ASSESSING THE CHINESE NAVAL INFRASTRUCTURE CHANGES IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA USING GEOSPATIAL INTELLIGENCE

This capstone will present a collection, analysis, and reporting plan for assessing naval activities and presence in SCS. The project was made possible by obtaining data from Satellite imagery from Google Earth to identity, monitor & assess naval infrastructure. Geospatial intelligence has been used to identify naval activities in South China Sea (SCS) and their impact on the natural resources as well as the geopolitical aspect of the effects in the region concerning territorial claims. The Google Earth Imagery reveals that the Chinese have created and constructed large artificial Islands from dredging and land fill on which the new naval bases are situated. These bases are equipped with port facilities/infrastructure with long runways, aircraft hangars, watch towers, radar/comms facility and missile shelters. The Chinese built six artificial Islands at six different locations. Yet, some of these artificial islands have increased the likelihood of disputes with neighboring states in the SCS Region. Nearly all are well developed and some in disputed areas according to International Maritime laws. Open-Source intelligence is considered as an insightful source of reliable information with regards to the regional Maritime policies and laws. Most of these artificial islands were built and in operation before 2017, and part of the project will be to look for evidence of changes overtime

An Analysis of Basic Design Education in Turkey and Implications for Changes in Postsecondary Art Curriculum

This study explored the current status of Turkish basic art education and the objectives of the first year art program at the university level in Turkey. Also, the researcher attempted to explore the objectives and expectations of Turkish art professors and to examine the applicability of certain concepts of American basic design education in the teaching of studio foundation courses in Turkish art schools. The study included the literature review concerning changes in educational philosophy related to the history of design education in the West and in Turkey

Endoscopic "Push-Trough" Technique Cartilage Myringoplasty in Anterior Tympanic Membrane Perforations

ObjectivesTo evaluate endoscopic push-through technique cartilage myringoplasty results.MethodsThis prospective study was performed on patients with anterior tympanic membrane perforations and endoscopic push-through technique cartilage myringoplasty was performed between 2011 and 2013. The patients who did not have any cholesteatoma or otorrhea in the previous 3 months, and had an air bone gap ≤25 dB in their preoperative audiograms were included in the study. They were followed up with endoscopic examination and audiograms at 2nd, 6th, 12th, and 24th postoperative months. Pure tone averages were calculated at 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz frequencies.ResultsOf 32 patients, 19 were females and 13 were males. The mean age was 40.3 years (range, 16 to 62 years), and the mean follow-up period was 12.4 months (range, 6 to 24 months). Graft success rate was 87.5% in this study. Preoperative mean air conduction hearing threshold was 25.9 dB, and the mean air-bone gap was 11.9 dB while these values improved to 19.5 dB and 5.3 dB respectively in the postoperative period. The mean hearing gain was 6.4 dB. The analysis of preoperative and postoperative mean air conduction thresholds and air bone gap values of the patients revealed statistically significant differences.ConclusionUnderlay cartilage myringoplasty with endoscopic push-through technique in anterior quadrant tympanic membrane perforations is an effective, minimally invasive and feasible method

Advice on testing the null hypothesis that a sample is drawn from a Normal distribution.

The Normal distribution remains the most widely-used statistical model, so it is only natural that researchers will frequently be required to consider whether a sample of data appears to have been drawn from a Normal distribution. Commonly-used statistical packages offer a range of alternative formal statistical tests of the null hypothesis of Normality, with inference being drawn on the basis of a calculated p-value. Here we aim to review the statistical literature on the performance of these tests, and briefly survey current usage of them in recently-published papers, with a view to offering advice on good practice. We find that authors in animal behaviour seem to be using such testing most commonly in situations where it is inadvisable (or at best unnecessary) involving pre-testing to select parametric or not-parametric analyses; and making little use of it in model-fitting situations where it might be of value. Of the many alternative tests, we recommend the routine use of either the Shapiro-Wilk or Chen-Shapiro tests; these are almost always superior to commonly-used alternatives like the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, often by a substantial margin. We describe how both our recommend tests can be implemented. In contrast to current practice as indicated by our survey, we recommend that the results of these tests are reported in more detail (providing both the calculated sample statistic and the associated p-value). Finally, emphasize that even the higher-performing tests of Normality have low power (generally below 0.5 and often much lower) when sample sizes are less than 50, as is often the case in our field. Keywords: Gaussian distribution, parametric statistics, Schapiro-Wilk test, statistics, statistical powe

The role of cardiac biomarkers as predictors of trastuzumab cardiotoxicity in patients with breast cancer

Aim: Identification of patient with increased risk of cardiotoxicity would allow not only prevention and early diagnosis of chemotherapy related cardiotoxicity but also administration of optimal dose and duration of chemotherapy. Materials and methods: Fifty-two women with HER2+ breast cancer treated with trastuzumab were included in this study. Patients were prospectively followed with routine cardiac evaluation. Before and after administration of trastuzumab blood samples for NT-proBNP were also taken. Results: The median age was 48.5 year (range: 26–74). Hypertension and obesity were two most common co-morbidities. The median duration application of trastuzumab was 52 weeks. During median 14.5 (3–33) months follow-up cardiac adverse events occurred in 5 (9.6%) patients and 2 out of 5 was grade III–IV heart failure. Both patients had preserved left ventricular ejection fraction and no symptom of heart failure before trastuzumab but older than 65 years old and had diabetes mellitus and obesity. High level of NT-proBNP (> 300 ng/ml) was observed in both patients and heart failure recovery was not observed. There was statistically significant difference regarding body mass index (p = 0.004) and diabetes mellitus (p = 0.002) between patients with and without cardiotoxicity. Conclusion: Although, cardiac biomarkers still cannot replace routine cardiac monitoring, natriuretic peptides may provide additional tool for detection of patients with high risk of cardiotoxicity and early detection of cardiotoxicity. Key Words: breast cancer, trastuzumab, heart failure, left ventricular dysfunction, natriuretic peptides

Plantar fasciitis and calcaneal spur formation are associated with abductor digiti minimi atrophy on MRI of the foot

Objective To determine the association of atrophy of the abductor digiti minimi muscle (ADMA), an MRI manifestation of chronic compression of the inferior calcaneal nerve suggesting the clinical diagnosis of Baxter’s neuropathy, with MRI markers of potential etiologies, including calcaneal spur formation, plantar fasciitis, calcaneal edema, Achilles tendinosis and posterior tibial tendon dysfunction (PTTD). Materials and methods Prevalence of calcaneal spur formation, plantar fasciitis, calcaneal edema, Achilles tendinosis and PTTD was assessed retrospectively on 100 MRI studies with ADMA and 100 MRI studies without ADMA. Patients ranged in age from 10–92 years. Pearson chi-square analyses and Fisher’s exact test were used to compare prevalence of the above findings in patients with and without ADMA. Logistic regression was used to determine which variables were significantly associated with ADMA. Results Among patients with ADMA, there was significantly greater age (57.2 years vs 40.8 years, p \u3c 0.001), presence of Achilles tendinosis (22.0% vs 3.0%, P \u3c 0.001), calcaneal edema (15.0% vs 3.0%, P = 0.005), calcaneal spur (48.0% vs 7.0%, P \u3c 0.001), plantar fasciitis (52.5% vs 11.0%, P \u3c 0.001), and PTTD (32.0% vs 11.0%, P \u3c 0.001). After multivariate logistic regression analysis, only age [odds ratio (OR) 1.06, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.03, 1.09], calcaneal spur (OR 3.60, 95% CI 1.28, 10.17), and plantar fasciitis (OR 3.35, 95% CI 1.31, 8.56) remained significant. Conclusion Advancing age, calcaneal spur, and plantar fasciitis are significantly associated with ADMA. Their high odds ratios support the notion of a possible etiologic role for calcaneal spur and plantar fasciitis in the progression to Baxter’s neuropathy

Influence of customer focused mission statement on customer satisfaction

The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of customer-focused mission statements on customer satisfaction in selected cell phone manufacturing companies in the United States. The study employed content analysis for the mission statement and data from America customer satisfaction index (ACSI). In analysing our data, Pearson correlation, and multiple regression techniques were used. The result showed that product and service, technology, philosophy, self-concept, and public image mission statement components are strongly positively correlated with customer satisfaction. Customer, survival, growth and profitability and market mission statement components are insignificantly negatively correlated with customer satisfaction. The study, therefore, recommends that companies that want to remain competitive by enhancing customer satisfaction should formulate mission statements from a customer perspective so that they include product and service, technology, philosophy, self-concept, and public image components. The main limitation of the study represents the sample size and structure. This study empirically investigated the correlation and association of nine mission statement components with customer satisfaction.O