BACKGROUND The feasibility of using the SF-36 in non-Western cultures is important for researchers seeking to understand cultural influences upon health status perceptions. This paper reports on the performance of the Taiwan version of the SF-36, including the implications of cultural influences. METHODS A total of 1191 volunteered subjects from the general population answered the translated ...

Brain networks are increasingly understood as one of a large class of information processing systems that share important organizational principles in common, including the property of a modular community structure. A module is topologically defined as a subset of highly inter-connected nodes which are relatively sparsely connected to nodes in other modules. In brain networks, topological modul...

Several computational and mathematical features of the h-p cloud method are demonstrated in this paper. We show how h, p and h-p adaptivity can be implemented in the h-p cloud method without traditional grid concepts typical of finite element methods. The mathematical derivation of an a posteriori error estimate for the h-p cloud method is also presented. Severalnumerical examples illustrate th...

Research on mathematics education has shown that learners' actions can influence how they think and vice versa. Much of this work has been rooted in the use of manipulatives, gestures, and body movements. Our article dissects the mechanisms that underscore the impact of embodied activities and applies this lens to explore how to harness the affordances of new technology to enhance mathematical ...

Ricci scalar is the key ingredient of non-Newtonian theory of gravity, where space-time geometry has a crucial role. Normally, it is supposed to be a geometrical field, but interestingly it also behaves like a physical field. Thus it plays dual role in the arena of gravitation. This article is an overview of the work related to dual roles of the Ricci scalar. A scalar is a mathematical concept ...

Strengthening institutions in spot and derivative markets for commodities is a necessary ingredient of the liberalisation process in agriculture, and can impact upon the lives of millions. In this paper, we describe the existing market design prevalent on both the spot and the futures markets. We show some evidence on the role played by the nascent futures markets in price discovery. We documen...

Fixed mobile convergence (FMC) will be one of the strongest trends in telecommunications in the near future. Given the choice, most consumers would want to use a single handset yet do not want to pay the premium when at home or in the office. Even though seamless network integration will still take some time to become reality, there are many convergence opportunities that are currently being ex...

APRIL 2002 Tools for Representing Fractions This article discusses fraction models. The terms representation and model are sometimes used almost interchangeably, but the two terms are not synonymous. For example, we use a model to represent a mathematical idea. The reason for this ambiguity is that both representation and model have several different meanings and share some meanings. A model ca...

Algol 68 is considerably more difficult to learn than Pascal, partly due to the unusual terminology of Algol 68, which has not been widely accepted. The defining document of Algol 68 is much more elaborate and precise than the Pascal Report, but is also much more difficult to understand than the shorter and less formal Pascal document. This applies, in particular, to the two-level context-sensi...