bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Classification Accuracy of Teacher Ratings When Screening Nonmainstream English-Speaking Kindergartners for Language Impairment in the Rural South
Authors: Gregory Kyomi D. , Oetting Janna B.
Published: April 2018

Purpose

We compared teacher ratings as measured by the Teacher Rating of Oral Language and Literacy (TROLL; Dickinson, McCabe, & Sprague, 2001, 2003) and Children's Communication Checklist–Second Edition (CCC-2; Bishop, 2006) to 2 established screeners, the Part II of the Diagnostic Evaluation of Language Variation–Screening Test (DELV-ST-II; Seymour, Roeper, & de Villiers, 2003) and Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills–Next (DIBELS; Good, Gruba, & Kaminski, 2009), and then examined whether teacher ratings alone or when combined with the DELV-ST-II or DIBELS accurately classify nonmainstream English-speaking kindergartners by their clinical status.

Method

Data came from 98 children who lived in the rural South; 47 spoke African American English, and 51 spoke Southern White English. Using the syntax subtest of the Diagnostic Evaluation of Language Variation–Norm Referenced (Seymour, Roeper, & de Villiers, 2005) as the reference standard, 43 were language impaired and 55 were typically developing. Analyses included analysis of variance, correlations, and discriminant function with sensitivity and specificity indices.

Results

The TROLL, CCC-2, DELV-ST-II, and DIBELS showed clinical status but not dialect effects, and they correlated with each other, the Diagnostic Evaluation of Language Variation–Norm Referenced, and other language measures. Classification accuracies of all 4 tools were too low for screening purposes; however, empirically derived cut scores improved the results, and a discriminant function selected the TROLL and DELV-ST-II as optimal for determining who should be referred for an evaluation, with the TROLL yielding the highest level of sensitivity (77%).

Conclusion

Findings support teacher ratings as measured by the TROLL when screening nonmainstream English-speaking kindergartners for language impairment in the rural South, while also calling for additional development and study of teacher rating tools and other screening instruments.

Supplemental Material

https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.6007712
Curriculum-Based Language Assessment With Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students in the Context of Mathematics
Authors: Newkirk-Turner Brandi L. , Johnson Valerie E.
Published: April 2018

Purpose

The purpose of this tutorial is to discuss the use of curriculum-based language assessment (CBLA) with students who are English language learners and students who speak nonmainstream varieties of English, such as African American English.

Method

The article begins with a discussion of the discourse of mathematics and the role of the speech-language pathologist (SLP), followed by a review of studies that includes those that examined the performance of English language learner and nonmainstream dialect-speaking students on word-based math items.

Results

The literature review highlights the linguistic and content biases associated with word-based math problems. Useful strategies that SLPs and educators can incorporate in culturally and linguistically appropriate assessments are discussed. The tutorial ends with a discussion of CBLA as a viable assessment approach to use with culturally and linguistically diverse students.

Conclusions

Tests used at national, state, and school levels to assess students' math abilities have associated linguistic bias and content bias often leading to an inaccurate depiction of culturally and linguistically diverse students' math skills. CBLA as an assessment method can be used by school-based SLPs to gather valid and useful information about culturally and linguistically diverse students' language for learning math. By using CBLA, SLPs can help modify curricular tasks in broader contexts in an effort to make math, including high-level math, “accessible and achievable for all” students (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 2017).
School-Based Speech-Language Pathologists' Perspectives on Diagnostic Decision Making
Authors: Fulcher-Rood Katrina , Castilla-Earls Anny P. , Higginbotham Jeff
Published: April 2018

Purpose

This study used a structured open interview approach to elicit information from school-based speech-language pathologists (SLPs) regarding their assessment practices for children with suspected language impairment.

Method

Phone interviews were conducted with 39 school-based SLPs who were employed across the United States. The interviews explored assessment topics related to assessment tool selection and rationale and the integration of assessment data to determine treatment eligibility.

Results

The results of this study suggest that SLPs use both standardized testing and informal testing for their diagnostic procedures. Standardized testing appears to be the tool that drives diagnostic decisions regarding eligibility and severity. Informal measures, such as parent/teacher interviews and language sampling, were used by school-based SLPs to gather information regarding naturalistic language use; however, they seem less important in the diagnostic decision-making process. Also, SLPs reported completing language sample transcription and analysis in real time while interacting with a child.

Conclusions

School-based SLPs appear to rely on the results from standardized testing when determining treatment eligibility for children with language impairment. The reliance on standardized testing appears to be driven by institutional policies. We discuss the potential impact of federal/state/district guidelines on diagnostic decisions and consider the research-to-practice gap.
Grammatical Abilities in Young Cochlear Implant Recipients and Children With Normal Hearing Matched by Vocabulary Size
Authors: Jung Jongmin , Ertmer David J.
Published: April 2018

Purpose

This study sought to expand understanding of the impact of cochlear implantation on grammatical acquisition by comparing young children who have vocabularies of comparable size. Two research questions were investigated: (a) Do young cochlear implant (CI) recipients have grammatical skills comparable to those of children with normal hearing (NH) matched by spoken vocabulary size? (b) Do these groups show associations between vocabulary size and grammatical measures?

Method

The participants included 13 CI recipients at 24 months postactivation (chronological ages = 33–60 months;
M
= 44.62) and 13 children with NH between 27 and 30 months old (
M
= 20.69). The 2 groups were matched by their vocabulary size. Four grammatical outcomes were analyzed from the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory (Fenson, Marchman, Thal, Dale, & Reznick, 2007) and 20-min language samples: (a) grammatical complexity, (b) mean length of utterances, (c) tense marker total, and (d) productivity scores.

Results

The 2 groups showed comparable grammatical skills across the 4 measures. Consistently significant associations between vocabulary size and grammatical outcomes were found in the CI group, with fewer associations in the NH group.

Conclusions

The 2 groups showed similar grammatical abilities. The young CI recipients appeared to be following a typical pattern of linguistic development.
Using Language-Specific and Bilingual Measures to Explore Lexical–Grammatical Links in Young Latino Dual-Language Learners
Authors: Simon-Cereijido Gabriela , Méndez Lucía I.
Published: April 2018

Purpose

This study examined the nature of the relation between language-specific vocabulary and conceptual lexical–semantic skills with grammatical abilities within and across languages in preschool Latino dual language learners (DLLs).

Method

Sixty-one typically developing, Spanish–English speaking DLLs from preschools serving low-income families participated in the study. Lexical, semantic, and grammar skills were assessed toward the end of the fall in both Spanish and English using normative and researcher-developed assessment instruments. Hierarchical linear regressions using baseline cross-sectional data were completed to determine the association of language-specific vocabulary and bilingual lexical and semantic abilities to grammatical skills measured by sentence repetition tasks in Spanish and English both within and across languages.

Results

Results from the study revealed that a considerable percentage of the variance in the grammatical ability of these Latino DLL preschoolers in both Spanish and English was explained by lexical variables in the same language (54% in English and 16% in Spanish). In the strong language (Spanish), bilingual semantic skills also played a role, explaining an additional 8% of the variance. Conceptual vocabulary was a significant predictor of English grammar in the model that excluded the language-specific vocabulary measures.

Conclusions

These findings suggest that grammatical skills in the Latino preschoolers examined in the study are strongly related to language-specific measures of vocabulary. In contrast, no evidence supporting the relation between vocabulary and grammar skills across languages was observed. Findings from this study provide insight into the impact of bilingual lexical–semantic knowledge on the grammatical skills of dual-language preschool children developing language abilities in their 2 languages. Clinical implications are also discussed.
Parameter estimation of LFM signal intercepted by improved dual‐channel Nyquist folding receiver
Authors: Li Tao , Zhu Qian , Fan Xiaolei , Chen Zengping
Published: April 2018

A Nyquist folding receiver (NYFR) is a novel ultra‐wideband (UWB) receiver architecture, which can realise a wideband receiving with fewer components. Intercepted by the NYFR with a sinusoidal frequency modulation (SFM) local oscillator, a linear frequency modulation (LFM) signal will be converted into a LFM/SFM hybrid modulated signal. To simplify the processing of this kind of complicated signal, the authors propose improved dual‐channel NYFR architecture with an efficient parameter estimation algorithm. Compared with the existing parameter estimation methods for the NYFR, the proposed architecture offers better estimation performance, higher signal type adaptability, and simpler operation.
High‐speed FP GaN HEMT with fT/fMAX of 95/200 GHz
Authors: Moon J.S. , Grabar R. , Antcliffe M. , Fung H. , Tang Y. , Tai H.
Published: April 2018

Highly scaled 90 nm gate‐length field‐plated (FP) aluminium gallium nitride (GaN)/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) with a record current gain cut‐off frequency (fT) of 95 GHz and maximum oscillation frequency (fMAX) of 200 GHz is reported. Both lateral scaling of source‐to‐drain distance to 1 μm and vertical scaling of gate‐to‐channel depth to 90 nm, along with n+‐GaN ohmic contact, were utilised to minimise the parasitics, and the gate‐length scaling of FP GaN HEMTs down to 90 nm gate length was demonstrated with a record speed performance for the first time. The small‐signal model predicts that the fT is still dominated by the gate‐to‐source capacitance, implying that the speed performance of FP GaN HEMTs can further improve.
Fully‐integrated WLAN CMOS PA with reconfigurable transformer
Authors: Ahn H. , Baek S. , Nam I. , Lee O.
Published: April 2018

A modified series combining transformer incorporating an autotransformer for the dual‐mode operation to improve efficiency performance in the low‐output power region is presented. The dual‐mode CMOS power amplifier (PA) with the proposed reconfigurable transformer is fabricated using 40‐nm CMOS technology. Compared with other dual‐mode WLAN CMOS PAs, the proposed PA achieves high‐efficiency performance in both high‐power and low‐power modes; in dual‐mode operation, the PA has average output power levels of 19.2 and 15.2 dBm with power added efficiencies of 17.3 and 14.4%, respectively, while satisfying the error vector magnitude requirements of WLAN 802.11g signals.
Dual‐mode Ramsey microwave cavity for a dual Rb/Cs atomic clock
Authors: Guo Guangkun , Liu Jie , Hou Dong , Liu Ke , Wang Houjun , Huang Xianhe , Ma Jie , Sun Fuyu
Published: April 2018

As one of the crucial elements of microwave (MW) atomic clocks, Ramsey MW cavities are crucial for assisting MW–atom interactions. A dual‐mode Ramsey cavity for a dual Rb/Cs atomic clock with simultaneous resonances at 6.83 and 9.19 GHz is presented here. The reported cavity, with its high mechanical strength and stability, can excite clock transitions in Rb and Cs atoms in the same zones, thereby providing a compact physical package for a dual Rb/Cs clock. Since both atoms are in the same MW–atom interaction environment, this measurement platform allows for high‐accuracy comparisons.
Group controllability of continuous‐time multi‐agent systems
Authors: Liu Bo , Su Housheng , Jiang Fangcui , Gao Yanping , Liu Lei , Qian Jinjin
Published: April 2018

This study addresses the group controllability of continuous‐time multi‐agent systems. The problem is investigated in the leaderless framework where the whole group is consisted of a number of dynamic agents with autonomous capability, which can complete the large‐scale complex task through local interaction and can be divided into some subgroups. This study concentrates on the group controllability problems of continuous‐time multi‐agent systems, gives the general definition of the group controllability, and establishes group controllability criteria. Sufficient and necessary conditions are derived for the group controllability of continuous‐time multi‐agent systems. Finally, the numerical example and simulations are given to illustrate the theoretical results.
Distributed neuro‐adaptive control protocols for non‐strict feedback non‐linear MASs with input saturation
Authors: Peydayesh Amirhosein , Arefi Mohammad Mehdi , Modares Hamidreza
Published: April 2018

This study develops distributed neuro‐adaptive control protocols for synchronisation of leader–follower multi‐agent systems (MASs) with non‐linear dynamics in non‐strict‐feedback form. The communication graph is assumed to be directed, and the agents are considered heterogeneous. The leader's dynamics are also assumed non‐linear, and the state derivative of the leader is unknown to its immediate followers. The well‐known command filtered backstepping approach, presented for single‐agent systems in the literature, is extended to the synchronisation of MASs with non‐strict‐feedback non‐linear dynamics. This obviates the requirement of computing the th‐order derivatives of the local neighbourhood synchronisation error at the step of the design. The number of adaptive tuning laws and consequently the complexity of the neuro‐adaptive design is reduced by estimating only a positive scalar related to unknown non‐linear dynamics of each agent. An auxiliary system is then introduced into the control design to compensate for the discrepancy between designed and saturated control signals. The proposed distributed control protocol guarantees that all signals in the closed‐loop system are cooperatively semi‐globally uniformly ultimately bounded, and the consensus error for all agents converge to a small neighbourhood of the origin. Finally, a simulation example demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.
Enhancement of disturbance‐rejection performance of uncertain input‐delay systems: a disturbance predictor approach
Authors: Yu Pan , Wu Min , She Jinhua , Liu Kang‐Zhi , Nakanishi Yosuke
Published: April 2018

To suppress disturbances in uncertain tracking control systems with an input‐delay, a disturbance predictor based on a high‐order generalised extended‐state observer is devised in this study. A smooth enough approximation of the disturbance is first made, then the approximation ahead of delay‐time is predicted. The construction of the disturbance predictor is based on a truncated Taylor polynomial. To facilitate the analysis and design of the closed‐loop control system, control gains for the nominal plant are designed in advance. Then the stability analysis for the closed‐loop system is conducted, which yields a robust stability condition. As the disturbance predictor takes into consideration the influence of the input‐delay, the presented method enables the enhancement of the disturbance‐rejection performance. Finally, comparisons of the developed method with major methods in this field are conducted to validate the developed method and to demonstrate its advantages.
Adaptive robust constrained state control for non‐linear maglev vehicle with guaranteed bounded airgap
Authors: Xu Jinquan , Du Yutao , Chen Ye‐Hwa , Guo Hong
Published: April 2018

The authors propose an adaptive robust control approach for the levitation control of non‐linear maglev vehicle with state constraint. The system contains non‐linear and (possibly) time‐varying uncertainty, which is supposed to be bounded. In order to prevent the undesirable collision, the airgap between suspended chassis and guideway should be restrained in a specified range for safety concerns. Furthermore, the maglev vehicle does not satisfy the (global) matching condition. The authors propose a three‐step state transformation approach to transform the maglev vehicle to an interconnected uncertain system. After that, the robust control is proposed based on the transformed system, and the adaptive law is constructed to emulate the total system uncertainty. The adaptive robust control is able to ensure the system performance (uniform boundedness and the uniform ultimate boundedness) of uncertain maglev vehicle. In addition, the airgap can be confined within the specified range.
State filtering‐based least squares parameter estimation for bilinear systems using the hierarchical identification principle
Authors: Zhang Xiao , Ding Feng , Xu Ling , Yang Erfu
Published: April 2018

This study presents a combined parameter and state estimation algorithm for a bilinear system described by its observer canonical state‐space model based on the hierarchical identification principle. The Kalman filter is known as the best state filter for linear systems, but not applicable for bilinear systems. Thus, a bilinear state observer (BSO) is designed to give the state estimates using the extremum principle. Then a BSO‐based recursive least squares (BSO‐RLS) algorithm is developed. For comparison with the BSO‐RLS algorithm, by dividing the system into three fictitious subsystems on the basis of the decomposition–coordination principle, a BSO‐based hierarchical least squares algorithm is proposed to reduce the computation burden. Moreover, a BSO‐based forgetting factor recursive least squares algorithm is presented to improve the parameter tracking capability. Finally, a numerical example illustrates the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms.
Moving shadow detection based on stationary wavelet transform and Zernike moments
Authors: Nagarathinam Kavitha , Kathavarayan Ruba Soundar
Published: April 2018

The presence of shadows degrades the performance of many computer vision and video surveillance applications, as objects can be incorrectly classified. The article proposes a method for detecting moving shadows using stationary wavelet transform (SWT) and Zernike moments (ZM) based on an automatic threshold determined by the wavelet coefficients. The multi‐resolution and shift invariance properties of the SWT make it suitable for change detection and feature extraction. To reduce the redundant wavelet coefficients, ZM are applied. The novelty of the proposed method is the determination of the variant statistical threshold – ‘skewness’, without the requirement of any supervised learning or manual calibration. The experimental results prove that the proposed threshold performs well to show a better variation between the objects and shadows in various environments.
Structured RNN for human interaction
Authors: Truong Anh Minh , Yoshitaka Atsuo
Published: April 2018

Understanding human activities has been an important research area in computer vision. Generally, the authors can model the human interactions as a temporal sequence with the transition in relationships of humans and objects. Besides, many studies have proved the effectiveness of long short‐term memory (LSTM) on long‐term temporal dependency problems. Here, the authors proposed a novel structured recurrent neural network (S‐RNN) to model spatio‐temporal relationships between human subjects and objects in daily human interactions. The authors represent the evolution of different components and the relationships between them over time by several subnets. Then, the hidden representations of those relations are fused and fed into the later layers to obtain the final hidden representation. The final prediction is carried out by the single‐layer perceptron. The experimental results of different tasks on the CAD‐120, SBU‐Kinect‐Interaction, multi‐modal and multi‐view and interactive, and NTU RGB+D data sets showed advantages of the proposed method compared with the state‐of‐art methods.
Modular airgap windings for linear permanent magnet machines
Authors: Colyer Stephen P. , Arumugam Puvan , Eastham John F.
Published: April 2018

This study proposes an offset concentrated wound air‐core linear synchronous machine for launch applications where reduced supply volt‐amp per newton (VA/N) and attraction force is essential. A winding factor model based on the conductor distribution is derived and used to analyse the winding factor of possible topologies. Two configurations, 3‐coil/4‐pole and 12‐coil/14‐pole, have high fundamental winding factors and are selected for the design comparisons. Machines using single‐ and double‐sided offset windings are compared. The results obtained for these selected designs show that the 3‐coil/4‐pole design with offset winding provides the highest thrust due to its higher winding factor, but the 12‐coil/14‐pole design has lower supply VA/N. The implementation of the offset windings reduces VA/N. A significant reduction can be seen when the long stator short rotor arrangement is considered. A half‐segment prototype is built and tested. The experimental results obtained validate both the algebraic and three‐dimensional finite element analysis.
MPPT algorithm for thermoelectric generators based on parabolic extrapolation
Authors: Bijukumar Bepinkumar , Raam Arunadevi Ganesan Kaushik , Ilango Ganesan Saravana , Nagamani Chilakapati , Reddy Maddikara Jaya Bharata
Published: April 2018

In this study, a maximum power point tracking (MPPT) technique based on parabolic extrapolation has been presented for thermoelectric generator systems. Conventional MPPT methods require a closed‐loop controller and perturb and observe (P&O) method to provide fast‐tracking response. However, they produce power loss due to small oscillations in the steady state. The proposed method excludes the use of closed‐loop controller and steady‐state oscillations by directly estimating the coordinates of MPP using three random operating points on the parabolic P–I curve. To substantiate the effectiveness of the parabolic extrapolation‐based MPPT algorithm, different conditions of temperature gradient and load have been applied. The results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm takes <15% of the time taken by P&O method to track the MPP.
Kullback–Leibler divergence‐based distributionally robust optimisation model for heat pump day‐ahead operational schedule to improve PV integration
Authors: Li Zihao , Wu Wenchuan , Zhang Boming , Tai Xue
Published: April 2018

For its high coefficient of performance and zero local emissions, the heat pump (HP) has recently become popular in North Europe and China, which shows potential in absorbing local photovoltaic (PV) generation. In this study, the authors describe a distributionally robust optimisation (DRO)‐based HP day‐ahead operational schedule model (HP‐DOSM) to match the PV power generation, which can well capture the uncertainties of weather, PV, and load prediction errors. Moreover, this DRO‐based HP‐DOSM can be transformed into a tractable deterministic model. The DRO method they proposed is suitable for linear expectation constrained optimisation whose ambiguity set is constructed using Kullback–Leibler divergence, which could be further transformed into deterministic conic/linear constraints. Compared with robust optimisation (RO) models, the authors’ model is less conservative since more statistical information on the uncertainties is utilised. Numerical tests were conducted to demonstrate its performance, compared with the RO model via Monte Carlo simulations.
How orbital angular momentum modes are boosting the performance of radio links
Authors: Drysdale Timothy D. , Allen Ben , Stevens Chris , Berry Simon J. , Smith Francis C. , Coon Justin
Published: April 2018

This study focuses on the application of orbital angular momentum (OAM) modes for enhancing radio communications. It is shown that OAM modes can enhance the spectral efficiency of line‐of‐sight links where there is limited or no diversity gain, and also increase physical layer security. Multiple‐input multiple‐output systems, in comparison, can struggle to give spectral efficiency improvements in line‐of‐sight links because they are not typically configured to exploit OAM modes. The concept of specifically using OAM modes shows great promise provided that several challenges are addressed. This study aims to clarify OAM in the context of applications to which it is well suited, such as high‐capacity point‐to‐point links alongside transport infrastructure, within data centres, and between buildings.
Circularly polarised OAM antenna using an aperture‐coupled uniform circular array
Authors: Guo Zhi‐Gui , Yang Guo‐Min , Jin Ya‐Qiu
Published: April 2018

Circularly polarised (CP) orbital angular momentum (OAM) antennas using aperture‐coupled uniform circular array (UCA) are proposed to avoid the polarisation mismatch during the mobility and/or the space communications. A comprehensive derivation for ideal CP UCA is derived and numerical simulations are performed for further analysis. To validate the theoretical result and explore explicitly, the proposed prototype for ±1, ±2 mode OAM antennas with right‐hand and left‐hand circular polarisations are proposed and fabricated with measurements conducted, respectively. Measured radiation patterns, axial ratio versus elevation angle θ and the helical phase wavefronts are all favourable and exhibited. The transmission characteristics versus frequency f, relative azimuthal angel Δϕ and distance D are all measured and analysed, which shows high isolations between different channels.
Six‐face cubical key encryption and decryption based on product cipher using hybridisation and Rubik's cubes
Authors: Dhandabani Rajavel , S. Periyasamy Shantharajah , Theagarajan Padma , Sangaiah Arun Kumar
Published: April 2018

This paper deals with the novel approach to generate cubical key that symbolises the message and key in six‐face cubical structure. The cubical message is hybridised to generate the cipher in the encryption. Hybridisation of cubes is performed by using the XOR operation to the six‐face cubical original message and six‐face random sequence which is a part of Key‐Cube. Key‐Cube consists of Rotation Type (RT‐Cube), Rotation Angle (RA‐Cube) and Random Sequence (R‐Cube). As a product cipher technique we generate the S‐Cube and P‐Cube in each of the iterations and it symbolises the substitution and permutation, respectively. Here, total 36 round phase is carried out to generate the final cipher. To guarantee the randomness in each phase of hybridization, cubical message and cubical form of random sequence are shuffled in each of the iterations based on RA‐Cube and RT‐Cube. Cubical message representation, cube hybridisation and shuffling the message using Rubik Cube technique ensure the security hardness in the final cipher. We analysed the strength of our proposed approach by compared the cipher variance with the original message and analysed our encryption technique with well‐known block cipher attaches. The results and analysis show betterment in our proposed approach.
Effect of sparsity‐aware time–frequency analysis on dynamic hand gesture classification with radar micro‐Doppler signatures
Authors: Li Gang , Zhang Shimeng , Fioranelli Francesco , Griffiths Hugh
Published: April 2018

Dynamic hand gesture recognition is of great importance in human–computer interaction. In this study, the authors investigate the effect of sparsity‐driven time–frequency analysis on hand gesture classification. The time–frequency spectrogram is first obtained by sparsity‐driven time–frequency analysis. Then three empirical micro‐Doppler features are extracted from the time–frequency spectrogram and a support vector machine is used to classify six kinds of dynamic hand gestures. The experimental results on measured data demonstrate that, compared to traditional time–frequency analysis techniques, sparsity‐driven time–frequency analysis provides improved accuracy and robustness in dynamic hand gesture classification.
Radius‐based multipath courier node routing protocol for acoustic communications
Authors: Khalid Muhammad , Cao Yue , Ahmad Naveed , Khalid Waqar , Dhawankar Piyush
Published: April 2018

Underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs) use acoustic waves to communicate in an underwater environment. Acoustic channels have various limitations such as low bandwidth, a higher end‐to‐end delay, and path loss at certain nodes. Considering the limitations of UWSNs, energy efficient communication and reliability of UWSNs have become an inevitable research area. The current research interests are to operate sensors for a longer time. The currently investigated research area towards efficient communication has various challenges, like flooding, multiple copies creation path loss and low network life time. Hence, it is different from previous work which solved certain challenges by measuring the depth, residual energy, and assigning hop‐IDs to nodes. This study has proposed a novel scheme called radius‐based courier node (RMCN) routing. RMCN uses radius‐based architecture in combination with a cost function, track‐ID, residual energy, and depth to forward data packets. The RMCN is specifically designed for long‐term monitoring with higher energy efficiency and packet delivery ratio. The purpose of RMCN is to facilitate a network for longer periods in risky areas. The proposed routing scheme has been compared with depth‐based routing and energy‐efficient multipath grid‐based geographic routing with respect to alive nodes left, end to end delay, delivery ratio and energy consumption.
Hybrid protocol for wireless energy harvesting network over log‐normal fading channel
Authors: Liu Yingting , Xiao Ruyi , Shen Jianmei , Yang Hongwu , Yan Chunman
Published: April 2018

In a wireless energy harvesting network with an energy‐constrained decode and forward relay node, the authors propose a hybrid protocol (HP) which is a combination of power splitting relaying (PSR) and time switching relaying (TSR). The authors derive the analytical outage probability expressions of the HP over log‐normal fading channel. The numerical results show that the HP scheme significantly outperforms the PSR and TSR schemes in terms of outage probability performance.
Pressureless densification and properties of TiB2–B4 C composite ceramics with Ni as additives
Authors: Ma Li , Yu Jincheng , Guo Xue , Zhang Yujun , Gong Hongyu
Published: April 2018

Titanium diboride–boron carbide (TiB2–B4 C) composite ceramics were prepared using different amounts of Ni as sintering aids by pressureless sintering at 2100°C for 60 min under an argon atmosphere. This study focused on the effects of different amounts of Ni as additives on densification and mechanical and thermal properties of TiB2–B4 C composite ceramics. Results showed that the relative density, hardness, flexural strength and thermal conductivity of obtained composite ceramics with 1.3 wt% Ni addition were 98%, 20.4 GPa, 330 MPa and 30 W/m K, respectively. However, fracture toughness was 6 MPa m1/2 when the content of Ni was fixed at 2.2 wt%.
Spatial range of conformity
Authors: Kerscher Martin
Published: April 2018

Context.Properties of galaxies, such as their absolute magnitude and stellar mass content, are correlated. These correlations are tighter for close pairs of galaxies, which is called galactic conformity. In hierarchical structure formation scenarios, galaxies form within dark matter haloes. To explain the amplitude and spatial range of galactic conformity two-halo terms or assembly bias become important.

Aims.With the scale dependent correlation coefficients, the amplitude and spatial range of conformity are determined from galaxy and halo samples.

Methods.The scale dependent correlation coefficients are introduced as a new descriptive statistic to quantify the correlations between properties of galaxies or haloes, depending on the distances to other galaxies or haloes. These scale dependent correlation coefficients can be applied to the galaxy distribution directly. Neither a splitting of the sample into subsamples, nor an a priori clustering is needed.

Results.This new descriptive statistic is applied to galaxy catalogues derived from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III and to halo catalogues from the MultiDark simulations. In the galaxy sample the correlations between absolute magnitude, velocity dispersion, ellipticity, and stellar mass content are investigated. The correlations of mass, spin, and ellipticity are explored in the halo samples. Both for galaxies and haloes a scale dependent conformity is confirmed. Moreover the scale dependent correlation coefficients reveal a signal of conformity out to 40 Mpc and beyond. The halo and galaxy samples show a differing amplitude and range of conformity.
The origin of the first neutron star – neutron star merger
Authors: Belczynski K. , Askar A. , Arca-Sedda M. , Chruslinska M. , Donnari M. , Giersz M. , Benacquista M. , Spurzem R. , Jin D. , Wiktorowicz G. , Belloni D.
Published: April 2018

The first neutron star-neutron star (NS-NS) merger was discovered on August 17, 2017 through gravitational waves (GW170817) and followed with electromagnetic observations. This merger was detected in an old elliptical galaxy with no recent star formation. We perform a suite of numerical calculations to understand the formation mechanism of this merger. We probe three leading formation mechanisms of double compact objects: classical isolated binary star evolution, dynamical evolution in globular clusters, and nuclear cluster formation to test whether they are likely to produce NS-NS mergers in old host galaxies. Our simulations with optimistic assumptions show current NS-NS merger rates at the level of 10−2 yr−1 from binary stars, 5 × 10−5 yr−1 from globular clusters, and 10−5 yr−1 from nuclear clusters for all local elliptical galaxies (within 100 Mpc3). These models are thus in tension with the detection of GW170817 with an observed rate of 1.5−1.2+3.2 yr−1 (per 100 Mpc3; LIGO/Virgo 90% credible limits). Our results imply that either the detection of GW170817 by LIGO/Virgo at their current sensitivity in an elliptical galaxy is a statistical coincidence; that physics in at least one of our three models is incomplete in the context of the evolution of stars that can form NS-NS mergers; or that another very efficient (unknown) formation channel with a long delay time between star formation and merger is at play.
Gamma-ray observations of Nova Sgr 2015 No. 2 with INTEGRAL
Authors: Siegert Thomas , Coc Alain , Delgado Laura , Diehl Roland , Greiner Jochen , Hernanz Margarita , Jean Pierre , José Jordi , Molaro Paolo , Pleintinger Moritz M. M. , Savchenko Volodymyr , Starrfield Sumner , Tatischeff Vincent , Weinberger Christoph
Published: April 2018

Context. INTEGRAL observed Nova Sgr 2015 No. 2 (V5668 Sgr) around the time of its optical emission maximum on 21 March 2015. Studies at UV wavelengths showed spectral lines of freshly produced 7Be. This could also be measurable in gamma rays at 478 keV from the decay to 7Li. Novae are also expected to synthesise 22Na which decays to 22Ne, emitting a 1275 keV photon. About one week before the optical maximum, a strong gamma-ray flash on timescales of hours is expected from short-lived radioactive nuclei such as 13N and 18F. These nuclei are β+-unstable, and should yield emission of up to 511 keV, but this emission has never been observed from any nova.

Aims. The SPectrometer on INTEGRAL (SPI) pointed towards V5668 Sgr by chance. We use these observations to search for possible gamma-ray emission of decaying 7Be, and to directly measure the synthesised mass during explosive burning. We also aim to constrain possible burst-like emission days to weeks before the optical maximum using the SPI anticoincidence shield (ACS), i.e. at times when SPI was not pointing to the source.

Methods. We extracted spectral and temporal information to determine the fluxes of gamma-ray lines at 478 keV, 511 keV, and 1275 keV. Using distance and radioactive decay, a measured flux converts into the 7Be amount produced in the nova. The SPI-ACS rates are analysed for burst-like emission using a nova model light curve. For the obtained nova flash candidate events, we discuss possible origins using directional, spectral, and temporal information.

Results. No significant excess for the 478 keV, the 511 keV, or the 1275 keV lines is found. Our upper limits (3σ) on the synthesised 7Be and 22Na mass depend on the uncertainties of the distance to V5668 Sgr: the 7Be mass is constrained to less than
4.8 × 10−9 (dkpc−1)2 M⊙, and the 22Na mass to less than 2.4 × 10−8 (dkpc−1)2 M⊙. For the 7Be mass estimate from UV studies, the distance to V5668 Sgr must be greater than 1.2 kpc (3σ). During the three weeks before the optical maximum, we find 23 burst-like events in the ACS rate, of which 6 could possibly be associated with V5668.
Well-posedness of the time-space fractional stochastic Navier-Stokes equations driven by fractional Brownian motion
Authors: Xu Pengfei , Zeng Caibin , Huang Jianhua
Published: April 2018

The current paper is devoted to the time-space fractional Navier-Stokes equations driven by fractional Brownian motion. The spatial-temporal regularity of the nonlocal stochastic convolution is firstly established, and then the existence and uniqueness of mild solution are obtained by Banach Fixed Point theorem and Mittag-Leffler families operators.
New numerical approach for fractional differential equations
Authors: Atangana Abdon , Owolabi Kolade M.
Published: April 2018

In the present case, we propose the correct version of the fractional Adams-Bashforth methods which take into account the nonlinearity of the kernels including the power law for the Riemann-Liouville type, the exponential decay law for the Caputo-Fabrizio case and the Mittag-Leffler law for the Atangana-Baleanu scenario.The Adams-Bashforth method for fractional differentiation suggested and are commonly use in the literature nowadays is not mathematically correct and the method was derived without taking into account the nonlinearity of the power law kernel. Unlike the proposed version found in the literature, our approximation, in all the cases, we are able to recover the standard case whenever the fractional powerα= 1. Numerical results are finally given to justify the effectiveness of the proposed schemes.
Erhalt der Fertilität bzw. Ovarialfunktion beim Mammakarzinom sowie bei gynäkologischen und internistischen Malignomen
Authors: Stachs Angrit , Hartmann Steffi , Gerber Bernd
Published: April 2018

Neoplasien des Kindes- und Jugendalters sowie junger Erwachsener gehen heute dank effektiver Systemtherapien mit einer hohen Heilungschance einher. Demzufolge rückt das Thema „Kinderwunsch“ insbesondere bei jungen Frauen mit Malignom zunehmend in den Vordergrund. Ein nicht unwesentliches Problem ist auch die vorzeitige Ovarialinsuffizienz mit ihren die Lebensqualität nachhaltig beeinträchtigenden Folgen. Jede(r) onkologische Patient(in) mit potenziellem Kinderwunsch sollte vor Therapiebeginn über die Möglichkeiten des Fertilitätserhalts informiert werden. Die Aufklärungsrate ist diesbezüglich nach wie vor gering. In dieser Übersichtsarbeit wird der Effekt verschiedener Chemotherapeutika auf die Gonadenfunktion dargestellt sowie ein Überblick über die aktuell gültigen Empfehlungen zum Fertilitätserhalt gegeben.

Dabei werden Risikokollektive definiert und das spezifische Vorgehen bei Malignomen der verschiedenen Organsysteme beschrieben. Bei Mädchen/jungen Frauen ist die Kryokonservierung von Eizellen, befruchteten Embryonen und Ovargewebe möglich. Zum Nutzen der GnRH-Analoga-Applikation zum Ovarschutz vor Chemotherapie ist die Studienlage uneinheitlich. Bei postpubertären Jungen bzw. männlichen Krebspatienten ist die Kryokonservierung von Spermien vor Therapiebeginn Standard. Bei Jungen im vorpubertären Alter ist die Kryokonservierung von Hodengewebe möglich, jedoch ist die In-vitro-Spermienreifung noch im experimentellen Stadium. Des Weiteren werden in der vorliegenden Arbeit medikamentöse Möglichkeiten des Erhalts der Ovarfunktion bei onkologischen Patienten vor Chemotherapien, insbesondere bei (hormonabhängigem) Mammakarzinom, sowie die speziellen Fragestellungen der Planung von fertilitätserhaltender Operation und Radiatio bei gynäkologischen Malignomen, dargestellt.
Factors associated with delayed bleeding after resection of large nonpedunculated colorectal polyps
Authors: Elliott Timothy , Tsiamoulos Zacharias , Thomas-Gibson Siwan , Suzuki Noriko , Bourikas Leonidas , Hart Ailsa , Bassett Paul , Saunders Brian
Published: April 2018

Background Delayed bleeding is the most common significant complication after piecemeal endoscopic mucosal resection (p-EMR) of large nonpedunculated colorectal polyps (NPCPs). Risk factors for delayed bleeding are incompletely defined. We aimed to determine risk factors for delayed bleeding following p-EMR.

Methods Data were analyzed from a prospective tertiary center audit of patients with NPCPs ≥ 20 mm who underwent p-EMR between 2010 and 2012. Patient, polyp, and procedure-related data were collected. Four post p-EMR defect factors were evaluated for interobserver agreement and included in analysis. Delayed bleeding severity was reported in accordance with guidelines. Predictors of bleeding were identified.

Results Delayed bleeding requiring hospitalization occurred after 22 of 330 procedures (6.7 %). A total of 11 patients required blood transfusion; of these, 4 underwent urgent colonoscopy, 1 underwent radiological embolization, and 1 required surgery. Interobserver agreement for identification of the four post p-EMR defect factors was moderate (kappa range 0.52 – 0.57). Factors associated with delayed bleeding were visible muscle fibers (P = 0.03) and the presence of a “cherry red spot” (P = 0.05) in the post p-EMR defect. Factors not associated with delayed bleeding were American Association of Anesthesiologists class, aspirin use, polyp size, site, and use of argon plasma coagulation.

Conclusions Visible muscle fibers and the presence of a “cherry red spot” in the resection defect were associated with delayed bleeding after p-EMR. These findings suggest evaluation and photodocumentation of the post p-EMR defect is important and, when considered alongside other patient and procedural factors, may help to reduce the incidence and severity of delayed bleeding.
Nationaler Aktionsplan – Ideenfeuerwerk für Gesundheitskompetenz
Authors: Oldenburg Elke
Published: April 2018

Er umfasst vier Handlungsfelder und gibt 15 Empfehlungen – der Nationale Aktionsplan Gesundheitskompetenz. Ein Feuerwerk an Wissen, wie man die Gesundheitskompetenz fördern kann. Denn diese ist in Deutschland mangelhaft.
Die 135°-Bauchlage aus der Perspektive der Kinästhetik
Authors: Muesse André , Brutscher Petra , Eppler Sonja
Published: April 2018

Von der Rücken- in die Bauchlage Entgegen der zurzeit geltenden Empfehlungen, Neugeborene und Säuglinge wegen der Gefahr des plötzlichen Kindstodes – SIDS
– nur auf dem Rücken liegend zu lagern, ist es im klinischen Bereich oft unabdingbar, Frühgeborene und kranke Neugeborene auch auf den Bauch zu legen. Warum das
so ist, dazu soll dieser Artikel einen kleinen Einblick aus Sicht der Kinästhetik geben. Hierbei stehen die pulmonale Situation sowie die Selbstwahrnehmung der
Patienten im Fokus. Darüber hinaus soll exemplarisch aufgezeigt werden, wie der sehr komplexe Transfer aus der Rückenlage in die 135°-Bauchlage sicher
durchgeführt werden kann und worauf dabei methodisch zu achten ist.
Spatial measurement in rotating magnetic field plasma acceleration method by using two-dimensional scanning instrument and thrust stand
Authors: Furukawa T. , Takizawa K. , Yano K. , Kuwahara D. , Shinohara S.
Published: April 2018

A two-dimensional scanning probe instrument has been developed to survey spatial plasma characteristics in our electrodeless plasma acceleration schemes. In particular, diagnostics of plasma parameters, e.g., plasma density, temperature, velocity, and excited magnetic field, are essential for elucidating physical phenomena since we have been concentrating on next generation plasma propulsion methods, e.g., Rotating Magnetic Field plasma acceleration method, by characterizing the plasma performance. Moreover, in order to estimate the thrust performance in our experimental scheme, we have also mounted a thrust stand, which has a target type, on this movable instrument, and scanned the axial profile of the thrust performance in the presence of the external magnetic field generated by using permanent magnets, so as to investigate the plasma captured in a stand area, considering the divergent field lines in the downstream region of a generation antenna. In this paper, we will introduce the novel measurement instrument and describe how to measure these parameters.
Langmuir instability in partially spin polarized bounded degenerate plasma
Authors: Iqbal Z. , Jamil M. , Murtaza G.
Published: April 2018

Some new features of waves inside the cylindrical waveguide on employing the separated spin evolution quantum hydrodynamic model are evoked. Primarily, the instability of Langmuir wave due to the electron beam in a partially spin polarized degenerate plasma considering a nano-cylindrical geometry is discussed. Besides, the evolution of a new spin-dependent wave (spin electron acoustic wave) due to electron spin polarization effects in the real wave spectrum is elaborated. Analyzing the growth rate, it is found that in the absence of Bohm potential, the electron spin effects or exchange interaction reduce the growth rate as well as k-domain but the inclusion of Bohm potential increases both the growth rate and k-domain. Further, we investigate the geometry effects expressed by R and pon and find that they have opposite effects on the growth rate and k-domain of the instability. Additionally, how the other parameters like electron beam density or streaming speed of beam electrons influence the growth rate is also investigated. This study may find its applications for the signal analysis in solid state devices at nanoscales.