MA

thesisThe purpose of this study was to analyze three aspects of language development (grammar, receptive language and expressive language) in Ute Indian children so as to have more insight into their problems and thus be better able to recommend specific programs for English; language development. The review of the literature discussed (1) the American Indian and his education? (2) the Ute Indians? (3) the culturally disadvantaged? (4) bilingualism? (5) language• The subjects consisted of sixteen randomly selected full-blood Ute Indian children from the kindergarten classes and an equal number from the third grade. The purpose of the testing was to discover any significant differences between the scores of these children and the norms. Sixteen average white children were selected randomly from the same classes as the above Indian subjects (eight from the kindergarten and eight from the third grade). These children were tested in order to determine if they were handicapped in language development by attending public schools with a large group of Indian children. The Utah Test of Language Development and the Grammatic Closure subtest of the revised (1968) edition of the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities were administered to all subjects in that order. One fourth of the Indian subjects were retested on both measures. Twelve null hypotheses were then analyzed by means of nonparametric statistics. The significance level set for rejecting the null hypotheses was the .05 level. It was shown that kindergarten Ute Indian children scored significantly below the norms on all language measures used. Their scores reached the .001 level for expressive language, the .05 level for receptive language, and the .05 level on grammar. The third grade Indian children scored below the norms at the .05 level on the expressive language section, but showed no significant difference for receptive scores. Their grammar scores, however, were below the norms at the .001 level of confidence. Caucasian kindergarten children scored significantly above the norms for the total UTLD language score at the .05 level. There were no significant differences, however, between their grammar scores and the norms. The third grade white children's scores did not differ significantly from the norms on either the UTLD or the grammar test. Within the limits of this study, the investigator concluded that grammar seemed to be the greatest language deficiency among Ute Indian children. All of the Indian children also displayed a weakness in expressive skills. Receptive language, however, seemed to constitute their area of least difficulty. White children attending public schools with a large percentage of Indian children are not handicapped in the acquisition of language skills. Several recommendations that could help eliminate these language deficiencies in the Indian group were made. They included acquiring materials like the Tweedy Visual Lingual Reading Program or the Peabody Language Development Kits that would make language acquisition enjoyable. It was also suggested that expressive language be developed through discussions about experiences in the child's environment. Finally it was recommended that the curriculum of the older children who have not had the benefits of the above mentioned programs be revised so that they can receive extra language training in place of other class subjects

Benchmarking of electrolyte mass transport in next generation lithium batteries

Beyond conductivity and viscosity, little is often known about the mass transport properties of next generation lithium battery electrolytes, thus, making performance estimation uncertain when concentration gradients are present, as conductivity only describes performance in the absence of these gradients. This study experimentally measured the diffusion resistivity, originating from voltage loss due to a concentration gradient, together with the ohmic resistivity, obtained from ionic conductivity measurements, hence, evaluating electrolytes both with and without the presence of concentration gradients. Under galvanostatic conditions, the concentration gradients, of all electrolytes examined, developed quickly and the diffusion resistivity rapidly dominated the ohmic resistivity. The electrolytes investigated consisted of lithium salt in: room temperature ionic liquids (RTIL), RTIL mixed organic carbonates, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), and a conventional Li-ion battery electrolyte. At steady state the RTIL electrolytes displayed a diffusion resistivity ~ 20 times greater than the ohmic resistivity. The DMSO-based electrolyte showed mass transport properties similar to the conventional Li-ion battery electrolyte. In conclusion, the results presented in this study show that the diffusion polarization must be considered in applications where high energy and power density are desired

Modelling and experimental verification of more efficient power harvesting by coupled piezoelectric cantilevers

A new piezoelectric energy harvester design is proposed in order to achieve a wider bandwidth without compromising energy conversion efficiency. By coupling two cantilevers where the tip of the bottom one is attached to the base of the upper one, the simulated harvester will have a wider bandwidth and higher power output compared with two simulated single tuned single cantilevers. This is a compact design, using only half the area compared to two parallel single cantilevers at the price of a small increase in height. The measured coupled harvester has approximately 1.7 times higher energy output than the combination of two measured tuned single cantilevers achieved by a coupling with less mechanical damping. With an improved coupling the power output is increased to 2.3 times higher than two single tuned cantilevers

Learning Wi-Fi Performance

Accurate prediction of wireless network performance is important when performing link adaptation or resource allocation. However, the complexity of interference interactions at MAC and PHY layers, as well as the vast variety of possible wireless configurations make it notoriously hard to design explicit performance models. In this paper, we advocate an approach of “learning by observation” that can remove the need for designing explicit and complex performance models. We use machine-learning techniques to learn implicit performance models, from a limited number of real-world measurements. These models do not require to know the internal mechanics of interfering Wi-Fi links. Yet, our results show that they improve accuracy by at least 49% compared to measurement-seeded models based on SINR. To demonstrate that learned models can be useful in practice, we build a new algorithm that uses such a model as an oracle to jointly allocate spectrum and transmit power. Our algorithm is utility-optimal, distributed, and it produces efficient allocations that significantly improve performance and fairness

Benchmarking of electrolyte mass transport in next generation lithium batteries

Beyond conductivity and viscosity, little is often known about the mass transport properties of next generation lithium battery electrolytes, thus, making performance estimation uncertain when concentration gradients are present, as conductivity only describes performance in the absence of these gradients. This study experimentally measured the diffusion resistivity, originating from voltage loss due to a concentration gradient, together with the ohmic resistivity, obtained from ionic conductivity measurements, hence, evaluating electrolytes both with and without the presence of concentration gradients. Under galvanostatic conditions, the concentration gradients, of all electrolytes examined, developed quickly and the diffusion resistivity rapidly dominated the ohmic resistivity. The electrolytes investigated consisted of lithium salt in: room temperature ionic liquids (RTIL), RTIL mixed organic carbonates, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), and a conventional Li-ion battery electrolyte. At steady state the RTIL electrolytes displayed a diffusion resistivity ~ 20 times greater than the ohmic resistivity. The DMSO-based electrolyte showed mass transport properties similar to the conventional Li-ion battery electrolyte. In conclusion, the results presented in this study show that the diffusion polarization must be considered in applications where high energy and power density are desired

Aplicação de BI no processo de recuperação de credito: um estudo de caso.

Este trabalho apresenta um estudo de caso de aplicação da tecnologia de Business Inteligence - BI em conjunto com o processo de planejamento estratégico de modo a proporcionar melhorias em processos operacionais e por sua vez ganhos financeiros. O trabalho baseou-se na aplicação de ferramentas de BI e algoritmos de processamento analítico em uma empresa que atua no mercado de cobrança. A análise do estudo de caso concentra-se em demonstrar os resultados operacionais e financeiros mais eficientes no que tange à cobrança de carteiras de clientes selecionados para os experimentos possibilitando o alcance de objetivos e metas organizacionai

Practical management in Wolcott-Rallison syndrome with associated hypothyroidism, neutropenia, and recurrent liver failure: A case report

Wolcott-Rallison syndrome is a rare genetic syndrome of neonatal diabetes, liver failure, and growth retardation. We present a case with a EIF2AK3 p.(Arg902Ter) mutation, additionally complicated by hypothyroidism, impaired renal function, and exocrine pancreas insufficiency, focusing on clinical management. For its optimization, thorough care of multiple organ systems is needed.This article is freely available via Open Access. Click on the Publisher URL to access the full-text from the publisher's site

Primary Pneumocystis Infection in Infants Hospitalized with Acute Respiratory Tract Infection

Primary P. jirovecii infection may appear as a self-limiting upper respiratory tract infection in infants

A school-curriculum-based exercise intervention program for two years in pre-pubertal girls does not influence hip structure

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: It is known that physical activity during growth has a positive influence on bone mineral accrual, and is thus possibly one strategy to prevent osteoporosis. However, as bone geometry, independent of areal bone mineral density (aBMD), influences fracture risk, this study aimed to evaluate whether hip structure in pre-pubertal girls is also affected by a two-year exercise intervention program. METHODS: Forty-two girls aged 7-9 years in a school-curriculum-based exercise intervention program comprising 40 minutes of general physical activity per school day (200 minutes per week) were compared with 43 age-matched girls who participated in the general Swedish physical education curriculum comprising a mean of 60 minutes per week. The hip was scanned by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and the hip structural analysis (HSA) software was applied to evaluate bone mineral content (BMC, g), areal bone mineral density (aBMD, g/cm2), periosteal diameter, cross-sectional area (CSA, cm2), section modulus (Z, cm3) and cross-sectional moment of inertia (CSMI, cm4) of the femoral neck (FN). Annual changes were compared. Subjective duration of physical activity was estimated by questionnaire and objective level of everyday physical activity at follow-up by means of accelerometers worn for four consecutive days. All children remained at Tanner stage 1 throughout the study. Group comparisons were made by independent student's t-test between means and analyses of covariance (ANCOVA). RESULTS: At baseline, the two groups did not differ with regard to age, anthropometrics or bone parameters. No between-group differences were observed for annual changes in the FN variables measured. CONCLUSION: A two-year school-based moderately intense general exercise program for 7-9-year-old pre-pubertal girls does not influence structural changes in the FN