Fiscal Year 2015-16 Accountability Report

The South Carolina Commission for the Blind reports to the Office of State Budget its annual accountability report that includes an executive summary, a description of the leadership system, customer focus and satisfaction and other performance criteria, mission, and program descriptions and budgets.

Fiscal Year 2015-16 Accountability Report

Each year the South Carolina School for the Deaf and the Blind sends a report to the Office of State Budget that includes the agency's mission, goals and objectives to accomplish the mission, and performance measures regarding the goals and objectives.

Empregabilidade e inserção no mercado de trabalho das comunidades ciganas em Portugal e Espanha

A investigação desenvolvida é sobre a empregabilidade e inserção no mercado de trabalho da comunidade cigana portuguesa. Deste ponto de vista, a investigação recai sobre o processo desenvolvido de integração social nas últimas décadas onde se questiona, os Planos de Ação para a Inclusão das Comunidades Ciganas e o seu impacto na vida socioprofissional das mesmas. Para o efeito, será realizado um estudo comparado entre Portugal e Espanha no que concerne ao processo de integração social das comunidades ciganas. Estudos recentes do Instituto Português de Administração e Marketing (IPAM) referem que o emprego é mais difícil de conseguir para pessoas deficientes e pessoas ciganas (os cegos lideram a tabela com 71,6 por cento, seguindo-se a etnia cigana com 47,3).1 Um dos principais obstáculos que se tem verificado em relação à inserção no mercado de trabalho é consequência do problema da discriminação institucional (direta ou indireta)2, relutância por parte das próprias entidades responsáveis pela implementação do desenvolvimento dos programas de emprego. Devido à importância do exercício da cidadania no processo de integração social, realizar-se à uma parte empírica dedicada ao movimento associativo em Portugal e Espanha, de modo a perceber qual o seu envolvimento na definição da política social e respetivas prioridades em relação ao emprego e defesa dos direitos humanos. No quadro da compreensão, será desenvolvido uma investigação qualitativa e quantitativa, com recurso à aplicação de inquérito junto de dirigentes/representantes de ONG´S Ciganas nos dois países, no que concerne à participação/representação das mesmas, na definição de estratégias de intervenção social tendo em conta a politica social nacional e as orientações da União Europeia como é exemplo, a Estratégia Nacional Para a Integração da Comunidade Cigana; EMPLOYABILITY AND INTEGRATION IN THE LABOUR MARKET OF THE GYPSY IN PORTUGAL AND SPAIN Abstract: The research carried out is on employability and inclusion in the Community Portuguese Gypsy labor market. From this point of view, the investigation lies with the developed process of social integration in recent decades where it questions the Action Plans for Inclusion of Roma communities and their impact on the socio-professional life of the community Gypsy. For this purpose, a comparative study between Portugal and Spain regarding the process of social integration of Roma will be held. Recent studies of the Portuguese Institute of Administration and Marketing (IPAM), indicate that employment is more difficult to achieve for disable people and Roma people (the blind lead the table with 71.6 percent, followed by 47%). One of the main obstacles that has been seen in relation to the insertion in the labor market is a result of the problem of institutional discrimination (direct or indirect), reluctance by the very entities responsible for implementing the development of employment programs. Because of the importance of citizenship in the social integration process, carried out the empirical part dedicated to the associative movement in Portugal and Spain, in order to understand what their involvement in the definition of social policy and respective priorities in relation to employment and defense of human rights. In the context of understanding, a qualitative research will be developed, using the application survey of leaders / representatives of NGOs Roma in both countries, with respect to participation / representation of the same in the definition of social intervention strategies taking into account national social policy and the guidelines of the European Union as example, the national Strategy for the Integration of Roma Community.

Graciliano Ramos' prisons of memory

This study intends to show how the spiritual activity, when treating the memory as an instrument of complaint, in Graciliano Ramos’ Memórias do cárcere, faces the challenge of interacting with elements that can make it a prisoner of itself in the selection and application of images in the literary creation process; elements such as the carceral automatism, the egotism and the blind accession to the external reality.  

MYTHICAL ELEMENTS IN GARCÍA MÁRQUEZ, SÁBATO AND NERUDA

One hundred years of solitude, Report on the blind and Alturas de Machu Picchu, outstanding works from the Latin American Literature of the period of its boom, broke the relationship with facile and nineteenth schemes, and brusquely sprouted in a world that went far ahead of the surrealistic theses spread by André Breton. This was possible by the emergence of magical realism in the Hispanic American pens. According to Alejo Carpentier, “Our magical realism is the one we found in a raw state, omnipresent all through Latin America. Here, the unusual is daily, in fact it has always been daily”. It should not be forgotten that Carpentier and Sábato were in Breton’s work staff, because they guarded each a deep knowledge of Surrealism. Yet the history of the religions should also be taken into account, since the knowledge of myths, with Mircea Eliade as the chief head, enables an important and close approach to the works of these authors. That is the reason why, in this essay, the mythical aspects in the previously mentioned works are analyzed.

Treatment rationale study design for the MetLung trial : a randomized, double-blind phase III study of onartuzumab (MetMAb) in combination with erlotinib versus erlotinib alone in patients who have received standard chemotherapy for stage IIIB or IV met-positive non-small-cell lung cancer

We present the treatment rationale and study design of the MetLung phase III study. This study will investigate onartuzumab (MetMAb) in combination with erlotinib compared with erlotinib alone, as second- or third-line treatment, in patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who are Met-positive by immunohistochemistry. Approximately 490 patients (245 per treatment arm) will receive erlotinib (150 mg oral daily) plus onartuzumab or placebo (15 mg/kg intravenous every 3 weeks) until disease progression, unacceptable toxicity, patient or physician decision to discontinue, or death. The efficacy objectives of this study are to compare overall survival (OS) (primary endpoint), progression-free survival, and response rates between the 2 treatment arms. In addition, safety, quality of life, pharmacokinetics, and translational research will be investigated across treatment arms. If the primary objective (OS) is achieved, this study will provide robust results toward an alternative treatment option for patients with Met-positive second- or third-line NSCLC. © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All Rights Reserved.

The cross-entropy method for blind multiuser detection

We consider the problem of blind multiuser detection. We adopt a Bayesian approach where unknown parameters are considered random and integrated out. Computing the maximum a posteriori estimate of the input data sequence requires solving a combinatorial optimization problem. We propose here to apply the Cross-Entropy method recently introduced by Rubinstein. The performance of cross-entropy is compared to Markov chain Monte Carlo. For similar Bit Error Rate performance, we demonstrate that Cross-Entropy outperforms a generic Markov chain Monte Carlo method in terms of operation time.

Radiotherapy plus nimotuzumab or placebo in the treatment of high grade glioma patients: results from a randomized, double blind trial

Background The prognosis of patients bearing high grade glioma remains dismal. Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) is well validated as a primary contributor of glioma initiation and progression. Nimotuzumab is a humanized monoclonal antibody that recognizes the EGFR extracellular domain and reaches Central Nervous System tumors, in nonclinical and clinical setting. While it has similar activity when compared to other anti-EGFR antibodies, it does not induce skin toxicity or hypomagnesemia. Methods A randomized, double blind, multicentric clinical trial was conducted in high grade glioma patients (41 anaplastic astrocytoma and 29 glioblastoma multiforme) that received radiotherapy plus nimotuzumab or placebo. Treatment and placebo groups were well-balanced for the most important prognostic variables. Patients received 6 weekly doses of 200 mg nimotuzumab or placebo together with irradiation as induction therapy. Maintenance treatment was given for 1 year with subsequent doses administered every 3 weeks. The objectives of this study were to assess the comparative overall survival, progression free survival, response rate, immunogenicity and safety. Results The median cumulative dose was 3200 mg of nimotuzumab given over a median number of 16 doses. The combination of nimotuzumab and RT was well-tolerated. The most prevalent related adverse reactions included nausea, fever, tremors, anorexia and hepatic test alteration. No anti-idiotypic response was detected, confirming the antibody low immunogenicity. The mean and median survival time for subjects treated with nimotuzumab was 31.06 and 17.76 vs. 21.07 and 12.63 months for the control group. Conclusions In this randomized trial, nimotuzumab showed an excellent safety profile and significant survival benefit in combination with irradiation.