development of mega projects had been contributed, in consequence, the continuous projects were developed and caused some hidden effects. The main target of this chapter is to develop conceptual model for eco-based strategic environmental assessment (SEA) as the tool to consider the kinetic development resulting from project impacts. Three indicators, namely, environmental assessment, land use, and ecological approach, were selected to support the purpose. For environmental dimension, the contents of Environmental Impact Assessment Guidelines and Environmental Impact Statements were analyzed, using content analysis. Land use change for selected areas was analyzed covering the period of mega project development. For ecosystem, the development of ecological pattern from the past to the present was surveyed and investigated in detail. The results illustrated the hierarchical risk areas from the lowest to the highest. Finally, the conceptual model was developed on the basis of the actual impacts according to the area feature.


The paper focuses on the identification of areas of strain in caregivers who, on a non-professional basis, provide care to a person with a neurological disease in a community care-based setting. The aim of the survey was to validate the nursing diagnosis Caregiver Role Strain. Through a group of experts, we found out which determining features and related factors of the aforementioned nursing diagnosis occur most often in clinical practice while caring for patients with a neurological disease. Furthermore, for assessing caregivers we used the Modified Caregiver Strain Index to find out which neurological diseases cause the greatest strain for them, and which gender and age group of caregivers are most predisposed to strain. The survey took the form of online questionnaires fromApril 2021 to September 2021. Caregiver strain occurs most often in caregivers who care for neurological patients. By analyzing the data, we came to the conclusion that the experts in our survey identified fatigue as the most important determinant. The group of experts identified the most important related factor - inexperience in providing care. Due to the demanding position of the caregiver, it is important for care providers to correctly and quickly identify potential stressors, and thus relieve the caregivers from their difficult mission


Taro ( Colocasia esculenta ) is a plant with a long crop cycle, what hinders its cultivation in properties with area limitations. The association of crops is an option for this kind of situation. However, in order to plan the cultivation using the intercropping system, it is important to define the tolerance levels of the taro plants and the period of highest sensibility to shading. This study aimed to evaluate the behavior of the 'Japanese' taro crop, regarding growth, cultivated under levels and periods of artificial shading. A split-plot randomized block design, with 13 treatments and four replications, was used. The plots consisted of four shading levels (control = full sun, 18 %, 30 % and 50 % of shade), maintained throughout the cycle or during three months, in three periods (initial = 0-3 months; intermediate = 3-6 months; final = 6-9 months). The subplot was composed of eight plant samples (60, 90, 120, 150, 180, 210, 240 and 270 days after planting). The shading levels increased the total and specific leaf area, leaf area and mass ratios and dry mass partition. Thus, the taro plants showed the capacity to make leaf adjustments to suit changes in light intensity. The shading intensity of 18 %, during the whole cycle or in any of the periods studied, provides a high expansion of the leaf area.


Kinetics of carbothermic reduction of manganese oxide and the catalytic effect of La2O3 on the reduction have been studied by the measurement of mass loss in N-2 atmosphere at different temperatures and followed by SEM analysis. It is concluded that the kinetics of carbothermic reduction of manganese oxide is divided into three stages: gas diffusion controlling stage, carbon gasification controlling stage and solid state diffusion controlling stage. La2O3 has catalytic effect on the reduction. The catalytic effect of La2O3 increases with the added amount of La2O3. SEM analysis shows that the catalytic mechanism is that La2O3 promotes the transfer of oxygen ions so that carbon gasifying is catalyzed and thus carbothermic reduction of MnO2 is catalyzed.


The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between state ownership and firm profitability in developing countries by considering the endogenous nature of state ownership and firm profitability.,A simultaneous equation analysis is applied to study 232 Tunisian firms over the 2001-2013 period. This analysis is compared with OLS estimates to show its power in terms of an endogenous setting and its potential to improve estimation.,Unlike the OLS estimates that show a non-significant relationship between state ownership and firm profitability, the simultaneous equation analysis reveals a non-symmetrical concave relationship. Specifically, state ownership affects positively firm profitability when it is relatively small and negatively when state ownership dominates. Specification test indicates that both state ownership and firm profitability are endogenous. Furthermore, the simultaneous model's explanatory power exceeds that of OLS estimates and proves to be a suitable estimation technique.,Taking into account public firms' categorization, the authors implicitly examine the effect of privatization and corporatization on firm profitability. The findings imply that privatization is not the only solution to the operational problems of public firms, but an internal governance system restructuring can also be favorable for these firms.,In addition to focusing on a new database of developing countries, the case of Tunisian firms, the main empirical analysis is conducted by considering the endogeneity issue. Thus, the findings improve understanding of the role played by state ownership and suggest that a partial state control appears to be beneficial to firm profitability.


The assumption that decision makers choose actions to maximize their preferences is a central tenet in economics. This assumption is often justi...ed either formally or informally by appealing to evolutionary arguments. In contrast, we show that in almost every game and for almost every family of distortions of a player's actual payo¤s, some degree of this distortion is bene...cial to the player because of the resulting e¤ect on opponents' play. Consequently, such distortions will not be driven out by any evolutionary process involving payo¤-monotonic selection dynamics, in which agents with higher actual payo¤s proliferate at the expense of less successful agents. In particular, under any such selection dynamics, the population will not converge to payo¤-maximizing behavior. We also show that payo¤-maximizing behavior need not prevail even when preferences are imperfectly observed. ¤We are grateful for valuable comments from Joerg Oechssler, Bob Anderson, Bill Zame, Eddie Dekel, Youngse Kim, Menachem Yaari, three referees and the associate editor, and participants of the 11th European Workshop in General Equilibrium Theory. yThe Economics and Management Department, The Open University of Israel, firstname.lastname@example.com zcorresponding author: please direct correspondence to Department of Economics, University of California, Berkeley, email@example.com xThe Faculty of Management, Tel Aviv University, email@example.com


The superconducting energy gap of YBa2Cu3O9-δ (Tc=90K) has been measured by means of far infrared reflection spectra. The value of 2Δ /kTc is between 2.2 and 3.4. According to the analysis of the dielectric function derived from K-K relations, we suggest that the energy gap value would be less than 18.8meV(150cm-1). The temperature dependence of the energy gap Δ (T) is also obtained.


Korea has experienced high demand for environment-friendly land management and improved quality of life. So it is necessary to ensure both the scientific and expert assessment of environmental impact and systematic post-assessment management. The objective of this study was to develop environmental impact assessment qualifications to reduce detrimental impacts by increasing the quality of impact assessments for development plans and projects and by generating alternative project approaches and damagereduction plans. A DACUM (Development A curriculum) job analysis was used to determine task range, grades or ranks, eligibility, examination standards, selection criteria of examination questions, examination methods, and so on. The job analysis was conducted by a committee of ten specialists from industry and academia.


A basic cyber security problem is how to optimally spend a security budget. We cast this problem in the framework of combinatorial optimization and explore its relationship with the classical knapsack problem. As in the latter, given a budget, we wish to optimally select a set of resources, each having a cost and a benefit. We propose optimisation algorithms that can deal with resources that depend non linearly on each other, and an optimal budget allocation algorithm for the case of several targets covered by target-specific resources. The general case of resources each of which benefits multiple targets leads to the multiple objective knapsack problem. Also in this case, we extend the standard dynamic programming solution to deal with non-linear dependencies between resources.


Over a century since Gandhi's historic and personally decisive sojourn in colonial southern Africa, the vast corpus of literature in the Western world on the Mahatma has continued to expand unabated, while the "machines of Gandhi hagiography" are still said to "continue to churn out massive volumes in present-day India".2 Indeed, this commemorative issue of the Journal of Natal and Zulu History is testimony to this legacy and ongoing fascination, and in particular commemorates a centenary of his global bequest of satyagraha (passive resistance) launched in southern Africa. While much of the literature produced on Gandhi continues to adhere to what Dilip Menon has called the "straight and narrow"3 or what Tanika Sarkar refers to as "icon making"4, with a persistent veneration of the Mahatma, others have ventured to question, probe, reappraise and reassess a range of dimensions of the Gandhian epoch.5 One aspect that has increasingly come under scrutiny is Gandhi's relations with other non-Indian communities, particularly as regards his time in South Africa and the emergence of satyagraha.6 This ties in with a wider concern about the possible contradictions in his professed rejection of racism and his claim to universalism. It is in this context that his apparent failure to ally with any other ethnic grouping within South Africa is questioned.7 And it is to this aspect of the satyagraha movement that this article turns, with particular reference to Chinese resistance at the turn of the century.


How to cite this article: Srinivasan S, Panigrahy AK. COVID-19 ARDS: Can Systemic Oxygenation Utilization Guide Oxygen Therapy? Indian J Crit Care Med 2021;25(2):115-116.


A dynamic origin-destination (O-D) demand estimation model is presented that uses turning movement counts as observations. Based on an iterative bilevel estimation framework, the upper-level problem is to minimize a weighted objective function of the deviation between simulated link flows and real-time link counts and the deviation between estimated time-dependent demand and an a priori historical O-D table, where the weighting value is determined by an interactive approach to obtain the best compromise solution. A case study was performed on the US-29 network in Maryland to compare the estimated tables of this approach with the one obtained from the traditional method, which uses only approach link volume counts. The application illustrates considerable benefits of using turning movements instead of approach volumes in matching observed counts.


The fundamental distinction made in Shiite legal epistemology is that between
qaṭʿ (certainty) and ẓann (conjecture). Contemporary Uṣūlī epistemology
maintains that in the juristic process of the derivation of Sharīʿa precepts, a
mujtahid is prohibited to use any evidence that gives rise to mere ẓann. Rather,
he must only use evidence that gives qaṭʿ of Sharīʿa precepts. Furthermore, this
discourse distinctly argues that a mujtahid can also derive knowledge of
Sharīʿa precepts through the ẓann al-khāṣ (especial conjecture) that is
emanated from evidence that is ẓannī (conjectural) by nature but is
substantiated by the Divine Lawgiver Himself through other qaṭʿī (certainty bearing)
evidence. This understanding effectively curtails the derivation of
Sharīʿa precepts to only the textual evidence of the Qurʾān and sunna, and in
the present day this textualist dependency can be criticised for contributing
towards the gulf that exists between traditional Shiite jurisprudence and
matters that are pertinent to contemporary societies.
In light of this, this study critically analyses the contemporary discourse of
Uṣūlī epistemology and explores whether it has the potential to legitimise the
epistemic validity and utility of a wider range of evidence in the juristic
process of deriving Sharīʿa precepts. It essentially focuses on the strength and
rigour of the epistemological underpinnings that are maintained in Uṣūlī legal
theory, and by highlighting that these underpinnings and the underlying
epistemic assumptions that are prevalent in contemporary Uṣūlī legal
epistemology are rationally derived, this study explains how and why the
Uṣūlīs have been led to rationally give preference to textual evidence over nontextual
evidence. This study concludes that Uṣūlī legal theory has the potential
to, and moreover is required to, undergo an epistemological paradigm shift that
permits the acceptance of the epistemic validity of a wider range of evidence,
other than just those that emanate qaṭʿ or ẓann al-khāṣ.


Automatic speech recognition (ASR) in Sanskrit is interesting, owing to the various linguistic peculiarities present in the language. The Sanskrit language is lexically productive, undergoes euphonic assimilation of phones at the word boundaries and exhibits variations in spelling conventions and in pronunciations. In this work, we propose the first large scale study of automatic speech recognition (ASR) in Sanskrit, with an emphasis on the impact of unit selection in Sanskrit ASR. In this work, we release a 78 hour ASR dataset for Sanskrit, which faithfully captures several of the linguistic characteristics expressed by the language. We investigate the role of different acoustic model and language model units in ASR systems for Sanskrit. We also propose a new modelling unit, inspired by the syllable level unit selection, that captures character sequences from one vowel in the word to the next vowel. We also highlight the importance of choosing graphemic representations for Sanskrit and show the impact of this choice on word error rates (WER). Finally, we extend these insights from Sanskrit ASR for building ASR systems in two other Indic languages, Gujarati and Telugu. For both these languages, our experimental results show that the use of phonetic based graphemic representations in ASR results in performance improvements as compared to ASR systems that use native scripts.


We treat the question of control of an elastic robotic arm of two links. Ofcourse this approach can be extended to other elastic arms. A nonlinear ultimate boundedness controller (UBC) is synthesised such that in the closed-loop system, the joint angle tracking error is uniformly bounded, and tends to a certain small neighborhood of the origin. The controller includes a reference joint angle trajectory generator and integral error feedback. Although, the joint angles are controlled using the UBC, elastic modes are excited. A feedback stabilizer is designed for the linearized model including the UBC about the terminal state which is switched only in the vicinity of the equilibrium state for stabilization. Simulation results are presented to show that in the closed-loop system including the UBC and the stabilizer, accurate joint angle trajectory following and elastic mode stabilization are accomplished in the presence of uncertainty.


Edward Ball tells the story of southern slavery through tracking the history of the Balls, prominent landowners, rice-planters, one or two of them slave traders, and big slave owners in a southern family in dispersal and decline. In 1698, a planter named Elias Ball arrived in South Carolina from Devon, England, to claim an inheritance to one half of a plantation. By 1865, the Ball family of South Carolina owned over a dozen plantations along the Cooper River near Charleston. The crop was Carolina Gold - rice. The empire was grown with seeds from Madagascar and slave labour purchased on the Charleston Docks. By the time the civil war ended, nearly 4,000 people had been enslaved by the Balls. Descendents of the Ball slaves may number as high as 11,000 today.


This paper studies the modeling of multimodal choice in a railway/highway system with continuum park-and-ride services along a linear traffic corridor. Heterogeneous commuters choose travel mode among auto, railway and park-and-ride. Both the traffic congestion on highway and crowding effects on rail transit are considered. The highway capacity is assumed to be stochastic to take into account the travel time reliability on highway. Commuters are assumed to be distributed continuously along the corridor. A linear complementarity system is proposed to model the modal choice for heterogeneous commuters along the corridor and solve the spatial equilibrium pattern. The formulated linear complementarity system is transformed into a mixed integer linear program to be solved. The modeling approach and solution algorithm are implemented in a small numerical example. The resultant solutions show that direct rail mode is chosen by commuters living close to the CBD and park-and-ride is chosen by those far away from the city center, while in the middle auto mode is preferred. Furthermore, when the stochastic link capacity is considered, more commuters choose to use park-and-ride mode for higher reliability.


In order to cope with large amounts of samples for chemiluminescence (CL), vials were replaced with microplates. Although various types of plates have been commercially available for quite some time and the free-plate mode is advocated by the producer of the counter, little is known about their impact on the outcome of CL measurements. We tested two different 24-well microplates and six different 96-well microplates in two different luminometers, and results were compared with those achieved with vials. Before these comparative tests, we attempted to optimize measurement conditions. CL sensitivity was highest with luminol concentrations of 0.8-3.3 micromol/L, PMA concentrations of 0.06-80 micromol/L, a pH value of 10 and a temperature of 20 degrees C. An indirect correlation was found between fluid volume and yield in counts: the lower the volume, the higher the counts. With regard to sensitivity and cross-talk, the 96-well Isoplatetrade mark was superior to all other plates tested. While all white plates tested gave acceptable results, usage of the black 96-well plates resulted in an extremely low sensitivity. Plates designed for cell culturing gave even lower counts and a cross-talk of up to 31%. All attempts to reduce cross-talk and improve sensitivity, such as aluminium foil or grids, irrespective of the position of the photomultiplier, did not give results comparable to the original 96-well isoplate. Our results suggest that, with the exception of black 96-well microplates and cell culture plates, all other plates tested have a sufficient sensitivity when compared to vials and acceptable cross-talk, the 96-well Isoplatetrade mark being the best. Both types of luminometers used gave reproducible results, Wallac having a somewhat higher sensitivity, Canberra Packard somewhat less cross-talk.


The formalism of the pair electron distribution function has been used to study total and local interelectronic repulsion for the ground state of helium. A discussion of the distances that contribute most to electron repulsion is made, and plots of the local interelectronic repulsion are given for Hartree-Fock, explicitly correlated and configuration interaction wavefunctions, showing some interesting qualitative differences. A cusp effect in the limit r12=0 arises for the interelectronic repulsion distribution computed with the explicitly correlated wavefunction, but no cusp is observed for Hartree-Fock and configuration interaction wavefunctions.


Nonresonant two-photon electronic spectroscopy of polyatomic molecules is reviewed for the period since 1979. Emphasis is placed on studies that expose patterns in the two-photon fluorescence (also ionization, optoacoustic) excitation spectra of aromatic hydrocarbons and the effect of vibrations and substitution, particularly within the framework of pseudoparity rules. A section is devoted to biological molecules and the emerging use of two-photon-induced fluorescence anisotropy. Relevant theoretical results are discussed, with emphasis on quantum chemical predictions of vibronic coupling and substituent effects on two-photon absorptivity and tensor properties of individual molecules. This chapter includes higher-order spectroscopy, and a limited number of three- and four-photon studies are discussed.


Abstract: Geophilosophy is a placeholder for things we cannot yet do, things we hope to do, and things that we have failed to do so far. This issue of Angelaki aspires towards ways of doing philosophy, geography and gender studies that stray from the analytical comforts of philosophical reasoning, and from the sociological certainties that dominate the study of masculinity. In particular, it brings a sexed and gendered body to extant Deleuze-Guattarian scholarship, while prompting a thirst for creativity and ambivalence to masculinity research. Each article explores the ways in which lived cultures of masculinity might be read across uneven political formations and aesthetic practices, while calling into question tacit understandings of where "masculinity" begins and ends. In doing so, the collection teases out the ethical and methodological implications of poststructuralist approaches to gender in a range of disciplines, including cultural geography, art criticism, sociology, and disability studies.


This study aims to describe the Critical Discourse Review of Teun A Van Dijk in the comic Si Juki vs Dompet Blank". This research is a qualitative descriptive study. The method used in this research is the method of data collection and documentation. The data sources in this research are macro structure, super structure, and microstructure which are analyzed directly from the comic Si Juki Vs Dompet Blank. The result of this research is the comic Si Juki Vs Dompet Kososng. From the research results, macro structure, theme; to increase public knowledge about mercury investment. Topics; can start moving to learn to manage finances. Super structure, semantics; In the comic Si Juki Vs Dompet Blank there are two different texts, namely descriptive text, and exposition text. Macro structure; semantics: readers can begin to be moved to learn to manage their finances, stylistics; the choice of words used in the comic Si Juki Vs Dompet Blank is easy to understand because the words used are simple and commonly used in public places, the lexicon; office, boarding, and savings.


Giant cell tumour of bone (GCTB) is a locally aggressive bone neoplasm with a rare tendency to metastasise, most commonly to the lungs. The management of metastatic GCTB (metGCTB) is controversial due to its unpredictable behaviour. Asymptomatic patients should be monitored radiologically and undergo treatment only when disease progression occurs. Surgery is recommended for resectable metGCTB. Denosumab, a monoclonal antibody which inhibits receptor activator of nuclear factor‐κB ligand, is recommended for unresectable metGCTB with evidence from phase II trials demonstrating its safety and efficacy. Relapse after denosumab withdrawal may occur and prolonged treatment may be associated with serious adverse events, thus further research is warranted to inform a maintenance regimen with reduced dosing and frequency. Combined denosumab and bisphosphonate therapy has the potential to achieve sustained disease control or remission in unresectable metGCTB without requiring long‐term treatment and should be evaluated in prospective trials. Various novel agents have demonstrated in vitro and anecdotal efficacy and warrant further evaluation.


In this paper, an interior-point algorithm  for $P_{ast}(kappa)$-Linear Complementarity Problem (LCP) based on a new parametric trigonometric kernel function is proposed. By applying strictly feasible starting point condition and using some simple analysis tools, we prove that our algorithm has $O((1+2kappa)sqrt{n} log nlogfrac{n}{epsilon})$ iteration bound for large-update methods, which coincides with the best known complexity bound. Moreover, numerical results confirm that our new proposed kernel function is doing well in practice in comparison with some existing kernel functions in the literature.


Background: This study aims to explore the role of RCAN1 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) cells, determine the mRNA level of three RCAN1 isoforms in ESCC tissue, and evaluate the prognostic value of three RCAN1 isoforms. Methods: Colony-forming assay, Wound-healing assay and Transwell assay were used to evaluate the effect of RCAN1 on cell proliferation, migration and invasion. The mRNA expression of three RCAN1 isoforms was detected in paired tumor and normal tissues from 100 ESCC patients by real-time PCR. Kaplan-Meier survival curves and Cox proportional hazards model were used to evaluate the prognostic value of three RCAN1 isoforms. A nomogram was used to predict the probability of 2-year and 5-year overall survival (OS). Results: In vitro, knockdown of RCAN1 could promote ESCC cell proliferation, migration and invasion abilities. Compared to the paired normal tissues, RCAN1 isoform 1 (RCAN1.1, P=0.0027) and RCAN1 isoform 2 (RCAN1.2, P=0.0006) were significantly decreased in tumor tissues. The low expression of RCAN1.2 mRNA was associated with advanced stage (P=0.0176) and lymph node metastasis (LNM, P=0.0219). ESCC patients with low RCAN1.2 mRNA levels had shorter survival time compared to those with high RCAN1.2 levels (P=0.007). Multivariate COX analysis indicated that RCAN1.2 mRNA level was an independent prognostic indicator of OS of patients with ESCC (hazard ratio=0.5266, P=0.03554). The concordance index of nomogram to predict OS was 0.693 based on LNM, RCAN1.2, tumor stage and patients' age. Conclusion: These findings show that RCAN1 gene play a role in preventing proliferation, migration, and invasive activity of ESCC cells. RCAN1.2 mRNA level is a novel prognostic marker in ESCC, targeting RCAN1.2 may provide a potential therapeutic approach in ESCC.


The thesis focuses on the interoperability of autonomous legacy databases with the idea of meeting the actual requirements of an organization. The interoperability is resolved by combining the topdown and bottom-up strategies. The legacy objects are extracted from the existing databases through a database reverse engineering process. The business objects are defined by both the organization requirements and the integration of the legacy objects.


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumors (DNTs) are benign lesions affecting children and are associated with epilepsy. The goal of our study was to better characterize the clinical-radiologic-pathologic spectrum of DNTs (complex and simple forms only) in a series of 14 children.

METHODS
Clinical, neuroradiologic, and pathologic features of all cases were retrospectively studied.

RESULTS
Eleven cases of complex and three cases of simple DNTs were identified. Mean follow-up was 87 months, and no recurrence was recorded except for one case of simple DNT. We found that some neuroradiologic features may be helpful to support the diagnosis of DNT: presence of "septations," triangular pattern of distribution, and absence of contrast enhancement.

CONCLUSION
The evidence of the specific glioneuronal element is found by pathologic examination, but the typical neuroradiologic aspect of DNT suggests this diagnosis preoperatively. Radiologic examination may be helpful for the diagnosis of DNT when pathologic findings are inconclusive.


This paper investigates the peculiar nature of competition in the broadcasting market for live English Premier League matches in the United Kingdom. Following the movement from freeto-air to subscription television in 1992, British Sky Broadcasting secured a monopoly on live broadcasting rights. The exclusive arrangements were later found to be in breach of European competition law and resulted in competition from the start of the 2007-08 season. However, competition has not reduced prices charged to consumers. Both the overall cost to consumers and the price per game are higher with competing broadcasters than under a monopoly.


Abstract Underground gas storage reservoirs provide an efficient and economical way to match the constant supply of gas from long-distance pipelines to the variable, weather-driven demand of the natural gas market. The most important design specifications for underground natural gas storage facilities in terms of startup and operation costs are its capacity, maximum reservoir pressure, number of wells required for drainage, flowing wellhead pressure, and the ratio between working gas and cushion gas. The relationships between these variables are quite complex, and a need exists for a reliable predictive tool. Despite these complexities, the optimal combination of these design parameters can be reached using artificial neural network (ANN) technology. In this study, ANN technology creates an intelligent system capable of learning the complex relationships between input parameters and output responses, which can quantify the importance of each relationship and design variables critical to the determination of optimal design.


The biology of the group of plant hormones termed cytokinins is reviewed to reveal areas where further studies of cytokinin-binding proteins could be significant. Such areas include: inhibition of human tumour cell growth by cytokinin ribosides, the role of cytokinins in the development of diverse micro-organisms including the cyanobacteria and Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the very rapid responses of plant cells to exogenous cytokinins, and other aspects of cytokinin plant biology. Photoaffinity labelling (PAL) coupled to the recent advances in HPLC of proteins and mass spectral analysis and sequencing of proteins, may have relevance to these areas. To facilitate PAL, we present experimental details for two methods for synthesis of 8-azido-N6-benzyladenine, which has the azido affinity group in the preferred position of the purine ring. Synthesis from [2-3H]adenosine yielded the above-mentioned PAL reagent with 3H in the purine ring and also gave labelled 9-riboside and 8-azido-N6,9-dibenzyladenine. 8-Azido-N6-benzyladenine was also prepared from 6,8-dichloropurine by a facile synthesis, which would allow a label to be sited in the benzyl group where substituents can also be introduced to vary cytokinin activity. The use of inactive cytokinin analogues in assessing the significance of PAL is discussed.


Industrial Control Systems (ICS) were primarily designed to operate air-gapped; however, the pressure for cost reduction and integration with business systems demanded the adoption of open systems architecture and ended up exposing ICS to threats which until then had been restricted only to the Information Technology (IT) systems. Although Cybersecurity Standards for Industrial Control Systems have been in place since the 1990s, providing the foundational knowledge required to Secure Industrial Control Systems; implementation failures and media disclosures revealed that organizations are not yet prepared to deploy Cybersecurity Controls effectively. This research has employed Design Science and interaction with experts on a qualitative manner exploring new insights and allowing to identify the main barriers for deploying and assessing industrial control systems. The results of this research include a list of Practices for effective deployment of Cybersecurity controls; list of Critical Success Factors for assessing ICS; and a list of most effective ways to report Cybersecurity risks to the board. This research counted with the participation of 200 practitioners and experts from Europe, Asia, Americas and Oceania.


We propose an adaptive transmission technique for free space optical (FSO) systems, operating in atmospheric turbulence and employing subcarrier phase shift keying (S-PSK) intensity modulation. Exploiting the constant envelope characteristics of S-PSK, the proposed technique offers efficient utilization of the FSO channel capacity by adapting the modulation order of S-PSK, according to the instantaneous state of turbulence induced fading and a pre-defined bit error rate (BER) requirement. Novel expressions for the spectral efficiency and average BER of the proposed adaptive FSO system are presented and performance investigations under various turbulence conditions, turbulence models, and target BER requirements are carried out. Numerical results indicate that significant spectral efficiency gains are offered without increasing the transmitted average optical power or sacrificing BER requirements, especially in moderate-to-strong turbulence conditions. Furthermore, the proposed variable rate transmission technique is applied to multiple input multiple output (MIMO) FSO systems, providing additional improvement in the achieved spectral efficiency as the number of the transmit and/or receive apertures increases.


Cetuximab-induced nephrotoxicity is very rare, occurring in less than 1% of colorectal cancer patients and not defined in other populations. We report a rare case of crescentic diffuse proliferative glomerulonephritis (GN) that developed in close temporal association with cetuximab treatment. A 65-year-old female recently completed chemotherapy with cetuximab treatment for moderately differentiated oral squamous cell carcinoma. She was admitted with acute renal failure and nephrotic-range proteinuria. Laboratory data showed serum creatinine of 6.6 mg/dl and urinalysis showed proteinuria, moderate hemoglobinuria, hyaline casts (41/LPF), WBC (28/HPF), and RBC (81/HPF). Serologic studies were negative for ANA, anti-GBM, ANCA, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C. Serum C3 and C4 level were normal. Renal biopsy showed crescentic diffuse proliferative GN with focal features of thrombotic microangiopathy. Patient was started on cyclophosphamide and steroids. Her renal function did not improve on day 8 and she was started on hemodialysis. Previous reports suggest that EGFR-targeting medications can possibly trigger or exacerbate an IgA-mediated glomerular process leading to renal failure. This case suggests that cetuximab therapy may have triggered or exacerbated a severe glomerular injury with an unfavorable outcome. Treating physicians should maintain a high degree of caution and monitor renal function in patients on EGFR inhibitors.


Sensing is essential in human cooperative robots to realize safe and powerful operations against contact with the surrounding environment. Contact sensing has been studied for manipulators to avoid accidents caused by collisions between humans and robots. Conventional research has demonstrated that contact sensing requires many sensors or has a limited measurable range. In the conventional research without sensors, modeling systems, such as frictional force and plant parameters, have been used to estimate the contact force. However, a high reduction ratio mechanism for achieving powerful operations hinders accurate force estimation. This study proposes a method to estimate the contact force and contact position on a manipulator with a high reduction ratio mechanism by installing only one force / torque sensor on the base frame of the manipulator. By using the proposed method, the contact force and contact position can be detected regardless of the location where the contact force is applied. Furthermore, when the contact force is applied in a location where the contact position cannot be accurately estimated, an estimated disturbance or a link motion is used to determine the contact position. The e ff ectiveness of the proposed method is validated through experiments.


Purpose: We describe clinical outcomes of NOM on spleen injuries with judicious selection and embolization during the past 10 years. Methods: From March 2000 to November 2009, 151 patients with splenic injury were included. Eighteen patients were excluded because of incomplete data. Patients' medical records were reviewed to examine admission demographics, laboratory results, radiologic findings as well as transfusion requirement, hospital stay, and ultimate outcomes. Results: Twenty patients were chosen for non-operative management (NOM) after splenic embolization and 1/20 (5%) patient failed. There were 32 patients more than 55 years old (range, 55∼87 years). Of these patients, 26 (81%) patients were chosen for NOM and 3 (11.5%) patients failed. According to OIS, 51 patients were grade 3; 26 patients, grade 4; and 6 patients, grade 5. Among grade 3, 49 (96%) were chosen for NOM with or without embolization and 1 (2%) patient failed; grade 4, 19 (73%) with NOM, 2 (7.6%) patients failed. Of all 133 patients with NOM or failed NOM (FNOM), there was 0 mortality in grade 3; 2, in grade 4; 2, in grade 5, excluding other causes of death. The mean ISS was significantly higher in the failed NOM group compared with successful NOM group (P=0.01). The group of failed NOM had a significantly higher mean OIS (P=0.00). Conclusion: Aggressive but highly selective NOM on the base of clinicoradiologic parameters with the aid of angioembolization would result in a low failure rate and complication in the management of high grades (grade 3 or 4).


Even though juices are highly appreciated by all categories of consumers and represents one of the basic merchandise in all supermarkets, ourdays is noted an increasing concern about their influence on population health because of their content in food additives. The aim of our study is to emphasize the preferences of the population concerning these products, and the additive contents in these products, in supermarkets. The survey was conducted during May – August 2015 in the most crowded 5 supermarkets from Cluj-Napoca. A number of 500 individuals were interviewed. The experimentally products included different categories of juices, which are the first in consumers' preferences. In order to implement the survey a questionnaire was elaborated and piloted using the interview, as method for data collection. Females (58%) have a more intense shopping activity compared to males (42%), and juices are consumed predominantly by population segment aged of 18-29 years (30%), with families (68%), with average education (83%), and income (88.80%). The consumers' preferences concerning juices available in supermarkets are: Pepsi Cola, Coca Cola, Sprite, Mirinda Limonetto and Prigat.


Interface dynamics of post contact states in regularized models of electrostatic-elastic interactions are analyzed. A canonical setting for our investigations is the eld of MicroElectromechanical Systems (MEMS) in which exible elastic structures may come into physical contact due to applied Coulomb forces. We study the dynamic features of a recently derived regularized model (A.E. Lindsay et al, Regularized Model of Post-Touchdown Congurations in Electrostatic MEMS: Equilibrium Analysis , Physica D, 2014), which describes the system past the quenching singularity associated with touchdown, that is after the components of the device have come together. We build on our previous investigations of steadystate solutions by describing how the system relaxes towards these equilibria. This is accomplished by deriving a reduced dynamical system that governs the evolution of the contact set, thereby providing a detailed description of the intermediary dynamics associated with this bistable system. The analysis yields important practical information on the timescales of equilibration.


In this study, we developed and tested the psychometric properties of a translated and culturally adapted Korean version of the Incivility in Nursing Education-Revised (INE-R) survey. Using a cross-sectional design, the INE-R was administered to a convenience sample of 284 students enrolled in three Korean nursing colleges. Descriptive statistics were calculated for 24 student and 24 faculty incivility behavior items. Underlying factor structure was examined using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, and model fit was assessed using chi-square goodness-of-fit and other fit indices. For student incivility items, a four-factor model provided the best fit for the data, while a two-factor model provided the best fit for faculty incivility items. Overall reliability of the INE-R for student and faculty incivility behavior was estimated as α = 0.94 and 0.96, respectively. The Korean version of the INE-R is a reliable measure for assessing perceptions of student and faculty incivility among Korean nursing students.


Martensitic transformation temperatures were measured and transformation strains were evaluated in a promising high temperature shape memory alloy TiAu with a compositional range from 46 to 53mol%Au. It was found by differential scanning calorimetry that martensitic transformation start temperature (Ms) is kept almost constant value of 880K in the Au-rich side of the stoichiometric composition. On the other hand, Ms decreases monotonically with decreasing Au content in the Au-poor side. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that apparent phase of all the alloys at room temperature is B19 martensite phase. Under an assumption that the atomic volume is constant during martensitic transformation, the lattice parameters of B2 parent phase and maximum transformation strain were calculated. It was found that the maximum transformation strain depends on chemical composition and that it reaches 10.75% for Ti-53mol%Au alloy. The value is comparable to that of Ti-Ni.


. Argumentation schemes are patterns of human reasoning which have been detailed extensively in philosophy and psychology. In this paper we demon-strate that the structure of such schemes can provide rich information to the task of automatically identify complex argumentative structures in natural language text. By training a range of classifiers to identify the individual proposition types which occur in these schemes, it is possible not only to determine where a scheme is being used, but also the roles played by its component parts. Furthermore, this task can be performed on segmented natural language, with no prior knowledge of the text's argumentative structure.


In/Si(111) superstructures formed by the deposition of indium on a √3 × √3-In surface at room temperature were investigated by using a scanning tunneling microscope (STM). The 2×2, 'striped', hexagonal √7 × √3 (√7 × √3-hex), and rectangular √7 × √3 (√7 × √3-rec) structures were identified. We demonstrated that the 'striped' and the √7 × √3-hex structures were falsely identified as √7 × √3-hex and √7 × √3-rec in a previous report [A. A. Saranin et al., Phys. Rev. B 74, 035436 (2006)]. As in the √7 × √3-hex and √7 × √3-rec structures, a √7 × √3 periodicity was observed in the resolved STM features of the 'striped' structure. These three √7 × √3 structures formed at room temperature were shown to be identical to the corresponding In-induced phases formed at high temperature. The apparent height difference between the 'striped' and the √7 × √3-hex structures in the topographic STM image suggests that the √7 × √3-hex structure consists of double l√ayers of In. This possibility contrasts with recent theoretical predictions of single-layer In for the √7 × √3-hex structure.


The new social media build on and further complicate all of the issues and processes of symbolic interaction. This volume builds on and expands the existing symbolic interactionist perspective to include the study of social interaction made possible by the use of new social media. This special issue demonstrates the interface between willful social interaction and structured technological features - how social media are defined by social interactions, as well as how social interactions are dictated by the use of social media.


The experimental evaluation of predation in biological control can be difficult, but is necessary to determine the impact of predators on pest population dynamics. These evaluative techniques document the role of existing predators, quantify the impact of previous releases, and also identify pest life stages or seasonal periods that may be targeted for additional releases. An overview of evaluation methods appropriate for Caribbean Basin biological control programs for Homopteran pests is presented. Several examples of interactions between predators and other types of natural enemies are discussed to provide a basis for interpretation of results from an evaluation study.


RATIONALE
Multiplexed liquid chromatography (LC) coupled with multiple-injection-chromatogram acquisition has emerged as the method of choice for high-speed discovery bioanalysis, because it significantly reduces injection-to-injection cycle time while maintaining the chromatography quality. Historically, systems utilizing this approach had been custom built, and therefore relied on custom software tools to communicate with multiple vendor software for system control, which lacked transferability, flexibility and robustness.

METHODS
In this study, we refined a multiplexed bioanalytical system previously reported, by implementing open-deck auto-sampler manifold and multiple-injection-chromatogram acquisition, all on a commercially available system with single software control.

RESULTS
As a result of these improvements, the developed LC/tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) method on the system was nearly three times faster than the previous method, while demonstrating comparable analytical accuracy, precision and robustness. This system has been evaluated for in vitro ADME screening assays including metabolic stability, CYP inhibition and Caco-2. The biological data generated on the developed system displayed good correlation with those from the previous LC/MS/MS approaches.

CONCLUSIONS
The developed platform demonstrated applicability to the in vitro screening assays evaluated and has been successfully implemented to support the high-throughput metabolic stability assay, with a significantly improved bioanalytical throughput, capacity and data turnaround.


This paper presents a method of transmitting video over the cdma2000 mobile system. In this method, the video bit-stream after splitting, is transmitted via the supplemental channels of the cdma2000 reverse link. The method takes advantage of the direct spread multiplexing structure of the supplemental channels to transmit divided video at differing priority classes. This is accomplished by adopting the relative gain adjustment strategy where the most error sensitive video information is transmitted via a channel with higher power The most challenging aspect of this investigation has been to maintain full compatibility with the cdma2000 standard. In particular for the reverse link where the power allocation is tightly controlled, this strategy has been successfully deployed by taking advantage of the flexibility of its link budget. Finally, we demonstrate that this strategy can result in a significantly higher quality of the reconstructed video data when transmitted over time-varying multipath fading of IMT-2000 channels.


Benzothiazoles are multitarget agents with a broad spectrum of biological activity. Some of them are now in cancer clinical testing. 2-acetyl-3 -(6-methoxybenzothiazo)2-ylaminoacrylonitril (AMBAN) is a new synthetically prepared derivative which showed cytotoxic effects on cancer cells in our previous s tudy. The aim of the present study was to examine the cytotoxic/antiproliferative effect of A MBAN and induction of apoptosis on murine leukemia L1210 cells. Further, the molecular mechanism involved in AMBANinduced apoptosis was investigated. Benzothiazole a cted cytotoxically on leukemia L1210 cells and induced apoptotic cell death. AMBAN elevated the level of ROS in time-dependent manner, decreased the mitochondrial membrane potential, activated caspases 9 and 3, induced the cytochrome c release, PARP (poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase) cleavage and led to intranucleosomal DNA fragmentation. It can be concluded that AMBAN induced apoptosis in L1210 cells through mitochondrial/caspase 9/caspase 3-dependent pathway. p38 MAPK and not JNK or ERK was associated with the proapoptotic activity of AMBAN.


A supervisory control and data acquisition system is designed for wind farms, including the local controller and remote monitoring terminal. The data of the sensors collected by the lower-computer is transmitted to the host computer monitor terminal through the GPRS wireless network after preliminary treatment. In the host computer, the data is processed and displayed by the virtual instrument. The remote monitoring terminal can also send commands to control the actuators in the wind farm. Wavelet de-noising principle is used to process the data collected, improving the reliability and stability of the system.


. We study the action of the Klein simple group PSL 2 ( F 7 ) consisting of 168 elements on two rational threefolds: the three-dimensional projective space and a smooth Fano threefold X of anticanonical degree 22 and index 1. We show that the Cremona group of rank three has at least three non-conjugate subgroups isomorphic to PSL 2 ( F 7 ). As a by-product, we prove that X admits a K¨ahler– Einstein metric, and we construct a smooth polarized K 3 surface of degree 22 with an action of the group PSL 2 ( F 7 ).


Many different network and host-based security solutions have been developed in the past to counter the threat of autonomously spreading malware. Among the most common detection techniques for such attacks are network traffic analysis and the so-called honeypots. In this thesis, we introduce two new malware detection sensors that make use of the above mentioned techniques. The first sensor called Rishi, passively monitors network traffic to automatically detect bot infected machines. The second sensor called Amun follows the concept of honeypots and detects malware through the emulation of vulnerabilities in network services that are commonly exploited. Both sensors were operated for two years and collected valuable data on autonomously spreading malware in the Internet. From this data we were able to, for example, study the change in exploit behavior and derive predictions about preferred targets of todays' malware.


Researchers currently working on relational reasoning typically argue that mental model theory (MMT) is a better account than the inference rule approach (IRA). They predict and observe that determinate (or one-model) problems are easier than indeterminate (or two-model) problems, whereas according to them, IRA should lead to the opposite prediction. However, the predictions attributed to IRA are based on a mistaken argument. The IRA is generally presented in such a way that inference rules only deal with determinate relations and not with indeterminate ones. However, (a) there is no reason to presuppose that a rule-based procedure could not deal with indeterminate relations, and (b) applying a rule-based procedure to indeterminate relations should result in greater difficulty. Hence, none of the recent articles devoted to relational reasoning currently presents a conclusive case for discarding IRA by using the well-known determinate vs indeterminate problems comparison.


This study analyses blockchain technology with respect to its advantages and limitations as well as its application in the context of pharmaceutical supply chains. A qualitative analysis was conducted among employees of a pharmaceutical company belonging to the Big Pharma. The analysis was performed using semi-constructed interviews aiming to draw conclusions about possible applications of the blockchain technology in the pharmaceutical supply chain, the solutions that it could provide and the readiness of the industry to adapt this technology. The results showed that the current supply chain technologies and systems, despite their usefulness, have some significant disadvantages that can be addressed by blockchain technology. Furthermore, it was noted that blockchain is a well-known technology to the central management team of the company that pinpointed as main advantages privacy, security, traceability, and anti-counterfeiting of medicine. The innovative technology is expected to change the industry and could be applied effectively in the pharmaceutical supply chain operations due to the great advantages that it can provide to the stakeholders involved. Finally, the readiness of the pharmaceutical industry to embrace blockchain technology was found to depend on each company's willingness to invest money on contemporary supply chain technologies.


This study is an investigation on how sweet potato female farmers' socio economic characteristics affect their production in Ezza South, Local Government Area of Ebonyi state, Nigeria. The study sought to describe the socioeconomics characteristics of the female farmers, determine the effect of the female farmers' socioeconomic determinant factors on sweet potato production in the study area.. estimate the cost and return in sweet potato production and identify the problems faced by sweet potato farmers. One hundred and twenty farmers selected using multi – staged random sampling technique for the study. Structured questionnaire was used to elicit information from the respondents as related to the objectives of the work for analysis. Percentage, multiple regression analysis and Gross Margin analysis were used to analyze the objectives of the study. The results showed that most of the respondents were aged, had access to credit and well experienced in the vocation. The socio-economic factors that affect sweet potato production in the study area were household size, Level of education, farming experience and farm size. The major constraints to sweet potato production in the study area were poor access to creditl, high cost of transportation and vine shortage. The study recommended that credit should be made available to farmers at affordable collateral. More so, there is need to ensure access road to rural area and urban markets toavoid high cost of transportation which makes farmers to sell their product at the farm gate at a very cheap rate. Finally, there is also need to ensure the availability of improved varieties of sweet potato vine to farmer in order to put to end the extent of recycling of old and local varieties stocks in farmers possession in order to boost their production. Key word: Socio Economic, Determinant, Sweet Potato, Production, Small holder Woman Farmers.


Objective: To identify the current common causative drugs and the clinical pattern of FDE in Pakistani patients presenting to a Tertiary Care Hospital.
Study Design: Cross-sectional study.
Place and Duration of Study: Department of Dermatology Combined Military Hospital, Kharian Pakistan, from Nov 2018 to Oct 2021.
Methodology: Patients of all ages and sexes reporting in dermatology outpatient during the study period with Fixed drug eruption (FDE) were included in the study after taking informed consent. Diagnosis of FDE was based on the finding of welldemarcated erythematous patches or plaques and violaceous pigmentation. In cases where history was not suggestive, the drug was confirmed by an oral provocation test. In addition, the causative drug, site(s) affected, duration, number of skin lesions, history of FDE, and the purpose for using the drug were noted for each patient.
Results: Sixty-one patients were included in the study. Doxycycline (thirteen patients, 21.3%) was the commonest causative drug, followed by Quinolones and Paracetamol in ten (16.4%) patients each, Cotrimoxazole in eight (13.1%) patients and Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in seven (11.5%) patients. Multiple lesions were common in patients with a history of FDE. The disease affected single-body sites in 16(26.23%) patients only. The most common site was the genital area in forty-two (71.19%) patients, followed by upper limbs in thirty-one (52.54%) patients and lips in twenty-eight ...............
Conclusions: Knowing the current causative drugs and carefully seeking a history of FDE may help prevent recurrent FDE.


Background: Chronic back pain shows a high correlation with lumbar disability, physical disability for daily activities, and psychosocial factors, such as depression. Object: The purpose of this study was to examine the correlation of the level of pain and disability with psychosocial factors, which are potential disturbance variables, in patients with chronic lumbar pain. Method: The sample included 258 patients, who had complained of chronic lumbar pain for more than three months. The Quadruple Visual Analogue Scale was used to measure the level of pain, and a Korean version of Oswestry Disability Index was used to measure the level of disability. Psychosocial factors were measured using the Tampa scale for Kinesiophobia-11, Fear Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire, and Pain Self-Efficacy Questionnaire. The collected data was analyzed using PASW 18.0, and an independent samples t-test was used to examine frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation of sociodemographic characteristics and major variables. Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to investigate the correlation between the level of pain and disability and psychosocial factors. Stepwise multiple regression analysis was done to determine the level of pain and psychosocial factors of functional disorder. The significance level was set at . Result: There is a strong correlation between the level of pain and functional disorder and psychosocial factors in patients with chronic lumbar pain. The study also revealed that as the levels of pain and fear avoidance increase, pain self-efficacy decreases. Conclusion: The results suggest that negative perceptions towards pain, limitations of physical movement, and severe fear avoidance directly affect the decrease in pain self-efficacy. Therefore, it is recommended to test pain self-efficacy when measuring the level of pain and disability in patients with chronic low back pain.


New excavations at Espidej at the Kerman Province of the Halil Basin corridor in Iran offer a unique opportunity to reconsider the third millennium BC (i.e. Bronze Age) metallurgical practices related particularly to arsenical copper (Cu‐As) alloying and to explore arsenic‐bearing raw materials. This paper presents results of optical microscopy and environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) on a selected group of copper‐based artefacts from Espidej. Additionally, we have benefited from synchrotron light for further investigations on a dagger sample. The scientific examinations on metal corpora adds new information regarding the microchemistry and production techniques of metals of the south‐eastern cultural zone of Iran. Synchrotron micro X‐ray diffraction (SR‐μXRD) data of the sample demonstrates traces of arsenic‐bearing minerals in the corrosion products indicative of types of ores used in alloying processes. Preliminary research on copper ores indicates possible extraction of local ore deposits that were outcropped along the south‐east Makran orogeny zone of Iran. This area is part of hydrothermal mineralization zone consisting of arsenopyrite (FeAsS), sinnerite (Cu6As4S9), bornite (Cu5FeS4) and algodonite (Cu6As). Noticeable arsenic‐bearing phases within the metallic core of the sample were frequently characterized as sinnerite and algodonite.


Background

Opioid overdose epidemic is a public health crisis that is impacting communities around the world. Overdose education and naloxone distribution programs equip and train lay people to respond in the event of an overdose. We aimed to design an open-access naloxone kit and ultra-brief education session for use in point-of-care settings.
Methods

We hosted a multi-stakeholder co-design workshop to elicit suggestions for the kit and education session. We recruited people with lived experience of opioid overdose, community representatives, and other stakeholders from family practice, emergency medicine, addictions medicine, and public health to participate in a one-day facilitated co-design discussion wherein large and small group discussions were audio-recorded, transcribed and analysed using thematic approaches.
Results

A total of twenty four participants participated in the multi-stakeholder workshop from five stakeholder groups including geographic and setting diversity. Collaborative dialogue and shared storytelling which revealed seven design considerations: recognizing overdose, how much naloxone, impact of stigma, legal risk of responding, position as conventional first aid, friends and family as responders, support to call 911.
Conclusion

To create an open access kit and ultra-brief education session for distribution in emergency departments, family practice and substance use treatment services, stigma is a central design consideration. Design choices that reference the iconography, type, and form of materials associated with first aid have the potential to satisfy the need to de-stigmatize overdose response.


Proceedings: AACR 102nd Annual Meeting 2011‐‐ Apr 2‐6, 2011; Orlando, FL

The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitors, erlotinib and gefitinib, are effective therapies for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with somatic mutations in EGFR. However, all patients eventually develop resistance (i.e., acquired resistance) to these agents. Thus, there is a great challenge and urgent need to understand the underlying mechanism so as to develop effective strategies to overcome the resistance. Eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4E (eIF4E) is the rate-limiting factor for cap-dependent translation initiation, a well known mechanism that regulates oncogenesis. In human cancers, increased eIF4E expression has been documented repeatedly to be associated with malignant progression. Accordingly therapeutic suppression of eIF4E expression (e.g., with eIF4E antisense oligonucleotides) effectively reduces tumor growth. However, the role of eIF4E in regulation of erlotinib resistance has not been studied. In this study, we detected increased levels of eIF4E in 16 human NSCLC cell lines compared with their normal bronchial epithelial cells. Consistently, human tissue array analysis showed that eIF4E expression was significantly higher in human NSCLC tissues than normal tissues. Inhibition of eIF4E using eIF4E siRNA substantially inhibited the growth of NSCLC cells. These data suggest that eIF4E overexpression plays a crucial role in supporting the growth of NSCLC cells. By SILAC proteomic and subsequent Western blot analysis, we found that eIF4E levels were substantially elevated in erlotinib-resistant cell line (i.e., HCC827/ER) compared with the sensitive parental cell line (i.e., HCC827). In agreement, assembly of the eIF4F cap complex and several oncogenic proteins such as HIF1α, c-Myc, and Mcl-1, which are regulated by the cap-dependent translation mechanism, were also increased in HCC827/ER cells. Thus, it appears that erlotinib-resistant cells exhibit elevated eIF4E expression and cap-dependent translation. Inhibition of eIF4E with either siRNA or the small molecule eIF4E inhibitor, 4EGI-1, in HCC828/ER cells, partially restored cell sensitivity to erlotinib, suggesting that elevated eIF4E in part contributes to development of erlotinib resistance. In addition, we detected increased levels of eIF4E mRNA in HCC827/ER cells, suggesting that elevated levels of elF4E protein are likely due to increased transcription. Our ongoing work is devoted to understand how eIF4E levels are elevated during the development of erlotinib resistance. (This study was supported by the Georgia Cancer Coalition Distinguished Cancer Scholar award, NIH/NCI RO1 CA118450 and PO1 CA116676, and Emory Winship Cancer Institute CCB seed grant; SY Sun, FR Khuri, SS Ramaligam and RK Owonikoko are Georgia Cancer Coalition Distinguished Cancer Scholars)

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 1953. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-1953


The aim of this study was to document receptive and expressive language levels and reading skills achieved by Mandarin-speaking children who had received cochlear implants (CIs) and used them for 4.75–7.42 years. The effects of possible associated factors were also analyzed. Standardized Mandarin language and reading tests were administered to 39 prelingually deaf children with Nucleus 24 devices. The Mandarin Chinese version of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test was used to assess their receptive vocabulary knowledge and the Revised Primary School Language Assessment Test for their receptive and expressive language skills. The Graded Chinese Character Recognition Test was used to test their written word recognition ability and the Reading Comprehension Test for their reading comprehension ability. Raw scores from both language and reading measurements were compared to normative data of nor- mal-hearing children to obtain standard scores. The results showed that the mean standard score for receptive vocabulary measurement and the mean T scores for the receptive language, expressive language and total language measurement were all in the low-average range in comparison to the normative sample. In contrast, the mean T scores for word and text reading comprehension were almost the same as for their age-matched hearing counterparts. Among all children with CIs, 75.7% scored within or above the normal range of their age-matched hearing peers on receptive vocabulary measurement. For total language, Chinese word recognition and reading scores, 71.8, 77 and 82% of children with CIs were age appropriate, respectively. A strong correlation was found between language and reading skills. Age at implantation and sentence perception scores account for 37% of variance for total language outcome. Sentence perception scores and preimplantation residual hearing were revealed to be associated with the outcome of reading comprehension. We concluded that by using standard tests, the language development and reading skill of Mandarin-speaking children who use CIs from a young age appear to fall within the normal range of their hearing age mates, at least after 4.8–7.4 years of experience. However, to fully evaluate the fine linguistic skills of these subjects, a more detailed study and longer follow-up period are needed.


Abstract Schmidt-hammer exposure-age dating (SHD) of boulders on cryoplanation terrace treads and associated bedrock cliff faces revealed Holocene ages ranging from 0 ± 825 to 8890 ± 1185 yr. The cliffs were significantly younger than the inner treads, which tended to be younger than the outer treads. Radiocarbon dates from the regolith of 3854 to 4821 cal yr BP (2σ range) indicated maximum rates of cliff recession of ~0.1 mm/yr, which suggests the onset of terrace formation before the last glacial maximum. Age, angularity, and size of clasts, together with planation across bedrock structures and the seepage of groundwater from the cliff foot, all support a process-based conceptual model of cryoplanation terrace development in which frost weathering leads to parallel cliff recession and, hence, terrace extension. The availability of groundwater during autumn freezeback is viewed as critical for frost wedging and/or the growth of segregation ice during prolonged winter frost penetration. Permafrost promotes cryoplanation by providing an impermeable frost table beneath the active layer, focusing groundwater flow, and supplying water for sediment transport by solifluction across the tread. Snow beds are considered an effect rather than a cause of cryoplanation terraces, and cryoplanation is seen as distinct from nivation.