Cognitive Development in Early Readers.

Science.gov (United States)

Briggs, Chari; Elkind, David

Some studies of early readers are discussed. It is pointed out that study of early readers has relevance for practical and theoretical issues in psychology and education. Of interest in this document are the following questions: (1) Are there any special talents or traits distinguishing early from non-early readers? (2) Do children who read early…

E-book Reader Devices and Libraries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pažur, I.

2011-03-01

Full Text Available Most library studies thematically related to electronic books don't consider readers of electronic books. Only in recent years librarians conduct studies in which they want to find out readers' opinions about the possibilities, advantages and disadvantages of reading using e-readers, as well as their possible application in the libraries.User studies of e-readers have shown that their opinion is generally positive, but great attachment to traditional books is still present, e-readers are still seen only as an additional tool for reading. Sony with its e-reader (the latest Reader model Daily and Reader Store online bookstore (http://ebookstore.sony.com/is the only one who cooperate with libraries and has made lending electronic books possible. Cooperation was launched in 2009th,and the New York Public Library was the first library that offered such a service.Cooperation between Sony and libraries, indicates clearly what the near future could be if other online booksellers / publishers begin to follow the model of lending e-books through the libraries over the network. However it is possible that a large online bookstores / publishers consider that the further price reduction of e-readers and electronic books will constantly increase their sales, and in that case lending e-books will be unnecessary.Are the libraries ready for this scenario?

Postmodern theories about readers in electronic environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ivanka Kuić

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Introductory part of the paper discusses theories about readers in the last decades of the 20th century. In particular, two big theoretical schools are discussed: aesthetic reception theory and reader-response-criticism movement. Readers are a subject of very different scientific disciplines: literature theory, sociology, anthropology, book history and library science. The idea that a reader is an essential subject for future life of a literary work is common to all theorists. By constructing the theory about a reader, theorists have thought about the reader who uses the conventions of printed text. The issue whether these concepts correspond to electronic surroundings is discussed. Characteristics of the hypertext are emphasized as a new paradigm, and also the issue weather readers enjoys in hypertextual fiction. In conclusion, paper expands the virtual dimension of Isers's theory about interaction between the text and the reader, and also Fish's concept of “interpretative community” which may be constituted on the Internet as a flexible virtual community.

Reader performance in visual assessment of breast density using visual analogue scales: Are some readers more predictive of breast cancer?

Science.gov (United States)

Rayner, Millicent; Harkness, Elaine F.; Foden, Philip; Wilson, Mary; Gadde, Soujanya; Beetles, Ursula; Lim, Yit Y.; Jain, Anil; Bundred, Sally; Barr, Nicky; Evans, D. Gareth; Howell, Anthony; Maxwell, Anthony; Astley, Susan M.

2018-03-01

Mammographic breast density is one of the strongest risk factors for breast cancer, and is used in risk prediction and for deciding appropriate imaging strategies. In the Predicting Risk Of Cancer At Screening (PROCAS) study, percent density estimated by two readers on Visual Analogue Scales (VAS) has shown a strong relationship with breast cancer risk when assessed against automated methods. However, this method suffers from reader variability. This study aimed to assess the performance of PROCAS readers using VAS, and to identify those most predictive of breast cancer. We selected the seven readers who had estimated density on over 6,500 women including at least 100 cancer cases, analysing their performance using multivariable logistic regression and Receiver Operator Characteristic (ROC) analysis. All seven readers showed statistically significant odds ratios (OR) for cancer risk according to VAS score after adjusting for classical risk factors. The OR was greatest for reader 18 at 1.026 (95% Cl 1.018-1.034). Adjusted Area Under the ROC Curves (AUCs) were statistically significant for all readers, but greatest for reader 14 at 0.639. Further analysis of the VAS scores for these two readers showed reader 14 had higher sensitivity (78.0% versus 42.2%), whereas reader 18 had higher specificity (78.0% versus 46.0%). Our results demonstrate individual differences when assigning VAS scores; one better identified those with increased risk, whereas another better identified low risk individuals. However, despite their different strengths, both readers showed similar predictive abilities overall. Standardised training for VAS may improve reader variability and consistency of VAS scoring.

A novel method for inferring RFID tag reader recordings into clinical events.

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Yung-Ting; Syed-Abdul, Shabbir; Tsai, Chung-You; Li, Yu-Chuan

2011-12-01

Nosocomial infections (NIs) are among the important indicators used for evaluating patients' safety and hospital performance during accreditation of hospitals. NI rate is higher in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) than in the general wards because patients require intense care involving both invasive and non-invasive clinical procedures. The emergence of Superbugs is motivating health providers to enhance infection control measures. Contact behavior between health caregivers and patients is one of the main causes of cross infections. In this technology driven era remote monitoring of patients and caregivers in the hospital setting can be performed reliably, and thus is in demand. Proximity sensing using radio frequency identification (RFID) technology can be helpful in capturing and keeping track on all contact history between health caregivers and patients for example. This study intended to extend the use of proximity sensing of radio frequency identification technology by proposing a model for inferring RFID tag reader recordings into clinical events. The aims of the study are twofold. The first aim is to set up a Contact History Inferential Model (CHIM) between health caregivers and patients. The second is to verify CHIM with real-time observation done at the ICU ward. A pre-study was conducted followed by two study phases. During the pre-study proximity sensing of RFID was tested, and deployment of the RFID in the Clinical Skill Center in one of the medical centers in Taiwan was done. We simulated clinical events and developed CHIM using variables such as duration of time, frequency, and identity (tag) numbers assigned to caregivers. All clinical proximity events are classified into close-in events, contact events and invasive events. During the first phase three observers were recruited to do real time recordings of all clinical events in the Clinical Skill Center with the deployed automated RFID interaction recording system. The observations were used to verify

Crash course in readers' advisory

CERN Document Server

Orr, Cynthia

2014-01-01

One of the key services librarians provide is helping readers find books they'll enjoy. This ""crash course"" will furnish you with the basic, practical information you need to excel at readers' advisory (RA) for adults and teens.

The Routledge Applied Linguistics Reader

Science.gov (United States)

Wei, Li, Ed.

2011-01-01

"The Routledge Applied Linguistics Reader" is an essential collection of readings for students of Applied Linguistics. Divided into five sections: Language Teaching and Learning, Second Language Acquisition, Applied Linguistics, Identity and Power and Language Use in Professional Contexts, the "Reader" takes a broad…

Identification of the epigenetic reader CBX2 as a potential drug target in advanced prostate cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Clermont, Pier-Luc; Crea, Francesco; Chiang, Yan Ting; Lin, Dong; Zhang, Amy; Wang, James Z L; Parolia, Abhijit; Wu, Rebecca; Xue, Hui; Wang, Yuwei; Ding, Jiarui; Thu, Kelsie L; Lam, Wan L; Shah, Sohrab P; Collins, Colin C; Wang, Yuzhuo; Helgason, Cheryl D

2016-01-01

While localized prostate cancer (PCa) can be effectively cured, metastatic disease inevitably progresses to a lethal state called castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). Emerging evidence suggests that aberrant epigenetic repression by the polycomb group (PcG) complexes fuels PCa progression, providing novel therapeutic opportunities. In the search for potential epigenetic drivers of CRPC, we analyzed the molecular profile of PcG members in patient-derived xenografts and clinical samples. Overall, our results identify the PcG protein and methyl-lysine reader CBX2 as a potential therapeutic target in advanced PCa. We report that CBX2 was recurrently up-regulated in metastatic CRPC and that elevated CBX2 expression was correlated with poor clinical outcome in PCa cohorts. Furthermore, CBX2 depletion abrogated cell viability and induced caspase 3-mediated apoptosis in metastatic PCa cell lines. Mechanistically explaining this phenotype, microarray analysis in CBX2-depleted cells revealed that CBX2 controls the expression of many key regulators of cell proliferation and metastasis. Taken together, this study provides the first evidence that CBX2 inhibition induces cancer cell death, positioning CBX2 as an attractive drug target in lethal CRPC.

A new fully automated TLD badge reader

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kannan, S.; Ratna, P.; Kulkarni, M.S.

2003-01-01

At present personnel monitoring in India is being carried out using a number of manual and semiautomatic TLD badge Readers and the BARC TL dosimeter badge designed during 1970. Of late the manual TLD badge readers are almost completely replaced by semiautomatic readers with a number of performance improvements like use of hot gas heating to reduce the readout time considerably. PC based design with storage of glow curve for every dosimeter, on-line dose computation and printout of dose reports, etc. However the semiautomatic system suffers from the lack of a machine readable ID code on the badge and the physical design of the dosimeter card not readily compatible for automation. This paper describes a fully automated TLD badge Reader developed in the RSS Division, using a new TLD badge with machine readable ID code. The new PC based reader has a built-in reader for reading the ID code, in the form of an array of holes, on the dosimeter card. The reader has a number of self-diagnostic features to ensure a high degree of reliability. (author)

The differential effects of position, ad and reader characteristics on readers' processing of newspaper ads

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Smit, E.G.; Neijens, P.C.; Heath, R.

2013-01-01

Building on previous research on the processing of newspaper ads, this comprehensive field study, with 26,556 newspaper readers and 290 unique advertisements, investigated the combined effects of position in the newspaper, ad characteristics and reader characteristics. The results show a

E-Book Readers in Higher Education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arthur N. Olsen

2013-04-01

Full Text Available This article reports on a research project at the University of Agder that has studied the use of e-readers as a tool for academic study. E-readers (Kindle DX and iPad were loaded with texts from required reading lists in five courses with 94 participating students. Initially, 87 students responded to the invitation to participate in a survey, but eventually 13 of these submissions had to be removed, as the degree of completion was not sufficient. The final response rate achieved was 79%. Students were in general positive to the use of e-readers but still show a preference for print on paper as the best medium for serious academic study. When reading books, 54% preferred print, 28% a combination of print and e-reader, and finally only 11% were satisfied solely using an e-reader. The iPad scored significantly better than the Kindle DX on tasks that required active interaction with the texts such as highlighting and note taking.

Effects of Training in Constructing Graphic Organizers on Disabled Readers' Summarization and Recognition of Expository Text Structure.

Science.gov (United States)

Weisberg, Renee; Balajthy, Ernest

A study investigated the effects of training in the use of graphic organizers on the summarization strategies of disabled readers. Subjects, 21 disabled readers (with a mean age of 13 years, 7 months) from a reading clinic, received 5 hours of training in the use of graphic organizers to map expository passages. Instruction included training in…

Scoring sacroiliac joints by magnetic resonance imaging. A multiple-reader reliability experiment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Landewe, Robert B.M.; Hermann, Kay Geert A; Van Der Heijde, Desiree M.F.M

2005-01-01

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the sacroiliac (SI) joints and the spine is increasingly important in the assessment of inflammatory activity and structural damage in clinical trials with patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS). We investigated inter-reader reliability and sensitivity...

A Sign Language Screen Reader for Deaf

Science.gov (United States)

El Ghoul, Oussama; Jemni, Mohamed

Screen reader technology has appeared first to allow blind and people with reading difficulties to use computer and to access to the digital information. Until now, this technology is exploited mainly to help blind community. During our work with deaf people, we noticed that a screen reader can facilitate the manipulation of computers and the reading of textual information. In this paper, we propose a novel screen reader dedicated to deaf. The output of the reader is a visual translation of the text to sign language. The screen reader is composed by two essential modules: the first one is designed to capture the activities of users (mouse and keyboard events). For this purpose, we adopted Microsoft MSAA application programming interfaces. The second module, which is in classical screen readers a text to speech engine (TTS), is replaced by a novel text to sign (TTSign) engine. This module converts text into sign language animation based on avatar technology.

Assessing reader performance in radiology, an imperfect science: Lessons from breast screening

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Soh, B.P., E-mail: bsoh6456@uni.sydney.edu.au [Medical Image Optimisation and Perception Group (MIOPeG), Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Sydney, Lidcombe, NSW (Australia); Lee, W.; Kench, P.L.; Reed, W.M.; McEntee, M.F.; Poulos, A.; Brennan, P.C. [Medical Image Optimisation and Perception Group (MIOPeG), Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Sydney, Lidcombe, NSW (Australia)

2012-07-15

The purpose of this article is to review the limitations associated with current methods of assessing reader accuracy in mammography screening programmes. Clinical audit is commonly used as a quality-assurance tool to monitor the performance of screen readers; however, a number of the metrics employed, such as recall rate as a surrogate for specificity, do not always accurately measure the intended clinical feature. Alternatively, standardized screening test sets, which benefit from ease of application, immediacy of results, and quicker assessment of quality improvement plans, suffer from experimental confounders, thus questioning the relevance of these laboratory-type screening test sets to clinical performance. Four key factors that impact on the external validity of screening test sets were identified: the nature and extent of scrutiny of one's action, the artificiality of the environment, the over-simplification of responses, and prevalence of abnormality. The impact of these factors on radiological and other contexts is discussed, and although it is important to acknowledge the benefit of standardized screening test sets, issues relating to the relevance of test sets to clinical activities remain. The degree of correlation between performance based on real-life clinical audit and performances at screen read test sets must be better understood and specific causal agents for any lack of correlation identified.

Report Card on Basal Readers.

Science.gov (United States)

Goodman, Kenneth S.; And Others

This report examines the nature of the modern basal reader, its economics, and use. First, the report provides a history showing how the confluence of business principles, positivistic science, and behavioral psychology led to the transformation of reading textbooks into basal readers. Next, the report examines objectives and subjective factors…

When High-Capacity Readers Slow Down and Low-Capacity Readers Speed Up: Working Memory and Locality Effects.

Science.gov (United States)

Nicenboim, Bruno; Logačev, Pavel; Gattei, Carolina; Vasishth, Shravan

2016-01-01

We examined the effects of argument-head distance in SVO and SOV languages (Spanish and German), while taking into account readers' working memory capacity and controlling for expectation (Levy, 2008) and other factors. We predicted only locality effects, that is, a slowdown produced by increased dependency distance (Gibson, 2000; Lewis and Vasishth, 2005). Furthermore, we expected stronger locality effects for readers with low working memory capacity. Contrary to our predictions, low-capacity readers showed faster reading with increased distance, while high-capacity readers showed locality effects. We suggest that while the locality effects are compatible with memory-based explanations, the speedup of low-capacity readers can be explained by an increased probability of retrieval failure. We present a computational model based on ACT-R built under the previous assumptions, which is able to give a qualitative account for the present data and can be tested in future research. Our results suggest that in some cases, interpreting longer RTs as indexing increased processing difficulty and shorter RTs as facilitation may be too simplistic: The same increase in processing difficulty may lead to slowdowns in high-capacity readers and speedups in low-capacity ones. Ignoring individual level capacity differences when investigating locality effects may lead to misleading conclusions.

Contrast-enhanced spectral mammography vs. mammography and MRI - clinical performance in a multi-reader evaluation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fallenberg, Eva M.; Schmitzberger, Florian F.; Amer, Heba; Engelken, Florian; Bick, Ulrich; Hamm, Bernd [Charite Universitaetsmedizin Berlin, Clinic of Radiology, Campus Virchow-Klinikum, Berlin (Germany); Ingold-Heppner, Barbara [Charite - Universitaetsmedizin Berlin, Institut of Pathology, Berlin (Germany); Balleyguier, Corinne; Dromain, Clarisse [Gustave Roussy Cancer Campus, Department of Radiology, Villejuif (France); Diekmann, Felix [St. Joseph-Stift Bremen, Department of Medical Imaging, Bremen (Germany); Mann, Ritse M. [Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Department of Radiology, Nijmegen (Netherlands); Renz, Diane M. [Universitaetsklinikum Jena, Department of Radiology, Jena (Germany)

2017-07-15

To compare the diagnostic performance of contrast-enhanced spectral mammography (CESM) to digital mammography (MG) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in a prospective two-centre, multi-reader study. One hundred seventy-eight women (mean age 53 years) with invasive breast cancer and/or DCIS were included after ethics board approval. MG, CESM and CESM + MG were evaluated by three blinded radiologists based on amended ACR BI-RADS criteria. MRI was assessed by another group of three readers. Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curves were compared. Size measurements for the 70 lesions detected by all readers in each modality were correlated with pathology. Reading results for 604 lesions were available (273 malignant, 4 high-risk, 327 benign). The area under the ROC curve was significantly larger for CESM alone (0.84) and CESM + MG (0.83) compared to MG (0.76) (largest advantage in dense breasts) while it was not significantly different from MRI (0.85). Pearson correlation coefficients for size comparison were 0.61 for MG, 0.69 for CESM, 0.70 for CESM + MG and 0.79 for MRI. This study showed that CESM, alone and in combination with MG, is as accurate as MRI but is superior to MG for lesion detection. Patients with dense breasts benefitted most from CESM with the smallest additional dose compared to MG. (orig.)

[Survey among readers of the Tijdschrift voor Psychiatrie].

Science.gov (United States)

Brandt-Dominicus, J C; van Harten, P N

2006-01-01

The editorial board has defined the objectives of this journal as follows: to provide its readers with refreshing information, to report the results of scientific research and to build bridges between research and everyday practice. To find out what readers want and whether they support the board's objectives, and to use this information in planning the contents of future issues of the journal. All readers were invited to complete a questionnaire either on paper or via the website. Questionnaires were completed by 255 readers (response rate 5.7%). The average rating on a 5-point Likert scale was 3.8. Thematic issues and issues devoted to book reviews were given a high rating. There seems to be a demandfor evidence-based medicine, the inclusion of scientific results reported in other journals and practice-based articles. No significant differences were found between the views expressed by readers who had previously submitted an article for publication and those who had not, nor between Flemish readers and Dutch readers. The website was not visited very often. The Tijdschrift voor Psychiatrie is greatly appreciated by its readers. They are largely in agreement with the objectives formulated by the editorial board. Thematic issues are highly rated and many subjects are mentioned by the readers for future issues. The low response to the survey can affect its representativity. The editorial board will take readers' wishes into consideration when selecting material for future issues of the journal.

21 CFR 886.5800 - Ophthalmic bar reader.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 8 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Ophthalmic bar reader. 886.5800 Section 886.5800...) MEDICAL DEVICES OPHTHALMIC DEVICES Therapeutic Devices § 886.5800 Ophthalmic bar reader. (a) Identification. An ophthalmic bar reader is a device that consists of a magnifying lens intended for use by a...

Making a Commitment to Strategic-Reader Training

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

FREDRICKA L. STOLLER; REIKO KOMIYAMA

2013-01-01

Skilled readers by definition are strategic; they are able to use a repertoire of reading strategies , flexibly and in meaningful combinations , to achieve their reading comprehension goals . Thus , one of the aims of foreign and second language (L2) reading curricula should be to move students toward becoming more strategic readers . This curricular orientation can be best achieved when a strong commitment is made to strategic-reader training as a regular and consistent component of instruction across the curriculum . To explore this stance , we examine the reading strategies used by skilled readers , contrast teaching strategies with training strategic readers ( i .e . , strategic-reader training) , and examine five strategic-reader training approaches from first language contexts that can be adapted by L2 professionals to enhance the reading instruction offered in their L 2 classes . The five approaches targeted for exploration include Directed Reading-Thinking Activity , Reciprocal Teaching , Transactional Strategies Instruction , Questioning the Author , and Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction . Though distinct from one another , they all acknowledge the importance of explicit explanations about strategies (or reminders about the use of select strategies) , teacher modeling , scaffolded tasks , active student engagement , student practice , classroom discussions of strategy use , and the gradual release of responsibility to students who eventually decide for themselves (and/or with peers) when , where , and why to use which strategies to achieve their comprehension goals . We conclude with a discussion of the challenges , and suggestions for overcoming them , that L 2 teachers and students often face in making a commitment to strategic-reader training .

Contrast-enhanced spectral mammography vs. mammography and MRI - clinical performance in a multi-reader evaluation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Fallenberg, E.M.; Schmitzberger, F.F.; Amer, H.; Ingold-Heppner, B.; Balleyguier, C.; Diekmann, F.; Engelken, F.; Mann, R.M.; Renz, D.M.; Bick, U.; Hamm, B.; Dromain, C.

2017-01-01

OBJECTIVES: To compare the diagnostic performance of contrast-enhanced spectral mammography (CESM) to digital mammography (MG) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in a prospective two-centre, multi-reader study. METHODS: One hundred seventy-eight women (mean age 53 years) with invasive breast

CUZCO READER.

Science.gov (United States)

SOLA, DONALD F.

WRITTEN TO ACCOMPANY THE SPOKEN CUZCO QUECHUA MATERIALS, THIS READER CONSISTS OF SHORT SELECTIONS ACTUALLY RECORDED IN THE FIELD AND REPRESENTING SEVERAL SUBDIALECTS SPOKEN IN RURAL SECTIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF CUZCO, PERU. INCLUDED ARE DIALOGS, STORIES, SONGS, CULTURAL SELECTIONS, AND INTERVIEWS. THE FORMAT GIVES THE CUZCO QUECHUA DIALECT AND…

Cyber Literature: A Reader – Writer Interactivity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fathu Rahman

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Cyber Literature is a term known since the coming of the internet which brings a convenience, changing habit and world view. This study is a survey-based on respondents’ opinion about the existence of cyber literature on social media; of its benefit and impact to the reader. This study limits to the poems on Facebook group. The reason is simple; it favors the short form. For the study of a reader-writer interactivity in cyber literature is more likely on poetry. The approach is reader response literary theory with focus on the reader-writer interactivity on Facebook. This research aimed at uncovering the motivation of readers to response the uploaded text, the reasons why they love it and what its advantages. The results showed that cyber literature is successfully to introduce a new literary genre as well as to raise motivation and creativity of authors to make use the internet space.

The active reader: what is active?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Woerkum, van C.

2012-01-01

How writers can adapt to their readers is an important issue in effective communication strategies, and certainly crucial in the case of functional texts. Therefore, it is necessary to look at how readers are constructed as partners in a communication co-production. This article explores the concept

When high-capacity readers slow down and low-capacity readers speed up: Working memory and locality effects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bruno eNicenboim

2016-03-01

Full Text Available We examined the effects of argument-head distance in SVO and SOV languages (Spanish and German, while taking into account readers’ working memory capacity and controlling for expectation (Levy, 2008 and other factors. We predicted only locality effects, that is, a slow-down produced by increased dependency distance (Gibson, 2000; Lewis & Vasishth, 2005. Furthermore, we expected stronger locality effects for readers with low working memory capacity. Contrary to our predictions, low-capacity readers showed faster reading with increased distance, while high-capacity readers showed locality effects. We suggest that while the locality effects are compatible with memory-based explanations, the speedup of low-capacity readers can be explained by an increased probability of retrieval failure. We present a computational model based on ACT-R built under the previous assumptions, which is able to give a qualitative account for the present data and can be tested in future research. Our results suggest that in some cases, interpreting longer RTs as indexing increased processing difficulty and shorter RTs as facilitation may be too simplistic: The same increase in processing difficulty may lead to slowdowns in high-capacity readers and speedups in low-capacity ones. Ignoring individual level capacity differences when investigating locality effects may lead to misleading conclusions.

Using Readers' Theater with Multicultural Literature

Science.gov (United States)

Weisenburger, Stephanie

2009-01-01

The author needed a way to engage her students in the reading process and found one extremely successful strategy: using Readers' Theater. Readers' Theater "dramatizes" literature through a classroom performance and provides visual and oral stimulus to students who are not used to using imagination to appreciate literary texts. It involves a…

Process Synchronization with Readers and Writers Revisited

OpenAIRE

Kawash, Jalal

2005-01-01

The readers-writers problem is one of the very well known problems in concurrency theory. It was first introduced by Courtois et.al. in 1971 [1] and requires the synchronization of processes trying to read and write a shared resource. Several readers are allowed to access the resource simultaneously, but a writer must be given exclusive access to that resource. Courtois et.al. gave semaphore-based solutions to what they called the first and second readers-writers problems. Both of their solut...

High production of llama variable heavy-chain antibody fragment (VHH) fused to various reader proteins by Aspergillus oryzae.

Science.gov (United States)

Hisada, Hiromoto; Tsutsumi, Hiroko; Ishida, Hiroki; Hata, Yoji

2013-01-01

Llama variable heavy-chain antibody fragment (VHH) fused to four different reader proteins was produced and secreted in culture medium by Aspergillus oryzae. These fusion proteins consisted of N-terminal reader proteins, VHH, and a C-terminal his-tag sequence which facilitated purification using one-step his-tag affinity chromatography. SDS-PAGE analysis of the deglycosylated purified fusion proteins confirmed that the molecular weight of each corresponded to the expected sum of VHH and the respective reader proteins. The apparent high molecular weight reader protein glucoamylase (GlaB) was found to be suitable for efficient VHH production. The GlaB-VHH-His protein bound its antigen, human chorionic gonadotropin, and was detectable by a new ELISA-based method using a coupled assay with glucoamylase, glucose oxidase, peroxidase, maltose, and 3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine as substrates. Addition of potassium phosphate to the culture medium induced secretion of 0.61 mg GlaB-VHH-His protein/ml culture medium in 5 days.

LESS SKILLED READERS HAVE LESS EFFICIENT SUPPRESSION MECHANISMS.

Science.gov (United States)

Gernsbacher, Morton Ann

1993-09-01

One approach to understanding the component processes and mechanisms underlying adult reading skill is to compare the performance of more skilled and less skilled readers on laboratory experiments. The results of some recent experiments employing this approach demonstrate that less skilled adult readers suppress less efficiently the inappropriate meanings of ambiguous words (e.g., the playing card vs. garden tool meanings of spade ), the incorrect forms of homophones (e.g., patients vs. patience ), the typical-but-absent members of scenes (e.g., a tractor in a farm scene), and words superimposed on pictures. Less skilled readers are not less efficient in activating contextually appropriate information; in fact, they activate contextually appropriate information more strongly than more skilled readers do. Therefore, one conclusion that can be drawn from these experiments is that less skilled adult readers suffer from less efficient suppression mechanisms.

How to diagnose any type of TLD Reader?; Como diagnosticar cualquier tipo de TLD Reader?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rodriguez, Manuel Lopez; Garcia, Jose A. Tamayo; Gil, Alex Vergara; Lores, Stefan Gutierrez; Acosta, Andry Romero; Villanueva, Gilberto Alonso, E-mail: manolo@cphr.edu.cu, E-mail: jotag@cphr.edu.cu, E-mail: alex@cphr.edu.cu, E-mail: stefan@cphr.edu.cu, E-mail: andy@cphr.edu.cu, E-mail: gilberto@cphr.edu.cu [Centro de Proteccion e Higiene de las Radiaciones (CPHR), La Habana (Cuba)

2013-07-01

The acquisition of know how of practical experiences obtained in the repair and maintenance of readers TLD RADOS for five years of work and the request by the International Atomic Energy for signing new Research Contracts (CRP), made possible the CRP 13328, in which the specialist is committed in the course of a year, to deliver educational software in order to train personnel associated with the operation of the TLD readers RADOS. Due to the importance of continuous transfer of knowledge for new generations of technicians and specialists who join our laboratories, the idea came when the first interactive CD that grouped 19 videos, divided into three blocks was ready: learning, repair and maintenance; it was suggested to expand the training for any TLD reader. Thus a much more complete than the first version package emerged. 7 cases were subsequently published in an IAEA TECDOC, 1599 were included.

Contrast-enhanced spectral mammography vs. mammography and MRI - clinical performance in a multi-reader evaluation.

Science.gov (United States)

Fallenberg, Eva M; Schmitzberger, Florian F; Amer, Heba; Ingold-Heppner, Barbara; Balleyguier, Corinne; Diekmann, Felix; Engelken, Florian; Mann, Ritse M; Renz, Diane M; Bick, Ulrich; Hamm, Bernd; Dromain, Clarisse

2017-07-01

To compare the diagnostic performance of contrast-enhanced spectral mammography (CESM) to digital mammography (MG) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in a prospective two-centre, multi-reader study. One hundred seventy-eight women (mean age 53 years) with invasive breast cancer and/or DCIS were included after ethics board approval. MG, CESM and CESM + MG were evaluated by three blinded radiologists based on amended ACR BI-RADS criteria. MRI was assessed by another group of three readers. Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curves were compared. Size measurements for the 70 lesions detected by all readers in each modality were correlated with pathology. Reading results for 604 lesions were available (273 malignant, 4 high-risk, 327 benign). The area under the ROC curve was significantly larger for CESM alone (0.84) and CESM + MG (0.83) compared to MG (0.76) (largest advantage in dense breasts) while it was not significantly different from MRI (0.85). Pearson correlation coefficients for size comparison were 0.61 for MG, 0.69 for CESM, 0.70 for CESM + MG and 0.79 for MRI. This study showed that CESM, alone and in combination with MG, is as accurate as MRI but is superior to MG for lesion detection. Patients with dense breasts benefitted most from CESM with the smallest additional dose compared to MG. • CESM has comparable diagnostic performance (ROC-AUC) to MRI for breast cancer diagnostics. • CESM in combination with MG does not improve diagnostic performance. • CESM has lower sensitivity but higher specificity than MRI. • Sensitivity differences are more pronounced in dense and not significant in non-dense breasts. • CESM and MRI are significantly superior to MG, particularly in dense breasts.

Reader responses to literary depictions of rape

NARCIS (Netherlands)

E.M. Koopman (Emy); M. Hilscher (Michelle); G.C. Cupchik (Gerald)

2012-01-01

textabstractThis study explored reader responses to different literary depictions of rape. Four literary excerpts were used and divided as aesthetic versus nonaesthetic (style) and allusive versus explicit (detail). The general question was how readers would react to literary fragments depicting

Metacognition and Reading: Comparing Three Forms of Metacognition in Normally Developing Readers and Readers with Dyslexia.

Science.gov (United States)

Furnes, Bjarte; Norman, Elisabeth

2015-08-01

Metacognition refers to 'cognition about cognition' and includes metacognitive knowledge, strategies and experiences (Efklides, 2008; Flavell, 1979). Research on reading has shown that better readers demonstrate more metacognitive knowledge than poor readers (Baker & Beall, 2009), and that reading ability improves through strategy instruction (Gersten, Fuchs, Williams, & Baker, 2001). The current study is the first to specifically compare the three forms of metacognition in dyslexic (N = 22) versus normally developing readers (N = 22). Participants read two factual texts, with learning outcome measured by a memory task. Metacognitive knowledge and skills were assessed by self-report. Metacognitive experiences were measured by predictions of performance and judgments of learning. Individuals with dyslexia showed insight into their reading problems, but less general knowledge of how to approach text reading. They more often reported lack of available reading strategies, but groups did not differ in the use of deep and surface strategies. Learning outcome and mean ratings of predictions of performance and judgments of learning were lower in dyslexic readers, but not the accuracy with which metacognitive experiences predicted learning. Overall, the results indicate that dyslexic reading and spelling problems are not generally associated with lower levels of metacognitive knowledge, metacognitive strategies or sensitivity to metacognitive experiences in reading situations. 2015 The Authors. Dyslexia Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

E-Books on the Mobile E-Reader

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chulyun Kim

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The market for e-books has been established during the past several years. Many e-book readers are commercially available, and millions of e-book titles are available for purchase or free download. E-paper technology has matured enough to be used as the screen for dedicated e-book readers which make reading possible with the familiar feel of reading printed books. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive review of the status of the e-book, including the architecture and features of e-book readers, market adoption and e-book industry ecosystem.

Semantic and phonological coding in poor and normal readers.

Science.gov (United States)

Vellutino, F R; Scanlon, D M; Spearing, D

1995-02-01

Three studies were conducted evaluating semantic and phonological coding deficits as alternative explanations of reading disability. In the first study, poor and normal readers in second and sixth grade were compared on various tests evaluating semantic development as well as on tests evaluating rapid naming and pseudoword decoding as independent measures of phonological coding ability. In a second study, the same subjects were given verbal memory and visual-verbal learning tasks using high and low meaning words as verbal stimuli and Chinese ideographs as visual stimuli. On the semantic tasks, poor readers performed below the level of the normal readers only at the sixth grade level, but, on the rapid naming and pseudoword learning tasks, they performed below the normal readers at the second as well as at the sixth grade level. On both the verbal memory and visual-verbal learning tasks, performance in poor readers approximated that of normal readers when the word stimuli were high in meaning but not when they were low in meaning. These patterns were essentially replicated in a third study that used some of the same semantic and phonological measures used in the first experiment, and verbal memory and visual-verbal learning tasks that employed word lists and visual stimuli (novel alphabetic characters) that more closely approximated those used in learning to read. It was concluded that semantic coding deficits are an unlikely cause of reading difficulties in most poor readers at the beginning stages of reading skills acquisition, but accrue as a consequence of prolonged reading difficulties in older readers. It was also concluded that phonological coding deficits are a probable cause of reading difficulties in most poor readers.

Reader Engagement in English and Persian Applied Linguistics Articles

Science.gov (United States)

Ansarin, Ali Akbar; Tarlani-Aliabdi, Hassan

2011-01-01

There is an increasing interest in the way academic writers establish the presence of their readers over the past few years. Establishing the presence of readers or what Kroll (1984, p.181) calls imagining "a second voice" is accomplished when a writer refers "explicitly" to their readers using explicit linguistic resources…

A new microcontroller-based RADFET dosimeter reader

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vasović, Nikola D.; Ristić, Goran S.

2012-01-01

A new reader for radiation dose measurements using RADFET (pMOSFET) dosemeters has been developed. The threshold voltage (V T ) of the pMOSFETs is measured using a “one-point” method that determines V T as the gate voltage for a given drain current. Using V T , the absorbed dose, which is directly proportional to the threshold voltage shift, is calculated. The reader is based on a low cost 8-bit PIC 18F4520 microcontroller (MCU), and works independently of a personal computer, uses a touch screen and stores the data in microcontroller memory. Good agreement in threshold voltage values, obtained using a high-quality source-measure unit and the reader, was obtained. In addition, the reader can be used for threshold voltage measurement with other types of MOSFETs, especially in long duration experiments, as well as for the real-time measurements in radiotherapy, either as an autonomous system or integrated in a larger monitoring configuration.

Lesion type and reader experience affect the diagnostic accuracy of breast MRI: A multiple reader ROC study

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Baltzer, Pascal A.T., E-mail: patbaltzer@gmail.com [Department of Biomedical Imaging and Imge-guided Therapy, Medical University of Vienna, Währinger Gürtel 18-20, 1090 Vienna (Austria); Kaiser, Werner Alois [Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Hospital Jena, Erlanger Allee 101, 07740 Jena (Germany); Dietzel, Matthias, E-mail: dietzelmatthias2@hotmail.com [Department of Neuroradiology, University Hospital Erlangen, Schwabachanlage 6, 91054 Erlangen (Germany)

2015-01-15

Highlights: • The main findings of our study are, that reader experience and lesion type (i.e., mass versus non-mass enhancement) are independent predictors of the diagnostic accuracy of breast MRI. • Specifically, benign and malignant non-mass lesions cannot be differentiated with sufficient accuracy, especially if readers are not experienced. • We conclude that future research in breast MRI should focus on non-mass lesions, as these are the problem makers in modern breast MRI. - Abstract: Purpose: To evaluate the influence of lesion type (mass versus non-mass) and reader experience on the diagnostic performance of breast MRI (BMRI) in a non-screening setting. Materials and methods: Consecutive patients (mean age, 55 ± 12 years) with breast lesions that were verified by biopsy or surgery, and who had had BMRI as part of their diagnostic workup, were eligible for this retrospective single-center study. Cancers diagnosed by biopsy before BMRI were excluded to eliminate biological and interpretation bias due to biopsy or chemotherapy effects (n = 103). Six blinded readers (experience level, high (HE, n = 2); intermediate (IE, n = 2); and low (LE, n = 2)) evaluated all examinations and assigned independent MRI BI-RADS ratings. Lesion type (mass, non-mass, focal) was noted. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) and logistic regression analysis was performed to compare diagnostic accuracies. Results: There were 259 histologically verified lesions (123 malignant, 136 benign) investigated. There were 169 mass (103 malignant, 66 benign) and 48 non-mass lesions (19 malignant, 29 benign). Another 42 lesions that met the inclusion criteria were biopsied due to conventional findings (i.e., microcalcifications, architectural distortions), but did not enhance on MRI (41 benign, one DCIS). ROC analysis revealed a total area under the curve (AUC) between 0.834 (LE) and 0.935 (HI). Logistic regression identified a significant effect of non-mass lesions (P < 0.0001) and

Face-to-face with the reader

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tatiana KAIGORODOVA

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Thank you for inviting me to this meeting. I understood that it is a meeting of the editorial board with readers. But I would like to note that there is still such a small layer between the editors and readers, which is called the printing house. So it is the typography that materially embodies the ideas, thoughts and innovations of the editorial staff and the authors.

Readers Theatre plus Comprehension and Word Study

Science.gov (United States)

Young, Chase; Stokes, Faida; Rasinski, Timothy

2017-01-01

Readers Theatre has been used to introduce critical issues, promote fluency among English learners and non-English learners, teach vocabulary, and integrate content in the classroom. Previous studies of Readers Theatre application have demonstrated an increase in student reading fluency, motivation, and confidence. The focus of this systemic…

Our Readers Write ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

IAS Admin

This concerns the article 'Ashoke Sen and S-duality'. The article omits an important fact: there is absolutely no experimental evidence for string theory. Without this information, readers may think they are reading about established facts, not speculation. A string theorist, Witten, was awarded a Fields Medal, which shows that ...

Choosing the Adequate Level of Graded Readers--Preliminary Study

Science.gov (United States)

Prtljaga, Jelena; Palinkaševic, Radmila; Brkic, Jovana

2015-01-01

Graded readers have been used as second language teaching material since the end of the Second World War. They are an important source of simplified material which provides comprehensible input on all levels. It is of crucial importance for a successful usage of graded readers in the classroom and in studies which focus on graded readers, that an…

Echoic memory processes in good and poor readers.

Science.gov (United States)

Sipe, S; Engle, R W

1986-07-01

Four experiments were conducted to determine whether echoic memory plays a role in differences between good and poor readers. The first two experiments used a suffix procedure in which the subject is read a list of digits with either a tone control or the word go appended to the list. For lists that exceeded the length of the subjects memory span by one digit (i.e., that avoided ceiling effects), the poor readers showed a larger decrement in the suffix condition than did the good readers. The third experiment was directed at the question of whether the duration of echoic memory is different for good and poor readers. Children shadowed words presented to one ear at a rate determined to give 75-85% shadowing accuracy. The items presented to the nonattended ear were words and an occasional digit. At various intervals after the presentation of the digit, a light signaled that the subject was to cease shadowing and attempt to recall any digit that had occurred in the nonattended ear recently. Whereas good and poor readers recalled the digit equally if tested immediately after presentation, the poor readers showed a faster decline in recall of the digit as retention interval increased. A fourth experiment was conducted to determine whether the differences in echoic memory were specific to speech stimuli or occurred at a more basic level of aural persistence. Bursts of white noise were separated by 9-400 ms of silence and the subject was to say whether there were one or two sounds presented. There were no differences in detectability functions for good and poor readers.

Practicum Training for Teachers of Struggling Readers

Science.gov (United States)

Morris, Darrell

2011-01-01

Teachers who work with struggling beginning readers need a supervised training experience that leads them to understand both how reading ability develops and how to adapt instruction to meet the needs of individual children. The practicum, in which a teacher works with one struggling reader under the supervision of an experienced and expert…

Examining College Students’ Reading Behaviors and Needs for Ebook Readers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wei-Jane Lin

2012-12-01

Full Text Available This study investigates college students’ reading behaviors and attitudes toward print and electronic carriers of books. With the prosperity and variety of ebook readers currently, it is important to understand the genuine needs of the users to better leverage the features and functions of the ebook readers. The methodology of survey research is conducted to explore 76 undergraduate students’ experiences, preferences and appraisals toward reading via the print books and ebook readers. Generally the college students possess positive attitudes toward and are willing to take advantage of the ebook and ebook reader services provided by libraries, but the current rate of use is low. The results suggested that student adoption of ebook readers are affected by their goals of reading. The college students prefer ebook readers significantly for leisure reading, and highly demand the functionality of multimedia presentations and file management. When reading academic contexts, the college students preferred hardcovers and online ebooks via the Web browser, and they value the functions of searching, marking and file management on ebook readers especially. [Article content in Chinese

Skilled deaf readers have an enhanced perceptual span in reading.

Science.gov (United States)

Bélanger, Nathalie N; Slattery, Timothy J; Mayberry, Rachel I; Rayner, Keith

2012-07-01

Recent evidence suggests that, compared with hearing people, deaf people have enhanced visual attention to simple stimuli viewed in the parafovea and periphery. Although a large part of reading involves processing the fixated words in foveal vision, readers also utilize information in parafoveal vision to preprocess upcoming words and decide where to look next. In the study reported here, we investigated whether auditory deprivation affects low-level visual processing during reading by comparing the perceptual span of deaf signers who were skilled and less-skilled readers with the perceptual span of skilled hearing readers. Compared with hearing readers, the two groups of deaf readers had a larger perceptual span than would be expected given their reading ability. These results provide the first evidence that deaf readers' enhanced attentional allocation to the parafovea is used during complex cognitive tasks, such as reading.

Readers and Texts in the Primary Years. Rethinking Reading.

Science.gov (United States)

Martin, Tony; Leather, Bob

Exploring the responses of a variety of readers from three-year-old Dominic sharing a picture book with his father to adults reading a poem by Ted Hughes, this book examines the ways in which various readers respond to different texts. The aim of the book is to develop an awareness of the issues involved in readers' responses for primary teachers.…

Teaching the Total Language with Readers Theatre.

Science.gov (United States)

Goodman, Jess A., Jr.

Reading, writing, speech assignments for special education classes, English as a second language and many other classroom projects can be taught through the involvement created by Readers Theatre. Readers Theatre is the presentation of dialogue-type material in play form. The actors hold the script as they move through it and a narrator's voice…

Journal of Clipped Words in Reader's Digest Magazine

OpenAIRE

Simanjuntak, Lestari

2012-01-01

This study deals with Clipped Words in the “Laughter, the Best Medicine” of Reader's Digest. The objectives of the study are to find out the types of clipped words which are used in the “Laughter, the Best Medicine” of Reader's Digest, to find out sthe dominantly used in the whole story and to reason the dominant clipped word use in the text. The study use descriptive qualitative method. The data were collected from seventeen selected Reader's Digest which contains the clipped word by applie...

Next Generation Model 8800 Automatic TLD Reader

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Velbeck, K.J.; Streetz, K.L.; Rotunda, J.E.

1999-01-01

BICRON NE has developed an advanced version of the Model 8800 Automatic TLD Reader. Improvements in the reader include a Windows NT TM -based operating system and a Pentium microprocessor for the host controller, a servo-controlled transport, a VGA display, mouse control, and modular assembly. This high capacity reader will automatically read fourteen hundred TLD Cards in one loading. Up to four elements in a card can be heated without mechanical contact, using hot nitrogen gas. Improvements in performance include an increased throughput rate and more precise card positioning. Operation is simplified through easy-to-read Windows-type screens. Glow curves are displayed graphically along with light intensity, temperature, and channel scaling. Maintenance and diagnostic aids are included for easier troubleshooting. A click of a mouse will command actions that are displayed in easy-to-understand English words. Available options include an internal 90 Sr irradiator, automatic TLD calibration, and two different extremity monitoring modes. Results from testing include reproducibility, reader stability, linearity, detection threshold, residue, primary power supply voltage and frequency, transient voltage, drop testing, and light leakage. (author)

Microcomputer control of automated TL reader

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bjarland, B.

1980-01-01

An automatic TL reader has been developed for use within a TLD based personal monitoring service. A 6800 based microcomputer is used for system control, operator communication, calibration and checking of reader operation, and for output of data. The dosimeter identity code is printed in human readable characters on the dosimeter card, and is read by using an optical character recognition unit. The code may include individual sensitivity correction coefficients for the TL chips on the card. The chips are heated with hot nitrogen gas and the thermoluminescence is recorded by a photomultiplier tube circuit, the gain and offset of which are continuously monitored and, when necessary, adjusted, to maintain calibration. The reader may operate in any of seven modes, i.e. reading modes for three types of dosimeters, semiautomatic modes for production of the three types of dosimeters, and a monitor mode. (Auth.)

Environmental dose measurement with microprocessor based portable TLD reader

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Deme, S.; Apathy, I.; Feher, I.

1996-01-01

Application of TL method for environmental gamma-radiation dosimetry involves uncertainty caused by the dose collected during the transport from the point of annealing to the place of exposure and back to the place of evaluation. Should an accident occur read out is delayed due to the need to transport to a laboratory equipped with a TLD reader. A portable reader capable of reading out the TL dosemeter at the place of exposure ('in situ TLD reader') eliminates the above mentioned disadvantages. We have developed a microprocessor based portable TLD reader for monitoring environmental gamma-radiation doses and for on board reading out of doses on space stations. The first version of our portable, battery operated reader (named Pille - 'butterfly') was made at the beginning of the 80s. These devices used CaSO 4 bulb dosemeters and the evaluation technique was based on analogue timing circuits and analogue to digital conversion of the photomultiplier current with a read out precision of 1 μGy and a measuring range up to 10 Gy. The measured values were displayed and manually recorded. The version with an external power supply was used for space dosimetry as an onboard TLD reader

Sexism Springs Eternal--in the Reader's Digest.

Science.gov (United States)

Zimbardo, Philip G.; Meadow, Wendy

This document reports on an empirical investigation of anti-women humor appearing in the Reader's Digest over three decades, revealing the operation of an unconscious sexist ideology. A systematic analysis was made of 1,069 jokes appearing in two featured columns of the Reader's Digest for the two-year periods 1947-48, 1957-58, and 1967-68.…

Planning Behaviour in Good and Poor Readers

Science.gov (United States)

Mahapatra, Shamita

2016-01-01

A group of 50 good readers and a group of 50 poor readers of Grade 5 matched for age and intelligence and selected on the basis of their proficiency in reading comprehension were tested for their competence in word reading and the process of planning at three different levels, namely, perceptual, memory and conceptual in order to study the…

How Do Fluent and Poor Readers' Endurance Differ in Reading?

Science.gov (United States)

Bastug, Muhammet; Keskin, Hasan Kagan; Akyol, Mustafa

2017-01-01

It was observed in this research how endurance status of fluent readers and poor readers changed as the text became longer. 40 students of the primary school 4th-grade, 20 were fluent readers and other 20 were poor readers, participated in the research. A narrative text was utilised in the data collection process. Students' oral readings were…

Clinical oversight and the avoidance of repeat induced abortion.

Science.gov (United States)

Jacovetty, Erica L; Clare, Camille A; Squire, Mary-Beatrice; Kubal, Keshar P; Liou, Sherry; Inchiosa, Mario A

2018-06-03

To evaluate the impact of patient counseling, demographics, and contraceptive methods on repeat induced abortion in women attending family planning clinics. A retrospective chart review of repeat induced abortions was performed. The analysis included patients with an initial induced abortion obtained between January 1, 2001, and March 31, 2014, at New York City Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan. The duration of involvement in the family planning program, the use of contraceptive interventions, and 18 patient factors were analyzed for their correlation with the incidence of repeat induced abortions per year of follow-up. A decreased rate of repeat induced abortions was associated with a longer duration of clinical oversight (r 2 =0.449, Pabortions. By determining the patient characteristics that most influence repeat induced abortion rates, providers can best choose the most efficacious method of contraception available. © 2018 International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics.

An IoT Reader for Wireless Passive Electromagnetic Sensors.

Science.gov (United States)

Galindo-Romera, Gabriel; Carnerero-Cano, Javier; Martínez-Martínez, José Juan; Herraiz-Martínez, Francisco Javier

2017-03-28

In the last years, many passive electromagnetic sensors have been reported. Some of these sensors are used for measuring harmful substances. Moreover, the response of these sensors is usually obtained with laboratory equipment. This approach highly increases the total cost and complexity of the sensing system. In this work, a novel low-cost and portable Internet-of-Things (IoT) reader for passive wireless electromagnetic sensors is proposed. The reader is used to interrogate the sensors within a short-range wireless link avoiding the direct contact with the substances under test. The IoT functionalities of the reader allows remote sensing from computers and handheld devices. For that purpose, the proposed design is based on four functional layers: the radiating layer, the RF interface, the IoT mini-computer and the power unit. In this paper a demonstrator of the proposed reader is designed and manufactured. The demonstrator shows, through the remote measurement of different substances, that the proposed system can estimate the dielectric permittivity. It has been demonstrated that a linear approximation with a small error can be extracted from the reader measurements. It is remarkable that the proposed reader can be used with other type of electromagnetic sensors, which transduce the magnitude variations in the frequency domain.

Reception theory and the Christian reader: A preliminary perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. L. Comhrink

1983-03-01

Full Text Available In recent years there has been a significant shift in emphasis from text- centred criticism in literature to reader-centred criticism. This new field of criticism, called Reception Theory or Reader Response Criticism, denies the immutable nature of the "text” and regards as its object of study the work of literature that is created through the co-constituent creative and interpre­tive acts o f both writer and reader.

Readers Theatre : Dramatising environment issues for oral skills development

OpenAIRE

Paatrick Ng Chin Leong

2009-01-01

Readers Theatre was introduced to a class of Japanese students studying intermediate-level English in an international university in Japan. The aim of the study is to investingate whether Readers Theatre enhances the oral skills of Japanese students as they negotiate an environmental issue in English. In my presentation, I will demonstrate how Readers Theatre is implemented in class and the comments by students will be analysed and discussed during the presentation.

Reading and Spelling Error Analysis of Native Arabic Dyslexic Readers

Science.gov (United States)

Abu-rabia, Salim; Taha, Haitham

2004-01-01

This study was an investigation of reading and spelling errors of dyslexic Arabic readers ("n"=20) compared with two groups of normal readers: a young readers group, matched with the dyslexics by reading level ("n"=20) and an age-matched group ("n"=20). They were tested on reading and spelling of texts, isolated…

Evidence for deficits in the temporal attention span of poor readers.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Troy A W Visser

Full Text Available While poor reading is often associated with phonological deficits, many studies suggest that visual processing might also be impaired. In particular, recent research has indicated that poor readers show impaired spatial visual attention spans in partial and whole report tasks. Given the similarities between competition-based accounts for reduced visual attention span and similar explanations for impairments in sequential object processing, the present work examined whether poor readers show deficits in their "temporal attention span"--that is, their ability to rapidly and accurately process sequences of consecutive target items.Poor and normal readers monitored a sequential stream of visual items for two (TT condition or three (TTT condition consecutive target digits. Target identification was examined using both unconditional and conditional measures of accuracy in order to gauge the overall likelihood of identifying a target and the likelihood of identifying a target given successful identification of previous items. Compared to normal readers, poor readers showed small but consistent deficits in identification across targets whether unconditional or conditional accuracy was used. Additionally, in the TTT condition, final-target conditional accuracy was poorer than unconditional accuracy, particularly for poor readers, suggesting a substantial cost arising from processing the previous two targets that was not present in normal readers.Mirroring the differences found between poor and normal readers in spatial visual attention span, the present findings suggest two principal differences between the temporal attention spans of poor and normal readers. First, the consistent pattern of reduced performance across targets suggests increased competition amongst items within the same span for poor readers. Second, the steeper decline in final target performance amongst poor readers in the TTT condition suggests a reduction in the extent of their

Evidence for deficits in the temporal attention span of poor readers.

Science.gov (United States)

Visser, Troy A W

2014-01-01

While poor reading is often associated with phonological deficits, many studies suggest that visual processing might also be impaired. In particular, recent research has indicated that poor readers show impaired spatial visual attention spans in partial and whole report tasks. Given the similarities between competition-based accounts for reduced visual attention span and similar explanations for impairments in sequential object processing, the present work examined whether poor readers show deficits in their "temporal attention span"--that is, their ability to rapidly and accurately process sequences of consecutive target items. Poor and normal readers monitored a sequential stream of visual items for two (TT condition) or three (TTT condition) consecutive target digits. Target identification was examined using both unconditional and conditional measures of accuracy in order to gauge the overall likelihood of identifying a target and the likelihood of identifying a target given successful identification of previous items. Compared to normal readers, poor readers showed small but consistent deficits in identification across targets whether unconditional or conditional accuracy was used. Additionally, in the TTT condition, final-target conditional accuracy was poorer than unconditional accuracy, particularly for poor readers, suggesting a substantial cost arising from processing the previous two targets that was not present in normal readers. Mirroring the differences found between poor and normal readers in spatial visual attention span, the present findings suggest two principal differences between the temporal attention spans of poor and normal readers. First, the consistent pattern of reduced performance across targets suggests increased competition amongst items within the same span for poor readers. Second, the steeper decline in final target performance amongst poor readers in the TTT condition suggests a reduction in the extent of their temporal attention

Evaluation of Screening for Retinopathy of Prematurity by ROPtool or a Lay Reader.

Science.gov (United States)

Abbey, Ashkan M; Besirli, Cagri G; Musch, David C; Andrews, Chris A; Capone, Antonio; Drenser, Kimberly A; Wallace, David K; Ostmo, Susan; Chiang, Michael; Lee, Paul P; Trese, Michael T

2016-02-01

To determine if (1) tortuosity assessment by a computer program (ROPtool, developed at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and Duke University, and licensed by FocusROP) that traces retinal blood vessels and (2) assessment by a lay reader are comparable with assessment by a panel of 3 retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) experts for remote clinical grading of vascular abnormalities such as plus disease. Validity and reliability analysis of diagnostic tools. Three hundred thirty-five fundus images of prematurely born infants. Three hundred thirty-five fundus images of prematurely born infants were obtained by neonatal intensive care unit nurses. A panel of 3 ROP experts graded 84 images showing vascular dilatation, tortuosity, or both and 251 images showing no evidence of vascular abnormalities. These images were sent electronically to an experienced lay reader who independently graded them for vascular abnormalities. The images also were analyzed using the ROPtool, which assigns a numerical value to the level of vascular abnormality and tortuosity present in each of 4 quadrants or sectors. The ROPtool measurements of vascular abnormalities were graded and compared with expert panel grades with a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Grades between human readers were cross-tabulated. The area under the ROC curve was calculated for the ROPtool, and sensitivity and specificity were computed for the lay reader. Measurements of vascular abnormalities by ROPtool and grading of vascular abnormalities by 3 ROP experts and 1 experienced lay reader. The ROC curve for ROPtool's tortuosity assessment had an area under the ROC curve of 0.917. Using a threshold value of 4.97 for the second most tortuous quadrant, ROPtool's sensitivity was 91% and its specificity was 82%. Lay reader sensitivity and specificity were 99% and 73%, respectively, and had high reliability (κ, 0.87) in repeated measurements. ROPtool had very good accuracy for detection of vascular

Gifted Male Readers: Current Understandings and Suggestions for Future Research

Science.gov (United States)

Pagnani, Alexander R.

2013-01-01

Research literature concerning gifted male readers relies primarily on more extensive bodies of work regarding gifted males and male readers. Studied as a whole, the two halves portray a worrisome state of affairs for gifted male readers, who lag behind their female counterparts in the same patterns found across the ability spectrum. This literacy…

Rereading Multicultural Readers: What Definition of Multicultural Are We Buying?

Science.gov (United States)

Shapiro, Nancy

A flood of new multicultural readers and textbooks are hitting the market for writing and literature courses at the college level. Yet there has been no systematic examination of how these readers are being used, the purposes and audiences for which they are written, or the critical reception they have received. Multicultural readers distinguish…

Added value of one-view breast tomosynthesis combined with digital mammography according to reader experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Thomassin-Naggara, Isabelle; Perrot, Nicolas; Dechoux, Sophie; Ribeiro, Carine; Chopier, Jocelyne; de Bazelaire, Cedric

2015-02-01

To retrospectively evaluate the added value of one-view breast tomosynthesis in adjunct with mammography to characterize breast lesions. Our institutional ethics committees approved the study and granted a waiver of informed consent. One hundred fifty-five women (mean age, 51.3 years, range: 24-92 years) who systematically underwent mammography and breast tomosynthesis with subsequent percutaneous biopsy were analyzed. Four radiologists (two seniors, R1 and R2, and two juniors, R3 and R4 with 30, 10, 3 and 1 years of experience in breast imaging, respectively) independently reviewed exams in two steps: mammography alone and tomosynthesis in adjunct with mammography. The lesions in the cohort included 39.3% (61/155) cancers, 2.5% (4/155) high-risk lesions and 58.1% (90/155) benign lesions. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to compare the results of the two readings. There was almost perfect agreement irrespective of reader experience for the reading of the mammography in adjunct with tomosynthesis, whereas agreement was poor between junior and senior readers for the reading of mammography alone. Area under the ROC (Az) values for the tomosynthesis in adjunct with mammography were significantly better than Az values for mammography alone for all readers except the most experienced, for whom only a tendency was noted. The proportion of cancers undiagnosed by mammography alone that were well diagnosed by tomosynthesis in adjunct with mammography was 6.5% (4/61), 13.1% (8/61), 27.8% (17/61) and 26.2% (16/61) for Readers 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively. The proportion of false positive cases induced by the addition of breast tomosynthesis to mammography was 2.1% (2/94), 2.1% (2/94), 9.5% (9/94) and 12.7% (12/94) for Readers 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively. Adding breast tomosynthesis to mammography improved sensitivity and negative predictive value for all readers except for the most experienced one, in whom only a tendency for improvement

Reader construction in interactive online journalism

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hartley, Jannie Møller

how online journalists are constructing their readers, seeking to explain how these views affect practices of journalism. Gans idea of the “constructed public” is re-visited, by analyzing the newsroom negotiations between one hand enabling the user participation and on the other hand their very...... be seen as journalistic positioning strategies and interactivity and mediated connectivity as both vital and challenging for the very field of journalism. This indicates that not only do the different kinds of interactivity seem to imply different kind of readers – they also seem to imply different ideals...

Passive microfluidic array card and reader

Science.gov (United States)

Dugan, Lawrence Christopher [Modesto, CA; Coleman, Matthew A [Oakland, CA

2011-08-09

A microfluidic array card and reader system for analyzing a sample. The microfluidic array card includes a sample loading section for loading the sample onto the microfluidic array card, a multiplicity of array windows, and a transport section or sections for transporting the sample from the sample loading section to the array windows. The microfluidic array card reader includes a housing, a receiving section for receiving the microfluidic array card, a viewing section, and a light source that directs light to the array window of the microfluidic array card and to the viewing section.

New IoT proximity service based heterogeneous RFID readers collision control

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jose Ignacio Tamayo Segarra

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Purpose – Internet of Things’ (IoT’s first wave started with tracking services for better inventory management mainly using radio frequency identification (RFID technology. Later on, monitoring services became one of the major interests, including sensing technologies, and then more actuation for remote control-type of IoT applications such as smart homes, smart cities and Industry 4.0. In this paper, the authors focus on the RFID technology impairment. They propose to take advantage of the mature IoT technologies that offer native service discovery such as blutooth or LTE D2D ProSe or Wifi Direct. Using the automatic service discovery in the new framework will make heterogeneous readers aware of the presence of other readers and this will be used by the proposed distributed algorithm to better control the multiple RFID reader interference problem. The author clearly considers emerging Industry 4.0 use case, where RFID technology is of major interest for both identification and tracking. To enhance the RFID tag reading performance, collisions in the RFID frequency should be minimized with reader-to-reader coordination protocols. In this paper, the author proposes a simple distributed reader anti-collision protocol named DiSim that makes use of proximity services of IoT network and is compliant with the current RFID standards. The author evaluates the efficiency of the proposal via simulation. Design/methodology/approach – In this paper, the author proposes a simple distributed reader anti-collision protocol named DiSim that makes use of proximity services of IoT network and is compliant with the current RFID standards. The author evaluates the efficiency of the proposal via simulation to study its behavior in very dense and heterogeneous RFID environments. Specifically, the author explores the coexistence of powerful static readers and small mobile readers, comparing the proposal with a standard ETSI CSMA method. The proposal reduces

A Comparative Review of Stratification Texts and Readers

Science.gov (United States)

Peoples, Clayton D.

2012-01-01

Social stratification is a core substantive area within sociology. There are a number of textbooks and readers available on the market that deal with this central topic. In this article, I conduct a comparative review of (a) four stratification textbooks and (b) four stratification readers. (Contains 2 tables.)

Development of optically stimulated luminescence reader systems in BARC

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kulkarni, M.S.

2008-01-01

BARC has very vast experience in the development of thermoluminescence (TL) reader systems both for routine personnel monitoring and research application. However, optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) related instrumentation is a recent development in BARC. The increasing popularity of OSL technique in the radiation dosimetry applications in the recent past has driven investigation and developmental programme in the OSL measurement facilities at BARC. As the consequence of the efforts directed towards the indigenous development of OSL reader system, OSL readers with various readout modes like continuous wave (CW) OSL mode, linear intensity modulated OSL (LM-OSL), pulsed OSL (POSL) have been developed. In addition to these conventional modes of operation a novel non-linear OSL mode (NL-OSL) has also been developed for the OSL measurements. This paper reviews the details of the development of OSL reader system including experience with high intensity blue/green LED stimulation light source and detection system. Also discussed are recently developed versatile integrated TL/OSL reader systems for TL and OSL measurements. (author)

Bytes, Books and Readers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rasmussen, Krista Stinne Greve

2016-01-01

In diesem Beitrag werden Ergebnisse aus der Dissertation der Autorin Bytes, Books, and Readers. A Historical Analysis of the Transition from Printed to Digital Scholarly Editions Focusing on ‘The Writings of Søren Kierkegaard’ (2015) vorgestellt. Dabei wird dem Wechselverhältnis zwischen der...

WRITER'S STRATEGIES IN THE INTERCOURSE WITH THE READER IN BELLES-LETTRES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexander S. Komarov

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The article is devoted to some strategies aimed at involving the reader into the writer's book by means of making the reader's attitude to its content personal or subjective. In the article it is stated that there are two components which are intrinsic to virtual intercourse between writer and reader. One of the components is the content of the writer's publication while the other is the reader's attitude towards the content suggested. The article shows that the reader's attitude encompasses two processes: the process of self-estrangement from the writer's content and the process of self-involvement into it. In the article, the author analyses these two processes in relation to the content of the book. In the article, the author singles out and gives descriptions of such dimensions of the book's content as its topical and emotional dimension, its depth, human nature dimension and interpersonal relations dimension as well as of strategies used by the writer in order to involve the reader into his writings. The author argues that a successful strategy is based on managing to touch the reader to the quick, i.e. his or her subjectivity, and the result of successfulness can be measured by the reader's readiness and willingness to sink into one of the dimensions suggested. The author of the article comes to the conclusion that signs of the successful strategy can be traced in the reader's return to the intercourse with the writer when he or she rereads the writer's books, repeats or makes references to words, situations or ideas suggested or described by the writer who has grasped the reader's attention in one or several content dimensions.

A smartphone colorimetric reader integrated with an ambient light sensor and a 3D printed attachment for on-site detection of zearalenone.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Yuan; Fu, Qiangqiang; Li, Dagang; Xie, Jun; Ke, Dongxu; Song, Qifang; Tang, Yong; Wang, Hong

2017-11-01

Smartphone biosensors could be cost-effective, portable instruments to be used for the readout of liquid colorimetric assays. However, current reported smartphone colorimetric readers have relied on photos of liquid assays captured using a camera, and then analyzed using software programs. This approach results in a relatively low accuracy and low generality. In this work, we reported a novel smartphone colorimetric reader that has been integrated with an ambient light sensor and a 3D printed attachment for the readout of liquid colorimetric assays. The portable and low-cost ($0.15) reader utilized a simplified electronic and light path design. Furthermore, our reported smartphone colorimetric reader can be compatible with different smartphones. As a proof of principle, the utility of this device was demonstrated using it in conjunction with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to detect zearalenone. Results were consistent with those obtained using a professional microplate reader. The developed smartphone colorimetric reader was capable of providing scalable, cost-effective, and accurate results for liquid colorimetric assays that related to clinical diagnoses, environment pollution, and food testing. Graphical abstract A novel smartphone colorimetric reader that has been integrated with an ambient light sensor and a 3D printed attachment for the readout of liquid colorimetric assays.

RAC-Multi: Reader Anti-Collision Algorithm for Multichannel Mobile RFID Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kwangcheol Shin

2009-12-01

Full Text Available At present, RFID is installed on mobile devices such as mobile phones or PDAs and provides a means to obtain information about objects equipped with an RFID tag over a multi-channeled telecommunication networks. To use mobile RFIDs, reader collision problems should be addressed given that readers are continuously moving. Moreover, in a multichannel environment for mobile RFIDs, interference between adjacent channels should be considered. This work first defines a new concept of a reader collision problem between adjacent channels and then suggests a novel reader anti-collision algorithm for RFID readers that use multiple channels. To avoid interference with adjacent channels, the suggested algorithm separates data channels into odd and even numbered channels and allocates odd-numbered channels first to readers. It also sets an unused channel between the control channel and data channels to ensure that control messages and the signal of the adjacent channel experience no interference. Experimental results show that suggested algorithm shows throughput improvements ranging from 29% to 46% for tag identifications compared to the GENTLE reader anti-collision algorithm for multichannel RFID networks.

Geometric Distribution-Based Readers Scheduling Optimization Algorithm Using Artificial Immune System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Litian Duan

2016-11-01

Full Text Available In the multiple-reader environment (MRE of radio frequency identification (RFID system, multiple readers are often scheduled to interrogate the randomized tags via operating at different time slots or frequency channels to decrease the signal interferences. Based on this, a Geometric Distribution-based Multiple-reader Scheduling Optimization Algorithm using Artificial Immune System (GD-MRSOA-AIS is proposed to fairly and optimally schedule the readers operating from the viewpoint of resource allocations. GD-MRSOA-AIS is composed of two parts, where a geometric distribution function combined with the fairness consideration is first introduced to generate the feasible scheduling schemes for reader operation. After that, artificial immune system (including immune clone, immune mutation and immune suppression quickly optimize these feasible ones as the optimal scheduling scheme to ensure that readers are fairly operating with larger effective interrogation range and lower interferences. Compared with the state-of-the-art algorithm, the simulation results indicate that GD-MRSOA-AIS could efficiently schedules the multiple readers operating with a fairer resource allocation scheme, performing in larger effective interrogation range.

Accelerated Reader Program: What Do Teachers Really Think?

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Amy Frances; Westberg, Karen; Hejny, Anne

2017-01-01

What do teachers really think about the Accelerated Reader program, a widely used supplemental, independent reading program in which their students read fiction and non-fiction books of their choice and take brief online comprehension quizzes about the books? The Accelerated Reader (AR) program was designed by Renaissance Learning Company to…

Organizing Instruction for Struggling Readers in Tutorial Settings

Science.gov (United States)

Mokhtari, Kouider; Hutchison, Amy C.; Edwards, Patricia A.

2010-01-01

In this article, the authors suggest that many of the problems struggling readers encounter while reading stem from distinct yet fundamental sources of difficulty related to the types of text read (print or online), the task or activity readers engage in, and the sociocultural context of reading. The authors further argue that although these…

Flexible electronics enters the e-reader market

Science.gov (United States)

Banks, Michael

2010-02-01

A company that was spun off from the physics department at the University of Cambridge in the UK 10 years ago released its first product last month. Plastic Logic, founded by Henning Sirringhaus and Richard Friend, launched an electronic reader that can display books, magazines and newspapers on a flexible, lightweight plastic display. The reader commercializes pioneering work first started over 20 years ago at the lab by the two physicists, who are based in the department's optoelectronics group.

Drug-induced psoriasis: clinical perspectives

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Balak DMW

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Deepak MW Balak, Enes Hajdarbegovic Department of Dermatology, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands Abstract: Exposure to certain drugs can elicit an induction or exacerbation of psoriasis. Although well-conducted systematic studies on drug-related psoriasis are mostly lacking, traditionally strong associations have been documented for beta-blockers, lithium, antimalarial drugs such as (hydroxychloroquine, interferons, imiquimod, and terbinafine. More recently, new associations have been reported for monoclonal antibody- and small-molecule-based targeted therapies used for oncological and immunological indications, such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha antagonists and anti-programmed cell death protein 1 immune checkpoint inhibitors. Recognizing potential drug-related psoriasis is of clinical relevance to allow an optimal management of psoriasis. However, in clinical practice, identifying medication-related exacerbations and induction of psoriasis can be challenging. The clinical and histopathological features of drug-provoked psoriasis may differ little from that of “classical” nondrug-related forms of psoriasis. In addition, the latency period between start of the medication and onset of psoriasis can be significantly long for some drugs. Assessment of the Naranjo adverse drug reaction probability scale could be used as a practical tool to better differentiate drug-related psoriasis. The first step in the management of drug-related psoriasis is cessation and replacement of the offending drug when deemed clinically possible. However, the induced psoriasis skin lesions may persist after treatment withdrawal. Additional skin-directed treatment options for drug-related psoriasis follows the conventional psoriasis treatment guidelines and includes topical steroids and vitamin D analogs, ultraviolet phototherapy, systemic treatments, such as acitretin, methotrexate, and fumaric acid esters, and biological treatments

Overview of PADC nuclear track readers. Recent trends and solutions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hulber, E.

2009-01-01

The development of automated track readers dates back to the first routine dosimetry applications of solid state nuclear track detectors. Many research-laboratory track readers and a few commercial systems were introduced in the past 25 years. The traditional application area for high-throughput track readers is radon testing in buildings and fast neutron dosimetry. The latter application, in particular, has considerably increased the need for efficient polyallyldiglycol carbonate (PADC) track reader systems with high throughput. The paper provides an overview of recent trends in the development of high-throughput PADC track readers and it gives a glimpse into the practice of designing this category of devices. A general overview is provided of the technical aspects relating to the optics, the hardware and the track recognition approaches. Ultimate theoretical limits in the performance as well as promising new approaches are addressed. Requirements and practical solutions are illustrated with reference to a commercially available system.

A general audiovisual temporal processing deficit in adult readers with dyslexia

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Francisco, A.A.; Jesse, A.; Groen, M.A.; McQueen, J.M.

2017-01-01

Purpose: Because reading is an audiovisual process, reading impairment may reflect an audiovisual processing deficit. The aim of the present study was to test the existence and scope of such a deficit in adult readers with dyslexia. Method: We tested 39 typical readers and 51 adult readers with

Developmental Trajectories for Children With Dyslexia and Low IQ Poor Readers

Science.gov (United States)

2016-01-01

Reading difficulties are found in children with both high and low IQ and it is now clear that both groups exhibit difficulties in phonological processing. Here, we apply the developmental trajectories approach, a new methodology developed for studying language and cognitive impairments in developmental disorders, to both poor reader groups. The trajectory methodology enables identification of atypical versus delayed development in datasets gathered using group matching designs. Regarding the cognitive predictors of reading, which here are phonological awareness, phonological short-term memory (PSTM) and rapid automatized naming (RAN), the method showed that trajectories for the two groups diverged markedly. Children with dyslexia showed atypical development in phonological awareness, while low IQ poor readers showed developmental delay. Low IQ poor readers showed atypical PSTM and RAN development, but children with dyslexia showed developmental delay. These divergent trajectories may have important ramifications for supporting each type of poor reader, although all poor readers showed weakness in all areas. Regarding auditory processing, the developmental trajectories were very similar for the two poor reader groups. However, children with dyslexia demonstrated developmental delay for auditory discrimination of Duration, while the low IQ children showed atypical development on this measure. The data show that, regardless of IQ, poor readers have developmental trajectories that differ from typically developing children. The trajectories approach enables differences in trajectory classification to be identified across poor reader group, as well as specifying the individual nature of these trajectories. PMID:27110928

French Immersion Experience and Reading Skill Development in At-Risk Readers

Science.gov (United States)

Kruk, Richard S.; Reynolds, Kristin A. A.

2012-01-01

We tracked the developmental influences of exposure to French on developing English phonological awareness, decoding and reading comprehension of English-speaking at-risk readers from Grade 1 to Grade 3. Teacher-nominated at-risk readers were matched with not-at-risk readers in French immersion and English language programs. Exposure to spoken…

Addressing Learning Disabilities with UDL and Technology: Strategic Reader

Science.gov (United States)

Hall, Tracey E.; Cohen, Nicole; Vue, Ge; Ganley, Patricia

2015-01-01

CAST created "Strategic Reader," a technology-based system blending Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM) in a digital learning environment to improve reading comprehension instruction. This experimental study evaluates the effectiveness of Strategic Reader using two treatment conditions for measuring…

Postdecisional counterfactual thinking by actors and readers.

Science.gov (United States)

Girotto, Vittorio; Ferrante, Donatella; Pighin, Stefania; Gonzalez, Michel

2007-06-01

How do individuals think counterfactually about the outcomes of their decisions? Most previous studies have investigated how readers think about fictional stories, rather than how actors think about events they have actually experienced. We assumed that differences in individuals' roles (actor vs. reader) can make different information available, which in turn can affect counterfactual thinking. Hence, we predicted an effect of role on postdecisional counterfactual thinking. Reporting the results of eight studies, we show that readers undo the negative outcome of a story by undoing the protagonist's choice to tackle a given problem, rather than the protagonist's unsuccessful attempt to solve it. But actors who make the same choice and experience the same negative outcome as the protagonist undo this outcome by altering features of the problem. We also show that this effect does not depend on motivational factors. These results contradict current accounts of counterfactual thinking and demonstrate the necessity of investigating the counterfactual thoughts of individuals in varied roles.

Selecting literature for beginner readers in South Africa

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hibbert, Liesel

2011-12-01

Full Text Available This article explores complexities of choosing appropriate reading material which may provide maximum engagement for beginner readers in Southern Africa, with the aim of instilling a lifelong love of reading. The article presents a case in favour of literary criteria as base line for choices of reading material for beginner readers. Furthermore, the article outlines general characteristics of reading material for beginner readers, as well as specific criteria to be considered in the Southern African context, taking into account the linguistic diversity which exists in formal education and the vast literacy backlog in the region. Furthermore, it is argued that translated children’s stories should ideally be adapted rather than literally translated, in order to meet the requirements of what is universally regarded as good children’s literature for beginner readers. A culture of reading can only be instilled by adhering to the following criteria, i.e. ensuring affective engagement, maximum meaning-making potential, delight, the engagement of the imagination for the purposes of developing the creative mind, and strong identification with the material for the purposes of developing a sense of agency.

Resolving Struggling Readers' Homework Difficulties: A Social Cognitive Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Margolis, Howard; Mccabe, Patrick

2004-01-01

Struggling readers often fail to complete homework or complete it in a slipshod, haphazard fashion. Often, this adversely affects grades, erodes motivation for academics, and causes conflict between readers, parents, and school personnel. To help teachers and educational consultants (e.g., reading specialists, school psychologists) help struggling…

A General Audiovisual Temporal Processing Deficit in Adult Readers with Dyslexia

Science.gov (United States)

Francisco, Ana A.; Jesse, Alexandra; Groen, Margriet A.; McQueen, James M.

2017-01-01

Purpose: Because reading is an audiovisual process, reading impairment may reflect an audiovisual processing deficit. The aim of the present study was to test the existence and scope of such a deficit in adult readers with dyslexia. Method: We tested 39 typical readers and 51 adult readers with dyslexia on their sensitivity to the simultaneity of…

Rain-induced cross-polarization effects on satellite ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Rain-induced cross-polarization effects on satellite telecommunication in some tropical location. ... The PDF file you selected should load here if your Web browser has a PDF reader plug-in installed (for example, a recent version of Adobe Acrobat Reader). If you would like more information about how to print, save, and ...

Low Access Delay Anti-Collision Algorithm for Reader in RFID systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Galiotto, Carlo; Marchetti, Nicola; Prasad, Neeli R.

2010-01-01

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a technology which is spreading more and more as a medium to identify, locate and track assets through the productive chain. As all the wireless communication devices sharing the same transmission channel, RFID readers and tags experience collisions whenever...... deployed over the same area. In this work, the RFID reader collision problem is studied and a centralized scheduling-based algorithm is proposed as possible candidate solution, especially for those scenarios involving static or low mobility readers. Taking into account the circuitry limitations of the tags......, which do not allow to use frequency or code division multiple access schemes in the RFID systems, this paper proposes an algorithm aiming to prevent the readers collisions, while keeping the access delay of the readers to the channel possibly low. The simulation results show that this algorithm performs...

Growing Young Gifted Readers

Science.gov (United States)

Wood, Patricia F.

2009-01-01

There is great pressure on parents to teach children to read as early as possible. In reality, precocious (early advanced) readers seem to almost master the skill on their own, without the assistance of highly touted, commercially available programs. The 18-month-old toddler who names the letters on alphabet blocks; or the 26-month-old who can…

Reader survey

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1993-01-01

Many, thanks to the hundreds of people who took the time to reply to the CERN Courier readership survey questionnaire published in our May issue. Bringing out a monthly journal is a lonely business. Issue after issue goes out, and the only response is when there's an occasional factual error. Send out a readership survey and a faint echo comes back. Most striking was the sheer enthusiasm of the replies. Despite the current erosion of support in the US (see page 2), subatomic physics has significant world-wide box-office appeal. Most important was to find out who our readers are. 61% of the replies came from Europe, 21% from the USA, 14% from elsewhere, (including the former Soviet Union), and 4% from inside CERN. Not surprisingly, the main audience (37%) is in the high energy physics sector. Then comes teaching (31%), followed closely by accelerators operations and design (12%) and industry (11%). Apart from detailed breakdowns of readership and feedback on the journal's content and style, the replies revealed several major features. Firstly, the CERN Courier is widely read and appreciated. There are a lot of people outside the immediate research field who want to keep broadly up to date with the latest developments in high energy physics and related fields, without getting too involved in details. It was gratifying to receive replies from far-flung places (Nepal, Indonesia,....), and learn how much distant readers appreciate getting such regular information. 'It helps us feel part of the world scene,' was a typical such reply, from Australia. Despite jet airplanes, fax and electronic mail, our planet is still big

Reader survey

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Anon.

1993-10-15

Many, thanks to the hundreds of people who took the time to reply to the CERN Courier readership survey questionnaire published in our May issue. Bringing out a monthly journal is a lonely business. Issue after issue goes out, and the only response is when there's an occasional factual error. Send out a readership survey and a faint echo comes back. Most striking was the sheer enthusiasm of the replies. Despite the current erosion of support in the US (see page 2), subatomic physics has significant world-wide box-office appeal. Most important was to find out who our readers are. 61% of the replies came from Europe, 21% from the USA, 14% from elsewhere, (including the former Soviet Union), and 4% from inside CERN. Not surprisingly, the main audience (37%) is in the high energy physics sector. Then comes teaching (31%), followed closely by accelerators operations and design (12%) and industry (11%). Apart from detailed breakdowns of readership and feedback on the journal's content and style, the replies revealed several major features. Firstly, the CERN Courier is widely read and appreciated. There are a lot of people outside the immediate research field who want to keep broadly up to date with the latest developments in high energy physics and related fields, without getting too involved in details. It was gratifying to receive replies from far-flung places (Nepal, Indonesia,....), and learn how much distant readers appreciate getting such regular information. 'It helps us feel part of the world scene,' was a typical such reply, from Australia. Despite jet airplanes, fax and electronic mail, our planet is still big.

Usability and Accessibility of eBay by Screen Reader

Science.gov (United States)

Buzzi, Maria Claudia; Buzzi, Marina; Leporini, Barbara; Akhter, Fahim

The evolution of Information and Communication Technology and the rapid growth of the Internet have fuelled a great diffusion of eCommerce websites. Usually these sites have complex layouts crowded with active elements, and thus are difficult to navigate via screen reader. Interactive environments should be properly designed and delivered to everyone, including the blind, who usually use screen readers to interact with their computers. In this paper we investigate the interaction of blind users with eBay, a popular eCommerce website, and discuss how using the W3C Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA) suite could improve the user experience when navigating via screen reader.

Policy Reader

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1985-09-01

This policy reader comprises: Correspondence; Memorandum of Understanding between the US Department of Transportation and the US Department of Energy for the Transportation of Radioactive Materials under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act; Internal Guidelines for Interactions with Communities and Local Governments; Statement by Ben C. Rusche before the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment, US House of Representatives, September 13, 1985; Speech presented by Ben C. Rusche before the ANS/CNS/AESJ/ENS Topical Meeting, Pasco, Washington, September 24, 1985 - ''Status of the United States' High-Level Nuclear Waste Disposal Program''; and ''DOE Seeks Comments on Nuclear Transportation Planning,'' DOE News, September 30, 1985

Teaching Early Readers to Self-Monitor and Self-Correct

Science.gov (United States)

Pratt, Sharon M.; Urbanowski, Melena

2016-01-01

Proficient readers self-monitor and self-correct to derive meaning from text. This article reviews research on how students learn to self-monitor and self-correct and describes a Reciprocal Teaching (RT) instructional routine that was successfully used with early readers to build their metacognitive processes. The RT routine included teacher…

Using Twitter to Teach Reader-Oriented Biblical Interpretation: "Tweading" the Gospel of Mark

Science.gov (United States)

Williamson, Robert, Jr.

2013-01-01

Twitter offers an engaging way to introduce students to reader-oriented interpretation of the Bible. The exercise described here introduces students to the idea that the reader has a role in the production of a text's meaning, which thus varies from reader to reader. Twitter enables us to capture the real-time thoughts of a variety of…

Chinese Deaf Readers Have Early Access to Parafoveal Semantics

Science.gov (United States)

Yan, Ming; Pan, Jinger; Bélanger, Nathalie N.; Shu, Hua

2015-01-01

In the present study, we manipulated different types of information available in the parafovea during the reading of Chinese sentences and examined how deaf readers make use of the parafoveal information. Results clearly indicate that although the reading-level matched hearing readers make greater use of orthographic information in the parafovea,…

Eye Movements Reveal Readers' Lexical Quality and Reading Experience

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, Jessica Nelson; Perfetti, Charles A.

2016-01-01

Two experiments demonstrate that individual differences among normal adult readers, including lexical quality, are expressed in silent reading at the word level. In the first of two studies we identified major dimensions of variability among college readers and among words using factor analysis. We then examined the effects of these dimensions of…

Finding versus Fixing: Self-Monitoring for Readers Who Struggle

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, Nancy L.; Kaye, Elizabeth L.

2017-01-01

This article explains how teachers can understand, notice, and supportively respond to readers who struggle with self-monitoring during text reading. The unique strategic processing demands for readers who struggle support the argument that teaching children to find and notice errors is different than fixing a word, or getting it right. Three…

MRI interrReader and intra-reader reliabilities for assessing injury morphology and posterior ligamentous complex integrity of the spine according to the thoracolumbar injury classification system and severity score

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Guen Young; Lee, Joon Woo; Choi, Seung Woo; Lim, Hyun Jin; Sun, Hye Young; Kang, Yu Suhn; Kang, Heung Sik; Chai, Jee Won; Kim, Su Jin

2015-01-01

To evaluate spine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) inter-reader and intra-reader reliabilities using the thoracolumbar injury classification system and severity score (TLICS) and to analyze the effects of reader experience on reliability and the possible reasons for discordant interpretations. Six radiologists (two senior, two junior radiologists, and two residents) independently scored 100 MRI examinations of thoracolumbar spine injuries to assess injury morphology and posterior ligamentous complex (PLC) integrity according to the TLICS. Inter-reader and intra-reader agreements were determined and analyzed according to the number of years of radiologist experience. Inter-reader agreement between the six readers was moderate (k = 0.538 for the first and 0.537 for the second review) for injury morphology and fair to moderate (k = 0.440 for the first and 0.389 for the second review) for PLC integrity. No significant difference in inter-reader agreement was observed according to the number of years of radiologist experience. Intra-reader agreements showed a wide range (k = 0.538-0.822 for injury morphology and 0.423-0.616 for PLC integrity). Agreement was achieved in 44 for the first and 45 for the second review about injury morphology, as well as in 41 for the first and 38 for the second review of PLC integrity. A positive correlation was detected between injury morphology score and PLC integrity. The reliability of MRI for assessing thoracolumbar spinal injuries according to the TLICS was moderate for injury morphology and fair to moderate for PLC integrity, which may not be influenced by radiologist' experience

LESS SKILLED READERS HAVE LESS EFFICIENT SUPPRESSION MECHANISMS

OpenAIRE

Gernsbacher, Morton Ann

1993-01-01

One approach to understanding the component processes and mechanisms underlying adult reading skill is to compare the performance of more skilled and less skilled readers on laboratory experiments. The results of some recent experiments employing this approach demonstrate that less skilled adult readers suppress less efficiently the inappropriate meanings of ambiguous words (e.g., the playing card vs. garden tool meanings of spade), the incorrect forms of homophones (e.g., patients vs. patien...

Computer Games versus Maps before Reading Stories: Priming Readers' Spatial Situation Models

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Glenn Gordon; Majchrzak, Dan; Hayes, Shelley; Drobisz, Jack

2011-01-01

The current study investigated how computer games and maps compare as preparation for readers to comprehend and retain spatial relations in text narratives. Readers create situation models of five dimensions: spatial, temporal, causal, goal, and protagonist (Zwaan, Langston, & Graesser 1995). Of these five, readers mentally model the spatial…

The Usefulness Metrics of The Most Popular eReader Used by Higher Education Students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dwi Puspita Sari

2015-07-01

Full Text Available In the digital technology era, mobile devices have an important rule to deploy a copy of data and information through the network. An electronic reader (eReader allows readers to read written materials in an electronic manner that is available in many models. The objective of this study is to evaluate the usage of eReader by higher education students. We firstly identified the most frequently used eReader by surveying higher education students. The survey results showed that Apple iPad, Amazon Kindle, and Samsung Tablet are the most popular eReader devices used by higher education students. We presented these results, and then we analyzed the surveyed results in detail in order to develop an evaluation metric of the eReader in a mobile platform that clearly allows the selection of the most suitable eReader for higher education students. The main contribution of this paper is the development of a set of criteria that can be used by students in the selection of an eReader that matches their specific needs and requirements.

AUSES AND GRATIFICTIONS RESEARCH ON READING MOTIVATIONSE AND GRATIFICATIONS OFNEWSPAPER READERS

OpenAIRE

Fatih Bayram

2008-01-01

Giving information is one of the main function of mass communication tools. Newspaper readers are using newspaper for different motivations. Gaining information, entertainment, leisure time activities, social integration is some motivations of media. Uses and gratifications theory asserts that reader is active part of communication process and reading habits figure on social and psychological needs. Items from readers’gratifications are categorized by using factor analysis from questionnair...

Are You Ready for E-Readers in Your Library?

Science.gov (United States)

Gustafson, Chris

2012-01-01

This article discusses some things to consider when thinking about adding e-readers to one's collection. These include: (1) What is the purpose?; (2) Which device?; (3) How will one keep track of his or her e-readers and their contents?; (4) What are some potential pitfalls?; (5) Is there a positive impact on student learning?; and (6) Are…

Cultural Journalism Publications for Reluctant Readers.

Science.gov (United States)

Hatcher, Barbara

1980-01-01

Provides a list of cultural journalism publications (based on oral history interviews) written, edited, and produced by students around the country that provide good easy reading for older reluctant readers. (MKM)

How to diagnose any type of TLD Reader?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rodriguez, Manuel Lopez; Garcia, Jose A. Tamayo; Gil, Alex Vergara; Lores, Stefan Gutierrez; Acosta, Andry Romero; Villanueva, Gilberto Alonso

2013-01-01

The acquisition of know how of practical experiences obtained in the repair and maintenance of readers TLD RADOS for five years of work and the request by the International Atomic Energy for signing new Research Contracts (CRP), made possible the CRP 13328, in which the specialist is committed in the course of a year, to deliver educational software in order to train personnel associated with the operation of the TLD readers RADOS. Due to the importance of continuous transfer of knowledge for new generations of technicians and specialists who join our laboratories, the idea came when the first interactive CD that grouped 19 videos, divided into three blocks was ready: learning, repair and maintenance; it was suggested to expand the training for any TLD reader. Thus a much more complete than the first version package emerged. 7 cases were subsequently published in an IAEA TECDOC, 1599 were included

Peace Pilgrim: A Readers Theatre Approach to Peace Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Curran, Joanne M.

Readers theater is a dramatic art that directs attention to the words of a text. During a performance, a reader (rather than an actor) presents and interprets the work within a narrative context intended by the author. In this project, the text, a collection of the words and writings of a woman known as the Peace Pilgrim, tells the story of her…

Clinical forms of chronic dust-induced bronchitis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Levin, A.I.; Blokhina, L.M.

1984-08-01

Clinical study of 837 coal miners with chronic dust-induced bronchitis reveals three different forms of the disease: emphysematous, asthmatic and infectious. From development of clinical manifestations different etiologies of the disease are apparent. In early stages, three different types of chronic dust-induced bronchitis (CDB) are clearly distinguishable. With progression of condition differences are obliterated. Formulation of a diagnosis must reflect the form of illness, stage of respiratory insufficiency and status of blood exchange. Discrimination of different varieties of CDB has significant practical value in determining tactics for treating patients. Emphysematous CDB is treated by improvement of draining function of bronchi and elimination of respiratory insufficiency by prescribing respiratory gymnastics, broncholytic preparations and oxygen therapy. Treatment of asthmatic form of CDB is directed at restoring disturbances of bronchial passability by use of broncholytics and expectorants. In inflammatory form of CDB in addition to restoring the draining function of the lungs, active antibacterial therapy is introduced. 5 references.

Effect of computer-aided detection as a second reader in multidetector-row CT colonography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mang, Thomas; Peloschek, Philipp; Plank, Christina; Maier, Andrea; Weber, Michael; Herold, Christian; Schima, Wolfgang; Graser, Anno; Bogoni, Luca

2007-01-01

Our purpose was to assess the effect of computer-aided detection (CAD) on lesion detection as a second reader in computed tomographic colonography, and to compare the influence of CAD on the performance of readers with different levels of expertise. Fifty-two CT colonography patient data-sets (37 patients: 55 endoscopically confirmed polyps ≥0.5 cm, seven cancers; 15 patients: no abnormalities) were retrospectively reviewed by four radiologists (two expert, two nonexpert). After primary data evaluation, a second reading augmented with findings of CAD (polyp-enhanced view, Siemens) was performed. Sensitivities and reading time were calculated for each reader without CAD and supported by CAD findings. The sensitivity of expert readers was 91% each, and of nonexpert readers, 76% and 75%, respectively, for polyp detection. CAD increased the sensitivity of expert readers to 96% (P = 0.25) and 93% (P = 1), and that of nonexpert readers to 91% (P = 0.008) and 95% (P = 0.001), respectively. All four readers diagnosed 100% of cancers, but CAD alone only 43%. CAD increased reading time by 2.1 min (mean). CAD as a second reader significantly improves sensitivity for polyp detection in a high disease prevalence population for nonexpert readers. CAD causes a modest increase in reading time. CAD is of limited value in the detection of cancer. (orig.)

Power Efficient Gurumukhi Unicode Reader Design and Implementation on FPGA

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kaur, Amanpreet; Singh, Sunny; Pandey, Bishwajeet

2017-01-01

Gurumukhi is found to be the most widely used language of Pakistan, and it is ranked 3rd in Canada, 7th in India and almost 4th most spoken language in U.K. This Unicode Reader is cost effective solution for learning as well as understanding the Punjabi language by the people across the globe .This...... reader helps the user to understand, whether written text is consonants, vowels or digits of Gurumukhi scripts. This paper can also be the solution to the various problems occurred in research of Punjabi natural language processing. Hardware is designed for Gurumukhi Unicode Reader (GUR...

Readers' Knowledge of Popular Genre

Science.gov (United States)

Dixon, Peter; Bortolussi, Marisa

2009-01-01

This research examined readers' knowledge of popular genres. Participants wrote short essays on fantasy, science fiction, or romance. The similarities among the essays were measured using latent semantic analysis (LSA) and were then analyzed using multidimensional scaling and cluster analysis. The clusters and scales were interpreted by searching…

Subgrouping Poor Readers on the Basis of Individual Differences in Reading-Related Abilities

OpenAIRE

Catts, Hugh W.; Hogan, Tiffany; Fey, Marc E.

2003-01-01

The present study investigated the use of the Reading Component Model to subgroup poor readers. A large sample of poor readers was identified in second grade and subgrouped on the basis of relative strengths and weaknesses in word recognition and listening comprehension. Although homogeneous subgroups were not identified, poor readers could be classified into four subgroups that differed significantly in reading-related abilities. Further analyses showed that poor readers' strengths and weakn...

Added value of one-view breast tomosynthesis combined with digital mammography according to reader experience

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thomassin-Naggara, Isabelle; Perrot, Nicolas; Dechoux, Sophie; Ribeiro, Carine; Chopier, Jocelyne; Bazelaire, Cedric de

2015-01-01

, respectively. The proportion of false positive cases induced by the addition of breast tomosynthesis to mammography was 2.1% (2/94), 2.1% (2/94), 9.5% (9/94) and 12.7% (12/94) for Readers 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively. Conclusion: Adding breast tomosynthesis to mammography improved sensitivity and negative predictive value for all readers except for the most experienced one, in whom only a tendency for improvement was noted

Added value of one-view breast tomosynthesis combined with digital mammography according to reader experience

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Thomassin-Naggara, Isabelle, E-mail: isabelle.thomassin@tnn.aphp.fr [Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, IUC, 75005 Paris (France); INSERM, UMR970, Equipe 2, Imagerie de l’angiogenèse, 75005 Paris (France); AP-HP, Hôpital Tenon, Department of Radiology, 4 rue de la Chine, 75020 Paris (France); Perrot, Nicolas [AP-HP, Hôpital Tenon, Department of Radiology, 4 rue de la Chine, 75020 Paris (France); Centre Pyramides, Paris (France); Dechoux, Sophie [Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, IUC, 75005 Paris (France); AP-HP, Hôpital Tenon, Department of Radiology, 4 rue de la Chine, 75020 Paris (France); Ribeiro, Carine [Centre Pyramides, Paris (France); Chopier, Jocelyne [AP-HP, Hôpital Tenon, Department of Radiology, 4 rue de la Chine, 75020 Paris (France); Bazelaire, Cedric de [APHP, Department of Radiology, Hôpital Saint Louis, 75010 Paris (France)

2015-02-15

, respectively. The proportion of false positive cases induced by the addition of breast tomosynthesis to mammography was 2.1% (2/94), 2.1% (2/94), 9.5% (9/94) and 12.7% (12/94) for Readers 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively. Conclusion: Adding breast tomosynthesis to mammography improved sensitivity and negative predictive value for all readers except for the most experienced one, in whom only a tendency for improvement was noted.

Cognitive Processes in Discourse Comprehension: Passive Processes, Reader-Initiated Processes, and Evolving Mental Representations

Science.gov (United States)

van den Broek, Paul; Helder, Anne

2017-01-01

As readers move through a text, they engage in various types of processes that, if all goes well, result in a mental representation that captures their interpretation of the text. With each new text segment the reader engages in passive and, at times, reader-initiated processes. These processes are strongly influenced by the readers'…

A Study Investigating the Feasibility of Creating a Short Form of the WISC-R for Disabled Readers.

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, David M.; Otts, David A.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the feasibility of creating a short form of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) for use in a clinical setting with disabled readers. The subjects were 100 clients ages six to sixteen of the Belser-Parton Reading Center at the University of Alabama whose files contained scores…

Monoscopic versus stereoscopic photography in screening for clinically significant macular edema.

Science.gov (United States)

Welty, Christopher J; Agarwal, Anita; Merin, Lawrence M; Chomsky, Amy

2006-01-01

The purpose of the study was to determine whether monoscopic photography could serve as an accurate tool when used to screen for clinically significant macular edema. In a masked randomized fashion, two readers evaluated monoscopic and stereoscopic retinal photographs of 100 eyes. The photographs were evaluated first individually for probable clinically significant macular edema based on the Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study criteria and then as stereoscopic pairs. Graders were evaluated for sensitivity and specificity individually and in combination. Individually, reader one had a sensitivity of 0.93 and a specificity of 0.77, and reader two had a sensitivity of 0.88 and a specificity of 0.94. In combination, the readers had a sensitivity of 0.91 and a specificity of 0.86. They correlated on 0.76 of the stereoscopic readings and 0.92 of the monoscopic readings. These results indicate that the use of monoscopic retinal photography may be an accurate screening tool for clinically significant macular edema.

Clinical importance of voluntary and induced Bennett movement.

Science.gov (United States)

Tupac, R G

1978-07-01

A total of 136 dentulous patients were divided into three groups for purposes of quantitative pantographic comparison of voluntary and induced Bennett movement. The effects of patient age and operator experience on recording the Bennett movement were also studied. The results indicates that for patients studied with Bennett movement iduced in the manner described: 1. Experienced operators can obtain more induced Bennett movement that inexperienced operators. 2. Inducing Bennett movement has a greater effect on the immediate side shift component than it has on the progressive side shift component. 3. For older individuals the amount and direction of induced immediate side shift is greater than for younger patients, statistically highly significant, and therefore clinically important. In conclusion, if the objective of a pantographic survey is to record the complete capacity of the joint to move, *lateral jaw movements must be induced.

Triage for Struggling Adolescent Readers

Science.gov (United States)

Diamond, Linda J.

2006-01-01

To improve achievement for struggling readers in particular, secondary schools must design programs and curricula to address students' lack of background knowledge, delayed English language development, and limited success in reading. In this article, the author presents a systems approach that offers intensive care for the most at-risk students…

The automated Risoe TL dating reader system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boetter-Jensen, L.

1988-01-01

The features of the new modified Riso TL dating reader system are described. A vacuum chamber that accommodates the entire 24-position sample changer unit has been designed. The vacuum and N 2 -gas functions are software-controlled. A newly designed heater system is capable of repeated heating cycles to 700 0 C. The sample changer system accommodates fine-grain discs as well as planchettes for coarse grains. Two software-controlled beta irradiators can be attached to the reader, e.g. for predose measurement. The software allows a user without programming expertise to create any desired measuring sequence, and to store and recall data and glow curves for making analyses. (author)

How the Relationship between Text and Headings Influences Readers' Memory

Science.gov (United States)

Ritchey, Kristin; Schuster, Jonathan; Allen, Jaryn

2008-01-01

Two questions regarding signals' influence on memory were examined. First, the relationship between headings and text was manipulated to determine whether headings serve as visual cues, directing readers to recall all subsequent information, or content-specific cues, directing readers to recall only to certain information. Second, distance between…

Breaking the Silence: Toward Improving LGBTQ Representation in Composition Readers

Science.gov (United States)

Hudson, John

2014-01-01

Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender-Queer (LGBTQ) representation in composition readers remains limited and is frequently nonexistent. In addition, the LGBTQ-related materials that do find their way into composition readers are often problematic. In this essay I explain why WPAs and composition teachers should be concerned about LGBTQ representation…

Infographics for Educational Purposes: Their Structure, Properties and Reader Approaches

Science.gov (United States)

Yildirim, Serkan

2016-01-01

Infographics are one of the new educational environments used to provide information to their readers in a visual way. Infographics are designed to provide information to their readers using various visuals such as texts, pictures, drawings, diagrams, graphs, etc. The use of infographics becomes increasingly widespread both in advertising…

Accelerated Reader[R]: What Are the Lasting Effects on the Reading Habits of Middle School Students Exposed to Accelerated Reader[R] in Elementary Grades?

Science.gov (United States)

Pavonetti, Linda M.; Brimmer, Kathryn M.; Cipielewski, James F.

Promoted by effective advertising and disseminated by word of mouth, many schools have adopted Accelerated Reader[R] as a supplementary reading program or as their primary reading program. Accelerated Reader[R]'s philosophy is that by using the system, students are motivated to read more and better books. A study investigated whether seventh grade…

Seamless lesion insertion in digital mammography: methodology and reader study

Science.gov (United States)

Pezeshk, Aria; Petrick, Nicholas; Sahiner, Berkman

2016-03-01

Collection of large repositories of clinical images containing verified cancer locations is costly and time consuming due to difficulties associated with both the accumulation of data and establishment of the ground truth. This problem poses a significant challenge to the development of machine learning algorithms that require large amounts of data to properly train and avoid overfitting. In this paper we expand the methods in our previous publications by making several modifications that significantly increase the speed of our insertion algorithms, thereby allowing them to be used for inserting lesions that are much larger in size. These algorithms have been incorporated into an image composition tool that we have made publicly available. This tool allows users to modify or supplement existing datasets by seamlessly inserting a real breast mass or micro-calcification cluster extracted from a source digital mammogram into a different location on another mammogram. We demonstrate examples of the performance of this tool on clinical cases taken from the University of South Florida Digital Database for Screening Mammography (DDSM). Finally, we report the results of a reader study evaluating the realism of inserted lesions compared to clinical lesions. Analysis of the radiologist scores in the study using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) methodology indicates that inserted lesions cannot be reliably distinguished from clinical lesions.

Reader practice in mammography screen reporting in Australia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reed, W.; Poulos, A.; Brennan, P.

2009-01-01

Full text: Reader variability is a problem in mammography image reporting and compromises the efficacy of screening programmes. The purpose of this exploratory study was to survey reader practice in reporting screening mammograms in Australia to identify aspects of practice that warrant further investigation. Mammography reporting practice and influences on concentration and attention were investigated by using an original questionnaire distributed to screen readers in Australia. A response rate of 71% (83 out of 117) was achieved. Demographic data indicated that the majority of readers were over 46 years of age (73%), have been reporting on screening mammograms for over 10 years (61%), take less than 1 min to report upon a screening mammogram examination (66%), report up to 200 examinations in a single session (83%) and take up to 2 h to report one session (61%). A majority report on more than 5000 examinations annually (66%); 93% of participants regard their search strategy as systematic, 87% agreed that their concentration can vary throughout a session, 64% agreed that the relatively low number of positives can lead to lapses in concentration and attention and almost all (94%) participants agreed that methods to maximise concentration should be explored. Participants identified a range of influences on concentration within their working environment including volume of images reported in one session, image types and aspects of the physical environment. This study has provided important evidence of the need to investigate adverse influences on concentration during mammography screen reporting

Reader error during CT colonography: causes and implications for training

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Slater, Andrew; Tam, Emily; Gartner, Louise; Scarth, Julia; Peiris, Chand; Gupta, Arun; Marshall, Michele; Burling, David; Taylor, Stuart A.; Halligan, Steve

2006-01-01

This study investigated the variability in baseline computed tomography colonography (CTC) performance using untrained readers by documenting sources of error to guide future training requirements. Twenty CTC endoscopically validated data sets containing 32 polyps were consensus read by three unblinded radiologists experienced in CTC, creating a reference standard. Six readers without prior CTC training [four residents and two board-certified subspecialty gastrointestinal (GI) radiologists] read the 20 cases. Readers drew a region of interest (ROI) around every area they considered a potential colonic lesion, even if subsequently dismissed, before creating a final report. Using this final report, reader ROIs were classified as true positive detections, true negatives correctly dismissed, true detections incorrectly dismissed (i.e., classification error), or perceptual errors. Detection of polyps 1-5 mm, 6-9 mm, and ≥10 mm ranged from 7.1% to 28.6%, 16.7% to 41.7%, and 16.7% to 83.3%, respectively. There was no significant difference between polyp detection or false positives for the GI radiologists compared with residents (p=0.67, p=0.4 respectively). Most missed polyps were due to failure of detection rather than characterization (range 82-95%). Untrained reader performance is variable but generally poor. Most missed polyps are due perceptual error rather than characterization, suggesting basic training should focus heavily on lesion detection. (orig.)

High-throughput and automated diagnosis of antimicrobial resistance using a cost-effective cellphone-based micro-plate reader

Science.gov (United States)

Feng, Steve; Tseng, Derek; di Carlo, Dino; Garner, Omai B.; Ozcan, Aydogan

2016-12-01

Routine antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) can prevent deaths due to bacteria and reduce the spread of multi-drug-resistance, but cannot be regularly performed in resource-limited-settings due to technological challenges, high-costs, and lack of trained professionals. We demonstrate an automated and cost-effective cellphone-based 96-well microtiter-plate (MTP) reader, capable of performing AST without the need for trained diagnosticians. Our system includes a 3D-printed smartphone attachment that holds and illuminates the MTP using a light-emitting-diode array. An inexpensive optical fiber-array enables the capture of the transmitted light of each well through the smartphone camera. A custom-designed application sends the captured image to a server to automatically determine well-turbidity, with results returned to the smartphone in ~1 minute. We tested this mobile-reader using MTPs prepared with 17 antibiotics targeting Gram-negative bacteria on clinical isolates of Klebsiella pneumoniae, containing highly-resistant antimicrobial profiles. Using 78 patient isolate test-plates, we demonstrated that our mobile-reader meets the FDA-defined AST criteria, with a well-turbidity detection accuracy of 98.21%, minimum-inhibitory-concentration accuracy of 95.12%, and a drug-susceptibility interpretation accuracy of 99.23%, with no very major errors. This mobile-reader could eliminate the need for trained diagnosticians to perform AST, reduce the cost-barrier for routine testing, and assist in spatio-temporal tracking of bacterial resistance.

Computational Sensing Using Low-Cost and Mobile Plasmonic Readers Designed by Machine Learning

KAUST Repository

Ballard, Zachary S.

2017-01-27

Plasmonic sensors have been used for a wide range of biological and chemical sensing applications. Emerging nanofabrication techniques have enabled these sensors to be cost-effectively mass manufactured onto various types of substrates. To accompany these advances, major improvements in sensor read-out devices must also be achieved to fully realize the broad impact of plasmonic nanosensors. Here, we propose a machine learning framework which can be used to design low-cost and mobile multispectral plasmonic readers that do not use traditionally employed bulky and expensive stabilized light sources or high-resolution spectrometers. By training a feature selection model over a large set of fabricated plasmonic nanosensors, we select the optimal set of illumination light-emitting diodes needed to create a minimum-error refractive index prediction model, which statistically takes into account the varied spectral responses and fabrication-induced variability of a given sensor design. This computational sensing approach was experimentally validated using a modular mobile plasmonic reader. We tested different plasmonic sensors with hexagonal and square periodicity nanohole arrays and revealed that the optimal illumination bands differ from those that are “intuitively” selected based on the spectral features of the sensor, e.g., transmission peaks or valleys. This framework provides a universal tool for the plasmonics community to design low-cost and mobile multispectral readers, helping the translation of nanosensing technologies to various emerging applications such as wearable sensing, personalized medicine, and point-of-care diagnostics. Beyond plasmonics, other types of sensors that operate based on spectral changes can broadly benefit from this approach, including e.g., aptamer-enabled nanoparticle assays and graphene-based sensors, among others.

Bimodal Reading: Benefits of a Talking Computer for Average and Less Skilled Readers.

Science.gov (United States)

Montali, Julie; Lewandowski, Lawrence

1996-01-01

Eighteen average readers and 18 less-skilled readers (grades 8 and 9) were presented with social studies and science passages via a computer either visually (on screen), auditorily (read by digitized voice), or bimodally (on screen, highlighted while being voiced). Less-skilled readers demonstrated comprehension in the bimodal condition equivalent…

The Narratological Style and the Reader of Evelyn Waugh’s Early Satires

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roksana Zgierska

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The article deals with the role of the implied reader in Evelyn Waugh’s novels. An attempt will be made to define who the implied reader is and what is his position and role in fictional realm. By analysing narrative strategies and techniques within a selection of Waugh’s works, I attempt to discuss the changing relationship between author/narrator and the implied reader. I try to point that within Evelyn Waugh’s writing one can observe a simultaneous evolution of the narrator voice and the role ascribed to the implied reader. What is more, I discuss the limits of interpretation. I try to present and analyse how both the author/narrator and the text can impose limitations on the implied reader allowing him to move freely, however, within a set frame. Intertextuality is one of the focal points of the article, as I try to propose that the use of specific intertextual references in several different novels enhances the reader’s understanding of  Waugh’s fictional world. An attempt is made to prove that through analysis of different levels of understanding intertextual relation the reader takes on himself a role of creator. Furthermore, I draw attention to the places of indeterminacy. In this discussion I include both structures of indeterminacy proposed by Roman Ingarden i.e. blanks and negations, as both are needed not only to establish the interaction that takes place between text and the implied reader, but also to try to regulate such relation. An attempt will be made to explain how important filling the gaps within the text is and how completing the blanks affects the reader and the process of reading as such.

Development of LEDs-based microplate reader for bioanalytical assay measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alaruri, Sami D; Katzlinger, Michael; Schinwald, Bernhard; Kronberger, Georg; Atzler, Joseph

2013-01-01

The optical design for an LEDs-based microplate reader that can perform fluorescence intensity (top and bottom), absorbance, luminescence and time-resolved fluorescence measurements is described. The microplate reader is the first microplate reader in the marketplace that incorporates LEDs as excitation light sources. Absorbance measurements over the 0–3.5 optical density range for caffeine solution are presented. Additionally, fluorescence intensity readings collected at 535 and 625 nm from a green and a red RediPlate TM are reported. Furthermore, fluorescence decay lifetime measurements obtained for Eu (europium) and Sm (samarium) standard solutions using 370 nm excitation are presented. The microplate reader detection limits for the fluorescence intensity top, fluorescence intensity bottom, fluorescence polarization and time-resolved fluorescence modes are 1.5 fmol 100 µL −1 fluorescein (384-well plate), 25 fmol 100 µL −1 fluorescein (384-well plate), 5 mP at 10 nM fluorescein (black 384-well plate) and 30 amol 100 µL −1 europium solution (white 384-well plate), respectively. (paper)

Development of LEDs-based microplate reader for bioanalytical assay measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Alaruri, Sami D.; Katzlinger, Michael; Schinwald, Bernhard; Kronberger, Georg; Atzler, Joseph

2013-10-01

The optical design for an LEDs-based microplate reader that can perform fluorescence intensity (top and bottom), absorbance, luminescence and time-resolved fluorescence measurements is described. The microplate reader is the first microplate reader in the marketplace that incorporates LEDs as excitation light sources. Absorbance measurements over the 0-3.5 optical density range for caffeine solution are presented. Additionally, fluorescence intensity readings collected at 535 and 625 nm from a green and a red RediPlateTM are reported. Furthermore, fluorescence decay lifetime measurements obtained for Eu (europium) and Sm (samarium) standard solutions using 370 nm excitation are presented. The microplate reader detection limits for the fluorescence intensity top, fluorescence intensity bottom, fluorescence polarization and time-resolved fluorescence modes are 1.5 fmol 100 µL-1 fluorescein (384-well plate), 25 fmol 100 µL-1 fluorescein (384-well plate), 5 mP at 10 nM fluorescein (black 384-well plate) and 30 amol 100 µL-1 europium solution (white 384-well plate), respectively.

Qualitative content analysis of online news media coverage of weight loss surgery and related reader comments.

Science.gov (United States)

Glenn, N M; Champion, C C; Spence, J C

2012-10-01

The media has the ability to affect public opinion and policy direction. Prevalence of morbid obesity in Canada is increasing; as is the only effective long-term treatment, weight loss surgery (WLS). Limited research has explored media re/presentations of WLS. The purpose of this study was to examine national online news coverage (and reader comments) of WLS using content analysis. We sought to understand the dominant messages being conveyed within the news texts and reader comments, specifically whose voice was represented, who was the intended audience and what was the overall tone. Articles and comments were retrieved from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation news web site and analysed using line-by-line techniques. Articles were predominantly 'positive/supportive' (63%) in tone and frequently presented the voices and opinions of 'experts' conveying a biomedical perspective. Comments were overwhelmingly 'negative' (56%) and often derogatory including such language as 'piggy' and 'fatty'. Comments were almost exclusively anonymous (99%) and were frequently directed at other commenters (33%) and 'fat' people (6%). The potentially problematic nature of media framing and reader comments, particularly as they could relate to weight-based stigmatization and discrimination is discussed. © 2012 The Authors. Clinical Obesity © 2012 International Association for the Study of Obesity.

Social  reading - the reader on digital margins

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ivona Despot

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Electronic books enrich the reading experience through a range of possibilities digital technology offers, such as commenting or adding content at the margin space, marking interesting chapters and sharing the content with other readers. The phenomenon of social reading emerges with the influence of technology in the sphere of reading books and creates interactions for readers with the content and other readers. The great potential of enriching the reading experience is visible in the digital platforms for social reading, where the interaction and the creation of new content encourages the development of new way of reading and creativity. These activities may contribute to better understanding of the text. This enhances the communication about the text thus revitalizing the content and moves the reading itself from private to public sphere. This paper will show how are the activities in the digital margins transformed into a good indicator of the reading behavior, as well as the importance and usefulness of such for publishers to create new publishing products and services.

A Dual-Route Perspective on Eye Movements of Dyslexic Readers

Science.gov (United States)

Hawelka, Stefan; Gagl, Benjamin; Wimmer, Heinz

2010-01-01

This study assessed eye movement abnormalities of adolescent dyslexic readers and interpreted the findings by linking the dual-route model of single word reading with the E-Z Reader model of eye movement control during silent sentence reading. A dysfunction of the lexical route was assumed to account for a reduced number of words which received…

21 CFR 866.2850 - Automated zone reader.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

...) MEDICAL DEVICES IMMUNOLOGY AND MICROBIOLOGY DEVICES Microbiology Devices § 866.2850 Automated zone reader... surface of certain culture media used in disc-agar diffusion antimicrobial susceptibility tests. The...

CT colonography: effect of experience and training on reader performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Taylor, Stuart A.; Burling, David; Morley, Simon; Bartram, Clive I.; Halligan, Steve; Bassett, Paul; Atkin, Wendy

2004-01-01

The purpose of this paper was to investigate the effect of radiologist experience and increasing exposure to CT colonography on reader performance. Three radiologists of differing general experience (consultant, research fellow, trainee) independently analysed 100 CT colonographic datasets. Readers had no prior experience of CT colonography and received feedback and training after the first 50 cases from an independent experienced radiologist. Diagnostic performance and reporting times were compared for the first and second 50 datasets and compared with the results of a radiologist experienced in CT colonography. Before training only the consultant reader achieved statistical equivalence with the reference standard for detection of larger polyps. After training, detection rates ranged between 25 and 58% for larger polyps. Only the trainee significantly improved after training (P=0.007), with performance of other readers unchanged or even worse. Reporting times following training were reduced significantly for the consultant and fellow (P<0.001 and P=0.03, respectively), but increased for the trainee (P<0.001). In comparison to the consultant reader, the odds of detection of larger polyps was 0.36 (CI 0.16, 0.82) for the fellow and 0.36 (CI 0.14, 0.91) for the trainee. There is considerable variation in the ability to report CT colonography. Prior experience in gastrointestinal radiology is a distinct advantage. Competence cannot be assumed even after directed training via a database of 50 cases. (orig.)

Follow the Reader: An Effective Strategy to Support Students Reading More Complex Text

Science.gov (United States)

Klvacek, Michelle L.; Monroe, Eula Ewing; Wilcox, Brad; Hall-Kenyon, Kendra M.; Morrison, Timothy G.

2017-01-01

This article describes how one second-grade teacher implemented Follow the Reader, her term for dyad reading. Common Core expects students to read increasingly complex texts. Teachers can implement dyad reading with this end in mind. It is a modified version of the neurological impress method in which a lead reader and an assisted reader sit side…

Blind Braille readers mislocate tactile stimuli.

Science.gov (United States)

Sterr, Annette; Green, Lisa; Elbert, Thomas

2003-05-01

In a previous experiment, we observed that blind Braille readers produce errors when asked to identify on which finger of one hand a light tactile stimulus had occurred. With the present study, we aimed to specify the characteristics of this perceptual error in blind and sighted participants. The experiment confirmed that blind Braille readers mislocalised tactile stimuli more often than sighted controls, and that the localisation errors occurred significantly more often at the right reading hand than at the non-reading hand. Most importantly, we discovered that the reading fingers showed the smallest error frequency, but the highest rate of stimulus attribution. The dissociation of perceiving and locating tactile stimuli in the blind suggests altered tactile information processing. Neuroplasticity, changes in tactile attention mechanisms as well as the idea that blind persons may employ different strategies for tactile exploration and object localisation are discussed as possible explanations for the results obtained.

Design and trial evaluation of the user interface for MusicReader

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Leoné, Marco; van Dijk, Elisabeth M.A.G.; van Beijnum, Bernhard J.F.

2008-01-01

This paper describes the design and trial results of MusicReader, a networked application realizing sheet music related services for the support of ensemble and orchestra rehearsals and performances. To this end, MusicReader presents sheet music on computer screens and supports annotations, sheet

Techno-Literacy Practices of Emergent Readers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Razeale G. Fernandez

2015-12-01

Full Text Available – This research explored the techno-literacy practices of emergent readers. The study found that young children experienced a multi-literate practices in their homes that comprised not only print and paper-based literacies but also techno-literacies. That television, games on tablets and phones are the sources of textual pleasure of young children.Families reported that children watched television and play games on tablets/phones regularly. This is due to the limited options of leisure activities available to younger children. Emergent readers are highly focused to televisual text as they demonstrate meaningmaking practices when they constantly ask questions and talk about what they are watching,hence they are active meaning-makers. The learning opportunities which include hand eye coordination, parallel processing, and problem solving skills young children acquired through playing computer games and games on tablet/iPad . Aside from these, they also developed a number of literacy skills as well as how to behave as players.It can be concluded thatexposure to imagery in electronic technologies contributed to the children’s literacy development. The literate identities of emergent readers can be further enhanced as they begin formal schooling. Data indicated that young children are developing techno-literacy practices and this concurs to the findings of Marsh (2010. Therefore, technology serves as a tool for the literacy development of young children. That techno-literacy practices of young children should be valued in school. Future research should also consider attitude, behavior and practices of parents towards the use of technology by children.

Poor readers but compelled to read: Stroop effects in developmental dyslexia.

Science.gov (United States)

Faccioli, Chiara; Peru, Andrea; Rubini, Elena; Tassinari, Giancarlo

2008-05-01

We studied a group of 24 children with dyslexia in second to fifth primary school grades by using a discrete-trial computerized version of the Stroop Color-Word Test. Since the classic Stroop effect depends on the interference of reading with color naming, one would expect these children to show no interference or, at least, less interference than normal readers. Children with dyslexia showed, however, a Stroop effect larger than normal readers of the same age. This suggests that reading, although difficult and slow, is an inescapable step that precedes naming both in poor and in normal readers.

Novel versatile smart phone based Microplate readers for on-site diagnoses.

Science.gov (United States)

Fu, Qiangqiang; Wu, Ze; Li, Xiuqing; Yao, Cuize; Yu, Shiting; Xiao, Wei; Tang, Yong

2016-07-15

Microplate readers are important diagnostic instruments, used intensively for various readout test kits (biochemical analysis kits and ELISA kits). However, due to their expensive and non-portability, commercial microplate readers are unavailable for home testing, community and rural hospitals, especially in developing countries. In this study, to provide a field-portable, cost-effective and versatile diagnostic tool, we reported a novel smart phone based microplate reader. The basic principle of this devise relies on a smart phone's optical sensor that measures transmitted light intensities of liquid samples. To prove the validity of these devises, developed smart phone based microplate readers were applied to readout results of various analytical targets. These targets included analanine aminotransferase (ALT; limit of detection (LOD) was 17.54 U/L), alkaline phosphatase (AKP; LOD was 15.56 U/L), creatinine (LOD was 1.35μM), bovine serum albumin (BSA; LOD was 0.0041mg/mL), prostate specific antigen (PSA; LOD was 0.76pg/mL), and ractopamine (Rac; LOD was 0.31ng/mL). The developed smart phone based microplate readers are versatile, portable, and inexpensive; they are unique because of their ability to perform under circumstances where resources and expertize are limited. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Diagnostic accuracy of mammography readers and their memory performance have no correlation with each other

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kok, P.; Cawson, J.N.; Mercuri, V.; Pitman, A.G.; Gledhill, S.; Shnier, D.; Taft, R.; Zentner, L.

2010-01-01

Full text: The study aims to determine if any association exists between visual memory performance and diagnostic accuracy performance in a group of radiologist mammogram readers. Materials and Methods: One hundred proven mammograms (23 with cancers) were grouped into 5 sets of 20 cases, with sets being of equal difficulty. Pairs of sets were presented in 5 reads (40 cases per read, order random) to a panel of 8 radiologist readers (either present or past screening readers, with experience range from 20 years). The readers were asked to either 'clear' or 'call back' cases depending on need for further workup, and at post-baseline reads to indicate whether each case was 'new' or 'old' (i .e. remembered from prior read). Two sets were presented only at baseline (40 cases per reader), and were used to calculate the reader's false recollection rate. Three sets were repeated post-baseline once or twice (100 cases per reader). Reading conditions were standardised. Results: Memory performance differed markedly between readers. The number of correctly remembered cases (of 100 'old' cases) had a median of 10.5 and range of 0-58. The observed number of false recollections (of 40 'totally new' cases) had a median of 2 and range of 0-17. Diagnostic performance measures were mean (range): sensitivity 0.68 (0.54-0.81); specificity 0.82 (0.74-0.91); positive predictive value (PPV) 0.55 (0.500.65); negative predictive value (NPV) 0.89 (0.86-0.93) and accuracy 0.78 (0.76-0.83). Confidence intervals (CIs; 95%) for each reader overlapped for all the diagnostic parameters, indicating a lack of statistically significant difference between the readers at the 5% level. The most sensitive and the most specific reader showed a trend away from each other on sensitivity, specificity, NPV and PPV; their accuracies were 0.76 and 0.82, respectively, and their accuracy 95% CIs overlapped considerably. Correlation analysis by reader showed no association between observed memory performance and

Serving Boys through Readers' Advisory

Science.gov (United States)

Sullivan, Michael

2010-01-01

Based on more than twenty years' experience working to get boys interested in reading, the author now offers his first readers' advisory volume. With an emphasis on nonfiction and the boy-friendly categories of genre fiction, the work offers a wealth of material including: (1) Suggestions for how to booktalk one-on-one as well as in large groups;…

The printerless office. A study on the use of e-readers to replace printed paper; Het printerloos kantoor. Een studie naar het gebruik van e-readers ter vervanging van geprint papier

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bijleveld, M.M.; Sevenster, M.N.

2011-03-15

A life-cycle analysis was conducted to compare the environmental burden of e-readers with printed paper. The turning point when the e-reader starts to offer environmental benefits over printed paper, at an operational life of two years, lies between 3,000 and 13,000 prints per year. [Dutch] Door middel van levenscyclusanalyse is de milieubelasting van e-readers en geprint papier bepaald en met elkaar vergeleken. Het kantelpunt waarop een e-reader, bij gebruiksduur van 2 jaar, milieuvoordeel gaat bieden boven papieren prints, ligt tussen de 3.000 en 13.000 printjes per jaar.

Chipless RFID reader architecture

CERN Document Server

Karmakar, Nemai Chandra; Kalansuriya, Prasanna

2013-01-01

In the era of information communication technology (ICT), radio frequency identification (RFID) has been going through tremendous development. RFID technology has the potential of replacing barcodes due to its large information carrying capacity, flexibility in operations, and applications. The deployment of RFID has been hindered by its cost. However, with the advent of low powered ICs, energy scavenging techniques, and low-cost chipless tags, RFID technology has achieved significant development. This book addresses the new reader architecture, presents fundamentals of chipless RFID systems,

Professional writers and empathy: Exploring the barriers to anticipating reader problems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Jong, Menno D.T.; Lentz, Leo

2007-01-01

Research has shown that professional writers cannot accurately predict the problems readers will experience when using functional documents. In this paper, we give an overview of reasons why it can be so hardfor writers to anticipate reader problems. We elaborate on the concept of empathy, and

Statin-associated immune-mediated myopathy: biology and clinical implications.

Science.gov (United States)

Christopher-Stine, Lisa; Basharat, Pari

2017-04-01

In the last 6 years, our understanding of statin-associated myopathy expanded to include not only a toxic myopathy with limited and reversible side-effects but also an autoimmune variety in which statins likely induce an autoimmune myopathy that is both associated with a specific autoantibody and responsive to immunosuppression and immune modulation. This review widens the reader's understanding of statin myopathy to include an autoimmune process. Statin-associated immune-mediated myopathy provides an example of an environmental trigger (statins) directly implicated in an autoimmune disease associated with a genetic predisposition as well as potential risk factors including concomitant diseases and specific statins. Given a median exposure to statins of 38 months, providers should be aware that anti-3-hydroxy-3-methyl-glutaryl-coenzyme A reductase (HMGCR) myopathy may occur even after several years of statin exposure. It is important for the reader to understand the clinical presentation of statin-associated immune-mediated myopathy and the difference in its clinical presentation to that of statins as direct myotoxins. Prompt recognition of such an entity allows the clinician to immediately stop the offending agent if it has not already been discontinued as well as to recognize that statin rechallenge is not a likely option, and that prompt treatment with immunosuppression and/or immunomodulation is usually of enormous benefit to the patient in restoring muscle strength and physical function. VIDEO ABSTRACT.

Systematical and statistical errors in using reference light sources to calibrate TLD readers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Burgkhardt, B.; Piesch, E.

1981-01-01

Three light sources, namely an NaI(Tl) scintillator + Ra, an NaI(Tl) scintillator + 14 C and a plastic scintillator + 14 C, were used during a period of 24 months for a daily check of two TLD readers: the Harshaw 2000 A + B and the Toledo 651. On the basis of light source measurements long-term changes and day-to-day fluctuations of the reader response were investigated. Systematical changes of the Toledo reader response of up to 6% during a working week are explained by nitrogen effects in the plastic scintillator light source. It was found that the temperature coefficient of the light source intensity was -0.05%/ 0 C for the plastic scintillator and -0.3%/ 0 C for the NaI(Tl) scintillator. The 210 Pb content in the Ra activated NaI(Tl) scintillator caused a time-dependent decrease in light source intensity of 3%/yr for the light source in the Harshaw reader. The internal light sources revealed a relative standard deviation of 0.5% for the Toledo reader and the Harshaw reader after respective reading times of 0.45 and 100 sec. (author)

Training readers at school: the educational project, the school library and the mediation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rovilson José da Silva

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Discusses the formation of readers in the first years of elementary school and proposes the integration between the school pedagogical project, teachers, reading practices and the school library. Objective: To analyze the basic assumptions to train readers in school. Methods: Bibliographic research based on a literature review on the subject. Results: Initial elements that may be used to structure readers-training projects at any schools are presented. Conclusion: Training readers at school consists in having procedures and pedagogical actions performed in combination with guided and free usage of the library, borrowing books and time to hear stories and talk about them.

Induced abortion among women attending antenatal clinics in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Objectives: Unsafe abortion is a public health concern because of its impact on maternal morbidity and mortality. The objective of this study was to document on induced abortion in Yaounde, Cameroon. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Six antenatal clinics in Yaounde, Cameroon. Methods: Women attending ...

EDMC: An enhanced distributed multi-channel anti-collision algorithm for RFID reader system

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, YuJing; Cui, Yinghua

2017-05-01

In this paper, we proposes an enhanced distributed multi-channel reader anti-collision algorithm for RFID environments which is based on the distributed multi-channel reader anti-collision algorithm for RFID environments (called DiMCA). We proposes a monitor method to decide whether reader receive the latest control news after it selected the data channel. The simulation result shows that it improves interrogation delay.

Cancer on a mammogram is not memorable: readers remember their recalls and not cancers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pitman, Alexander G.; Kok, Phebe; Zentner, Lucila

2012-01-01

To determine if presence of cancer on a mammogram makes that mammogram more memorable. A total of 100 mammograms (25 cancers) were grouped into 5 sets of 20 cases. Set pairs were presented in five reads to eight radiologist readers. Readers were asked to 'clear' or 'call back' cases, and at post-baseline reads to indicate whether each case was 'new' or 'old ' (remembered from prior read). Two sets were presented only at baseline, to calculate each reader's false recollection rate. For cases presented more than once ('old' cases, 100 presentations) readers could have 'correct memory' or 'memory loss'. Memory performance was defined as odds ratio of correct memory to memory loss. Multivariate logistic data regression analysis identified predictors of memory performance from: reader, set, time since last read, presence of cancer, and whether the case was called back at the last read. Memory performance differed markedly between readers and reader identity was a highly significant predictor of memory performance. Presence of cancer was not a significant predictor of memory performance (odds ratio 0.77, 95% CI: 0.49–1.21). Whether the case was called back at the last read was a highly significant predictor (odds ratio 4.22, 95% CI: 2.70–6.61) for the model incorporating reader variability, and also the model without reader variability (odds ratio 2.67, 95% CI: 1.74–4.08). The only statistically significant predictor of radiologist memory for a mammogram was whether the radiologist 'called it back' at a prior reading round. Presence of cancer on a mammogram did not make it memorable.

So Long, Robot Reader! A Superhero Intervention Plan for Improving Fluency

Science.gov (United States)

Marcell, Barclay; Ferraro, Christine

2013-01-01

This article presents an engaging means for turning disfluent readers into prosody superstars. Each week students align with Poetry Power Man and his superhero friends to battle the evil Robot Reader and his sidekicks. The Fluency Foursome helps students adhere to the multidimensional aspects of fluency where expression and comprehension are…

[Personal experiences with induced abortions in private clinics in Northeast Brazil].

Science.gov (United States)

Silveira, Paloma; McCallum, Cecilia; Menezes, Greice

2016-02-01

Based on a qualitative study conducted in 2012, the article analyzes middle-class individuals' experiences with induced abortions performed in private clinics. Thirty-four stories of induced abortions were narrated by 19 women and five men living in two state capitals in Northeast Brazil. Thematic analysis revealed differences in types of clinics and care provided by the physicians. The article shows that abortion in private clinics fails to guarantee safe or humane care. The narratives furnish descriptions of diverse situations and practices, ranging from flaws such as lack of information on medicines to others involving severe abuses like procedures performed without anesthesia. The article concludes that criminalization of abortion in Brazil allows clinics to operate with no state regulation; it does not prevent women from having abortions, but exposes them to total vulnerability and violation of human rights.

Does Feeling Come First? How Poetry Can Help Readers Broaden Their Understanding of Metacognition

Science.gov (United States)

Eva-Wood, Amy L.

2008-01-01

Assuming that readers' emotional responses can enhance readers' metacognitive experiences and inform literary analysis, this study of 11th-grade poetry readers features instruction that models both cognitive and affective reading processes. The author: (1) Presents a case for more explicit attention to emotion in language arts classrooms; (2)…

Mind the Gap: Bridging the Divide between Non-Readers and Lifelong Readers with Hi-Lo Books

Science.gov (United States)

Gleason, Carrie

2011-01-01

In the past few years, there has been increasing demand from school librarians for books for "reluctant readers"--despite the impressive offering of children's literature published each year and the success of blockbuster series like "Harry Potter, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Twilight," and "Hunger Games," among others. This is also in addition to all…

Every reader his book – every book its reader?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kann-Christensen, Nanna; Balling, Gitte

2014-01-01

’ advisory and audience development. This is achieved through an analysis of opinions and reflections expressed by 13 managers and librarians in all six county libraries in Denmark. The interviews are analysed through the model which merges three concepts: cultural policy, new public management......Collections are no longer the main attraction in libraries, and libraries are working to find new paths to tread. One strategy is to focus on reading and literature in new and surprising ways. The aim of this article is to enrich an understanding of activities situated in the span between readers...... and professional logics. Our findings show that Danish librarians’ views on readers’ advisory and audience development strike a balance between the experience and empowerment rationales with a prevailing focus on users. A user orientation and focus on user experiences have created a situation wherein the notions...

Parietotemporal Stimulation Affects Acquisition of Novel Grapheme-Phoneme Mappings in Adult Readers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jessica W. Younger

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Neuroimaging work from developmental and reading intervention research has suggested a cause of reading failure may be lack of engagement of parietotemporal cortex during initial acquisition of grapheme-phoneme (letter-sound mappings. Parietotemporal activation increases following grapheme-phoneme learning and successful reading intervention. Further, stimulation of parietotemporal cortex improves reading skill in lower ability adults. However, it is unclear whether these improvements following stimulation are due to enhanced grapheme-phoneme mapping abilities. To test this hypothesis, we used transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS to manipulate parietotemporal function in adult readers as they learned a novel artificial orthography with new grapheme-phoneme mappings. Participants received real or sham stimulation to the left inferior parietal lobe (L IPL for 20 min before training. They received explicit training over the course of 3 days on 10 novel words each day. Learning of the artificial orthography was assessed at a pre-training baseline session, the end of each of the three training sessions, an immediate post-training session and a delayed post-training session about 4 weeks after training. Stimulation interacted with baseline reading skill to affect learning of trained words and transfer to untrained words. Lower skill readers showed better acquisition, whereas higher skill readers showed worse acquisition, when training was paired with real stimulation, as compared to readers who received sham stimulation. However, readers of all skill levels showed better maintenance of trained material following parietotemporal stimulation, indicating a differential effect of stimulation on initial learning and consolidation. Overall, these results indicate that parietotemporal stimulation can enhance learning of new grapheme-phoneme relationships in readers with lower reading skill. Yet, while parietotemporal function is critical to new

Parietotemporal Stimulation Affects Acquisition of Novel Grapheme-Phoneme Mappings in Adult Readers

Science.gov (United States)

Younger, Jessica W.; Booth, James R.

2018-01-01

Neuroimaging work from developmental and reading intervention research has suggested a cause of reading failure may be lack of engagement of parietotemporal cortex during initial acquisition of grapheme-phoneme (letter-sound) mappings. Parietotemporal activation increases following grapheme-phoneme learning and successful reading intervention. Further, stimulation of parietotemporal cortex improves reading skill in lower ability adults. However, it is unclear whether these improvements following stimulation are due to enhanced grapheme-phoneme mapping abilities. To test this hypothesis, we used transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to manipulate parietotemporal function in adult readers as they learned a novel artificial orthography with new grapheme-phoneme mappings. Participants received real or sham stimulation to the left inferior parietal lobe (L IPL) for 20 min before training. They received explicit training over the course of 3 days on 10 novel words each day. Learning of the artificial orthography was assessed at a pre-training baseline session, the end of each of the three training sessions, an immediate post-training session and a delayed post-training session about 4 weeks after training. Stimulation interacted with baseline reading skill to affect learning of trained words and transfer to untrained words. Lower skill readers showed better acquisition, whereas higher skill readers showed worse acquisition, when training was paired with real stimulation, as compared to readers who received sham stimulation. However, readers of all skill levels showed better maintenance of trained material following parietotemporal stimulation, indicating a differential effect of stimulation on initial learning and consolidation. Overall, these results indicate that parietotemporal stimulation can enhance learning of new grapheme-phoneme relationships in readers with lower reading skill. Yet, while parietotemporal function is critical to new learning, its role in

Struggling Readers: Assessment and Instruction in Grades K-6. Solving Problems in the Teaching of Literacy.

Science.gov (United States)

Balajthy, Ernest; Lipa-Wade, Sally

This book focuses on three distinct types of struggling readers that teachers will instantly recognize from their own classrooms--the "Catch-On Reader," the "Catch-Up Reader," and the "Stalled Reader." The book provides detailed case studies which bring to life the specific problems these students are likely to face…

Two ways of constructing the reader`s subject position: a discursive analysis of the newspaper language of the newspapers Diário Catarinense and Hora de Santa Catarina

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sandro Braga

2012-12-01

Full Text Available We analyze, based on French Discourse Analysis, how the newspapers Diário Catarinense and Hora de Santa Catarina produce different reader`s subject positions. This research is justified by the fact that both newspapers are products of the same media company. The starting point was the hypothesis that there would be in the market two types of readers, thus the two products do not compete with each other, but they would complement each other in the coverage of a reading area. Reading here is treated as a process of production of sense effects. The work is based on Orlandi`s thinking about the conception of reading, as well as in the distinction between real and virtual reader. We do also present the clues included in the statements which inferences are essential to apprehend the said and the unsaid which, by means of a comparative analysis, was used to understand the production of different reader’s subject position. The analysis points out that the newspapers DC and Hora present similar characteristics in regard to the process of transmitting information, howevereach newspaper interrelates with its target public in a different way through the use of language and in the manner of production of news. It leads to the construction of different positions of these readers in relation to the information which is transmitted, because, making use of uttering strategies, these newspapers ideologically mark the readers of DC as being more lettered than the ones of Hora.

Predicting Text Comprehension, Processing, and Familiarity in Adult Readers: New Approaches to Readability Formulas

Science.gov (United States)

Crossley, Scott A.; Skalicky, Stephen; Dascalu, Mihai; McNamara, Danielle S.; Kyle, Kristopher

2017-01-01

Research has identified a number of linguistic features that influence the reading comprehension of young readers; yet, less is known about whether and how these findings extend to adult readers. This study examines text comprehension, processing, and familiarity judgment provided by adult readers using a number of different approaches (i.e.,…

Networks of reader and country status: an analysis of Mendeley reader statistics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robin Haunschild

2015-11-01

Full Text Available The number of papers published in journals indexed by the Web of Science core collection is steadily increasing. In recent years, nearly two million new papers were published each year; somewhat more than one million papers when primary research papers are considered only (articles and reviews are the document types where primary research is usually reported or reviewed. However, who reads these papers? More precisely, which groups of researchers from which (self-assigned scientific disciplines and countries are reading these papers? Is it possible to visualize readership patterns for certain countries, scientific disciplines, or academic status groups? One popular method to answer these questions is a network analysis. In this study, we analyze Mendeley readership data of a set of 1,133,224 articles and 64,960 reviews with publication year 2012 to generate three different networks: (1 The network based on disciplinary affiliations of Mendeley readers contains four groups: (i biology, (ii social sciences and humanities (including relevant computer sciences, (iii bio-medical sciences, and (iv natural sciences and engineering. In all four groups, the category with the addition “miscellaneous” prevails. (2 The network of co-readers in terms of professional status shows that a common interest in papers is mainly shared among PhD students, Master’s students, and postdocs. (3 The country network focusses on global readership patterns: a group of 53 nations is identified as core to the scientific enterprise, including Russia and China as well as two thirds of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries.

Clinical courses of herpes simplex virus-induced urethritis in men.

Science.gov (United States)

Ito, Shin; Yasuda, Mitsuru; Kondo, Hiromi; Yamada, Yoshiteru; Nakane, Keita; Mizutani, Kosuke; Tsuchiya, Tomohiro; Yokoi, Shigeaki; Nakano, Masahiro; Deguchi, Takashi

2017-10-01

We retrieved clinical data of 13 men having herpes simplex virus (HSV)-induced non-gonococcal urethritis (NGU) without visible herpetic lesions. They visited a clinic in Sendai, Japan, between April 2013 and December 2015. All the men complained of dysuria. Meatitis was observed in 9 of the 13 men. Mononuclear cells were observed in the urethral smears from 9 men. The 13 men were treated with azithromycin or sitafloxacin regimen. First-voided urine (FVU) specimens became negative for HSV in 8 of the 10 men who returned to the clinic after antibacterial treatment, and urethritis symptoms were alleviated. However, herpetic lesions were observed at the follow-up visits in 3 men, and 2 of them were still positive for HSV in their FVU. HSV could be a cause of acute urethritis without causing visible herpetic lesions. The shedding of HSV from the urethra would spontaneously cease with alleviation of urethritis symptoms in most cases of HSV-induced NGU without antiviral therapy. However, new herpetic lesions could be developed in some cases. Early antiviral therapy is beneficial for patients with HSV infections. The development of meatitis and the mononuclear cell response in the urethral smear could be helpful to diagnose HSV-induced NGU. Therefore, we should presumptively initiate anti-HSV therapy for patients with signs and symptoms suggestive of HSV-induced NGU at their first presentation. Copyright © 2017 Japanese Society of Chemotherapy and The Japanese Association for Infectious Diseases. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Processamento cognitivo em crianças com e sem dificuldades de leitura Cognitive skills in children: comparing good readers and poor readers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alessandra Gotuzo Seabra Capovilla

2004-12-01

Full Text Available Para buscar identificar habilidades cognitivas mais freqüentemente prejudicadas nas dificuldades de leitura, 90 crianças de pré-escola e 1ª Série foram avaliadas em leitura, escrita, consciência fonológica, memória fonológica, vocabulário, aritmética, processamento visual e seqüenciamento. Comparando as habilidades de bons e maus leitores (acima e abaixo de 1 desvio-padrão em relação à média, respectivamente, observou-se que bons leitores foram significativamente superiores em escrita, consciência fonológica, vocabulário, memória fonológica e memória visual. Resultados sugerem uma relação funcional e forte entre processamento fonológico e leitura; funcional e moderada entre processamento seqüencial, aritmética e leitura; e fraca e correlacional entre processamento visual e leitura.To identify cognitive skills that may be diminished in reading difficulties, 90 preschoolers and first graders were tested in reading, spelling, phonological awareness, phonological memory, vocabulary, arithmetic, visual processing, and sequential processing. Comparison between good readers and poor readers (above and below one standard deviation, respectively, revealed that good readers were significantly superior to poor readers in spelling, phonological awareness, vocabulary, phonological memory and visual memory. Results suggest strong functional relationship between phonological processing and reading, moderate functional relationships between sequential processing and arithmetic on one hand and reading on the other, and weak correlation between visual processing and reading.

Selecting "App"ealing and "App"ropriate Book Apps for Beginning Readers

Science.gov (United States)

Cahill, Maria; McGill-Franzen, Anne

2013-01-01

Beginning with a brief rationale for selecting quality digital picture book apps for beginning readers, the authors describe the elements of digital picture books and provide a brief review of the instructional benefits of digital picture book use for beginning readers. They then present a detailed taxonomy for selecting quality picture book apps.…

The Experiences in Processing Policies and Contracts by Adult ESL Readers

Science.gov (United States)

Abiog, Evalyn B.

2017-01-01

The present study describes the experiences of adult English as a Second Language (ESL) readers in processing legal texts prior to entering a financial agreement. A preliminary survey was conducted to determine the commonly read policies and contracts of adult ESL reader-consumers, which revealed those of banks and life-insurance companies; hence,…

Challenges in Clinical Management of Radiation-Induced Illnesses in Exploration Spaceflight

Science.gov (United States)

Blue, Rebecca; Chancellor, Jeffery; Suresh, Rahul; Carnell, Lisa; Reyes, David; Nowadly, Craig; Antonsen, Erik

2018-01-01

Historical solar particle events (SPEs) provide context for some understanding of acute radiation exposure risk to astronauts traveling outside of low Earth orbit. Modeling of potential doses delivered to exploration crewmembers anticipates limited radiation-induced health impacts, including prodromal symptoms of nausea, emesis, and fatigue, but suggests that more severe clinical manifestations are unlikely. Recent large animal-model research in space-analogs closely mimicking SPEs has identified coagulopathic events independent of the hematopoietic sequelae of higher radiation doses, similar in manifestation to disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC). We explored the challenges of clinical management of radiation-related clinical manifestations, using currently accepted modeling techniques and anticipated physiological sequelae, to identify medical capabilities needed to successfully manage SPE-induced radiation illnesses during exploration spaceflight.

Measuring the Reader Self-Perceptions of Adolescents: Introducing the RSPS2

Science.gov (United States)

Henk, William A.; Marinak, Barbara A.; Melnick, Steven A.

2013-01-01

This paper introduces a new affective instrument for assessing the reader self-perceptions of students in grades seven through ten. The Reader Self-Perception Scale 2 (RSPS2) builds upon its predecessor, the RSPS, a tool that measures the reading efficacy beliefs of children in grades four through six. New items were created for the RSPS2 to…

Guiding Young Readers to Multicultural Literature

Science.gov (United States)

Hinton-Johnson, KaaVonia; Dickinson, Gail

2005-01-01

Stocking the shelves of library media centers with multicultural literature is not enough, it is important that children are helped to choose the ones that would interest them as reading about various cultures is of great benefit to young readers. The importance of accurately representing to children a multicultural society is emphasized and…

Microcomputer-Controlled Reader Systems for Archaeological and Geological TL Dating

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bøtter-Jensen, Lars; Mejdahl, V.

1984-01-01

Two fully automated TL reader systems for TL dating and a manually operated reader for research purpose were put into operation during 1982-3. All systems are controlled by HP-85 or HP-86 microcomputers; thus flexibility in selection of measurement parameters, calculation of TL signals and displa...... the archaeological and geological ages. The principle of the measurement procedures are described, and dating results are presented to illustrate the performance of the systems...

Vibrotactile masking experiments reveal accelerated somatosensory processing in congenitally blind braille readers.

Science.gov (United States)

Bhattacharjee, Arindam; Ye, Amanda J; Lisak, Joy A; Vargas, Maria G; Goldreich, Daniel

2010-10-27

Braille reading is a demanding task that requires the identification of rapidly varying tactile patterns. During proficient reading, neighboring characters impact the fingertip at ∼100 ms intervals, and adjacent raised dots within a character at 50 ms intervals. Because the brain requires time to interpret afferent sensorineural activity, among other reasons, tactile stimuli separated by such short temporal intervals pose a challenge to perception. How, then, do proficient Braille readers successfully interpret inputs arising from their fingertips at such rapid rates? We hypothesized that somatosensory perceptual consolidation occurs more rapidly in proficient Braille readers. If so, Braille readers should outperform sighted participants on masking tasks, which demand rapid perceptual processing, but would not necessarily outperform the sighted on tests of simple vibrotactile sensitivity. To investigate, we conducted two-interval forced-choice vibrotactile detection, amplitude discrimination, and masking tasks on the index fingertips of 89 sighted and 57 profoundly blind humans. Sighted and blind participants had similar unmasked detection (25 ms target tap) and amplitude discrimination (compared with 100 μm reference tap) thresholds, but congenitally blind Braille readers, the fastest readers among the blind participants, exhibited significantly less masking than the sighted (masker, 50 Hz, 50 μm; target-masker delays, ±50 and ±100 ms). Indeed, Braille reading speed correlated significantly and specifically with masking task performance, and in particular with the backward masking decay time constant. We conclude that vibrotactile sensitivity is unchanged but that perceptual processing is accelerated in congenitally blind Braille readers.

Acute Rotavirus-Induced Diarrhea in Children: Clinical Picture, Diagnosis, Treatment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S.L. Niankovskyi

2015-09-01

Full Text Available The paper considers the current aspects of epidemiology, diagnosis, clinical picture and treatment of acute rotavirus-induced diarrhea in children. There are presented the basic thesis of ESPGHAN consensus (2014 about acute diarrheas. There was analyzed the effectiveness of probiotic Subalin producing interferon for the treatment of acute rotavirus-induced diarrhea. It was demonstrated its effectiveness according to the literature review and own data.

An Effective Scheduling-Based RFID Reader Collision Avoidance Model and Its Resource Allocation via Artificial Immune Network

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shanjin Wang

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Radio frequency identification, that is, RFID, is one of important technologies in Internet of Things. Reader collision does impair the tag identification efficiency of an RFID system. Many developed methods, for example, the scheduling-based series, that are used to avoid RFID reader collision, have been developed. For scheduling-based methods, communication resources, that is, time slots, channels, and power, are optimally assigned to readers. In this case, reader collision avoidance is equivalent to an optimization problem related to resource allocation. However, the existing methods neglect the overlap between the interrogation regions of readers, which reduces the tag identification rate (TIR. To resolve this shortage, this paper attempts to build a reader-to-reader collision avoidance model considering the interrogation region overlaps (R2RCAM-IRO. In addition, an artificial immune network for resource allocation (RA-IRO-aiNet is designed to optimize the proposed model. For comparison, some comparative numerical simulations are arranged. The simulation results show that the proposed R2RCAM-IRO is an effective model where TIR is improved significantly. And especially in the application of reader-to-reader collision avoidance, the proposed RA-IRO-aiNet outperforms GA, opt-aiNet, and PSO in the total coverage area of readers.

Collaboration between SSMJ and its readers

African Journals Online (AJOL)

All of us in the healthcare professions throughout the world can learn much from each other. This has been demonstrated so well by the collaboration between the editors, authors, medical experts and readers of the South Sudan Medical Journal. The Editor-in-Chief recently sent out a request for photographs and received a ...

Rights of Postsecondary Readers and Learners

Science.gov (United States)

Greenbaum, JoAnne; Angus, Kathryn Bartle

2018-01-01

A position statement on the rights of adult readers and learners was adopted by the CRLA board in 2002 and published with a theoretical rationale in ["Journal of College Reading and Learning"] "JCRL," Spring 2003. The statement was a guideline for educators seeking to improve the quality of adult education. In 2016, at the…

Struggling readers learning with graphic-rich digital science text: Effects of a Highlight & Animate Feature and Manipulable Graphics

Science.gov (United States)

Defrance, Nancy L.

Technology offers promise of 'leveling the playing field' for struggling readers. That is, instructional support features within digital texts may enable all readers to learn. This quasi-experimental study examined the effects on learning of two support features, which offered unique opportunities to interact with text. The Highlight & Animate Feature highlighted an important idea in prose, while simultaneously animating its representation in an adjacent graphic. It invited readers to integrate ideas depicted in graphics and prose, using each one to interpret the other. The Manipulable Graphics had parts that the reader could operate to discover relationships among phenomena. It invited readers to test or refine the ideas that they brought to, or gleaned from, the text. Use of these support features was compulsory. Twenty fifth grade struggling readers read a graphic-rich digital science text in a clinical interview setting, under one of two conditions: using either the Highlight & Animate Feature or the Manipulable Graphics. Participants in both conditions made statistically significant gains on a multiple choice measure of knowledge of the topic of the text. While there were no significant differences by condition in the amount of knowledge gained; there were significant differences in the quality of knowledge expressed. Transcripts revealed that understandings about light and vision, expressed by those who used the Highlight & Animate Feature, were more often conceptually and linguistically 'complete.' That is, their understandings included both a description of phenomena as well as an explanation of underlying scientific principles, which participants articulated using the vocabulary of the text. This finding may be attributed to the multiple opportunities to integrate graphics (depicting the behavior of phenomena) and prose (providing the scientific explanation of that phenomena), which characterized the Highlight & Animate Condition. Those who used the

A digital reader for condenser ionization chambers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stuermer, K.

1978-01-01

A reader for condenser chambers is described which has a completely automatic reading/charging operation, a modern digital readout presentation, and two full decades of exposure readout for each dosimeter type. The calibration and operation of the instrument are given

News in online and print newspapers: Differences in reader consumption and recall

NARCIS (Netherlands)

d'Haenens, Leen; Jankowski, Nicholas; Heuvelman, A.

2004-01-01

How readers consume and recall news presented in online and print versions of two newspapersin the Netherlands are investigated in this experimental study. Few differences are found between the online and print versions in terms of news supply. Reader attention to the news stories varies, depending

[Impact on reading scientific articles:an attempt to dialogue with "my reader"].

Science.gov (United States)

Akerman, Marco

2016-03-01

This article discusses the concept of "impact" and is based on the scientific output of the author that is examined for the analysis of impacts from the qualitative standpoint. It is done not as an end in itself, but under the aegis of the author/text/reader relationship. Seeking to establish this relationship, the way in which the author is quoted in a selected article, entering each of the quotes and identifying what aspects were emphasized by the readers who referenced the quote is explored in detail. This qualitative observation of each of the quotes provided an indication of how each author/reader perceived the original text. This personal experience of this finite and delicate dialogue with "my reader" is presented here as a recommendation, to anyone who may be interested, of a viable device that can be repeated by authors in order to re-visit their writings based on the acknowledgement of the impact that it has on others.

Self-limiting atypical antipsychotics-induced edema: Clinical cases and systematic review

OpenAIRE

Musa Usman Umar; Aminu Taura Abdullahi

2016-01-01

A number of atypical antipsychotics have been associated with peripheral edema. The exact cause is not known. We report two cases of olanzapine-induced edema and a brief review of atypical antipsychotic-induced edema, possible risk factors, etiology, and clinical features. The recommendation is given on different methods of managing this side effect.

Self-limiting Atypical Antipsychotics-induced Edema: Clinical Cases and Systematic Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Umar, Musa Usman; Abdullahi, Aminu Taura

2016-01-01

A number of atypical antipsychotics have been associated with peripheral edema. The exact cause is not known. We report two cases of olanzapine-induced edema and a brief review of atypical antipsychotic-induced edema, possible risk factors, etiology, and clinical features. The recommendation is given on different methods of managing this side effect.

The Role of Reader in Felpo Filva, by Eva Furnari

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana Elvira L. Gebara

2017-10-01

Full Text Available In order to analyze the relationship between writer-reader and mediation of the text, it is necessary to identify the positions they occupy. Before the Internet, it was not common for the reader to approach the writer directly, except though letters. This virtual (but not digital contact is modelling to understand the reader’s relationship with the author because, in the written lines, he ends up indicating how he understands himself and the other – in a game of faces, understood in this work as Kerbrat-Orecchioni (2006 it characterizes in conversation. In this hyper-gender, without socio-historical restrictions or of categorization (MAINGUENEAU, 2010, there is a mandatory provision that constrains the sender to identify his position from the moment he chooses how to address the recipient. In these forms of treatment, the relationships of preservation or threat to the in the light of what is extended or made explicit in the treatment given to the theme of the letter to be outlined. This article aims to identify the concepts of the reader in the correspondence exchanged by the main characters, Charlô and Felpo, core of the development of the narrative (FURNARI, 2006. These concepts allow us to comprehend, in a discursive and dialogical perspective, which boundaries remain for the reader towards the text and which are outdated.

Students Attendance Management System Based On RFID And Fingerprint Reader

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Moth Moth Myint Thein

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Today students class attendance is become more important part for any organizationsinstitutions. The conventional method of taking attendance by calling names or signing on paper is very time consuming and insecure hence inefficient. This paper presents the manual students attendance management into computerized system for convenience or data reliability. So the system is developed by the integration of ubiquitous computing systems into classroom for managing the students attendance using RFID and fingerprint reader. The system is designed to implement an attendance management system based on RFID and fingerprint reader which students need to use their student identification card ID and their finger ID to success the attendance where only authentic student can be recorded the attendance during the class. In this system passive RFID tag and reader pairs are used to register the student ID cards individually and fingerprint reader is used for attendance. This system takes attendance electronically with the help of the RFID and finger print device and the records of the attendance are stored in a database. Students roll call percentages and their details are easily seenvia Graphical User Interface GUI. This system will have the required databases for students attendance teachers subjects and students details. This application is implemented by Microsoft Visual Studio and Microsoft SQL Server as IDE. C language is used to implement this system.

The Impact of Clinical Information on the Assessment of Endoscopic Activity: Characteristics of the Ulcerative Colitis Endoscopic Index Of Severity [UCEIS].

Science.gov (United States)

Travis, Simon P L; Schnell, Dan; Feagan, Brian G; Abreu, Maria T; Altman, Douglas G; Hanauer, Stephen B; Krzeski, Piotr; Lichtenstein, Gary R; Marteau, Philippe R; Mary, Jean-Yves; Reinisch, Walter; Sands, Bruce E; Schnell, Patrick; Yacyshyn, Bruce R; Colombel, Jean-Frédéric; Bernhardt, Christian A; Sandborn, William J

2015-08-01

To determine whether clinical information influences endoscopic scoring by central readers using the Ulcerative Colitis Endoscopic Index of Severity [UCEIS; comprising 'vascular pattern', 'bleeding', 'erosions and ulcers']. Forty central readers performed 28 evaluations, including 2 repeats, from a library of 44 video sigmoidoscopies stratified by Mayo Clinic Score. Following training, readers were randomised to scoring with ['unblinded', n = 20, including 4 control videos with misleading information] or without ['blinded', n 20] clinical information. A total of 21 virtual Central Reader Groups [CRGs], of three blinded readers, were created. Agreement criteria were pre-specified. Kappa [κ] statistics quantified intra- and inter-reader variability. Mean UCEIS scores did not differ between blinded and unblinded readers for any of the 40 main videos. UCEIS standard deviations [SD] were similar [median blinded 0.94, unblinded 0.93; p = 0.97]. Correlation between UCEIS and visual analogue scale [VAS] assessment of overall severity was high [r blinded = 0.90, unblinded = 0.93; p = 0.02]. Scores for control videos were similar [UCEIS: p ≥ 0.55; VAS: p ≥ 0.07]. Intra- [κ 0.47-0.74] and inter-reader [κ 0.40-0.53] variability for items and full UCEIS was 'moderate'-to-'substantial', with no significant differences except for intra-reader variability for erosions and ulcers [κ blinded: 0.47 vs unblinded: 0.74; p 0.047]. The SD of CRGs was lower than for individual central readers [0.54 vs 0.95; p < 0.001]. Correlation between blinded UCEIS and patient-reported symptoms was high [stool frequency: 0.76; rectal bleeding: 0.82; both: 0.81]. The UCEIS is minimally affected by knowledge of clinical details, strongly correlates with patient-reported symptoms, and is a suitable instrument for trials. CRGs performed better than individuals. © European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation 2015.

Dose reader CD-02

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jakowiuk, A.; Kaluska, I.; Machaj, B.

2005-01-01

Dose Reader CD-02 is designed for measurement of dose from a long narrow band of dosimetric foil used for check up and control of electron beam dose during sterilization of materials and products on conveyor belt. Irradiated foil after processing (heating) is inserted into foil driving (moving) system and when the foil is moved across focused light beam the absorbed dose is measured and displayed at the same time at computer monitor (in form of a diagram). The absorbed dose is measured on the principle of light attenuation at selected light wavelength (foil absorbance is measured). (author)

Social Imaginary in web advertising of e-readers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Silvina Marcela Angelozzi

2015-04-01

Full Text Available This paper explores the imaginary meanings that appear in the advertising discourses on e-book reading devices commonly known as e-readers. It starts from the assumption that imaginary meanings are associated with both: the imaginary associated to digital technologies (Cabrera, 2006, 2011 and to the imaginary of "order of books" (Chartier, 2000, 2005. In order to carry out the exploration, the advertising discourses in the homepages of three cases are analized: The Amazon Kindle, Kobo and MovistarBq brands. The conclusion is that e-readers are devices that participate of the imaginary of the digital technologies as other devices in the complex of digital technologies in everyday life, and also refers strongly to the imaginary meanings related to printed books.

Cellphone-based hand-held microplate reader for point-of-care ELISA testing (Conference Presentation)

Science.gov (United States)

Berg, Brandon; Cortazar, Bingen; Tseng, Derek; Ozkan, Haydar; Feng, Steve; Wei, Qingshan; Chan, Raymond Y.; Burbano, Jordi; Farooqui, Qamar; Lewinski, Michael; Di Carlo, Dino; Garner, Omai B.; Ozcan, Aydogan

2016-03-01

Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in a microplate format has been a gold standard first-line clinical test for diagnosis of various diseases including infectious diseases. However, this technology requires a relatively large and expensive multi-well scanning spectrophotometer to read and quantify the signal from each well, hindering its implementation in resource-limited-settings. Here, we demonstrate a cost-effective and handheld smartphone-based colorimetric microplate reader for rapid digitization and quantification of immunoserology-related ELISA tests in a conventional 96-well plate format at the point of care (POC). This device consists of a bundle of 96 optical fibers to collect the transmitted light from each well of the microplate and direct all the transmission signals from the wells onto the camera of the mobile-phone. Captured images are then transmitted to a remote server through a custom-designed app, and both quantitative and qualitative diagnostic results are returned back to the user within ~1 minute per 96-well plate by using a machine learning algorithm. We tested this mobile-phone based micro-plate reader in a clinical microbiology lab using FDA-approved mumps IgG, measles IgG, and herpes simplex virus IgG (HSV-1 and HSV-2) ELISA tests on 1138 remnant patient samples (roughly 50% training and 50% testing), and achieved an overall accuracy of ~99% or higher for each ELISA test. This handheld and cost-effective platform could be immediately useful for large-scale vaccination monitoring in low-infrastructure settings, and also for other high-throughput disease screening applications at POC.

BOOK REVIEW: Astrophysics (Advanced Physics Readers)

Science.gov (United States)

Kibble, Bob

2000-07-01

Here is a handy and attractive reader to support students on post-16 courses. It covers the astrophysics, astronomy and cosmology that are demanded at A-level and offers anyone interested in these fields an interesting and engaging reference book. The author and the production team deserve credit for producing such an attractive book. The content, in ten chapters, covers what one would expect at this level but it is how it is presented that struck me as the book's most powerful asset. Each chapter ends with a summary of key ideas. Line drawings are clear and convey enough information to make them more than illustrations - they are as valuable as the text in conveying information. Full colour is used throughout to enhance illustrations and tables and to lift key sections of the text. A number of colour photographs complement the material and serve to maintain interest and remind readers that astrophysics is about real observable phenomena. Included towards the end is a set of tables offering information on physical and astronomical data, mathematical techniques and constellation names and abbreviations. This last table puzzled me as to its value. There is a helpful bibliography which includes society contacts and a website related to the text. Perhaps my one regret is that there is no section where students are encouraged to actually do some real astronomy. Astrophysics is in danger of becoming an armchair and calculator interest. There are practical projects that students could undertake either for school assessment or for personal interest. Simple astrophotography to capture star trails, observe star colours and estimate apparent magnitudes is an example, as is a simple double-star search. There are dozens more. However, the author's style is friendly and collaborative. He befriends the reader as they journey together through the ideas. There are progress questions at the end of each chapter. Their style tends to be rather closed and they emphasize factual recall

Self-limiting Atypical Antipsychotics-induced Edema: Clinical Cases and Systematic Review

Science.gov (United States)

Umar, Musa Usman; Abdullahi, Aminu Taura

2016-01-01

A number of atypical antipsychotics have been associated with peripheral edema. The exact cause is not known. We report two cases of olanzapine-induced edema and a brief review of atypical antipsychotic-induced edema, possible risk factors, etiology, and clinical features. The recommendation is given on different methods of managing this side effect. PMID:27335511

Tactile spatial resolution in blind braille readers.

Science.gov (United States)

Van Boven, R W; Hamilton, R H; Kauffman, T; Keenan, J P; Pascual-Leone, A

2000-06-27

To determine if blind people have heightened tactile spatial acuity. Recently, studies using magnetic source imaging and somatosensory evoked potentials have shown that the cortical representation of the reading fingers of blind Braille readers is expanded compared to that of fingers of sighted subjects. Furthermore, the visual cortex is activated during certain tactile tasks in blind subjects but not sighted subjects. The authors hypothesized that the expanded cortical representation of fingers used in Braille reading may reflect an enhanced fidelity in the neural transmission of spatial details of a stimulus. If so, the quantitative limit of spatial acuity would be superior in blind people. The authors employed a grating orientation discrimination task in which threshold performance is accounted for by the spatial resolution limits of the neural image evoked by a stimulus. The authors quantified the psychophysical limits of spatial acuity at the middle and index fingers of 15 blind Braille readers and 15 sighted control subjects. The mean grating orientation threshold was significantly (p = 0.03) lower in the blind group (1.04 mm) compared to the sighted group (1.46 mm). The self-reported dominant reading finger in blind subjects had a mean grating orientation threshold of 0.80 mm, which was significantly better than other fingers tested. Thresholds at non-Braille reading fingers in blind subjects averaged 1.12 mm, which were also superior to sighted subjects' performances. Superior tactile spatial acuity in blind Braille readers may represent an adaptive, behavioral correlate of cortical plasticity.

Do good and poor readers make use of morphemic structure in English word recognition?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lynne G. Duncan

2011-06-01

Full Text Available The links between oral morphological awareness and the use of derivational morphology are examined in the English word recognition of 8-year-old good and poor readers. Morphological awareness was assessed by a sentence completion task. The role of morphological structure in lexical access was examined by manipulating the presence of embedded words and suffixes in items presented for lexical decision. Good readers were more accurate in the morphological awareness task but did not show facilitation for real derivations even though morpho-semantic information appeared to inform their lexical decisions. The poor readers, who were less accurate, displayed a strong lexicality effect in lexical decision and the presence of an embedded word led to facilitation for words and inhibition for pseudo-words. Overall, the results suggest that both good and poor readers of English are sensitive to the internal structure of written words, with the better readers showing most evidence of morphological analysis.

Developing Historical Reading and Writing with Adolescent Readers: Effects on Student Learning

Science.gov (United States)

De La Paz, Susan; Felton, Mark; Monte-Sano, Chauncey; Croninger, Robert; Jackson, Cara; Deogracias, Jeehye Shim; Hoffman, Benjamin Polk

2014-01-01

In this study, the effects of a disciplinary reading and writing curriculum intervention with professional development are shared. We share our instructional approach and provide writing outcomes for struggling adolescent readers who read at or below basic proficiency levels, as well as writing outcomes for proficient and advanced readers.…

Literature Discussion: Encouraging Reading Interest and Comprehension in Struggling Middle School Readers

Science.gov (United States)

Pittman, Pamela; Honchell, Barbara

2014-01-01

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how literature discussion affects middle school struggling readers. The focus was on 16 middle school struggling readers in a rural Title I school in the southeastern United States. Findings indicated that (a) literature discussion increased student enjoyment of reading, and (b) students…

The StorySpinner Sculptural Reader

OpenAIRE

Hooper, Clare; Weal, Mark

2005-01-01

This demo is of a hypertext reading system called StorySpinner. It follows the sculptural hypertext methodology and has been used as a test bed for experimenting with the authoring of narrative flow in automatically generated stories. Readers are able to select and read one of two available stories. Reading a story involves selecting tarot cards which are mapped to chunks of story text based on possible interpretations of the cards and information concerning current story state.

WellReader: a MATLAB program for the analysis of fluorescence and luminescence reporter gene data.

Science.gov (United States)

Boyer, Frédéric; Besson, Bruno; Baptist, Guillaume; Izard, Jérôme; Pinel, Corinne; Ropers, Delphine; Geiselmann, Johannes; de Jong, Hidde

2010-05-01

Fluorescent and luminescent reporter gene systems in combination with automated microplate readers allow real-time monitoring of gene expression on the population level at high precision and sampling density. This generates large amounts of data for the analysis of which computer tools are missing to date. We have developed WellReader, a MATLAB program for the analysis of fluorescent and luminescent reporter gene data. WellReader allows the user to load the output files of microplate readers, remove outliers, correct for background effects and smooth and fit the data. Moreover, it computes biologically relevant quantities from the measured signals, notably promoter activities and protein concentrations, and compares the resulting expression profiles of different genes under different conditions. WellReader is available under a LGPL licence at http://prabi1.inrialpes.fr/trac/wellreader.

Patterns of Analogical Reasoning among Beginning Readers

Science.gov (United States)

Farrington-Flint, Lee; Wood, Clare; Canobi, Katherine H.; Faulkner, Dorothy

2004-01-01

Despite compelling evidence that analogy skills are available to beginning readers, few studies have actually explored the possibility of identifying individual differences in young children's analogy skills in early reading. The present study examined individual differences in children's use of orthographic and phonological relations between…

Evaluating the effect of a reader worker program on team performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hahn, H.A.; Alvarez, Y.P.

1994-01-01

When safety, security, or other logistical concerns prevent direct objective assessment of team performance, other evaluation techniques become necessary. In this paper, the effect of a Department of Energy-mandated reader worker program on team performance at a particular DOE facility was evaluated using unstructured observations, informal discussions with technicians, and human reliability analysis. The reader worker program is intended to enhance nuclear explosive safety by improving the reliability of team performance. The three methods used for the evaluation combine to provide a strong indication that team performance is in fact enhanced by a properly implemented reader worker procedure. Because direct quantitative data on dependent variables particular to the task of interest is not available, however, there has been some skepticism regarding the results by staff at the facility

Crohn's Disease Evaluated with Magnetic Resonance Enteroclysis: Diagnostic Performance of Experienced and Inexperienced Readers before and after Training

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Negaard, A.; Mulahasanovic, A.; Reisaeter, L.A.; Aasekjaer, K.; Sandvik, L.; Klow, N.E.

2008-01-01

Background: Magnetic resonance enteroclysis (MRE) is suggested to become the preferred radiological method in small-bowel Crohn's disease (CD). However, the performance of inexperienced readers may influence the diagnostic value of the method and has not been previously investigated. Purpose: To compare readings of MRE in small-bowel CD performed by experienced and inexperienced readers before and after training.Material and Methods: One experienced radiologist (observer 1) and two trainees (observers 2 and 3) reviewed 60 MRE examinations. A second reading was performed after training. Bowel wall thickness (BWT), ulcers (BWU), stenosis (BWS), fistulas (FIS), and abscesses (ABS) were evaluated. A reference standard based on clinical records was established. Results: BWT in the terminal ileum was evaluated with high diagnostic performance (sensitivity: observer 1, 83%; observer 2, 72%; observer 3, 78%). Only BWU was diagnosed with a higher sensitivity by observer 1 (78% vs. 33% and 39%, respectively; P=0.02). False-positive findings for BWT in the jejunum (observer 2: 7; observer 3: 4) and fistulas and abscesses (observer 2: 11/5; observer 3: 5/4) were made by the trainees. Interobserver agreement in the jejunum was poor (observer 1/observer 2: κ=0.23; observer 1/observer 3: κ=-0.03) and in the ileum good (observer 1/observer 2: κ=0.78; observer 1/observer 3: κ=0.73). After training, evaluation of BWU (observer 2: 56%, P=0.22; observer 3: 44%, P=0.03), BWT (observer 2: 2; observer 3: 2), and interobserver agreement in the jejunum improved (observer 1/observer 2: κ=0.66; observer 1/observer 3: κ=0.66). However, the number of diagnosed fistulas and abscesses remained high. Conclusion: Before training, most findings of Crohn's disease in the terminal ileum were evaluated with high diagnostic performance by all readers. However, the inexperienced readers evaluated BWU with a low sensitivity and overestimated the number of FIS, number of ABS, and increased BWT in

Contributions of syntactic awareness to reading in Chinese-speaking adolescent readers with and without dyslexia.

Science.gov (United States)

Chung, Kevin K H; Ho, Connie S-H; Chan, David W; Tsang, Suk-Man; Lee, Suk-Han

2013-02-01

This study investigated the relative contribution of syntactic awareness to Chinese reading among Chinese-speaking adolescent readers with and without dyslexia. A total of 78 junior high school students in Hong Kong, 26 dyslexic adolescent readers, 26 average adolescent readers of the same age (chronological age control group) and 26 younger readers matched with the same reading level (reading-level group) participated and were administered measures of IQ, syntactic awareness, morphological awareness, vocabulary knowledge, working memory, word reading, and reading comprehension. Results showed that dyslexic readers scored significantly lower than chronological age but similarly to reading level control groups in most measures, especially in the areas of syntactic skills. Analyses of individual data also revealed that over half of the dyslexic readers exhibited certain aspects of deficits in syntactic skills. In regression analyses, syntactic skills were the strongest predictors of ability in word reading and reading comprehension measures. This study highlights the uniquely important correlates of syntactic skills in Chinese reading acquisition and impairment. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Acquisition of Malay Word Recognition Skills: Lessons from Low-Progress Early Readers

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Lay Wah; Wheldall, Kevin

2011-01-01

Malay is a consistent alphabetic orthography with complex syllable structures. The focus of this research was to investigate word recognition performance in order to inform reading interventions for low-progress early readers. Forty-six Grade 1 students were sampled and 11 were identified as low-progress readers. The results indicated that both…

Staphylococcus aureus: molecular and clinical aspects

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Ala'Aldeen, Dlawer A. A; Hiramatsu, Keiichi

2004-01-01

... Lecturer position in 1994 at the Division of Microbiology in Nottingham's University Hospital. He trained in clinical microbiology, obtained MRCPath and became a consultant microbiologist in the same hospital, being promoted to Reader in 1997 and Professor in 2002. He teaches clinical microbiology to undergraduate and postgraduate students and is the fo...

Non-radiation induced signals in TL dosimetry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

German, U.; Weinstein, M.

2002-01-01

One source of background signals, which are non-radiation related, is the reader system and it includes dark current, external contaminants and electronic spikes. These factors can induce signals equivalent to several hundredths of mSv. Mostly, the effects are minimised by proper design of the TLD reader, but some effects are dependent on proper operation of the system. The other main group of background signals originate in the TL crystal and is due to tribothermoluminescence, dirt, chemical reactions and stimulation by visible or UV light. These factors can have a significant contribution, equivalent to over several mSv, depending on whether the crystal is bare or protected by PTFE. Working in clean environments, monitoring continuously the glow curve and performing glow curve deconvolution are suggested to minimise non-radiation induced spurious signals. (author)

Automatic spent fuel ID number reader (I)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tanabe, S.; Kawamoto, H.; Fujimaki, K.; Kobe, A.

1991-01-01

An effective and efficient technique has been developed for facilitating identification works of LWR spent fuel stored in large scale spent fuel storage pools of such as processing plants. Experience shows that there are often difficulties in the implementation of operator's nuclear material accountancy and control works as well as safeguards inspections conducted on spent fuel assemblies stored in deep water pool. This paper reports that the technique is realized as an automatic spent fuel ID number reader system installed on fuel handling machine. The ID number reader system consists of an optical sub-system and an image processing sub-system. Thousands of spent fuel assemblies stored in under water open racks in each storage pool could be identified within relatively short time (e.g. within several hours) by using this combination. Various performance tests were carried out on image processing sub-system in 1990 using TV images obtained from different types of spent fuel assemblies stored in various storage pools of PWR and BWR power stations

Mathematics skills in good readers with hydrocephalus.

Science.gov (United States)

Barnes, Marcia A; Pengelly, Sarah; Dennis, Maureen; Wilkinson, Margaret; Rogers, Tracey; Faulkner, Heather

2002-01-01

Children with hydrocephalus have poor math skills. We investigated the nature of their arithmetic computation errors by comparing written subtraction errors in good readers with hydrocephalus, typically developing good readers of the same age, and younger children matched for math level to the children with hydrocephalus. Children with hydrocephalus made more procedural errors (although not more fact retrieval or visual-spatial errors) than age-matched controls; they made the same number of procedural errors as younger, math-level matched children. We also investigated a broad range of math abilities, and found that children with hydrocephalus performed more poorly than age-matched controls on tests of geometry and applied math skills such as estimation and problem solving. Computation deficits in children with hydrocephalus reflect delayed development of procedural knowledge. Problems in specific math domains such as geometry and applied math, were associated with deficits in constituent cognitive skills such as visual spatial competence, memory, and general knowledge.

An MILP-Based Cross-Layer Optimization for a Multi-Reader Arbitration in the UHF RFID System

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, Jinchul; Lee, Chaewoo

2011-01-01

In RFID systems, the performance of each reader such as interrogation range and tag recognition rate may suffer from interferences from other readers. Since the reader interference can be mitigated by output signal power control, spectral and/or temporal separation among readers, the system performance depends on how to adapt the various reader arbitration metrics such as time, frequency, and output power to the system environment. However, complexity and difficulty of the optimization problem increase with respect to the variety of the arbitration metrics. Thus, most proposals in previous study have been suggested to primarily prevent the reader collision with consideration of one or two arbitration metrics. In this paper, we propose a novel cross-layer optimization design based on the concept of combining time division, frequency division, and power control not only to solve the reader interference problem, but also to achieve the multiple objectives such as minimum interrogation delay, maximum reader utilization, and energy efficiency. Based on the priority of the multiple objectives, our cross-layer design optimizes the system sequentially by means of the mixed-integer linear programming. In spite of the multi-stage optimization, the optimization design is formulated as a concise single mathematical form by properly assigning a weight to each objective. Numerical results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed optimization design. PMID:22163743

An MILP-Based Cross-Layer Optimization for a Multi-Reader Arbitration in the UHF RFID System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chaewoo Lee

2011-02-01

Full Text Available In RFID systems, the performance of each reader such as interrogation range and tag recognition rate may suffer from interferences from other readers. Since the reader interference can be mitigated by output signal power control, spectral and/or temporal separation among readers, the system performance depends on how to adapt the various reader arbitration metrics such as time, frequency, and output power to the system environment. However, complexity and difficulty of the optimization problem increase with respect to the variety of the arbitration metrics. Thus, most proposals in previous study have been suggested to primarily prevent the reader collision with consideration of one or two arbitration metrics. In this paper, we propose a novel cross-layer optimization design based on the concept of combining time division, frequency division, and power control not only to solve the reader interference problem, but also to achieve the multiple objectives such as minimum interrogation delay, maximum reader utilization, and energy efficiency. Based on the priority of the multiple objectives, our cross-layer design optimizes the system sequentially by means of the mixed-integer linear programming. In spite of the multi-stage optimization, the optimization design is formulated as a concise single mathematical form by properly assigning a weight to each objective. Numerical results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed optimization design.

WebCómic: readers, authors and publishers to a click

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fabiola Alejandra Aldana Bravo

2015-09-01

Full Text Available This article presents a profile of the reader and producer of current webcomic. It analyzes how changes that both characters have experienced, thanks to the possibilities of publishing that the web offers, have resulted, besides the emergence of new roles, to a refreshed relationship between authors and readers based on dialogue and expression of opinions. It reviews how the legitimation obtained in the virtual environment becomes in a way of access to the publication of print books, which yields new tools and challenges to the traditional publishing market actors.

Shakespeare and Reader's Theatre: Fellow Traveling Companions

Science.gov (United States)

Ratliff, Gerald Lee

2010-01-01

Whether constructed on literary analysis models or inspired by conventional acting theories, Reader's Theatre performance techniques are an invaluable instructional tool available to teachers who want their students to see, hear and feel Shakespeare texts in classroom discussion and performance. These exercises are designed to promote both a…

Lexical Reading in Dysfluent Readers of German

Science.gov (United States)

Gangl, Melanie; Moll, Kristina; Jones, Manon W.; Banfi, Chiara; Schulte-Körne, Gerd; Landerl, Karin

2018-01-01

Dyslexia in consistent orthographies like German is characterized by dysfluent reading, which is often assumed to result from failure to build up an orthographic lexicon and overreliance on decoding. However, earlier evidence indicates effects of lexical processing at least in some German dyslexic readers. We investigated variations in reading…

Trade Related Reading Packets for Disabled Readers.

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Beverly; Woodruff, Nancy S.

Six trade-related reading packets for disabled readers are provided for these trades: assemblers, baking, building maintenance, data entry, interior landscaping, and warehousing. Each packet stresses from 9 to 14 skills. Those skills common to most packets include context clues, fact or opinion, details, following directions, main idea,…

Featured Article: Genotation: Actionable knowledge for the scientific reader.

Science.gov (United States)

Nagahawatte, Panduka; Willis, Ethan; Sakauye, Mark; Jose, Rony; Chen, Hao; Davis, Robert L

2016-06-01

We present an article viewer application that allows a scientific reader to easily discover and share knowledge by linking genomics-related concepts to knowledge of disparate biomedical databases. High-throughput data streams generated by technical advancements have contributed to scientific knowledge discovery at an unprecedented rate. Biomedical Informaticists have created a diverse set of databases to store and retrieve the discovered knowledge. The diversity and abundance of such resources present biomedical researchers a challenge with knowledge discovery. These challenges highlight a need for a better informatics solution. We use a text mining algorithm, Genomine, to identify gene symbols from the text of a journal article. The identified symbols are supplemented with information from the GenoDB knowledgebase. Self-updating GenoDB contains information from NCBI Gene, Clinvar, Medgen, dbSNP, KEGG, PharmGKB, Uniprot, and Hugo Gene databases. The journal viewer is a web application accessible via a web browser. The features described herein are accessible on www.genotation.org The Genomine algorithm identifies gene symbols with an accuracy shown by .65 F-Score. GenoDB currently contains information regarding 59,905 gene symbols, 5633 drug-gene relationships, 5981 gene-disease relationships, and 713 pathways. This application provides scientific readers with actionable knowledge related to concepts of a manuscript. The reader will be able to save and share supplements to be visualized in a graphical manner. This provides convenient access to details of complex biological phenomena, enabling biomedical researchers to generate novel hypothesis to further our knowledge in human health. This manuscript presents a novel application that integrates genomic, proteomic, and pharmacogenomic information to supplement content of a biomedical manuscript and enable readers to automatically discover actionable knowledge. © 2016 by the Society for Experimental Biology and

Meeting the Needs of Struggling Adolescent Readers

Science.gov (United States)

Stover, Katie; O'Rear, Allison; Morris, Carolyn

2015-01-01

Research suggests that additional reading instruction is necessary to support struggling adolescent readers. In addition to time allocated for reading and access to appropriately leveled texts, many students need teacher support in learning and implementing a range of reading strategies. As a high school English teacher and a middle school Social…

ReaderBench: An Integrated Cohesion-Centered Framework

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dascalu, Mihai; Stavarache, Lucia Larise; Dessus, Philippe; Trausan-Matu, Stefan; McNamara, Danielle S.; Bianco, Maryse

2015-01-01

Dascalu, M., Stavarache, L.L., Dessus, P., Trausan-Matu, S., McNamara, D.S., & Bianco, M. (2015). ReaderBench: An Integrated Cohesion-Centered Framework. In G. Conole, T. Klobucar, C. Rensing, J. Konert & É. Lavoué (Eds.), 10th European Conf. on Technology Enhanced Learning (pp. 505–508). Toledo,

Understanding Deaf Readers: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Kelstone, Aaron Weir

2013-01-01

The development of reading skills, beyond a functional level, is difficult for most deaf readers. Standardized testing demonstrates a median 4th grade reading level that remains consistent even after national norming of the Stanford Achievement test on the population of deaf school children. Deaf education continues to generate various educational…

The Emergent Reader's Working Kit of Stereotypes

Science.gov (United States)

Mackey, Margaret

2013-01-01

This article draws on a careful study of series fiction read in the 1950s to explore how stereotypes feature in the development of a young reader's competence in learning to process stories in print. Five categories of stereotype are teased out: "embodied stereotypes," understood through physical experience; "working stereotypes," discerned…

Satisfying the Needs of the Serious Reader.

Science.gov (United States)

Hopkins, Richard

1987-01-01

An examination of how well the Canadian public library is meeting the needs of the serious reader interested in self education, as compared to new and secondhand book stores and academic libraries, found that the public library is the most important and effective agency in providing materials for this group. (CLB)

Readerly and Writerly "Letters from the Park."

Science.gov (United States)

Conde, Susana

1993-01-01

Discusses in depth the film "Cartas del parque" ("Letters from the Park"), the first of six films in the "Amores Dificiles" series. Notes that the film is pervaded by the traditional overdetermination of gender roles. Suggests that an intrusive and authoritative narrator makes of this both a "readerly" and a…

The Effect of Technology-Based Altered Readability Levels on Struggling Readers' Science Comprehension

Science.gov (United States)

Marino, Matthew T.; Coyne, Michael; Dunn, Michael

2010-01-01

This article reports findings from a study examining how altered readability levels affected struggling readers' (N = 288) comprehension of scientific concepts and vocabulary. Specifically, the researchers were interested in learning what effect altered readability levels have when low ability readers participate in a technology-based science…

Use of the Ion PGM and the GeneReader NGS Systems in Daily Routine Practice for Advanced Lung Adenocarcinoma Patients: A Practical Point of View Reporting a Comparative Study and Assessment of 90 Patients

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Simon Heeke

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Background: With the integration of various targeted therapies into the clinical management of patients with advanced lung adenocarcinoma, next-generation sequencing (NGS has become the technology of choice and has led to an increase in simultaneously interrogated genes. However, the broader adoption of NGS for routine clinical practice is still hampered by sophisticated workflows, complex bioinformatics analysis and medical interpretation. Therefore, the performance of the novel QIAGEN GeneReader NGS system was compared to an in-house ISO-15189 certified Ion PGM NGS platform. Methods: Clinical samples from 90 patients (60 Retrospectively and 30 Prospectively with lung adenocarcinoma were sequenced with both systems. Mutations were analyzed and EGFR, KRAS, BRAF, NRAS, ALK, PIK3CA and ERBB2 genes were compared and sampling time and suitability for clinical testing were assessed. Results: Both sequencing systems showed perfect concordance for the overlapping genes. Correlation of allele frequency was r2 = 0.93 for the retrospective patients and r2 = 0.81 for the prospective patients. Hands-on time and total run time were shorter using the PGM system, while the GeneReader platform provided good traceability and up-to-date interpretation of the results. Conclusion: We demonstrated the suitability of the GeneReader NGS system in routine practice in a clinical pathology laboratory setting.

THE CRITICAL READER IN THE POETRY OF MANUEL GUSM

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Marleide Anchieta de Lima

2015-11-01

Full Text Available In the poetry of Manuel Gusmão, the reader is invited to actively partici­pate in writing and reading scenes. To the poet-critic, the act of reading, understood as emancipatory and political practice, is sharing the aesthe­tic experience and the development of our sensitive-cognitive instances, beyond the world learning outside and inside the text. In this sense, our article aims to examine the critical reader configuration from three aspects present in that poetry – act of co-motion, epistemological construction and erratic tissue habitation. With this perspective, we turn to the theoretical­-critical of Roland Bathes, Jacques Rancière and Eduardo Prado Coelho.

Diffusion tensor imaging of the median nerve: intra-, inter-reader agreement, and agreement between two software packages

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guggenberger, Roman; Nanz, Daniel; Puippe, Gilbert; Andreisek, Gustav; Rufibach, Kaspar; White, Lawrence M.; Sussman, Marshall S.

2012-01-01

To assess intra-, inter-reader agreement, and the agreement between two software packages for magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) measurements of the median nerve. Fifteen healthy volunteers (seven men, eight women; mean age, 31.2 years) underwent DTI of both wrists at 1.5 T. Fractional anisotropy (FA) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) of the median nerve were measured by three readers using two commonly used software packages. Measurements were repeated by two readers after 6 weeks. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) and Bland-Altman analysis were used for statistical analysis. ICCs for intra-reader agreement ranged from 0.87 to 0.99, for inter-reader agreement from 0.62 to 0.83, and between the two software packages from 0.63 to 0.82. Bland-Altman analysis showed no differences for intra- and inter-reader agreement and agreement between software packages. The intra-, inter-reader, and agreement between software packages for DTI measurements of the median nerve were moderate to substantial suggesting that user- and software-dependent factors contribute little to variance in DTI measurements. (orig.)

Is It Lateralization, Processing Strategies, or Both That Distinguishes Good And Poor Readers?

Science.gov (United States)

Watson, E. Selman; Engle, Randall W.

1982-01-01

Two experiments investigated whether poor readers eventually establish a dichotic right ear advantage as predicted by a maturational lag theory. The first studied developmental differences in dichotic listening for normal and poor readers when the order of reporting simultaneously presented items was unconstrained; the second controlled for order…

STARtorialist: Astronomy Fashion & Culture Blog and Reader Survey Results

Science.gov (United States)

Ash, Summer; Rice, Emily L.; Jarreau, Paige B.

2016-01-01

STARtorialist (startorialist.com) is a Tumblr-based blog that curates the proliferation of "Astro Fashion" - clothing accessories, decor, and more - with the goal of celebrating the beauty of the universe and highlighting the science behind the astronomical imagery. Since launching in January 2013, we have written over 1000 unique posts about everything from handmade and boutique products to mass-produced commercial items to haute couture seen on fashion runways. Each blog post features images and descriptions of the products with links to the original astronomical images or other relevant science content. We also feature profiles of astronomers, scientists, students, and communicators wearing, making, or decorating with "startorial" items. Our most popular posts accumulate hundreds or thousands of notes (faves or reblogs, in Tumblr parlance), and one post has nearly 150,000 notes. In our second year, we have grown from 1,000 to just shy of 20,000 followers on Tumblr, with an increased audience on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook as well. We present preliminary results from a reader survey conducted September-October 2015 in collaboration with science communication researcher Dr. Paige Jarreau. The survey provides data on reader habits, motivations, attitudes, and demographics in order to assess how STARtorialist has influenced our readers' views on science, scientists, and the scientific community as a whole.

An Effective Scheduling-Based RFID Reader Collision Avoidance Model and Its Resource Allocation via Artificial Immune Network

OpenAIRE

Wang, Shanjin; Li, Zhonghua; He, Chunhui; Li, Jianming

2016-01-01

Radio frequency identification, that is, RFID, is one of important technologies in Internet of Things. Reader collision does impair the tag identification efficiency of an RFID system. Many developed methods, for example, the scheduling-based series, that are used to avoid RFID reader collision, have been developed. For scheduling-based methods, communication resources, that is, time slots, channels, and power, are optimally assigned to readers. In this case, reader collision avoidance is equ...

The suitability of gray-scale electronic readers for dermatology journals.

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, Jae Eun; Kim, Dai Hyun; Seo, Soo Hong; Kye, Young Chul; Ahn, Hyo Hyun

2014-12-01

The rapid development of information and communication technology has replaced traditional books by electronic versions. Most print dermatology journals have been replaced with electronic journals (e-journals), which are readily used by clinicians and medical students. The objectives of this study were to determine whether e-readers are appropriate for reading dermatology journals, to conduct an attitude study of both medical personnel and students, and to find a way of improving e-book use in the field of dermatology. All articles in the Korean Journal of Dermatology published from January 2010 to December 2010 were utilized in this study. Dermatology house officers, student trainees in their fourth year of medical school, and interns at Korea University Medical Center participated in the study. After reading the articles with Kindle 2, their impressions and evaluations were recorded using a questionnaire with a 5-point Likert scale. The results demonstrated that gray-scale e-readers might not be suitable for reading dermatology journals, especially for case reports compared to the original articles. Only three of the thirty-one respondents preferred e-readers to printed papers. The most common suggestions from respondents to encourage usage of e-books in the field of dermatology were the introduction of a color display, followed by the use of a touch screen system, a cheaper price, and ready-to-print capabilities. In conclusion, our study demonstrated that current e-readers might not be suitable for reading dermatology journals. However, they may be utilized in selected situations according to the type and topic of the papers.

Towards a Culturally Situated Reader Response Theory

Science.gov (United States)

Brooks, Wanda; Browne, Susan

2012-01-01

This article describes a theory of how culture enables literary interpretations of texts. We begin with a brief overview of the reader response field. From there, we introduce the theory and provide illustrative participant data examples. These data examples illustrate the four cultural positions middle grade students in our research assumed when…

Communication: Learning to Write for the Reader.

Science.gov (United States)

Todd, Mavis M.

1980-01-01

A new approach to teaching students to write effective business letters is presented. It uses class members as resources, writers, and readers for the assignment. Four stages are described: the interview, discussion of models and format, revision, and the reply. Results of the exercise and suggestions for continued application are included. (CT)

Improvements of RGD3 TLD reader

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhao Jianxing; Wang Jiaqi; Li Yuanfang; Wu Furong; Xiao Wuyun

1999-01-01

The author summarized the main features of the improved RGD3 TLD reader. Through a large number of experiments some persuasive data are obtained, which show that an remarkable improvement has been achieved, especially in its stability to the standard illuminates, data dispersivity, and effectiveness to glow curves analysis. Working with the newly developed data processing software, the comprehensive performance of the whole system will be enhanced greatly

Plastic Logic quits e-reader market

Science.gov (United States)

Perks, Simon

2012-07-01

A UK firm spun out from the University of Cambridge that sought to be a world leader in flexible organic electronic circuits and displays has pulled out of the competitive e-reader market as it struggles to find a commercial outlet for its technology. Plastic Logic announced in May that it is to close its development facility in Mountain View, California, with the loss of around 40 jobs.

The Impact of Morphological Awareness on Word Reading and Dictation in Chinese Early Adolescent Readers With and Without Dyslexia.

Science.gov (United States)

Kalindi, Sylvia Chanda; Chung, Kevin Kien Hoa

2018-01-01

This study investigated the role of morphological awareness in understanding Chinese word reading and dictation among Chinese-speaking adolescent readers in Hong Kong as well as the cognitive-linguistic profile of early adolescent readers with dyslexia. Fifty-four readers with dyslexia in Grades 5 and 6 were compared with 54 chronological age-matched (CA) typical readers on the following measures of cognitive-linguistic and literacy skills: morphological awareness, phonological awareness, visual-orthographic knowledge, rapid naming, vocabulary knowledge, verbal short-term memory (STM), Chinese word reading, and dictation (or spelling). The results indicated that early adolescent readers with dyslexia performed less well than the typical readers on all cognitive-linguistic and literacy measures except the phonological measures. Both groups' scores showed substantial correlations between morphological awareness and Chinese word reading and dictation. Visual-orthographic knowledge and rapid naming were also associated with dictation in early adolescent readers with and without dyslexia, respectively. Moderated multiple regression analyses further revealed that morphological awareness and rapid naming explained unique variance in word reading and dictation for the readers with dyslexia and typical readers separately after controlling readers' age and group effect. These results highlight the potential importance of morphological awareness and rapid naming in Chinese word reading and writing in Chinese early adolescents' literacy development and impairment.

Care of the Postcolonial Self: Cultivating Nationalisms in The Philippine Readers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ronald Sintos Coloma

2013-10-01

Full Text Available The article examines the cultivation of revolutionary nationalisms and the construction of postcolonial subjectivities under a foreign regime. The analysis centers on The Philippine Readers, one of the longest published and most widely adopted reading series for elementary students in grades 1 to 7 in the Philippines from the 1920s to the 1960s. Due to its use and scope, the Readers significantly impacted the development of Filipino mind, character, teaching, and learning for generations. The article mobilizes Michel Foucault’s notion of care of the self, whereby individuals undergo intensive self-scrutiny through texts that serve as manuals for living. It contends that the Readers functioned as a crucial guide that enabled Filipinos to care for themselves in instilling furtive yet subversive forms of nationalism under United States rule. More specifically, two forms of nationalism are discussed, and the concepts of covert and hybrid nationalisms are situated within scholarly discussions regarding colonial complicity and opposition as well as Western and indigenous influences.

Breast cancer MRI radiomics: An overview of algorithmic features and impact of inter-reader variability in annotating tumors.

Science.gov (United States)

Saha, Ashirbani; Harowicz, Michael R; Mazurowski, Maciej A

2018-04-16

To review features used in MRI radiomics of breast cancer and study the inter-reader stability of the features METHODS: We implemented 529 algorithmic features that can be extracted from tumor and fibroglandular tissue (FGT) in breast MRIs. The features were identified based on a review of the existing literature with consideration of their usage, prognostic ability, and uniqueness. The set was then extended so that it comprehensively describes breast cancer imaging characteristics. The features were classified into 10 groups based on the type of data used to extract them and the type of calculation being performed. For the assessment of inter-reader variability, 4 fellowship-trained readers annotated tumors on pre-operative dynamic contrast enhanced MRIs for 50 breast cancer patients. Based on the annotations, an algorithm automatically segmented the image and extracted all features resulting in one set of features for each reader. For a given feature, the inter-reader stability was defined as the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) computed using the feature values obtained through all readers for all cases. The average inter-reader stability for all features was 0.8474 (95% CI: 0.8068-0.8858). The mean inter-reader stability was lower for tumor-based features (0.6348, 95% CI: 0.5391-0.7257) than FGT-based features (0.9984, 95% CI: 0.9970-0.9992). The feature group with the highest inter-reader stability quantifies breast and FGT volume. The feature group with the lowest inter-reader stability quantifies variations in tumor enhancement. Breast MRI radiomics features widely vary in terms of their stability in the presence of inter-reader variability. Appropriate measures need to be taken for reducing this variability in tumor-based radiomics. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Readers' Tellings: Narrators, Settings, Flashbacks and Comprehension

Science.gov (United States)

Kucer, Stephen B.

2010-01-01

This research explores the impact of flashbacks and changes in settings and narrators on reader comprehension. Individually, 34 fourth graders (9 and 10 years of age), mostly with above average reading abilities (5.0), orally read the first chapter of a novel. Both publisher and readability formulae estimated the text to be at a fourth- grade…

What Reader-Oriented Literary and Cognitive Theories Have to Give to Composing Theory.

Science.gov (United States)

Liebman-Kleine, JoAnne

In developing an interactive model of composing, this paper discusses three groups of reader-oriented theories, each of which provides composing theorists with some research and theory to use in developing such a model. First the paper discusses the main principle of the literary reader-response theorists--that the meaning and value of texts do…

Clinical Reasoning in the Assessment and Intervention Planning for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Science.gov (United States)

Climie, Emma A.; Mah, Janet W. T.; Chase, Cheryl Y.

2017-01-01

The purpose of this article is to provide the reader with insight into the clinical reasoning involved in the assessment and intervention planning for a child with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. The reader will be guided through the authors' conceptualization of this case, and suggestions for intervention in the classroom will be…

Altmetrics for the Humanities: Comparing Goodreads reader ratings with citations to history books

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zuccala, Alesia Ann; Verleysen, Frederik; Cornacchia, Roberto

2015-01-01

for the subset of 997 books indicated a similar weak correlation (0.190). Further correlations between citations, reader ratings, written reviews, and library holdings indicate that a reader rating was more likely to be given to a book on Goodreads if the book was held in an international library, including both...... public and academic libraries. Originality/Value: Altmetrics research has focused almost exclusively on scientific journal articles appearing on social media services (e.g., Twitter, Facebook). In this paper we show the potential of Goodreads reader ratings to identify the impact of books beyond academia....... As a unique altmetric tool Goodreads can allow scholarly authors from the social sciences and humanities to measure the wider impact of their books....

Quantifying the Impacts of Digital Rights Management and E-Book Pricing on the E-Book Reader Market

OpenAIRE

Jin-Hyuk Kim; Tin Cheuk Leung

2013-01-01

The demand for electronic books (e-books) and the e-book readers are complementary. On the one hand, the emergence of e-book readers such as Amazon's Kindle has triggered the recent growth of the e-book market. On the other hand, several issues in the e-book market can affect the future of the e-book reader market. Considering this complementarity, this paper quantifies the impact of digital rights management (DRM) and discounted e-book pricing on the demand for e-book readers. We collect con...

One text, many stories: The (irrelevance of reader-response criticism for apocryphal literature in the Septuagint

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Philip Nolte

2012-07-01

Full Text Available This article investigated the value of reader-response theory for the reading of apocryphal texts in the Septuagint. The groundbreaking work on reader-response theory developed by Wolfgang Iser in his book The Act of Reading: A Theory of Aesthetic Response, written in 1978 served as the theoretical point of departure. Although the reader-response theory has been scrutinised and criticised heavily during the last three decades, Iser made a very valuable contribution to the reading of literature. My assumption is that religious texts have to be read in the same way as other literature and therefore literary theories such as Iser’s can be conducive for responsible interpretation. The article consists of the following parts: introductory remarks on the value of reader-response theory for the interpretation of apocryphal texts; a short overview of reader-response criticism; a discussion and evaluation of three different aspects of Iser’s theory, namely ‘gaps’ in texts, ‘asymmetry’ between readers and texts and the concept of ‘the implied reader’. The findings of the investigation will be given in part five (Findings.

Syntactic and Discourse Skills in Chinese Adolescent Readers with Dyslexia: A Profiling Study

Science.gov (United States)

Chung, Kevin K. H.; Lo, Jason C. M.; Ho, Connie S.-H.; Xiao, Xiaoyun; Chan, David W.

2014-01-01

This study aims to investigate the relation of syntactic and discourse skills to morphological skills, rapid naming, and working memory in Chinese adolescent readers with dyslexia and to examine their cognitive-linguistic profiles. Fifty-two dyslexic readers (mean age, 13;42) from grade 7 to 9 in Hong Kong high schools were compared with 52…

Metacognitive Online Reading Strategy Use: Readers' Perceptions in L1 and L2

Science.gov (United States)

Taki, Saeed

2016-01-01

This study aimed to explore whether first-language (L1) readers of different language backgrounds would employ similar metacognitive online reading strategies and whether reading online in a second language (L2) could be influenced by L1 reading strategies. To this end, 52 Canadian college students as English L1 readers and 38 Iranian university…

Exploring intra- and inter-reader variability in uni-dimensional, bi-dimensional, and volumetric measurements of solid tumors on CT scans reconstructed at different slice intervals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhao, Binsheng; Tan, Yongqiang; Bell, Daniel J.; Marley, Sarah E.; Guo, Pingzhen; Mann, Helen; Scott, Marietta L.J.; Schwartz, Lawrence H.; Ghiorghiu, Dana C.

2013-01-01

Objective: Understanding magnitudes of variability when measuring tumor size may be valuable in improving detection of tumor change and thus evaluating tumor response to therapy in clinical trials and care. Our study explored intra- and inter-reader variability of tumor uni-dimensional (1D), bi-dimensional (2D), and volumetric (VOL) measurements using manual and computer-aided methods (CAM) on CT scans reconstructed at different slice intervals. Materials and methods: Raw CT data from 30 patients enrolled in oncology clinical trials was reconstructed at 5, 2.5, and 1.25 mm slice intervals. 118 lesions in the lungs, liver, and lymph nodes were analyzed. For each lesion, two independent radiologists manually and, separately, using computer software, measured the maximum diameter (1D), maximum perpendicular diameter, and volume (CAM only). One of them blindly repeated the measurements. Intra- and inter-reader variability for the manual method and CAM were analyzed using linear mixed-effects models and Bland–Altman method. Results: For the three slice intervals, the maximum coefficients of variation for manual intra-/inter-reader variability were 6.9%/9.0% (1D) and 12.3%/18.0% (2D), and for CAM were 5.4%/9.3% (1D), 11.3%/18.8% (2D) and 9.3%/18.0% (VOL). Maximal 95% reference ranges for the percentage difference in intra-reader measurements for manual 1D and 2D, and CAM VOL were (−15.5%, 25.8%), (−27.1%, 51.6%), and (−22.3%, 33.6%), respectively. Conclusions: Variability in measuring the diameter and volume of solid tumors, manually and by CAM, is affected by CT slice interval. The 2.5 mm slice interval provides the least measurement variability. Among the three techniques, 2D has the greatest measurement variability compared to 1D and 3D

Text Mining in Python through the HTRC Feature Reader

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peter Organisciak

2016-11-01

Full Text Available We introduce a toolkit for working with the 13.6 million volume Extracted Features Dataset from the HathiTrust Research Center. You will learn how to peer at the words and trends of any book in the collection, while developing broadly useful Python data analysis skills. The HathiTrust holds nearly 15 million digitized volumes from libraries around the world. In addition to their individual value, these works in aggregate are extremely valuable for historians. Spanning many centuries and genres, they offer a way to learn about large-scale trends in history and culture, as well as evidence for changes in language or even the structure of the book. To simplify access to this collection the HathiTrust Research Center (HTRC has released the Extracted Features dataset (Capitanu et al. 2015: a dataset that provides quantitative information describing every page of every volume in the collection. In this lesson, we introduce the HTRC Feature Reader, a library for working with the HTRC Extracted Features dataset using the Python programming language. The HTRC Feature Reader is structured to support work using popular data science libraries, particularly Pandas. Pandas provides simple structures for holding data and powerful ways to interact with it. The HTRC Feature Reader uses these data structures, so learning how to use it will also cover general data analysis skills in Python.

Making Connections: Linking Cognitive Psychology and Intervention Research to Improve Comprehension of Struggling Readers

Science.gov (United States)

McMaster, Kristen L.; Espin, Christine A.; van den Broek, Paul

2014-01-01

Many studies have demonstrated the efficacy of reading comprehension interventions for struggling readers, including students with learning disabilities. Yet, some readers continue to struggle with comprehension despite receiving these interventions. In this article, we argue that an explicit link between cognitive psychology and intervention…

Clinical Aspects of Hypoxia-inducible Factors in Colorectal Cancer

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Havelund, Birgitte Mayland; Spindler, Karen-Lise Garm; Sørensen, Flemming Brandt

2010-01-01

Clinical Aspects of Hypoxia-inducible Factors in Colorectal Cancer  Birgitte Mayland Havelund1,4 MD, Karen-Lise Garm Spindler1,4 MD, PhD, Flemming Brandt Sørensen2,4 MD, DMSc, Ivan Brandslund3 MD, DMSc, Anders Jakobsen1,4 MD, DMSc.1Department of Oncology, 2Pathology and 3Biochemistry, Vejle...... Hospital, Vejle, Denmark4Institute of Regional Health Services Research, University of Southern Denmark, Odense DenmarkBackgroundPrognostic and predictive markers are needed for individualizing the treatment of colorectal cancer. Hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF-1α) is a transcription-inducing factor which...... the predictive and prognostic value of HIF-1α in colorectal cancer.Materials and MethodsThe project is divided into 3 substudies:1. Biological and methodological aspects. The expression of HIF-1α measured by immunohistochemistry in paraffin embedded tissue is related to single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP...

Text World Theory and real world readers: From literature to life in a Belfast prison.

Science.gov (United States)

Canning, Patricia

2017-05-01

Cognitive stylistics offers a range of frameworks for understanding (amongst other things) what producers of literary texts 'do' with language and how they 'do' it. Less prevalent, however, is an understanding of the ways in which these same frameworks offer insights into what readers 'do' (and how they 'do' it). Text World Theory (Werth, 1999; Gavins, 2007; Whiteley, 2011) has proved useful for understanding how and why readers construct mental representations engendered by the act of reading. However, research on readers' responses to literature has largely focused on an 'idealised' reader or an 'experimental' subject-reader often derived from within the academy and conducted using contrived or amended literary fiction. Moreover, the format of traditional book groups (participants read texts privately and discuss them at a later date) as well as online community forums such as Goodreads, means that such studies derive data from post-hoc, rather than real-time textual encounters and discussions. The current study is the first of its kind in analysing real-time reading contexts with real readers during a researcher-led literary project ('read.live.learn') in Northern Ireland's only female prison. In doing so, the study is unique in addressing experimental and post hoc bias. Using Text World Theory, the paper considers the personal and social impact of reader engagement in the talk of the participants. As such, it has three interrelated aims: to argue for the social and personal benefits of reading stylistically rich literature in real-time reading groups; to demonstrate the efficacy of stylistics for understanding how those benefits come about, and to demonstrate the inter-disciplinary value of stylistics, particularly its potential for traversing traditional research parameters.

the management of writer-reader interaction in newspaper editorials

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Ntsane

how dialogically expansive and contractive resources are used in this respect in editorials from different ... adopts a particular position and how they interact with potential readers. Engagement ..... An introductory tour through Appraisal Theory.

Comparison of clinical features between primary and drug-induced sleep-related eating disorder

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Komada Y

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Yoko Komada,1 Yoshikazu Takaesu,2 Kentaro Matsui,3 Masaki Nakamura,3 Shingo Nishida,3 Meri Kanno,3,† Akira Usui,3 Yuichi Inoue1,3 1Department of Somnology, 2Department of Psychiatry, Tokyo Medical University, 3Japan Somnology Center, Institute of Neuropsychiatry, Tokyo, Japan †Meri Kanno passed away on March 1, 2016 Purpose: The aim of this study was to ascertain the clinical characteristics of drug-induced sleep-related eating disorder (SRED. Patients and methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 30 patients with primary SRED (without any comorbid sleep disorders and who were not taking any possible causative medications, and ten patients with drug-induced SRED (occurrence of SRED episodes after starting nightly medication of sedative drugs, which completely resolved after dose reduction or discontinuation of the sedatives. Results: All patients with drug-induced SRED took multiple types of sedatives, such as benzodiazepines or benzodiazepine receptor agonists. Clinical features of drug-induced SRED compared with primary SRED were as follows: higher mean age of onset (40 years old in drug-induced SRED vs 26 years old in primary SRED, significantly higher rate of patients who had total amnesia during most of their SRED episodes (75.0% vs 31.8%, significantly lower rate of comorbidity of night eating syndrome (0% vs 63.3%, and significantly lower rate of history of sleepwalking (10.0% vs 46.7%. Increased doses of benzodiazepine receptor agonists may be responsible for drug-induced SRED. Conclusion: The clinical features of drug-induced SRED were different from those of primary SRED, possibly reflecting differences in the underlying mechanisms between these two categories of SREDs. Keywords: nocturnal eating syndrome, night eating, eating disorder, hypnotics, amnesia, sleepwalking, benzodiazepine

Computer-aided detection of pulmonary embolism at CT pulmonary angiography: can it improve performance of inexperienced readers?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blackmon, Kevin N.; McCain, Joshua W.; Koonce, James D.; Costello, Philip; Florin, Charles; Bogoni, Luca; Salganicoff, Marcos; Lee, Heon; Bastarrika, Gorka; Thilo, Christian; Joseph Schoepf, U.

2011-01-01

To evaluate the effect of a computer-aided detection (CAD) algorithm on the performance of novice readers for detection of pulmonary embolism (PE) at CT pulmonary angiography (CTPA). We included CTPA examinations of 79 patients (50 female, 52 ± 18 years). Studies were evaluated by two independent inexperienced readers who marked all vessels containing PE. After 3 months all studies were reevaluated by the same two readers, this time aided by CAD prototype. A consensus read by three expert radiologists served as the reference standard. Statistical analysis used χ 2 and McNemar testing. Expert consensus revealed 119 PEs in 32 studies. For PE detection, the sensitivity of CAD alone was 78%. Inexperienced readers' initial interpretations had an average per-PE sensitivity of 50%, which improved to 71% (p < 0.001) with CAD as a second reader. False positives increased from 0.18 to 0.25 per study (p = 0.03). Per-study, the readers initially detected 27/32 positive studies (84%); with CAD this number increased to 29.5 studies (92%; p = 0.125). Our results suggest that CAD significantly improves the sensitivity of PE detection for inexperienced readers with a small but appreciable increase in the rate of false positives. (orig.)

Computer-aided detection of pulmonary embolism at CT pulmonary angiography: can it improve performance of inexperienced readers?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Blackmon, Kevin N.; McCain, Joshua W.; Koonce, James D.; Costello, Philip [Medical University of South Carolina, Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, Charleston, SC (United States); Florin, Charles; Bogoni, Luca; Salganicoff, Marcos [Siemens AG, H IM SYNGO CAD Research and Development, Malvern, PA (United States); Lee, Heon [Medical University of South Carolina, Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, Charleston, SC (United States); Seoul Medical Center, Department of Radiology, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Bastarrika, Gorka [Medical University of South Carolina, Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, Charleston, SC (United States); University of Navarra, Department of Radiology, Pamplona (Spain); Thilo, Christian; Joseph Schoepf, U. [Medical University of South Carolina, Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, Charleston, SC (United States); Medical University of South Carolina, Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Charleston, SC (United States)

2011-06-15

To evaluate the effect of a computer-aided detection (CAD) algorithm on the performance of novice readers for detection of pulmonary embolism (PE) at CT pulmonary angiography (CTPA). We included CTPA examinations of 79 patients (50 female, 52 {+-} 18 years). Studies were evaluated by two independent inexperienced readers who marked all vessels containing PE. After 3 months all studies were reevaluated by the same two readers, this time aided by CAD prototype. A consensus read by three expert radiologists served as the reference standard. Statistical analysis used {chi}{sup 2} and McNemar testing. Expert consensus revealed 119 PEs in 32 studies. For PE detection, the sensitivity of CAD alone was 78%. Inexperienced readers' initial interpretations had an average per-PE sensitivity of 50%, which improved to 71% (p < 0.001) with CAD as a second reader. False positives increased from 0.18 to 0.25 per study (p = 0.03). Per-study, the readers initially detected 27/32 positive studies (84%); with CAD this number increased to 29.5 studies (92%; p = 0.125). Our results suggest that CAD significantly improves the sensitivity of PE detection for inexperienced readers with a small but appreciable increase in the rate of false positives. (orig.)

Microcomputer control of automated TLD reader

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bjarland, Bert.

1979-10-01

The interfacing electronics, the control algorithms and the developed programs of a 6800 microcomputer controlled automated TLD reader are described. The TL reading system is implemented with a photomultiplier tube and a charge-to-pulse converter. The gain of the TL reading system is controlled through the use of a temperature compensated LED reference light source. Automatic compensation of PM tube dark current is optional. The short term stability of TL readings is better than 3 %. (author)

Movie reviews: Who are the readers?

OpenAIRE

Jose Ignacio Azuela Flores; Victor Fernandez-Blanco; Maria Jose Sanzo-Perez

2012-01-01

The analysis of the relationship between movie reviews and consumer's decision process has focused mainly on the side of critics, who have been defined as "influencers" or as "predictors" (Eliashberg & Shugan, 1997). Also, new ways to measure the impact of the critic have been introduced (Gemser, van Oostrum & Leenders, 2007) and the consistency of their opinions over time has been proved (Ginsburgh & Weyers, 1999). However, there is scarce evidence about the readers of movie reviews: who are...

How Readers and Advertisers Benefit from Local Newspaper Competition.

Science.gov (United States)

Everett, Shu-Ling Chen; Everett, Stephen E.

1989-01-01

Explores relations among three competitive schemes with respect to newspapers' price structures, including advertising rates and prices to consumers. Finds that readers get some benefit from greater competition, but that advertisers do not. (MM)

Optimised to Fail: Card Readers for Online Banking

Science.gov (United States)

Drimer, Saar; Murdoch, Steven J.; Anderson, Ross

The Chip Authentication Programme (CAP) has been introduced by banks in Europe to deal with the soaring losses due to online banking fraud. A handheld reader is used together with the customer’s debit card to generate one-time codes for both login and transaction authentication. The CAP protocol is not public, and was rolled out without any public scrutiny. We reverse engineered the UK variant of card readers and smart cards and here provide the first public description of the protocol. We found numerous weaknesses that are due to design errors such as reusing authentication tokens, overloading data semantics, and failing to ensure freshness of responses. The overall strategic error was excessive optimisation. There are also policy implications. The move from signature to PIN for authorising point-of-sale transactions shifted liability from banks to customers; CAP introduces the same problem for online banking. It may also expose customers to physical harm.

Comparative Method for Indirect Sensitivity Measurement of UHF RFID Reader with Respect to Interoperability and Conformance Requirements

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lukas Kypus

2014-01-01

Full Text Available There is never-ending race for the competitive advantage that forces RFID technology service integrators to focus more on used technology qualitative aspects and theirs impacts inside RFID ecosystem. This paper contributes to UHF RFID reader qualitative parameters evaluation and assessment problematic. It presents and describes in details indirect method and procedure of sensitivity measurement created for UHF RFID readers. We applied this method on RFID readers within prepared test environment and confirmed long term intention and recognized trend. Due to regulations limitations, there is not possible to increase output power over defined limits, but there are possibilities to influence reader sensitivity. Our proposal is to use customized comparative measurement method with insertion loss compensation for return link. Beside the main goal achievement, results show as well the qualitative status of development snapshot of reader. Method and following experiment helped us to gain an external view, current values of important parameters and motivation we want to follow up on as well as compared developed reader with its commercial competitors.

Thermoluminescent accident dose reader with photodiode; Termoluminiscencni litalnik akcidentnih doz s fotodiodo

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Miklavzic, U; Mihelic, M [Institut Jozef Stefan, Ljubljana (Yugoslavia)

1982-07-01

The field version of TL reader for accident dose region 0.01-20 Gy is described. For light detection, the thermostated photodiode was used permitting measurements at the ambient temperatures from -20 C degrees to 50 C degrees, and a new mode of the glow curve integration. Results can be presented as integral or peak values of the glow curve. The reader was adapted for dosemeters IJS-TLD08 from sintered CaF2:Mn pellets. (author)

ELISA reader does not interfere by mobile phone radiofrequency radiation

Science.gov (United States)

Mortazavi, Seyyed Mohammad Javad; Baradaran-Ghahfarokhi, Hamid Reza; Abdi, Mohammad Reza; Baradaran-Ghahfarokhi, Milad; Mostafavi, Nayyer Sadat; Mahmoudi, Golshan; Berenjkoub, Nafiseh; Akmali, Zahra; Hossein-Beigi, Fahimeh; Arsang, Vajiheh

2016-01-01

Background: The increasing number of mobile phones can physically cause electromagnetic interference (EMI) in medical environments; can also cause errors in immunoassays in laboratories. The ELISA readers are widely used as a useful diagnostic tool for Enzymun colorimetric assay in medicine. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the ELISA reader could be interfered by the exposure to the 900 MHz cell phones in the laboratory. Materials and Methods: Human serum samples were collected from 14 healthy donors (9 women and 5 men) and each sample was divided into four aliquots and was placed into four batches for the in-vitro quantitative determination of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). During colorimetric reading of the first, second, and third batches, the ELISA reader (Stat Fax 2100, Awareness Technology, Inc., USA) was exposed to 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 W exposure of 900 MHz radiation, respectively. For the forth batch (control group), no radiation was applied. All experiments were performed comparing ELISA read out results of the I, II, and III batches with the control batch, using the Wilcoxon test with criterion level of P = 0.050. Results: The final scores in the exposed batches I, II, and III were not statistically significant relative to the control batch (P > 0.05). The results showed that 900 MHz radiation exposure did not alter the ELISA measured levels of hCG hormone in I (P = 0.219), II (P = 0.909), and III (P = 0.056) batches compared to the control batch. Conclusion: This study showed that ELISA reader does not interfere by mobile phone RF radiation at a closed contact (less than 5 cm distance). However, we recommend that medical institutions discuss these issues in the context of their specific use of technologies and frame a policy that is clear and straightforward to guide staff, patients, and visitors. PMID:27376040

«Reader! Bruder!»: The Rhetoric of Narration and the Rhetoric of Reading

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Federico Bertoni

2014-05-01

Full Text Available The paper deals with the relation of power established by narrative texts, exploring the many-sided field of articulation among the related subjects: the narrator as a subject of power, the text as a rhetorical device, and the reader as an ultimate guarantor of meaning. After a brief introduction on the “rebirth of rhetoric” in the second half of the Twentieth century, drawing attention to its links with Reader-response criticism, the paper  focuses on the “power of words” and analyzes three case-studies: Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (1955, Money by Martin Amis (1984 and The Kindly Ones by Jonathan Littell (2006. These novels depend for their rhetorical effect on the invention of a special narrating voice and on the relationship that it establishes with the reader – an odd mixture of antagonism and complicity, seduction and persuasion. The reader is thus invoked as a brother, but an ambiguous and untrustworthy one, as archetypally described in last verse of the opening poem from Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du mal: «hypocrite lecteur – mon semblable, mon frère».

How do e-book readers enhance learning opportunities for distance work-based learners?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gabi Witthaus

2011-12-01

Full Text Available We report on the incorporation of e-book readers into the delivery of two distance-taught master's programmes in Occupational Psychology (OP and one in Education at the University of Leicester, UK. The programmes attract work-based practitioners in OP and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, respectively. Challenges in curriculum delivery included the need for more flexibility in the curricula, better access to essential readings and maximising the benefit of learners' limited study time. As part of a suite of pilot changes to curriculum design and delivery, 28 Sony PRS-505™ e-book readers were pre-loaded with course materials and sent out to students. The evidence suggests that the students' learning experiences improved as a result of four key benefits afforded by the e-book readers: enhanced flexibility in curriculum delivery to accommodate the mobile lifestyle of our learners, improved efficiency in the use of study time, especially short breaks during the working day, new strategies for reading course materials and cost. We discuss the opportunities and limitations associated with the e-book readers used and the challenges encountered in the study.

Radiation-induced hondrosarcoma - a clinical case from our practice

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marinova, L.; Georgiev, R.; Mihaylova, I.

2013-01-01

We present a clinical case of radiation - induced occipital extracerebral chondrosarcoma in 36 years old young man. The patient had undergone two brain operations 8 years ago due to oligodendroglioma in the left temporo - parietal area. These surgical interventions were partial and subtotal tumor extirpation, followed by local radiotherapy to the brain to a total dose of 56Gy. The necessity of immunohistochemistry (IHH) analysis for pathologic differential diagnosis in high grade brain and peripheral tumors was discussed. In this particular case a precise differential diagnosis between peripheral chondrosarcoma and Ewing sarcoma/pPNET is needed. important risk factors for the development of radiation-induced brain tumors and chondrosarcoma, extremely rarely diagnosed, was discussed. A very accurate precising of the treatment radiation dose is needed in young patients with malignant brain tumors, not only in the surrounding healthy brain tissues, but also in other tissues, such as skin, subcutaneous layer and bone. The exceeding of the radiation dose in the bone above 45-50 Gy, increases the risk of radiation - induced sarcoma with latent period over 8 years. Key words: Hondrosarcoma. Radiotherapy. Radiation-induced Sarcoma. Complex Treatment. Immunohistochemistry

Multi-reader ROC studies with split-plot designs: a comparison of statistical methods.

Science.gov (United States)

Obuchowski, Nancy A; Gallas, Brandon D; Hillis, Stephen L

2012-12-01

Multireader imaging trials often use a factorial design, in which study patients undergo testing with all imaging modalities and readers interpret the results of all tests for all patients. A drawback of this design is the large number of interpretations required of each reader. Split-plot designs have been proposed as an alternative, in which one or a subset of readers interprets all images of a sample of patients, while other readers interpret the images of other samples of patients. In this paper, the authors compare three methods of analysis for the split-plot design. Three statistical methods are presented: the Obuchowski-Rockette method modified for the split-plot design, a newly proposed marginal-mean analysis-of-variance approach, and an extension of the three-sample U-statistic method. A simulation study using the Roe-Metz model was performed to compare the type I error rate, power, and confidence interval coverage of the three test statistics. The type I error rates for all three methods are close to the nominal level but tend to be slightly conservative. The statistical power is nearly identical for the three methods. The coverage of 95% confidence intervals falls close to the nominal coverage for small and large sample sizes. The split-plot multireader, multicase study design can be statistically efficient compared to the factorial design, reducing the number of interpretations required per reader. Three methods of analysis, shown to have nominal type I error rates, similar power, and nominal confidence interval coverage, are available for this study design. Copyright © 2012 AUR. All rights reserved.

A simple scoring system for breast MRI interpretation: does it compensate for reader experience?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marino, Maria Adele; Clauser, Paola; Woitek, Ramona; Wengert, Georg J.; Kapetas, Panagiotis; Bernathova, Maria; Pinker-Domenig, Katja; Helbich, Thomas H.; Baltzer, Pascal A.T.; Preidler, Klaus

2016-01-01

To investigate the impact of a scoring system (Tree) on inter-reader agreement and diagnostic performance in breast MRI reading. This IRB-approved, single-centre study included 100 patients with 121 consecutive histopathologically verified lesions (52 malignant, 68 benign). Four breast radiologists with different levels of MRI experience and blinded to histopathology retrospectively evaluated all examinations. Readers independently applied two methods to classify breast lesions: BI-RADS and Tree. BI-RADS provides a reporting lexicon that is empirically translated into likelihoods of malignancy; Tree is a scoring system that results in a diagnostic category. Readings were compared by ROC analysis and kappa statistics. Inter-reader agreement was substantial to almost perfect (kappa: 0.643-0.896) for Tree and moderate (kappa: 0.455-0.657) for BI-RADS. Diagnostic performance using Tree (AUC: 0.889-0.943) was similar to BI-RADS (AUC: 0.872-0.953). Less experienced radiologists achieved AUC: improvements up to 4.7 % using Tree (P-values: 0.042-0.698); an expert's performance did not change (P = 0.526). The least experienced reader improved in specificity using Tree (16 %, P = 0.001). No further sensitivity and specificity differences were found (P > 0.1). The Tree scoring system improves inter-reader agreement and achieves a diagnostic performance similar to that of BI-RADS. Less experienced radiologists, in particular, benefit from Tree. (orig.)

Prevalence and clinical characteristics of mental stress-induced myocardial ischemia in patients with coronary heart disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Jiang, Wei; Samad, Zainab; Boyle, Stephen; Becker, Richard C; Williams, Redford; Kuhn, Cynthia; Ortel, Thomas L; Rogers, Joseph; Kuchibhatla, Maragatha; O'Connor, Christopher; Velazquez, Eric J

2013-02-19

The goal of this study was to evaluate the prevalence and clinical characteristics of mental stress-induced myocardial ischemia. Mental stress-induced myocardial ischemia is prevalent and a risk factor for poor prognosis in patients with coronary heart disease, but past studies mainly studied patients with exercise-induced myocardial ischemia. Eligible patients with clinically stable coronary heart disease, regardless of exercise stress testing status, underwent a battery of 3 mental stress tests followed by a treadmill test. Stress-induced ischemia, assessed by echocardiography and electrocardiography, was defined as: 1) development or worsening of regional wall motion abnormality; 2) left ventricular ejection fraction reduction ≥ 8%; and/or 3) horizontal or downsloping ST-segment depression ≥ 1 mm in 2 or more leads lasting for ≥ 3 consecutive beats during at least 1 mental test or during the exercise test. Mental stress-induced ischemia occurred in 43.45%, whereas exercise-induced ischemia occurred in 33.79% (p = 0.002) of the study population (N = 310). Women (odds ratio [OR]: 1.88), patients who were not married (OR: 1.99), and patients who lived alone (OR: 2.24) were more likely to have mental stress-induced ischemia (all p mental stress-induced ischemia (all p Mental stress-induced ischemia is more common than exercise-induced ischemia in patients with clinically stable coronary heart disease. Women, unmarried men, and individuals living alone are at higher risk for mental stress-induced ischemia. (Responses of Myocardial Ischemia to Escitalopram Treatment [REMIT]; NCT00574847). Copyright © 2013 American College of Cardiology Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Ultra-low current biosensor output detection using portable electronic reader

Science.gov (United States)

Yahaya, N. A. N.; Rajapaksha, R. D. A. A.; Uda, M. N. Afnan; Hashim, U.

2017-09-01

Generally, the electrical biosensor usually shows extremely low current signal output around pico ampere to microampere range. In this research, electronic reader with amplifier has been demonstrated to detect ultra low current via the biosensor. The operational amplifier Burr-Brown OPA 128 and Arduino Uno board were used to construct the portable electronic reader. There are two cascaded inverting amplifier were used to detect ultra low current through the biosensor from pico amperes (pA) to nano amperes ranges (nA). A small known input current was form by applying variable voltage between 0.1V to 5.0V across a 5GΩ high resistor to check the amplifier circuit. The amplifier operation was measured with the high impedance current source and has been compared with the theoretical measurement. The Arduino Uno was used to convert the analog signal to digital signal and process the data to display on reader screen. In this project, Proteus software was used to design and test the circuit. Then it was implemented together with Arduino Uno board. Arduino board was programmed using C programming language to make whole circuit communicate each order. The current was measured then it shows a small difference values compared to theoretical values, which is approximately 14pA.

Prosodic Awareness and Punctuation Ability in Adult Readers

Science.gov (United States)

Heggie, Lindsay; Wade-Woolley, Lesly

2018-01-01

We examined the relationship between two metalinguistic tasks: prosodic awareness and punctuation ability. Specifically, we investigated whether adults' ability to punctuate was related to the degree to which they are aware of and able to manipulate prosody in spoken language. English-speaking adult readers (n = 115) were administered a receptive…

Medical Readers' Theater: Relevance to Geriatrics Medical Education

Science.gov (United States)

Shapiro, Johanna; Cho, Beverly

2011-01-01

Medical Readers' Theater (MRT) is an innovative and simple way of helping medical students to reflect on difficult-to-discuss topics in geriatrics medical education, such as aging stereotypes, disability and loss of independence, sexuality, assisted living, relationships with adult children, and end-of-life issues. The authors describe a required…

Supporting Struggling Readers in Secondary School Science Classes

Science.gov (United States)

Roberts, Kelly D.; Takahashi, Kiriko; Park, Hye-Jin; Stodden, Robert A.

2012-01-01

Many secondary school students struggle to read complex expository text such as science textbooks. This article provides step-by-step guidance on how to foster expository reading for struggling readers in secondary school science classes. Two strategies are introduced: Text-to-Speech (TTS) Software as a reading compensatory strategy and the…

An Interview with Crosby Bonsall: A Writer for Beginning Readers.

Science.gov (United States)

Cox, Carole

1985-01-01

Crosby Bonsall, a prolific author-illustrator for young readers, comments on many topics related to writing, illustrating, and young children's initial independent encounters with print in books. (HOD)

Caveats and limitations of plate reader-based high-throughput kinetic measurements of intracellular calcium levels

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heusinkveld, Harm J.; Westerink, Remco H.S.

2011-01-01

Calcium plays a crucial role in virtually all cellular processes, including neurotransmission. The intracellular Ca 2+ concentration ([Ca 2+ ] i ) is therefore an important readout in neurotoxicological and neuropharmacological studies. Consequently, there is an increasing demand for high-throughput measurements of [Ca 2+ ] i , e.g. using multi-well microplate readers, in hazard characterization, human risk assessment and drug development. However, changes in [Ca 2+ ] i are highly dynamic, thereby creating challenges for high-throughput measurements. Nonetheless, several protocols are now available for real-time kinetic measurement of [Ca 2+ ] i in plate reader systems, though the results of such plate reader-based measurements have been questioned. In view of the increasing use of plate reader systems for measurements of [Ca 2+ ] i a careful evaluation of current technologies is warranted. We therefore performed an extensive set of experiments, using two cell lines (PC12 and B35) and two fluorescent calcium-sensitive dyes (Fluo-4 and Fura-2), for comparison of a linear plate reader system with single cell fluorescence microscopy. Our data demonstrate that the use of plate reader systems for high-throughput real-time kinetic measurements of [Ca 2+ ] i is associated with many pitfalls and limitations, including erroneous sustained increases in fluorescence, limited sensitivity and lack of single cell resolution. Additionally, our data demonstrate that probenecid, which is often used to prevent dye leakage, effectively inhibits the depolarization-evoked increase in [Ca 2+ ] i . Overall, the data indicate that the use of current plate reader-based strategies for high-throughput real-time kinetic measurements of [Ca 2+ ] i is associated with caveats and limitations that require further investigation. - Research highlights: → The use of plate readers for high-throughput screening of intracellular Ca 2+ is associated with many pitfalls and limitations. → Single cell

Glycan Reader: Automated Sugar Identification and Simulation Preparation for Carbohydrates and Glycoproteins

Science.gov (United States)

Jo, Sunhwan; Song, Kevin C.; Desaire, Heather; MacKerell, Alexander D.; Im, Wonpil

2011-01-01

Understanding how glycosylation affects protein structure, dynamics, and function is an emerging and challenging problem in biology. As a first step toward glycan modeling in the context of structural glycobiology, we have developed Glycan Reader and integrated it into the CHARMM-GUI, http://www.charmm-gui.org/input/glycan. Glycan Reader greatly simplifies the reading of PDB structure files containing glycans through (i) detection of carbohydrate molecules, (ii) automatic annotation of carbohydrates based on their three-dimensional structures, (iii) recognition of glycosidic linkages between carbohydrates as well as N-/O-glycosidic linkages to proteins, and (iv) generation of inputs for the biomolecular simulation program CHARMM with the proper glycosidic linkage setup. In addition, Glycan Reader is linked to other functional modules in CHARMM-GUI, allowing users to easily generate carbohydrate or glycoprotein molecular simulation systems in solution or membrane environments and visualize the electrostatic potential on glycoprotein surfaces. These tools are useful for studying the impact of glycosylation on protein structure and dynamics. PMID:21815173

Phonological-Lexical Feedback during Early Abstract Encoding: The Case of Deaf Readers.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Manuel Perea

Full Text Available In the masked priming technique, physical identity between prime and target enjoys an advantage over nominal identity in nonwords (GEDA-GEDA faster than geda-GEDA. However, nominal identity overrides physical identity in words (e.g., REAL-REAL similar to real-REAL. Here we tested whether the lack of an advantage of the physical identity condition for words was due to top-down feedback from phonological-lexical information. We examined this issue with deaf readers, as their phonological representations are not as fully developed as in hearing readers. Results revealed that physical identity enjoyed a processing advantage over nominal identity not only in nonwords but also in words (GEDA-GEDA faster than geda-GEDA; REAL-REAL faster than real-REAL. This suggests the existence of fundamental differences in the early stages of visual word recognition of hearing and deaf readers, possibly related to the amount of feedback from higher levels of information.

Spongelike Acquisition of Sight Vocabulary in Beginning Readers?

Science.gov (United States)

Stuart, Morag; Masterson, Jackie; Dixon, Maureen

2000-01-01

Investigates the relation between phonological awareness, sound-to-letter mapping knowledge, and printed word learning in novice five-year-old readers. Explores effects of visual memory and of teaching methods. Finds mental representations of printed words are more easily formed by beginners who are able to match at least some of the phonological…

Varying performance in mammographic interpretation across two countries: Do results indicate reader or population variances?

Science.gov (United States)

Soh, BaoLin P.; Lee, Warwick B.; Wong, Jill; Sim, Llewellyn; Hillis, Stephen L.; Tapia, Kriscia A.; Brennan, Patrick C.

2016-03-01

Aim: To compare the performance of Australian and Singapore breast readers interpreting a single test-set that consisted of mammographic examinations collected from the Australian population. Background: In the teleradiology era, breast readers are interpreting mammographic examinations from different populations. The question arises whether two groups of readers with similar training backgrounds, demonstrate the same level of performance when presented with a population familiar only to one of the groups. Methods: Fifty-three Australian and 15 Singaporean breast radiologists participated in this study. All radiologists were trained in mammogram interpretation and had a median of 9 and 15 years of experience in reading mammograms respectively. Each reader interpreted the same BREAST test-set consisting of sixty de-identified mammographic examinations arising from an Australian population. Performance parameters including JAFROC, ROC, case sensitivity as well as specificity were compared between Australian and Singaporean readers using a Mann Whitney U test. Results: A significant difference (P=0.036) was demonstrated between the JAFROC scores of the Australian and Singaporean breast radiologists. No other significant differences were observed. Conclusion: JAFROC scores for Australian radiologists were higher than those obtained by the Singaporean counterparts. Whilst it is tempting to suggest this is down to reader expertise, this may be a simplistic explanation considering the very similar training and audit backgrounds of the two populations of radiologists. The influence of reading images that are different from those that radiologists normally encounter cannot be ruled out and requires further investigation, particularly in the light of increasing international outsourcing of radiologic reporting.

Compact mobile-reader system for two-way wireless communication, tracking and status monitoring for transport safety and security

Science.gov (United States)

Tsai, Han-Chung; Liu, Yung Y.; Lee, Hok L.; Craig, Brian; Byrne, Kevin; Mittal, Ketan; Scherer, Justin C.

2016-12-06

A system for monitoring a plurality radio frequency identification tags is described. The system uses at least one set of radio frequency identification tags. Each tag is attached to a container and includes several sensors for detecting physical conditions of said container. The system includes at least one autonomous intermediate reader in wireless communication with the frequency identification tags. The intermediate reader includes external wireless communication system, intermediate reader logic controller, and a self-contained rechargeable power supply. The system uses a central status reporting system in communication the intermediate reader.

Examining the Effects of School-Provided E-Readers on Middle School Students' Reading Ability

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, H. Quincy

2016-01-01

Nationwide, the increasing popularity of e-books is undeniable; sales of e-books increased an astounding 4,456% over a 5-year period. Researchers, Miranda, Johnson, and Rossi-Williams, determined that e-readers have a positive impact on students' desire to read. This study attempted to determine if the use of institution issued e-readers would…

A TLD reader for wide range in situ dose measurement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Deme, S; Apathy, I.; Bodnar, L.; Csoeke, A.; Hejja, I.

1998-01-01

A portable thermoluminescent dosemeter reader suitable for reading at the site of exposure is described. The instrument consists of a glass bulb containing the CaSO 4 :Dy thermoluminescent material laminated to the surface of an electrically heated resistive metal plate. The bulb is encapsulated in a cylindrical, pen-like metal holder made of aluminium. A one-wire-port integrated electronic programmable memory chip mounted inside the holder contains the identification code and the individual calibration parameters of the dosemeter. The aperture of the holder is normally covered by a stainless steel tube to protect the bulb from light and mechanical shocks. The tube slips backwards automatically when the dosemeter is inserted into the reader. The system is used by the Hungarian nuclear power plant. (M.D.)

Guiding the Gifted Reader. ERIC Digest #E481.

Science.gov (United States)

Halsted, Judith Wynn

This digest offers guidelines in providing challenging reading opportunities for gifted students. Research findings concerning the characteristics of the gifted child as reader (e.g., they read earlier, better and more) are noted. Specific needs of gifted learners can be met by: using literature as a supplement to the readings in basal texts;…

Enhanced TDMA Based Anti-Collision Algorithm with a Dynamic Frame Size Adjustment Strategy for Mobile RFID Readers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kwang Cheol Shin

2009-02-01

Full Text Available In the fields of production, manufacturing and supply chain management, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID is regarded as one of the most important technologies. Nowadays, Mobile RFID, which is often installed in carts or forklift trucks, is increasingly being applied to the search for and checkout of items in warehouses, supermarkets, libraries and other industrial fields. In using Mobile RFID, since the readers are continuously moving, they can interfere with each other when they attempt to read the tags. In this study, we suggest a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA based anti-collision algorithm for Mobile RFID readers. Our algorithm automatically adjusts the frame size of each reader without using manual parameters by adopting the dynamic frame size adjustment strategy when collisions occur at a reader. Through experiments on a simulated environment for Mobile RFID readers, we show that the proposed method improves the number of successful transmissions by about 228% on average, compared with Colorwave, a representative TDMA based anti-collision algorithm.

Enhanced TDMA Based Anti-Collision Algorithm with a Dynamic Frame Size Adjustment Strategy for Mobile RFID Readers.

Science.gov (United States)

Shin, Kwang Cheol; Park, Seung Bo; Jo, Geun Sik

2009-01-01

In the fields of production, manufacturing and supply chain management, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is regarded as one of the most important technologies. Nowadays, Mobile RFID, which is often installed in carts or forklift trucks, is increasingly being applied to the search for and checkout of items in warehouses, supermarkets, libraries and other industrial fields. In using Mobile RFID, since the readers are continuously moving, they can interfere with each other when they attempt to read the tags. In this study, we suggest a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) based anti-collision algorithm for Mobile RFID readers. Our algorithm automatically adjusts the frame size of each reader without using manual parameters by adopting the dynamic frame size adjustment strategy when collisions occur at a reader. Through experiments on a simulated environment for Mobile RFID readers, we show that the proposed method improves the number of successful transmissions by about 228% on average, compared with Colorwave, a representative TDMA based anti-collision algorithm.

Schizophrenia in the News: The Role of News Frames in Shaping Online Reader Dialogue about Mental Illness.

Science.gov (United States)

Gwarjanski, Anna Rae; Parrott, Scott

2018-08-01

A quantitative content analysis examined the portrayal of schizophrenia in eight of the most read online news publications in the United States. The analysis documented the prevalence of stigma frames, which communicate stereotypes concerning schizophrenia, and stigma-challenge frames, which contradict stereotypes, in 558 articles related to schizophrenia. The study also examined the relationship between media framing and reader commentary, including the likelihood of readers posting stigmatizing comments, stigma-challenging comments, and comments in which they disclosed personal experience with mental illness. Stigma frames were prevalent in the sample, suggesting the news media continue associating schizophrenia with violent and criminal behavior. Stigma frames stood greater chance of being accompanied by stigmatizing comments from readers when compared to stigma-challenging frames. Conversely, stigma-challenging frames stood greater chance of being accompanied by stigma-challenging comments from readers. Readers were more likely to disclose personal experience with mental illness when they encountered a stigma-challenging frame. Recommendations are made for journalists and health communicators.

The relevance of cytokines in the radiation-induced lung reaction. Experimental basis and clinical significance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ruebe, C.E.; Ruebe, C.; Rodemann, H.P.

2004-01-01

Methods: published data on radiation-induced cytokine expression from experimental and clinical studies are reviewed. Results and conclusion: the major pro-inflammatory cytokines in the radiation response of the lung include tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1 (IL-1), and interleukin-6 (IL-6). Transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) appears to be of particular importance in the development of lung fibrosis. First approaches with radioprotective agents and gene therapy to modify radiation-induced cytokine expression have been investigated for prevention of late effects of irradiation lung damage in animal experiments. Preliminary data of clinical studies suggest that elevated plasma TGF-β-levels during radiotherapy may predict the development of symptomatic radiation pneumonitis. The biological impacts of endogenous radiation-induced cytokine production by tumor cells in respect of tumor behavior, potential damage to normal tissue, and clinical status of the host still need to be determined more precisely. (orig.)

Young Skilled Deaf Readers Have an Enhanced Perceptual Span in Reading.

Science.gov (United States)

Bélanger, Nathalie N; Lee, Michelle; Schotter, Elizabeth R

2017-04-27

Recently, Bélanger, Slattery, Mayberry and Rayner (2012) showed, using the moving window paradigm, that profoundly deaf adults have a wider perceptual span during reading relative to hearing adults matched on reading level. This difference might be related to the fact that deaf adults allocate more visual attention to simple stimuli in the parafovea (Bavelier, Dye & Hauser, 2006). Importantly, this reorganization of visual attention in deaf individuals is already manifesting in deaf children (Dye, Hauser & Bavelier, 2009). This leads to questions about the time course of the emergence of an enhanced perceptual span (which is under attentional control; Rayner, 2014; Miellet, O'Donnell, & Sereno, 2009) in young deaf readers. The present research addressed this question by comparing the perceptual spans of young deaf readers (age 7-15) and young hearing children (age 7-15). Young deaf readers, like deaf adults, were found to have a wider perceptual span relative to their hearing peers matched on reading level, suggesting that strong and early reorganization of visual attention in deaf individuals goes beyond the processing of simple visual stimuli and emerges into more cognitively complex tasks, such as reading.

DWI of Prostate Cancer: Optimal b-Value in Clinical Practice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Guglielmo Manenti

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Aim. To compare the diagnostic performance of diffusion weighted imaging (DWI using b-values of 1000 s/mm2 and 2000 s/mm2 at 3 Tesla (T for the evaluation of clinically significant prostate cancer. Matherials and Methods. Seventy-eight prostate cancer patients underwent a 3T MRI scan followed by radical prostatectomy. DWI was performed using b-values of 0, 1000, and 2000 s/mm2 and qualitatively analysed by two radiologists. ADC maps were obtained at b-values of 1000 and 2000 s/mm2 and quantitatively analyzed in consensus. Results. For diagnosis of 78 prostate cancers the accuracy of DWI for the young reader was significantly greater at b = 2000 s/mm2 for the peripheral zone (PZ but not for the transitional zone (TZ. For the experienced reader, DWI did not show significant differences in accuracy between b-values of 1000 and 2000 s/mm2. The quantitative analysis in the PZ and TZ was substantially superimposable between the two b-values, albeit with a higher accuracy with a b-value of 2000 s/mm2. Conclusions. With a b-value of 2000 s/mm2 at 3T both readers differentiated clinical significant cancer from benign tissue; higher b-values can be helpful for the less experienced readers.

The effect of computer-aided detection markers on visual search and reader performance during concurrent reading of CT colonography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Helbren, Emma; Taylor, Stuart A.; Fanshawe, Thomas R.; Mallett, Susan; Phillips, Peter; Boone, Darren; Gale, Alastair; Altman, Douglas G.; Manning, David; Halligan, Steve

2015-01-01

We aimed to identify the effect of computer-aided detection (CAD) on visual search and performance in CT Colonography (CTC) of inexperienced and experienced readers. Fifteen endoluminal CTC examinations were recorded, each with one polyp, and two videos were generated, one with and one without a CAD mark. Forty-two readers (17 experienced, 25 inexperienced) interpreted the videos during infrared visual search recording. CAD markers and polyps were treated as regions of interest in data processing. This multi-reader, multi-case study was analysed using multilevel modelling. CAD drew readers' attention to polyps faster, accelerating identification times: median 'time to first pursuit' was 0.48 s (IQR 0.27 to 0.87 s) with CAD, versus 0.58 s (IQR 0.35 to 1.06 s) without. For inexperienced readers, CAD also held visual attention for longer. All visual search metrics used to assess visual gaze behaviour demonstrated statistically significant differences when ''with'' and ''without'' CAD were compared. A significant increase in the number of correct polyp identifications across all readers was seen with CAD (74 % without CAD, 87 % with CAD; p < 0.001). CAD significantly alters visual search and polyp identification in readers viewing three-dimensional endoluminal CTC. For polyp and CAD marker pursuit times, CAD generally exerted a larger effect on inexperienced readers. (orig.)

The effect of computer-aided detection markers on visual search and reader performance during concurrent reading of CT colonography

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Helbren, Emma; Taylor, Stuart A. [University College London, Centre for Medical Imaging, London (United Kingdom); Fanshawe, Thomas R.; Mallett, Susan [University of Oxford, Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, Oxford (United Kingdom); Phillips, Peter [University of Cumbria, Health and Medical Sciences Group, Lancaster (United Kingdom); Boone, Darren [Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust and Anglia University, Colchester (United Kingdom); Gale, Alastair [Loughborough University, Applied Vision Research Centre, Loughborough (United Kingdom); Altman, Douglas G. [University of Oxford, Centre for Statistics in Medicine, Oxford (United Kingdom); Manning, David [Lancaster University, Lancaster Medical School, Faculty of Health and Medicine, Lancaster (United Kingdom); Halligan, Steve [University College London, Centre for Medical Imaging, London (United Kingdom); University College Hospital, Gastrointestinal Radiology, University College London, Centre for Medical Imaging, Podium Level 2, London, NW1 2BU (United Kingdom)

2015-06-01

We aimed to identify the effect of computer-aided detection (CAD) on visual search and performance in CT Colonography (CTC) of inexperienced and experienced readers. Fifteen endoluminal CTC examinations were recorded, each with one polyp, and two videos were generated, one with and one without a CAD mark. Forty-two readers (17 experienced, 25 inexperienced) interpreted the videos during infrared visual search recording. CAD markers and polyps were treated as regions of interest in data processing. This multi-reader, multi-case study was analysed using multilevel modelling. CAD drew readers' attention to polyps faster, accelerating identification times: median 'time to first pursuit' was 0.48 s (IQR 0.27 to 0.87 s) with CAD, versus 0.58 s (IQR 0.35 to 1.06 s) without. For inexperienced readers, CAD also held visual attention for longer. All visual search metrics used to assess visual gaze behaviour demonstrated statistically significant differences when ''with'' and ''without'' CAD were compared. A significant increase in the number of correct polyp identifications across all readers was seen with CAD (74 % without CAD, 87 % with CAD; p < 0.001). CAD significantly alters visual search and polyp identification in readers viewing three-dimensional endoluminal CTC. For polyp and CAD marker pursuit times, CAD generally exerted a larger effect on inexperienced readers. (orig.)

Integrated Rapid-Diagnostic-Test Reader Platform on a Cellphone

Science.gov (United States)

Mudanyali, Onur; Dimitrov, Stoyan; Sikora, Uzair; Padmanabhan, Swati; Navruz, Isa; Ozcan, Aydogan

2012-01-01

We demonstrate a cellphone based Rapid-Diagnostic-Test (RDT) reader platform that can work with various lateral flow immuno-chromatographic assays and similar tests to sense the presence of a target analyte in a sample. This compact and cost-effective digital RDT reader, weighing only ~65 grams, mechanically attaches to the existing camera unit of a cellphone, where various types of RDTs can be inserted to be imaged in reflection or transmission modes under light-emitting-diode (LED) based illumination. Captured raw images of these tests are then digitally processed (within less than 0.2 sec/image) through a smart application running on the cellphone for validation of the RDT as well as for automated reading of its diagnostic result. The same smart application running on the cellphone then transmits the resulting data, together with the RDT images and other related information (e.g., demographic data) to a central server, which presents the diagnostic results on a world-map through geo-tagging. This dynamic spatio-temporal map of various RDT results can then be viewed and shared using internet browsers or through the same cellphone application. We tested this platform using malaria, tuberculosis (TB) as well as HIV RDTs by installing it on both Android based smart-phones as well as an iPhone. Providing real-time spatio-temporal statistics for the prevalence of various infectious diseases, this smart RDT reader platform running on cellphones might assist health-care professionals and policy makers to track emerging epidemics worldwide and help epidemic preparedness. PMID:22596243

Short Vowels versus Word Familiarity in the Reading Comprehension of Arab Readers: A Revisited Issue

Science.gov (United States)

Seraye, Abdullah M.

2016-01-01

Arab readers, both beginning and advanced, are encouraged to read and accustomed to unvowelized and undiacriticized texts. Previous literature claimed that the presence of short vowels in the text would facilitate the reading comprehension of both beginning and advanced Arab readers. However, with a claimed strict controlling procedure, different…

Relations among Metamemory, Rehearsal Activity and Word Recall of Learning Disabled and Non-Disabled Readers.

Science.gov (United States)

Swanson, H.L.

1983-01-01

In free recall of word lists involving different rehearsal strategies, more words were recalled by older (as against younger) children and by nondisabled (as against learning disabled) readers. Disabled readers tended to be nonstrategic recallers and less accurate estimators of their memory capacity. Recall differences were attributed to semantic…

Course Reader: Food Concept Design, mapping strategic and service-oriented possibilities within food businesses

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Olsen, Tenna Doktor

This course reader is a guide to the content of the last series of FOOD DESIGN lectures and design workshops given with the course: ‘Food Concept Design: Mapping Strategic and Service‐Oriented possibilities within Food Businesses', offered at the Masters education 'Integrated Food Studies......' at Aalborg University in Copenhagen. The course reader first of all guide the students through the overall purpose and content of the course, but also give a short introduction to the various literature used in the course, as well as the demands for the final assignment and evaluation criteria...... for the individual exams. Together with the course programmes provided at the two previous semesters, this course reader is thus attempts to begin develop af theoratical framework for teaching Food Design Thinking....

3,000 Paper Cranes: Children's Literature for Remedial Readers.

Science.gov (United States)

Shumaker, Marjorie P.; Shumaker, Ronald C.

1988-01-01

Describes how the educational experience of sixth grade remedial readers was revitalized and enriched through a project that grew out of reading "Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes." Suggests using "real" books (literature) to liberate remedial students from skill drills and reading games. (NH)

Clinically Relevant Pharmacological Strategies That Reverse MDMA-Induced Brain Hyperthermia Potentiated by Social Interaction.

Science.gov (United States)

Kiyatkin, Eugene A; Ren, Suelynn; Wakabayashi, Ken T; Baumann, Michael H; Shaham, Yavin

2016-01-01

MDMA-induced hyperthermia is highly variable, unpredictable, and greatly potentiated by the social and environmental conditions of recreational drug use. Current strategies to treat pathological MDMA-induced hyperthermia in humans are palliative and marginally effective, and there are no specific pharmacological treatments to counteract this potentially life-threatening condition. Here, we tested the efficacy of mixed adrenoceptor blockers carvedilol and labetalol, and the atypical antipsychotic clozapine, in reversing MDMA-induced brain and body hyperthermia. We injected rats with a moderate non-toxic dose of MDMA (9 mg/kg) during social interaction, and we administered potential treatment drugs after the development of robust hyperthermia (>2.5 °C), thus mimicking the clinical situation of acute MDMA intoxication. Brain temperature was our primary focus, but we also simultaneously recorded temperatures from the deep temporal muscle and skin, allowing us to determine the basic physiological mechanisms of the treatment drug action. Carvedilol was modestly effective in attenuating MDMA-induced hyperthermia by moderately inhibiting skin vasoconstriction, and labetalol was ineffective. In contrast, clozapine induced a marked and immediate reversal of MDMA-induced hyperthermia via inhibition of brain metabolic activation and blockade of skin vasoconstriction. Our findings suggest that clozapine, and related centrally acting drugs, might be highly effective for reversing MDMA-induced brain and body hyperthermia in emergency clinical situations, with possible life-saving results.

"This Is Not For You": Reader Agency and Intimacy in Contemporary Horror Fiction

OpenAIRE

Hauglid, Aslak Rustad

2016-01-01

This thesis examines how recent/contemporary horror fiction uses the establishment of reader intimacy and challenges to reader agency in order to create experiences of horror. The discussion focuses on a selection of horror texts from different media published between 2000 and 2016. The thesis argues that these two techniques have come to be increasingly important horror tropes over this period, and examines how they are applied in order to propose a new perspective for understanding how cont...

The high cost of clinical negligence litigation in the NHS.

Science.gov (United States)

Tingle, John

2017-03-09

John Tingle, Reader in Health Law at Nottingham Trent University, discusses a consultation document from the Department of Health on introducing fixed recoverable costs in lower-value clinical negligence claims.

Reader-Responses of Pregnant Adolescents and Teenage Mothers to Young Adult Novels Portraying Protagonists with Problems Similar and Dissimilar to the Readers'.

Science.gov (United States)

Poe, Elizabeth Ann

Applying reader response theory, a study explored the responses of 19 pregnant adolescents and teenage mothers to two dissimilar young adult novels, one about teenage pregnancy and one about adolescent alcoholism. Quantitative analysis, using a modified version of the Purves-Rippere (1968) system, and qualitative analysis of written answers to…

The influence of reading expertise in mirror-letter perception: Evidence from beginning and expert readers

Science.gov (United States)

Duñabeitia, Jon Andoni; Dimitropoulou, María; Estévez, Adelina; Carreiras, Manuel

2013-01-01

The visual word recognition system recruits neuronal systems originally developed for object perception which are characterized by orientation insensitivity to mirror reversals. It has been proposed that during reading acquisition beginning readers have to “unlearn” this natural tolerance to mirror reversals in order to efficiently discriminate letters and words. Therefore, it is supposed that this unlearning process takes place in a gradual way and that reading expertise modulates mirror-letter discrimination. However, to date no supporting evidence for this has been obtained. We present data from an eye-movement study that investigated the degree of sensitivity to mirror-letters in a group of beginning readers and a group of expert readers. Participants had to decide which of the two strings presented on a screen corresponded to an auditorily presented word. Visual displays always included the correct target word and one distractor word. Results showed that those distractors that were the same as the target word except for the mirror lateralization of two internal letters attracted participants’ attention more than distractors created by replacement of two internal letters. Interestingly, the time course of the effects was found to be different for the two groups, with beginning readers showing a greater tolerance (decreased sensitivity) to mirror-letters than expert readers. Implications of these findings are discussed within the framework of preceding evidence showing how reading expertise modulates letter identification. PMID:24273596

From Reader to Writer: Citizen Journalism as News Produsage

Science.gov (United States)

Bruns, Axel

Today, participatory or citizen journalism - journalism which enables readers to become writers - exists online and offline in a variety of forms and formats, operates under a number of editorial schemes, and focuses on a wide range of topics from the specialist to the generic and the micro-local to the global. Key models in this phenomenon include veteran sites Slashdot and Indymedia, as well as news-related weblogs; more recent additions into the mix have been the South Korean OhmyNews, which in 2003 was “the most influential online news site in that country, attracting an estimated 2 million readers a day” (Gillmor, 2003a, p. 7), with its new Japanese and international offshoots, as well as the Wikipedia with its highly up-to-date news and current events section and its more recent offshoot Wikinews, and even citizen-produced video news as it is found in sites such as YouTube and Current.tv.

Training readers to improve their accuracy in grading Crohn's disease activity on MRI

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tielbeek, Jeroen A.W.; Bipat, Shandra; Boellaard, Thierry N.; Nio, C.Y.; Stoker, Jaap

2014-01-01

To prospectively evaluate if training with direct feedback improves grading accuracy of inexperienced readers for Crohn's disease activity on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Thirty-one inexperienced readers assessed 25 cases as a baseline set. Subsequently, all readers received training and assessed 100 cases with direct feedback per case, randomly assigned to four sets of 25 cases. The cases in set 4 were identical to the baseline set. Grading accuracy, understaging, overstaging, mean reading times and confidence scores (scale 0-10) were compared between baseline and set 4, and between the four consecutive sets with feedback. Proportions of grading accuracy, understaging and overstaging per set were compared using logistic regression analyses. Mean reading times and confidence scores were compared by t-tests. Grading accuracy increased from 66 % (95 % CI, 56-74 %) at baseline to 75 % (95 % CI, 66-81 %) in set 4 (P = 0.003). Understaging decreased from 15 % (95 % CI, 9-23 %) to 7 % (95 % CI, 3-14 %) (P < 0.001). Overstaging did not change significantly (20 % vs 19 %). Mean reading time decreased from 6 min 37 s to 4 min 35 s (P < 0.001). Mean confidence increased from 6.90 to 7.65 (P < 0.001). During training, overall grading accuracy, understaging, mean reading times and confidence scores improved gradually. Inexperienced readers need training with at least 100 cases to achieve the literature reported grading accuracy of 75 %. (orig.)

Implications of unchanged detection criteria with CAD as second reader of mammograms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bornefalk, Hans

2006-01-01

In this paper we address the use of computer-aided detection (CAD) systems as second readers in mammography. The approach is based on Bayesian decision theory and its implication for the choice of optimal operating points. The choice of a certain operating point along an ROC curve corresponds to a particular tradeoff between false positives and missed cancers. By minimizing a total risk function given this tradeoff, we determine optimal decision thresholds for the radiologist and CAD system when CAD is used as a second reader. We show that under very general circumstances, the performance of the sequential system is improved if the decision threshold of the latent human decision variable is increased compared to what it would have been in the absence of the CAD system. This means that an initial stricter decision criterion should be applied by the radiologist when CAD is used as a second reader than otherwise. First and foremost, the results in this paper should be interpreted qualitatively, but an attempt is made at quantifying the effect by tuning the model to a prospective study evaluating the use of CAD as a second reader. By making some necessary and plausible assumptions, we are able to estimate the effect of the resulting suboptimal operating point. In this study of 12 860 women, we estimate that a 15% reduction in callbacks for masses could have been achieved with only about a 1.5% relative decrease in sensitivity compared to that without using a stricter initial criterion by the radiologist. For microcalcifications the corresponding values are 7% and 0.2%

Modeling Chemotherapy-Induced Hair Loss: From Experimental Propositions toward Clinical Reality.

Science.gov (United States)

Botchkarev, Vladimir A; Sharov, Andrey A

2016-03-01

Chemotherapy-induced hair loss is one of the most devastating side effects of cancer treatment. To study the effects of chemotherapeutic agents on the hair follicle, a number of experimental models have been proposed. Yoon et al. report that transplantation of human scalp hair follicles onto chemotherapy-treated immunodeficient mice serves as an excellent in vivo model for chemotherapy-induced hair loss. Yoon et al. demonstrate that (i) the response of human hair follicles grafted onto immunodeficient mice to cyclophosphamide resembles the key features of the chemotherapy-induced hair loss seen in patients with cancer and (ii) this human in vivo model for chemotherapy-induced hair loss is closer to clinical reality than to any earlier models. Undoubtedly, this model will serve as a valuable tool for analyses of the mechanisms that underlie this devastating side effect of anti-cancer therapy. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Predictors of Reading Comprehension among Struggling Readers Who Exhibit Differing Levels of Inattention and Hyperactivity

Science.gov (United States)

Swanson, Elizabeth; Barnes, Marcia; Fall, Anna-Mari; Roberts, Greg

2018-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of inference making, decoding, memory, and vocabulary on reading comprehension among 7th- through 12th-grade struggling readers with varying levels of inattention and hyperactivity. We categorized a group of 414 struggling readers into 3 groups based on results from factor mixture modeling:…

Non-localization and localization ROC analyses using clinically based scoring

Science.gov (United States)

Paquerault, Sophie; Samuelson, Frank W.; Myers, Kyle J.; Smith, Robert C.

2009-02-01

We are investigating the potential for differences in study conclusions when assessing the estimated impact of a computer-aided detection (CAD) system on readers' performance. The data utilized in this investigation were derived from a multi-reader multi-case observer study involving one hundred mammographic background images to which fixed-size and fixed-intensity Gaussian signals were added, generating a low- and high-intensity signal sets. The study setting allowed CAD assessment in two situations: when CAD sensitivity was 1) superior or 2) lower than the average reader. Seven readers were asked to review each set in the unaided and CAD-aided reading modes, mark and rate their findings. Using this data, we studied the effect on study conclusion of three clinically-based receiver operating characteristic (ROC) scoring definitions. These scoring definitions included both location-specific and non-location-specific rules. The results showed agreement in the estimated impact of CAD on the overall reader performance. In the study setting where CAD sensitivity is superior to the average reader, the mean difference in AUC between the CAD-aided read and unaided read was 0.049 (95%CIs: -0.027; 0.130) for the image scoring definition that is based on non-location-specific rules, and 0.104 (95%CIs: 0.036; 0.174) and 0.090 (95%CIs: 0.031; 0.155) for image scoring definitions that are based on location-specific rules. The increases in AUC were statistically significant for the location-specific scoring definitions. It was further observed that the variance on these estimates was reduced when using the location-specific scoring definitions compared to that using a non-location-specific scoring definition. In the study setting where CAD sensitivity is equivalent or lower than the average reader, the mean differences in AUC are slightly above 0.01 for all image scoring definitions. These increases in AUC were not statistical significant for any of the image scoring definitions

The Development of Visual Search Strategies in Biscriptal Readers.

Science.gov (United States)

Liow, Susan Rikard; Green, David; Tam, Melissa

1999-01-01

To test whether cognitive processing in bilingual depends on script combinations and language proficiency, this study investigated the development of alphabetic and logographic visual search strategies in two kinds of biscriptals: (1) Malay-English and (2) Chinese-English readers. Results support the view that there are script implications of…

Expository Text Comprehension in Secondary School: For Which Readers Does Knowledge of Connectives Contribute the Most?

Science.gov (United States)

Welie, Camille; Schoonen, Rob; Kuiken, Folkert; Bergh, Huub

2017-01-01

The present study examined whether knowledge of connectives contributes uniquely to expository text comprehension above and beyond reading fluency, general vocabulary knowledge and metacognitive knowledge. Furthermore, it was examined whether this contribution differs for readers with different language backgrounds or readers who vary in reading…

Impact of patient questionnaires on completeness of clinical information and identification of causes of pain during outpatient abdominopelvic CT interpretation.

Science.gov (United States)

Doshi, Ankur M; Huang, Chenchan; Ginocchio, Luke; Shanbhogue, Krishna; Rosenkrantz, Andrew B

2017-12-01

To evaluate the impact of questionnaires completed by patients at the time of abdominopelvic CT performed for abdominal pain on the completeness of clinical information and the identification of potential causes of pain, compared with order requisitions alone. 100 outpatient CT examinations performed for the evaluation of abdominal pain were retrospectively reviewed. The specificity of the location of pain was compared between the order requisition and patient questionnaire. An abdominal imaging fellow (Reader 1) and abdominal radiologist (Reader 2) reviewed the examinations independently in two sessions 6 weeks apart (one with only the order requisition and one also with the questionnaire). Readers recorded identified causes of pain and rated their confidence in interpretation (1-5 scale; least to greatest confidence). In 30% of patients, the questionnaire provided a more specific location for pain. Among these, the pain was localized to a specific quadrant in 40%. With having access to the questionnaire, both readers identified additional causes for pain not identified in session 1 (Reader 1, 8.6% [7/81]; Reader 2 5.3% [4/75]). Additional identified causes of pain included diverticulitis, cystitis, peritoneal implants, epiploic appendagitis, osseous metastatic disease, umbilical hernia, gastritis, and SMA syndrome. Confidence in interpretation was significantly greater using the questionnaire for both readers (Reader 1: 4.8 ± 0.6 vs. 4.0 ± 0.5; Reader 2: 4.9 ± 0.3 vs. 4.7 ± 0.5, p questionnaires provide additional relevant clinical history, increased diagnostic yield, and improve radiologists' confidence. Radiology practices are encouraged to implement questionnaires and make these readily available to radiologists at the time of interpretation.

Reader characteristics linked to detection of pulmonary nodules on radiographs: ROC vs. JAFROC analyses of performance

Science.gov (United States)

Kohli, Akshay; Robinson, John W.; Ryan, John; McEntee, Mark F.; Brennan, Patrick C.

2011-03-01

The purpose of this study is to explore whether reader characteristics are linked to heightened levels of diagnostic performance in chest radiology using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) and jackknife free response ROC (JAFROC) methodologies. A set of 40 postero-anterior chest radiographs was developed, of which 20 were abnormal containing one or more simulated nodules, of varying subtlety. Images were independently reviewed by 12 boardcertified radiologists including six chest specialists. The observer performance was measured in terms of ROC and JAFROC scores. For the ROC analysis, readers were asked to rate their degree of suspicion for the presence of nodules by using a confidence rating scale (1-6). JAFROC analysis required the readers to locate and rate as many suspicious areas as they wished using the same scale and resultant data were used to generate Az and FOM scores for ROC and JAFROC analyses respectively. Using Pearson methods, scores of performance were correlated with 7 reader characteristics recorded using a questionnaire. JAFROC analysis showed that improved reader performance was significantly (pchest specialty (pchest radiographs (pchest readings per year (pchest radiographs (pchest specialty, hours reading per week and number of radiographs read per year. Also, JAFROC is a more powerful predictor of performance as compared to ROC.

Dewitt Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund National Library Power Program.

Science.gov (United States)

School Library Media Annual (SLMA), 1993

1993-01-01

Describes the National Library Power Program, a collaborative effort sponsored by the Dewitt Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund in cooperation with local education funds and public school districts that was designed to create public elementary and middle school library programs that are central to the education program of the school. (LRW)

English for Mass Communications and for Other Purposes-Readers ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study was an investigation into the way readers perceive the use of English, for different purposes, and in particular, for mass communication in a second language setting. For this purpose, a simple questionnaire in form of the Likert rating scale was used to generate data. The study involved 337 respondents.

Scaffolding or Distracting: CD-ROM Storybooks and Young Readers

Science.gov (United States)

Pearman, Cathy J.; Chang, Ching-Wen

2010-01-01

CD-ROM storybooks, often referred to as electronic texts, e-books, and interactive stories, are learning tools with supplemental features such as automatic reading of text, sound effects, word pronunciations, and graphic animations which support the development of reading skills and comprehension in beginning readers. Some CD-ROM storybooks also…

Video Vortex reader II: moving images beyond YouTube

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lovink, G.; Somers Miles, R.

2011-01-01

Video Vortex Reader II is the Institute of Network Cultures' second collection of texts that critically explore the rapidly changing landscape of online video and its use. With the success of YouTube ('2 billion views per day') and the rise of other online video sharing platforms, the moving image

Building the Foundation for Close Reading with Developing Readers

Science.gov (United States)

Baker, Sheila F.; McEnery, Lillian

2017-01-01

Close Reading utilizes several strategies to help readers think more critically about a text. Close reading can be performed within the context of shared readings, read-alouds by the teacher, literature discussion groups, and guided reading groups. Students attempting to more closely read difficult texts may benefit from technologies and platforms…

Tracking the emergence of the consonant bias in visual-word recognition: evidence with developing readers.

Science.gov (United States)

Soares, Ana Paula; Perea, Manuel; Comesaña, Montserrat

2014-01-01

Recent research with skilled adult readers has consistently revealed an advantage of consonants over vowels in visual-word recognition (i.e., the so-called "consonant bias"). Nevertheless, little is known about how early in development the consonant bias emerges. This work aims to address this issue by studying the relative contribution of consonants and vowels at the early stages of visual-word recognition in developing readers (2(nd) and 4(th) Grade children) and skilled adult readers (college students) using a masked priming lexical decision task. Target words starting either with a consonant or a vowel were preceded by a briefly presented masked prime (50 ms) that could be the same as the target (e.g., pirata-PIRATA [pirate-PIRATE]), a consonant-preserving prime (e.g., pureto-PIRATA), a vowel-preserving prime (e.g., gicala-PIRATA), or an unrelated prime (e.g., bocelo -PIRATA). Results revealed significant priming effects for the identity and consonant-preserving conditions in adult readers and 4(th) Grade children, whereas 2(nd) graders only showed priming for the identity condition. In adult readers, the advantage of consonants was observed both for words starting with a consonant or a vowel, while in 4(th) graders this advantage was restricted to words with an initial consonant. Thus, the present findings suggest that a Consonant/Vowel skeleton should be included in future (developmental) models of visual-word recognition and reading.

Design and Development of a Clinical Risk Management Tool Using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID).

Science.gov (United States)

Pourasghar, Faramarz; Tabrizi, Jafar Sadegh; Yarifard, Khadijeh

2016-04-01

Patient safety is one of the most important elements of quality of healthcare. It means preventing any harm to the patients during medical care process. This paper introduces a cost-effective tool in which the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology is used to identify medical errors in hospital. The proposed clinical error management system (CEMS) is consisted of a reader device, a transfer/receiver device, a database and managing software. The reader device works using radio waves and is wireless. The reader sends and receives data to/from the database via the transfer/receiver device which is connected to the computer via USB port. The database contains data about patients' medication orders. The CEMS has the ability to identify the clinical errors before they occur and then warns the care-giver with voice and visual messages to prevent the error. This device reduces the errors and thus improves the patient safety. A new tool including software and hardware was developed in this study. Application of this tool in clinical settings can help the nurses prevent medical errors. It can also be a useful tool for clinical risk management. Using this device can improve the patient safety to a considerable extent and thus improve the quality of healthcare.

Toxic clinical hypoxic radiation sensitizers plus radiation-induced toxicity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Richmond, R.C.

1984-01-01

The operational definition espoused twelve years ago that clinical hypoxic radiation sensitizers should be nontoxic interferes with the recognition and research of useful radiation sensitizers. Eight years ago the toxic antitumor drug cis-dichlorodiammineplatinum(II) was reported to be a hypoxic radiation sensitizer and the selective antitumor action of this drug was stressed as potentially creating tumor-targeted radiation sensitization. This rationale of oxidative antitumor drugs as toxic and targeted clinical sensitizers is useful, and has led to the study reported here. The antitumor drug cis-(1,1-cyclobutane-dicarboxylato)diammineplatinum(II), or JM-8, is being tested in clinical trials. Cells of S. typhimurium in PBS in the presence of 0.2mM JM-8 are found to be sensitized to irradiation under hypoxic, but not oxic, conditions. JM-8 is nontoxic to bacteria at this concentration, but upon irradiation the JM-8 solution becomes highly toxic. This radiation induced toxicity of JM-8 preferentially develops from hypoxic solution, and thus contributes to the rationale of hypoxic tumor cell destruction

Development of a Handheld Line Information Reader and Generator for Efficient Management of Optical Communication Lines.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Jaeyul; Kwon, Hyungwoo; Song, Jaewon; Jeon, Mansik; Kim, Jeehyun

2017-08-24

A handheld line information reader and a line information generator were developed for the efficient management of optical communication lines. The line information reader consists of a photo diode, trans-impedance amplifier, voltage amplifier, microcontroller unit, display panel, and communication modules. The line information generator consists of a laser diode, laser driving circuits, microcontroller unit, and communication modules. The line information reader can detect the optical radiation field of the test line by bending the optical fiber. To enhance the sensitivity of the line information reader, an additional lens was used with a focal length of 4.51 mm. Moreover, the simulation results obtained through BeamPROP ® software from Synopsys, Inc. demonstrated a stronger optical radiation field of the fiber due to a longer transmission wavelength and larger bending angle of the fiber. Therefore, the developed devices can be considered as useful tools for the efficient management of optical communication lines.

Ionizing radiation-induced cancers. Experimental and clinical data

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Joveniaux, Alain.

1978-03-01

This work attempts to give an idea of radiocarcinogenesis, both experimental and clinical. Experimentally the possibility of radio-induced cancer formation has considerable doctrinal importance since it proves without question the carcinogenetic effect of radiations, and also yields basis information on the essential constants implicated in its occurrence: need for a latency time varying with the animal species and technique used, but quite long in relation to the specific lifetime of each species; importance of a massive irradiation, more conducive to cancerisation as long as it produces no necroses liable to stop the formation of any subsequent neoplasia; finally, rarity of is occurrence. Clinically although the cause and effect relationship between treatment and cancer is sometimes difficult to establish categorically, the fact is that hundreds of particularly disturbing observations remain and from their number often emerges under well-defined circumstances, an undeniable clinical certainty. Most importantly these observation fix the criteria necessary for the possibility of a radioinduced cancer to arise, i.e: the notion of a prior irradiation; the appearance of a cancer in the irradiation area; serious tissue damage in relation with an excessive radiation dose; a long latency period between irradition and appearance of the cancer [fr

TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) for bone sarcoma treatment: Pre-clinical and clinical data.

Science.gov (United States)

Gamie, Zakareya; Kapriniotis, Konstantinos; Papanikolaou, Dimitra; Haagensen, Emma; Da Conceicao Ribeiro, Ricardo; Dalgarno, Kenneth; Krippner-Heidenreich, Anja; Gerrand, Craig; Tsiridis, Eleftherios; Rankin, Kenneth Samora

2017-11-28

Bone sarcomas are rare, highly malignant mesenchymal tumours that affect teenagers and young adults, as well as older patients. Despite intensive, multimodal therapy, patients with bone sarcomas have poor 5-year survival, close to 50%, with lack of improvement over recent decades. TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL), a member of the tumour necrosis factor (TNF) ligand superfamily (TNFLSF), has been found to induce apoptosis in cancer cells while sparing nontransformed cells, and may therefore offer a promising new approach to treatment. We cover the existing preclinical and clinical evidence about the use of TRAIL and other death receptor agonists in bone sarcoma treatment. In vitro studies indicate that TRAIL and other death receptor agonists are generally potent against bone sarcoma cell lines. Ewing's sarcoma cell lines present the highest sensitivity, whereas osteosarcoma and chondrosarcoma cell lines are considered less sensitive. In vivo studies also demonstrate satisfactory results, especially in Ewing's sarcoma xenograft models. However, the few clinical trials in the literature show only low or moderate efficacy of TRAIL in treating bone sarcoma. Potential strategies to overcome the in vivo resistance reported include co-administration with other drugs and the potential to deliver TRAIL on the surface of primed mesenchymal or immune cells and the use of targeted single chain antibodies such as scFv-scTRAIL. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Designs of Concept Maps and Their Impacts on Readers' Performance in Memory and Reasoning while Reading

Science.gov (United States)

Tzeng, Jeng-Yi

2010-01-01

From the perspective of the Fuzzy Trace Theory, this study investigated the impacts of concept maps with two strategic orientations (comprehensive and thematic representations) on readers' performance of cognitive operations (such as perception, verbatim memory, gist reasoning and syntheses) while the readers were reading two history articles that…

Late radiation-induced heart disease after radiotherapy. Clinical importance, radiobiological mechanisms and strategies of prevention

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Andratschke, Nicolaus; Maurer, Jean; Molls, Michael; Trott, Klaus-Ruediger

2011-01-01

The clinical importance of radiation-induced heart disease, in particular in post-operative radiotherapy of breast cancer patients, has been recognised only recently. There is general agreement, that a co-ordinated research effort would be needed to explore all the potential strategies of how to reduce the late risk of radiation-induced heart disease in radiotherapy. This approach would be based, on one hand, on a comprehensive understanding of the radiobiological mechanisms of radiation-induced heart disease after radiotherapy which would require large-scale long-term animal experiments with high precision local heart irradiation. On the other hand - in close co-operation with mechanistic in vivo research studies - clinical studies in patients need to determine the influence of dose distribution in the heart on the risk of radiation-induced heart disease. The aim of these clinical studies would be to identify the critical structures within the organ which need to be spared and their radiation sensitivity as well as a potential volume and dose effect. The results of the mechanistic studies might also provide concepts of how to modify the gradual progression of radiation damage in the heart by drugs or biological molecules. The results of the studies in patients would need to also incorporate detailed dosimetric and imaging studies in order to develop early indicators of impending radiation-induced heart disease which would be a pre-condition to develop sound criteria for treatment plan optimisation.

Incorporating Hypnosis into Pediatric Clinical Encounters

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robert A. Pendergrast

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Increasing numbers of licensed health professionals who care for children have been trained in clinical hypnosis. The evidence base for the safety and efficacy of this therapeutic approach in a wide variety of conditions is also growing. Pediatricians and other health professionals who have received training may wish to apply these skills in appropriate clinical scenarios but still may be unsure of the practical matters of how to incorporate this skill-set into day to day practice. Moreover, the practical application of such skills will take very different forms depending on the practice setting, types of acute or chronic conditions, patient and family preferences, and the developmental stages of the child or teen. This article reviews the application of pediatric clinical hypnosis skills by describing the use of hypnotic language outside of formal trance induction, by describing natural trance states that occur in children and teens in healthcare settings, and by describing the process of planning a clinical hypnosis encounter. It is assumed that this article does not constitute training in hypnosis or qualify its readers for the application of such skills; rather, it may serve as a practical guide for those professionals who have been so trained, and may serve to inform other professionals what to expect when referring a patient for hypnotherapy. The reader is referred to specific training opportunities and organizations.

Incorporating Hypnosis into Pediatric Clinical Encounters

Science.gov (United States)

Pendergrast, Robert A.

2017-01-01

Increasing numbers of licensed health professionals who care for children have been trained in clinical hypnosis. The evidence base for the safety and efficacy of this therapeutic approach in a wide variety of conditions is also growing. Pediatricians and other health professionals who have received training may wish to apply these skills in appropriate clinical scenarios but still may be unsure of the practical matters of how to incorporate this skill-set into day to day practice. Moreover, the practical application of such skills will take very different forms depending on the practice setting, types of acute or chronic conditions, patient and family preferences, and the developmental stages of the child or teen. This article reviews the application of pediatric clinical hypnosis skills by describing the use of hypnotic language outside of formal trance induction, by describing natural trance states that occur in children and teens in healthcare settings, and by describing the process of planning a clinical hypnosis encounter. It is assumed that this article does not constitute training in hypnosis or qualify its readers for the application of such skills; rather, it may serve as a practical guide for those professionals who have been so trained, and may serve to inform other professionals what to expect when referring a patient for hypnotherapy. The reader is referred to specific training opportunities and organizations. PMID:28300761

Dose reader of dosimetric foil; Czytnik dawki folii dozymetrycznej

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Machaj, B.; Strzalkowski, J.; Smolko, K.

1997-12-31

Read out the absorbance of a dosimetric foil is accomplished by two beam spectrophotometer. Such a solution makes possible the compensation of light source instabilities and ensures higher stability of the dose reader. The error of absorbance measurement caused by the instabilities does not exceed 0.0004 A. (author). 3 refs, 3 figs.

SSR: What's in "School Science Review" for "PSR" Readers?

Science.gov (United States)

Lakin, Liz

2004-01-01

This article summarises ideas and developments in teaching and learning in science of relevance to "Primary Science Review" ("PSR") readers from three recent issues (309, 310, and 311) of "School Science Review" ("SSR"), the ASE journal for science education 11-19. The themes running through these are: ICT, the implications for science education…

The Lazy Reader: Labor, Books, and Disease in Nineteenth-Century Germany.

Science.gov (United States)

Aselmeyer, Norman

Looking at nineteenth-century Germany, this article investigates the origin of the idea that fiction causes disease, among both the bourgeoisie and the working class. I argue that the socially constructed notions of reading addiction, which were consistent with medical concepts at that time, touched the bourgeois virtues of industriousness and health. However, little has been written about the transfer of the bourgeois attitudes towards reading to the German working class. The study of workers' autobiographies shows that social circumstances and the emulation of bourgeois values and attitudes resulted in appropriating the concept of lazy readers in the working class. The paper follows the paths from the early nineteenth century accusation of readers to the working class's perception of novels causing disease around 1900.

Use of an optical digital reader for establishing criterion of quality control in clinical beams; Uso de un lector optico digital (scanner) para establecer criterios de control de calidad en haces clinicos

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Genis S, R. [Unidad de Radioterapia, Hospital Medica Sur, S.A. Pte. de Piedra 150, Col. Toriello Guerra, 14050 Mexico D.F. (Mexico)

1998-12-31

The goal of this work is to present a procedure for realizing the control of the clinical radiation fields through typical radiographic film of verification in radiotherapy and showing the results of the analysis carried out in the expositions of reference fields for photons and electrons using an optical digital reader of high resolution (600 x 1200 dpi) named scanner and a computer program for images edition. It was possible to obtain the quantification of the following parameters: alinement of the radiation beam with the luminous beam, homogeneity or levelling of the radiation field, and self symmetry with respect to the center of the luminous field. With the purpose to compare the results versus an usual method it was realized measurements of the same images with a luminous photo densitometer with 1 mm collimation window. (Author)

Nephron segment specific microRNA biomarkers of pre-clinical drug-induced renal toxicity: Opportunities and challenges

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nassirpour, Rounak, E-mail: Rounak.nassirpour@pfizer.com [Drug Safety, Pfizer Worldwide Research and Development, 1 Burtt Rd, Andover, MA 01810 (United States); Ramaiah, Shashi K. [Drug Safety, Pfizer Worldwide Research and Development, 610 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States); Whiteley, Laurence O. [Drug Safety, Pfizer Worldwide Research and Development, 1 Burtt Rd, Andover, MA 01810 (United States)

2016-12-01

Drug-induced nephrotoxicity is a common drug development complication for pharmaceutical companies. Sensitive, specific, translatable and non-invasive biomarkers of renal toxicity are urgently needed to diagnose nephron segment specific injury. The currently available gold standard biomarkers for nephrotoxicity are not kidney-specific, lack sensitivity for early detection, and are not suitable for renal damage localization (glomerular vs tubulointerstitial injury). MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are increasingly gaining momentum as promising biomarkers of various organ toxicities, including drug induced renal injury. This is mostly due to their stability in easily accessible biofluids, ease of developing nucleic acids detection compared to protein detection assays, as well as their interspecies translatability. Increasing concordance of miRNA findings by standardizing methodology most suitable for their detection and quantitation, as well as characterization of their expression pattern in a cell type specific manner, will accelerate progress toward validation of these miRNAs as biomarkers in pre-clinical, and clinical settings. This review aims to highlight the current pre-clinical findings surrounding miRNAs as biomarkers in two important segments of the nephron, the glomerulus and tubules. - Highlights: • miRNAs are promising biomarkers of drug-induced kidney injury. • Summarized pre-clinical miRNA biomarkers of drug-induced nephrotoxicity. • Described the strengths and challenges associated with miRNAs as biomarkers.

O Globo´s new website and the sudden change of authority in the relationship with readers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Larissa de Morais Ribeiro Mendes

2013-09-01

Full Text Available This essay addresses O Globo’s campaign to reaffirm its authority in relation to its readers, starting with the launching of its new site in November 2011. In this space, some instruments of public participation were removed – some temporarily, others not – and all commentary on material prior to the change disappeared. The reader´s articles area was also excluded. We tried to understand what this and other changes incorporated in the site project represented for the relationship of O Globo and its readers.

Articulation of young adult readers in a digitalized and medialized landscape of texts

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Henkel, Ayoe Qvist

The digital turn does not bring about changes in young adultliterature considered as aesthetic artifacts and literary works but it changes the perception and reception of the reader. Digital young adult literature is increasingly multimodal, including interactivity and the integration of elements...... of game aesthetics. The way the young person is articulated within such texts must be presumed to be new, and the pivotal point of this paper will be to explore how the young adult reader is thematized in content, form, and medium in digital young adult literature....

Readers' opinion about English original articles in Ugeskrift for Laeger

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Jan; Rosberg, Hanne Mohr; Rosenberg, J.

2010-01-01

INTRODUCTION: The Danish Medical Association performed a survey together with TNS Gallup Denmark among the readers of Ugeskrift for Laeger (Journal of the Danish Medical Association). The main motivation for the questionnaire was to evaluate the acceptability of changing the publication language...

Terrestrial neutron-induced soft errors in advanced memory devices

CERN Document Server

Nakamura, Takashi; Ibe, Eishi; Yahagi, Yasuo; Kameyama, Hideaki

2008-01-01

Terrestrial neutron-induced soft errors in semiconductor memory devices are currently a major concern in reliability issues. Understanding the mechanism and quantifying soft-error rates are primarily crucial for the design and quality assurance of semiconductor memory devices. This book covers the relevant up-to-date topics in terrestrial neutron-induced soft errors, and aims to provide succinct knowledge on neutron-induced soft errors to the readers by presenting several valuable and unique features. Sample Chapter(s). Chapter 1: Introduction (238 KB). Table A.30 mentioned in Appendix A.6 on

Rhetoric and Etiological Beliefs About Sexuality: Reader Responses to Cynthia Nixon's New York Times Interview.

Science.gov (United States)

Jowett, Adam; Barker, Sophie

2017-08-04

In 2012, the U.S. actress Cynthia Nixon was quoted in the New York Times Magazine as having stated that "for me, it [being gay] is a choice. I understand that for many people it's not, but for me it's a choice, and you don't get to define my gayness for me." The interview attracted international media attention and public criticism by lesbian and gay activists. This article suggests a rhetorical approach to understanding etiological beliefs and provides a discursive analysis of 198 online comments by readers of Pink News, a gay news Web site that reported on Nixon's controversial interview. This article explores common arguments used in readers' comments about Nixon and examines the rhetorical construction of sexuality. The analysis examines three themes within the data. First, biological essentialism was treated by many readers as common knowledge; second, readers suggested that only bisexuals have "choice"; and, third, it was suggested by both Nixon's critics and her supporters that counterarguments colluded with homophobia. The article suggests that there is an ideological dilemma whereby both "born-this-way" and "choice" arguments can be understood as colluding with anti-gay prejudice.

The Role of Hand Dominance in Beginning Braille Readers

Science.gov (United States)

Wright, Tessa

2009-01-01

In this article, the author examines the role of "hand dominance" in beginning braille readers. "Hand dominance" refers to whether an individual is "right handed" or "left handed." The data for these analyses were taken from the Alphabetic Braille and Contracted Braille Study (ABC Braille Study). The ABC Braille Study was a five-year nonrandomized…

Morpho-phonemic analysis boosts word reading for adult struggling readers.

Science.gov (United States)

Gray, Susan H; Ehri, Linnea C; Locke, John L

2018-01-01

A randomized control trial compared the effects of two kinds of vocabulary instruction on component reading skills of adult struggling readers. Participants seeking alternative high school diplomas received 8 h of scripted tutoring to learn forty academic vocabulary words embedded within a civics curriculum. They were matched for language background and reading levels, then randomly assigned to either morpho-phonemic analysis teaching word origins, morpheme and syllable structures, or traditional whole word study teaching multiple sentence contexts, meaningful connections, and spellings. Both groups made comparable gains in learning the target words, but the morpho-phonemic group showed greater gains in reading unfamiliar words on standardized tests of word reading, including word attack and word recognition. Findings support theories of word learning and literacy that promote explicit instruction in word analysis to increase poor readers' linguistic awareness by revealing connections between morphological, phonological, and orthographic structures within words.

The role of working memory and fluency practice on the reading comprehension of students who are dysfluent readers.

Science.gov (United States)

Swanson, H Lee; O'Connor, Rollanda

2009-01-01

The authors investigated whether practice in reading fluency had a causal influence on the relationship between working memory (WM) and text comprehension for 155 students in Grades 2 and 4 who were poor or average readers. Dysfluent readers were randomly assigned to repeated reading or continuous reading practice conditions and compared with untreated dysfluent and fluent readers on posttest measures of fluency, word identification, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. Three main findings emerged: (a) The influence of WM on text comprehension was not related to fluency training, (b) dysfluent readers in the continuous-reading condition had higher posttest scores than dysfluent readers in the other conditions on measures of text comprehension but not on vocabulary, and (c) individual differences in WM better predicted posttest comprehension performance than word-attack skills. In general, the results suggested that although continuous reading increased comprehension, fluency practice did not compensate for WM demands. The results were interpreted within a model that viewed reading comprehension processes as competing for a limited supply of WM resources that operate independent of fluency.

Solar Energy Education. Reader, Part IV. Sun schooling

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1981-05-01

A collection of magazine articles which focus on solar energy is presented. This is the final book of the four part series of the Solar Energy Reader. The articles include brief discussions on energy topics such as the sun, ocean energy, methane gas from cow manure, and solar homes. Instructions for constructing a sundial and a solar stove are also included. A glossary of energy related terms is provided. (BCS)

Reading anxiety, classroom anxiety, language motivation, reader self-perception, and arabic achievement of Arab-American students learning arabic as a second language.

Science.gov (United States)

Alkhateeb, Haitham M

2014-12-01

The present study assessed the relations between reading anxiety, classroom anxiety, language motivation, and readers' self-perception for a sample of Arab-American students in Arabic classes. The effects of sex, grade, and years studying Arabic on academic achievement were examined as well. Measures were administered to 118 middle school students (56 boys, 62 girls; M age = 13.0 yr., SD = 0.8), and teachers reported academic grades in Arabic. Reading anxiety was significantly correlated with classroom anxiety and reader self-perception. Classroom anxiety scores were significantly correlated with motivation and reader self-perception. Significant positive correlations were found between language motivation and reader self-perception scores, and between years studying Arabic and reader self-perception scores. Boys in the second year of Arabic had significantly lower classroom anxiety than girls, and students in Grade 7 had higher reader self-perception than those in Grade 8. Classroom anxiety, language motivation, and reader self-perception significantly predicted Arabic achievement. Pedagogical implications are discussed.

Development Of The Drexler Optical-Card Reader/Writer System

Science.gov (United States)

Pierce, Gerald A.

1988-06-01

An optical-card reader/writer optical and electronic breadboard system, developed by SRI International under contract to Drexler Technology, is described. The optical card, which is the same size as a credit card, can contain more than 2 megabytes of digital user data, which may also include preformatted tracking information and preformatted data. The data layout on the card is similar to that on a floppy disk, with each track containing a header and clocking information. The design of this optical reader/writer system for optical cards is explained. Design of the optical card system entails a number of unique issues: To accommodate both laser-recorded and mass-duplicated information, the system must be compatible with preencoded information, which implies a larger-than-normal spot size (5 gm) and a detection system that can read both types of optical patterns. Cost-reduction considerations led to selection of a birefringent protection layer, which dictated a nonstandard optical system. The non-polarization-sensitive optics use an off-axis approach to detection. An LED illumination system makes it possible to read multiple tracks.

A Minkowski Fractal Circularly Polarized Antenna for RFID Reader

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yanzhong Yu

2014-11-01

Full Text Available A design of fractal-like antenna with circular polarization for radio frequency identification (RFID reader applications is presented in this article. The modified Minkowski fractal structure is adopted as radiating patch for size reduction and broadband operation. A corner-truncated technology and a slot-opened method are employed to realize circular polarization and improve the gain of the proposed antenna, respectively. The proposed antenna is analyzed and optimized by HFSS. Return loss and maximum gain of the optimized antenna achieve to -22.2 dB and 1.12 dB at 920 MHz, respectively. The optimized design has an axial ratio (AR of 1.2 dB at central frequency of 920 MHz and impedance bandwidth (S11<=-10 dB of 40 MHz (4.3 %. Its input impedance is (57.9-j2.6 W that is close to input impedance of coaxial line (50 W. Numerical results demonstrate that the optimized antenna exhibits acceptable performances and may satisfy requirements of RFID reader applications.

A new luminescence detection and stimulation head for the Risø TL/OSL reader

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lapp, T.; Kook, M.; Murray, A.S.; Thomsen, K.J.; Buylaert, J.-P.; Jain, M.

2015-01-01

A new automated Detection And Stimulation Head (DASH) has been developed for the Risø TL/OSL luminescence reader to provide easy access to new technologies, new signals and new measurement methods. The automated DASH includes a filter changer and a detector changer that makes it possible to change stimulation filters (4 × 4 filter combinations possible) and detectors (3 detectors possible) as part of a measurements sequence. The new automated DASH with dedicated driver electronics does not affect the use of other attachments, and can be retrospectively fitted to existing Risø TL/OSL readers. - Highlights: • A new detection and stimulation head for the Risø TL/OSL reader is described. • An example of the use of the filter changer is presented. • The power and spatial uniformity of blue, green and IR stimulation are characterised. • The potential of an EMCCD camera detector is described.

Short Vowels Versus Word Familiarity in the Reading Comprehension of Arab Readers: A Revisited Issue

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abdullah M. SERAYE

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Arab readers, both beginning and advanced, are encouraged to read and accustomed to unvowelized and undiacriticized texts. Previous literature claimed that the presence of short vowels in the text would facilitate the reading comprehension of both beginning and advanced Arab readers. However, with a claimed strict controlling procedure, different results emerged, revealing that the only variable that affected the reading process of Arab adult skilled readers was word frequency, and its effect was limited to the time load of the reading process; this result raised the question of whether the neutral role of short vowels in the text reading process of experienced Arab readers would be maintained for less experienced readers, as represented by fourth graders, or whether word frequency would be the only variable that plays a role in their reading process. In experiment, 1,141 fourth-grade students were randomly assigned to 5 reading conditions: plain, only shaddah, short vowels plus shaddah, only short vowels, and finally the wrong short vowels plus shaddah. In experiment 2, 38 participants from the same population were assigned to a fully vowelized and diacriticized reading condition. Each participant was asked to read two texts, of high and low frequency words and then given recall and multiple-choice tests. In general, the multivariate analysis showed that the only manipulated variable that was found to affect their reading process in terms of reading time load and, to some degree, reading comprehension was word frequency, although its effect was marginal. Accordingly, pedagogical recommendations and future research were proposed.

Short vowels versus word familiarity in the reading comprehension of arab readers: A revisited issue

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abdullah M. Seraye

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Arab readers, both beginning and advanced, are encouraged to read and accustomed to unvowelized and undiacriticized texts. Previous literature claimed that the presence of short vowels in the text would facilitate the reading comprehension of both beginning and advanced Arab readers. However, with a claimed strict controlling procedure, different results emerged, revealing that the only variable that affected the reading process of Arab adult skilled readers was word frequency, and its effect was limited to the time load of the reading process; this result raised the question of whether the neutral role of short vowels in the text reading process of experienced Arab readers would be maintained for less experienced readers, as represented by fourth graders, or whether word frequency would be the only variable that plays a role in their reading process. In experiment, 1,141 fourth-grade students were randomly assigned to 5 reading conditions: plain, only shaddah, short vowels plus shaddah, only short vowels, and finally the wrong short vowels plus shaddah. In experiment 2, 38 participants from the same population were assigned to a fully vowelized and diacriticized reading condition. Each participant was asked to read two texts, of high and low frequency words and then given recall and multiple-choice tests. In general, the multivariate analysis showed that the only manipulated variable that was found to affect their reading process in terms of reading time load and, to some degree, reading comprehension was word frequency, although its effect was marginal. Accordingly, pedagogical recommendations and future research were proposed.

Face-to-face with the reader

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thomas SCHMITZ

2016-03-01

Full Text Available From the scientific perspective this review is very interesting. It is well-structured, has an attractive lay-out and typography and serves as an important forum for the scientific debate on public administration in the Republic of Moldova. Furthermore, there is a special website with several subwebsites for the review. This makes it easy for every interested reader to get an idea of the review. Finally, the websites allows free downloads even of the newest issue. This allows everybody to read it, even students (because it is free and foreign researchers (who otherwise would not have access to Moldovan scientific reviews.

PC-based car license plate reader

Science.gov (United States)

Hwang, Chung-Mu; Shu, Shyh-Yeong; Chen, Wen-Yu; Chen, Yie-Wern; Wen, Kuang-Pu

1992-11-01

A car license plate reader (CLPR) using fuzzy inference and neural network algorithm has been developed in Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) and installed in highway toll stations to identify stolen cars. It takes an average of 0.7 seconds to recognize a car license plate by using a PC with 80486-50 CPU. The recognition rate of the system is about 97%. The techniques of CLPR include vehicle sensing, image grab control, optic pre- processing, lighting, and optic character recognition (OCR). The CLPR can be used in vehicle flow statistics, the checking of stolen vehicles, automatic charging systems in parking lots or garage management, and so on.

Clinical Features Indicating Nigrostriatal Dopaminergic Degeneration in Drug-Induced Parkinsonism

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Seung Ha Lee

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Objective Patients with drug-induced parkinsonism (DIP may have nigrostriatal dopaminergic degeneration. We studied the clinical features that may indicate nigrostriatal dopaminergic degeneration in patients with DIP. Methods Forty-one DIP patients were classified into normal and abnormal [18F] FP-CIT scan groups. Differences in 32 clinical features and drug withdrawal effects were studied. Results Twenty-eight patients had normal (Group I and 13 patients had abnormal (Group II scans. Eight patients of Group I, but none of Group II, had taken calcium channel blockers (p = 0.040. Three patients of Group I and six of Group II had hyposmia (p = 0.018. After drug withdrawal, Group I showed greater improvement in Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale total motor scores and subscores for bradykinesia and tremors than Group II. Only hyposmia was an independent factor associated with abnormal scans, but it had suboptimal sensitivity. Conclusion None of the clinical features were practical indicators of nigrostriatal dopaminergic degeneration in patients with DIP.

MSiReader v1.0: Evolving Open-Source Mass Spectrometry Imaging Software for Targeted and Untargeted Analyses

Science.gov (United States)

Bokhart, Mark T.; Nazari, Milad; Garrard, Kenneth P.; Muddiman, David C.

2018-01-01

A major update to the mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) software MSiReader is presented, offering a multitude of newly added features critical to MSI analyses. MSiReader is a free, open-source, and vendor-neutral software written in the MATLAB platform and is capable of analyzing most common MSI data formats. A standalone version of the software, which does not require a MATLAB license, is also distributed. The newly incorporated data analysis features expand the utility of MSiReader beyond simple visualization of molecular distributions. The MSiQuantification tool allows researchers to calculate absolute concentrations from quantification MSI experiments exclusively through MSiReader software, significantly reducing data analysis time. An image overlay feature allows the incorporation of complementary imaging modalities to be displayed with the MSI data. A polarity filter has also been incorporated into the data loading step, allowing the facile analysis of polarity switching experiments without the need for data parsing prior to loading the data file into MSiReader. A quality assurance feature to generate a mass measurement accuracy (MMA) heatmap for an analyte of interest has also been added to allow for the investigation of MMA across the imaging experiment. Most importantly, as new features have been added performance has not degraded, in fact it has been dramatically improved. These new tools and the improvements to the performance in MSiReader v1.0 enable the MSI community to evaluate their data in greater depth and in less time. [Figure not available: see fulltext.

Moral Choices in Contemporary Society: A Courses by Newspaper Reader.

Science.gov (United States)

Rieff, Philip, Ed.; Finkle, Isaac, Ed.

This reader, which contains 135 primary source readings about morality, is one of several college-level instructional materials developed to supplement a nationwide newspaper course on moral issues in contemporary society. The authors represent a diverse group including theologians, psychologists, politicians, professional athletes, lawyers, and…

Computer-aided detection of colorectal polyps: can it improve sensitivity of less-experienced readers? Preliminary findings.

Science.gov (United States)

Baker, Mark E; Bogoni, Luca; Obuchowski, Nancy A; Dass, Chandra; Kendzierski, Renee M; Remer, Erick M; Einstein, David M; Cathier, Pascal; Jerebko, Anna; Lakare, Sarang; Blum, Andrew; Caroline, Dina F; Macari, Michael

2007-10-01

To determine whether computer-aided detection (CAD) applied to computed tomographic (CT) colonography can help improve sensitivity of polyp detection by less-experienced radiologist readers, with colonoscopy or consensus used as the reference standard. The release of the CT colonographic studies was approved by the individual institutional review boards of each institution. Institutions from the United States were HIPAA compliant. Written informed consent was waived at all institutions. The CT colonographic studies in 30 patients from six institutions were collected; 24 images depicted at least one confirmed polyp 6 mm or larger (39 total polyps) and six depicted no polyps. By using an investigational software package, seven less-experienced readers from two institutions evaluated the CT colonographic images and marked or scored polyps by using a five-point scale before and after CAD. The time needed to interpret the CT colonographic findings without CAD and then to re-evaluate them with CAD was recorded. For each reader, the McNemar test, adjusted for clustered data, was used to compare sensitivities for readers without and with CAD; a Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to analyze the number of false-positive results per patient. The average sensitivity of the seven readers for polyp detection was significantly improved with CAD-from 0.810 to 0.908 (P=.0152). The number of false-positive results per patient without and with CAD increased from 0.70 to 0.96 (95% confidence interval for the increase: -0.39, 0.91). The mean total time for the readings was 17 minutes 54 seconds; for interpretation of CT colonographic findings alone, the mean time was 14 minutes 16 seconds; and for review of CAD findings, the mean time was 3 minutes 38 seconds. Results of this feasibility study suggest that CAD for CT colonography significantly improves per-polyp detection for less-experienced readers. Copyright (c) RSNA, 2007.

Verbal Processing Reaction Times in "Normal" and "Poor" Readers.

Science.gov (United States)

Culbertson, Jack; And Others

After it had been determined that reaction time (RT) was a sensitive measure of hemispheric dominance in a verbal task performed by normal adult readers, the reaction times of three groups of subjects (20 normal reading college students, 12 normal reading third graders and 11 poor reading grade school students) were compared. Ss were exposed to…

Kindling: The Amazon e-Reader as an Educational Tool

Science.gov (United States)

Brezicki, Colin

2011-01-01

The revolutionary electronic reading device, Amazon's Kindle, is already obsolete. Such is the breakneck speed of technology that the machine touted to spell the death of printed books is already heading for the scrap heap, replaced by e-readers like the iPad that access the Internet, make phone calls, download movies, and connect users with all…

Orthographic learning and the role of text-to-speech software in Dutch disabled readers.

Science.gov (United States)

Staels, Eva; Van den Broeck, Wim

2015-01-01

In this study, we examined whether orthographic learning can be demonstrated in disabled readers learning to read in a transparent orthography (Dutch). In addition, we tested the effect of the use of text-to-speech software, a new form of direct instruction, on orthographic learning. Both research goals were investigated by replicating Share's self-teaching paradigm. A total of 65 disabled Dutch readers were asked to read eight stories containing embedded homophonic pseudoword targets (e.g., Blot/Blod), with or without the support of text-to-speech software. The amount of orthographic learning was assessed 3 or 7 days later by three measures of orthographic learning. First, the results supported the presence of orthographic learning during independent silent reading by demonstrating that target spellings were correctly identified more often, named more quickly, and spelled more accurately than their homophone foils. Our results support the hypothesis that all readers, even poor readers of transparent orthographies, are capable of developing word-specific knowledge. Second, a negative effect of text-to-speech software on orthographic learning was demonstrated in this study. This negative effect was interpreted as the consequence of passively listening to the auditory presentation of the text. We clarify how these results can be interpreted within current theoretical accounts of orthographic learning and briefly discuss implications for remedial interventions. © Hammill Institute on Disabilities 2013.

[Physiological and hygienic assessment of perception of the information from electronic device for reading (reader)].

Science.gov (United States)

Kuchma, V R; Teksheva, L M; Vyatleva, O A; Kurgansky, A M

2013-01-01

A comparison of the legibility of the three different media: paper personal computer (LCD) and the e-reader in schoolchildren (12-14 years of age) was performed. Comprehensive assessment of the reading performance (speed of reading aloud, the number of errors in reading, and integral indicator of the degree of difficulty of visual task), its physiological value (according to data of EEG, EOG and ECG), and subjective preference of type of media by the schoolchildren showed that by the sum of signs e-reader occupies an intermediate position between printed text and the computer screen. The effect of increased emotional intensity of using e-reader (increased motivation), which is manifested in the preservation of the sympathetic nervous system activation after the reading, was obtained. The necessity of additional research has been shown.

Performance evaluation of vertical feed fully automated TLD badge reader using 0.8 and 0.4 mm teflon embedded CaSO4:Dy dosimeters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ratna, P.; More, Vinay; Kulkarni, M.S.

2012-01-01

The personnel monitoring of more than 80,000 radiation workers in India is at present carried out by semi-automated TLD badge Reader systems (TLDBR-7B) developed by Radiation Safety Systems Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre. More than 60 such reader systems are in use in all the personnel monitoring centers in the country. Radiation Safety Systems Division also developed the fully automated TLD badge reader based on a new TLD badge having built-in machine readable ID code (in the form of 16x3 hole pattern). This automated reader is designed with minimum of changes in the electronics and mechanical hardware in the semiautomatic version (TLDBR-7B) so that such semi-automatic readers can be easily upgraded to the fully automated versions by using the new TLD badge with ID code. The reader was capable of reading 50 TLD cards in 90 minutes. Based on the feedback from the users, a new model of frilly automated TLD badge Reader (model VEFFA-10) is designed which is an improved version of the previously reported fully Automated TLD badge reader. This VEFFA-10 PC based Reader incorporates vertical loading of TLD bards having machine readable ID code. In this new reader, a vertical rack, which can hold 100 such cards, is mounted from the right side of the reader system. The TLD card falls into the channel by gravity from where it is taken to the reading position by rack and pinion method. After the readout, the TLD card is dropped in a eject tray. The reader employs hot N 2 gas heating method and the gas flow is controlled by a specially designed digital gas flow meter on the front panel of the reader system. The system design is very compact and simple and card stuck up problem is totally eliminated in the reader system. The reader has a number of self-diagnostic features to ensure a high degree of reliability. This paper reports the performance evaluation of the Reader using 0.4 mm thick Teflon embedded CaSO 4 :Dy TLD cards instead of 0.8 mm cards

Dosimetric properties of the 'Pille' portable, wide dose range TLD reader

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Szabo, P.P.; Feher, I.; Deme, S.; Szabo, B.; Vagvoelgyi, J.

1986-01-01

The dosimetric properties of a portable TLD reader are described. The TLD system named 'Pille' or 'moth' consists of a lightweight battery-operated portable TLD reader and its CaSO 4 :Dy bulb dosemeters. The reproducibility of the TLD system at constant temperature was found to be better than + -2%, and the mean time between failures exceeded 5 years. The dose range of the system is wide, covering more than 6 orders of magnitude, from 5 μGy to 10 Gy. The energy dependence of the CaSO 4 :Dy bulb dosemeters is less than + - 20% above 100 keV in the energy compensation capsules. Without additional annealing, the bulb dosemeters can be re-used at least 100 times, which is an important aspect during in situ measurements. (author)

The Feasibility of E-Ink Readers in Distance Learning: A Field Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Guy Janssens

2009-07-01

Full Text Available — E-book readers based on E-ink mimic paper very closely and are an emerging technology. Despite the slow acceptance of this novel technology, The Open University of the Netherlands (OU is preparing to offer study material for this new medium. This paper reports the first experiences with the introduction of the new technology, both from a content producer’s perspective as well as from a consumer’s viewpoint. As it turned out, a significant amount of effort had to be spent on reformatting the already available A4 sized standard study material to accommodate the small 6’’ screen sizes of today’s E-ink readers. Our experience suggests that the classic A4 study material production process has to be replaced by a media-agnostic process, allowing for a flexible formatting and sizing of the content at the end of the process. In addition, since much of the content originates from external publishers, their “reformatting” capabilities have to be taken into account as well. To obtain firsthand experience from our students, the first 14 students who received an E-ink reader were subjected to a questionnaire. In general, the students responded positively to the new reading experience. The E-reader was most popular at home, but could also be used during travelling due to the small form factor, low weight and good battery longevity. The students were also positive about the legibility, but missed the possibility to take notes and underline sections of the texts. Despite all challenges, we expect that the E-ink technology is here to stay and as this technology matures, many of the problems identified will be solved.

A Novel Marking Reader for Progressive Addition Lenses Based on Gabor Holography.

Science.gov (United States)

Perucho, Beatriz; Picazo-Bueno, José Angel; Micó, Vicente

2016-05-01

Progressive addition lenses (PALs) are marked with permanent engraved marks (PEMs) at standardized locations. Permanent engraved marks are very useful through the manufacturing and mounting processes, act as locator marks to re-ink the removable marks, and contain useful information about the PAL. However, PEMs are often faint and weak, obscured by scratches, partially occluded, and difficult to recognize on tinted lenses or with antireflection or scratch-resistant coatings. The aim of this article is to present a new generation of portable marking reader based on an extremely simplified concept for visualization and identification of PEMs in PALs. Permanent engraved marks on different PALs are visualized using classical Gabor holography as underlying principle. Gabor holography allows phase sample visualization with adjustable magnification and can be implemented in either classical or digital versions. Here, visual Gabor holography is used to provide a magnified defocused image of the PEMs onto a translucent visualization screen where the PEM is clearly identified. Different types of PALs (conventional, personalized, old and scratched, sunglasses, etc.) have been tested to visualize PEMs with the proposed marking reader. The PEMs are visible in every case, and variable magnification factor can be achieved simply moving up and down the PAL in the instrument. In addition, a second illumination wavelength is also tested, showing the applicability of this novel marking reader for different illuminations. A new concept of marking reader ophthalmic instrument has been presented and validated in the laboratory. The configuration involves only a commercial-grade laser diode and a visualization screen for PEM identification. The instrument is portable, economic, and easy to use, and it can be used for identifying patient's current PAL model and for marking removable PALs again or finding test points regardless of the age of the PAL, its scratches, tints, or coatings.

Literature, ciberliterature and the instruction of a student-reader: dialogues with canon and fan fiction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana Claudia Silva Fidelis

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Contemporary texts have been re-signified by the development of online technology so that such texts favor collaboration and interaction between authors and readers thus reconfiguring their roles. The current paper aims at revisiting the place of reading and the reader position by discussing the place occupied by the canon and the fanon (neologism to fan texts in scholar literacies at the present days. 

Improving the Performance of Poor Readers through Autogenic Relaxation Training.

Science.gov (United States)

Frey, Herbert

1980-01-01

Reports that the addition of 15 minutes of relaxation training to weekly remedial reading periods for disabled readers throughout a school year raised concentration levels and decreased anxiety, neuroticism, and number of reading errors. Describes a few types of relaxation exercises that may be helpful. (ET)

Agreement among readers on what is relevant in self-help psychology books.

Science.gov (United States)

Forest, James J; Del Ben, Kevin; Toews, Stuart B

2003-12-01

It was hypothesized that text marking in self-help psychology books would indicate that readers agree on which pages and lines contain relevant information. Previously owned copies of two self-help book titles (n=48, n=38), all with marked text, were collected from second-hand book stores and scored for line and page marking. Chi-squares for goodness-of-fit yielded significant differences between observed and chance agreement in marking behavior. Intraclass and KR-20 correlations were significantly different from zero, suggesting that readers agreed on what information was relevant and irrelevant. Actual users of self-help books may have similar standards because of cultural values, social group relations, or common problem experiences.

Generation of clinical-grade human induced pluripotent stem cells in Xeno-free conditions.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Juan; Hao, Jie; Bai, Donghui; Gu, Qi; Han, Weifang; Wang, Lei; Tan, Yuanqing; Li, Xia; Xue, Ke; Han, Pencheng; Liu, Zhengxin; Jia, Yundan; Wu, Jun; Liu, Lei; Wang, Liu; Li, Wei; Liu, Zhonghua; Zhou, Qi

2015-11-12

Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) are considered as one of the most promising seed cell sources in regenerative medicine. Now hiPSC-based clinical trials are underway. To ensure clinical safety, cells used in clinical trials or therapies should be generated under GMP conditions, and with Xeno-free culture media to avoid possible side effects like immune rejection that induced by the Xeno reagents. However, up to now there are no reports for hiPSC lines developed completely under GMP conditions using Xeno-free reagents. Clinical-grade human foreskin fibroblast (HFF) cells used as feeder cells and parental cells of the clinical-grade hiPSCs were isolated from human foreskin tissues and cultured in Xeno-free media. Clinical-grade hiPSCs were derived by integration-free Sendai virus-based reprogramming kit in Xeno-free pluriton™ reprogramming medium or X medium. Neural cells and cardiomyocytes differentiation were conducted following a series of spatial and temporal specific signals induction according to the corresponding lineage development signals. Biological safety evaluation of the clinical-grade HFF cells and hiPSCs were conducted following the guidance of the "Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China, Edition 2010, Volume III". We have successfully derived several integration-free clinical-grade hiPSC lines under GMP-controlled conditions and with Xeno-free reagents culture media in line with the current guidance of international and national evaluation criteria. As for the source of hiPSCs and feeder cells, biological safety evaluation of the HFF cells have been strictly reviewed by the National Institutes for Food and Drug Control (NIFDC). The hiPSC lines are pluripotent and have passed the safety evaluation. Moreover, one of the randomly selected hiPSC lines was capable of differentiating into functional neural cells and cardiomyocytes in Xeno-free culture media. The clinical-grade hiPSC lines therefore could be valuable sources for

Effectiveness of Critical Thinking Skills for English Literature Study with Reader Response Theory: Review of Literature

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Farah Qamar

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Since Socrates’ time, reasoning is considered valuable for the justification of speaker’s belief along with Thomas Aquinas’ testing of his thinking to answer his own thinking. Critical thinking has been part of discussion among the educators for its significance and application for last many decades. Many educators have conducted researches on the assessment of critical thinking within a domain or across the domain in order to test students’ critical thinking skills and its effect on their learning. Similarly, critical thinking is highly valuable for the study of literature as it explicitly asked for learners’ beliefs, perceptions, and judgments in order to remove the ambiguity of thought. Perfection of thought can be achieved with the use of critical thinking skills while training of mind needs interaction between literary text and the reader as literature has the capacity to achieve mental traits specified to critical thinking. Accordingly, this report presents a relationship between critical thinking skills and English literature study along with reader response theory techniques considering that without the use of critical thinking skills and reader response theory, study of literature is haphazard hence for the application of reader response theory, literary text is inevitable. In essence, I aim to highlight the effectiveness of critical thinking skills for the study of literature while emphasizing the significance of reader response theory which is also inevitable for the study of literature and for the use of critical thinking skills.

CAC on a MAC: setting up a DOD Common Access Card reader on the Macintosh OS X operating system

OpenAIRE

Hopfner, Phil

2006-01-01

The Naval Postgraduate School, along with many other Department of Defense (DOD) organizations, utilizes the ActivCard USB Common Access Card (CAC) readers. The CAC readers in conjunction with the user's Smart Card enables access to DOD PKI-enabled websites and allows the user to send signed and encrypted email utilizing the DOD Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). Microsoft Windows systems utilize the ActivCard Gold middleware software to enable CAC reader functionality. This software packag...

Development of Plate Reader and On-Line Microfluidic Screening to Identify Ligands of the 5-Hydroxytryptamine Binding Protein in Venoms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Reka A. Otvos

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The 5-HT3 receptor is a ligand-gated ion channel, which is expressed in the nervous system. Its antagonists are used clinically for treatment of postoperative- and radiotherapy-induced emesis and irritable bowel syndrome. In order to better understand the structure and function of the 5-HT3 receptor, and to allow for compound screening at this receptor, recently a serotonin binding protein (5HTBP was engineered with the Acetylcholine Binding Protein as template. In this study, a fluorescence enhancement assay for 5HTBP ligands was developed in plate-reader format and subsequently used in an on-line microfluidic format. Both assay types were validated using an existing radioligand binding assay. The on-line microfluidic assay was coupled to HPLC via a post-column split which allowed parallel coupling to a mass spectrometer to collect MS data. This high-resolution screening (HRS system is well suitable for compound mixture analysis. As a proof of principle, the venoms of Dendroapsis polylepis, Pseudonaja affinis and Pseudonaja inframacula snakes were screened and the accurate masses of the found bioactives were established. To demonstrate the subsequent workflow towards structural identification of bioactive proteins and peptides, the partial amino acid sequence of one of the bioactives from the Pseudonaja affinis venom was determined using a bottom-up proteomics approach.

N2 gas station and gas distribution system for TLD personnel monitoring gas based semi-automatic badge readers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chourasiya, G.; Pradhan, S.M.; Kher, R.K.; Bhatt, B.C

2003-01-01

Full text: New improvised hot gas based Auto TLD badge reader has several advantages over the earlier contact heating based manual badge reader. It requires constant supply of N 2 gas for its operation; The gas supplied using replaceable individual gas cylinders may have some safety hazards in their handling. It was therefore considered worthwhile to setup a N 2 gas assembly/ station outside the lab area and to bring regulated gas supply through network of tubes with proper regulation to the individual readers. The paper presents detailed description of the gas station and distribution system. The system is quite useful and offers several practical advantages for readout of TLD badges on the semiautomatic badge readers based on gas heating. Important advantage from dosimetric point of view is avoidance of gas flow rate fluctuations and corresponding variations in TL readouts

Child Readers and the Worlds of the Picture Book

Science.gov (United States)

Baird, Adela; Laugharne, Janet; Maagerø, Eva; Tønnessen, Elise Seip

2016-01-01

Children as readers of picture books and the ways they respond to, and make meaning from, such texts are the focus of this article, which reports on a small-scale study undertaken in Norway and Wales, UK. The theoretical framing of the research draws on concepts of the multimodal ensemble in picture books and of the reading event as part of a…

New security features and their impact on low-cost note readers

Science.gov (United States)

Bernardini, Ronald R.

2004-06-01

Banknote security features are evolving and changing. New features are constantly being developed and slowly being incorporated into banknotes. The assumption is that these features make the notes more secure for everyone; but do they? This paper looks at some of the features incorporated in today's banknotes and how (or if) they add security to banknotes processed by low cost banknote readers. The sensing technology used in low cost note readers has changed somewhat in the last few years but the industry is still faced by the cost constraints of a very competitive market. Some of the new note features require high-resolution image capture, complex optical measurements or expensive emission/detection devices. Paper watermarks, digital watermarks, OVI, Holograms, Stokes conversion, IR and magnetic features are examined, as well as the technologies used and the relative cost/benefit developed for these note features.

Developments in statistical evaluation of clinical trials

CERN Document Server

Oud, Johan; Ghidey, Wendimagegn

2014-01-01

This book describes various ways of approaching and interpreting the data produced by clinical trial studies, with a special emphasis on the essential role that biostatistics plays in clinical trials. Over the past few decades the role of statistics in the evaluation and interpretation of clinical data has become of paramount importance. As a result the standards of clinical study design, conduct and interpretation have undergone substantial improvement. The book includes 18 carefully reviewed chapters on recent developments in clinical trials and their statistical evaluation, with each chapter providing one or more examples involving typical data sets, enabling readers to apply the proposed procedures. The chapters employ a uniform style to enhance comparability between the approaches.

Assessment of the Incremental Benefit of Computer-Aided Detection (CAD) for Interpretation of CT Colonography by Experienced and Inexperienced Readers

Science.gov (United States)

Boone, Darren; Mallett, Susan; McQuillan, Justine; Taylor, Stuart A.; Altman, Douglas G.; Halligan, Steve

2015-01-01

Objectives To quantify the incremental benefit of computer-assisted-detection (CAD) for polyps, for inexperienced readers versus experienced readers of CT colonography. Methods 10 inexperienced and 16 experienced radiologists interpreted 102 colonography studies unassisted and with CAD utilised in a concurrent paradigm. They indicated any polyps detected on a study sheet. Readers’ interpretations were compared against a ground-truth reference standard: 46 studies were normal and 56 had at least one polyp (132 polyps in total). The primary study outcome was the difference in CAD net benefit (a combination of change in sensitivity and change in specificity with CAD, weighted towards sensitivity) for detection of patients with polyps. Results Inexperienced readers’ per-patient sensitivity rose from 39.1% to 53.2% with CAD and specificity fell from 94.1% to 88.0%, both statistically significant. Experienced readers’ sensitivity rose from 57.5% to 62.1% and specificity fell from 91.0% to 88.3%, both non-significant. Net benefit with CAD assistance was significant for inexperienced readers but not for experienced readers: 11.2% (95%CI 3.1% to 18.9%) versus 3.2% (95%CI -1.9% to 8.3%) respectively. Conclusions Concurrent CAD resulted in a significant net benefit when used by inexperienced readers to identify patients with polyps by CT colonography. The net benefit was nearly four times the magnitude of that observed for experienced readers. Experienced readers did not benefit significantly from concurrent CAD. PMID:26355745

Clinical Studies Applying Cytokine-Induced Killer Cells for the Treatment of Renal Cell Carcinoma

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Clara E. Jäkel

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC seems to be resistant to conventional chemo- and radiotherapy and the general treatment regimen of cytokine therapy produces only modest responses while inducing severe side effects. Nowadays standard of care is the treatment with VEGF-inhibiting agents or mTOR inhibition; nevertheless, immunotherapy can induce complete remissions and long-term survival in selected patients. Among different adoptive lymphocyte therapies, cytokine-induced killer (CIK cells have a particularly advantageous profile as these cells are easily available, have a high proliferative rate, and exhibit a high antitumor activity. Here, we reviewed clinical studies applying CIK cells, either alone or with standard therapies, for the treatment of RCC. The adverse events in all studies were mild, transient, and easily controllable. In vitro studies revealed an increased antitumor activity of peripheral lymphocytes of participants after CIK cell treatment and CIK cell therapy was able to induce complete clinical responses in RCC patients. The combination of CIK cell therapy and standard therapy was superior to standard therapy alone. These studies suggest that CIK cell immunotherapy is a safe and competent treatment strategy for RCC patients and further studies should investigate different treatment combinations and schedules for optimal application of CIK cells.

Technology for the Struggling Reader: Free and Easily Accessible Resources

Science.gov (United States)

Berkeley, Sheri; Lindstrom, Jennifer H.

2011-01-01

A fundamental problem for many struggling readers, their parents, and their teachers is that there are few benchmarks to guide decision making about assistive technological supports when the nature of a disability is cognitive (e.g., specific learning disability, SLD) rather than physical. However, resources such as the National Center on…

Morpho-Phonemic Analysis Boosts Word Reading for Adult Struggling Readers

Science.gov (United States)

Gray, Susan H.; Ehri, Linnea C.; Locke, John L.

2018-01-01

A randomized control trial compared the effects of two kinds of vocabulary instruction on component reading skills of adult struggling readers. Participants seeking alternative high school diplomas received 8 h of scripted tutoring to learn forty academic vocabulary words embedded within a civics curriculum. They were matched for language…

Trends in Teacher Certification: Equipping Teachers to Prepare Proficient Readers

Science.gov (United States)

Rowland, Julie

2015-01-01

Ensuring that students are reading proficiently by third grade is a key component of keeping students on track to graduate high school and pursue college and careers. Because of the magnitude of this academic milestone, states typically pursue policies that promote early identification and intervention for struggling readers. However, teachers are…

Reading for pleasure and reading circles for adult emergent readers insights in adult learning

CERN Document Server

Duncan, Sam

2014-01-01

In the UK, the adult literacy provision has become more functional and more assessment driven over the last decade, largely due to funding requirements. However, one result of this is that the clear benefits of reading for pleasure in adult skills development have become less apparent. This book addresses the need to support teachers in the development of adults' skills through reading for pleasure, by incorporating the activity into the curriculum. It focuses on reading for pleasure for adult emergent readers - those who consider themselves non-readers, either because they feel they cannot or

Do Supplemental Remedial Reading Programs Address the Motivational Issues of Struggling Readers? An Analysis of Five Popular Programs.

Science.gov (United States)

Quirk, Matthew P; Schwanenflugel, Paula J

2004-04-01

Five popular, but distinctly different, remedial reading programs were reviewed regarding the potential to motivate children to read. It is argued that current remedial reading program designs and research on program effectiveness ignore the impact that motivation has on struggling readers. In addition, we develop a theory of reading motivation specific to struggling readers that highlights motivational constructs we feel are important to the improvement of reading skill for this population of students. The three aspects of reading motivation most relevant to the instruction of remedial readers include: (a) improving reading self-efficacy; (b) making internal and controllable outcome attributions for successes and failures associated with reading; and (c) establishing personally relevant value in becoming a better reader. We conclude that, while most programs address some motivational issues and other issues not at all, most programs could make minor modifications that would greatly enhance their motivational impact.

CT Colonography: Role of a second reader CAD paradigm in the initial training of radiologists

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Neri, Emanuele; Faggioni, Lorenzo; Regge, Daniele; Vagli, Paola; Turini, Francesca; Cerri, Francesca; Picano, Eugenia; Giusti, Sabina; Bartolozzi, Carlo

2011-01-01

Purpose: To evaluate the influence of CAD for the evaluation of CT colonography (CTC) datasets by inexperienced readers during the attendance of a dedicated hands-on training course. Method and materials: Twenty-seven radiologists inexperienced in CTC (11 with no CTC training at all, 16 having previously reviewed no more than 10 CTC cases overall) attended a hands-on training course based on direct teaching on fifteen workstations (four Advantage Windows 4.4 with Colon VCAR software, GE; six CADCOLON, Im3D; five ColonScreen (Toshiba/Voxar) with ColonCAD TM API, Medicsight). During the course, readers were instructed to analyze 26 CTC cases including 38 colonic lesions obtained through low-dose MDCT acquisitions, consisting of 12 polyps sized less than 6 mm, 9 polyps sized between 6 and 10 mm, 12 polyps sized between 11 mm and 30 mm, and 5 colonic masses sized >3 cm. CTC images were reviewed by each reader both in 2D and 3D mode, respectively by direct evaluation of native axial images and MPR reconstructions, and virtual endoscopy or dissected views. Each reader had 15 min time for assessing each dataset without CAD, after which results were compared with those provided by CAD software. Global rater sensitivity for each lesion size before and after CAD usage was compared by means of two-tailed Student's t test, while sensitivity of each single reader before and after CAD usage was assessed with the McNemar test. Results: For lesions sized 30 mm, sensitivity before CAD-assisted reading was 0.3556 ± 0.3105 and did not change after CAD usage (p = 1). Sensitivity of each single rater did not significantly differ before and after CAD for any lesion size category (McNemar test, p > 0.05). Specificity was not significantly different before and after CAD for any lesion size (>96% for all size categories). Conclusion: CAD usage led to increased overall sensitivity of inexperienced readers for all polyps sizes, except for lesions >30 mm, but sensitivity of individual raters

Fluoroquinolone-induced bilateral rupture of the Achilles tendon: clinical and sonographic findings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P. Busilacchi

2011-09-01

Full Text Available The fluoroquinolones are antibiotics widely used in the clinical practice. The concomitant use of corticosteroids and fluoroquinolones in elderly patients is recognised as a risk factor for developing clinically relevant tendon lesions. Fluoroquinolone-induced tendinopathy is underreported in the literature. Clinical case. A 67-year-old man, came to our observation complaining of 5 days history of bilateral heel pain. The patient had a medical history of sarcoidosis and was treated with a daily dose of 5 mg of prednisone. He was initially given oral levofloxacin (500 mg/die for 10 days, because of an acute respiratory infection. Two days before the end of the antibiotic therapy, he developed bilateral heel pain. He denied any history of trauma. Physical examination revealed swelling and marked tenderness with mild palpation of the Achilles tendons at the calcaneal insertion. The ultrasound evaluation of the Achilles tendons revealed the following main abnormalities: diffuse thickening, loss of the “fibrillar” echotexture, blurred margins, and bilateral partial tendon tears. Discussion. Bilateral Achilles tendon pain and rupture has been described as a rare adverse effect of fluoroquinolone treatment. Most of the fluoroquinolone-induced tendinopathies of the Achilles tendon are due to ciprofloxacin. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first description of bilateral Achilles tendon rupture due to levofloxacin. The risk/benefit ratio of the fluoroquinolones should be carefully considered and these drugs should be prescribed cautiously in elderly patients treated with corticosteroids. This case can be regarded as a representative example of the potential clinical efficacy of sonography in daily rheumatological practise.

Severe hypoxia induces chemo-resistance in clinical cervical tumors through MVP over-expression.

Science.gov (United States)

Lara, Pedro C; Lloret, Marta; Clavo, Bernardino; Apolinario, Rosa M; Henríquez-Hernández, Luis Alberto; Bordón, Elisa; Fontes, Fausto; Rey, Agustín

2009-08-06

Oxygen molecule modulates tumour response to radiotherapy. Higher radiation doses are required under hypoxic conditions to induce cell death. Hypoxia may inhibit the non-homologous end-joining DNA repair through down regulating Ku70/80 expression. Hypoxia induces drug resistance in clinical tumours, although the mechanism is not clearly elucidated. Vaults are ribonucleoprotein particles with a hollow barrel-like structure composed of three proteins: major vault protein (MVP), vault poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase, and telomerase associated protein-1 and small untranslated RNA. Over-expression of MVP has been associated with chemotherapy resistance. Also, it has been related to poor outcome in patients treated with radiotherapy alone. The aim of the present study was to assess the relation of Major Vault Protein expression and tumor hypoxia in clinical cervical tumors. MVP, p53 and angiogenesis, together with tumor oxygenation, were determined in forty-three consecutive patients suffering from localized cervix carcinoma. High MVP expression was related to severe hypoxia compared to low MVP expressing tumors (p = 0.022). Tumors over-expressing MVP also showed increased angiogenesis (p = 0.003). Besides it, in this study we show for the first time that severe tumor hypoxia is associated with high MVP expression in clinical cervical tumors. Up-regulation of MVP by hypoxia is of critical relevance as chemotherapy is currently a standard treatment for those patients. From our results it could be suggested that hypoxia not only induces increased genetic instability, oncogenic properties and metastatization, but through the correlation observed with MVP expression, another pathway of chemo and radiation resistance could be developed.

Severe hypoxia induces chemo-resistance in clinical cervical tumors through MVP over-expression

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lara, Pedro C; Lloret, Marta; Clavo, Bernardino; Apolinario, Rosa M; Henríquez-Hernández, Luis Alberto; Bordón, Elisa; Fontes, Fausto; Rey, Agustín

2009-01-01

Oxygen molecule modulates tumour response to radiotherapy. Higher radiation doses are required under hypoxic conditions to induce cell death. Hypoxia may inhibit the non-homologous end-joining DNA repair through down regulating Ku70/80 expression. Hypoxia induces drug resistance in clinical tumours, although the mechanism is not clearly elucidated. Vaults are ribonucleoprotein particles with a hollow barrel-like structure composed of three proteins: major vault protein (MVP), vault poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase, and telomerase associated protein-1 and small untranslated RNA. Over-expression of MVP has been associated with chemotherapy resistance. Also, it has been related to poor outcome in patients treated with radiotherapy alone. The aim of the present study was to assess the relation of Major Vault Protein expression and tumor hypoxia in clinical cervical tumors. MVP, p53 and angiogenesis, together with tumor oxygenation, were determined in forty-three consecutive patients suffering from localized cervix carcinoma. High MVP expression was related to severe hypoxia compared to low MVP expressing tumors (p = 0.022). Tumors over-expressing MVP also showed increased angiogenesis (p = 0.003). Besides it, in this study we show for the first time that severe tumor hypoxia is associated with high MVP expression in clinical cervical tumors. Up-regulation of MVP by hypoxia is of critical relevance as chemotherapy is currently a standard treatment for those patients. From our results it could be suggested that hypoxia not only induces increased genetic instability, oncogenic properties and metastatization, but through the correlation observed with MVP expression, another pathway of chemo and radiation resistance could be developed

Annotating a "Reader's Digest" Article--'The NEA: A Washington Lobby Run Rampant.'

Science.gov (United States)

Methvin, Eugene H.; Herndon, Terry

1979-01-01

The copy of a "Reader's Digest" article critical of the political activities of the National Education Association (NEA) is run with marginal comments written by Terry Herndon, NEA executive director. (IRT)

Fuzzy logic-based approach to detecting a passive RFID tag in an outpatient clinic.

Science.gov (United States)

Min, Daiki; Yih, Yuehwern

2011-06-01

This study is motivated by the observations on the data collected by radio frequency identification (RFID) readers in a pilot study, which was used to investigate the feasibility of implementing an RFID-based monitoring system in an outpatient eye clinic. The raw RFID data collected from RFID readers contain noise and missing reads, which prevent us from determining the tag location. In this paper, fuzzy logic-based algorithms are proposed to interpret the raw RFID data to extract accurate information. The proposed algorithms determine the location of an RFID tag by evaluating its possibility of presence and absence. To evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithms, numerical experiments are conducted using the data observed in the outpatient eye clinic. Experiments results showed that the proposed algorithms outperform existing static smoothing method in terms of minimizing both false positives and false negatives. Furthermore, the proposed algorithms are applied to a set of simulated data to show the robustness of the proposed algorithms at various levels of RFID reader reliability.

A cross-linguistic evaluation of script-specific effects on fMRI lateralization in late second language readers

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Maki Sophia Koyama

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Behavioral and neuroimaging studies have provided evidence that reading is strongly left lateralized, and this pattern of functional lateralization can be indicative of reading competence. However, it remains unclear whether functional lateralization differs between the first (L1 and second (L2 languages in bilingual L2 readers. This question is particularly important when the particular script, or orthography, learned by the L2 readers is markedly different from their L1 script. In this study, we quantified functional lateralization in brain regions involved in visual word recognition for participants’ L1 and L2 scripts, with a particular focus on the effects of L1-L2 script differences in the visual complexity and orthographic depth of the script. Two different groups of late L2 learners participated in an fMRI experiment: L1 readers of Japanese who learnt to read alphabetic English and L1 readers of English who learnt to read both Japanese syllabic Kana and logographic Kanji. The results showed weaker leftward lateralization in the posterior lateral occipital complex (pLOC for logographic Kanji compared with syllabic and alphabetic scripts in both L1 and L2 readers of Kanji. When both L1 and L2 scripts were non-logographic, where symbols are mapped onto sounds, functional lateralization did not significantly differ between L1 and L2 scripts in any region, in any group. Our findings indicate that weaker leftward lateralization for logographic reading reflects greater requirement of the right hemisphere for processing visually complex logographic Kanji symbols, irrespective of whether Kanji is the readers’ L1 or L2, rather than characterizing the efforts of L2 readers to accommodate to the L2 script Finally, brain-behavior analysis revealed that functional lateralization for L2 reading predicted L2 reading competency.

Shared-Book Experience Using Science-Themed Books to Develop Scientific Literacy: An Interactive Approach with Struggling Readers

Science.gov (United States)

Chung, Mi-Hyun; Keckler, Barbara

2016-01-01

This paper will explain what a reading teacher learned from working with a group of first-grade struggling readers in a series of shared-book experience classes. The shared-book experience approach used a variety of science-themed books that were aligned with the first-grade curriculum and appropriate for beginning readers. Considering the…

The Effects of a Reader's Theater Instructional Intervention on Second Grade Students' Reading Fluency and Comprehension Skills

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Diane D.

2011-01-01

An estimated 75% of students who are poor readers in third grade continue to be lower achieving readers in ninth grade. The National Reading Panel has identified fluency as a prominent cause of reading comprehension problems which ultimately affect overall reading development. The purpose of this study was to test the theoretical framework of…

Should academic medical centers conduct clinical trials of the efficacy of intercessory prayer?

Science.gov (United States)

Halperin, E C

2001-08-01

Intercessory prayers for health or healing are requests to an object of worship for the preservation or restoration of health. There has been a recent proliferation of clinical trials that compare the health outcome of a group of prayed-for patients with that of controls, to test the efficacy of intercessory prayer. In this essay, the author defines the concept of intercessory prayer, contrasts it with other forms of prayer, and reviews the literature concerning clinical trials of its efficacy. The arguments put forward in favor of conducting such trials and those against are described and the reader is invited to consider their relative merits. The author concludes by discussing the potential power of faith in healing, reviewing the philosophical basis and pitfalls of clinical trials of intercessory prayer, and urging readers to weigh the arguments for and against such trials in academic medicine.

The influence of psychological type preferences on readers trying To ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Around 65% could do so ('imaginers') and 35% could not. The likelihood of being an imaginer was higher among (i) women than among men, (ii) those who preferred intuition to sensing or feeling to thinking, and (iii) those who were most charismatically active. Readers with intuition as their dominant function were most ...

E-Books and E-Book Apps: Considerations for Beginning Readers

Science.gov (United States)

Bates, Celeste C.; Klein, Adria; Schubert, Barbara; McGee, Lea; Anderson, Nancy; Dorn, Linda; McClure, Erin; Ross, Rachael Huber

2017-01-01

This article highlights considerations for teachers when selecting and using e-books and e-book applications (apps) with beginning readers during guided and independent reading. A framework for examining e-books and e-book apps is suggested, and several apps and related digital features are described. The article also includes an overview of…

The Impact of Open Licensing on the Early Reader Ecosystem

Science.gov (United States)

Butcher, Neil; Hoosen, Sarah; Levey, Lisbeth; Moore, Derek

2016-01-01

The Impact of Open Licensing on the Early Reader Ecosystem examines how to use open licensing to promote quality learning resources for young children that are relevant and interesting. Research in early reading tends to focus on traditional publishing value and supply chains, without taking much consideration of new approaches and solutions…

Empowering Adolescent Readers: Intertextuality in Three Novels by David Almond

Science.gov (United States)

Latham, Don

2008-01-01

In "Skellig," "Kit's Wilderness," and "Clay", David Almond employs various types of intertextuality to enrich his narratives. Through the use of allusion, adaptation, collage, and mise-en-abyme, he encourages his adolescent readers to seek out precursor texts and to consider the interrelationships between these texts and his own. By so doing, he…

Cannabinoid-Induced Hyperemesis: A Conundrum—From Clinical Recognition to Basic Science Mechanisms

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Nissar A. Darmani

2010-07-01

Full Text Available Cannabinoids are used clinically on a subacute basis as prophylactic agonist antiemetics for the prevention of nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapeutics. Cannabinoids prevent vomiting by inhibition of release of emetic neurotransmitters via stimulation of presynaptic cannabinoid CB1 receptors. Cannabis-induced hyperemesis is a recently recognized syndrome associated with chronic cannabis use. It is characterized by repeated cyclical vomiting and learned compulsive hot water bathing behavior. Although considered rare, recent international publications of numerous case reports suggest the contrary. The syndrome appears to be a paradox and the pathophysiological mechanism(s underlying the induced vomiting remains unknown. Although some traditional hypotheses have already been proposed, the present review critically explores the basic science of these explanations in the clinical setting and provides more current mechanisms for the induced hyperemesis. These encompass: (1 pharmacokinetic factors such as long half-life, chronic exposure, lipid solubility, individual variation in metabolism/excretion leading to accumulation of emetogenic cannabinoid metabolites, and/or cannabinoid withdrawal; and (2 pharmacodynamic factors including switching of the efficacy of Δ9-THC from partial agonist to antagonist, differential interaction of Δ9-THC with Gs and Gi signal transduction proteins, CB1 receptor desensitization or downregulation, alterations in tissue concentrations of endocannabinoid agonists/inverse agonists, Δ9-THC-induced mobilization of emetogenic metabolites of the arachidonic acid cascade, brainstem versus enteric actions of Δ9-THC, and/or hypothermic versus hyperthermic actions of Δ9-THC. In addition, human and animal findings suggest that chronic exposure to cannabis may not be a prerequisite for the induction of vomiting but is required for the intensity of emesis.

Patient retention gifts in clinical trials - undue inducement or justified motivational tools?

Science.gov (United States)

Burgess, L J; Sulzer, N

2011-09-05

The use of retention gifts in clinical trials has been controversial, with some ethicists maintaining that such gifts represent undue inducement to the trial participants. A study was conducted at TREAD Research, a site-managed organisation based at Tygerberg Hospital, in which 302 participants completed a questionnaire that focused on their opinion with regard to such gifts. The results suggest that these gifts do not influence patients to participate in a clinical trial or influence them to remain on a trial should they wish to withdraw. However, they do act as a useful motivational tool and trial participants appreciate them.

The Use of English Collocations in Reader's Digest

OpenAIRE

Sinaga, Yudita Putri Nurani; Sinaga, Lidiman Sahat Martua

2014-01-01

This descriptive qualitative study is aimed at identifying and describing the types of free collocations found in the articles of Reader's Digest. By taking a sample of ten articles from different months for each year since 2003 up to 2012, it was found all the four productive free collocations were in the data. Type 4 (Determiner + Adjective + Noun) was the dominant type (53.92 %). This was possible because the adjective in the pattern included the present participle and past participle of v...

Reader-taylor: sewing and plotting the “text”

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luciane Bernardi Souza

2012-10-01

Full Text Available This article discusses the presence of the ‘empty slots in the text’ in the short story "Imagens desabrigadas" of the writer Luci Collin. Investigates, therefore, the importance of these ‘openings to the textual’ embodiment of literary writing and also contributes to the emancipation of the reader in his encounter with the text. To this end, we raised some theoretic support brought by Wolfgang Iser and Terry Eagleton, as well as the reception theory of the literary text.

Reader-Centered Technical Writing

Science.gov (United States)

Narayanan, M.

2012-12-01

Technical writing is an essential part of professional communication and in recent years it has shifted from a genre-based approach. Formerly, technical writing primarily focused on generating templates of documents and sometimes it was creating or reproducing traditional forms with minor modifications and updates. Now, technical writing looks at the situations surrounding the need to write. This involves deep thinking about the goals and objectives of the project on hand. Furthermore, one observes that it is very important for any participatory process to have the full support of management. This support needs to be well understood and believed by employees. Professional writing may be very persuasive in some cases. When presented in the appropriate context, technical writing can persuade a company to improve work conditions ensuring employee safety and timely production. However, one must recognize that lot of professional writing still continues to make use of reports and instruction manuals. Normally, technical and professional writing addresses four aspects. Objective: The need for generating a given professionally written technical document and the goals the document is expected to achieve and accomplish. Clientele: The clientele who will utilize the technical document. This may include the people in the organization. This may also include "unintended readers." Customers: The population that may be affected by the content of the technical document generated. This includes the stakeholders who will be influenced. Environment: The background in which the document is created. Also, the nature of the situation that warranted the generation of the document. Swiss Psychologist Jean Piaget's view of Learning focuses on three aspects. The author likes to extend Jean Piaget's ideas to students, who are asked to prepare and submit Reader-Centered Technical Writing reports and exercises. Assimilation: Writers may benefit specifically, by assimilating a new object into

Detection of cut-off point for rapid automized naming test in good readers and dyslexics

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Zahra Soleymani

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Background and Aim: Rapid automized naming test is an appropriate tool to diagnose learning disability even before teaching reading. This study aimed to detect the cut-off point of this test for good readers and dyslexics.Methods: The test has 4 parts including: objects, colors, numbers and letters. 5 items are repeated on cards randomly for 10 times. Children were asked to name items rapidly. We studied 18 dyslexic students and 18 age-matched good readers between 7 and 8 years of age at second and third grades of elementary school; they were recruited by non-randomize sampling into 2 groups: children with developmental dyslexia from learning disabilities centers with mean age of 100 months, and normal children with mean age of 107 months from general schools in Tehran. Good readers selected from the same class of dyslexics.Results: The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.849 for letter naming, 0.892 for color naming, 0.971 for number naming, 0.887 for picture naming, and 0.965 totally. The overall sensitivity and specificity was 1 and was 0.79, respectively. The highest sensitivity and specificity were related to number naming (1 and 0.90, respectively.Conclusion: Findings showed that the rapid automized naming test could diagnose good readers from dyslexics appropriately.

Hypertext, Hypermedia, and Metacognition: Research and Instructional Implications for Disabled Readers.

Science.gov (United States)

Balajthy, Ernest

1990-01-01

The article examines the potential impact of computer-based text technologies, called hypermedia, on disabled readers. Discussed are hypertext, the hypercard, and implications of metacognitive research (such as author versus user control over text manipulations), instructional implications, and instructional text engineering. (DB)

The Fluid Reading Primer: Animated Decoding Support for Emergent Readers.

Science.gov (United States)

Zellweger, Polle T.; Mackinlay, Jock D.

A prototype application called the Fluid Reading Primer was developed to help emergent readers with the process of decoding written words into their spoken forms. The Fluid Reading Primer is part of a larger research project called Fluid Documents, which is exploring the use of interactive animation of typography to show additional information in…

Learning Strategies in Proficient and Less Proficient Readers in Medicine

Science.gov (United States)

Nemati, Majid; Nodoushan, Mohammad Ali Salmani; Ashrafzadeh, Anis

2010-01-01

The current study aimed to diagnose the probable significant differences in the use of language learning strategies among medical-text readers of opposite sex from different levels of proficiency. 120 (N = 120) participants were randomly selected from Azad Medical University of Mashhad: 60 medical students (age range 23-25; 30 = male and 30 =…

An Design of HF-Band RFID System with Multiple Readers and Passive Tags for Indoor Mobile Robot Self-Localization

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Jian Mi

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Radio frequency identification (RFID technology has already been explored for efficient self-localization of indoor mobile robots. A mobile robot equipped with RFID readers detects passive RFID tags installed on the floor in order to locate itself. The Monte-Carlo localization (MCL method enables the localization of a mobile robot equipped with an RFID system with reasonable accuracy, sufficient robustness and low computational cost. The arrangements of RFID readers and tags and the size of antennas are important design parameters for realizing accurate and robust self-localization using a low-cost RFID system. The design of a likelihood model of RFID tag detection is also crucial for the accurate self-localization. This paper presents a novel design and arrangement of RFID readers and tags for indoor mobile robot self-localization. First, by considering small-sized and large-sized antennas of an RFID reader, we show how the design of the likelihood model affects the accuracy of self-localization. We also design a novel likelihood model by taking into consideration the characteristics of the communication range of an RFID system with a large antenna. Second, we propose a novel arrangement of RFID tags with eight RFID readers, which results in the RFID system configuration requiring much fewer readers and tags while retaining reasonable accuracy of self-localization. We verify the performances of MCL-based self-localization realized using the high-frequency (HF-band RFID system with eight RFID readers and a lower density of RFID tags installed on the floor based on MCL in simulated and real environments. The results of simulations and real environment experiments demonstrate that our proposed low-cost HF-band RFID system realizes accurate and robust self-localization of an indoor mobile robot.

Clinical features of Japanese patients with chronic cough induced by gastroesophageal reflux

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Katsuya Fujimori

1997-01-01

Full Text Available Gastroesophageal reflux (GER has been reported as a cause of chronic cough (CC in the United States. It has been reported that 5–21% of CC cases are induced by GER. In Japan, however, detailed clinical features of CC induced by GER have not been described. The present study reports on six Japanese patients with GER-induced CC. The subjects were all females, with a mean age of 72 years. The average body mass index was 37 kg/m2, indicating obesity. No abnormalities were found with regard to concentrations of C-reactive protein, peripheral eosinophil counts, serum IgE concentrations, serum titers of cold agglutinins or antibodies to Mycoplasma pneumoniae, chest radiograph findings, respiratory function tests or blood gas analyses. Bronchial biopsy was performed in three patients and showed chronic inflammation characterized by lymphocytic infiltration, squamous metaplasia and mucosal basement membrane thickening. In the study population (Japanese patients, GER-induced CC tended to occur in elderly obese women and may be attributable to airway inflammation.

Using miscue analysis to assess comprehension in deaf college readers.

Science.gov (United States)

Albertini, John; Mayer, Connie

2011-01-01

For over 30 years, teachers have used miscue analysis as a tool to assess and evaluate the reading abilities of hearing students in elementary and middle schools and to design effective literacy programs. More recently, teachers of deaf and hard-of-hearing students have also reported its usefulness for diagnosing word- and phrase-level reading difficulties and for planning instruction. To our knowledge, miscue analysis has not been used with older, college-age deaf students who might also be having difficulty decoding and understanding text at the word level. The goal of this study was to determine whether such an analysis would be helpful in identifying the source of college students' reading comprehension difficulties. After analyzing the miscues of 10 college-age readers and the results of other comprehension-related tasks, we concluded that comprehension of basic grade school-level passages depended on the ability to recognize and comprehend key words and phrases in these texts. We also concluded that these diagnostic procedures provided useful information about the reading abilities and strategies of each reader that had implications for designing more effective interventions.

SAIL--A Way to Success and Independence for Low-Achieving Readers.

Science.gov (United States)

Bergman, Janet L.

1992-01-01

Argues that providing students with a repertoire of important learning strategies is one crucial way of helping all students to become independent readers, thinkers, and learners. Describes a third grade reading environment and the practices of the Students Achievement Independent Learning Program (SAIL). (PRA)

ReaderBench goes Online: A Comprehension-Centered Framework for Educational Purposes

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gutu, Gabriel; Dascalu, Mihai; Trausan-Matu, Stefan; Dessus, Philippe

2016-01-01

In this paper we introduce the online version of our ReaderBench framework, which includes multi-lingual comprehension-centered web services designed to address a wide range of individual and collaborative learning scenarios, as follows. First, students can be engaged in reading a course

The Interplay of Reader Goals, Working Memory, and Text Structure During Reading

Science.gov (United States)

Bohn-Gettler, Catherine M.; Kendeou, Panayiota

2014-01-01

In the current study we examined the complex interactions of instructional context, text properties, and reader characteristics during comprehension. College students were tasked with the goal of reading for study versus entertainment (instructional context) while thinking-aloud about four different expository text structures (text properties). Working memory also was assessed (reader characteristics). Reading goals and working memory interacted to influence paraphrasing and non-coherence processes when thinking aloud. Reading goals, working memory, and text structure all interacted to influence text-based inferences. Text structure also influenced knowledge-based inferences. Post-reading recall was highest for those with the instructional goal of reading for study (compared to entertainment), as well as for problem-response and compare-contrast texts (compared to descriptive and chronological texts). Implications of the findings are discussed. PMID:25018581

PorTL - a compact, portable TLD reader for environmental and personal dosimetry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Deme, S.; Apathy, I.; Bodnar, L.; Csoke, A.; Feher, I.; Pazmandi, T.

2005-01-01

Thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLDs) are commonly used for environmental monitoring, for personal and medical dosimetry, for dosimetry in nuclear facilities, etc. Major advantages are their independence of the power supply, small dimension, sensitivity, good stability, wide measuring range, resistance to environmental changes and relatively low cost. The disadvantage is that the detector must be transported for evaluation to a laboratory equipped with a large, heavy and expensive TLD Reader operated by qualified personnel, which considerably increases the costs and delays results. To overcome this disadvantage, the KFKI Atomic Energy Research Institute (KFKI AEKI), in co-operation with BL Electronics (Hungary), has developed a new and unique TLD system containing a small, portable, battery powered and moderate-price reader for commercial use. This paper gives a detailed description and parameters of this system.(author)

Clinical and Functional Assays of Radiosensitivity and Radiation-Induced Second Cancer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohammad Habash

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Whilst the near instantaneous physical interaction of radiation energy with living cells leaves little opportunity for inter-individual variation in the initial yield of DNA damage, all the downstream processes in how damage is recognized, repaired or resolved and therefore the ultimate fate of cells can vary across the population. In the clinic, this variability is observed most readily as rare extreme sensitivity to radiotherapy with acute and late tissue toxic reactions. Though some radiosensitivity can be anticipated in individuals with known genetic predispositions manifest through recognizable phenotypes and clinical presentations, others exhibit unexpected radiosensitivity which nevertheless has an underlying genetic cause. Currently, functional assays for cellular radiosensitivity represent a strategy to identify patients with potential radiosensitivity before radiotherapy begins, without needing to discover or evaluate the impact of the precise genetic determinants. Yet, some of the genes responsible for extreme radiosensitivity would also be expected to confer susceptibility to radiation-induced cancer, which can be considered another late adverse event associated with radiotherapy. Here, the utility of functional assays of radiosensitivity for identifying individuals susceptible to radiotherapy-induced second cancer is discussed, considering both the common mechanisms and important differences between stochastic radiation carcinogenesis and the range of deterministic acute and late toxic effects of radiotherapy.

The role of morphology and short vowelization in reading Arabic among normal and dyslexic readers in grades 3, 6, 9, and 12.

Science.gov (United States)

Abu-Rabia, Salim

2007-03-01

This study was an investigation of several Arabic reading measures among dyslexics and normal Arabic readers across different ages (grades 3, 6, 9, and 12): the role of morphology, short vowelization (phonological and syntactic skills), spelling, reading isolated words, and reading comprehension. The results of the one-way ANOVAs indicated clear differences between the dyslexic readers and the normal readers on all reading measures. However, the stepwise regression analysis revealed consistent orthographic results: morphology (identification and/or production) and spelling were generally the most powerful predictors of both reading accuracy and reading comprehension among dyslexic and normal readers across these different age groups. The results are discussed in terms of the characteristics of the Arabic orthography and the heavy reliance of readers at all levels and ages on orthographic factors in reading.

ELISA reader does not interfere by mobile phone radiofrequency radiation

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Seyyed Mohammad Javad Mortazavi

2016-01-01

Conclusion: This study showed that ELISA reader does not interfere by mobile phone RF radiation at a closed contact (less than 5 cm distance. However, we recommend that medical institutions discuss these issues in the context of their specific use of technologies and frame a policy that is clear and straightforward to guide staff, patients, and visitors.

Using Game-Based Learning to Support Struggling Readers at Home

Science.gov (United States)

Holmes, Wayne

2011-01-01

Significant numbers of children (6% of 11-year-olds) have difficulties learning to read. Meanwhile, children who receive appropriate support from their parents do better in literacy than those who do not. This study uses a case study approach to investigate how digital games designed to support struggling readers in school were used at home, by…

Reader Response and the Verbal Icon: Implications for English Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Harker, W. John

During the past 15 years, a fundamental change has taken place in literary criticism, with a decline in New Criticism (literature viewed as a public object) and an increase in reader response criticism (literature viewed as a private experience). New Critics considered the meaning of a literary text to exist within the text as an independent and…

Solar Energy Education. Reader, Part II. Sun story. [Includes glossary

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1981-05-01

Magazine articles which focus on the subject of solar energy are presented. The booklet prepared is the second of a four part series of the Solar Energy Reader. Excerpts from the magazines include the history of solar energy, mythology and tales, and selected poetry on the sun. A glossary of energy related terms is included. (BCS)

Eye movement analysis of reading from computer displays, eReaders and printed books.

Science.gov (United States)

Zambarbieri, Daniela; Carniglia, Elena

2012-09-01

To compare eye movements during silent reading of three eBooks and a printed book. The three different eReading tools were a desktop PC, iPad tablet and Kindle eReader. Video-oculographic technology was used for recording eye movements. In the case of reading from the computer display the recordings were made by a video camera placed below the computer screen, whereas for reading from the iPad tablet, eReader and printed book the recording system was worn by the subject and had two cameras: one for recording the movement of the eyes and the other for recording the scene in front of the subject. Data analysis provided quantitative information in terms of number of fixations, their duration, and the direction of the movement, the latter to distinguish between fixations and regressions. Mean fixation duration was different only in reading from the computer display, and was similar for the Tablet, eReader and printed book. The percentage of regressions with respect to the total amount of fixations was comparable for eReading tools and the printed book. The analysis of eye movements during reading an eBook from different eReading tools suggests that subjects' reading behaviour is similar to reading from a printed book. © 2012 The College of Optometrists.

Treatment Effects for Adolescent Struggling Readers: An Application of Moderated Mediation

Science.gov (United States)

Roberts, Greg; Fletcher, Jack M.; Stuebing, Karla K.; Barth, Amy E.; Vaughn, Sharon

2013-01-01

This study used multigroup structural equations to evaluate the possibility that a theory-driven, evidence-based, yearlong reading program for sixth-grade struggling readers moderates the interrelationships among elements of the simple model of reading (i.e., listening comprehension, word reading, and reading comprehension; Hoover & Gough,…

Differential clinical pharmacology of rolapitant in delayed chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV

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Rashad N

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Noha Rashad,1 Omar Abdel-Rahman2 1Medical Oncology Department, Maadi Armed Forces Hospital, 2Clinical Oncology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt Abstract: Rolapitant is a highly selective neurokinin-1 receptor antagonist, orally administered for a single dose of 180 mg before chemotherapy with granisetron D1, dexamethasone 8 mg BID on day 2–4. It has a unique pharmacological characteristic of a long plasma half-life (between 163 and 183 hours; this long half-life makes a single use sufficient to cover the delayed emesis risk period. No major drug–drug interactions between rolapitant and dexamethasone or other cytochrome P450 inducers or inhibitors were observed. The clinical efficacy of rolapitant was studied in two phase III trials in highly emetogenic chemotherapy and in one clinical trial in moderately emetogenic chemotherapy. The primary endpoint was the proportion of patients achieving a complete response (defined as no emesis or use of rescue medication in the delayed phase (>24–120 hours after chemotherapy. In comparison to granisetron (10 µg/kg intravenously and dexamethasone (20 mg orally on day 1, and dexamethasone (8 mg orally twice daily on days 2–4 and placebo, rolapitant showed superior efficacy in the control of delayed and overall emesis. This review aims at revising the pharmacological characteristics of rolapitant, offering an updated review of the available clinical efficacy and safety data of rolapitant in different clinical settings, highlighting the place of rolapitant in the management of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV among currently available guidelines, and exploring the future directions of CINV management. Keywords: nausea, vomiting, chemotherapy, rolapitant, CINV

Reproducibility of small animal cine and scar cardiac magnetic resonance imaging using a clinical 3.0 tesla system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Manka, Robert; Jahnke, Cosima; Hucko, Thomas; Dietrich, Thore; Gebker, Rolf; Schnackenburg, Bernhard; Graf, Kristof; Paetsch, Ingo

2013-01-01

To evaluate the inter-study, inter-reader and intra-reader reproducibility of cardiac cine and scar imaging in rats using a clinical 3.0 Tesla magnetic resonance (MR) system. Thirty-three adult rats (Sprague–Dawley) were imaged 24 hours after surgical occlusion of the left anterior descending coronary artery using a 3.0 Tesla clinical MR scanner (Philips Healthcare, Best, The Netherlands) equipped with a dedicated 70 mm solenoid receive-only coil. Left-ventricular (LV) volumes, mass, ejection fraction and amount of myocardial scar tissue were measured. Intra-and inter-observer reproducibility was assessed in all animals. In addition, repeat MR exams were performed in 6 randomly chosen rats within 24 hours to assess inter-study reproducibility. The MR imaging protocol was successfully completed in 32 (97%) animals. Bland-Altman analysis demonstrated high intra-reader reproducibility (mean bias%: LV end-diastolic volume (LVEDV), -1.7%; LV end-systolic volume (LVESV), -2.2%; LV ejection fraction (LVEF), 1.0%; LV mass, -2.7%; and scar mass, -1.2%) and high inter-reader reproducibility (mean bias%: LVEDV, 3.3%; LVESV, 6.2%; LVEF, -4.8%; LV mass, -1.9%; and scar mass, -1.8%). In addition, a high inter-study reproducibility was found (mean bias%: LVEDV, 0.1%; LVESV, -1.8%; LVEF, 1.0%; LV mass, -4.6%; and scar mass, -6.2%). Cardiac MR imaging of rats yielded highly reproducible measurements of cardiac volumes/function and myocardial infarct size on a clinical 3.0 Tesla MR scanner system. Consequently, more widely available high field clinical MR scanners can be employed for small animal imaging of the heart e.g. when aiming at serial assessments during therapeutic intervention studies

How Adequate is your CV? Analyzing French CVs with ReaderBench

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gutu, Gabriel; Dascalu, Mihai; Trausan-Matu, Stefan; Lepoivre, Olivier

2017-01-01

This study is aimed at presenting a new ReaderBench-based tool built to support candidates in increasing the quality of their CV for a job opening. Both the visual quality and the textual content are considered while also providing an overview and corresponding feedback for the entire CV.

Beyond Strategy: A Reader-Centered Analysis of Irony's Dual Persuasive Uses

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Olson, Kathryn M.; Olson, Clark D.

2004-01-01

Ironic texts offer pleasure both as what Burke called "ordinary" and "pure persuasion." Readers may engage these symbolic dimensions simultaneously, but in different relative proportions. Using the coincidence of the 1986 sentencing of sanctuary movement members and the rededication of the Statue of Liberty, we offer four possible interpretive…

First French reader a beginner's dual-language book

CERN Document Server

Appelbaum, Stanley

2008-01-01

This excellent anthology offers the beginning French-language student a first taste of some of the world's most significant prose. Chosen for both their eloquence and ease of reading, excerpts from such masterpieces as Les Misérables, The Red and the Black, Madame Bovary, Carmen, and The Three Musketeers will open new worlds for linguists. Readers will savor the words of fifty great writers of multiple genres from the seventeenth through twentieth centuries, including Voltaire, Rousseau, Balzac, Baudelaire, Dumas, Proust, and other literary virtuosos.Lucid and accessible, the unabridged Englis

Historical imagination, narrative learning and nursing practice: graduate nursing students' reader-responses to a nurse's storytelling from the past.

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Wood, Pamela J

2014-09-01

Storytelling and narrative are widely used in nurse education and the value of narrative-based curricula, such as those governed by narrative pedagogy, is well recognised. Storytelling stimulates students' imagination, a central feature of narrative learning. One form of story and imagination yet to be fully considered by educators is the historical story and historical imagination. The use of historical storytelling creates a temporal dissonance between the story and reader that stimulates readers' imagination and response, and enables them to gain rich insights which can be applied to the present. Reader-response theory can support educators when using narrative and storytelling. This article presents an analysis of graduate nursing students' reader-responses to a nurse's story from the past. This narrative learning group used their historical imagination in responding to the story and prompted and challenged each other in their interpretation and in translating their responses to their current nursing practice. The article discusses this analysis within the context of reader-response theory and its potential application to narrative-based learning in nurse education. Historical stories stimulate historical imagination and offer a different frame of reference for students' development of textual competence and for applying insights to the present. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Primary Three-Dimensional Analysis with Perspective-Filet View Versus Primary Two-Dimensional Analysis: Evaluation of Lesion Detection by Inexperienced Readers at Computed Tomographic Colonography in Symptomatic Patients

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fisichella, V.A.; Horvath, S.; Hellstroem, M.; Jaederling, F.; Stotzer, P.O.; Kilander, A.

2009-01-01

Background: 'Perspective-filet view' is a novel three-dimensional (3D) viewing technique for computed tomography colonography (CTC). Studies with experienced readers have shown a sensitivity for perspective-filet view similar to that of 2D or 3D endoluminal fly-through in detection of colorectal lesions. It is not known whether perspective-filet view, compared to axial images, improves lesion detection by inexperienced readers. Purpose: To compare primary 3D analysis using perspective-filet view (3D Filet) with primary 2D analysis, as used by inexperienced CTC readers. Secondary aims were to compare lesion detection by 3D Filet when used by experienced and inexperienced readers, and to evaluate the effect of combined 3D Filet + 2D analysis. Material and Methods: Fifty symptomatic patients were prospectively enrolled. An experienced reader performed 3D Filet analysis followed by complete 2D analysis (3D Filet + 2D), before colonoscopy with segmental unblinding. Two inexperienced readers (readers 2 and 3), blinded to CTC and colonoscopy findings, retrospectively performed 3D Filet analysis and, after 5 weeks, 2D analysis. True positives =6 mm detected by the inexperienced readers with 3D Filet and/or 2D were combined to obtain 3D Filet + 2D. Results: Colonoscopy revealed 116 lesions: 16 lesions =10 mm, 19 lesions 6-9 mm, and 81 lesions =5 mm. For the experienced reader, sensitivities for lesions =6 mm with 3D Filet and 3D Filet + 2D were 77% and 83%, respectively. For the inexperienced readers, sensitivities for lesions =6 mm with 3D Filet and 2D were 51% and 57% (reader 2) and 40% and 43% (reader 3), respectively. There was no significant difference between 3D Filet and 2D regarding sensitivity and reading time. For lesions =6 mm, 3D Filet + 2D improved the sensitivity of reader 2 to 63% and of reader 3 to 51%. Conclusion: Lesion detection by inexperienced readers using perspective-filet view is comparable to that obtained by 2D. Lesion detection improves by

Optimal Placement Method of RFID Readers in Industrial Rail Transport for Uneven Rail Traflc Volume Management

Science.gov (United States)

Rakhmangulov, Aleksandr; Muravev, Dmitri; Mishkurov, Pavel

2016-11-01

The issue of operative data reception on location and movement of railcars is significant the constantly growing requirements of the provision of timely and safe transportation. The technical solution for efficiency improvement of data collection on rail rolling stock is the implementation of an identification system. Nowadays, there are several such systems, distinguished in working principle. In the authors' opinion, the most promising for rail transportation is the RFID technology, proposing the equipping of the railway tracks by the stationary points of data reading (RFID readers) from the onboard sensors on the railcars. However, regardless of a specific type and manufacturer of these systems, their implementation is affiliated with the significant financing costs for large, industrial, rail transport systems, owning the extensive network of special railway tracks with a large number of stations and loading areas. To reduce the investment costs for creation, the identification system of rolling stock on the special railway tracks of industrial enterprises has developed the method based on the idea of priority installation of the RFID readers on railway hauls, where rail traffic volumes are uneven in structure and power, parameters of which is difficult or impossible to predict on the basis of existing data in an information system. To select the optimal locations of RFID readers, the mathematical model of the staged installation of such readers has developed depending on the non-uniformity value of rail traffic volumes, passing through the specific railway hauls. As a result of that approach, installation of the numerous RFID readers at all station tracks and loading areas of industrial railway stations might be not necessary,which reduces the total cost of the rolling stock identification and the implementation of the method for optimal management of transportation process.

Chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting in daily clinical practice: a community hospital-based study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hilarius, D.L; Kloeg, P.H.; van der Wall, E.; van den Heuvel, J.J.G.; Gundy, C.M.; Aaronson, N.K.

2012-01-01

Background Chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) are major adverse effects of cancer chemotherapy. This study investigated: (1) the impact of CINV on patients' health-related quality of life (HRQL) in daily clinical practice; (2) the association between patient characteristics and type of

Impact of Reconstruction Algorithms on CT Radiomic Features of Pulmonary Tumors: Analysis of Intra- and Inter-Reader Variability and Inter-Reconstruction Algorithm Variability.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Hyungjin; Park, Chang Min; Lee, Myunghee; Park, Sang Joon; Song, Yong Sub; Lee, Jong Hyuk; Hwang, Eui Jin; Goo, Jin Mo

2016-01-01

To identify the impact of reconstruction algorithms on CT radiomic features of pulmonary tumors and to reveal and compare the intra- and inter-reader and inter-reconstruction algorithm variability of each feature. Forty-two patients (M:F = 19:23; mean age, 60.43±10.56 years) with 42 pulmonary tumors (22.56±8.51mm) underwent contrast-enhanced CT scans, which were reconstructed with filtered back projection and commercial iterative reconstruction algorithm (level 3 and 5). Two readers independently segmented the whole tumor volume. Fifteen radiomic features were extracted and compared among reconstruction algorithms. Intra- and inter-reader variability and inter-reconstruction algorithm variability were calculated using coefficients of variation (CVs) and then compared. Among the 15 features, 5 first-order tumor intensity features and 4 gray level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM)-based features showed significant differences (palgorithms. As for the variability, effective diameter, sphericity, entropy, and GLCM entropy were the most robust features (CV≤5%). Inter-reader variability was larger than intra-reader or inter-reconstruction algorithm variability in 9 features. However, for entropy, homogeneity, and 4 GLCM-based features, inter-reconstruction algorithm variability was significantly greater than inter-reader variability (palgorithms. Inter-reconstruction algorithm variability was greater than inter-reader variability for entropy, homogeneity, and GLCM-based features.

Masculinity (in magazine: appropriations, negotiations and resistance among readers of Men’s Health

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Filipe Bordinhão dos Santos

2012-04-01

Full Text Available This article analyzes the process of identity construction male readers from the appropriation of representations on masculinity at the Men’s Health magazine. Then, was realized study of reception with six assiduous readers of the magazine. Were applied in-depth interviews, structured from categories that correspond to the contemporary construction of masculinity (beauty/sexuality, consumption, work and family. It tried to be noted different forms of appropriation and resistance to this discourse hegemonic masculinity on the construction of identity of these individuals. In conclusion, it was noticed that the media still takes on the role in identity formation of their receptors –which, in time, ranging from upgrading the standard of masculinity of the “new man” to the maintenance of traditional values.

A Study of the Effect of Letter Spacing on the Reading Speed of Young Readers with Low Vision

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McLeish, Eve

2007-01-01

The aims of this study were two-fold: firstly, to establish a method of applying consistent letter spacing to documents using MS Word, and secondly, to investigate the effect of increased letter spacing on the reading speeds of readers with low vision. Tests on 14 readers with low vision showed that increased letter spacing benefited their reading…

Identifying clinically relevant drug resistance genes in drug-induced resistant cancer cell lines and post-chemotherapy tissues.

Science.gov (United States)

Tong, Mengsha; Zheng, Weicheng; Lu, Xingrong; Ao, Lu; Li, Xiangyu; Guan, Qingzhou; Cai, Hao; Li, Mengyao; Yan, Haidan; Guo, You; Chi, Pan; Guo, Zheng

2015-12-01

Until recently, few molecular signatures of drug resistance identified in drug-induced resistant cancer cell models can be translated into clinical practice. Here, we defined differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between pre-chemotherapy colorectal cancer (CRC) tissue samples of non-responders and responders for 5-fluorouracil and oxaliplatin-based therapy as clinically relevant drug resistance genes (CRG5-FU/L-OHP). Taking CRG5-FU/L-OHP as reference, we evaluated the clinical relevance of several types of genes derived from HCT116 CRC cells with resistance to 5-fluorouracil and oxaliplatin, respectively. The results revealed that DEGs between parental and resistant cells, when both were treated with the corresponding drug for a certain time, were significantly consistent with the CRG5-FU/L-OHP as well as the DEGs between the post-chemotherapy CRC specimens of responders and non-responders. This study suggests a novel strategy to extract clinically relevant drug resistance genes from both drug-induced resistant cell models and post-chemotherapy cancer tissue specimens.

A Look at the Modern Fantasy Currently Available to Young Readers.

Science.gov (United States)

Cianciolo, Patricia Jean

This paper examines the fantasy literature that is currently available to young readers. Twenty-two children's books are listed and discussed under the following topics: good storytelling and lively imagination, recurring themes, satires and word play, original fairytales, and works that reflect the divided self, the occult, and parapsychology. It…

Developmental Trajectories for Children with Dyslexia and Low IQ Poor Readers

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Kuppen, Sarah E. A.; Goswami, Usha

2016-01-01

Reading difficulties are found in children with both high and low IQ and it is now clear that both groups exhibit difficulties in phonological processing. Here, we apply the developmental trajectories approach, a new methodology developed for studying language and cognitive impairments in developmental disorders, to both poor reader groups. The…

Motivating Adolescent Readers: A Middle School Reading Fluency and Prosody Intervention

Science.gov (United States)

Whittington, Marta

2012-01-01

Adolescent learners face a complexity of reading content they have never before encountered as they enter middle school and become independent in structuring their own academic frameworks. Some students become disconnected and unmotivated readers as school competes with their multiple reading lives. This study examined the use of choice along with…

Multiple Learning Strategies Project. Building Maintenance & Engineering. Low Reader. [Vol. 2.

Science.gov (United States)

Steinberg, A.; And Others

This instructional package is one of two designed for low reader students (those reading at grade level 3-6) in the vocational area of building maintenance and engineering. The forty-four learning modules are organized into eleven units: chalkboards; carpet care; office cleaning; grounds; sanitation; boiler maintenance and operation; power and…

Teachers' Experiences Providing One-on-One Instruction to Struggling Readers

Science.gov (United States)

Liebfreund, Meghan D.; Amendum, Steven J.

2017-01-01

This study examined the experiences of 12 kindergarten, first-, and second-grade classroom teachers who provided one-on-one intervention instruction for struggling readers within the general classroom context. Teachers were interviewed at the end of the project. Interview statements clustered into four themes: Managing One-on-One Intervention,…

Automated Low-Cost Smartphone-Based Lateral Flow Saliva Test Reader for Drugs-of-Abuse Detection

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Adrian Carrio

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Lateral flow assay tests are nowadays becoming powerful, low-cost diagnostic tools. Obtaining a result is usually subject to visual interpretation of colored areas on the test by a human operator, introducing subjectivity and the possibility of errors in the extraction of the results. While automated test readers providing a result-consistent solution are widely available, they usually lack portability. In this paper, we present a smartphone-based automated reader for drug-of-abuse lateral flow assay tests, consisting of an inexpensive light box and a smartphone device. Test images captured with the smartphone camera are processed in the device using computer vision and machine learning techniques to perform automatic extraction of the results. A deep validation of the system has been carried out showing the high accuracy of the system. The proposed approach, applicable to any line-based or color-based lateral flow test in the market, effectively reduces the manufacturing costs of the reader and makes it portable and massively available while providing accurate, reliable results.

Automated Low-Cost Smartphone-Based Lateral Flow Saliva Test Reader for Drugs-of-Abuse Detection.

Science.gov (United States)

Carrio, Adrian; Sampedro, Carlos; Sanchez-Lopez, Jose Luis; Pimienta, Miguel; Campoy, Pascual

2015-11-24

Lateral flow assay tests are nowadays becoming powerful, low-cost diagnostic tools. Obtaining a result is usually subject to visual interpretation of colored areas on the test by a human operator, introducing subjectivity and the possibility of errors in the extraction of the results. While automated test readers providing a result-consistent solution are widely available, they usually lack portability. In this paper, we present a smartphone-based automated reader for drug-of-abuse lateral flow assay tests, consisting of an inexpensive light box and a smartphone device. Test images captured with the smartphone camera are processed in the device using computer vision and machine learning techniques to perform automatic extraction of the results. A deep validation of the system has been carried out showing the high accuracy of the system. The proposed approach, applicable to any line-based or color-based lateral flow test in the market, effectively reduces the manufacturing costs of the reader and makes it portable and massively available while providing accurate, reliable results.

A Case of Clozapine-Induced Myocarditis in a Young Patient with Bipolar Disorder

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Ronny Cohen

2015-01-01

Full Text Available We present a case of drug-induced myocarditis manifesting as acute heart failure in a young patient with bipolar disorder being treated for depression. The case describes a 20-year-old man being treated in the psychiatry ward for worsening depression when he started complaining of chest pain and shortness of breath. His list of medications included clozapine, lithium, lorazepam, and haloperidol. The main findings on physical examination were tachycardia, low-grade fever, crackles in both lung bases on auscultation, and the absence of any notable edema. Abnormal labs included a troponin of 0.9, with a CK of 245 and CK-MB of 3.1. An ECG revealed sinus tachycardia and left anterior fascicular block (LAFB. An echocardiogram revealed global hypokinesis, severe left ventricular dysfunction with an ejection fraction estimated at 20%. The patient had an admitting diagnosis of acute left ventricular systolic dysfunction likely secondary to drug-induced myocarditis (suspect clozapine versus acute coronary syndrome. He was managed conservatively and transferred to another facility for endomyocardial biopsy confirming myocarditis. This case is an example of one of the most typical presentations of suspected drug-induced acute myocarditis and will hopefully prompt the reader to think of this underdiagnosed entity in the right clinical setting.

Computational Sensing Using Low-Cost and Mobile Plasmonic Readers Designed by Machine Learning

KAUST Repository

Ballard, Zachary S.; Shir, Daniel; Bhardwaj, Aashish; Bazargan, Sarah; Sathianathan, Shyama; Ozcan, Aydogan

2017-01-01

approach was experimentally validated using a modular mobile plasmonic reader. We tested different plasmonic sensors with hexagonal and square periodicity nanohole arrays and revealed that the optimal illumination bands differ from those

Perceived Convenience, Compatibility, and Media Richness Contribute Significantly toDedicated E-book Reader Acceptance. A Review of: Lai, J.-Y., & Chang, C.-Y. (2011. User attitudes toward dedicated e-book readers for reading: The effects of convenience, compatibility and media richness. Online Information Review, 35(4, 558-580.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Theresa S. Arndt

2012-06-01

Full Text Available Objective – Investigates the effects ofperceived convenience, compatibility andmedia richness on users’ attitudes towarddedicated e-book readers.Design – Convenience sample survey.Setting – Taiwanese university.Subjects – A total of 288 students at the seniorsecondary (5%, four-year university (78%,and graduate student (17% levels. Malefemaleparticipation was approximately equal.Methods – Students completed a 23-itemsurvey on dedicated e-book readers, withquestions on perceived usefulness, perceivedease of use, intention to use, convenience,compatibility, and media richness. Data wasanalyzed using the partial least squaresstatistical technique.Main Results – Users state an increasedintention to use dedicated e-book readers ifthey perceive the technology to be compatiblewith what they desire in a “book,” if the devicedelivers rich media content, and if the device isconvenient. Compatibility was found tosignificantly affect perceived ease of use, andwas found to be the strongest influence onintent to use a dedicated e-book reader.Compatibility, media richness andconvenience also increased the perceivedusefulness of dedicated e-book readers.Conclusion – Users will prefer dedicated e-book readers that are compatible with their preferences in a “book,” that deliver media-rich content, and that they find convenient. The study has implications for the design and development of e-book reading devices.

Beyond Library Power: Reader's Digest Adds Public Libraries to the Mix.

Science.gov (United States)

Rockfield, Gary

1998-01-01

Describes the Tall Tree Initiative for Library Services, sponsored by the Reader's Digest Foundation and administered by the public and school library systems of Westchester County, New York. The initiative focuses on improving services offered children in the 21st century, and demands a new level of school-public library cooperation. (AEF)

Interacting with the Reader: Politeness Strategies in Engineering Research Article Discussions

Science.gov (United States)

Salom, Luz Gil; Monreal, Carmen Soler

2009-01-01

The writer's strategy to combine the exposition of factual information with personal judgement and interaction with the reader has been analysed in a number of studies (Hunston, 1994; Hyland, 1998a, 1998b; Latour and Woolgar, 1979; Skelton, 1997). Myers' studies (1989, 1992) on the pragmatics of politeness in scientific articles analyse politeness…

Multiple Learning Strategies Project. Building Maintenance & Engineering. Low Reader. [Vol. 1.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Dwight; And Others

This instructional package is one of two designed for low reader students (those reading at a 3-6 grade level) in the vocational area of building maintenance and engineering. The forty-six learning modules are organized into three units: floor care; general maintenance tasks; and restrooms. Each module includes these elements: a performance…

Design And Implementation Of Bank Locker Security System Based On Fingerprint Sensing Circuit And RFID Reader

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Khaing Mar Htwe

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract The main goal of this system is to design a locker security system using RFID and Fingerprint. In this system only authenticated person can open the door. A security system is implemented containing door locking system using passive type of RFID which can activate authenticate and validate the user and unlock the door in real time for secure access. The advantage of using passive RFID is that it functions without a battery and passive tags are lighter and are less expensive than the active tags. This system consists of fingerprint reader microcontroller RFID reader and PC. The RFID reader reads the id number from passive. The fingerprint sensor will check incoming image with enrolled data and it will send confirming signal for C program. If both RFID check and fingerprint image confirmation are matched the microcontroller will drive door motor according to sensors at door edges. This system is more secure than other systems because two codes protection method used.

Using the MoodleReader as an Extensive Reading Tool and Its Effect on Iranian EFL Students' Incidental Vocabulary Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Alavi, Sepideh; Keyvanshekouh, Afsaneh

2012-01-01

The present study focused on using the MoodleReader to promote extensive reading (ER) in an Iranian EFL context, emphasizing its effect on students' incidental vocabulary acquisition. Thirty eight Shiraz University sophomores were assigned to experimental and control groups. The experimental group used the MoodleReader for their ER program, while…

Effect of Computer-Aided Detection on Mammographic Performance: Experimental Study on Readers with Different Levels of Experience

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hukkinen, K.; Vehmas, T.; Pamilo, M.; Kivisaari, L.

2006-01-01

Purpose: To evaluate the effect of computer-aided detection (CAD) on the reader's performance. Material and Methods: Four screening radiologists, two novice radiologists, and two residents with no prior experience in CAD read films of 200 women without and with CAD. The films, including 16 screen-detected cancers and 35 cancers 'missed' on prior screening, were divided into two rollers: A (free time schedule) and B (prompted time schedule). Reading times were noted. Individual readings without and with CAD were compared, sensitivities and specificities were calculated. Results: The sensitivity of CAD was 70.6% and specificity 15.8%. In 408 cancer readings, the screeners found 10 and other readers 7 new cancers with the aid of CAD. The screeners changed their opinion four times and others six times from true positive to false negative when CAD was negative. CAD output produced 12 versus 13 new false-positive findings respectively after 2352 readings. CAD did not significantly affect the reader's sensitivities/specificities regardless of the time limit (P = not significant). The use of CAD increased mean time for roller reading from 56 to 63 min (P = 0.053). Conclusion: Screening radiologists benefited slightly more from CAD than other readers did, but no statistical significant difference was found in personal readings without and with CAD

Signal and array processing techniques for RFID readers

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Jing; Amin, Moeness; Zhang, Yimin

2006-05-01

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) has recently attracted much attention in both the technical and business communities. It has found wide applications in, for example, toll collection, supply-chain management, access control, localization tracking, real-time monitoring, and object identification. Situations may arise where the movement directions of the tagged RFID items through a portal is of interest and must be determined. Doppler estimation may prove complicated or impractical to perform by RFID readers. Several alternative approaches, including the use of an array of sensors with arbitrary geometry, can be applied. In this paper, we consider direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation techniques for application to near-field narrowband RFID problems. Particularly, we examine the use of a pair of RFID antennas to track moving RFID tagged items through a portal. With two antennas, the near-field DOA estimation problem can be simplified to a far-field problem, yielding a simple way for identifying the direction of the tag movement, where only one parameter, the angle, needs to be considered. In this case, tracking of the moving direction of the tag simply amounts to computing the spatial cross-correlation between the data samples received at the two antennas. It is pointed out that the radiation patterns of the reader and tag antennas, particularly their phase characteristics, have a significant effect on the performance of DOA estimation. Indoor experiments are conducted in the Radar Imaging and RFID Labs at Villanova University for validating the proposed technique for target movement direction estimations.

Treatment failure in patients with HPV 16-induced vulvar intraepithelial neoplasia: understanding different clinical responses to immunotherapy.

Science.gov (United States)

van Esch, Edith M G; Welters, Marij J P; Jordanova, Ekaterina S; Trimbos, J Baptist M Z; van der Burg, Sjoerd H; van Poelgeest, Mariëtte I E

2012-07-01

Failure of the immune system to launch a strong and effective immune response to high-risk HPV is related to viral persistence and the development of anogenital (pre)malignant lesions such as vulvar intraepithelial neoplasia (VIN). Different forms of immunotherapy, aimed at overcoming the inertia of the immune system, have been developed and met with clinical success. Unfortunately these, in principal successful, therapeutic approaches also fail to induce clinical responses in a substantial number of cases. In this review, the authors summarize the traits of the immune response to HPV in healthy individuals and in patients with HPV-induced neoplasia. The potential mechanisms involved in the escape of HPV-induced lesions from the immune system indicate gaps in our knowledge. Finally, the interaction between the immune system and VIN is discussed with a special focus on the different forms of immunotherapy applied to treat VIN and the potential causes of therapy failure. The authors conclude that there are a number of pre-existing conditions that determine the patients' responsiveness to immunotherapy. An immunotherapeutic strategy in which different aspects of immune failure are attacked by complementary approaches, will improve the clinical response rate.

Self-representation in literary fandom: Women's leisure reader selfies as postfeminist performance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dawn S. Opel

2015-03-01

Full Text Available In social media communities dedicated to women's leisure reading and literary fandom, images of women engaged in the act of reading circulate prominently. These images—created and uploaded to fan sites by the fans themselves—have recurring characteristics: the woman often holds a leather-bound book, wears romanticized, neo-Victorian dress, and has exaggeratedly feminine, sexualized features. These representations are not of actual members of the community but rather fictive, collected, circulated, and commented upon in a communal act of identity construction. This gendered visual representation of the literate self provides a performance of a double movement in postfeminist culture: a broadcasting of discourses that is empowering (participatory digital cultural production around literature and yet promotes a cultural context for reinforcement of conventional gender norms. To demonstrate this double movement, I utilize a case study of these self-representational fan images, collected over a year on a Facebook group page for fans of 19th-century British literature and filmic adaptations. These images and their circulation are then analyzed via a two-pronged double movement theoretical framework. First, feminist media scholarship helps explain the empowering aspects of the new media creation of the reader selfie. Second, gender performance uncovers how these repeated sexualized images of women readers reentrench conventional, hyperfeminine, and sexualized gender roles. Double movement takes place in contemporary women leisure readers' lives, and the media-led postfeminist cultural movement offers a depoliticized, self-indulgent path toward youth and beauty at the expense of institutional or social change.

Phonologically-Based Priming in the Same-Different Task With L1 Readers.

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Lupker, Stephen J; Nakayama, Mariko; Yoshihara, Masahiro

2018-02-01

The present experiment provides an investigation of a promising new tool, the masked priming same-different task, for investigating the orthographic coding process. Orthographic coding is the process of establishing a mental representation of the letters and letter order in the word being read which is then used by readers to access higher-level (e.g., semantic) information about that word. Prior research (e.g., Norris & Kinoshita, 2008) had suggested that performance in this task may be based entirely on orthographic codes. As reported by Lupker, Nakayama, and Perea (2015a), however, in at least some circumstances, phonological codes also play a role. Specifically, even though their 2 languages are completely different orthographically, Lupker et al.'s Japanese-English bilinguals showed priming in this task when masked L1 primes were phonologically similar to L2 targets. An obvious follow-up question is whether Lupker et al.'s effect might have resulted from a strategy that was adopted by their bilinguals to aid in processing of, and memory for, the somewhat unfamiliar L2 targets. In the present experiment, Japanese readers responded to (Japanese) Kanji targets with phonologically identical primes (on "related" trials) being presented in a completely different but highly familiar Japanese script, Hiragana. Once again, significant priming effects were observed, indicating that, although performance in the masked priming same-different task may be mainly based on orthographic codes, phonological codes can play a role even when the stimuli being matched are familiar words from a reader's L1. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Disabled vs nondisabled readers: perceptual vs higher-order processing of one vs three letters.

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Allegretti, C L; Puglisi, J T

1986-10-01

12 disabled and 12 nondisabled readers (mean age, 11 yr.) were compared on a letter-search task which separated perceptual processing from higher-order processing. Participants were presented a first stimulus (for 200 msec. to minimize eye movements) followed by a second stimulus immediately to estimate the amount of information initially perceived or after a 3000-msec. interval to examine information more permanently stored. Participants were required to decide whether any letter present in the first stimulus was also present in the second. Two processing loads (1 and 3 letters) were examined. Disabled readers showed more pronounced deficits when they were given very little time to process information or more information to process.

"It Makes Me Really Want To Read": Struggling Readers Discover Literature.

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Primeaux, Joan

2001-01-01

Presents a project where the teacher, rather than teaching the students how to read using a remedial, isolated skills approach, concerned herself with getting them to read by "falling into the literature" and getting involved in the characters' lives. Describes a reader response approach that was designed to motivate the students to engage with…

Fifty Shades a way readers put sex back in their lives

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Knudsen, Gry Høngsmark

2014-01-01

This is a guest blog from Gry Høngsmark Knudsen, a former student, who visited my “Women’s Economy” class this winter to report on her project about the reception of Fifty Shades of Grey. We all enjoyed her report, so I asked her to write a short blog for Double X Readers....

Visual-Attentional Span and Lexical ­Decision in Skilled Adult Readers

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Holmes, Virginia M.; Dawson, Georgia

2014-01-01

The goal of the study was to examine the association between visual-attentional span and lexical decision in skilled adult readers. In the span tasks, an array of letters was presented briefly and recognition or production of a single cued letter (partial span) or production of all letters (whole span) was required. Independently of letter…

Developing a Scale to Measure Reader Self-Perception for EFL Students

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Adunyarittigun, Dumrong

2015-01-01

The development of a scale for measuring self-perception for readers of English as a foreign language is discussed in this paper. The scale was developed from the four dimensions of self-efficacy theory proposed by Bandura (1977a): progress, observational comparison, social feedback and physiological states. A 36 item scale was developed to…

Weak and strong novice readers of English as a foreign language: effects of first language and socioeconomic status.

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Kahn-Horwitz, Janina; Shimron, Joseph; Sparks, Richard L

2006-06-01

This study examined individual differences among beginning readers of English as a foreign language (EFL). The study concentrated on the effects of underlying first language (L1) knowledge as well as EFL letter and vocabulary knowledge. Phonological and morphological awareness, spelling, vocabulary knowledge, and word reading in Hebrew L1, in addition to knowledge of EFL letters and EFL vocabulary, were measured. The study also investigated the effect of socioeconomic background (SES) on beginning EFL readers. Participants included 145 fourth graders from three schools representing two socioeconomic backgrounds in the north of Israel. The results indicate that knowledge of English letters played a more prominent role than knowledge of Hebrew L1 components in differentiating between strong and weak EFL readers. The Linguistic Coding Differences Hypothesis was supported by L1 phonological awareness, word reading, and vocabulary knowledge appearing as part of discriminating functions. The presence of English vocabulary knowledge as part of the discriminant functions provides support for English word reading being more than just a decoding task for EFL beginner readers. Socioeconomic status differentiated the groups for EFL word recognition but not for EFL reading comprehension.

Varying Readability of Science-Based Text in Elementary Readers: Challenges for Teachers

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Gallagher, Tiffany L.; Fazio, Xavier; Gunning, Thomas G.

2012-01-01

This investigation compared readability formulae to publishers' identified reading levels in science-based elementary readers. Nine well-established readability indices were calculated and comparisons were made with the publishers' identified grade designations and between different genres of text. Results revealed considerable variance among the…

Development of portable ESR spectrometer as a reader for alanine dosimeters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kojima, T.; Haruyama, Y.; Tachibana, H.; Tanaka, R.; Okamoto, J.

1993-01-01

A prototype portable electron spin resonance (ESR) spectrometer was designed and tested, and its feasibility as a reader of alanine dosimeters was studied from the two standpoints of reproducibility of readings and sensitivity sufficient for dosimetry in the absorbed dose range 1-100 kGy. It has two main components: a permanent magnet and resonator; and a unit box with a microwave and auto-frequency control (AFC) circuit, a sweep controller of magnetic field, display, etc. In the present preliminary study, reproducibility values are measured with the same ESR parameters and alanine-polystyrene (alanine-PS) dosimeter at a dose of 1 kGy: repeatedly measuring without removing dosimeter from the cavity; individual measurement with removing and inserting again into the cavity with readjustment of ESR parameters. Alanine/ESR dosimetry using this spectrometer has a measurable dose range from 1 to 100 kGy with relatively high precision within ± 3% (1σ) as a preliminary result. The portable ESR spectrometer may also be modified as an automatic, more precise, dedicated alanine dosimeter reader. (author)

CLINICAL PRESENTATION OF LENS INDUCED GLAUCOMA: STUDY OF EPIDEMIOLOGY, DURATION OF SYMPTOMS, INTRAOCULAR PRESSURE AND VISUAL ACUITY

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Venkataratnam

2015-10-01

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Lens Induced Glaucoma is a common cause of ocular morbidity. OBJECTIVES: Our study was to know the Epidemiological factors, Duration of Symptoms, Visual Acuity and Intraocular Pressure in the clinical Presentation of Lens Induced Glaucoma. MATERIALS AND METHODS : This w as a tertiary hospital based prospective study in the department of Glaucoma, Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital and Regional Institute of Ophthalmology (RIO, Osmania Medical College, Hyderabad over a period from March 2015 to August 2015. 50 Patients clinically diagnosed as Lens Induced Glaucoma (LIG were studied with the data of Age, Sex, literacy, Laterality and Rural / Urban status with the duration of symptoms, Intraocular pressure and Visual Acuity. The data was analyzed by simple statistical methods. RESULT S: 50 patients, clinically diagnosed as Lens Induced Glaucoma (LIG were studied. Age group distribution was 1(2.0% in 40 - 50yrs, 13 ( 26.0% in >50 - 60yrs, 26(52.0% in >60 - 70yrs and 10(20.0% in > 70 yrs. Sex distribution was 23(46.0% of Males and 27(54.0% of Females. Urban / Rural status was 15(30.0% of Urban and 35(70.0% of Rural. Literacy status was 7(14.0% of Literate and 43(86.0% of Illiterate. Laterality was RE in 24(48.0% and LE in 26(52.0%. Duration of the presenting symptoms before re porting to the Hospital was 12.0% in 2wks. Intraocular pressure (IOP in mm of Hg showed no case (0.0% in 20 – 40, 27(54.0% in >40 - 60 and 5(10.0% >60 wit h the Mean IOP of 42.12 mm of Hg. Visual Acuity (VA was PL +ve in 24(48.0 and HM - 3/60. CONCLUSIONS: Increasing age, female gender, rural, illiterate, and delayed reporting to the hospital after the pre senting symptoms were the common risk factors with increased Intraocular pressure and poor visual acuity in the clinical presentation of Lens induced Glaucoma.

Generation and genetic modification of induced pluripotent stem cells.

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Schambach, Axel; Cantz, Tobias; Baum, Christopher; Cathomen, Toni

2010-07-01

The generation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) enabled by exogenous expression of the canonical Oct4, Sox2, Klf4 and c-Myc reprogramming factors has opened new ways to create patient- or disease-specific pluripotent cells. iPSCs represent an almost inexhaustible source of cells for targeted differentiation into somatic effector cells and hence are likely to be invaluable for therapeutic applications and disease-related research. After an introduction on the biology of reprogramming we cover emerging technological advances, including new reprogramming approaches, small-molecule compounds and tailored genetic modification, and give an outlook towards potential clinical applications of iPSCs. Although this field is progressing rapidly, reprogramming is still an inefficient process. The reader will learn about innovative tools to generate patient-specific iPSCs and how to modify these established lines in a safe way. Ideally, the disease-causing mutation is edited directly in the genome using novel technologies based on artificial nucleases, such as zinc-finger nucleases. Human iPSCs create fascinating options with regard to disease modeling, drug testing, developmental studies and therapeutic applications. However, important hurdles have to be taken and more efficient protocols to be established to achieve the ambitious goal of bringing iPSCs into clinical use.

Clinical characteristics and outcomes of traditional Chinese medicine-induced liver injury: a systematic review.

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Wang, Ran; Qi, Xingshun; Yoshida, Eric M; Méndez-Sánchez, Nahum; Teschke, Rolf; Sun, Mingyu; Liu, Xu; Su, Chunping; Deng, Jiao; Deng, Han; Hou, Feifei; Guo, Xiaozhong

2018-04-01

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is becoming increasingly popular and related adverse events are often ignored or underestimated. This systematic review aimed to evaluate the clinical characteristics and outcomes of TCM-induced liver injury (TCM-ILI) and to estimate the proportion of TCM-ILI in all drug-induced liver injuries (DILI). China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang, VIP, PubMed, and Embase databases were searched. Demographic, clinical, and survival data were extracted and pooled. Factors associated with worse outcomes were calculated. For the proportion meta-analyses, the data were pooled by using a random-effects model. Overall, 21,027 articles were retrieved, of which 625 were finally included. There was a predominance of female and older patients. The proportion of liver transplantation was 2.18% (7/321). The mortality was 4.67% (15/321). Male, higher aspartate aminotransferase and direct bilirubin, and lower albumin were significantly associated with an increased risk of death/liver transplantation in TCM-ILI patients. The proportion of TCM-ILI in all DILI was 25.71%. The proportion was gradually increased with year. Our work summarises current knowledge regarding clinical presentation, disease course, and prognosis of TCM-ILI. TCM can result in hepatotoxicity, even death or necessitate life-saving liver transplantation. Governmental regulation of TCM products should be strictly established.

Empowering Girls through Sport? Sports Advice Books for Young Female Readers

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Heinecken, Dawn

2016-01-01

Advice books by female athletes are among the top selling sports books for young readers in the US. Though they have received little attention to date, sports advice books are important to examine because of how they function as a form of conduct manual instructing girls in specific understandings of female identity. Implying that girls face…

Morpho-phonemic analysis boosts word reading for adult struggling readers

OpenAIRE

Gray, Susan H.; Ehri, Linnea C.; Locke, John L.

2017-01-01

A randomized control trial compared the effects of two kinds of vocabulary instruction on component reading skills of adult struggling readers. Participants seeking alternative high school diplomas received 8 h of scripted tutoring to learn forty academic vocabulary words embedded within a civics curriculum. They were matched for language background and reading levels, then randomly assigned to either morpho-phonemic analysis teaching word origins, morpheme and syllable structures, or traditi...

A study on the development of an infographic reader questionnaire and reader opinions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yıldırım Serkan

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Educational materials are commonly used to assist with communication during learning. One of the ways to determine the use of educational materials and their contribution to the learning process is to ask students for their opinions. Student opinions provide useful information regarding various objectives such as making both the learning process and resources more effective, bringing about the necessary improvements and organising the teaching process. In this study, we developed a questionnaire for determining the opinions of information graphics (infographics readers on information graphics prepared for teaching purposes. This study was conducted in the fall semester of the 2013-2014 academic year with the participation of 59 students from the Department of Computer and Instructional Technologies Education of the Kazım Karabekir Faculty of Education. The students were provided with a questionnaire consisting of 29 items that inquired their opinions on infographics. The collected data were assessed using Principal Component Analysis. Based on the analysis results, a second questionnaire consisting of 23 items and six factors (Learnability, Selection Preferences, Sharing, Basic Presentation Structure, Memorability, and Role in the Learning Process was developed. According to the study results, the students considered infographics as highly instructive, and described that they help ensure a more lasting learning experience.

Communications device identification methods, communications methods, wireless communications readers, wireless communications systems, and articles of manufacture

Science.gov (United States)

Steele, Kerry D [Kennewick, WA; Anderson, Gordon A [Benton City, WA; Gilbert, Ronald W [Morgan Hill, CA

2011-02-01

Communications device identification methods, communications methods, wireless communications readers, wireless communications systems, and articles of manufacture are described. In one aspect, a communications device identification method includes providing identification information regarding a group of wireless identification devices within a wireless communications range of a reader, using the provided identification information, selecting one of a plurality of different search procedures for identifying unidentified ones of the wireless identification devices within the wireless communications range, and identifying at least some of the unidentified ones of the wireless identification devices using the selected one of the search procedures.

Emergent Readers' Social Interaction Styles and Their Comprehension Processes during Buddy Reading

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Christ, Tanya; Wang, X. Christine; Chiu, Ming Ming

2015-01-01

To examine the relations between emergent readers' social interaction styles and their comprehension processes, we adapted sociocultural and transactional views of learning and reading, and conducted statistical discourse analysis of 1,359 conversation turns transcribed from 14 preschoolers' 40 buddy reading events. Results show that interaction…

Spelling consistency affects reading in young Dutch readers with and without dyslexia

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bosman, A.M.T.; Vonk, W.; Zwam, M. van

2006-01-01

Lexical-decision studies with experienced English and French readers have shown that visual-word identification is not only affected by pronunciation inconsistency of a word (i.e., multiple ways to pronounce a spelling body), but also by spelling inconsistency (i.e., multiple ways to spell a

Expository text comprehension: for which readers does knowledge of connectives contribute the most?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Welie, C; Schoonen, R; Kuiken, F; van den Bergh, H.H.

2017-01-01

The present study examined whether knowledge of connectives contributes uniquely to expository text comprehension above and beyond reading fluency, general vocabulary knowledge and metacognitive knowledge. Furthermore, it was examined whether this contribution differs for readers with different

Shared temporoparietal dysfunction in dyslexia and typical readers with discrepantly high IQ.

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Hancock, Roeland; Gabrieli, John D E; Hoeft, Fumiko

2016-12-01

It is currently believed that reading disability (RD) should be defined by reading level without regard to broader aptitude (IQ). There is debate, however, about how to classify individuals who read in the typical range but less well than would be expected by their higher IQ. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in 49 children to examine whether those with typical, but discrepantly low reading ability relative to IQ, show dyslexia-like activation patterns during reading. Children who were typical readers with high-IQ discrepancy showed reduced activation in left temporoparietal neocortex relative to two control groups of typical readers without IQ discrepancy. This pattern was consistent and spatially overlapping with results in children with RD compared to typically reading children. The results suggest a shared neurological atypicality in regions associated with phonological processing between children with dyslexia and children with typical reading ability that is substantially below their IQ.

Semantic, syntactic, and phonological processing of written words in adult developmental dyslexic readers: an event-related brain potential study

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Johannes Sönke

2007-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The present study used event-related brain potentials to investigate semantic, phonological and syntactic processes in adult German dyslexic and normal readers in a word reading task. Pairs of German words were presented one word at a time. Subjects had to perform a semantic judgment task (house – window; are they semantically related?, a rhyme judgment task (house – mouse; do they rhyme? and a gender judgment task (das – Haus [the – house]; is the gender correct? [in German, house has a neutral gender: das Haus]. Results Normal readers responded faster compared to dyslexic readers in all three tasks. Onset latencies of the N400 component were delayed in dyslexic readers in the rhyme judgment and in the gender judgment task, but not in the semantic judgment task. N400 and the anterior negativity peak amplitudes did not differ between the two groups. However, the N400 persisted longer in the dyslexic group in the rhyme judgment and in the semantic judgment tasks. Conclusion These findings indicate that dyslexics are phonologically impaired (delayed N400 in the rhyme judgment task but that they also have difficulties in other, non-phonological aspects of reading (longer response times, longer persistence of the N400. Specifically, semantic and syntactic integration seem to require more effort for dyslexic readers and take longer irrespective of the reading task that has to be performed.

In situ study of the impact of inter- and intra-reader variability on region of interest (ROI) analysis in preclinical molecular imaging.

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Habte, Frezghi; Budhiraja, Shradha; Keren, Shay; Doyle, Timothy C; Levin, Craig S; Paik, David S

2013-01-01

We estimated reader-dependent variability of region of interest (ROI) analysis and evaluated its impact on preclinical quantitative molecular imaging. To estimate reader variability, we used five independent image datasets acquired each using microPET and multispectral fluorescence imaging (MSFI). We also selected ten experienced researchers who utilize molecular imaging in the same environment that they typically perform their own studies. Nine investigators blinded to the data type completed the ROI analysis by drawing ROIs manually that delineate the tumor regions to the best of their knowledge and repeated the measurements three times, non-consecutively. Extracted mean intensities of voxels within each ROI are used to compute the coefficient of variation (CV) and characterize the inter- and intra-reader variability. The impact of variability was assessed through random samples iterated from normal distributions for control and experimental groups on hypothesis testing and computing statistical power by varying subject size, measured difference between groups and CV. The results indicate that inter-reader variability was 22.5% for microPET and 72.2% for MSFI. Additionally, mean intra-reader variability was 10.1% for microPET and 26.4% for MSFI. Repeated statistical testing showed that a total variability of CV variability has been observed mainly due to differences in the ROI placement and geometry drawn between readers, which may adversely affect statistical power and erroneously lead to negative study outcomes.

How Parental Support during Homework Contributes to Helpless Behaviors among Struggling Readers

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Orkin, Melissa; May, Sidney; Wolf, Maryanne

2017-01-01

This research investigated the influence of parental practices on helpless behaviors of struggling readers during homework tasks. Parents (N = 36) of elementary students reported on their children's helpless behaviors, such as task avoidance and negative affect, during homework assignments, and on the nature and frequency of their support.…

Competent Adolescent Readers' Use of Internet Reading Strategies: A Think-Aloud Study

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Cho, Byeong-Young

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the type, pattern, and complexity of Internet reading strategies used by seven accomplished high school readers. Individual participants performed an academic Internet reading task with the goal of developing critical questions about their chosen controversial topic. Strategies for Internet reading were…

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy theory and applications

CERN Document Server

Perini, Umberto

2014-01-01

This book deals with the Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS), a widely used atomic emission spectroscopy technique for elemental analysis of materials. It is based on the use of a high-power, short pulse laser excitation. The book is divided into two main sections: the first one concerning theoretical aspects of the technique, the second one describing the state of the art in applications of the technique in different scientific/technological areas. Numerous examples of state of the art applications provide the readers an almost complete scenario of the LIBS technique. The LIBS theoretical aspects are reviewed. The book helps the readers who are less familiar with the technique to understand the basic principles. Numerous examples of state of the art applications give an almost complete scenario of the LIBS technique potentiality. These examples of applications may have a strong impact on future industrial utilization. The authors made important contributions to the development of this field.

CT colonography: effect of computer-aided detection of colonic polyps as a second and concurrent reader for general radiologists with moderate experience in CT colonography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mang, Thomas; Ringel, Helmut; Weber, Michael; Bogoni, Luca; Anand, Vikram X.; Hermosillo, Gerardo; Raykar, Vikas; Salganicoff, Marcos; Wolf, Matthias; Chandra, Dass; Curtin, Andrew J.; Lev-Toaff, Anna S.; Noah, Ralph; Shaw, Robert; Summerton, Susan; Tappouni, Rafel F.R.; Obuchowski, Nancy A.

2014-01-01

To assess the effectiveness of computer-aided detection (CAD) as a second reader or concurrent reader in helping radiologists who are moderately experienced in computed tomographic colonography (CTC) to detect colorectal polyps. Seventy CTC datasets (34 patients: 66 polyps ≥6 mm; 36 patients: no abnormalities) were retrospectively reviewed by seven radiologists with moderate CTC experience. After primary unassisted evaluation, a CAD second read and, after a time interval of ≥4 weeks, a CAD concurrent read were performed. Areas under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC), along with per-segment, per-polyp and per-patient sensitivities, and also reading times, were calculated for each reader with and without CAD. Of seven readers, 86 % and 71 % achieved a higher accuracy (segment-level AUC) when using CAD as second and concurrent reader respectively. Average segment-level AUCs with second and concurrent CAD (0.853 and 0.864) were significantly greater (p < 0.0001) than average AUC in the unaided evaluation (0.781). Per-segment, per-polyp, and per-patient sensitivities for polyps ≥6 mm were significantly higher in both CAD reading paradigms compared with unaided evaluation. Second-read CAD reduced readers' average segment and patient specificity by 0.007 and 0.036 (p = 0.005 and 0.011), respectively. CAD significantly improves the sensitivities of radiologists moderately experienced in CTC for polyp detection, both as second reader and concurrent reader. (orig.)

RTI and the Adolescent Reader: Responsive Literacy Instruction in Secondary Schools (Middle and High School). Language & Literacy Series Practitioners Bookshelf

Science.gov (United States)

Brozo, William G.

2011-01-01

"RTI and the Adolescent Reader" focuses exclusively on Response to Intervention (RTI) for literacy at the secondary level. In this accessible guide, William Brozo defines RTI and explains why and how it is considered a viable intervention model for adolescent readers. He analyzes the authentic structural, political, cultural, and teacher…

[Up-to-date research for clinical application in breast cancer].

Science.gov (United States)

Koyama, Hiroki

2006-03-01

Breast cancer is still increasing in number of patients affected annually, with a peak incidence between 40-50 years of age. Various researches to control the disease have been attracting much attention scientifically and socially. Clinical application of trastuzumab (Herceptin), sentinel node biopsy to avoid unnecessary axillary dissection and individualized use of chemo-endocrine therapy as indicated by large scale clinical trials are among the recent successful results by pre-clinical and early clinical studies. In this context, the present special edition deals with articles on recent progress in breast cancer researches by leading scientists in this field. Hoping readers to understand, digest, and also to be stimulated by the updates for daily clinical practice.

Atypical feline sporotrichosis resembling vaccine-induced sarcoma: clinical and histopathological aspects.

Science.gov (United States)

dos Santos, Isabele Barbieri; Quintella, Leonardo Pereira; de Miranda, Luisa Helena Monteiro; de Sousa Trotte, Marcele Nogueira; Schubach, Tânia Maria Pacheco; Tortelly, Rogerio

2013-06-01

A 7-year-old Siamese cat presenting with three ulcerated cutaneous nodules in the lumbosacral region was seen at the Laboratory for Clinical Research on Dermatozoonoses in Domestic Animals in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Histopathological analysis showed that the lesions consisted of polyhedral and spindle-shaped voluminous mononuclear cells with loose chromatin and clearly visible nucleoli, few giant cells, and foci of coagulative and caseous necrosis -- findings suggestive of a vaccine-induced sarcoma. No significant mitotic rate, cytological atypias or asteroid bodies were observed. Special histopathological staining with periodic acid-Schiff and Grocott's silver stain demonstrated the presence of small yeast cells characterized by simple and narrow-base budding compatible with Sporothrix schenckii. Mycological culture grew S schenckii. Cytopathology was negative for yeast cells. These atypical clinical and histopathological signs support the importance of histopathological analysis with special staining techniques, in addition to mycological culture in the diagnosis of feline sporotrichosis.

Recent technological updates and clinical applications of induced pluripotent stem cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Diecke, Sebastian; Jung, Seung Min; Lee, Jaecheol; Ju, Ji Hyeon

2014-09-01

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) were first described in 2006 and have since emerged as a promising cell source for clinical applications. The rapid progression in iPSC technology is still ongoing and directed toward increasing the efficacy of iPSC production and reducing the immunogenic and tumorigenic potential of these cells. Enormous efforts have been made to apply iPSC-based technology in the clinic, for drug screening approaches and cell replacement therapy. Moreover, disease modeling using patient-specific iPSCs continues to expand our knowledge regarding the pathophysiology and prospective treatment of rare disorders. Furthermore, autologous stem cell therapy with patient-specific iPSCs shows great propensity for the minimization of immune reactions and the provision of a limitless supply of cells for transplantation. In this review, we discuss the recent updates in iPSC technology and the use of iPSCs in disease modeling and regenerative medicine.

MRI-guided laser-induced thermotherapy (LITT) of liver metastases: clinical evaluation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vogl, T.J.; Weinhold, N.; Mueller, P.; Mack, M.; Scholz, W.; Philipp, C.; Roggan, A.; Felix, R.

1996-01-01

The goal was to perform an evaluation of MRI-guided laser-induced thermotherapy (LITT) of liver metastases as a clinical method. In a prospective study, 50 patients with liver metastases of colorectal carcinoma (35 patients), or other primary tumors (15 patients) were treated with LITT. For preparation and intermittent controls of therapy, standardized MRI examinations were made. Online monitoring during the the LITT was done with temperature-sensitive T1-weighted sequences (FLASH-2D, TurboFLASH). All in all, 83 metastases of a volume between 1 and 282 cubic centimeters (median = ± 10 cm 3 ) were treated.During performance of the LITT, a decrease of signal intensity in the thermosensitive sequences was measured for the application area, and was correlated with fluorine-optical temperature measurements. The MRI-guided LITT is a novel, potential modality for treatment of liver metastases, and poses only minimal clinical risks. (orig./VHE) [de