6,288 research outputs found
Measuring Early Child Development across Low and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review
The Sustainable Development Goals mandate that by 2030, all children should have access to quality early child development opportunities, healthcare and pre-primary education (United Nations, 2015). Yet validated measures of ECD in low and middle income countries (LMICs) are rare. To address this gap, a Systematic Review (SR) of measures available to profile the development of children between the ages of 0-5 years in LMICs was undertaken. Drawing on education, psychology and health databases, we identified reliable, valid or measures adapted for use in LMICs for either assessments of children’s development or their learning environments. The inclusion criteria were (1) peer reviewed papers published between January 2009 and May 2019; (2) assessment tools used to measure cognitive/language development or the early years or home environment in at least one LMIC; (3) report of the psychometric properties (validity and reliability) of the tool, and/or description of the cultural adaptability/translation process undertaken before applying it to a LMIC. Two hundred and forty-nine available records published in the last decade in peer-review journals and nine relevant systematic literature reviews were identified. Fifty-seven records were qualitatively synthesized based on their psychometric properties and cultural adaptation. Forty-three tools were reviewed utilising twelve criteria. Five elements of analysis present in Table 2 and 3 (study, population tested, validity, reliability and cultural adaptability/translation) focused on the tools’ psychometric properties and previous application in LMICs. A further seven dimensions outlined in Tables 4 and 5 identified specific characteristics of the tools from target age, administration method, domains, battery, accessibility, language and country/institution. We suggest these twelve key considerations for the selection of measurement tools that are applicable to effectively assess ECD in LMICs
BaFe2As2 Surface Domains and Domain Walls: Mirroring the Bulk Spin Structure
High-resolution scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) measurements on
BaFe2As2-one of the parent compounds of the iron-based superconductors-reveals
a (1x1) As-terminated unit cell on the (001) surface. However, there are
significant differences of the surface unit cell compared to the bulk: only one
of the two As atoms in the unit cell is imaged and domain walls between
different (1x1) regions display a C2 symmetry at the surface. It should have
been C2v if the STM image reflected the geometric structure of the surface or
the orthorhombic bulk. The inequivalent As atoms and the bias dependence of the
domain walls indicate that the origin of the STM image is primarily electronic
not geometric. We argue that the surface electronic topography mirrors the bulk
spin structure of BaFe2As2, via strong orbital-spin coupling
An Automated Mobile Game-based Screening Tool for Patients with Alcohol Dependence
Traditional methods for screening and diagnosis of alcohol dependence are typically administered by trained clinicians in medical settings and often rely on interview responses. These self-reports can be unintentionally or deliberately false, and misleading answers can, in turn, lead to inaccurate assessment and diagnosis. In this study, we examine the use of user-game interaction patterns on mobile games to develop an automated diagnostic and screening tool for alcohol-dependent patients. Our approach relies on the capture of interaction patterns during gameplay, while potential patients engage with popular mobile games on smartphones. The captured signals include gameplay performance, touch gestures, and device motion, with the intention of identifying patients with alcohol dependence. We evaluate the classification performance of various supervised learning algorithms on data collected from 40 patients and 40 age-matched healthy adults. The results show that patients with alcohol dependence can be automatically identified accurately using the ensemble of touch, device motion, and gameplay performance features on 3-minute samples (accuracy=0.95, sensitivity=0.95, and specificity=0.95). The present findings provide strong evidence suggesting the potential use of user-game interaction metrics on existing mobile games as discriminant features for developing an implicit measure to identify alcohol dependence conditions. In addition to supporting healthcare professionals in clinical decision-making, the game-based self-screening method could be used as a novel strategy to promote alcohol dependence screening, especially outside of clinical settings
Surface Geometric and Electronic Structure of BaFe2As2(001)
BaFe2As2 exhibits properties characteristic of the parent compounds of the
newly discovered iron (Fe)-based high-TC superconductors. By combining the real
space imaging of scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy (STM/S) with
momentum space quantitative Low Energy Electron Diffraction (LEED) we have
identified the surface plane of cleaved BaFe2As2 crystals as the As terminated
Fe-As layer - the plane where superconductivity occurs. LEED and STM/S data on
the BaFe2As2(001) surface indicate an ordered arsenic (As) - terminated
metallic surface without reconstruction or lattice distortion. It is surprising
that the STM images the different Fe-As orbitals associated with the
orthorhombic structure, not the As atoms in the surface plane.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure
Non-Occlusive Retinal Vascular Inflammation and Role of Red Blood Cell Deformability in Birdshot Chorioretinopathy
PURPOSE: To investigate differences in red blood cell (RBC) deformability between birdshot chorioretinopathy (BCR) subjects and matched controls, and to postulate its relationship with lack of vascular occlusion in BCR. METHODS: In a single center, prospective, non-randomized mechanistic study, blood samples were collected from eight healthy controls and nine BCR patients, and subjected to biochemical and hematological tests, as well as RBC indices assessment using dual-beam optical tweezers. RESULTS: The mean age of the controls was 52.37 ± 10.70 years and BCR patients was 53.44 ± 12.39 years. Initial cell size (Io) for the controls was 8.48 ± 0.25 μm and 8.87 ± 0.31 μm for BCR RBCs (p = 0.014). The deformability index (DI) for the controls was 0.066 ± 0.02 and that for BCR RBCs was 0.063 ± 0.03 (p = 0.441). CONCLUSION: There was no statistically significant difference in DI between RBCs from BCR and healthy controls. This may explain the rare occurrence of retinal vascular occlusion despite the underlying vasculitic pathophysiology of BCR
The Affective Impact of Financial Skewness on Neural Activity and Choice
Few finance theories consider the influence of “skewness” (or large and asymmetric but unlikely outcomes) on financial choice. We investigated the impact of skewed gambles on subjects' neural activity, self-reported affective responses, and subsequent preferences using functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI). Neurally, skewed gambles elicited more anterior insula activation than symmetric gambles equated for expected value and variance, and positively skewed gambles also specifically elicited more nucleus accumbens (NAcc) activation than negatively skewed gambles. Affectively, positively skewed gambles elicited more positive arousal and negatively skewed gambles elicited more negative arousal than symmetric gambles equated for expected value and variance. Subjects also preferred positively skewed gambles more, but negatively skewed gambles less than symmetric gambles of equal expected value. Individual differences in both NAcc activity and positive arousal predicted preferences for positively skewed gambles. These findings support an anticipatory affect account in which statistical properties of gambles—including skewness—can influence neural activity, affective responses, and ultimately, choice
Double di ffential fragmentation cross sections measurements of 95 MeV/u 12C on thin targets for hadrontherapy
During therapeutic treatment with heavy ions like carbon, the beam undergoes
nuclear fragmentation and secondary light charged particles, in particular
protons and alpha particles, are produced. To estimate the dose deposited into
the tumors and the surrounding healthy tissues, an accurate prediction on the
fluences of these secondary fragments is necessary. Nowadays, a very limited
set of double di ffential carbon fragmentation cross sections are being
measured in the energy range used in hadrontherapy (40 to 400 MeV/u).
Therefore, new measurements are performed to determine the double di ffential
cross section of carbon on di erent thin targets. This work describes the
experimental results of an experiment performed on May 2011 at GANIL. The
double di ffential cross sections and the angular distributions of secondary
fragments produced in the 12C fragmentation at 95 MeV/u on thin targets (C,
CH2, Al, Al2O3, Ti and PMMA) have been measured. The experimental setup will be
precisely described, the systematic error study will be explained and all the
experimental data will be presented.Comment: Submitted to PR
Onset of dielectric modes at 110K and 60K due to local lattice distortions in non-superconducting YBa_{2}Cu_{3}O_{6.0} crystals
We report the observation of two dielectric transitions at 110K and 60K in
the microwave response of non-superconducting YBa_{2}Cu_{3}O_{6.0} crystals.
The transitions are characterized by a change in polarizability and presence of
loss peaks, associated with overdamped dielectric modes. An explanation is
presented in terms of changes in polarizability of the apical O atoms in the
Ba-O layer, affected by lattice softening at 110K, due to change in buckling of
the Cu-O layer. The onset of another mode at 60K strongly suggests an
additional local lattice change at this temperature. Thus microwave dielectric
measurements are sensitive indicators of lattice softening which may be
relevant to superconductivity.Comment: 5 pages, 3 ps format figure
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