On Pregnancy Journey and Early Parenting: Young Indigenous Mothers in Context

The objective of this study was to explore and understand the experiences of young Indigenous mothers during their pregnancy and early parenting. Using qualitative descriptive phenomenology, the study was conducted among 14 purposefully chosen Indigenous young mothers aged 14-17 years old and caring for at least one child who is two years of age. There were seven participants for the focus group discussion and seven for the in-depth interview. The descriptive phenomenological method developed by Colaizzi was used in the research study to analyze data. The study's findings showed that the challenges experienced by the participants were used to process the data. The three main themes of the study are as follows: The Winding River of Motherhood, Prayer as a Universal Solvent, and Navigating Life’s Waters. The means of coping with the challenges the participants experienced were Faith’s Resilient Beacon, and Pillars of Unwavering Support. Finally, the insights they shared with their fellow Indigenous mothers and society in general were the themes: The Art of Making Wise Choices, The Scholar’s Beacon, and Echoes of the Looking Glass. It entails that the families, government, and other concerned agencies aggressively promote and offer educational opportunities, livelihood programs, and healthcare services for young Indigenous mothers as a powerful advocacy to positively impact their life paths.&nbsp

Atypical modulations of N170 component during emotional processing and their links to social behaviors in ex-combatants

ABSTRACT: Emotional processing (EP) is crucial for the elaboration and implementation of adaptive social strategies. EP is also necessary for the expression of social cognition and behavior (SCB) patterns. It is well-known that war contexts induce socio-emotional atypical functioning, in particular for those who participate in combats. Thus, ex-combatants represent an ideal non-clinical population to explore EP modulation and to evaluate its relation with SCB. The aim of this study was to explore EP and its relation with SCB dimensions such as empathy, theory of mind and social skills in a sample of 50 subjects, of which 30 were ex-combatants from illegally armed groups in Colombia, and 20 controls without combat experience. We adapted an Emotional Recognition Task for faces and words and synchronized it with electroencephalographic recording. Ex-combatants presented with higher assertion skills and showed more pronounced brain responses to faces than Controls. They did not show the bias toward anger observed in control participants whereby the latter group was more likely to misclassify neutral faces as angry. However, ex-combatants showed an atypical word valence processing. That is, words with different emotions yielded no differences in N170 modulations. SCB variables were successfully predicted by neurocognitive variables. Our results suggest that in ex-combatants the links between EP and SCB functions are reorganized. This may reflect neurocognitive modulations associated to chronic exposure to war experiences

Inverting the Supersymmetric Standard Model Spectrum: from Physical to Lagrangian Ino Parameters

We examine the possibility of recovering the supersymmetric (and soft supersymmetry breaking) Lagrangian parameters as direct {\em analytical} expressions of appropriate physical masses, for the unconstrained (but CP and R-parity conserving) minimal supersymmetric standard model. We concentrate mainly on the algebraically non-trivial "inversion" for the ino parameters, and obtain, for given values of $\tan\beta$, simple analytical expressions for the $\mu$, $M_1$ and $M_2$ parameters in terms of three arbitrary input physical masses, namely either two chargino and one neutralino masses, or alternatively one chargino and two neutralino masses. We illustrate and discuss in detail the possible occurrence of ambiguities in this reconstruction. The dependence of the resulting ino Lagrangian parameters upon physical masses is illustrated, and some simple generic behaviour uncovered in this way. We finally briefly sketch generalizing such an inversion to the full set of MSSM Lagrangian parameters.Comment: Latex, 28 pages, 6 figures, 1 table, some typos corrected, one paragraph extended in section 4.2. Version to appear in Phys. Rev.

Genetically controlled environmental variance for sternopleural bristles in Drosophila melanogaster - an experimental test of a heterogeneous variance model

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica Section A - Animal Science on2007, available online: http://doi.org/10.1080/09064700801959403[EN] objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that the environmental variance of sternopleural bristle number in Drosophila melanogaster is partly under genetic control. We used data from 20 inbred lines and 10 control lines to test this hypothesis. Two models were used: a standard quantitative genetics model based on the infinitesimal model, and an extension of this model. In the extended model it is assumed that each individual has its own environmental variance and that this heterogeneity of variance has a genetic component. The heterogeneous variance model was favoured by the data, indicating that the environmental variance is partly under genetic control. If this heterogeneous variance model also applies to livestock, it would be possible to select for animals with a higher uniformity of products across environmental regimes. Also for evolutionary biology the results are of interest as genes affecting the environmental variance may be important for adaptation to changing environmental conditions.Sørensen, AC.; Kristensen, TN.; Loeschcke, V.; Ibañez Escriche, N.; Sorensen, D. (2007). Genetically controlled environmental variance for sternopleural bristles in Drosophila melanogaster - an experimental test of a heterogeneous variance model. Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica Section A - Animal Science. 57(4):196-201. https://doi.org/10.1080/09064700801959403S19620157

Lean Manufacturing Production Management Model focused on Worker Empowerment aimed at increasing Production Efficiency in the textile sector

For companies operating within the garment manufacturing industry, having frequent downtimes in their production flows is an extremely common issue. In this context, a balanced production line is required to prevent high waiting times due to limited productive capacity. A well-balanced assembly line allows products to be produced in an optimum time while using less resources, such as machines, materials, or labour, since the right number of products is produced with the exact amount of resources, thus generating savings in production costs. This paper seeks to foster optimum resource allocation through the line balancing tool. Finally, to define a work methodology, best practices were selected, and a procedures manual was developed focusing on Standardization. Both tools were implemented after implementing changes to the company culture by means of the Employee Empowerment tool. As a result of this implementation, workers acquired greater accountability and control over the resources, methods, and equipment of their work areas. After the proposed improvements had been deployed, the company reported an increase of over 20% in production line quality, performance, and efficiency

Accelerating Sequence Alignments Based on FM-Index Using the Intel KNL Processor

FM-index is a compact data structure suitable for fast matches of short reads to large reference genomes. The matching algorithm using this index exhibits irregular memory access patterns that cause frequent cache misses, resulting in a memory bound problem. This paper analyzes different FM-index versions presented in the literature, focusing on those computing aspects related to the data access. As a result of the analysis, we propose a new organization of FM-index that minimizes the demand for memory bandwidth, allowing a great improvement of performance on processors with high-bandwidth memory, such as the second-generation Intel Xeon Phi (Knights Landing, or KNL), integrating ultra high-bandwidth stacked memory technology. As the roofline model shows, our implementation reaches 95% of the peak random access bandwidth limit when executed on the KNL and almost all the available bandwidth when executed on other Intel Xeon architectures with conventional DDR memory. In addition, the obtained throughput in KNL is much higher than the results reported for GPUs in the literature. IEE

Activity-rotation in the dM4 star Gl 729. A possible chromospheric cycle

Recently, new debates about the role of layers of strong shear have emerged in stellar dynamo theory. Further information on the long-term magnetic activity of fully convective stars could help determine whether their underlying dynamo could sustain activity cycles similar to the solar one. We performed a thorough study of the short- and long-term magnetic activity of the young active dM4 star Gl 729. First, we analyzed long-cadence $K2$ photometry to characterize its transient events (e.g., flares) and global and surface differential rotation. Then, from the Mount Wilson $S$-indexes derived from CASLEO spectra and other public observations, we analyzed its long-term activity between 1998 and 2020 with four different time-domain techniques to detect cyclic patterns. Finally, we explored the chromospheric activity at different heights with simultaneous measurements of the H$\alpha$ and the Na I D indexes, and we analyzed their relations with the $S$-Index. We found that the cumulative flare frequency follows a power-law distribution with slope $\sim- 0.73$ for the range $10^{32}$ to $10^{34}$ erg. We obtained $P_{rot} = (2.848 \pm 0.001)$ days, and we found no evidence of differential rotation. We also found that this young active star presents a long-term activity cycle with a length of $\text{about four}$ years; there is less significant evidence of a shorter cycle of $0.8$ year. The star also shows a broad activity minimum between 1998 and 2004. We found a correlation between the S index, on the one hand, and the H$\alpha$ the Na I D indexes, on the other hand, although the saturation level of these last two indexes is not observed in the Ca lines. Because the maximum-entropy spot model does not reflect migration between active longitudes, this activity cycle cannot be explained by a solar-type dynamo. It is probably caused by an $\alpha^2$-dynamo

Validating GIC modeling in the Spanish power grid by differential magnetometry

series of experiences and recommendations are presented concerning the derivation of geomagnetically induced currents (GIC) by use of the differential magnetometry method (DMM) under power lines. This indirect technique, intended to obtain observations to validate GIC models, is an alternative to measuring the current flow in the transformer neutrals. It is a non-intrusive and autonomous technique, as the procedure does not depend on the grid operator. In contrast, the selection of suitable sites devoid of human interferences, the need for power to supply the magnetometer, the data acquisition and transmission system, along with the choice of the appropriate instrumentation are difficulties that make not just any site suitable for installation and often require costly solutions. We focus on the methodology followed to estimate the GIC flowing in several transmission lines of the Spanish power grid with the aim of validating our GIC models, and we share our experience on the installation of the measuring points. Uncertainty inherent in the DMM is assessed, showing that noise is the main handicap, although it can be minimized with appropriate filtering. According to such experience, on some occasions only total DC currents above a significant fraction of 1 A give magnetic signatures well above the noise level, so this figure can roughly be considered as the threshold limit for detection. The low solar activity, combined with the mid-latitude condition of Spain, limited the significance of available recorded data, but we can already report and analyze the results for several minor geomagnetic storms