Gang Innovation, Patriarchy and Powerlessness : Expanding Theory To Relfect [Reflect] American Politics

When cities grew large enough to develop slums, gangs began to form. The heritage of gang behavior is poverty and its children: abuse, alcoholism, and drug addiction, to name a few. Today we are facing a problem of major proportions in our cities. Gang membership is seemingly growing with no end in sight, and a beleaguered nation, a struggling city, the mother of a gang member all ask: Why? There are probably several answers and more questions. This paper is an attempt to understand the problem of gang delinquency by utilizing already existing theory. Robert Merton\u27s Strain Theory lends itself to the discussion of gang delinquency; however, this paper will expand on the theory and link it to the powerlessness of young minority males and patriarchal ideology

Recognizing the Enemy: Rap Music In the Wake of the Los Angeles Riots

The May 1992 riots in Los Angeles demonstrated more than anything in recent history that the inner cities are filled with despair, hopelessness, and anger. Some feel that rap music is responsible for both gangs and the lawlessness unleashed by the riots. This paper will seek to address this notion by looking at the rap lyrics of artists who have been considered the most radical and the most angry. By examining rap lyrics we can detect anger and frustration in the ghetto. Rap music did not cause rioting in Los Angeles but it effectively heralded measures taken by inner-city residents who are tired of governmental and societal neglect of their community, their homes, and their lives

The Relationship Between Structural Parameters and Mechanical Properties of Cactus Spines

Considering an increasing interest in renewable, biodegradable resources that exhibit excellent mechanical properties, 24 species of cactus spines were investigated using three-point bend testing, X-ray diffraction (XRD) for structural parameters, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to analyze fracture surfaces. Additionally, a density of about 1.3 g/cm3 was measured for each spine utilizing the displacement method, closely matching existing data from literature. The flexural modulus varied greatly between species, ranging from 1.22 GPa (Echinocactus polycephalus) to 43.58 GPa (Stenocereus thurberi). In addition, flexural strength and strain to failure was also measured for each spine. XRD analysis of the spines was used to find the degree of crystallinity and the multifibrillar angle (MFA). The degree of crystallinity for most species ranged from 20-60% with two species ranging above 65%. MFA, which is a measurement of the divergence of the fiber angle from the central axis of the spine, ranged from 1-2.5°; this showed a consistent high degree of alignment of the cellulose fibers, despite the wide range and relatively low values of crystallinity. Examining the trends between mechanical properties, degree of crystallinity, and MFA showed no significant correlation, but it is possible that the crystallinity and MFA have a combined effect on these properties rather than individual effects. It was seen, however, that there is a trend of decreasing resiliency in larger spines due to an increased number of defects. Comparisons were made with engineering materials, such as fiberglass, and it was found that the resiliency of most cactus spines was comparable or superior to those materials

Barrier Analysis as a Tool to Inform Extension Activity Planning: Insights from Guatemala

Over the past decade, renewed emphasis has been placed on extension services in developing countries to reduce rural poverty and improve food security. Despite this emphasis, complex physical, political, and socioeconomic environments in developing countries pose significant difficulties to extension agents’ success rates of adoption of new practices and/or behavior change among rural populations. In addition, agents have meager resources at their dis-posal.Development programs in the health sector have had success with employing behavior change theories for program design, driven by the Barrier Analysis as amethod for gather-ing data about target populations. Theory and research suggest this method provides key in-formation about why a target population might adopt new practices. If extension agents in developing countries such as Guatemala had access to such information, they might inten-tionally design interventions that lead to adoption.This paper provides an examination of ex-amples from the field in Guatemala that illuminate ways in which extension agents can gain formative data that when analyzed, may shape how they encourage adoption of new prac-tices. The implications of this paper suggest that using formative data gathering for planning interventions can lead to the behavior changeextension agents andtheir governments see

Examining the Impact of a Videocase-based Mathematics Methods Course on Secondary Preservice Teachers’ Skills at Analyzing Students’ Strategies

This paper focuses on results from a study conducted with two cohorts of preservice teachers (PSTs) in a videocase-based mathematics methods course at a large midwestern university in the US. The motivation for this study was to look beyond whether or not PSTs pay attention to mathematical thinking of students, as shown by previous studies when engaging with video, and, in turn, characterize at a more specific level areas in which PSTs’ responses change. Our findings show that regarding PSTs anticipation of strategies, both cohorts showed a significant increase in the overall number of strategies PSTs were able to anticipate, and a significant increase in the mathematical depth of the anticipated strategies. However, there was no change in terms of PSTs identification and description of high school students’ strategies as displayed in video given that both cohorts of PSTs performed equally proficient at both pre- and post- tests

Satellite Constellation Launch, Deployment, Replacement and End-of -Life Strategies

The considerable surge in satellite constellations has brought to the fore the imperative need for an efficient satellite constellation management plan. To address this emerging need, GMV has analyzed the possible strategies for constellation launch, set-up, replacement of failed satellites and end-of-life policy. The constellation launch and deployment has been divided into the launch site and launcher selection, the evaluation of the injection and the transfer strategies, and the set-up phase. The main replacement strategies investigated are based on in-orbit spares, spare satellites in parking orbits and spare satellites on the ground. Finally, end-of-life policies for LEO, MEO and GEO satellites are presented. As such, the analysis accomplished encompasses most of the fundamental phases of constellation life cycle. A representative constellation of small satellites has been taken into account to assess the effectiveness and the commercial viability of the strategies outlined. This study case has been handled using in-house software tools and algorithms

Polyoxazoline-Based Nanovaccine Synergizes with Tumor-Associated Macrophage Targeting and Anti-PD-1 Immunotherapy against Solid Tumors

Nanovaccines; Tumor immune microenvironment; Tumor-associated macrophagesNanovacunes; Microambient immune tumoral; Macròfags associats al tumorNanovacunas; Microambiente inmune tumoral; Macrófagos asociados al tumorImmune checkpoint blockade reaches remarkable clinical responses. However, even in the most favorable cases, half of these patients do not benefit from these therapies in the long term. It is hypothesized that the activation of host immunity by co-delivering peptide antigens, adjuvants, and regulators of the transforming growth factor (TGF)-β expression using a polyoxazoline (POx)-poly(lactic-co-glycolic) acid (PLGA) nanovaccine, while modulating the tumor-associated macrophages (TAM) function within the tumor microenvironment (TME) and blocking the anti-programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) can constitute an alternative approach for cancer immunotherapy. POx-Mannose (Man) nanovaccines generate antigen-specific T-cell responses that control tumor growth to a higher extent than poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-Man nanovaccines. This anti-tumor effect induced by the POx-Man nanovaccines is mediated by a CD8+-T cell-dependent mechanism, in contrast to the PEG-Man nanovaccines. POx-Man nanovaccine combines with pexidartinib, a modulator of the TAM function, restricts the MC38 tumor growth, and synergizes with PD-1 blockade, controlling MC38 and CT26 tumor growth and survival. This data is further validated in the highly aggressive and poorly immunogenic B16F10 melanoma mouse model. Therefore, the synergistic anti-tumor effect induced by the combination of nanovaccines with the inhibition of both TAM- and PD-1-inducing immunosuppression, holds great potential for improving immunotherapy outcomes in solid cancer patients.Funding: R.S.-F. and H.F.F. thank the following funding agencies for their generous support: The project that gave rise to these results has received funding from the “la Caixa” Foundation under the grant agreements LCF/PR/HR22/52420016, LCF/PR/HR19/52160021, and LCF/TR/CD20/52700005 (R.S.-F. and H.F.F). H.F.F thanks the generous financial support from The Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia-Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior (FCT-MCTES) (EXPL/MED-QUI/1316/2021, PTDC/BTM-SAL/4350/2021, UTAP-EXPL/NPN/0041/2021, UIDB/04138/2020, UIDP/04138/2020). R.S.-F. thanks to the European Research Council (ERC) PoC Grant Agreement no. 101113390 and ERC Advanced Grant Agreement no. 835227, the Israel Science Foundation (1969/18), the Melanoma Research Alliance (Established Investigator Award no. 615808 to R.S.-F.), the Israel Cancer Research Fund (ICRF) Professorship award (no. PROF-18-682), the Morris Kahn Foundation. B.C. is supported by the FCT-MCTES (Ph.D. Fellowship SFRH/BD/131969/2017). The authors also acknowledge the NIH Tetramer Core Facility for the provision of Adpgk tetramers, in addition to the Comparative Pathology Unit of IMM and the Histopathology Facility of IGC for supporting the histopathological study

Towards Supporting Awareness for Content Curation: The case of Food Literacy and Behavioural Change

ABSTRACT This paper presents a theoretical grounding and a conceptual proposal aimed at providing support in the initial stages of sustained behavioural change. We explore the role that learning analytics and/or open learner models can have in supporting lifelong learners to enhance their food literacy through a more informed curation process of relevant-content. This approach grounds on a behavioural change perspective that identifies i) knowledge, ii) attitudes, and iii) self-efficacy as key factors that will directly and indirectly affect future decisions and agency of life-long learners concerning their own health. The paper offers some possible avenues to start organising efforts towards the use of learning analytics to enhance awareness in terms of: knowledge curation, knowledge sharing and knowledge certainty. The paper aims at triggering discussion about the type of data and presentation mechanisms that may help life-long learners set a stronger basis for behavioural change in the subsequent stages

DIGITAL EDUCATION : TO TACKLE CLIMATE CHANGE

To achieve long-term sustainability individuals, groups, and organizations need to mitigate climate change and adapt to the new environmental scenarios. Indeed, climate change is a process that cannot be ignored in any way any longer. Not only it is happening everywhere, and the effects are more noticeable every year, but it has also been happening for decades with an impact on every ecosystem of the planet. This means that climate change is a fundamental issue that affects every person, group, and organization. Professionally, we need as much expertise as we can gather. More practitioners are needed with experience in every field to help mitigate climate change as much as possible while facilitating rapid adaptation to a progressively damaging climate change. Climate change is caused by humans and human behavior, even if some issues seem technological and environmental problems, the origin is still human behavior. Therefore, there is a critical need for being able to count on behavioral experts that contribute to explaining current behaviors. Additionally, behavior change experts who are able to motivate individuals, groups, and organizations to engage in mitigation and adaptation behaviors are equally necessary. To achieve this, a more comprehensive range of educational opportunities is needed. This education must be included in vocational training and applied science universities. However, nothing will have an impact as far-reaching as education about climate change for students during their bachelor and master programs. The capacity of highly trained professionals with behavioral change expertise can have a trickling-down effect that will benefit the whole world. Because of how crucial education in climate change is, an urgent need is currently a pressing matter to provide specialized education on how to understand and improve the sustainability behavior of people, groups, and organizations. This need to increase both the amount and quality of sustainability-related education is met with an insufficient amount of education resources being offered. Creating new courses or even programs on this topic is not a realistic possibility for many institutions. In some cases, the development of new content might not be feasible due to local difficulties, and in other cases, climate change might not be a preference whatsoever. Therefore, it is crucial to offer alternatives to institutions that due to factors such as lack of local expertise, different agendas, or the difficulties linked to generating new content cannot offer education on climate change and behavior themselves. This education alternative should be easy to implement and adapt to the specific programs. The most straightforward contribution to facilitating education in climate change at bachelor and master levels is offering online courses that can be imported. Additionally, to maximize the reach of these courses, they should include content that can be learned in a self-guided manner. The PSYCLIC project offers the latest content about climate change and human behavior. This material will be available to be directly imported digitally at any university program. Additionally, it has a modular structure that is self-guided by default. However, the education resource that the PSYCLIC project offers will not make a meaningful impact unless the target community (i.e., institutions that could offer education on the topic of climate change and behavior but do not do so) is eager to use the education resources that the project will offer. To understand if the profile of scholars that the PSYCLIC project has as the target are ready and kin on using what the project will offer, we reached other colleagues to explore the demands and barriers for ready to use digital education material on climate change and behavior.ERASMUS+ / Projektname: Psychology and Climate Change - Digital Education / Projekt Akronym: PSYCLI