Virtues, Resilience, and Well-Being of Indigenous Youth in Peru

Objectives: The objective of this study was to observe the relation of Values In Action (VIA) virtues, well-being, and resilience within a unique, non-Western population of Indigenous youth in the Peruvian Amazon. Methods: Data were collected from students (n = 172, age range: 11-16 years) attending a rural village school via self-report surveys to assess relationships using the VIA Youth-96 (VIA-Y-96) Assessment, Personal Wellbeing Index (PWI-A), and the Child and Youth Resilience Measure (CYRM-28). Results: The factor analysis of the CYRM-28 yielded a 3-factor breakdown (Social Engagement, Cultural Citizenship, and Guidance) instead of eight. Different VIA virtues predicted each of the three factors of the revised 3-factor CYRM-21-Peru model (CYRM-21-P); Transcendence, Humanity, and Wisdom were predictors of well-being; and higher reported resilience leads to higher well-being. Most participants scored very high on the PWI-A. Implications: Research presented in this paper involved a unique population of Indigenous youth residing in the Peruvian Amazon, and found that (a) VIA virtues were differentially associated with well-being, (b) Humanity was a significant predictor across Cultural Citizenship and Social Engagement in the revised CYRM-21-P, and (c) higher resilience was correlated with higher well-being. Implications of this research can be used to inspire future research of Indigenous populations in a Latin American context to develop youth development programs that teach students from a strength-based perspective to improve vocational, academic, psychological, and social well-being

A New Composite Restorative Based on a Hydrophobic Matrix

A hydrophobic restorative composite based on a fluorocarbon analog of an alkyl methacrylate and a bisphenol adduct was formulated into a one-paste system, which polymerized in the presence of blue light. Physical, mechanical, and water-related properties were determined. High contact angles and low water sorption were shown by the experimental composite. Capillary penetration of oral fluids around restorations, therefore, could be prevented in the presence of this highly hydrophobic surface. The physical and mechanical properties of the experimental composite were either comparable to or somewhat less favorable than commercial Bis-GMA composites.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/67042/2/10.1177_00220345790580100401.pd

Non-relativistic effective theory of dark matter direct detection

Dark matter direct detection searches for signals coming from dark matter scattering against nuclei at a very low recoil energy scale ~ 10 keV. In this paper, a simple non-relativistic effective theory is constructed to describe interactions between dark matter and nuclei without referring to any underlying high energy models. It contains the minimal set of operators that will be tested by direct detection. The effective theory approach highlights the set of distinguishable recoil spectra that could arise from different theoretical models. If dark matter is discovered in the near future in direct detection experiments, a measurement of the shape of the recoil spectrum will provide valuable information on the underlying dynamics. We bound the coefficients of the operators in our non-relativistic effective theory by the null results of current dark matter direct detection experiments. We also discuss the mapping between the non-relativistic effective theory and field theory models or operators, including aspects of the matching of quark and gluon operators to nuclear form factors.Comment: 35 pages, 3 figures, Appendix C.3 revised, acknowledgments and references adde

Hubungan antara aktiviti enzim klon Eucalyptus dan kerentanan terhadap serangan penyengat puru, Leptocybe invasa, di selatan China

The activity levels of five defensive enzymes, namely, peroxidase (POD), polyphenol oxidase (PPO), superoxide dismutase (SOD), phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) and catalase (CAT) were assessed in shoots of four commercial Eucalyptus clones (DH201-2, DH32-29, U6, GL9) at ages of 13, 29 and 38 months. Levels were also assessed in healthy and damaged shoots of clone DH201-2 at 15 months, shortly after it was severely attacked by the shoot gall wasp Leptocybe invasa. Foliar levels of these five enzymes did not show any significant increase with age. The level of CAT was found to be significantly higher at ages 29 and 38 months in clone GL9, a clone relatively resistant to L. invasa, than in the three other clones. Clone DH201-2, which was relatively susceptible to L. invasa, had non-significantly lower CAT levels than the rest of the clones at all three ages examined. The levels of the other four enzymes showed no obvious differences between clones and overall activity levels of the five enzymes did not show any clear association with the qualitative ranking susceptibility of the clones to L. invasa. In 15-month-old DH201-2 trees, marked increases in the levels of CAT, SOD and PPO were observed in shoots attacked by L. invasa compared with shoots from healthy trees of the same age, while levels of PAL and POD decreased compared with those in shoots from healthy trees.Aras aktiviti lima enzim pertahanan iaitu peroksidase (POD), polifenol oksidase (PPO), superoksida dismutase (SOD), fenilalanin ammonia-liase (PAL) and katalase (CAT) dinilai dalam pucuk empat klon Eucalyptus komersial (DH201-2, DH32-29, U6, GL9) yang berusia 13 bulan, 29 bulan dan 38 bulan. Aras enzim turut dinilai dalam pucuk yang sihat serta yang rosak bagi klon DH201-2 yang berusia 15 bulan tidak lama selepas ia diserang penyengat puru, Leptocybe invasa. Aras kelima-lima enzim daun tidak menunjukkan peningkatan signifikan dengan usia. Aras CAT lebih tinggi pada klon GL9 yang berusia 29 and 38 bulan. Klon GL9 secara relatifnya lebih rintang terhadap L. invasa berbanding ketiga-tiga klon yang lain. Klon DH201-2 yang agak rentan terhadap L. invasa mempunyai kandungan CAT yang lebih rendah berbanding klon lain yang dikaji. Aras enzim empat lagi enzim tidak menunjukkan perbezaan ketara antara klon. Secara keseluruhannya, aras aktiviti kelima-lima enzim tidak menunjukkan sebarang hubungan yang jelas antara tahap kerentanan kualitatif klon terhadap L. invasa. Pokok DH201-2 yang berusia 15 bulan menunjukkan peningkatan ketara dalam aras CAT, SOD dan PPO bagi pucuk yang diserang L. invasa berbanding pucuk pokok sihat yang sama usianya. Aras PAL and POD pula menurun berbanding pucuk pokok sihat.This study was initiated through a bilateral agreement between South Africa and China, and funded through project 2008B050100014.http://www.frim.gov.my/am201

Understorey plant community and light availability in conifer plantations and natural hardwood forests in Taiwan

Questions: What are the effects of replacing mixed species natural forests with Cryptomeria japonica plantations on understorey plant functional and species diversity? What is the role of the understorey light environment in determining understorey diversity and community in the two types of forest? Location: Subtropical northeast Taiwan. Methods: We examined light environments using hemispherical photography, and diversity and composition of understorey plants of a 35‐yr C. japonica plantation and an adjacent natural hardwood forest. Results: Understorey plant species richness was similar in the two forests, but the communities were different; only 18 of the 91 recorded understorey plant species occurred in both forests. Relative abundance of plants among different functional groups differed between the two forests. Relative numbers of shade‐tolerant and shade‐intolerant seedling individuals were also different between the two forest types with only one shade‐intolerant seedling in the plantation compared to 23 seedlings belonging to two species in the natural forest. In the natural forest 11 species of tree seedling were found, while in the plantation only five were found, and the seedling density was only one third of that in the natural forest. Across plots in both forests, understorey plant richness and diversity were negatively correlated with direct sunlight but not indirect sunlight, possibly because direct light plays a more important role in understorey plant growth. Conclusions: We report lower species and functional diversity and higher light availability in a natural hardwood forest than an adjacent 30‐yr C. japonica plantation, possibly due to the increased dominance of shade‐intolerant species associated with higher light availability. To maintain plant diversity, management efforts must be made to prevent localized losses of shade‐adapted understorey plants

Sharp Trace Hardy-Sobolev-Maz'ya Inequalities and the Fractional Laplacian

In this work we establish trace Hardy and trace Hardy-Sobolev-Maz'ya inequalities with best Hardy constants, for domains satisfying suitable geometric assumptions such as mean convexity or convexity. We then use them to produce fractional Hardy-Sobolev-Maz'ya inequalities with best Hardy constants for various fractional Laplacians. In the case where the domain is the half space our results cover the full range of the exponent $s \in (0,1)$ of the fractional Laplacians. We answer in particular an open problem raised by Frank and Seiringer \cite{FS}.Comment: 42 page

Coulomb Effects on Electromagnetic Pair Production in Ultrarelativistic Heavy-Ion Collisions

We discuss the implications of the eikonal amplitude on the pair production probability in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion transits. In this context the Weizs\"acker-Williams method is shown to be exact in the ultrarelativistic limit, irrespective of the produced particles' mass. A new equivalent single-photon distribution is derived which correctly accounts for the Coulomb distortions. As an immediate application, consequences for unitarity violation in photo-dissociation processes in peripheral heavy-ion encounters are discussed.Comment: 13 pages, 4 .eps figure

Studies of Phase Turbulence in the One Dimensional Complex Ginzburg-Landau Equation

The phase-turbulent (PT) regime for the one dimensional complex Ginzburg-Landau equation (CGLE) is carefully studied, in the limit of large systems and long integration times, using an efficient new integration scheme. Particular attention is paid to solutions with a non-zero phase gradient. For fixed control parameters, solutions with conserved average phase gradient $\nu$ exist only for $|\nu|$ less than some upper limit. The transition from phase to defect-turbulence happens when this limit becomes zero. A Lyapunov analysis shows that the system becomes less and less chaotic for increasing values of the phase gradient. For high values of the phase gradient a family of non-chaotic solutions of the CGLE is found. These solutions consist of spatially periodic or aperiodic waves travelling with constant velocity. They typically have incommensurate velocities for phase and amplitude propagation, showing thereby a novel type of quasiperiodic behavior. The main features of these travelling wave solutions can be explained through a modified Kuramoto-Sivashinsky equation that rules the phase dynamics of the CGLE in the PT phase. The latter explains also the behavior of the maximal Lyapunov exponents of chaotic solutions.Comment: 16 pages, LaTeX (Version 2.09), 10 Postscript-figures included, submitted to Phys. Rev.