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The language assessments and testing are the crucial aspects of teaching and learning processes. Therefore, the following study is aimed to focus on these two most important aspects with refer to a critical view on its practical aspect that is after passing through a tactful teaching process. The crucial notion of practicing language assessments as well as testing towards a critical sense was initiated by Elana Shohamy in her critical works. It was after her thorough observations and experimentations of testing within various learning disciplines, the present study is designed as a review on some of particular testing structures that has been observed under influence of power, hegemony and biasedness with respect to social elements that encounters it. Therefore, it is quite necessary to highlight a prospective of Elana Shohamy, who has tried her best to arrange a valuable platform in order to discuss the related issues critically regarding testing procedures. In the end, reasons provided by Elana Shohamy has been highlighted that can verily show that test itself cannot be a fully trusted authority. It can be a challenging aspect at any rate that could be dealt accordingly in order to restore its very nature of being neutral in every respect.

Pragmatics is a major study of linguistics that defines the hidden meanings of a writer and speaker towards the conjoining effort of linguistic form. It is stated along with its user. Within pragmatics the importance is usually given to a contextual meaning, where every other meaning of given context is referred to speaker as well as writer that wishes to state something. Therefore, the field of Pragmatics helps to deal with speaker's intended meaning. It is the scope of pragmatics that shows some of linguistic relating terms. They are often stated as utterances, which are informative contribution through physical or real utterance of the meaning, uses of word, structure and setting of the conversations. The second is a speech act that focuses on what the writer and the speaker wants to say to someone. So in this way, the major purpose of pragmatics is engaged with addressor's intended words to communicate with the addressee.

Background & aimsThe goal of treatment for Barrett's esophagus (BE) with dysplasia is complete eradication of intestinal metaplasia (CEIM). The long-term durability of CEIM has not been well characterized, so the frequency and duration of surveillance are unclear. We report results from a 5-year follow-up analysis of patients with BE and dysplasia treated by radiofrequency ablation (RFA) in the randomized controlled Ablation of Intestinal Metaplasia Containing Dysplasia (AIM) trial.MethodsParticipants for the AIM Dysplasia trial (18-80 years old) were recruited from 19 sites in the United States and had endoscopic evidence of non-nodular dysplastic BE ≤8 cm in length. Subjects (n = 127) were randomly assigned (2:1 ratio) to receive either RFA (entire BE segment ablated circumferentially) or a sham endoscopic procedure; patients in the sham group were offered RFA treatment 1 year later, and all patients were followed for 5 years. We collected data on BE recurrence (defined as intestinal metaplasia in the tubular esophagus) and dysplastic BE recurrence among patients who achieved CEIM. We constructed Kaplan-Meier estimates and applied parametric survival analysis to examine proportions of patients without any recurrence and without dysplastic recurrence.ResultsOf 127 patients in the AIM Dysplasia trial, 119 received RFA and met inclusion criteria. Of those 119, 110 (92%) achieved CEIM. Over 401 person-years of follow-up (mean, 3.6 years per patient; range, 0.2-5.8 years), 35 of 110 (32%) patients had recurrence of BE or dysplasia, and 19 (17%) had dysplasia recurrence. The incidence rate of BE recurrence was 10.8 per 100 person-years overall (95% CI, 7.8-15.0); 8.3 per 100 person-years among patients with baseline low-grade dysplasia (95% CI, 4.9-14.0), and 13.5 per 100 person-years among patients with baseline high-grade dysplasia (95% CI 8.8-20.7). The incidence rate of dysplasia recurrence was 5.2 per 100 person-years overall (95% CI 3.3-8.2); 3.3 per 100 person-years among patients with baseline low-grade dysplasia (95% CI 1.5-7.2), and 7.3 per 100 person-years among patients with baseline high-grade dysplasia (95% CI 4.2-12.5). Neither BE nor dysplasia recurred at a constant rate. There was a greater probability of recurrence in the first year following CEIM than in the following 4 years combined.ConclusionsIn this analysis of prospective cohort data from the AIM Dysplasia trial, we found BE to recur after CEIM by RFA in almost one third of patients with baseline dysplastic disease; most recurrences occurred during the first year after CEIM. However, patients who achieved CEIM and remained BE free at 1 year after RFA had a low risk of BE recurrence. Studies are needed to determine when surveillance can be decreased or discontinued; our study did not identify any BE or dysplasia recurrence after 4 years of surveillance.

This study was conducted to determine the indentation behavior of thin AlSi10Mg specimens manufactured using Selective Laser Melting (SLM) in the as-built condition along with two post-treatments, namely solution heat treatment and artificial aging. Four different thicknesses of 1.0 mm, 1.5 mm, 2 mm, and 2.5 mm of SLM specimens, with the different post-treatments, underwent standardized Rockwell hardness tests using a spherical indenter to determine their hardness values and assess the impression using a stereo microscope and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The as-built specimens showed a trend of smaller indentation depths with increasing specimen thickness, and finally creased with 0.1547 mm depth at 2.5 mm. However, the post-treatments altered the behavior of the specimens to a certain degree, giving larger experimental indentation depths of 0.2204 mm, 0.1962 mm, and 0.1798 mm at 1.0 mm, 1.5 mm, and 2.5 mm thickness, respectively, after solution heat treatment. Artificial aging showed a general decrease in indentation depth with increasing specimen thickness in contrast to solution treatment, and resulted in depths of 0.1888 mm and 0.1596 mm at 1.0 mm and 2.5 mm thickness. Furthermore, a material numerical model was made using stress–strain data on ANSYS Workbench to develop a predictive model for the indentation behavior of the specimens in contrast to experimentation. Under multi-linear isotropic hardening, the Finite Element Analysis (FEA) simulation produced indentation geometry with an average accuracy of 95.4% for the artificial aging series. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a rapid, simple, and scalable approach to achieve superhydrophobic (SH) substrates directly in commodity shrink wrap film utilizing Argon (Ar) plasma. Ar plasma treatment creates a stiff skin layer on the surface of the shrink film. When the film shrinks, the mismatch in stiffness between the stiff skin layer and bulk shrink film causes the formation of multiscale hierarchical wrinkles with nano-textured features. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images confirm the presence of these biomimetic structures. Contact angle (CA) and contact angle hysteresis (CAH) measurements, respectively, defined as values greater than 150° and less than 10°, verified the SH nature of the substrates. Furthermore, we demonstrate the ability to reliably pattern hydrophilic regions onto the SH substrates, allowing precise capture and detection of proteins in urine. Finally, we achieved self-driven microfluidics via patterning contrasting superhydrophilic microchannels on the SH Ar substrates to induce flow for biosensing.

The unique antiwetting properties of superhydrophobic (SH) surfaces prevent the adhesion of water and bodily fluids, including blood, urine, and saliva. While typical manufacturable approaches to create SH surfaces rely on chemical and structural modifications, such approaches are expensive, require postprocessing, and are often not biocompatible. By contrast, it is demonstrated that purely structural SH features are easily formed using high throughput roll-to-roll (R2R) manufacturing by shrinking a prestressed thermoplastic with a thin, stiff layer of silver and calcium. These features are subsequently embossed into any commercially available and Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved plastic. The R2R SH surfaces have contact angles >150° and contact angle hysteresis 4200× reduction of blood residue area compared to the nonstructured controls of the same material. In addition, blood clotting is reduced >5× using whole blood directly from the patient. Furthermore, these surfaces can be easily configured into 3D shapes, as demonstrated with SH tubes. With the simple scale-up production and the eliminated need for anticoagulants to prevent clotting, the proposed conformable SH surfaces can be impactful for a wide range of medical tools, including catheters and microfluidic channels.

A promising method for additive manufacturing that makes it possible to produce intricate and personalized parts is selective laser melting (SLM). However, the mechanical properties of as-corroded SLM parts are still areas of concern. This research investigates the mechanical behavior of SLM parts that are exposed to a saline environment containing a 3.5% NaCl solution for varying lengths of time. The exposure times chosen for this study were 10 days, 20 days, and 30 days. The results reveal that the tensile strength of the parts is significantly affected by the duration of exposure. Additionally, the study also examined the influence of porosity on the corrosion behavior of the parts. The analysis included studying the mass loss of the parts over time, and a regression analysis was conducted to analyze the relationship between exposure time and mass loss. In addition, the utilization of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray photo spectroscopy (XPS) techniques yielded valuable insights into the fundamental mechanisms accountable for the observed corrosion and mechanical behavior. It was found that the presence of corrosion products (i.e., oxide layer) and pitting contributed to the degradation of the SLM parts in the saline environment. This research emphasizes the importance of considering part thickness in the design of SLM components for corrosive environments and provides insights for enhancing their performance and durability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aim: Transversus abdominis plane (TAP) block and local anesthetic infiltration (LAI) technique are used as part of the multimodal analgesic regimen after abdominal surgery. Postoperative opioid consumption and analgesic efficacy was compared using TAP and LAI techniques in patients undergoing gynecologic surgery in a randomized, controlled clinical trial. Material and Methods: Total of 135 patients scheduled for major gynecological surgeries were allocated into three groups: group T received bilateral TAP block with bupivacaine 0.25%; group I received LAI with 0.25% bupivacaine with epinephrine 5 μ/mL in the peritoneum and abdominal wall, and group C was control group. Anesthesia and postoperative analgesia were standardized. Outcome measures were cumulative and rescue tramadol consumption, numerical rating score (NRS) for pain and side effects in post-anesthesia care unit (PACU) at 4, 8, 12 hours postoperatively. Results: Tramadol consumption, need for rescue analgesia, and NRS for pain between three groups at 4, 8, and 12 hours postoperatively had no statistically significant difference (P < 0.05). In PACU, median tramadol consumption used for rescue analgesia between group T (15 (15–30)) and group C (30 (15–45)) (P = 0.035), and between group T (15 (15-30)) and group I (30 (15-52)) was statistically significant (P = 0.034). In PACU, the percentage of patients having NRS >4 on movement in group C (72%) compared to group T (46.5%) and group I (46.5%) was significant (P = 0.034). No statistically significant difference was observed in the incidence of side effects among study groups (P > 0.05). Conclusion: Except for the immediate postoperative period, neither TAP block nor LAI had added benefit to the multimodal analgesia regimen in patients undergoing gynecological surgeries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) plays a significant role in the global climate system, and its behavior in a warming climate is a matter of significant concern. The AMOC is thought to be driven largely by ocean heat loss in the subpolar North Atlantic Ocean, but recent research increasingly emphasizes the importance of the Arctic Mediterranean for the AMOC. In turn, the AMOC may influence the Arctic heat budget through its impact on poleward heat transport. Hence, understanding the processes that link the AMOC and the Arctic is critical for our ability to project how both may evolve in a warming climate. In this paper we review some of the recent research that is shaping our thinking about the AMOC and its two-way interactions with the Arctic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]