Skin cancers at Tertiary Referral Skin Hospital in Singapore

BACKGROUND: Skin cancer is the seventh most common cancer in Singapore. This study was performed to determine the pattern of skin cancers seen in a tertiary referral skin hospital. METHODS: Histologically confirmed skin cancers, seen between 1980 and 1991, were analyzed according to age, sex, race, site, and presence/absence of preexisting skin conditions. RESULTS: Of a total of 520 patients, the commonest skin cancer was basal cell carcinoma (BCC) (36.5%), followed by squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) (24.4%), Bowen's disease (16.7%), and mycosis fungoides (9.0%). Malignant melanomas (2.7%) were rare. The sharp increase (26.2%) in BCC in the recent 3 years was largely contributed by a fivefold increase of non-resident Caucasian patients with BCC. All types of skin cancers were more common in Chinese (78.1%) and less frequent in the more pigmented races (9.4%). The men to women ratio was 1.72:1. The peak age distribution was in the 51-70-year group, with the exception of mycosis fungoides (31-50 years). The commonest site involved in BCC was the head and neck (67.0%) and in Bowen's disease the trunk (33.3%). Squamous cell carcinoma was found on the head and neck and the lower extremities with equal frequency (29.3%) and 46.2% of all SCC on the lower extremities occurred in leprosy patients with chronic trophic ulcers. Of patients with Bowen's disease involving the nonsunexposed parts (trunk and upper extremities), 42.6% had probable arsenic exposure evident either from the history or clinical examination. Malignant melanomas were commonly located on the foot (71.4%). CONCLUSIONS: The commonest skin cancers seen were BCC, SCC, Bowen's disease, and mycosis fungoides. There were differences in the site distribution of SCC, Bowen's disease, and malignant melanomas in our study when compared to studies in Caucasians.     

Unified approach to structural optimization II: Variable segment boundaries and variable interior point constraints

Recently, Goh and Wang (1989) presented a unified approach for solving cross-section structural optimization problems under general constraints. In a continual development of the above unified approach, two important extensions have been made to enhance its versatility. They allow the optimization of variable piecewise segmental lengths and/or variable interior point constraint positions. This sequel paper shows how these extensions are incorporated in the unified approach and presents the derivation of gradient expressions (required in the optimization routine) of the objective functional and constraints with respect to these new variables. Some illustrative examples are solved to demonstrate the new features in the approach. Furthermore, a recent refinement in handling continuous state constraints is presented.On sabbatical leave from the Department of Civil Engineering, National University of Singapore, Kent Ridge, Singapore 0511     

Investigating the client-related rework in building projects: The case of Singapore

Rework has become one of the most common concerns in construction projects. This study aims to investigate the client-related rework (CRR) in Singapore-based building projects. To achieve the objectives, a literature review and questionnaire survey was conducted and data were collected from 381 projects performed by 51 companies. The results confirmed that the client contributed most to rework. 41 of the 51 companies (80.4%) experienced CRR, and 226 of the 381 projects (59.3%) experienced CRR, which increased project cost by 7.1% and caused 3.3 weeks' delay on the average. Additionally, “replacement of materials by the client” was the cause with the highest frequency of occurrence, while “change of plans or scope by the client” contributed most to CRR and exerted most impact on project cost, schedule and quality performance. This study expands the literature and provides an in-depth understanding of the CRR in Singapore for both practitioners and researchers.     

Study of the growth,and effects of filament to substrate distance on the structural and optical properties of Si/SiC core–shell nanowires synthesized by hot-wire chemical vapor deposition

Silicon/silicon carbide (Si/SiC) core–shell nanowires grown on quartz substrates by hot-wire chemical vapor deposition were studied. Nickel was used as a catalyst to induce the growth of these core–shell nanowires followed by the vapor–solid–solid growth mechanism. The nanowires were grown by varying substrate-to-filament distance; d_s-f from 1.9 to 3.1 cm with an interval of 0.4 cm. Lower d_s-f produced a high density of straight core–shell nanowires. A highly crystalline single crystal Si core of the nanowires was produced at lower d_s-f as well. Presence of Si and SiC nano-crystallites embedded within an amorphous matrix in the shell of the nanowires exhibited a high intensity of photoluminescence emission spectra from 600 to 1000 nm. The effects of the d_s-f on the structural and optical properties of the nanowires are discussed.     

Management of Parametric Response in Design of Experiments

Routine applications of design of experiments (DOE) by non‐mathematicians assume that each response value is static in nature, i.e. with an expected value that is constant for a given set of input factor settings. When this assumption is not valid, it is important to capture the dynamic characteristics of the response for effective process or system characterization, monitoring, and control. With the purpose of recognizing the self‐changing nature of the response owing to factors other than those built into the DOE, thereby gaining a better ability to shape the behavior of the response, this paper describes the reasoning and procedure needed for such ‘parametric responses’, via common techniques of mathematical modeling and optimization. The procedure is intuitive but essential and useful in DOE studies as these become increasingly popular by practitioners in the context of improvement projects such as those related to Six Sigma or stand‐alone performance optimization initiatives. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

All‐Carbon Nanoarchitectures as High‐Performance Separation Membranes with Superior Stability

The application of graphene‐based membranes is hindered by their poor stability under practical hydrodynamic conditions. Here, nanocarbon architectures are designed by intercalating surface‐functionalized, small‐diameter, multi‐walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) into reduced graphene oxide (rGO) sheets to create highly stable membranes with improved water permeability and enhanced membrane selectivity. With the intercalation of 10 nm diameter MWCNTs, the water permeability reaches 52.7 L m^?2 h^?1 bar^?1, which is 4.8 times that of pristine rGO membrane and five to ten times higher than most commercial nanofiltration membranes. The membrane also attains almost 100% rejection for three organic dyes of different charges. More importantly, the membrane can endure a turbulent hydrodynamic flow with cross‐flow rates up to 2000 mL min^?1 and a Reynolds number of 4667. Physicochemical characterization reveals that the inner graphitic walls of the MWCNTs can serve as spacers, while nanoscale rGO foliates on the outer walls interconnect with the assimilated rGO sheets to instill superior membrane stability. In contrast, intercalating with single‐walled nanotubes fails to reproduce such stability. Overall, this nanoarchitectured design is highly versatile in creating both graphene‐rich and CNT‐rich all‐carbon membranes with engineered nanochannels, and is regarded as a general approach in obtaining stable membranes for realizing practical applications of graphene‐based membranes.     

Formation of gold nanoparticles in silicon suboxide films prepared by plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition

Nanostructured materials fabricated by dispersing metal particles on the dielectric surface have potential application in the field of nanotechnology. Interfacial metal particles/dielectric matrix interaction is important in manipulating the structural and optical properties of metal/dielectric films. In this work, a thin layer of gold (Au) was sputtered onto the surface of silicon oxide, SiO_x (0.38 < x < 0.68) films which was deposited at different N₂O/SiH₄ flow rate ratios of 5 to 40 using plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) technique prior to the annealing process at 800 °C. FTIR spectra demonstrate the intensity and full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of Si-O-Si stretching peaks are significantly dependent on the N₂O/SiH₄ flow-rate ratio, η. The films deposited at low and high N₂O/SiH₄ flow rate ratios are dominated by the oxygen and silicon contents respectively. The size and concentration of Au particles distributed on the surface of SiO_x films are dependent on the N₂O/SiH₄ flow-rate ratio. High concentrations of Au nanoparticles are distributed evenly on the surface of the film deposited at N₂O/SiH₄ flow-rate ratio of 30. Crystallinity and crystallite sizes of Au are enhanced after the thermal annealing process. Appearance of surface plasma resonance (SPR) absorption peaks at 524 nm for all samples are observed as a result of the formation of Au particles. The annealing process has improved SPR peaks for all the as-deposited films. The energy gap of the as-deposited Au/SiO_x films are in the range of 3.58 to 4.38 eV. This energy gap increases after the thermal annealing process except for the film deposited at η = 5.     

Effects of dietary antioxidants on the quality, fatty acid profile, and lipid oxidation of longissimus muscle in Kacang goat with aging time

Thirty-two male goats were randomly assigned to four dietary treatments namely, basal diet 70% concentrate and 30% oil palm fronds (control, CN), CN + 400 mg/kg vitamin E (VE), 0.5% turmeric (TU) or 0.5% Anderographis paniculata (AP). After 100 days of feeding, the goats were slaughtered and longissimus dorsi (LD) muscle was sampled. The muscle was vacuum-packaged and conditioned for 0, 7 and 14 days in a chiller (4 °C). The drip loss of the LD muscle increased (P < 0.05) with aging time. Meat tenderness was improved (p < 0.05) at 14 days aging. All antioxidant supplements improved (P < 0.05) colour of the meat. The TBARS value increased (P < 0.05) at 7 days of aging while the fatty acid composition was not affected by the dietary supplements. It is concluded that TU and AP are potential dietary antioxidant supplements, for the purpose of improving the quality of chevon.     

Dynamics of ammonia volatilization from simulated urine patches and aqueous urea applied to pasture. III. Field verification of a simplified model

Published field experimental data [11, 15, 19] were used to compare measured NH_3(g) losses following applications of urine or aqueous urea to pasture soils with values predicted by a simplified ammonia volatilization model [16]. Total measured losses were generally in close agreement with predictions. For example, predicted losses following applications of urine to a ryegrass-white clover pasture in Canterbury, New Zealand were 20.7% in summer and 22.4% in autumn and were highly correlated with measured losses of 21.5% and 24.4% respectively (r = 0.998).The model was also tested for instantaneous rate of ammonia gas loss at 33 discrete sampling times for the summer experiment. Correlations were again highly significant (r = 0.951 for urine and r = 0.885 for urea).The interception of urine solution by herbage and litter on the pasture surface is discussed and was shown to account for some of the discrepancies between measurements and predictions. Soil surface pH was confirmed as an important factor in determining the extent of ammonia gas loss, and the practicalities of measuring this parameter under field conditions are presented. It was concluded that the model offers the potential for predicting ammonia volatilization losses following urine or aqueous urea applications to short pasture in non-leaching, non-nitrifying environments.