Continuity and variability in the parental involvement and advocacy beliefs of Latino families of young children

Parental involvement is an important component of children’s school success. Although the literature on parental involvement among Latino families is growing and moving from deficit-based perspectives, very few studies have examined the parental involvement beliefs and practices of Latino families who vary across demographic and sociocultural lines within the same school community. This qualitative study explored Latino parents’ beliefs about children’s education, their involvement and advocacy beliefs and practices, and their perceptions of feeling welcome at their children’s school. In-depth interviews were conducted with 12 parents of preschool and kindergarten children who attended a bilingual school. Qualitative descriptive analyses revealed that the majority of parents espoused the cultural value of educación, engaged in learning activities at home, and viewed themselves as living models of behavior for children, regardless of their education or immigrant status. Only first generation immigrant parents made explicit reference to children’s futures. All parents attributed supportive relationships with school personnel and a bilingual climate as the most important sources of feeling welcome at school. However, parents with more education valued what they perceived as an “open door policy” and were more vocal in critiquing policies. Findings have implications for the development of multicultural competence among teachers and for ways diverse Latino families might develop a shared voice within the school sector.Published versio

Computed tomography and magnetic resonance diagnosis of variations in the anatomical location of the major salivary glands in 1680 dogs and 187 cats

During assessment of routine clinical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the heads of dogs, variations in the location of mandibular and zygomatic salivary glands (SGs) were observed incidentally. The aims of this retrospective study were to describe anatomical variations of the major SGs found on MRI and computed tomography (CT) studies of the head in dogs and cats and to investigate possible clinical relevancy. No anatomical variation of the SGs was seen in cats, but in dogs, although variation of the parotid SG was not identified, that of the mandibular SG was found in 33/1680 animals (2%), either unilaterally (6/33 right-sided, 13/33 left-sided) or bilaterally (14/33). The Border terrier breed (19/33, 58%) was over-represented. Each atypically located mandibular SG was positioned medial to the digastric muscle and rostral to the retropharyngeal lymph node. The sublingual glands were difficult to delineate from the mandibular glands. Anatomical variation of one zygomatic gland (3/4 left-sided) was identified in four small-breed dogs (0.2%). Each atypically located zygomatic gland was tilted at the ventrorostral aspect of the masseter muscle underneath the skin surface. MRI and CT characteristics were not different between typically and atypically located SGs. None of the dogs had clinical signs related with SG disease. It was concluded that, with suspected breed predispositions, incidental unilateral or bilateral anatomical variations of mandibular and zygomatic SGs can be encountered in dogs and an awareness of these possible variations may be important in pre-surgical planning

Cocaine Addiction as a Homeostatic Reinforcement Learning Disorder

Drug addiction implicates both reward learning and homeostatic regulation mechanisms of the brain. This has stimulated 2 partially successful theoretical perspectives on addiction. Many important aspects of addiction, however, remain to be explained within a single, unified framework that integrates the 2 mechanisms. Building upon a recently developed homeostatic reinforcement learning theory, the authors focus on a key transition stage of addiction that is well modeled in animals, escalation of drug use, and propose a computational theory of cocaine addiction where cocaine reinforces behavior due to its rapid homeostatic corrective effect, whereas its chronic use induces slow and long-lasting changes in homeostatic setpoint. Simulations show that our new theory accounts for key behavioral and neurobiological features of addiction, most notably, escalation of cocaine use, drug-primed craving and relapse, individual differences underlying dose-response curves, and dopamine D2-receptor downregulation in addicts. The theory also generates unique predictions about cocaine self-administration behavior in rats that are confirmed by new experimental results. Viewing addiction as a homeostatic reinforcement learning disorder coherently explains many behavioral and neurobiological aspects of the transition to cocaine addiction, and suggests a new perspective toward understanding addiction

On the Representation Theory of Orthofermions and Orthosupersymmetric Realization of Parasupersymmetry and Fractional Supersymmetry

We construct a canonical irreducible representation for the orthofermion algebra of arbitrary order, and show that every representation decomposes into irreducible representations that are isomorphic to either the canonical representation or the trivial representation. We use these results to show that every orthosupersymmetric system of order $p$ has a parasupersymmetry of order $p$ and a fractional supersymmetry of order $p+1$.Comment: 13 pages, to appear in J. Phys. A: Math. Ge

Parametrised Complexity of Model Checking and Satisfiability in Propositional Dependence Logic

In this paper, we initiate a systematic study of the parametrised complexity in the field of Dependence Logics which finds its origin in the Dependence Logic of V\"a\"an\"anen from 2007. We study a propositional variant of this logic (PDL) and investigate a variety of parametrisations with respect to the central decision problems. The model checking problem (MC) of PDL is NP-complete. The subject of this research is to identify a list of parametrisations (formula-size, treewidth, treedepth, team-size, number of variables) under which MC becomes fixed-parameter tractable. Furthermore, we show that the number of disjunctions or the arity of dependence atoms (dep-arity) as a parameter both yield a paraNP-completeness result. Then, we consider the satisfiability problem (SAT) showing a different picture: under team-size, or dep-arity SAT is paraNP-complete whereas under all other mentioned parameters the problem is in FPT. Finally, we introduce a variant of the satisfiability problem, asking for teams of a given size, and show for this problem an almost complete picture.Comment: Update includes refined result

The Scattering Approach to the Casimir Force

We present the scattering approach which is nowadays the best tool for describing the Casimir force in realistic experimental configurations. After reminders on the simple geometries of 1d space and specular scatterers in 3d space, we discuss the case of stationary arbitrarily shaped mirrors in electromagnetic vacuum. We then review specific calculations based on the scattering approach, dealing for example with the forces or torques between nanostructured surfaces and with the force between a plane and a sphere. In these various cases, we account for the material dependence of the forces, and show that the geometry dependence goes beyond the trivial {\it Proximity Force Approximation} often used for discussing experiments.Comment: Proceedings of the QFEXT'09 conference (Oklahoma, 2009

Sudden To Adiabatic Transition in Beta Decay

We discuss effects in beta decays at very low beta energies, of the order of the kinetic energies of atomic electrons. As the beta energy is lowered the atomic response changes from sudden to adiabatic. As a consequence, the beta decay rate increases slightly and the ejection of atomic electrons (shake off) and subsequent production of X rays is turned off. We estimate the transition energy and the change in decay rate. The rate increase is largest in heavy atoms, which have a small Q value in their decay. The X ray switch-off is independent of Q value.Comment: 6 pages LaTe

Psychic Distance and Country Image in Exporter–Importer Relationships

Conflicting evidence on the issue of psychic distance (PD) in international business relationships suggests the existence of misunderstood boundary conditions to its effect. This article argues that country image (CI) is a contingent factor to the effect of PD. Expectancy–value theory provides the theoretical foundations for this argument. Based on structural equation modeling, analyses for a sample of 358 exporter–importer relationships in the global wine industry provide empirical support. Product-related CI mitigates the negative impact of PD on the relational exchange orientation (REO) between firms. Specifically, a high level of PD dampens REO when product-related CI is poor, whereas a strong product-related CI helps firms facing such PD conditions to build REO irrespective. People-related CI has an indirect effect on REO through product-related CI. Our study contributes to explaining the paradox of distance and offers a fresh perspective on how to handle the issue of PD when relevant

Scald risk in social housing can be reduced through thermostatic control system without increasing Legionella risk: a cluster randomised trial.

OBJECTIVE: To quantify the effects of a thermostatic control system in social (public) housing on the prevalence of dangerous (>60°C) water temperatures and on fuel consumption. DESIGN: Pair-matched double-blind cluster randomised controlled trial. SETTING: Social housing in a deprived inner-London borough. PARTICIPANTS: 150 households recruited as clusters from 22 social housing estates. Four small estates were combined into two clusters (resulting in a total of 10 pairs of clusters). INTERVENTION: Social housing estate boiler houses were randomised to a thermostatic control sterilisation programme (heating water to 65°C during 00:00-06:00 h and to 50°C from 06:00 to 00:00 h daily) or to standard control (constant temperature 65°C). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Water temperature over 60°C ('dangerous') after running taps for 1 min and daily fuel consumption (cubic feet of gas). RESULTS: 10 clusters (80 households) were allocated to the sterilisation programme and 10 clusters (70 households) to control, of which 73 and 67 households, respectively, were analysed. Prevalence of dangerous (>60°C) hot water temperatures at 1 min was significantly reduced with the sterilisation programme (mean of cluster prevalence 1% in sterilisation programme group vs 34% in control group; absolute difference 33%, 95% CI 12% to 54%; p=0.006). Prevalence of high (>55°C) hot water temperatures at 1 min was significantly reduced (31% sterilisation vs 59% control; absolute difference 28%, 95% CI 9% to 47%; p=0.009). Gas consumption per day reduced more in the control group than in the sterilisation programme group, although not statistically significantly (p=0.125). CONCLUSIONS: The thermostatic control with daily sterilisation was effective in capping hot water temperatures and therefore reduced scald risk. Although expected to save energy, fuel consumption was increased relative to the control group. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT00874692