Inter-cultural differences in response to a computer-based anti-bullying intervention

Background and purpose: Many holistic anti-bullying interventions have been attempted, with mixed success, while little work has been done to promote a 'self-help' approach to victimisation. The rise of the ICT curriculum and computer support in schools now allows for approaches that benefit from technology to be implemented. This study evaluates the cross-cultural effects of a computer-based anti-bullying intervention on primary school-aged children's knowledge about bullying and relevant coping strategies. Programme description: FearNot! is an interactive computer-based virtual learning environment designed for use as an anti-bullying intervention. It includes interactive virtual agents who assume the most common participant roles found in episodes of bullying. FearNot! was used by children over three consecutive weeks to allow its effectiveness to be evaluated in a longitudinal in situ programme. Sample: Two comparable samples were drawn from the UK and Germany. In the UK, 651 participants (aged 8-11) were recruited from primary schools in Hertfordshire, Coventry and Warwickshire, whereas the 535 German participants (aged 7-10) were sourced from Grundschulen in the Bayern and Hessen regions. Because of lack of parental consent, late joiners and absences/missing responses, data from 908 participants (UK 493; Germany 415) were analysed. Design and methods: A quasi-experimental, pre/post-tests control group design employed pre-published and bespoke questionnaires to collect data. Descriptive and inferential analyses were conducted. Results: UK students possessed higher coping strategy knowledge scores than German participants, but German children's scores improved over time and as a result of the FearNot! intervention. Conclusions: Overall, while not effective at increasing children's coping strategy knowledge in this study, the FearNot! intervention could prove a useful classroom tool to approach the issue of bullying as part of a wider initiative. Cultural differences at baseline and reactions to the intervention are discussed

Topografía Infraclavicular De Los Fascículos Del Plexo Braquial En Diferentes Posiciones Del Miembro Superior

Brachial plexus neuropathies are common complaints among patients seen at orthopedic clinics. The causes range from traumatic to occupational factors and symptoms include paresthesia, paresis, and functional disability of the upper limb. Treatment can be surgical or conservative, but detailed knowledge of the brachial plexus is required in both cases to avoid iatrogenic injuries and to facilitate anesthetic block, preventing possible vascular punctures. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the topography of the infraclavicular brachial plexus fascicles in different upper limb positions adopted during some clinical procedures. A formalin-preserved, adult, male cadaver was used. The infraclavicular and axillary regions were dissected and the distance of the brachial plexus fascicles from adjacent bone structures was measured. No anatomical variation in the formation of the brachial plexus was observed. The metric relationships between the brachial plexus and adjacent bone prominences differed depending on the degree of shoulder abduction. Detailed knowledge of the infraclavicular topography of neurovascular structures helps with the diagnosis and especially with the choice of conservative or surgical treatment of brachial plexus neuropathies. © 2016, Universidad de la Frontera. All rights reserved.3431063106

Doubly charged Higgs from ee-γ\gamma scattering in the 3-3-1 Model

We studied the production and signatures of doubly charged Higgs bosons in the process $\gamma e^- \rightarrow H^{--}E^+$, where $E^+$ is a heavy lepton, at the $e^-e^+$ International Linear Collider (ILC) and CERN Linear Collider (CLIC). The intermediate photons are given by the Weizs$\ddot{a}$cker-Williams and laser backscattering distributions. We found that significant signatures are obtained by bremsstrahlung and backward Comptom scattering of laser. A clear signal can be obtained for doubly charged Higgs bosons, doubly charged gauge bosons and heavy leptons

Discrete symmetries, invisible axion and lepton number symmetry in an economic 3-3-1 model

We show that Peccei-Quinn and lepton number symmetries can be a natural outcome in a 3-3-1 model with right-handed neutrinos after imposing a Z_11 x Z_2 symmetry. This symmetry is suitably accommodated in this model when we augmented its spectrum by including merely one singlet scalar field. We work out the breaking of the Peccei-Quinn symmetry, yielding the axion, and study the phenomenological consequences. The main result of this work is that the solution to the strong CP problem can be implemented in a natural way, implying an invisible axion phenomenologically unconstrained, free of domain wall formation and constituting a good candidate for the cold dark matter.Comment: 17 pages, Revtex

Evidence for muon neutrino oscillation in an accelerator-based experiment

We present results for muon neutrino oscillation in the KEK to Kamioka (K2K) long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment. K2K uses an accelerator-produced muon neutrino beam with a mean energy of 1.3 GeV directed at the Super-Kamiokande detector. We observed the energy dependent disappearance of muon neutrino, which we presume have oscillated to tau neutrino. The probability that we would observe these results if there is no neutrino oscillation is 0.0050% (4.0 sigma).Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Molecular-assisted selection for resistance to cassava mosaic disease in Manihot esculenta Crantz

The geminivirus complex known as cassava mosaic disease (CMD) is one of the most devastating viruses for cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz). The aim of this study was to use molecular-assisted selection (MAS) to identify CMD-resistant accessions and ascertain promising crosses with elite Brazilian varieties. One thousand two hundred twenty-four accessions were genotyped using five molecular markers (NS169, NS158, SSRY028, SSRY040 and RME1) that were associated with resistance to CMD, along with 402 SNPs (single-nucleotide polymorphism). The promising crosses were identified using a discriminant analysis of main component (DAPC), and the matrix of genomic relationship was estimated with SNP markers. The CMD1 gene, previously described in M. glaziovii, was not found in M. esculenta. In contrast, the CMD2 gene was found in 5, 4 and 5 % of cassava accessions, with flanking markers NS169+RME1, NS158+RME1 and SSRY28+RME1, respectively. Only seven accessions presented all markers linked to the CMD resistance. The DAPC of the seven accessions along with 17 elite cassava varieties led to the formation of three divergent clusters. Potential sources of resistance to CMD were divided into two groups, while the elite varieties were distributed into three groups. The low estimates of the genomic relationship (ranging from -0.167 to 0.681 with an average of 0.076) contributed to the success in identifying contrasting genotypes. The use of MAS in countries where CMD is a quarantine disease constitutes a successful strategy not only for identifying the resistant accessions but also for determining the promising crosses