Own It: Becoming a Trauma Sensitive School

The concepts of poverty, trauma and child development cannot be ignored when reviewing educational outcomes especially in schools where trauma and poverty are prevalent. Glynn County School System (GCSS) has collectively witnessed an overwhelmingly negative impact that poverty has had on early learning. Low income students are highly likely to be traumatized (e.g. witnessing violence at home, polyvictims of abuse, having separated or divorced parents) so they don’t always come to school to learn but, come to school to be loved. Many GCSS schools have students that come from low-income, high-stress home environments. One school in this district, Goodyear Elementary (GDY), has a large population of high poverty students and has begun the journey to tackle its poor outcomes associated with poverty. Nationwide, schools like GDY are charged with seemingly insurmountable expectations for student achievement without the tools needed to address the real issues – childhood trauma. After being given district permission, community support and developing teacher readiness, GDY has taken ownership of the need to become a trauma-sensitive school. The first step has been to focus on the interdependence of social emotional learning (SEL) and academics. In this session, school leaders will share evidenced-based research that promotes SEL and data collection tools to track and monitor SEL progress. . Specific tools such as a teacher report measure that captures core SEL competencies, including self-control and relationship skills, and an innovative performance-based assessment of students’ SEL will be discussed. Presenters will also highlight strategies to improve relationships between teachers, students and families while reducing office discipline referrals. Myths about social emotional learning will be debunked as presenters show attendees how to use on-demand classroom strategies. Participants will leave this session with practical and effective strategies that they can begin using today to empower teachers, mobilize staff and strengthen school-home relationships

Women’s Utilisation, Experiences and Satisfaction with Postnatal Follow-up Care: Systematic literature review

Postnatal follow-up care is reported to be the ‘underutilised’ aspect of the maternity care continuum. This review explores women’s utilisation of early and late postnatal follow-up and their experiences and satisfaction with it. Five online databases were searched for English or Arabic articles published between 2011 and 2021. Methodological quality of included studies was assessed using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool; the Andersen healthcare utilisation model was the framework for data analysis. A total of 19 articles met all inclusion criteria. Utilisation facilitators included complications, travel distance, knowledge of the importance for attending and being offered a telephonecall and home visit or clinic visit as options for follow-up. Impediments included lack of perceived need and notbeing provided with information about postnatal care. Comprehensive discussions with and examination by health providers were reported as positive experiences and influenced repeat utilisation. Dissatisfaction was associated with inconsistent information provided by health providers.Keywords: Postpartum Period; Postnatal Care; Women; Literature Review

Women’s Views on Factors that Influence Utilisation of Postnatal Follow-Up in Oman: A descriptive, qualitative study

Objective: Postnatal follow-up care (PNFC) is important to promote maternal and newborn health and wellbeing. In Oman, women’s utilisation of postnatal follow-up services has declined with rates as low as 0.29 (mean visits) in some Governorates; well below the recommended postnatal follow up visits at two- and six-weeks for assessment of mother and newborn. The reasons for low utilisation are not well understood. The aim of this study is to explore women’s views and identify factors that influence their utilisation of postnatal follow-up services. Methods: Purposive sampling and semi-structured telephone interviews with 15 women aged 20 to 39 years at six to eight weeks post childbirth between May 2021 to August 2022. Data were analysed using Erlingsson and Brysiewicz content analysis approach. Results: Six categories were identified as influencing PNFC utilisation: 1) need for information; 2) experiences and expectations; 3) family support, expectations and customs; 4) sociocultural beliefs and practice; 5) impact of Covid-19 and 6) the healthcare environment. Influencing factors within each category include the need to: empower women, provide individualised care, address family and community expectations, offer alternatives to face-to-face clinic visits, provide organised, scheduled appointments. Conclusion: Women in Oman identified the need for consistent information from health care providers (HCPs), a more organised postnatal follow-up service including scheduled appointments and a woman-centred approach to PNFC. Keywords: Postnatal care; postpartum period; qualitative research

Electroanalysis at discrete arrays of gold nanowire electrodes

The development of reliable nanosensors offers a number of potential advantages in nanoscale analytical science. A hybrid electron beam-photolithography process was used to fabricate robust and reliable electrochemical nanowire array devices, with highly reproducible critical dimensions, 100 ± 6 nm. Nanowire electrode arrays were designed to permit diffusional independence at each nanowire element in an array thereby maximising limiting currents for optimised electrochemical nanosensing. The electrochemical behaviour of discrete nanowire electrode arrays was investigated using cyclic voltammetry in ferrocenemonocarboxylic acid. Single nanowire devices yielded highly reproducible steady-state sigmoidal waveforms, with typical currents of 179 ± 16 pA. Higher steady-state currents were achieved at nanowire arrays, up to ∼1.2 nA for arrays consisting of six nanowire elements. At low and intermediate scan rates, sigmoidal waveforms were observed for nanowire arrays indicating very fast mass transport. However, voltammetric behaviour consistent with semi-infinite linear diffusion was observed at higher scan rates confirming the presence of overlapping diffusion profiles between neighbouring nanowires within an array. The existence of diffusion overlap between neighbouring nanowire elements was further demonstrated by deviation of measured steady-state currents from estimates, becoming more pronounced with increasing numbers on nanowire elements in the array. Finally capacitive charging of the electrodes was explored, and were found to exhibit very low capacitance typically ∼31 ± 3 nF cm−2 per device, three orders of magnitude less than that reported for conventional microelectrodes (∼20 μF cm−2)

Hand and torso pre-cooling does not enhance subsequent high-intensity cycling or cognitive performance in heat

The purpose of this study was to compare the separate and combined effects of two practical cooling methods (hand and torso) used prior to exercise on subsequent high-intensity cycling performance in heat. Ten trained male cyclists (V̇O2peak: 65.7 ± 10.7 ml.kg−1.min−1) performed four experimental trials (randomised within-subjects design) involving 30-min of pre-cooling (20-min seated; PRE-COOL, 10 min warm-up; PRE-COOL+WUP), while using a: (1) hand-cooling glove (CG); (2) cooling jacket (CJ); (3) both CG and CJ (CG+J); or (4) no-cooling (NC) control, followed by a cycling race simulation protocol (all performed in 35.0 ± 0.6°C and 56.6 ± 4.5% RH). During the 30-min of pre-cooling, no reductions in core (Tc) or mean skin temperature (Tsk) occurred; however, Tsk remained lower in the CJ and CG+J trials compared to NC and CG (p = 0.002–0.040, d= 0.55–1.01). Thermal sensation ratings also indicated that participants felt “hotter” during NC compared to all other trials during both PRE-COOL and PRE-COOL+WUP (p = 0.001–0.015, d= 1.0–2.19), plus the early stages of exercise (sets 1–2; p = 0.005–0.050, d= 0.56–1.22). Following cooling, no differences were found for absolute Tc and Tsk responses between trials over the entire exercise protocol (p > 0.05). Exercise and cognitive (working memory) performance also did not differ between trials (p = 0.843); however, cognitive performance improved over time in all trials (p < 0.001). In summary, pre-cooling (20-min seated and 10-min warm-up) in heat did not improve subsequent high-intensity cycling performance, cognitive responses and associated thermoregulatory strain (Tc and Tsk) compared to control

Equipment for On-Wafer Testing From 220 to 325 GHz

A system of electronic instrumentation, constituting the equivalent of a two-port vector network analyzer, has been developed for use in on-wafer measurement of key electrical characteristics of semiconductor devices at frequencies from 220 to 325 GHz. A prior system designed according to similar principles was reported in Equipment for On-Wafer Testing at Frequencies Up to 220 GHz (NPO-20760), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 25, No. 11 (November 2001), page 42. As one would expect, a major source of difficulty in progressing to the present higher-frequency-range system was the need for greater mechanical precision as wavelengths shorten into the millimeter range, approaching the scale of mechanical tolerances of prior systems. The system (see figure) includes both commercial off-the-shelf and custom equipment. As in the system of the cited prior article, the equipment includes test sets that are extended versions of commercial network analyzers that function in a lower frequency range. The extension to the higher frequency range is accomplished by use of custom frequency-extension modules that contain frequency multipliers and harmonic mixers. On-wafer measurement is made possible by waveguide wafer probes that were custom designed and built for this wavelength range, plus an on-wafer calibration substrate designed for use with these probes. In this case, the calibration substrate was specially fabricated by laser milling. The system was used to make the first on-wafer measurements of a semiconductor device in the frequency range from 220 to 320 GHz. Some of the measurement results showed that the device had gain