PURPOSE The influence of alendronate (ALN) treatment on the quantitative ultrasound parameters of the calcaneus remains to be established in Japanese patients. The aim of the present clinical practice-based observational study was to examine the influence of ALN treatment for 1 year on the speed of sound (SOS) of the calcaneus and bone turnover markers in postmenopausal Japanese women with oste...

The representation of terminological knowledge may naturally lead to terminological cycles. In addition to descriptive semantics , the meaning of cyclic terminologies can also be captured by xed-point semantics, namely, greatest and least xed-point semantics. To gain a more profound understanding of these semantics and to obtain inference algorithms as well as complexity results for inconsisten...

Are there any differences in outcomes between traditional classroom-based university courses and courses delivered via ALN, which feature extensive on-line interaction among students? Under what conditions are ALN courses most effective? What can be done to improve the publishability of ALN evaluations, and counter the attacks of critics? After providing background on the New Jersey Institute o...

The value of sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) in post-neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NCT) patients is still controversial. We aimed to identify predictors and construct a nomogram for predicting the pathologically complete response (pCR) of axillary lymph nodes (ALNs) after NCT in node positive breast cancer patients. In total, 426 patients with pathologically proven ALN metastasis before NCT were ...

Infrared reflection spectroscopy is applied to state-of-the-art thin film heterostructures of group-III nitrides on sapphire and Si substrates. The individual layers of GaN and AlGaN and the AlN buffer layer are identified by their phonon frequencies. Under non-perpendicular incidence of the light, A1~LO! phonon modes are observed in the wurtzite system. The presence of the very thin AlN buffer...

Bulk aluminium nitride (AlN) is a very promising substrate material for UV optoelectronics based on AlGaN ternary compounds. AlN single crystals exceeding 1'' in diameter can now be grown by physical vapour transport (PVT). UV transparency is of high interest for UV devices designed to emit through the substrate. We report on 500 μm thick bulk AlN substrates with plain UV transmittance of 50% (...

Low-temperature epitaxial growth of AlN ultrathin films was realized by atomic layer deposition (ALD) together with the layer-by-layer, in-situ atomic layer annealing (ALA), instead of a high growth temperature which is needed in conventional epitaxial growth techniques. By applying the ALA with the Ar plasma treatment in each ALD cycle, the AlN thin film was converted dramatically from the amo...

A planar force-constant model is developed for longitudinal phonons of wurtzite GaN and AlN propagating along the [0001] direction. The proposed model is then applied to the study of the phonon modes in hexagonal (0001)GaN/AlN supperlattices in longitudinal polarization. The confinement of the superlattice phonon modes is discussed. PACS numbers: 68.20.Dj, 68.35.Ja Typeset using REVTEX