Experiences and needs of direct support staff working with people with intellectual disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic:A thematic analysis

Background The present study aimed to explore the experiences and needs of direct support staff during the initial stage of the COVID‐19 lockdown in the Netherlands. Method Overall, eleven direct support staff were recruited from five intellectual disability services to participate in this descriptive qualitative study. They recorded 34 audio messages during the considered period. Thematic analysis was used to analyse these audio recordings. Results Four themes emerged: (1) Emotional impact, which pertained to various emotions they experienced in their work; (2) Cognitive impact, which referred to challenges and changes they had undergone in their work; (3) Practical impact, which centred on the practical impact of the pandemic on their work; and (4) Professional impact, which concerned their experiences with other professionals. Conclusions This study provides valuable insights into the experiences and needs of direct support staff during the COVID‐19 pandemic, which, in turn, can help inform practice in preparation for a second wave of COVID‐19 or another future pandemic

The experiences of psychologists working with people with intellectual disabilities during the COVID-19 crisis

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of psychologists working with people with intellectual disabilities during the initial stage of the COVID‐19 lockdown in the Netherlands. METHOD: Five psychologists, who were affiliated with three intellectual disability services, participated in this descriptive qualitative study. Overall, they recorded 22 audio messages during the period under examination, which were analysed using thematic analysis. RESULTS: Three themes were identified: (a) Working from home; (b) Adapting to the new reality; and (c) Advising and coaching support staff. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides critical insights into the experiences of psychologists working with people with intellectual disabilities during the initial stage of the COVID‐19 lockdown. These insights can help policymakers and practitioners to prepare for either a potential second wave of COVID‐19 or a future pandemic

Évolution de la qualité de vie après un traumatisme crânien par accident de la route : un suivi à cinq ans de la cohorte ESPARR

Continua com: Info Ajuntament+Sostenible : notícies de l'Ajuntament+sostenibl

Glass transition in biomolecules and the liquid-liquid critical point of water

Using molecular dynamics simulations, we investigate the relation between the dynamic transitions of biomolecules (lysozyme and DNA) and the dynamic and thermodynamic properties of hydration water. We find that the dynamic transition of the macromolecules, sometimes called a ``protein glass transition'', occurs at the temperature of dynamic crossover in the diffusivity of hydration water, and also coincides with the maxima of the isobaric specific heat $C_P$ and the temperature derivative of the orientational order parameter. We relate these findings to the hypothesis of a liquid-liquid critical point in water. Our simulations are consistent with the possibility that the protein glass transition results from crossing the Widom line, which is defined as the locus of correlation length maxima emanating from the hypothesized second critical point of water.Comment: 10 Pages, 12 figure

The momentum and photon energy dependence of the circular dichroic photoemission in the bulk Rashba semiconductors BiTeX (X = I, Br, Cl)

Bulk Rashba systems BiTeX (X = I, Br, Cl) are emerging as important candidates for developing spintronics devices, because of the coexistence of spin-split bulk and surface states, along with the ambipolar character of the surface charge carriers. The need of studying the spin texture of strongly spin-orbit coupled materials has recently promoted circular dichroic Angular Resolved Photoelectron Spectroscopy (cd-ARPES) as an indirect tool to measure the spin and the angular degrees of freedom. Here we report a detailed photon energy dependent study of the cd-ARPES spectra in BiTeX (X = I, Br and Cl). Our work reveals a large variation of the magnitude and sign of the dichroism. Interestingly, we find that the dichroic signal modulates differently for the three compounds and for the different spin-split states. These findings show a momentum and photon energy dependence for the cd-ARPES signals in the bulk Rashba semiconductor BiTeX (X = I, Br, Cl). Finally, the outcome of our experiment indicates the important relation between the modulation of the dichroism and the phase differences between the wave-functions involved in the photoemission process. This phase difference can be due to initial or final state effects. In the former case the phase difference results in possible interference effects among the photo-electrons emitted from different atomic layers and characterized by entangled spin-orbital polarized bands. In the latter case the phase difference results from the relative phases of the expansion of the final state in different outgoing partial waves.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

MAARS: a novel high-content acquisition software for the analysis of mitotic defects in fission yeast

Faithful segregation of chromosomes during cell division relies on multiple processes such as chromosome attachment and correct spindle positioning. Yet mitotic progression is defined by multiple parameters, which need to be quantitatively evaluated. To study the spatiotemporal control of mitotic progression, we developed a high-content analysis (HCA) approach that combines automated fluorescence microscopy with real-time quantitative image analysis and allows the unbiased acquisition of multiparametric data at the single-cell level for hundreds of cells simultaneously. The Mitotic Analysis and Recording System (MAARS) provides automatic and quantitative single-cell analysis of mitotic progression on an open-source platform. It can be used to analyze specific characteristics such as cell shape, cell size, metaphase/anaphase delays, and mitotic abnormalities including spindle mispositioning, spindle elongation defects, and chromosome segregation defects. Using this HCA approach, we were able to visualize rare and unexpected events of error correction during anaphase in wild-type or mutant cells. Our study illustrates that such an expert system of mitotic progression is able to highlight the complexity of the mechanisms required to prevent chromosome loss during cell division

Grupo residencial «Le Haut du Lièvre». Nancy

The site occupied by this residential group has an area of 35 hectares, and its main axis runs East-West. The view of the city of Nancy is to the South-Southeast. This article describes blocks A and B. Block A is 400 m long, 43 m high, has 15 storeys and 920 dwellings. Block B is 300 m long, 50 m high, has 17 storeys and 800 dwellings. The ground floor has entrances to the lifts, room for storing perambulators, motorbikes, and other available space. Each apartment of the first floor has either 4 or 5 rooms, and apartments on all higher floors have either 3 or 4 rooms. A feature of the construction is that the foundations have been made in the traditional manner, but the structure and enclosing walls have been carried out using a special type of heavy prefabrication technique. In addition to the blocks of flats, the amenities of the residential project have also been completed. Two commercial centres, a cinema, a cultural centre, three schools, a church, a sports ground, garages, and parking sites are already available. In the near future apartment towers will be built, in the shape of a three armed star. These will accommodate 786 further dwellings.El terreno sobre el que se ha construido este núcleo residencial ocupa una extensión de 35 Ha, goza de orieníación axil este-oeste, y sus vistas sobre la ciudad de Nancy se desarrollan en sentido sur-sureste. Las dos unidades que presentamos aquí son los bloques A y B: el A, de 400 m de longitud, 43 m de altura y 15 plantas, contiene 920 viviendas; el B, de 300 m de longitud, 50 m de altura y 17 p lantas, aloja 800 viviendas. En las plantas bajas están: los zaguanes, arranque de comunicaciones verticales y locales para guardar los caches de niños, motos, e tc. Ocupan la primera planta—en cada elemento unitario— dos viviendas, con cuatro y cinco habitaciones, respectivamente; y las restantes plantas, otras dos viviendas con tres y cuatro habitaciones. Como características constructivas señalaremos que la cimentación fue realizada según procedimientos tradicionales, pero la estructura y cerramientos han sido ejecutados a base de un sistema de prefabricación pesada. Paralelamente al programa de viviendas, han sido planeados los servicios del núcleo residencial: dos centros comerciales, un cinematógrafo, un centro cultural, tres grupos escolares, edificios para el culto, campo de deportes, garajes, aparcamientos, etc. Tres edificios-torres en forma de estrella de tres brazos, con un total de 786 viviendas, se construirán en un futuro próximo

Shielding efficiency and E(J) characteristics measured on large melt cast Bi-2212 hollow cylinders in axial magnetic fields

We show that tubes of melt cast Bi-2212 used as current leads for LTS magnets can also act as efficient magnetic shields. The magnetic screening properties under an axial DC magnetic field are characterized at several temperatures below the liquid nitrogen temperature (77 K). Two main shielding properties are studied and compared with those of Bi-2223, a material that has been considered in the past for bulk magnetic shields. The first property is related to the maximum magnetic flux density that can be screened, Blim; it is defined as the applied magnetic flux density below which the field attenuation measured at the centre of the shield exceeds 1000. For a cylinder of Bi-2212 with a wall thickness of 5 mm and a large ratio of length over radius, Blim is evaluated to 1 T at T = 10 K. This value largely exceeds the Blim value measured at the same temperature on similar tubes of Bi-2223. The second shielding property that is characterized is the dependence of Blim with respect to variations of the sweep rate of the applied field, dBapp/dt. This dependence is interpreted in terms of the power law E = Ec(J/Jc)^n and allows us to determine the exponent n of this E(J) characteristics for Bi-2212. The characterization of the magnetic field relaxation involves very small values of the electric field. This gives us the opportunity to experimentally determine the E(J) law in an unexplored region of small electric fields. Combining these results with transport and AC shielding measurements, we construct a piecewise E(J) law that spans over 8 orders of magnitude of the electric field.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figure

Giant ambipolar Rashba effect in a semiconductor: BiTeI

We observe a giant spin-orbit splitting in bulk and surface states of the non-centrosymmetric semiconductor BiTeI. We show that the Fermi level can be placed in the valence or in the conduction band by controlling the surface termination. In both cases it intersects spin-polarized bands, in the corresponding surface depletion and accumulation layers. The momentum splitting of these bands is not affected by adsorbate-induced changes in the surface potential. These findings demonstrate that two properties crucial for enabling semiconductor-based spin electronics -- a large, robust spin splitting and ambipolar conduction -- are present in this material.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure