Screening for voice problems in school-age children : a comparison between teacher, parent and speech therapist reports

This study investigated untrained parents and teachers’ ability to detect voice disorders in children by comparing their judgments with experienced speech therapists’ judgments. Parents and teachers of 64 Cantonese-speaking primary-one students completed a screening questionnaire for each of their own child or student. The questionnaire comprised three parts: 1) perceptual rating of eight voice quality parameters, 2) overall severity rating, and 3) decision on referral for follow-up. Four experienced speech therapists not knowing the students made judgments using the same questionnaire based on recorded voice samples of passage reading of students. Results revealed poor correlations between parent and speech therapist, as well as between teacher and speech therapist. Percentage of exact agreement was not high between parent and speech therapist, as well as between teacher and speech therapist. The results suggest that parents and teachers may not provide reliable perceptual judgments of children’s voice, compared with that made by speech therapists, and not identify and refer dysphonic cases very accurately.published_or_final_versionSpeech and Hearing SciencesBachelorBachelor of Science in Speech and Hearing Science

Budget / Account system

A report on the specification, design and implementation of the Budget/Account system

2011 German Escherichia coli outbreak: Alignment-free whole-genome phylogeny by feature frequency profiles

Accuracy of SNP-based whole-genome phylogeny reconstruction relies heavily on quality of sequence alignment which is particularly hindered by poorly assembled genomes. Alignment-free methods might provide additional insights. Here, we constructed a whole-genome phylogeny of 9 E.coli isolates from the 2011 German outbreak against existing E. coli genomes using the alignment-free feature frequency profile method. In addition, we looked for gene elements that distinguish the outbreak group from the other E. coli strains and possibly accounted for the emergence of the outbreak isolates using the distinguishing feature analysis

The effect of continuous versus fading feedback on laryngeal muscle relaxation learning

"A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Bachelor of Science (Speech and Hearing Sciences), The University of Hong Kong, December 31, 2004."Also available in print.Thesis (B.Sc)--University of Hong Kong, 2004.published_or_final_versionSpeech and Hearing SciencesBachelorBachelor of Science in Speech and Hearing Science

THE INFLUENCE OF MATERNAL SENSITIVITY, SHYNESS AND LANGUAGE ABILITY ON PRESCHOOLERS' PEER LIKABILITY

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

2011 German Escherichia coli O104:H4 outbreak: whole-genome phylogeny without alignment

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A large-scale <it>Escherichia coli </it>O104:H4 outbreak occurred in Germany from May to July 2011, causing numerous cases of hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS) and deaths. Genomes of ten outbreak isolates and a historical O104:H4 strain isolated in 2001 were sequenced using different new generation sequencing platforms. Phylogenetic analyses were performed using various approaches which either are not genome-wide or may be subject to errors due to poor sequence alignment. Also, detailed pathogenicity analyses on the 2001 strain were not available.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>We reconstructed the phylogeny of <it>E. coli </it>using the genome-wide and alignment-free feature frequency profile method and revealed the 2001 strain to be the closest relative to the 2011 outbreak strain among all available <it>E. coli </it>strains at present and confirmed findings from previous alignment-based phylogenetic studies that the HUS-causing O104:H4 strains are more closely related to typical enteroaggregative <it>E. coli </it>(EAEC) than to enterohemorrhagic <it>E. coli</it>. Detailed re-examination of pathogenicity-related virulence factors and secreted proteins showed that the 2001 strain possesses virulence factors shared between typical EAEC and the 2011 outbreak strain.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our study represents the first attempt to elucidate the whole-genome phylogeny of the 2011 German outbreak using an alignment-free method, and suggested a direct line of ancestry leading from a putative EAEC-like ancestor through the 2001 strain to the 2011 outbreak strain.</p

2011 German Escherichia coli outbreak: Prophage analysis of close-assembled TY2482 against 55989 using PHAST

Using the Hiseq data of the German E. coli outbreak isolate TY2482, preliminary prophage analyses have been performed by some researchers previously. With the closed assembly of the same isolate being available, another round of analysis might help in resolving questions that remain unclear due to the incompleteness of the dataset

Mirror symmetry breaking and chiral amplification of ethylenediammonium sulfate crystals

Chiral symmetry breaking is a process that generates one enantiomer largely over the other when a racemic mixture is expected. In nature, one handedness is preferred over the other and it has been shown that chiral molecules, including amino acids, can preferentially adsorb on chiral mineral surfaces such as quartz and calcite. This project investigates the mirror symmetry breaking process of ethylenediammonium sulfate (EDS), an achiral salt that crystallizes into chiral crystals. Here, we investigate the directed mirror symmetry breaking and chiral amplification of EDS in the presence of chiral amino acids using an abrasion/grinding process. The direction of chiral symmetry breaking is strongly dependent on the amino acid and its chirality: (i) for thirteen chiral amino acids, the addition of the D-isomer directed the chiral symmetry breaking process towards homochiral dextrorotatory EDS crystals; whereas the addition of the L-isomer directed the chiral symmetry breaking process towards homochiral levorotatory EDS crystals, (ii) asparagine, tryptophan and tyrosine showed the reverse trend, and (iii) no effect was observed when adding arginine, lysine or methionine to the EDS mixture. In the future, the effect of chiral additives on the surface microtopography of EDS crystals will be investigated using atomic force microscopy and surface etching. The selective adsorption of chiral additives on EDS crystals will also be studied using molecular modeling and isothermal titration calorimetry