2,986 research outputs found
Are Asians comfortable with discussing death in health valuation studies? A study in multi-ethnic Singapore
BACKGROUND
To characterize ease in discussing death (EID) and its influence on health valuation in a multi-ethnic Asian population and to determine the acceptability of various descriptors of death and "pits"/"all-worst" in health valuation.
METHODS
In-depth interviews (English or mother-tongue) among adult Chinese, Malay and Indian Singaporeans selected to represent both genders and a wide range of ages/educational levels. Subjects rated using 0–10 visual analogue scales (VAS): (1) EID, (2) acceptability of 8 descriptors for death, and (3) appropriateness of "pits" and "all-worst" as descriptors for the worst possible health state. Subjects also valued 3 health states using VAS followed by time trade-off (TTO). The influence of sociocultural variables on EID and these descriptors was studied using univariable analyses and multiple linear regression (MLR). The influence of EID on VAS/TTO utilities with adjustment for sociocultural variables was assessed using MLR.
RESULTS
Subjects (n = 63, 35% Chinese, 32% Malay, median age 44 years) were generally comfortable with discussing death (median EID: 8.0). Only education significantly influenced EID (p = 0.045). EID correlated weakly with VAS/TTO scores (range: VAS: -0.23 to 0.07; TTO: -0.14 to 0.11). All subjects felt "passed away", "departed" and "deceased" were most acceptable (median acceptability: 8.0) while "sudden death" and "immediate death" were least acceptable (median acceptability: 5.0). Subjects clearly preferred "all-worst" to "pits" (63% vs. 19%, p < 0.001).
CONCLUSION
Singaporeans were generally comfortable with discussing death and had clear preferences for several descriptors of death and for "all-worst". EID is unlikely to influence health preference measurement in health valuation studies
Manufacturing technology adoption among lean manufacturers: An initial study
Lean manufacturing is a technique that allows work to be performed without bottlenecks or delays while eliminating wasteful activities by linking and balancing equal amounts of work steps together, enabling products to be consumed directly into the next step, one piece at a time until completed.The aim of this research is to analyse the level of implementation of manufacturing technology among lean practitioners in Malaysia.It highlights on the types of technologies applied in the lean practice and to
what extend the level of technologies being used. A questionnaire survey was used to identify the
different manufacturing technologies being used and the level of applications among lean
manufacturers in Malaysia. From the questionnaire results, it shows that there are 3 groups of
manufacturing technology used by manufacturers, mainly the direct, indirect and administrative
technology.Meanwhile, according to the results the level of technologies used by lean manufacturers
in Malaysia is considered as within medium level. This might be due to the cost of applying such
technologies or the lack of information regarding each manufacturing technologies
Structural and electronic properties of Al nanowires: an ab initio pseudopotential study
The stability and electronic structure of a single monatomic Al wire has been
studied using the ab initio pseudopotential method. The Al wire undergoes two
structural rearrangements under compression, i.e., zigzag configurations at
angles of and . The evolution of electronic structures of the Al
chain as a function of structural phase transition has been investigated. The
relationship between electronic structure and geometric stability is also
discussed. The 2p bands in the Al nanowire are shown to play a critical role in
its stability. The effects of density functionals (GGA and LDA) on cohesive
energy and bond length of Al nanostructures (dimmer, chains, and monolayers)
are also examined. The link between low dimensional 0D structure (dimmer) to
high dimensional 3D bulk Al is estimated. An example of optimized tip-suspended
finite atomic chain is presented to bridge the gap between hypothetical
infinite chains and experimental finite chains.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure
Raman spectroscopy of epitaxial graphene on a SiC substrate
The fabrication of epitaxial graphene (EG) on SiC substrate by annealing has
attracted a lot of interest as it may speed up the application of graphene for
future electronic devices. The interaction of EG and the SiC substrate is
critical to its electronic and physical properties. In this work, Raman
spectroscopy was used to study the structure of EG and its interaction with SiC
substrate. All the Raman bands of EG blue shift from that of bulk graphite and
graphene made by micromechanical cleavage, which was attributed to the
compressive strain induced by the substrate. A model containing 13 x 13
honeycomb lattice cells of graphene on carbon nanomesh was constructed to
explain the origin of strain. The lattice mismatch between graphene layer and
substrate causes the compressive stress of 2.27 GPa on graphene. We also
demonstrate that the electronic structures of EG grown on Si and C terminated
SiC substrates are quite different. Our experimental results shed light on the
interaction between graphene and SiC substrate that are critical to the future
applications of EG.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figure
The DNA damage checkpoint pathway promotes extensive resection and nucleotide synthesis to facilitate homologous recombination repair and genome stability in fission yeast.
DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) can cause chromosomal rearrangements and extensive loss of heterozygosity (LOH), hallmarks of cancer cells. Yet, how such events are normally suppressed is unclear. Here we identify roles for the DNA damage checkpoint pathway in facilitating homologous recombination (HR) repair and suppressing extensive LOH and chromosomal rearrangements in response to a DSB. Accordingly, deletion of Rad3(ATR), Rad26ATRIP, Crb2(53BP1) or Cdc25 overexpression leads to reduced HR and increased break-induced chromosome loss and rearrangements. We find the DNA damage checkpoint pathway facilitates HR, in part, by promoting break-induced Cdt2-dependent nucleotide synthesis. We also identify additional roles for Rad17, the 9-1-1 complex and Chk1 activation in facilitating break-induced extensive resection and chromosome loss, thereby suppressing extensive LOH. Loss of Rad17 or the 9-1-1 complex results in a striking increase in break-induced isochromosome formation and very low levels of chromosome loss, suggesting the 9-1-1 complex acts as a nuclease processivity factor to facilitate extensive resection. Further, our data suggest redundant roles for Rad3ATR and Exo1 in facilitating extensive resection. We propose that the DNA damage checkpoint pathway coordinates resection and nucleotide synthesis, thereby promoting efficient HR repair and genome stability
Health status of older adults with Type 2 diabetes mellitus after aerobic or resistance training: A randomised trial
10.1186/1477-7525-9-59Health and Quality of Life Outcomes9
Encryption schemes secure against chosen-ciphertext selective opening attacks
Imagine many small devices send data to a single receiver, encrypted using the receiver's public key. Assume an adversary that has the power to adaptively corrupt a subset of these devices. Given the information obtained from these corruptions, do the ciphertexts from uncorrupted devices remain secure?
Recent results suggest that conventional security notions for encryption schemes (like IND-CCA security) do not suffice in this setting. To fill this gap, the notion of security against selective-opening attacks (SOA security) has been introduced. It has been shown that lossy encryption implies SOA security against a passive, i.e., only eavesdropping and corrupting, adversary (SO-CPA). However, the known results on SOA security against an active adversary (SO-CCA) are rather limited. Namely, while there exist feasibility results, the (time and space) complexity of currently known SO-C
Predictable arguments of knowledge
We initiate a formal investigation on the power of predictability for argument of knowledge systems for NP. Specifically, we consider private-coin argument systems where the answer of the prover can be predicted, given the private randomness of the verifier; we call such protocols Predictable Arguments of Knowledge (PAoK).
Our study encompasses a full characterization of PAoK, showing that such arguments can be made extremely laconic, with the prover sending a single bit, and assumed to have only one round (i.e., two messages) of communication without loss of generality.
We additionally explore PAoK satisfying additional properties (including zero-knowledge and the possibility of re-using the same challenge across multiple executions with the prover), present several constructions of PAoK relying on different cryptographic tools, and discuss applications to cryptography
Experimental observation of the crystallization of a paired holon state
A new excitation is observed at 201 meV in the doped-hole ladder cuprate
SrCuO, using ultraviolet resonance Raman scattering with
incident light at 3.7 eV polarized along the direction of the rungs. The
excitation is found to be of charge nature, with a temperature independent
excitation energy, and can be understood via an intra-ladder pair-breaking
process. The intensity tracks closely the order parameter of the charge density
wave in the ladder (CDW), but persists above the CDW transition
temperature (), indicating a strong local pairing above .
The 201 meV excitation vanishes in LaCaCuO,
and LaCaCuO which are samples with no holes in the
ladders. Our results suggest that the doped holes in the ladder are composite
bosons consisting of paired holons that order below .Comment: Accepted for publication in Physical Review Letters (4 figures
One-dimensional collision carts computer model and its design ideas for productive experiential learning
We develop an Easy Java Simulation (EJS) model for students to experience the
physics of idealized one-dimensional collision carts. The physics model is
described and simulated by both continuous dynamics and discrete transition
during collision. In the field of designing computer simulations, we discuss
briefly three pedagogical considerations such as 1) consistent simulation world
view with pen paper representation, 2) data table, scientific graphs and
symbolic mathematical representations for ease of data collection and multiple
representational visualizations and 3) game for simple concept testing that can
further support learning. We also suggest using physical world setup to be
augmented complimentary with simulation while highlighting three advantages of
real collision carts equipment like tacit 3D experience, random errors in
measurement and conceptual significance of conservation of momentum applied to
just before and after collision. General feedback from the students has been
relatively positive, and we hope teachers will find the simulation useful in
their own classes. 2015 Resources added:
http://iwant2study.org/ospsg/index.php/interactive-resources/physics/02-newtonian-mechanics/02-dynamics/46-one-dimension-collision-js-model
http://iwant2study.org/ospsg/index.php/interactive-resources/physics/02-newtonian-mechanics/02-dynamics/195-elastic-collisionComment: 6 pages, 8 figures, 1 table, 1 L. K. Wee, Physics Education 47 (3),
301 (2012); ISSN 0031-912
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