Parent and teacher perceptions of discipline problems and solutions in small, urban, western Piedmont North Carolina high schools

This study investigated the extent of discipline problems in small, urban, Western Piedmont North Carolina high schools as perceived by teachers and parents of high school students. It examined and compared teacher and parent responses to the severity of serious acts of student misbehavior and selected contributors to student misbehavior. It compared preferences of inschool suspension, out-of-school suspension, and exclusion from school in dealing with students involved in fighting, assault, intimidation, vandalism, possession of weapons, and use/possession and sale of illegal drugs. Also, the study examined involvement of law enforcement agencies in addressing serious discipline matters. Finally, the study compared teacher and parent suggestions for improving current systems of managing and reforming unruly high school youths. Parents and teachers agreed that serious acts of misbehavior are significant problems for schools. There was also agreement on external and internal contributors to school discipline problems

Structural and functional characterization of nanobodies that neutralize Omicron variants of SARS-CoV-2

The Omicron strains of SARS-CoV-2 pose a significant challenge to the development of effective antibody-based treatments as immune evasion has compromised most available immune therapeutics. Therefore, in the ‘arms race’ with the virus, there is a continuing need to identify new biologics for the prevention or treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infections. Here, we report the isolation of nanobodies that bind to the Omicron BA.1 spike protein by screening nanobody phage display libraries previously generated from llamas immunized with either the Wuhan or Beta spike proteins. The structure and binding properties of three of these nanobodies (A8, H6 and B5-5) have been characterized in detail providing insight into their binding epitopes on the Omicron spike protein. Trimeric versions of H6 and B5-5 neutralized the SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern BA.5 both in vitro and in the hamster model of COVID-19 following nasal administration. Thus, either alone or in combination could serve as starting points for the development of new anti-viral immunotherapeutics

Structural and functional characterization of nanobodies that neutralize Omicron variants of SARS-CoV-2

The Omicron strains of SARS-CoV-2 pose a significant challenge to the development of effective antibody-based treatments as immune evasion has compromised most available immune therapeutics. Therefore, in the ‘arms race’ with the virus, there is a continuing need to identify new biologics for the prevention or treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infections. Here, we report the isolation of nanobodies that bind to the Omicron BA.1 spike protein by screening nanobody phage display libraries previously generated from llamas immunized with either the Wuhan or Beta spike proteins. The structure and binding properties of three of these nanobodies (A8, H6 and B5-5) have been characterized in detail providing insight into their binding epitopes on the Omicron spike protein. Trimeric versions of H6 and B5-5 neutralized the SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern BA.5 both in vitro and in the hamster model of COVID-19 following nasal administration. Thus, either alone or in combination could serve as starting points for the development of new anti-viral immunotherapeutics

Insights into the shock initiation/detonation of homogeneous and heterogeneous HE

It has long been known that there are fundamental differences between homogeneous and heterogeneous high explosives. The shock initiation behavior of these materials was first described in the literature by Campbell et al, in 1961. Chaiken was also involved in describing this process for liquid nitromethane. Since then, there have been a number of studies which have added considerable incite into the shock initiation/detonation behavior of these materials. We only give a few references here (Refs. 4 - 11) and these should be considered representative; e.g. they do not represent an exhaustive list of references available. Many of these studies were done on homogeneous explosives, most often nitromethane (NM) and include particle velocity gauge measurements, optical temperature measurements, VISAR measurements, as well as streak camera measurements of interfaces. In some cases NM was heterogenized by gelling and adding silica particles. Homogeneous materials are typically liquids or single crystals in which there are a minimal number of physical imperfections (e.g. bubbles or voids) that can cause perturbations in the input shock and the flow behind it. Homogeneous materials viewed with macroscopic probes characteristic of detonation physics experiments appear uniform. Heterogeneous explosives are generally all other types; these are usually pressed, cast, machined, or extruded into the shapes or parts desired. These materials contain imperfections of a variety of types that cause fluid-mechanical irregularities (called hot spots) when a shock or detonation wave passes over them. Such hot spots cause associated space/time fluctuations in the thermodynamic fields (e.g., the pressure or temperature fields) in the material. These thermodynamic variations affect the local chemical-heat-release rate - they produce an average heat-release rate that is a combination of chemistry and mechanics. Hot spots could be the result of voids, shock interactions, jetting, shock impedance mismatches, etc. Shock initiation of homogeneous explosives is due to a thermal explosion that occurs in the material shocked the longest. This reaction produces a reactive wave that grows behind the front and eventually overtakes the front. The reactive wave may grow into what is called a superdetonation before it overtakes the initial shock and settles down to a steady detonation. The shock initiation process in heterogeneous explosives differs a great deal because the hot spots cause early chemical reaction as soon as the shock passing over a region creates them. This causes reactive growth both in and behind the shock front. This leads to a relatively smooth growth of the initiating shock to a detonation, in contrast to the abrupt changes that occur in the homogeneous case. These differences are apparent in both the in-situ reaction wave profiles and the acceleration of the shock front

Evaluating the burden of amblyopia treatment from the parent and child’s perspective

To evaluate the psychometric properties of the original Parent and new Child Amblyopia Treatment Index (ATI), questionnaires that assess the burden of amblyopia treatment in children and families, and to compare scores between children treated with atropine or patching

Whiteness and loss in outer East London: tracing the collective memories of diaspora space

This paper explores collective memory in Newham, East London. It addresses how remembering East London as the home of whiteness and traditional forms of community entails powerful forms of forgetting. Newham's formation through migration – its ‘great time’ – has ensured that myths of indigeneity and whiteness have never stood still. Through engaging with young people's and youth workers' memory practices, the paper explores how phantasms of whiteness and class loss are traced over, and how this tracing reveals ambivalence and porosity, at the same time as it highlights the continued allure of race. It explores how whiteness and class loss are appropriated across ethnic boundaries and how they are mobilized to produce new forms of racial hierarchy in a ‘super-diverse’ place

Constraints on galaxy formation from the cosmic-far-infrared-background – optical-imaging cross-correlation using Herschel and UNIONS

Using $\it{Herschel}$-SPIRE imaging and the Canada-France Imaging Survey (CFIS) Low Surface Brightness data products from the Ultraviolet Near-Infrared Optical Northern Survey (UNIONS), we present a cross-correlation between the cosmic infrared background and cosmic optical background fluctuations. With a combined sky area of $91\,{\rm deg}^2$ and a minimum resolved scale of $18\,$arcsec, the cross-spectrum is measured for two cases: all galaxies are kept in the images; or all individually-detected galaxies are masked to produce `background' maps. We report the detection of the cross-correlation signal at $\gtrsim 22\,\sigma$ ($\gtrsim 18\,\sigma$ for the background map). The part of the optical brightness variations that are correlated with the submm emission translates to an rms brightness of $\simeq 32.5\,{\rm mag}\,{\rm arcsec}^{-2}$ in the $r$ band, a level normally unreachable for individual sources. A critical issue is determining what fraction of the cross-power spectrum might be caused by emission from Galactic cirrus. For one of the fields, the Galactic contamination is approximately a factor of 10 higher than the extragalactic signal, with the contamination being estimated using a linear regression from several external survey maps; however, for the other fields, the contamination is typically around 20 per cent. An additional discriminant is that the cross-power spectrum is of the approximate form $P(k)\propto 1/k$, much shallower than that of Galactic cirrus. We interpret the results in a halo-model framework, which shows good agreement with independent measurements for the scalings of star-formation rates in galaxies. The approach presented in this study holds great promise for future surveys such as FYST/CCAT-prime combined with ${\it Euclid}$ or the Vera Rubin Observatory (LSST), which will enable a detailed exploration of the evolution of star formation in galaxies

Decline in subarachnoid haemorrhage volumes associated with the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic

BACKGROUND: During the COVID-19 pandemic, decreased volumes of stroke admissions and mechanical thrombectomy were reported. The study\u27s objective was to examine whether subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) hospitalisations and ruptured aneurysm coiling interventions demonstrated similar declines. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional, retrospective, observational study across 6 continents, 37 countries and 140 comprehensive stroke centres. Patients with the diagnosis of SAH, aneurysmal SAH, ruptured aneurysm coiling interventions and COVID-19 were identified by prospective aneurysm databases or by International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, codes. The 3-month cumulative volume, monthly volumes for SAH hospitalisations and ruptured aneurysm coiling procedures were compared for the period before (1 year and immediately before) and during the pandemic, defined as 1 March-31 May 2020. The prior 1-year control period (1 March-31 May 2019) was obtained to account for seasonal variation. FINDINGS: There was a significant decline in SAH hospitalisations, with 2044 admissions in the 3 months immediately before and 1585 admissions during the pandemic, representing a relative decline of 22.5% (95% CI -24.3% to -20.7%, p\u3c0.0001). Embolisation of ruptured aneurysms declined with 1170-1035 procedures, respectively, representing an 11.5% (95%CI -13.5% to -9.8%, p=0.002) relative drop. Subgroup analysis was noted for aneurysmal SAH hospitalisation decline from 834 to 626 hospitalisations, a 24.9% relative decline (95% CI -28.0% to -22.1%, p\u3c0.0001). A relative increase in ruptured aneurysm coiling was noted in low coiling volume hospitals of 41.1% (95% CI 32.3% to 50.6%, p=0.008) despite a decrease in SAH admissions in this tertile. INTERPRETATION: There was a relative decrease in the volume of SAH hospitalisations, aneurysmal SAH hospitalisations and ruptured aneurysm embolisations during the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings in SAH are consistent with a decrease in other emergencies, such as stroke and myocardial infarction

Federated learning enables big data for rare cancer boundary detection.

Although machine learning (ML) has shown promise across disciplines, out-of-sample generalizability is concerning. This is currently addressed by sharing multi-site data, but such centralization is challenging/infeasible to scale due to various limitations. Federated ML (FL) provides an alternative paradigm for accurate and generalizable ML, by only sharing numerical model updates. Here we present the largest FL study to-date, involving data from 71 sites across 6 continents, to generate an automatic tumor boundary detector for the rare disease of glioblastoma, reporting the largest such dataset in the literature (n = 6, 314). We demonstrate a 33% delineation improvement for the surgically targetable tumor, and 23% for the complete tumor extent, over a publicly trained model. We anticipate our study to: 1) enable more healthcare studies informed by large diverse data, ensuring meaningful results for rare diseases and underrepresented populations, 2) facilitate further analyses for glioblastoma by releasing our consensus model, and 3) demonstrate the FL effectiveness at such scale and task-complexity as a paradigm shift for multi-site collaborations, alleviating the need for data-sharing