Measuring the Orbital Angular Momentum of Electron Beams

The recent demonstration of electron vortex beams has opened up the new possibility of studying orbital angular momentum (OAM) in the interaction between electron beams and matter. To this aim, methods to analyze the OAM of an electron beam are fundamentally important and a necessary next step. We demonstrate the measurement of electron beam OAM through a variety of techniques. The use of forked holographic masks, diffraction from geometric apertures, diffraction from a knife-edge and the application of an astigmatic lens are all experimentally demonstrated. The viability and limitations of each are discussed with supporting numerical simulations.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figurs

Playing social justice: How do early childhood teachers enact the right to play through resistance and subversion?

In this paper we narrate how two teachers enact playful pedagogies by resisting the single story of formalised learning discourses in early childhood education and care. Playful learning is well established in international literature and children have the right to play. Yet in contemporary outcomes-driven policy, adult-led formalised teaching has become normalised at the expense of child-initiated play. Play is thus marginalised; positioned as a privilege rather than as a right and dependent on views of children as capable holders of rights. Here, we position play in relation to democracy, equity and social justice by storying how teachers’ circumvent scrutiny to facilitate the right to play and we argue this as a fruitful sub-context for resistance. From this perspective, teachers’ resistances do not just enable play, they embody and enact representative and democratic justice. Firstly, teachers story representative forms of social justice as ‘being the right thing’ in making play happen.  Secondly, teachers enact democratic forms of social justice through resistance actions of ‘doing the right thing’ that entangle an emotional vulnerability to scrutiny. Adopting alternative resistance positions shifts play beyond a privilege and creates transformational spaces for social justice where time, space and materiality have a role to play. We call on teachers and educators to deepen their critical awareness of the narrowness of a single story of learning and the rich relationships between rights and play agendas. We assert that teachers’ resistances can enable playful pedagogies and act as hopeful storytelling of social justice as serious play.   

Cultural Adaptation for Ethnic Diversity: A Review of Obesity Interventions for Preschool Children

Obesity disproportionately affects U.S. ethnic minority preschool children, placing them at risk for obesity related co-morbidities and premature death. Effective culturally appropriate interventions are needed to improve health behaviors and reduce obesity in young high-risk minority children, while their behaviors are still developing. All known obesity intervention studies (e.g., diet and physical activity) since 2000 targeting U.S. ethnic minority preschool children were reviewed. Five electronic databases and eight published literature reviews were used to identify the studies. Intervention studies without identified ethnic minority participants were excluded. Ten obesity interventions studies met the review criteria. Published cultural adaptation guidelines were used to develop a mechanism to analyze, score, and rank the intervention adaptations. Cultural adaptations varied widely in rigor, depth, and breadth. Results indicated a relative absence of appropriately adapted obesity interventions for ethnic minority groups, suggesting a need for more rigorous cultural adaptation guidelines when designing obesity interventions for diverse ethnicities. Culturally appropriate adaptations appeared to enhance intervention relevance, effectiveness, and feasibility. The purpose of this literature review was to evaluate 1) the type and extent of cultural adaptations strategies applied to the interventions, and 2) how these adaptations related to the study outcomes

Prospects for versatile phase manipulation in the TEM: beyond aberration correction

In this paper we explore the desirability of a transmission electron microscope in which the phase of the electron wave can be freely controlled. We discuss different existing methods to manipulate the phase of the electron wave and their limitations. We show how with the help of current techniques the electron wave can already be crafted into specific classes of waves each having their own peculiar properties. Assuming a versatile phase modulation device is feasible, we explore possible benefits and methods that could come into existence borrowing from light optics where so-called spatial light modulators provide programmable phase plates for quite some time now. We demonstrate that a fully controllable phase plate building on Harald Rose's legacy in aberration correction and electron optics in general would open an exciting field of research and applications.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, special Ultramicroscopy issue for PICO2015 conferenc

Wall(ings):the early childhood story(ings) they tell

In putting posthuman theories to work, we shift our gaze beyond the human in two early education classrooms to imagine walls as palimpsests. By thinking-with palimpsests, we imagine walls as multi-layered agentic objects that do more than hold shifting configurations of documentation. Thinking-with walls as palimpsests enables us to make-sense of walls in relation to the past and present through multiple materialities, spaces and times. With this experimental and playful writing, we story wall encounters through stretching our attention to the everydayness of the human-non-human-more-than-human life of walls. In offering up two wall stories, we move our gaze to zoom in and out of walls’ mundanities to materialize encounters. Other kinds of knowledge can be made and remade with different kinds of noticing that take seriously non-human mundanities of time, space and matter with wall storyings. Taking a seriously playful, and speculative, approach we leave our musings of the wall stories unfinished so that new knowledge, and unthought thoughts can be made. We offer provocations for you, dear reader, to take into dialogue with your own walls

Sample Size for Biosimilar Trials: In Defense of Synthesis

Biosimilars are biological products similar to, but not the same as, the innovator products. Both the European Medicines Agency and the Food and Drug Administration have released detailed guidance on the development of biosimilars. This guidance requires the pivotal phase 3 clinical study to have an equivalence design, which means that the study objective is to demonstrate that one treatment is neither "worse than" nor "better than" the other by some clinically unimportant" amount. The most critical and controversial step in designing such a study is the choice of equivalence margin, as this determines the conclusion of the study. In this paper, we outline the methodology for determining an equivalence margin and, through case studies on biosimilar trastuzumab (HERCEPTIN ) and biosimilar bevacizumab (AVASTIN), explain the challenges of applying this in practice and why the synthesis method should be given greater consideration by regulatory authorities and biosimilar developers

Promoting completion of advance directives in a Hispanic religious congregation: An evidence-based practice project

Background: Hispanics utilize more aggressive medical treatment at the end of life and are less likely to receive end-of-life care consistent with their wishes than nonHispanic Whites. Hispanics are less likely than nonHispanic Whites to have an advance directive (AD). Increasing AD completion among Hispanics can promote end-of-life care consistent with their wishes, diminish healthcare disparities, and eliminate unnecessary healthcare spending. Objectives: To promote completion of advance directives by increasing knowledge, positive attitudes, and comfort with advance care planning (ACP) among Hispanics through culturally sensitive interventions. Intervention: The project was conducted in Spanish and implemented among a Hispanic religious congregation. Two group sessions were held at their meetinghouse. Informational handouts and exercises were provided along with an initial knowledge and attitudes questionnaire. Individual reflections and group exercises were used to explore personal views. At the conclusion of the second group session, the same questionnaire was completed. Participants then scheduled a one-on-one session to complete an AD. Results: Of the 21 eligible participants, 13 attended both group sessions and scheduled a one-on-one visit. Mean scores for knowledge increased from 71% to 91%; mean attitude and comfort scores increased from 61% to 80%; and 100% of participants who attended both group sessions completed an AD. Conclusion: Increasing AD completion among Hispanics can be achieved through culturally appropriate interventions that increase knowledge about, attitudes toward, and comfort with end-of-life decisions. More studies are needed among Hispanics that focus on effective interventions to complete advance directives, rather than Hispanic end-of-life cultural preferences alone

Research on making the most of HS2 investments and connectivity in the EM Labour Market.

East Midlands Councils, D2N2 LE