Penguasaan Lisan Bahasa Melayu Dalam Kalangan Kanak-Kanak Prasekolah di Singapura

Kanak-kanak Melayu di Singapura mempunyai masalah berkomunikasi (bertutur) dalam bahasa ibunda dengan baik. Kecenderungan ini amat membimbangkan kerana kanak-kanak perlu berkomunikasi untuk menyampaikan hajat dan fikiran. Lebih-lebih lagi apabila terdapat bukti dari sebuah tinjauan demografik yang menyatakan penggunaan bahasa ibunda dalam keluarga orang Melayu kian merosot setiap tahun. Memandangkan betapa pentingnya penakatan bahasa Melayu di negara ini, penyelidik rasa terpanggil untuk menyelidiki bidang ini. Sebanyak 46 orang kanak-kanak, iaitu 22 perempuan dan 24 lelaki dari tiga golongan status sosioekonomi keluarga telah dikenal pasti untuk menjalani penyelidikan. Kajian berdasarkan teori mentalis ini akan dibincangkan melalui dua kaedah, iaitu kualitatif dan kuantitatif. Semua data ujaran,perbendaharaan kata, temu bual dan bercerita akan dirakamkan dan ditranskripsikan sementara data tinjauan borang soal selidik juga akan dianalisis dengan menggunakan pengiraan kekerapan, peratusan atau min markah. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan responden kerap menggunakan ayat penyata (56.2%) berbanding dengan ayat-ayat- tanya (8%), ayat seruan (11%), ayat perintah (5%) dan ayat majmuk (14%). Hasil kajian menunjukkan terdapat korelasi yang tinggi dalam pencapaian ayat-ayat penyata dengan jumlah ayat yang dibina walaupun tidak terdapat kesan yang signifikan dalam binaan ayat seruan dan ayat perintah. Terdapat korelasi yang signifikan juga antara faktor-faktor ekstralinguistik dengan penguasaan ayat kanak-kanak pada aras keertian p<0.01. Hasil kajian juga menunjukkan wujudnya hubungan yang sederhana, dan positif antara ayat majmuk dengan jumlah ayat yang dihasilkan dengan nilai r = 0.640 pada aras p<0.01. Pada keseluruhan kajian, kanak-kanak berupaya membina pola ayat dasar yang mana pola ayat Frasa Nama + Frasa Kerja (min 11.63) merupakan pola ayat yang paling kerap digunakan, diikuti oleh Frasa Nama + Frasa Nama (min 2.63), Frasa Nama + Frasa Adjektif (min 0.769), dan Frasa Nama + Frasa Sendi (min 0.5). Kesimpulannya, kanak-kanak berkebolehan membina pelbagai pola ayat dasar dan jenis ayat penyata, ayat tanya, ayat perintah dan ayat seruan selain ayat kompleks. Didapati pengaruh faktor-faktor ekstralinguistik dan status sosioekonomi juga memberi kesan kepada penguasaan lisan bahasa Melayu kanak-kanak di Singapura. Antara cadangan kajian lanjutan yang dikemukakan ialah persoalan trend bahasa lisan kanak-kanak prasekolah menjelang lima tahun yang akan datang

Spinal stabilization for patients with metastatic lesions of the spine using a titanium spacer

Anterior decompression in spinal metastases of the corporal type with impending (n=5) or present (n=36) neurological complications was performed in 41 patients. For reconstruction, a titanium cylinder was inserted after spondylectomy and augmented with an anterior plate. The titanium implant can easily be adjusted to the length needed without necessitating expensive additional equipment. Outside the patient the implant is filled with polymethylmetacrylate, facilitating plate transfixation for rotational locking. There was a 30-day mortality of 9.7%. Pain relief was apparent in 38 of 41 patients (92.7%), and motor improvement was manifest in 31 of 35 cases (88.6%). Six patients did not present with any neurological symptoms pre- or postoperatively. Neurological deterioration was registered in only 1 case (2.4%). Surgical efficacy was maintained until the death of the patients. Though tumor recurrence at a different spinal level led to consecutive surgery in 5 patients, no implant dislocation occurred during the observation period (maximum 44 months), characterizing the procedure as a mechanically reliable and safe technique

Operative Behnadlungsstrategien bei Femurmetastasen

Weder Deckblatt noch Ihaltsverzeischnis vorhanden

Modular Acquisition and Stimulation System for Timestamp-Driven Neuroscience Experiments

Dedicated systems are fundamental for neuroscience experimental protocols that require timing determinism and synchronous stimuli generation. We developed a data acquisition and stimuli generator system for neuroscience research, optimized for recording timestamps from up to 6 spiking neurons and entirely specified in a high-level Hardware Description Language (HDL). Despite the logic complexity penalty of synthesizing from such a language, it was possible to implement our design in a low-cost small reconfigurable device. Under a modular framework, we explored two different memory arbitration schemes for our system, evaluating both their logic element usage and resilience to input activity bursts. One of them was designed with a decoupled and latency insensitive approach, allowing for easier code reuse, while the other adopted a centralized scheme, constructed specifically for our application. The usage of a high-level HDL allowed straightforward and stepwise code modifications to transform one architecture into the other. The achieved modularity is very useful for rapidly prototyping novel electronic instrumentation systems tailored to scientific research.Comment: Preprint submitted to ARC 2015. Extended: 16 pages, 10 figures. The final publication is available at link.springer.co

Variations of Steroid Hormone Metabolites in Serum and Urine in Polycystic Ovary Syndrome after Nafarelin Stimulation: Evidence for an Altered Corticoid Excretion.

To evaluate the clinical relevance of testing pituitary-ovarian responses in patients suffering from polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) with the GnRH agonist nafarelin, a 1.2-mg dose of nafarelin was given intranasally to 19 women with PCOS and 15 healthy premenopausal women. The subsequent analysis of steroids in both serum and urine during the test was carried out at several time points for up to 24 h. Serum levels of 17 alpha-hydroxyprogesterone were elevated at all time points of the test in PCOS patients vs. controls [at baseline, 3.5 +/- 0.2 vs. 1.8 +/- 0.1 nmol/L (P < 0.001); at 24 h, 9.9 +/- 0.9 vs. 4.9 +/- 0.3 nmol/L (P < 0.001)]. Basal levels of androstenedione were higher in the patient group, but there was no significant change during the test in either group. Serum testosterone levels were also found to differ in PCOS patients compared with the control values at baseline (2.2 +/- 0.2 vs. 1.5 +/- 0.1 nmol/L; P < 0.05) and after nafarelin treatment (at 24 h, 3.2 +/- 0.4 vs. 1.8 +/- 0.2 nmol/L; P < 0.05). Serum estradiol levels rose significantly in both groups during the test; the posttest levels were significantly higher in PCOS than in controls. The PCOS patients displayed a significant increase in androgen and gestagen metabolites as well as in glucocorticoid metabolites excreted in the urine during the 24 h. In the control subjects, except for 17 alpha-hydroxypregnanolone, which rose significantly, none of the urinary steroids investigated showed relevant changes during the nafarelin test. The posttest excretion of allo-tetrahydrocortisol (1.4 +/- 0.2 vs. 0.3 +/- 0.1 mumol/g creatinine; P < 0.001) and the increase in 17 alpha-hydroxypregnanolone excretion (1.4 +/- 0.2 vs. 0.3 +/- 0.1 mumol/g creatinine; P < 0.001) were distinctly higher in PCOS patients than in the controls; the diagnostic sensitivity of the combination of both parameters was 89% at a 93% specificity. Thus, measurements of 17 alpha-hydroxyprogesterone levels in serum and of urinary allo-tetrahydrocortisol and 17 alpha-hydroxypregnanolone after nafarelin treatment make this stimulation test a valuable diagnostic tool for identifying PCOS patients. The significant changes in the excretion of urinary androgen and gestagen metabolites, unmasked by GnRH agonist stimulation, suggest a functional alteration of the pituitary-ovarian axis. The reason for the increased excretion of glucocorticoid metabolites after nafarelin stimulation remains to be clarified

The potential use of augmented reality in gamification

The use of augmented reality (AR) and gamification in various fields is currently gaining popularity for its capability in engaging users.Gamification is a term that defines the use of game-based elements, such as game mechanics, aesthetics, dynamics, and game thinking in the non-game context environment.Meanwhile, AR is a technology that has an ability to overlap computer graphics onto the real environment.However, as a newly emerging concept, gamification seems to have some arguments related to its elements, concepts, and effectiveness in a similar intervention. Therefore, this paper discusses gamification. Although dozens of studies have implemented AR games, there is still an obvious lack in discussing and relating it to a gamified platform. Nevertheless, previous adaptation of games in AR seems that there are also potentials to utilise gamification and AR concepts and elements, as well as AR and AR games in brief.This paper also justifies several previous empirical studies in AR and gamification to look into its elements, research design, and the potentials of AR and gamification combinatio