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During the process of speech maturation, a child must acquire perceptual-phonological knowledge and articulatory-motor control. In the phonological domain, the child must learn which sounds are contrastive (in perception and [...], Purpose: Generalizations can be made about the order in which speech sounds are added to a child's phonemic inventory and the ways that child speech deviates from adult targets in a given language. Developmental and disordered speech patterns are presumed to reflect differences in both phonological knowledge and skilled motor control, but the relative contribution of motor control remains unknown. The ability to differentially control anterior versus posterior regions of the tongue increases with age, and thus, complexity of tongue shapes is believed to reflect an individual's capacity for skilled motor control of speech structures. Method: The current study explored the relationship between tongue complexity and phonemic development in children (ages 4-6 years) with and without speech sound disorder producing various phonemes. Using established metrics of tongue complexity derived from ultrasound images, we tested whether tongue complexity incrementally increased with age in typical development, whether tongue complexity differed between children with and without speech sound disorder, and whether tongue complexity differed based on perceptually rated accuracy (correct vs. incorrect) for late-developing phonemes in both diagnostic groups. Results: Contrary to hypothesis, age was not significantly associated with tongue complexity in our typical child sample, with the exception of one association between age and complexity of /t/ for one measure. Phoneme was a significant predictor of tongue complexity, and typically developing children had more complex tongue shapes for /r/ than children with speech sound disorder. Those /r/ tokens that were rated as perceptually correct had higher tongue complexity than the incorrect tokens, independent of diagnostic classification. Conclusions: Quantification of tongue complexity can provide a window into articulatory patterns characterizing children's speech development, including differences that are perceptually covert. With the increasing availability of ultrasound imaging, these measures could help identify individuals with a prominent motor component to their speech sound disorder and could help match those individuals with a corresponding motor-based treatment approach. Supplemental Material: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha. 14880039

Author(s): Ryuji Hirayama [sup.1] , Diego Martinez Plasencia [sup.1] , Nobuyuki Masuda [sup.2] , Sriram Subramanian [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) School of Engineering and Informatics, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK [...], Science-fiction movies portray volumetric systems that provide not only visual but also tactile and audible three-dimensional (3D) content. Displays based on swept-volume surfaces.sup.1,2, holography.sup.3, optophoretics.sup.4, plasmonics.sup.5 or lenticular lenslets.sup.6 can create 3D visual content without the need for glasses or additional instrumentation. However, they are slow, have limited persistence-of-vision capabilities and, most importantly, rely on operating principles that cannot produce tactile and auditive content as well. Here we present the multimodal acoustic trap display (MATD): a levitating volumetric display that can simultaneously deliver visual, auditory and tactile content, using acoustophoresis as the single operating principle. Our system traps a particle acoustically and illuminates it with red, green and blue light to control its colour as it quickly scans the display volume. Using time multiplexing with a secondary trap, amplitude modulation and phase minimization, the MATD delivers simultaneous auditive and tactile content. The system demonstrates particle speeds of up to 8.75 metres per second and 3.75 metres per second in the vertical and horizontal directions, respectively, offering particle manipulation capabilities superior to those of other optical or acoustic approaches demonstrated until now. In addition, our technique offers opportunities for non-contact, high-speed manipulation of matter, with applications in computational fabrication.sup.7 and biomedicine.sup.8. A volumetric display that can simultaneously deliver visual, tactile and auditory content is demonstrated.

Speech sound disorders (SSDs) are the most common type of communication impairment, with recent figures suggesting 11.5% of 8-year-olds (Wren, Miller, Peters, Emond, & Roulstone, 2016) have SSDs ranging from [...], Purpose: This study evaluated ultrasound visual biofeedback treatment for teaching new articulations to children with a wide variety of speech sound disorders. It was hypothesized that motor-based intervention incorporating ultrasound would lead to rapid acquisition of a range of target lingual gestures with generalization to untreated words. Method: Twenty children aged 6-15 years with a range of mild to severe speech disorders affecting a variety of lingual targets enrolled in a case series with replication. Of these, 15 children completed the intervention. All of the children presented with a variety of errors. We therefore employed a target selection strategy to treat the most frequent lingual error. These individual speech targets were treated using ultrasound visual biofeedback as part of ten to twelve 1-hr intervention sessions. The primary outcome measure was percentage of target segments correct in untreated wordlists. Results: Six children were treated for velar fronting; 3 children, for postalveolar fronting; 2 children, for backing alveolars to pharyngeal or glottal place; 1 child, for debuccalization (production of all onsets as [h]); 1 child, for vowel merger; and 2 children, for lateralized sibilants. Ten achieved the new articulation in the 1st or 2nd session of intervention, despite no children being readily stimulable for their target articulation before intervention. In terms of generalization, effect sizes for percentage of target segments correct ranged from no effect (5 children), small effect (1 child), medium effect (4 children), and large effect (5 children). Conclusions: Ultrasound visual biofeedback can be used to treat a wide range of lingual errors in children with various speech sound disorders, from mild to severe. Visual feedback may be useful for establishing new articulations; however, generalization is more variable.

Author(s): Michiel F. Schreuder [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (Aff1) 0000 0004 0444 9382, grid.10417.33, Department of Pediatric Nephrology, Amalia Children's Hospital, Radboud University Medical Center, , PO Box 9101, 6500 HB, [...], Life with a solitary functioning kidney (SFK) may be different from that when born with two kidneys. Based on the hyperfiltration hypothesis, a SFK may lead to glomerular damage with hypertension, albuminuria and progression towards end-stage renal disease. As the prognosis of kidney donors was considered to be very good, having a SFK has been considered to be a benign condition. In contrast, our research group has demonstrated that being born with or acquiring a SFK in childhood results in renal injury before adulthood in over 50% of those affected. Most congenital cases will be detected during antenatal ultrasound screening, but up to 38% of cases of unilateral renal agenesis are missed. In about 25-50% of cases of antenatally detected SFK there will be signs of hypertrophy, which could indicate additional nephron formation and is associated with a somewhat reduced risk of renal injury. Additional renal and extrarenal anomalies are frequently detected and may denote a genetic cause for the SFK, even though for the majority of cases no explanation can (yet) be found. The ongoing glomerular hyperfiltration results in renal injury, for which early markers are lacking. Individuals with SFK should avoid obesity and excessive salt intake to limit additional hyperfiltration. As conditions like hypertension, albuminuria and a mildly reduced glomerular filtration rate generally do not result in specific complaints but may pose a threat to long-term health, screening for renal injury in any individual with a SFK would appear to be imperative, starting from infancy. With early treatment, secondary consequences may be diminished, thereby providing the optimal life for anyone born with a SFK.

Author(s): Laura Jackson [sup.1] [sup.2] , Mark Woodward [sup.2] , Richard J. Coward [sup.1] [sup.2] Author Affiliations: (Aff1) 0000 0004 1936 7603, grid.5337.2, Bristol Renal Group, University of Bristol, , [...], Over recent years routine ultrasound scanning has identified increasing numbers of neonates as having hydronephrosis and pelvi-ureteric junction obstruction (PUJO). This patient group presents a diagnostic and management challenge for paediatric nephrologists and urologists. In this review we consider the known molecular mechanisms underpinning PUJO and review the potential of utilising this information to develop novel therapeutics and diagnostic biomarkers to improve the care of children with this disorder.

Edible oils play an essential role in the metabolic reactions of the human body. Also, the human body uses oils in the diet for different purposes including energy source, supply [...], A simple and green reversed-phase ultrasonic assisted liquid-liquid microextraction method for determination of Cu, Cd, Ni, Pb and Zn in edible oils was developed. Detection was carried out by flame atomic absorption spectrometry. The influence of main parameters including ultrasonic time and temperature, disperser solvent, volume of extracting solvent and centrifuging time on the extraction efficiency of target analytes were investigated and optimized. In the proposed method, a few microliters of water (containing 3%, v/v, nitric acid) as extracting solvent was injected into the oil sample and mixture transferred to ultrasonic bath. Then, the mixture was centrifuged in order to accelerate in phase separation. Finally, the aqueous phase was removed and delivered to flame atomic absorption spectrometer. Calibration curves for all metals were linear in the range of 5-100 ng/mL. The limit of detections for Cu, Cd, Ni, Pb and Zn were 0.8, 0.3, 0.5, 1.5 and 0.5 ng/mL, respectively. Relative standard deviation (RSD) values were in the range of 0.6-1.9%. The recoveries were in the range of 95.2-101.2% with RSD values ranging from 0.8 to 1.9%. The proposed method was applied successfully for the determination of interested metals in commercial edible oils. Keywords: reversed-phase liquid-liquid microextraction, ultrasound, edible oils, metal ions DOI: 10.1134/S1061934818010069

Phenol and its compounds can cause toxicity, persistence and bioaccumulation effects in animal and vegetable organisms and may be dangerous for human health [1]. In drinking water, even at low [...], In this work, phenol reacted with 4-aminoantipyrine (4-AAP) reagent in presence of potassium hexacyanoferrate(III) and then was extracted using ultrasound-assisted emulsification microextraction via 1-hexyl-3-methyl imidazolium hexafluorophosphate as an environmentally friendly solvent. Effects of the main experimental variables were investigated and optimized by central composite design. Under the optimum conditions (pH 9.5, 100 mg/L 4-AAP, 100 [micro]L of ionic liquid as extraction solvent, 0.2 g/L [K.sub.3]Fe[(CN).sub.6] and 0.2 M N[H.sub.4]Cl) the dynamic linear range, limit of detection and relative standard deviation were obtained as 0.2-25 [micro]g/L, 0.07 [micro]g/L and 2.6%, respectively. Finally, the applicability of the proposed ultrasound-assisted emulsification microextraction was examined and very good results were obtained. The results confirmed the applicability of the proposed method as a versatile, low cost and sensitive preconcentration method for determination of very low concentrations of phenol in aqueous solutions. Keywords: ionic liquid, emulsification microextraction, central composite design, phenol, ultrasound-assisted emulsification DOI: 10.1134/S1061934818010100

The simulation of ultrasonic decrosslinking of the peroxide crosslinked high-density polyethylene (XHDPE) under static (no flow) condition and during flow in a twin-screw extruder (TSE) is carried out. The simulation under the static condition provides dependences of the ultrasonic bubble oscillation dynamics, gel fraction, and crosslink density of the decrosslinked XHDPE on the ultrasonic amplitude, hydrostatic pressure, bubble volume fraction, and treatment time. For the decrosslinking using TSE, the simulation provides distributions of temperature, velocity, gel fraction, crosslink density, and pressure in the ultrasonic treatment zone on the ultrasonic amplitude. The simulation results of ultrasonic decrosslinking of XHDPE using TSE are compared with the experimental data. A quantitative agreement for the ultrasonic power consumption is achieved using assigned values of the initial bubble radius and volume fraction. Only a qualitative agreement on the dependence of gel fraction and crosslink density on the ultrasonic amplitude is achieved. The effect of the flow rate on the gel fraction and crosslink density of the ultrasonically decrosslinked XHDPE is overpredicted due to the absence of a suitable theory to correctly model the ultrasonic bubble nucleation., INTRODUCTION In Part I of this study [1], a process model for the ultrasonic decrosslinking of XHDPE was proposed. The proposed model was developed based on a modification of the [...]

A process model for ultrasonic decrosslinking of peroxide crosslinked high-density polyethylene (XHDPE) is proposed. The model is developed by modifying the earlier model describing ultrasonic devulcanization of rubber vulcanizates under static (no flow) conditions. The bubble cavitation during ultrasonic wave propagation in a viscoelastic solid containing small concentration of voids is considered. A method to calculate the ultrasonic power consumption and acoustic pressure in a bubble filled polymer is proposed based on the linear acoustic analysis. The rupture of network is modeled by considering the breakage of main chains caused by the large deformation arising during the bubble oscillation. Unlike the earlier process model for ultrasonic devulcanization of rubbers, the current model does not require kinetic parameters assigned to describe the rupture of network. The nonisothermal flow of decrosslinked XHDPE in the ultrasonic treatment zone in the twin screw extruder (TSE) is modeled by considering a helical flow of a power-law fluid with its material parameters related to the gel fraction. The simulation algorithms describing ultrasonic decrosslinking of XHDPE under static (no flow) condition and in TSE are presented., INTRODUCTION Extensive experimental investigations of ultrasonic decrosslinking of XHDPE were carried out [1-5]. It was found that ultrasonic decrosslinking is a promising technology to obtain melt-processible materials exhibiting excellent mechanical [...]

Introducing the crosslinked structure in polypropylene (PP) was highly desired to meet the requirement of high melt strength, which was a key for the application of PP in thermoforming, blow molding and foaming where elongation flows dominated. In this work, the power ultrasound was introduced into the reactive extrusion at the exit die of an extruder for preparing crosslinked PP. The main target was to maintain the highly crosslinked structure during reactive extrusion process in case of low peroxide concentration. The results of the dynamic rheological properties, melt flow index, and extensional viscosity measurement showed that the content of PP gel and the melt strength of PP increased obviously with the employment of a 300 W ultrasound while the contents of functional monomers and peroxide were constant. Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy analysis, differential scanning calorimeter characterization, and gel permeation chromatograph measurement proved that the increases of content of PP gel and melt strength of PP were caused by that the ultrasonic waves could induce the chain scission and recombination reaction when the PP melts flowed through the exit die assembled with a ultrasonic probe. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 57:821-829, 2017. [c] 2016 Society of Plastics Engineers, INTRODUCTION Polypropylene (PP) was one of the most produced and widely used poly-olefins due to its attractive properties, such as low cost, low density, high-service temperature, excellent chemical resistance and [...]

In the last decades, the study of magnetic fluids with different biomedical applications such as targeted delivery of a chemotherapeutic solution to the tumor site has been of high interest. For this purpose, ultrasonic and antimicrobial studies were used to characterize the aqueous solutions based on maghemite nanoparticles. The maghemite ([gamma]-[Fe.sub.2][O.sub.3]) and dextran-coated maghemite nanoparticles (DMNp) were synthesized by coprecipitation method. The spherical shape of the nanoparticles and uniform size with an average diameter around 9.5 [+ or -] 0.5 nm for [gamma]-[Fe.sub.2][O.sub.3] were observed in transmission electron microscopy micrographs. Dynamic light scattering was used to determine the hydrodynamic size of [gamma]-[Fe.sub.2][O.sub.3] nanoparticles and DMNp in suspensions. The hydrodynamic diameter obtained of [gamma]-[Fe.sub.2][O.sub.3] and DMNp was 17 and 21 nm, respectively. Moreover, a noninvasive method based on ultrasounds was used to characterize the aqueous solutions. The preliminary results showed the attainable accuracy in determining acoustic wave velocity and attenuation in various solutions. These data could be correlated with particle density and size. More than that, velocity and attenuation can be used as characteristic parameters of a given solution. A finite element model of the dispersed particles, correlated with measured velocity, allowed to solve for the elastic properties of the particles. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 57:485-490, 2017., INTRODUCTION The field of nanotechnology has developed impressively in the last few decades. Therefore, nowadays researchers can fabricate, characterize and customize the functional properties of nanoparticles for a large range [...]

Author(s): Gulsah Kaya Aksoy[sup.1] [sup.4] , Mustafa Koyun[sup.1] , Adnan Kabaalioglu[sup.2] , Oguz Dursun[sup.3] , Sema Akman[sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) Department of Pediatric Nephrology, School of Medicine, Akdeniz University, AntalyaTurkey [...]

Introduction: Measuring the diameter of the inferior vena cava (IVC) or the height of the jugular venous pressure (JVP) with point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is a practical alternative method for estimating [...]

2-Aminoacetophenone is known as the aroma impact compound responsible for untypical aging off-flavour (UTA) in Vitis vinifera wines. Wines showing this note described as acacia blossom, naphtalene note, furniture polish, [...], The unpleasant odor of an off-flavor is mostly caused by only one or, sometimes, several volatile compounds with very low odor threshold values giving the typical unpleasant odor taint of the spoiled food product. 2-Aminoacetophenone is an aroma compound which causes the untypical aging off-flavor in Vitis vinifera white wines. Ultrasound assisted headspace solid phase microextraction (UA-HS-SPME) and direct immersion solid phase microextraction (DI-SPME) coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) were tested and optimized for determination of 2-aminoacetophenone in Riesling wines fermented by different yeast strains. Keywords: Riesling wine, off-flavour, 2-aminoacetophenone, SPME, GC-MS DOI: 10.1134/S1061934815070102

It is known that calcium orthophosphate nanocrystals possess two properties essential for bone tissue physiology: they are in dynamic equilibrium with the biological environment in the resorption-mineralization cycle, and their [...], A set of analytical techniques is proposed for studying samples of calcium hydroxyapatite (HA) synthesized on the basis of calcium nitrate or calcium hydroxide as precursors. A comparative study of particle size distribution in HA samples is performed using capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), dynamic light scattering (DS), and static light scattering (SS). The effect of heat treatment on the morphology of the synthesized products is evaluated. It is found that the effect of ultrasound (US) on the dispersity of HA particles in aqueous suspensions depends on the nature of the precursor and heat treatment. It is shown that the HA particles synthesized from calcium hydroxide (HA-OH) aggregate more rapidly than the particles synthesized from calcium nitrate (HA-N[O.sub.3]). After the ultrasonic treatment of suspensions, the relative concentration of large HA-N[O.sub.3] submicroparticles increased, while particle size distribution in the suspension of HA-OH remained virtually the same. The heat treatment of HA powders at 900°C reduced the ability of particles to aggregate. It is found by CZE that, with increasing time of ultrasonication of suspensions, the relative concentration of nanoscaled and similar in size HA-N[O.sub.3] submicroparticles increased markedly, while it changed only slightly in the HA-OH suspension. The reasons for the differences are discussed. A procedure for determining the concentration of HA submicroparticles in suspension by CZE is proposed. A linear dependence of normalized peak areas on HA concentration in suspension is obtained. Keywords: calcium hydroxyapatite, ultrasound, capillary zone electrophoresis, scanning electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering, static light scattering DOI: 10.1134/S1061934815050032

Author(s): Werner Keenswijk [sup.1] , Johan Vande Walle [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) Department of Pediatrics, Pediatric Nephrology, Ghent University Hospital, 0000 0004 0626 3303, grid.410566.0, , De Pintelaan 185, Ghent, [...]

Residual speech sound errors (RSSEs) are a subtype of speech sound disorder in which sounds remain in error beyond the typical age of acquisition (i.e., beyond 8-9 years of age; [...], Purpose: The goals were to (a) test the efficacy of a motor-learning-based treatment that includes ultrasound visual feedback for individuals with residual speech sound errors and (b) explore whether the addition of prosodic cueing facilitates speech sound learning. Method: A multiple-baseline, single-subject design was used, replicated across 8 participants. For each participant, 1 sound context was treated with ultrasound plus prosodic cueing for 7 sessions, and another sound context was treated with ultrasound but without prosodic cueing for 7 sessions. Sessions included ultrasound visual feedback as well as non-ultrasound treatment. Word-level probes assessing untreated words were used to evaluate retention and generalization. Results: For most participants, increases in accuracy of target sound contexts at the word level were observed with the treatment program regardless of whether prosodic cueing was included. Generalization between onset singletons and clusters was observed, as was generalization to sentence-level accuracy. There was evidence of retention during posttreatment probes, including at a 2-month follow-up. Conclusion: A motor-based treatment program that includes ultrasound visual feedback can facilitate learning of speech sounds in individuals with residual speech sound errors.

Author(s): Ayse Agbas [sup.1] , Bagdagül Aksu [sup.1] , Güzide Dogan [sup.2] , Türkan Ikizceli [sup.3] , Hatice Nilgün Duru Selçuk [sup.4] , Murat Elevli [sup.4] Author Affiliations: (Aff1) Department [...]

A man comes into the clinic, hands trembling. He can barely write or hold a cup of water. He straps on a specialized head device, lies back and slides into [...]

An Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientist has found a way to spot defects in the animal hides that become footwear, sporting goods, fashion accessories, and other leather goods. This is [...]