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Copyright of Ekonomske Ideje i Praksa is the property of Centar za Izdavacku Delatnost Ekonomskog Fakulteta u Beogradu and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Negative Bias Temperature Instability (NBTI) on p-type Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors (pMOSFET) has been experienced with developed fast measurement technique and analyzed through VTH degradation (ΔVTH). The results have revealed a dependence of power exponent (n) and activation energy (Ea) on stress electric field (EOX), indicating the existence of several phases of degradation. In fact, an electric field of 7.0 MV/cm delimiting NBTI and Stress Induced Leakage Current (SILC) is well demonstrated. Moreover, for NBTI stress, first the dependence of exponent n and activation energy Ea tendencies on EOX has been interpreted by hole trap contribution, which saturates at early stage of stress. Then, changes of n and Ea with EOX have been explained by the domination of NIT or NOT amount and by their rate generation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Ekonomske Ideje i Praksa is the property of Centar za Izdavacku Delatnost Ekonomskog Fakulteta u Beogradu and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Residualization refers to the process whereby publicly subsidized rental housing moves towards a position in which it provides only a safety net for low-income households. In this paper we quantify residualization based on the income profile of households in the below market rates (BMR) rental sector. Various residualization indicators for 12 European countries from EU-SILC data are calculated. First, we explore the effect of the size of the BMR sector and the cost of alternative tenure types on residualization. Second, we investigate if there are similar trends of residualization from 2005 to 2016. We find that decreases in the share of the BMR sector are associated with significant increases in residualization. Increases in rent differences between the BMR and market rate rental sector are related to larger degrees of residualization. We further observe a rising level of residualization for most countries. However, countries with allocation systems that aim at broader income groups still display the lowest degree of residualization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-employment constitutes a significant share of the workforce in Serbia. Due to the equallyhigh poverty as well as self-employment rates in Serbia, this paper aims to examine whether there isany prevalence between the two. Moreover, it also seeks to investigate what detriments exist withinself-employment that keep or lead to poverty among self-employed people. The research is based onboth longitudinal and cross-sectional SILC data. The main results indicated higher poverty exposurefor solo entrepreneurs and those employed in family enterprises. Businesses run by men, low-skilledindividuals, and young entrepreneurs are all at a much higher risk of poverty than other entrepreneursor employees, especially those represented by women and highly educated individuals. The paperprovides significant inputs for (1) managing differences within the active population at risk ofincome poverty and (2) monitoring outcomes of the self-employed, given that more than half of themare involved in the agricultural sector.

This paper examines the trends and challenges of housing affordability in the Turkish case. Concurrently, it questions the use of conventional affordability measures in a developing country context. Survey of Income and Living Conditions is employed to examine the housing affordability through ratio, residual income, and subjective approaches. The results reveal that there is a weak agreement between different approaches in identifying the affordability problem in the Turkish context, and subjective approach is a promising method for a thorough understanding of the issue. Findings also display an improvement in housing affordability in the country during the observed period. This improvement is attributed to the high housing output created in the country as well as the consistent increase in GDP per capita levels, particularly in the last 15 years. Multivariate analysis displays that low-income households, tenants, households who identify problems with the dwelling unit and the neighbourhood quality, households living in socioeconomically developed regions and regions experiencing housing shortages are more likely to report heavy housing cost burden. One of the conclusions of the study is that defining and measuring housing affordability itself is a challenge in the Turkish case. The study also concludes that alternative policies should be developed to the current ones encouraging access to homeownership for low-income households, considering that affordability of running costs could even be a problem for low-income owner-occupiers in some cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Serbian Journal of Management is the property of Serbian Journal of Management and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background: With the rising demand for minimally invasive and cosmetically appealing surgeries, transumbilical single-incision laparoscopic cholecystectomy (SILC) has been increasingly adopted, albeit in a limited number of medical centers. Our team has successfully executed transumbilical SILC for benign gallbladder diseases. This study retrospectively analyzed and compared the efficacy of transumbilical SILC with that of conventional laparoscopic cholecystectomy (CLC). Methods: We analyzed data from 358 cases of laparoscopic cholecystectomy performed at Shanghai East Hospital of Tongji University between January 2021 and October 2023. Of these, 186 cases underwent SILC (observation group), while 172 cases underwent CLC (control group). We compared patient demographics, perioperative outcomes, and satisfaction with incision scars. Primary outcomes included surgical efficacy and safety, whereas secondary outcomes encompassed postoperative hospitalization duration, pain levels, hospital costs, and scar satisfaction. Results: No significant differences were observed in patient demographics between the two groups. Both the SILC and CLC groups exhibited similar operative times (39.56 ± 14.55 minutes versus 41.82 ± 16.13 minutes, P = .164) and intraoperative blood loss (11.34 ± 3.90 mL versus 11.28 ± 3.87 mL, P = .885). The single-incision approach led to earlier postoperative bowel function recovery (22.03 ± 3.60 hours versus 24.17 ± 3.22 hours, P < .01), lower 24-hour postoperative pain scores (2.06 ± 0.84 versus 2.35 ± 0.72, P < .01), shorter postoperative hospital stays (2.88 ± 0.86 days versus 3.33 ± 0.96 days, P < .01), comparable hospitalization costs (3411.67 ± 790.86$ versus 3494.50 ± 558.76$, P = .257), and better Scar Cosmesis Assessment and Rating scores (1.78 ± 0.70 versus 2.17 ± 0.89, P < .01). Patient satisfaction was higher with the single-incision technique (8.52 ± 0.79 versus 7.80 ± 0.75, P < .01). Both groups experienced one case of incision infection (SILC 0.54%, CLC 0.58%), and there was one case of postoperative bile leakage in the CLC group (0.58%). However, the difference in complications was not statistically significant ( P > .05). Conclusion: Transumbilical SILC demonstrates safe and effective near-term efficacy, offering benefits such as reduced postoperative pain and improved cosmetic outcomes, which support its clinical adoption.

Despite rising education levels and labor force participation rates in recent years, women are still at a disadvantaged position in the Turkish labor market relative to men, and Turkey is also one of the countries with a high level of gender inequality in economic participation and opportunity. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the gender poverty gap that might be one of the consequences of gender inequalities. In particular, we attempt to measure the size of the gender poverty gap using the data from 2018 Income and Living Conditions Survey (SILC). First, we explore the gender poverty gap across population subgroups disaggregated by individual, family structure and labor market characteristics. We find that the female poverty rates are higher than male poverty rates in all subgroups except formal employment workers. There is a significantly lower poverty rate for female formal workers than male formal workers. Second, we estimate linear probability models to measure the size of the gender poverty gap taking into account demographic and socioeconomic characteristics that may affect the gender poverty gap. Our findings reveal that a significant gender poverty gap exists in Turkey. This result is robust to controlling for individual, family and labor market characteristics.

Abstract Entitlements for social security and occupational pensions present a major wealth component and play a central role for financial security. However, most individual-level data lacks information on pension wealth. By linking various data sources, this contribution estimates the present value of future pension entitlements in Switzerland for statutory pensions, occupational pensions and third pillar accounts and analyses the distribution of augmented wealth, which combines pension wealth and net worth. The CH-SILC survey from 2015 is used to estimate real assets, financial assets and pension wealth of retired individuals. The pension entitlements of non-retired individuals are simulated on the basis of their earning history from administrative records following the accrual method and assuming a real discount rate of 2%. When pension wealth is added to net worth, average wealth doubles, and the Gini-coefficient declines by 26%. The equalising effect is particularly strong for social security pensions. The wealth distribution differs strongly between the three pillars of the pension system; there are also strong differences between gender and age groups. In Switzerland, wealth accumulation continues after retirement age.

Extensive use of electronic components in mission critical applications has brought reliability concerns in VLSI to the forefront. Ageing related reliability effects such as Time Dependent Dielectric Breakdown (TDDB) might lead to in-field chip failures, thereby degrading the functional safety of the modules. Thus, on-chip monitoring and fast characterization of these ageing phenomenon are gaining prominence. MOSFET Gate leakage current monitoring provides a means to characterize and monitor Time Dependent Dielectric Breakdown (TDDB). This brief presents a fast, large dynamic range, monolithic gate current monitor with a digital output. The circuit does not require an explicit ADC, provides a dynamic range from 200pA to 1 μA and requires 1–2 clock cycles of measurement time for most of the device lifetime. Working of the circuit has been demonstrated using Cadence Spectre/AMS simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a methodology for estimating the cost of the basic needs and applying it on the data for Lithuania in a decade after the EU accession (2006-2016). The basic food costs account for the minimal nutrition requirements, while the cost of other needs is estimated in relative terms, taking actual consumption patterns in the population into account. A reduction in the cost of the basic needs for additional members of the household is accounted for by a specially constructed consumption-based equivalence scale estimated on the HBS data. We show that the cost of the basic needs in Lithuania is close to the relative at-risk-of-poverty line (at 60% of the median equivalized disposable income) for a single adult but exceeds it for larger households. The share of people with income below the basic needs’ cost was above the relative at-risk-of-poverty levels in the EU-SILC data for all years, except of 2016. Albeit, the actual level might be lower due to the under-reporting of shadow income in the EU-SILC. Ability to meet basic needs and related absolute poverty indicators shows anti-cyclical dynamics in times of the economic growth and recession. Children are consistently the most deprived group of the Lithuanian population when it comes to meeting the basic needs. The official absolute poverty indicator used in Lithuania under-estimates the cost of the basic needs for households with more than one member.

Four-port laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) is the gold standard treatment for symptomatic gallbladder disease. To reduce the invasiveness of standard four-port laparoscopic cholecystectomy, single-incision laparoscopic cholecystectomy (SILC) has come about an attractive option for the performance of laparoscopic cholecystectomy. There have been no studies on SILC from Indian subcontinent. The present study was designed to compare the outcomes of SILC with the standard four-port LC in a prospective randomized controlled trial. All patients with symptomatic gallstone disease were evaluated between May 2012 and April 2014. Patients were randomized to either standard four-port laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC group) or single-incision laparoscopic cholecystectomy (SILC group). Demographic profile, preoperative and intraoperative variables, postoperative complications, hospital stay, and pain scores were recorded. WHO-QOL BREF was used for quality of life analysis. Patients were followed up at regular intervals, and satisfaction scores were recorded. Statistical analysis was done using STATA 12 and p value < 0.05 was considered significant. Out of 94 patients, 90 received the intended treatment, and four cases in SILC group were converted to standard four-port cholecystectomy. The demographic profile and preoperative WHO-QOL BREF scores were comparable between the two groups. Severity of adhesions, successful dissection of Calot's triangle, ergonomics, and overall level of difficulty were also comparable. Operation time was significantly higher in SILC group, but the learning curve was seen to be achieved after 30–35 cases. There was no significant difference in the incidence of immediate postoperative and chronic pain over a mean follow-up of 6 months except for pain score during normal activity in immediate postoperative period which was significantly higher in SILC group. Overall complication rate was significantly higher in SILC group, however the incidence of SSI was not found to be significant among the two groups. There was one case of transient bile leak and one case of intra-abdominal bleeding due to slippage of cystic artery clip. Postoperative quality of life outcomes were similar in the two groups. Although not significant, patients with SILC group had higher cosmetic score compared with the LC group. In conclusion, this study shows that SILC is a safe and feasible with a higher rate of complications but comparable cosmetic and QoL outcomes when compared with standard 4-port cholecystectomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I’ve been attending the annual Stabilizing Indigenous Languages Conference (SILC) since 1999, and have presented papers there every year. SILC is a unique conference that brings together educators and researchers of indigenous languages (mostly Native American ones), most of whom work in and for programs at the primary and secondary levels. The conference program focuses on what’s being done in various communities to reintroduce, revitalize, or stabilize indigenous languages. A great deal of effort is going into Native American language programming. Dictionaries and grammar books, although still sometimes used, have been replaced in many schools with immersion-type programs and interactive computer software. The sheer volume of available materials and the commitment of those who dedicate themselves to keeping Native American languages alive are impressive. Invariably though, when asked about the level of fluency of students coming out of these programs, presenters claim that the languages are not very strong, that almost everywhere they’re “dying out” and being replaced by English. This is disturbing, especially when there is widespread sentiment that one’s language is intimately related to one’s cultural identity. Why aren’t these programs working when so much is at stake and so much tireless devotion is put into the goal of keeping these languages alive?Various reasons have been proposed. Most have to do with the experiences of Native American children in government-operated residential and boarding schools, where Native languages were forbidden, and Euro-American society infiltrated almost every aspect of Native American life (through such media as television). In most Native American communities, the ancestral language has not been learned by anyone as a mother tongue for many years, and the responsibility for teaching the language to children has been placed on schools.So when children are taught their ancestral language at school, they’re already speaking another language, usually English. Learning the structures of their ancestral language is difficult for them because these structures will be quite different from those of English; however, learning vocabulary is easier for them.

Introducción. Describimos nuestra experiencia inicial en pacientes con diagnóstico de colelitiasis a quienes se les practicó colecistectomía por vía híbrida transvaginal y, en otro grupo, por incisión umbilical única. En ambos grupos se utilizaron imanes durante la disección y extracción de la vesícula biliar. Pacientes y métodos. Se presenta una serie clínica de casos intervenidos por colelitiasis, divididos en dos grupos. Uno se intervino por abordaje a través de una incisión umbilical única (single incision laparoscopic cholecystectomy) y, otro, por vía transvaginal híbrida, en ambos casos con la ayuda de imanes. Se reportan la duración de las cirugías, el tiempo de hospitalización, las complicaciones y el seguimiento posoperatorio durante tres meses. Resultados. Se operaron 23 pacientes, 10 por vía transvaginal híbrida y 13 por incisión umbilical única. No hubo conversiones a colecistectomía laparoscópica de cuatro puertos o abierta. Para la disección y extracción de la vesícula, se utilizaron un clip imantado de 2.500 gauss y un imán externo de 15.000 gauss. Fue mayor la duración de la cirugía en el grupo de abordaje por incisión umbilical única. No hubo complicaciones posoperatorias mayores. No se presentaron complicaciones abdominales ni ginecológicas asociadas al acceso transvaginal, durante el seguimiento posoperatorio. Conclusión. En la colecistectomía por laparoscopia, tanto el abordaje transvaginal híbrido como por incisión umbilical única fueron tan seguros, eficaces y reproducibles como la técnica tradicional, en manos de cirujanos con experiencia en cirugía laparoscópica. En el grupo de abordaje transvaginal híbrido, el tiempo quirúrgico fue menor que en el grupo de incisión umbilical única, pero ambas técnicas tienen tiempos quirúrgicos aceptables. Es más fácil adaptar la técnica transvaginal híbrida, por lo menos, inicialmente pues no requiere instrumental especial. El uso de imanes brinda una excelente exposición del triángulo de Calot y brinda la posibilidad de realizar tracción y contratracción durante la cirugía. El efecto estético en ambas técnicas es patente. Se requieren estudios prospectivos y de distribución aleatoria para determinar la aplicabilidad clínica de ambos accesos, en forma universal.

Single-incision laparoscopic cholecystectomy (SILC) is a minimally invasive surgical technique introduced as an advancement to laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC). This narrative review delves into the emergence of SILC, emphasizing its distinct advantages such as improved cosmesis, reduced postoperative pain, and potentially faster recovery compared to traditional LC. The study meticulously examines current trends and challenges in SILC, including variations in techniques and their impact on patient outcomes. Furthermore, the article sheds light on the technical intricacies and longer operative times associated with SILC. It aims to contribute valuable insights to the medical community by synthesizing existing literature and recent research findings, fostering a deeper understanding of SILC, and guiding future advancements in minimally invasive surgical approaches. The discussion extends to the learning curve, complications, and a comparative analysis between SILC and traditional LC, offering a nuanced understanding of their respective strengths and limitations. The article concludes with a forward-looking perspective, exploring future directions and innovations in SILC, including advancements in surgical techniques and the integration of innovative technologies, such as robotic assistance and in vivo robots, to enhance precision and efficacy. The call for continued research into the long-term outcomes, safety, and refined patient selection criteria emphasizes the evolving landscape of SILC and its potential to shape the future of minimally invasive abdominal surgeries., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright © 2024, Morcos et al.)

Copyright of Lithuanian Journal of Statistics / Lietuvos Statistikos Darbai is the property of Lithuanian Statistical Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The Europe 2020 Strategy has formulated key policy objectives or so-called “headline targets” which the European Union as a whole and Member States are individually committed to achieving by 2020. One of the five headline targets is directly related to the key quality aspects of life, namely social inclusion; within these targets, the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Condition (EU-SILC) headline indicators atrisk-of-poverty or social exclusion and its components will be included in the budgeting of structural funds, one of the main instruments through which policy targets are attained. For this purpose, Directorate-General Regional Policy of the European Commission is aiming to use sub-national/regional level data (NUTS 2). Starting from this, the focus of the present paper is on the “regional dimension” of well-being. We propose to adopt a methodology based on the Empirical Best Linear Unbiased Predictor (EBLUP) with an extension to the spatial dimension (SEBLUP); moreover, we compare this small area technique with the cumulation method. The application is conducted on the basis of EU-SILC data from Austria and Spain. Results report that, in general, estimates computed with the cumulation method show standard errors which are smaller than those computed with EBLUP or SEBLUP. The gain of pooling SILC data over three years is, therefore, relevant, and may allow researchers to prefer this method.

The linearisation approach to approximating variance of complex non-linear statistics is a well-established procedure. The basis of this approach is to reduce non-linear statistics to a linear form, justified on the basis of asymptotic properties of large populations and samples. For diverse cross-sectional measures of inequality such linearised forms are available, though the derivations involved can be complex. Replication methods based on repeated resampling of the parent sample provide an alternative approach to variance estimation of complex statistics from complex samples. These procedures can be computationally demanding but tend to be straightforward technically. Perhaps the simplest and the best established among these is the Jackknife Repeated Replication (JRR) method. Recently the JRR method has been shown to produce comparable variance for cross-sectional poverty measures (Verma and Betti in J Appl Stat 38(8):1549-1576, 2011); and it has also been extended to estimate the variance of longitudinal poverty measures for which Taylor approximation is not currently available, or at least cannot be easily derived. This paper extends the JRR methodology further to the estimation of variance of differences and averages of inequality measures. It illustrates the application of JRR methodology using data from four waves of the EU-SILC for Spain. For cross-sectional measures design effect can be decomposed into the effect of clustering and stratification, and that of weighting under both methodologies. For differences and averages of these poverty measures JRR method is applied to compute variance and three separate components of the design effect—effect of clustering and stratification, effect of weighting, and an additional effect due to correlation of different cross-sections from panel data—combining these the overall design effect can be estimated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A detection method based on the center continuity is proposed to improve the performance of pulmonary nodules detection. CT images are segmented by using SLIC (simple linear iterative clustering) superpixel algorithm in the method. Superpixels are merged according to the similarity to extract pulmonary areas and suspected pulmonary nodule areas， which reduces the missing rate of suspected pulmonary nodules. Suspected pulmonary nodules are diagnosed as positive which keeping center continuous in 3D space. All of CT images in experiments are obtained from Shanghai chest hospital and LIDC database. The experimental results of the improved algorithm show that sensitivity is 86.36% and false positive is 1.76. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spatial position and energy level of the effective oxide trap in SiC DMOSFET were investigated using Trap Spectroscopy by Charge Injection and Sensing (TSCIS) method. It was found that the oxygen vacancy traps at 1.7 eV above from the valence band of SiO 2 make threshold voltage (V th ) shift under high negative gate bias stress condition. To further understanding the extracted oxide trap, the repetitive negative stress and recovery test at V G = ±40 V were executed. The results confirm that V th and subthreshold swing (SS) change were caused by the process induced pre-existed hole traps instead of the stress induced trap generation. This hole trapping also reduced the Stress Induced Leakage Current (SILC) after the negative bias stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: About 20% of the population has cholelithiasis and this is the main abdominal cause of hospitalization in developed countries. Considering that only in the United States about 700,000 cholecystectomies are done each year, it is possible to estimate the importance of the problem for public health.Objective: To describe a two-incision laparoscopic cholecystectomy (TILC) technique using only conventional material, without increasing complications or operative time.Materials and Methods: A consecutive and prospective case series compared to another historical operated by conventional laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC). The TILC was performed with three trocars in two incisions, two trocars in umbilical incision, and one in epigastrium.Results: A total of 72 patients were operated on by the same surgeon (36 in each group). There were no significant differences between groups for gender, mean age, body mass index, or length of hospital stay. The procedures were classified by the surgeon according to surgical difficulty and 58.3% (n = 42) were considered low grade, 9.7% (n = 7) difficult, and the other were intermediaries, with no difference between the series (P < .05). There were minor complications in 6.94% (n = 5) procedures. There were no differences between mean operative time (P = .989), which was 49 (95% confidence interval [CI] 42-56) minutes in LC and 40 (95% CI 35-44) min in TILC. There was no need for additional trocars in any case or for conversion to open surgery.Conclusions: TILC is feasible, safe, and with good aesthetic result, using the same instruments of LC, without increasing operative time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article builds on recent work that has explored how welfare regimes moderate social class inequalities in health. It extends research to date by using longitudinal data from the EU-SILC (2003-2010) and examines how the relationship between social class and self-reported health and chronic conditions varies across 23 countries, which are split into five welfare regimes (Nordic, Anglo-Saxon, Eastern, Southern, and Continental). Our analysis finds that health across all classes was only worse in Eastern Europe (compared with the Nordic countries). In contrast, we find evidence that the social class gradient in both measures of health was significantly wider in the Anglo-Saxon and Southern regimes. We suggest that this evidence supports the notion that welfare regimes continue to explain differences in health according to social class location. We therefore argue that although downward pressures from globalization and neoliberalism have blurred welfare regime typologies, the Nordic model may continue to have an important mediating effect on class-based inequalities in health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To find out safety and feasibility of single incision laparoscopic cholecystectomy (SLIC) using conventional instruments. Methods: This study was conducted at surgical department of LUMHS Jamshoro Pakistan from Jan: 2014 to Dec: 2015. All cases of symptomatic cholelithiasis that consented for laparoscopic surgery were included. The exclusion criteria were acute cholecystitis, acute gall stone pancreatitis, common bile duct stones and patients with co-morbid. A midline 3cm incision made supraumbilically and 10mm port placed. Two 5mm ports placed on either side of umbilicus slightly superior and laterally in order to triangulate. A 2/0 prolene suture placed through the infundibulum of the gall bladder to achieve retraction. The rest of the procedure is like standard 4 ports laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Results: Total no of cases were 50. The age ranged from 30-59 years (mean 35.20 years ±4.886.) There were 43(86%) females and 07(14%) males. The mean operating time was 80 minutes (range 50-120±16.020). Four (8%) cases were converted to standard four ports laparoscopic cholecystectomy due to bleeding and difficult dissection in Calot's triangle. Minimal blood loss was observed during the procedure with no postoperative complications. The range of hospital stay was 1-2 days (mean 1.08±0.274). Conclusion: SILC is a safe and feasible procedure with conventional laparoscopic instruments without additional cost of single port and articulated instruments. The cosmetic results are excellent with minimal increase in the operating time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bias Temperature Instability (BTI) is a major reliability concern in CMOS technology, especially with High-dielectric constant (High-κ/HK) metal gate (MG) transistors. In addition, the time-independent process-induced variation has also increased because of the aggressive scaling down of devices. As a result, the faster devices at the lower threshold voltage distribution tail experience higher stress, leading to additional skewness in BTI degradation. Since time-dependent dielectric breakdown (TDDB) and stress-induced leakage current (SILC) in NMOS devices are correlated to BTI, it is necessary to investigate the effect of time-zero variability on all of these effects simultaneously. Accordingly, we propose a simulation framework to model and analyze the impact of time-zero variability (in particular, random dopant fluctuations) on different aging effects. For small area devices (~ 1000 nm 2 ) in 30 nm technology, we observe significant effects of Random Dopant Fluctuation (RDF) on BTI-induced variability ( σ ΔVth ). In addition, circuit analysis reveals similar trend in performance degradation. However, both TDDB and SILC show weak dependence on RDF. We conclude that the effect of RDF on V th degradation cannot be disregarded in scaled technology and needs to be considered in variation-tolerant circuit design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The net financial income of households plays a crucial role in assessing their living standard. It determines of which social class they are members and, thus, their social status as well. In order to monitor their income situation, this paper uses survey data of the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU SILC). An abundance of identification data, such as economic activity, industrial classification or sector of economic activity, level of education, age, number of household members, place of residence, household type and others, makes it possible to identify factors that demonstrably influence the household income level. On this basis, it is possible not only to determine the commonly available social class definitions using income intervals, but also to identify specific causes affecting household income and, thus, link a particular household to a given social class. The goal of this article is to establish which factors influence the income level of households. The authors of this paper focused on four factors: social group membership, occupation classified according to the national economy sectors, the highest level of education attained by the household leader and their age. To analyse the influence of selected factors including their interaction and impact on the income situation of households, the authors applied the method of analysing variance between groups (ANOVA) using STATA statistical software. The Scheffe’s method of contrasts was used to determine specific differences between factor levels.

Introducción. La cirugía por laparoscopia se enfoca hacia el desarrollo de técnicas cada vez menos invasivas. Actualmente, es posible introducir a la cavidad abdominal múltiples instrumentos a través de un mismo puerto, y la colecistectomía transumbilical apunta a una cirugía que no deje cicatrices visibles. Materiales y métodos. Se describe una modificación de la técnica laparoscópica de puerto único para el manejo microinvasivo de la vesícula biliar, utilizando un guante quirúrgico. Se practicó una colecistectomía laparoscópica de puerto único, utilizando instrumentos básicos de laparoscopia más un separador sencillo (Alexis; Applied Medical, Rancho Santa Margarita, CA) y un guante quirúrgico. Resultados. Se practicó de forma exitosa una colecistectomía por laparoscopia por puerto único en una paciente de 40 años de edad. La paciente padecía de cólico biliar de varios meses de evolución y acudió al servicio de urgencias por un episodio agudo de colecistitis. Se confirmó el diagnóstico mediante ecografía hepatobiliar. La cirugía se practicó en 50 minutos y no hubo ninguna complicación intraoperatoria o posoperatoria. Discusión. La colecistectomía por laparoscopia de puerto único utilizando un guante quirúrgico, es una técnica segura, asequible y de bajos costos para la práctica de cirugía mínimamente invasiva, especialmente en países en desarrollo.Introduction: Contemporary focus in laparoscopic surgery has been the development of less invasive techniques. With recent advancements in this area, it is currently possible to introduce several instruments via one single transumbilical incision. Materials and Methods: We describe a technique in which a laparoscopic cholecystectomy is performed via a single transumbilical incision with the novel use of a wound retractor (Alexis®; Applied Medical, Rancho Santa Margarita, CA) and a surgical glove. Results: We successfully performed a single site laparoscopic cholecystectomy in a 40 year old female who presented with an episode of acute cholecystitis. The patient had a history of biliary colic for several months prior to admission. The diagnosis of acute cholecystitis was confirmed by ultrasound. The procedure took 50 minutes and there were no intra or post operative complications. Discussion: Single site laparoscopic cholecystectomy using a surgical glove is a safe, easily accessible and economical technique that can be applied especially in developing countries in which comparable but much more expensive ports of access are not obtainable.

The paper compares incomes of Czech rural and non-rural households and identifies households persisting below the poverty threshold. The data were taken from the statistic research Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) of 2005 and 2008. Households were classified according to the municipality size (2000 inhabitants). Household incomes were assessed according to net annual income per consumption unit, living minimum and subjective minimum income. Positive skewness and high kurtosis is a typical feature of household incomes; a similarity with log-normal distribution can be presumed. The difference between rural and non-rural household incomes was significant (p < 0.05 in 2005; p < 0.001 in 2008). The development of incomes in both areas is assessed with the shift-share analysis regarding the national, industry mix and regional component.

Introducción. Describimos nuestra experiencia inicial en pacientes con diagnóstico de colelitiasis a quienes se les practicó colecistectomía por vía híbrida transvaginal y, en otro grupo, por incisión umbilical única. En ambos grupos se utilizaron imanes durante la disección y extracción de la vesícula biliar. Pacientes y métodos. Se presenta una serie clínica de casos intervenidos por colelitiasis, divididos en dos grupos. Uno se intervino por abordaje a través de una incisión umbilical única (single incision laparoscopic cholecystectomy) y, otro, por vía transvaginal híbrida, en ambos casos con la ayuda de imanes. Se reportan la duración de las cirugías, el tiempo de hospitalización, las complicaciones y el seguimiento posoperatorio durante tres meses. Resultados. Se operaron 23 pacientes, 10 por vía transvaginal híbrida y 13 por incisión umbilical única. No hubo conversiones a colecistectomía laparoscópica de cuatro puertos o abierta. Para la disección y extracción de la vesícula, se utilizaron un clip imantado de 2.500 gauss y un imán externo de 15.000 gauss. Fue mayor la duración de la cirugía en el grupo de abordaje por incisión umbilical única. No hubo complicaciones posoperatorias mayores. No se presentaron complicaciones abdominales ni ginecológicas asociadas al acceso transvaginal, durante el seguimiento posoperatorio. Conclusión. En la colecistectomía por laparoscopia, tanto el abordaje transvaginal híbrido como por incisión umbilical única fueron tan seguros, eficaces y reproducibles como la técnica tradicional, en manos de cirujanos con experiencia en cirugía laparoscópica. En el grupo de abordaje transvaginal híbrido, el tiempo quirúrgico fue menor que en el grupo de incisión umbilical única, pero ambas técnicas tienen tiempos quirúrgicos aceptables. Es más fácil adaptar la técnica transvaginal híbrida, por lo menos, inicialmente pues no requiere instrumental especial. El uso de imanes brinda una excelente exposición del triángulo de Calot y brinda la posibilidad de realizar tracción y contratracción durante la cirugía. El efecto estético en ambas técnicas es patente. Se requieren estudios prospectivos y de distribución aleatoria para determinar la aplicabilidad clínica de ambos accesos, en forma universal.Introduction. Report of our initial experience with hybrid transvaginal cholecystectomy and with single incision transumbilical cholecystectomy in patients with the diagnosis of uncomplicated cholelithiasis using anchor magnetic device in both types of approach. Patients and methods. Prospective clinical case series. Patients were divided into two groups: Single Incision Transumbilical Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy (SILC) and Hybrid Transvaginal Cholecystectomy. An anchor magnetic device for intraoperative manipulation of the gallbladder was used in both groups. Operating time, length of hospital stay, complications, and postoperative course are reported. Results. A total of 23 patients were included, 10 by the hybrid transvaginal approach and 13 by the single incision umbilical approach. A magnetic retraction system was used for retraction, dissection and extraction of the gallbladder. Operating time was longer for the umbilical approach. There were no major complications. None of the patients registered abdominal or gynecological complaints, including discomfort at sexual intercourse. Conclusion. Both approaches are safe and comparable to the traditional technique at centers where laparoscopy is performed regularly. Although the umbilical approach registered shorter operating time, both types of procedure recorded acceptable operating times. The use of the magnetic device allows excellent exposure of Calot´s triangle and facilitates traction and retraction during the procedure. The good cosmetic result is evident for both approaches. Further prospective trials should be done in order to determine the clinical applicability of these two types of cholecystectomy.

Background: Laparoscopy is a surgical approach recommended for the treatment of gall bladder disease. It is recommended also in geriatric patients. Recently Single Incision Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy (SILC) has been proposed to minimize surgical trauma, recovery and hospitalization time. However, the results and advantages of SILC in the geriatric population have received minimal attention. This case series review is focused on the results of SILC in the geriatric population.Methods: The records of 355 patients who had undergone SILC were reviewed. This report identifies, in the entire cohort, 40 patients aged 65 years or older at the time of surgery who will be the object of this study (geriatric series). Clinical outcomes and results were evaluated. Moreover, post-operative pain of the geriatric cohort was compared to that of the entire series.Results: SILC was successfully completed for 347 out of 355 patients of the entire series, with no mortality reported. In total SILC was converted to standard laparoscopy in 10 patients (2.2%) but never to open procedure. No significant difference was found between the total cohort and the geriatric series in terms of median time of operation (61.20 min vs 68.38 min). Post-operative pain was significantly lower in geriatric patients.Conclusion: SILC is an effective and safe procedure for the treatment of gallbladder disease of elderly, also in terms of post-operative pain and it represents an alternative to the standard laparoscopic approach on a routine basis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A core assumption in conventional poverty measurement is that household members share equally in total household income. This paper focuses on heterosexual couple households and asks to what extent male and female partners may derive different benefits from total couple resources. Drawing on the 2010 Irish Survey on Income and Living Conditions module, we examined the couple financial regime, by which we mean which partners received income, whether the income was from work, the extent to which income was contributed for the benefit of other household members and responsibility for decision-making. We explored whether the couple's financial regime was associated with different living standard outcomes for the partners. Among the findings was the beneficial impact of having income from work and of shared responsibility for decision-making. The paper concludes by pointing to some implications for our understanding of power and bargaining in couples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Single-incision laparoscopic cholecystectomy (SILC) may lead to higher patient satisfaction; however, SILC may expose the surgeon to increased workload. The goal of this study was to compare surgeon stress and workload between SILC and conventional laparoscopic cholecystectomy (CLC).Methods: During a double-blind randomized controlled trial comparing patient outcomes for SILC versus CLC (NCT0148943), surgeon workload was assessed by four measures: surgery task load index questionnaire (Surg-TLX), maximum heart rate, salivary cortisol level, and instruments usability survey. The maximum heart rate and salivary cortisol levels were sampled from the surgeon before the random assignment of the surgical procedure, intraoperatively after the cystic duct was clipped, and at skin closure. After each procedure, the surgeon completed the Surg-TLX and an instrument usability survey. Student's t tests, Wilcoxon rank sum test, and Kruskal-Wallis nonparametric ANOVAs on the dependent variables by the technique (SILC vs. CLC) were performed with α = 0.05.Results: Twenty-three SILC and 25 CLC procedures were included in the intent-to-treat analysis. No significant differences were observed between SILC and CLC for patient demographics and procedure duration. SILC had significantly higher post-surgery surgeon maximum heart rates than CLC (p < 0.05). SILC also had significantly higher mean change in the maximum heart rate between during and post-procedure (p < 0.05) than CLC. Salivary cortisol level was significantly higher during SILC than CLC (p < 0.01). Awkward manipulation of the instruments and limited fine motions were reported significantly more frequently with SILC than CLC (p < 0.01). In the surgeon-reported Surg-TLX, subscale of physical demand was significantly more demanding for SILC than CLC (p < 0.05).Conclusions: Surgeon heart rate, salivary cortisol level, instrument usability, and Surg-TLX ratings indicate that SILC is significantly more stressful and physically demanding than the CLC. Surgeon stress and workload may impact patients' outcomes; thus, ergonomic improvement on SILC is necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Persistent efforts are being made to reduce operative trauma and morbidity and to improve cosmesis following laparoscopic cholecystectomy. The trend is to reduce the number of incisions, and thus single-incision laparoscopic cholecystectomy (SILC) and natural orifice endoscopic surgery (NOTES) are becoming popular. There is a paucity of studies pertaining to cosmetic outcome after SILC and conventional laparoscopic cholecystectomy in rural Indian population. In the present study, the cosmetic outcome of SILC versus conventional laparoscopic cholecystectomy (CLC) in rural Indian population was evaluated. Sixty patients with gallstone disease were randomly assigned to two groups. In group A ( n = 30), CLC was performed, while group B ( n = 30) was subjected to SILC. The cosmetic outcome was evaluated using a body image questionnaire on the 7th and 30th postoperative days. On the 7th postoperative day, the body image score for SILC was 6.23 ± 0.89 and for CLC, 8.26 ± 1.08 ( p < 0.0001), while the cosmetic score for SILC was 19.56 ± 1.07 and for CLC, 15 ± 1.20 ( p < 0.0001). On the 30th postoperative day, the body image score for SILC was 5.50 ± 0.68 and for CLC, 8 ± 1.31 ( p < 0.0001), while the cosmetic score for SILC was 21.13 ± 0.57 and for CLC, 15.63 ± 1.06 ( p < 0.0001), which favored SILC over CLC. The patient perception and acceptance of SILC was better than that of CLC in terms of cosmetic outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]