Electromagnetic Modelling of Superconducting Sensor Designs

The problem of design optimisation of thin film direct current Superconducting QUantum Interference Device (SQUID) magnetometers made of YBCO (YBa2Cu3O7-x) was considered. The inductances and effective areas were calculated using the software package 3D-MLSI. Resolution and reliability issues were first tested on simple superconducting systems, showing good agreement with analytical formulae and experimental results, and demonstrating that a remarkable precision can be obtained though at the expense of CPU time and memory. The software was then used to simulate a SQUID magnetometer fabricated in the Device Materials Group of the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, proving that 3D-MLSI can be used to predict the parameters of real systems with acceptable accuracy

Shear wave splitting analysis beneath Tien Shan: Geodynamic implications of complex anisotropy

In spite of numerous studies, the mechanisms for the crustal shortening, mountain formation and associated tectonism leading to complex or simply seismic anisotropy formation beneath the Tien Shan Orogenic Belt is still debated. The most popular hypotheses suggested for the existence of seismic anisotropy are small-scale mantle convection, regional scale resistive basal shear and APM induced asthenospheric flow. Here, we used shear-wave splitting (SWS) measurements with good azimuthal coverage to provide additional constraints on the various models proposed by previous studies. One of the most effective approaches utilized to constrain convective mantle flow patterns is the splitting of P-to-S converted phases at the core-mantle boundary on the receiver side (XKS including PKS, SKKS, and SKS). Consequently, a robust procedure involving automatic and manual batch processing to reliably assess and objectively rank shear-wave splitting parameters were used. The resulting 2089 pairs of well-defined XKS splitting parameters obtained from 25 stations located in the study area were broad enough to make a reliable determination about the existence or absence of complex anisotropy. Out of the 25 stations, measurements from 10 stations show insignificant azimuthal variations, the majority of stations demonstrating strike parallel E-W fast orientation. A remarkable feature of the fast orientations observed at the 15 stations is a clear azimuthal variation with a 900 periodicity, indicating the existence of two-layer anisotropy. Thus, the strike-parallel upper layer anisotropy is caused by lithospheric shortening, and anisotropy in the lower layer is associated with WNW-ward flow of asthenospheric material sandwiched between the subducting Tarim lithosphere and the thick Kazakh lithospheric root --Abstract, page iv

Stakeholders\u27 Perceptions of the Value of Elementary School Counselor Roles

The purpose of the study was to examine the value and comparative value that stakeholders placed on elementary school counselors\u27 roles. Participants in this study were elementary school counselors, elementary school principals, elementary school teachers, and counselor educators (N=353). All participants completed the School Counselor Role Survey that was designed to assess stakeholders\u27 perceptions of the importance of the school counselor roles advocated by the Education Trust and ASCA. The instrument combined the domains of TSCI and the content areas of the National Standards. ANOVAs were computed to compare the overall and each subscale mean for each of the stakeholder groups. Significant differences were found between stakeholder groups on four of the five TSCI domains: Advocacy, Teaming and Collaboration, Counseling and Coordination, and Assessment and Use of Data. Significant differences were also found on two of the three content areas: Career and Personal/Social. Significant differences for the domains and content areas were found most often between counselor educators and principals and between counselor educators and teachers. All groups believed the TSCI domains to be Somewhat Important. The results for the content areas indicated that the academic role should be included in school counselor training, but not at the expense of the personal/social role. The results of this study indicate that all stakeholder groups view elementary school counselors as mental health professionals first and foremost. This has implications for school counselors, counselor educators, and professional leaders

Family Structure Characteristics and Academic Success: Supporting the Work of School Counselors

The family is a child’s primary context for socialization and greatly affects a child’s well-being. Historical contexts show that families have been evolving for centuries due to social and economic factors, thus resulting in various family structures. A stable, traditional family structure is most conducive to academic success (Tillman, 2007). Much research has found that children raised in a non-traditional home are at a disadvantage (Astone & McLanahan, 1991; Halpern-Meekin & Tach, 2008). The research on the consequences of single-parent families suggests children of single parent families are more likely to be impoverished, to break the law, to abuse drugs, to do poorly in school, to become pregnant before the age of twenty, and to have emotional and behavioral problems. In addition, these negative effects are not short-term, but carry into adulthood and manifest themselves in problems in relationships and occupation. However, single-parent families resulting from widowhood show less harmful effects than divorced or non-union birth households. Although the presence of another adult may bring increased financial and time resources, research indicates children in stepfamilies may be at an even greater disadvantage than children residing in stable single-parent homes. Lastly, cohabitating families often create less defined family roles, lower levels of parental support, supervision, and involvement, and greater family conflict (Tillman, 2007)

The Impact of High-Stakes Testing: Recommendations for Professional School Counselors and Other Support Personnel

The positive and negative effects of high-stakes testing are well-documented (Gratz, 2000; Heubert and Hauser, 1999). The development of an accountability system that is based on the results of students’ tests has intensified the pressure to perform for students and schools (Gratz). Many policy decisions and often the promotion of students are determined by these test results – hence the term “high-stakes testing” (Heubert and Hauser). Because of the high stakes involved, pressure for improving scores has an impact on teachers and their practices (Heubert and Hauser; Merrow, 2002)

Educational Leadership: The Relationship Between Spirituality and Leadership Practices

Throughout American history, schools and educational leaders have been in the spotlight because of the eminent task of preparing the young of our nation for competition within a global economy and the marketplace of ideas. Educational leaders have moved through the stages of management, industrial efficiency, and cultural leadership finally concluding that school management requires more than efficiency and organization (Brickham, 1996). With the advent of tough-minded management and the realization of the difference between a leader and a manager, combined with an increase in the high school dropout rate, awareness developed that something was not working in American Schools (Batten, 1989). Changes in the organizational landscape of America gave rise to the idea of the principal as the cultural leader (Rollins and Roberts, 1998). This plan also, was doomed to demise. The beginning of accountability spurred the popularity of the idea of the principal as the instructional leader. This initiative was the basis for holding someone accountable when the school failed

LATIHAN SENAM UNTUK MENGATASI NYERI HAID DI PANTI ASUHAN NUR ILAHI

Latar Belakang : Senam dismenore ini dapat membantu remaja yang mengalami dismenore dalam mengurangi dan mencegah nyeri saat menstruasi sehingga dapat mengikuti pembelajaran dari awal hingga akhir mata pelajaran. Remaja yang mengalami dismenore dapat melakukan senam dismenore dengan gerakan sederhana minimal selama 3 hari sebelum menstruasi setiap pagi dan sore hari. Tujuan :. Untuk mengetahui pengaruh senam dismenore dengan penurunan nyeri dismenore pada remaja putri di Panti Asuhan Nur Ilahi. Metode : Jenis penelitian yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah Quasi eksperimen dengan rancangan penelitian One group pretest posttest. Lokasi penelitian ini dilaksanakan di Panti Asuhan Nur Ilahi yang berjumlah 27 orang remaja putri. Data dianalisis secara komputer dengan uji Paired T-Test dengan ρ value =0,005. Hasil : Berdasarkan hasil penelitian yang dilakukan ditemukan bahwa dengan melakukan latihan senam dismenore dapat menurunkan nyeri dismenore pada remaja putri Panti Asuhan Nur Ilahi secara berarti. Kesimpulan : Perbedaan rata-rata nyeri haid dengan uji normalitas menunjukkan bahwa nilai p sebelum dilakukan senam dismenore adalah 0,063 dan sesudah dilakukan senam dismenore nilai p adalah 0,072. Hal ini dapat dinyatakan bahwa kedua data berdistribusi normal karena nilai p value > 0,05. Sedangkan asil Uji Paired Sample t-Test didapatkan nilai signifikansi yaitu 0,000 yang nilainya lebih kecil dari taraf kesalahan (α) 0,05 atau dengan signifikansi 95%. Bagi peneliti selanjutnya agar menggunakan metode yang berbeda dan dapat menggunakan kelompok control sebagai pembanding

Confining Eutectic Gallium Indium (eGaIn) in Expired Artificial Kidneys to Unveil Nanoporous Conductive Wires

Nanoporous membranes have gained considerable interest in drug delivery1, ion transportation2, micro/nanofluidics3, molecular sensing4, and separation science5. Artificial kidneys, also known as dialyzers, reject pathogens and other unwanted substances from the blood, utilize hundreds of soft and nanoporous polymeric microtubes, and slowly become a burden to the environment with the growing number of dialysis patients worldwide. We demonstrate the fabrication of nanoporous conductive wires utilizing empty polysulfone microtubes collected from expired and unused artificial kidneys, also known as medical wastes. Injecting a fluidic, highly conductive, and room temperature liquid alloy (eutectic gallium indium-eGaIn$_6$, 75% Ga, 25% In) into microtubes of a twenty years old dialyzer, here, we have revealed a new class of nanoporous and conductive functional materials. These conductive fibers upcycle a medical waste, do not require expensive and conventional fabrication processes, and still provide the quintessential metal-oxide/metal framework due to the presence of the native surface oxide (i.e., Gallium Oxide, Ga2O3) of eGaIn at the nanoconfinement (i.e., nanopores) for nano/biosensing. We harnessed these new materials to sense and differentiate microliter volumes of deionized (DI) water, 1M hydrochloric acid (HCl), and 95% ethanol (EtOH), leveraging their electrical signatures. This new class of soft nanomaterials has the potential to become the paradigm-shift platforms for the next-generation of biomedical, bioelectronics, nanoelectronics, and sensor devices

Prevention in the workplace and training of personnel: new methodological approaches

In Italy since 15 years huge investments in term of human, material and economical resources have been allocated to prevention. However epidemiological data show unsatisfactory results. It?s necessary and urgent to modify the general learning of prevention in order to increase all the actors involved in social and productive system. The aim of our project is to improve competencies and knowledge concerning hygiene in the workplace and prevention of nursing personnel, using cooperative-learning model, concerning the ways of transmission of infectious diseases, so that they will be able to develop their activities and being motivated in the adoption of safety proceedings. The results indicate, in all the participants groups, an improvement of their skills and knowledge about the correct behavioural procedures to limit biological hazards for themselves and for their patients. We observed increased motivation and awareness, a greater ability to take action when they see the adoption of inadequate or incorrect procedures by colleagues

Surface-stimulated phenomena in the polarization response of ferroelectrics

The integration of ferroelectrics in electronic devices requires that they be used in the form of thin films, which implies that for such systems finite-size effects related to the presence of a ferroelectric-electrode interface become important. In this thesis, a number of theoretical studies are presented on the properties of metal-ferroelectric-metal structures, focusing on the impact of the metal-ferroelectric interface on the polarization response of the system. First, a model for reverse domain nucleation in ferroelectrics is introduced, which takes into account the ferroelectric-electrode coupling in both the homogeneous and random cases. The model provides a solution to the coercivity paradox—i.e., the large discrepancy between the observed and predicted coercive fields. The possibility of non-thermally activated nucleation of reverse domains is demonstrated. It is found that small inhomogeneities in the ferroelectric-electrode interface may lead to an exponentially wide spectrum of waiting times for switching. The model predicts that switching is facilitated near morphotropic phase boundaries in perovskite-type ferroelectrics. In order to quantitatively analyze the size-effect problem in metal-ferroelectric-metal systems, an approach is developed which combines first-principles calculations and phenomenological theory. The parameters of the model can be extracted from calculations on ultrathin films, while experimentally verifiable predictions can be made on thick films. Using the developed approach, it is demonstrated how the size effect can be separated into two distinct contributions: a long-range electrostatic and a short-range "chemical" one. By considering symmetric SrRuO3/BaTiO3/SrRuO3 heterostructures with different types of termination (TiO2–TiO2 or RuO2–RuO2), it is shown that the balance between the long-range and the short-range contribution to the size effect can be essentially affected by the type of termination of the ferroelectric and by the polarization hardness of the electrode. The leading role of the long-range contribution to the size effect in SrRuO3/BaTiO3/SrRuO3 heterostructures is demonstrated. Application of the approach to the case of SrRuO3/BaTiO3/SrRuO3 heterostructures with asymmetric interfaces enables to provide a quantitative description of a number of manifestations of such asymmetry in films of technologically meaningful thickness. In particular, it is found that the asymmetry exerts a poling effect on the films, leading to a smearing of the phase transition, to an induced piezoelectric response above the transition temperature, and to the reversal of the polarization asymmetry by application of biaxial strain. Another important result of such calculations is the observation that the ionic relaxations in the metal-oxide electrode play a crucial role in stabilizing the ferroelectric phase of the films. Comparison with frozen-phonon calculations shows that the degree of softness of the SrRuO3 lattice has an essential impact on the screening of ferroelectric polarization, reducing the critical thickness for ferroelectricity of the system. These results provide a possible explanation for the observed beneficial impact of oxide electrodes on the switching and dielectric properties of ferroelectric capacitors