Refining victims’ self-reports on bullying:Assessing frequency, intensity, power imbalance, and goal-directedness

Bullying can be differentiated from other types of peer aggression by four key characteristics: frequency, intensity, power imbalance, and goal‐directedness. Existing instruments, however, usually assess the presence of these characteristics implicitly. Can self‐report instruments be refined using additional questions that assess each characteristic? We examined (a) what proportion of children classified as victims by the commonly used Revised Olweus’ bully/victim questionnaire (BVQ) also experienced the characteristics of bullying, and (b) the extent to which the presence of the characteristics was associated with emotional (affect, school, and classroom well‐being), relational (friendship, defending), and social status (popularity, rejection) adjustment correlates among victims. Using data from 1,738 students (Mage = 10.6; grades 5–8), including 138 victims according to the BVQ, the results showed that 43.1% of the children who were classified as victims by BVQ experienced all the four characteristics of bullying. Frequency ratings of victimization did not capture experiences that involved a power imbalance. Victims who reported all four key characteristics had greater emotional, relational, and social status problems than victims who did not report all characteristics. Thus, researchers who focus on victimization for diagnostic and prevention purposes can enrich self‐report measurements of bullying victimization by adding questions that assess the characteristics explicitly

The PEACE PIPE: Recycling nuclear weapons into a TRU storage/shipping container

This paper describes results of a contract undertaken by the National Conversion Pilot Project (NCPP) at the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site (RFETS) to fabricate stainless steel ``pipe`` containers for use in certification testing at Sandia National Lab, Albuquerque to qualify the container for both storage of transuranic (TRU) waste at RFETS and other DOE sites and shipping of the waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Project (WIPP). The paper includes a description of the nearly ten-fold increase in the amount of contained plutonium enabled by the product design, the preparation and use of former nuclear weapons facilities to fabricate the components, and the rigorous quality assurance and test procedures that were employed. It also describes how stainless steel nuclear weapons components can be converted into these pipe containers, a true ``swords into plowshare`` success story

Submacropulse electron-beam dynamics correlated with higher-order modes in a Tesla-type cryomodule

Experiments were performed at the Fermilab Accelerator Science and Technology (FAST) facility to elucidate the effects of long-range wakefields (LRWs) in TESLA-type superconducting rf cavities. In particular, we investigated the higher-order modes (HOMs) generated in the eight cavities of a cryomodule (CM) due to off-axis steering with correctors located ~4 m upstream of the CM. We have observed correlated submacropulse centroid slews of a few-hundred microns and centroid oscillations at ~240 kHz in the rf BPM data after the CM. The entrance energy into the CM was 25 MeV, and the exit energy was 100 MeV with 125 pC/b and 400 pC/b in 50-bunch pulse trains. These experimental results were evaluated for machine learning training aspects which will be used to inform the commissioning plan for the Linac Coherent Light Source-II injector CM

“Health regains but livelihoods lag”: findings from a study with people on ART in Zambia and Kenya

International audienceAlthough ART is increasingly accessible and eases some stresses, it creates other challenges including the importance of food security to enhance ART-effectiveness. This paper explores the role livelihood strategies play in achieving food security and maintaining nutritional status among ART patients in Kenya and Zambia. Ongoing quantitative studies exploring adherence to ART in Mombasa, Kenya (n=118) and in Lusaka, Zambia (n= 375) were used to identify the relationship between BMI and adherence; an additional set of in-depth interviews with people on ART (n=32) and members of their livelihood networks (n=64) were undertaken. Existing frameworks and scales for measuring food security and a positive deviance approach was used to analyse data. Findings show the majority of people on ART in Zambia are food insecure; similarly most respondents in both countries report missing meals. Snacking is important for dietary intake, especially in Kenya. Most food is purchased in both countries. Having assets is key for achieving livelihood security in both Kenya and Zambia. Food supplementation is critical to survival and for developing social capital since most is shared amongst family members and others. Whilst family and friends are key to an individual's livelihood network, often more significant for daily survival is proximity to people and the ability to act immediately, characteristics most often found amongst neighbours and tenants. In both countries findings show that with ART health has rebounded but livelihoods lag. Similarly, in both countries respondents with high adherence and high BMI are more self-reliant, have multiple income sources and assets; those with low adherence and low BMI have more tenuous livelihoods and were less likely to have farms/gardens. Food supplementation is, therefore, not a long-term solution. Building on existing livelihood strategies represents an alternative for programme managers and policy makers as do other strategies including supporting skills and asset accumulation

A Conditioning Lesion Provides Selective Protection in a Rat Model of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is neurodegenerative disease characterized by muscle weakness and atrophy due to progressive motoneuron loss. The death of motoneuron is preceded by the failure of neuromuscular junctions (NMJs) and axonal retraction. Thus, to develop an effective ALS therapy you must simultaneously preserve motoneuron somas, motor axons and NMJs. A conditioning lesion has the potential to accomplish this since it has been shown to enhance neuronal survival and recovery from trauma in a variety of contexts. rats that received a conditioning lesion was delayed and less severe. These improvements in motor function corresponded to greater motoneuron survival, reduced motor axonopathy, and enhanced NMJ maintenance at disease end-stage. Furthermore, the increased NMJ maintenance was selective for muscle compartments innervated by the most resilient (slow) motoneuron subtypes, but was absent in muscle compartments innervated by the most vulnerable (fast fatigable) motoneuron subtypes.These findings support the development of strategies aimed at mimicking the conditioning lesion effect to treat ALS as well as underlined the importance of considering the heterogeneity of motoneuron sub-types when evaluating prospective ALS therapeutics