Children in Detention: Juvenile Authors Recollect Refugee Stories

'Dark Dreams: Australian Refugee Stories by Young Writers aged 11-20 Years', which is considered as one of the most original literary attempts made to grapple with the overwhelming number of often untold and nameless refugee stories in Australia, is discussed. Two short texts which cover the war and migration zones of Vietnam and Afghanistan, and are biographical accounts which differ in genre and style are considered for discussion

The Metabolic Rates of Amblystoma Larvae

The oxygen consumption per gram weight, four hours, of five species of Amblystoma larvae was determined by means of the Winkler method and distinct species variations found to exist

And She Wrote Backwards: Same-Sex Love, Gender and Identity in Shani Mootoo’s work and her recent Valmiki’s Daughter

This article traces the representation of love, gender and national identity in Shani Mootoo’s creative work in general and her most recent novel Valmiki’s Daughter (2008) in particular. In all her work, Mootoo describes the phenomenon of otherness as a part of the negotiating process of the protagonists' selves.Challenging xenophobia, homophobia and all forms of prejudices the author works with the concept of lesbian and bisexual love, cross-racial relationships in order to write identity and to create a home

Multi-Objective Query Optimization for Mobile-Cloud Database Environments Based on a Weighted Sum Model

In mobile-cloud database environments, users request services executed on a cloud through mobile devices. Requested data might be partially cached on the mobile device itself or must be processed on the cloud which leads to multiple contradicting cost objectives such as monetary cost to use the cloud service, query execution time on the cloud or on the mobile device, and mobile device energy consumption. Choosing an optimal query execution plan is crucial for query optimization to minimize the overall cost, but is related to user preferences on those various costs. Single-objective optimization strategies are impractical since those do not consider tradeoffs between different costs. The existing multi-objective optimization strategies of Pareto-Set and Skyline Query lack a sophisticated user interaction since the resulting set tends to be large in size which makes it difficult for a user to select a tradeoff between costs. Furthermore, a user might not be aware of query cost constraints which makes his/her decision process impossible. To fill this gap, this thesis presents the multi-objective Normalized Weighted Sum Algorithm with its novel user-interaction model, using weights associated with cost objectives for query optimization which can be set prior to execution. The proposed model is compared with one- and multi-dimensional optimization strategies in terms of result quality and user interaction. Experiments show that the proposed solution improves the result quality regarding single-objective strategies (lexicographical ordering) and improves user interaction with multi-objective optimization strategies (Pareto-Set / Skyline Query) in terms of user response time and decision accuracy

V-LoL: A Diagnostic Dataset for Visual Logical Learning

Despite the successes of recent developments in visual AI, different shortcomings still exist; from missing exact logical reasoning, to abstract generalization abilities, to understanding complex and noisy scenes. Unfortunately, existing benchmarks, were not designed to capture more than a few of these aspects. Whereas deep learning datasets focus on visually complex data but simple visual reasoning tasks, inductive logic datasets involve complex logical learning tasks, however, lack the visual component. To address this, we propose the visual logical learning dataset, V-LoL, that seamlessly combines visual and logical challenges. Notably, we introduce the first instantiation of V-LoL, V-LoL-Trains, -- a visual rendition of a classic benchmark in symbolic AI, the Michalski train problem. By incorporating intricate visual scenes and flexible logical reasoning tasks within a versatile framework, V-LoL-Trains provides a platform for investigating a wide range of visual logical learning challenges. We evaluate a variety of AI systems including traditional symbolic AI, neural AI, as well as neuro-symbolic AI. Our evaluations demonstrate that even state-of-the-art AI faces difficulties in dealing with visual logical learning challenges, highlighting unique advantages and limitations specific to each methodology. Overall, V-LoL opens up new avenues for understanding and enhancing current abilities in visual logical learning for AI systems

Mother Positivity and Family Adjustment in Households with Children with a Serious Disability

Only limited attention has been given to parent coping resources in the positive adjustment of families of children with a disability. This study is the first to explore maternal positivity as a psychological coping resource related to family adjustment in these families. Consistent with broaden-and-build theory and prior positivity research, positivity was operationalized through a ratio of positive to negative affect scores. We employed longitudinal tracking over a 1 year interval. Children’s diagnostic categories included developmental conditions or impairments, mental health disorders, complex health conditions, physical/motor conditions or impairments, sensory impairments, and provisionally diagnosed conditions or impairments. We used a computer assisted telephone survey to gather psychological, family, and demographic information from 152 mothers in Alberta, Canada. Hierarchical regression analysis indicated mothers’ level of positivity and age, when controlled for family adjustment at Time 1, accounted for 46% of the variance in family adjustment at Time 2. That is, older mothers with higher positivity scores were found to live in households with higher levels of family adjustment after 1 year. These findings provide promising support for broaden-and-build theory, which posits that positive experienced emotions can offset and diminish the negative health and relationship impacts of chronic stress. Study findings support the salience of mothers’ positivity as a psychological coping resource, which is related to enhanced family adjustment in situations of childhood disability