Ing Times Research Articles

Laparoscopic colorectal cancer surgery: panacea, placebo or just good fun?

The timely collision of technological development of miniature video cameras, on-screen display and surgical opportunities led to the emergence of minimally invasive surgery, which has been met with open arms by surgeons and patients alike. Ever since the first laparoscopic cholecystectomy in 1987, the surgical world has been fascinated with broadening the potential indications for laparoscopic surgery. In the early 1990s, laparoscopic colorectal surgery was an emerging technique with unproven outcomes. Case reports documenting port site tumor recurrence raised concerns in the medical community, questioning the oncological outcomes and potential sacrifices that were being made in order to perform the resection in a minimally invasive manner. The initially steep learning curve and evolving technology meant longer operating times and higher costs compared with open surgery, with perhaps minimal gains in terms of length of stay, opiate use and return of bowel function. Early adapters looked for the potential advantages of laparoscopic surgery and continued to refine techniques, thus reducing operat ing times and subsequent associated costs. However, issues still remain as surgeons moved from ‘what can we do?’ to ‘what should we do?’; the question arose as to whether laparoscopic colectomy could achieve an oncologically sound resection with an equivalent extent of dissection and lymph node yield without creating new patterns of disease recurrence. It has taken almost 20 years from the initial trial designs to publication of the longterm results to clarify this. There are four landmark trials that have helped map the path forward. Interestingly, none of these trials were designed to determine whether or not laparoscopic surgery was superior to open surgery.

Hot electron effects in ultra‐short gate length InAs/InAlAs HEMTs

AbstractHigh field transport in short channel (sub‐100 nm gate length), InAs/InAlAs pseudomorphic high‐electron mobility transistors (pHEMTs) has been studied using a full‐band Cellular Monte Carlo (CMC) simulator. Reasonable agreement is obtained between simulated devices and recent experimental results in terms of the current, voltage and cutoff frequency. Both 70 nm and 35 nm gate length devices have been simulated in this work. Sustained high carrier energies near the drain electrode are observed and attributed to the long scatter‐ ing times from both X and L valleys back to the Γ valley in InAs. Strong overshoot effects are also apparent in the velocity, although the corresponding increase in cutoff frequency is not as pronounced as expected from simple scaling of the gate length. The relation of this velocity behaviour to the experimental and simulated frequency response is discussed, as well as the limits of performance in this technology as gate lengths are scaled further. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Teaching the Cold War through Oral History

In the 1950s, students would and cover at the sound of air-raid sirens. Kneeling under our desks, one hand over the back of the neck, the other over the eyes, we practiced protecting ourselves from nuclear war. Having gone to school in the borough of Queens, New York, I can recall once studying the poten tial impact of an atomic weapon by exam ining a large map of the city, with a series of concentric circles emanating from the intersection of 42nd Street and Broadway (everyone took it for . granted that the Soviets were target ing Times Square). It came as a startling revelation when the class pinpointed our school in the firestorm zone where every struc ture would be obliterated. Why were we bothering to duck and cover? Students of the post-Cold War generation lack such sobering real izations of the dangers that existed in the rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union. Able to purchase chunks of the Berlin Wall in department stores, they may soon begin to consider the Cold War era as distant as World Wars I and II, the Great Depres sion, and the Roaring Twenties. Yet for teaching purposes, the Cold War remains locked in the memories of those who lived through the era, which students can dis cover, share and understand through oral history interviewing. Since the 1960s, teachers have suc cessfully implemented oral history at ev ery level of instruction from grade school to graduate school. In high school, oral history has more often been used in hon ors, gifted and talented, and advance place ment classes, but it can also motivate slow learners and otherwise indifferent students. The historical detective work of oral history helps students break loose from their textbooks and become active collec tors of information?and students remem

New Data on Land Ownership Patterns in Ming-Ch'ing China—A Research Note

The author analyzes some of the empirical data contained in the local archives of farmland in three provinces from Ming-Ch'ing times: these data have heretofore not been used by scholars. The new data show the wide dispersion of land ownership, the absence of big landlords, the high degree of land fragmentation, the slow speed of land accumulation in land-owning families, the low turnover rate of land transactions, the substantial bargaining power of tenants, the high frequency of rental defaults by tenants, the remarkable stability of land value between 1500 and 1760, and the steadily rising trend of land value thereafter. All these findings appear to be inconsistent with the traditional views based on nonempirical historical materials. In view of the new evidence, the land problems in Chinese history will have to be reexamined.

THE PORCELAIN INDUSTRY AT CHING-TE-CHEN 1550–1700

There are several reasons why a study of the Ching-te-chen (or Jingdezhen) porcelain industry during the period 1550–1700 might be profitably attempted. The answers to the following questions would serve to focus attention on the significance of the subject: (1) Why did Ching-te-chen, instead of some other town, become the porcelain capital of China? (2) What was the level of porcelain production attained there during late Ming and early Ch'ing times and what was its probable impact? (3) What were the key processes of production and the degree of work differentiation achieved? (4) How were the working conditions and what was the extent of unrest among the workers? In the limited space of this paper, to attempt to frame an answer to these questions with thoroughness might prove to be an impossible task. Still, these questions deserve the attention of the economic historian no less than that of the art historian, and perhaps some tentative conclusions may be drawn from the scanty evidence that is available.

“SPROUTS OF CAPITALISM”—A NEW TRANSPLANT?

Ming historians who enjoyed the data published during the 1950s as a result of the academic espousal of “sprouts of capitalism” in China during the late Ming period should find the recent revival of this theme most intriguing. As Ramon Myers has noted in a recent issue of CH'ING-SHIH WEN-T'I, WEN-WU published an article in 1975 by Li Min, describing eighteenth-century cases of land debt found in the archives of the Board of Punishment. According to the article, these cases show that a new stage of production relationships had emerged in some regions in early Ch'ing times. The third issue, 1976, of LI-SHIH YEN-CHIU continues this theme in its concluding lecture on ancient Chinese history, entitled “The Decay of Feudal Society and Sprouts of Capitalism: Ming, Ch'ing” (Fengchien she-hui ti shuai-lo ho tzu-pen-chu-i meng-ya - Ming, Ch'ing).

Great Teachers and Some Methods of Producing Them

The college teacher is under fire. That a man should have more than mere scholarship or a capacity for research as qualifications for this job is recognized by many administrators. The attacks on elementaryand secondary-school teaching which led to the requirement of pedagogical training are now leveled upon college teaching. College are be ing rated by their students. Records of successful methods and devices college teaching have recent months appeared with increasing fre quency educational literature. Administrators sensitive to the chang ing times are installing in service training for and encourag ing the discussion and study of educational topics by faculty members. With the idea of collecting data both stimulating and helpful its bearing upon this problem, two schedules were sent to the executives of 349 representative colleges and universities. One had to do with the so called great teachers the past or present. The other dealt with the matter of faculty building its various aspects. Space will not per mit the reproduction of these schedules nor a detailed account of the re plies to all questions. A few from each, however, have been selected as being of special interest and significance.