showing 36 of ~574560 from 574555 documents
Unique Problems Require Unique Solutions—Models and Problems of Linking School Effectiveness and School Improvement
2022
The article aims to outline the proposals for linking school effectiveness research and school improvement that are currently relevant in international discussion and to ask how they deal with the ‘technology deficit’ at the level of model improvement. We will first show the difference between school improvement and school effectiveness. Then, we outline areas showing basic problems associated with linking school effectiveness and school improvement. After that, we present a summary of two relevant models for linking school effectiveness research and school improvement—Comprehensive Framework of Effective School Improvement and Dynamic Model of Educational Effectiveness&md…
Hearing Early Modern Music Through the Contemporary
2022
This chapter focuses on how contemporary music practice interacts with early modern1 aesthetics. Two projects, in which Georg Philip Telemann’s solo fantasias are interspersed with contemporary techniques and repertoire, serve as case studies. Firstly, the flutist Felix Renggli commissioned new pieces from 11 contemporary Swiss composers, to be inserted in between Telemann’s 12 Fantasias for Solo Flute. Secondly, violinist Aisha Orazbayeva performed a set of Telemann’s Solo Fantasias for Violin using extended techniques pioneered by Salvatore Sciarrino in his 6 caprices. In this text I use these two different approaches as case studies for how early modern music, exemplified by Telemann, ca…
A Novel Radiotherapeutic Approach to Treat Bulky Metastases Even From Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma: Its Rationale and a Look at the Reliability …
2022
IntroductionMetastatic cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) is a very rare condition. The lack of definition of an oligometastatic subgroup means that there is no consensus for its treatment, unlike the mucosal head and neck counterpart. Like the latter, the cutaneous form is able to develop bulky tumor masses. When this happens, the classic care approach is just for palliative intent due to a likely unfavorable benefit–risk balance typical of aggressive treatments. Here we proposed a novel radiotherapy (RT) technique to treat bulky metastases from cSCC in the context of an overall limited tumor burden and tried to explain its clinical outcome by the currently available mathematical rad…
Recalibrating EU Foreign Policy vis-à-vis Central Asia: Towards Principled Pragmatism and Resilience
2022
With China and Russia acting more assertively vis-à-vis Central Asia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan have gradually moved to the core of contemporary Eurasian geopolitics – albeit to varying degrees. The European Union (EU) has purposefully sought to promote its norms and values in the region for quite some time in the past. However, considering the ongoing Western “polycrisis” exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic most recently, our paper investigates how the EU has been recalibrating its relationship towards Central Asia – within the timespan of its two EU Central Asia Strategies, dating from 2007 and 2019, respectively. We argue that the reformulation of …
Effective strategies for targeted attacks to the network of Cosa Nostra affiliates
2022
AbstractNetwork dismantling has recently gained interest in the fields of intelligence agencies, anti-corruption analysts and criminal investigators due to its efficiency in disrupting the activity of malicious agents. Here, we apply this approach to detect effective strategies for targeted attacks to Cosa Nostra by analysing the collaboration network of affiliates that participate to the same crimes. We preliminarily detect statistically significant homophily patterns induced by being member of the same mafia syndicate. We also find that links between members belonging to different mafia syndicates play a crucial role in connecting the network into a unique component, confirming the releva…
Quantum synchronisation and clustering in chiral networks
2022
We study the emergence of synchronisation in a chiral network of harmonic oscillators. The network consists of a set of locally incoherently pumped harmonic oscillators coupled pairwise in cascade with travelling field modes. Such cascaded coupling leads to feedback-less dissipative interaction between the harmonic oscillators of the pair which can be described in terms of an effective pairwise hamiltonian a collective pairwise decay. The network is described mathematically in terms of a directed graph. By analysing geometries of increasing complexity we show how the onset of synchronisation depends strongly on the network topology, with the emergence of synchronised communities in the case…
High-Pressure Properties of Wolframite-Type ScNbO4
2022
In this work, we used Raman spectroscopic and optical absorption measurements and first-principles calculations to unravel the properties of wolframite-type ScNbO4 at ambient pressure and under high pressure. We found that monoclinic wolframite-type ScNbO4 is less compressible than most wolframites and that under high pressure it undergoes two phase transitions at ∼5 and ∼11 GPa, respectively. The first transition induces a 9% collapse of volume and a 1.5 eV decrease of the band gap energy, changing the direct band gap to an indirect one. According to calculations, pressure induces symmetry changes (P2/c–Pnna–P2/c). The structural sequence is validated by the agreement between phonon calcul…
Monitoring Subaquatic Vegetation Using Sentinel-2 Imagery in Gallocanta Lake (Aragón, Spain)
2022
Remote sensing allows the study of aquatic vegetation cover in shallow lakes from the different spectral responses of the water as the vegetation grows from the bottom toward the surface. In the case of Gallocanta Lake, its seasonality and shallow depth (less than 2 m) allow us to appreciate the variations in the aquatic vegetation with the apparent color. Six common vegetation indices were tested, and the one with the best response was the so-called NDI45, which uses the normalized ratio between the far red (705 nm) and red (665 nm) bands. Our aims are to show the variations in the surface area covered by vegetation at the bottom of the lagoon, its growth and disappearance when drying occu…
Adverse Reactions to Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine: A Prospective Cohort Study Based on an Active Surveillance System
2022
To date, Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has caused high morbidity and mortality worldwide. To counteract the pandemic scenario, several vaccines against the etiological factor of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) were developed and tested. At the end of December 2020, BNT162b2 (Comirnaty, Pfizer-BioNTech) was the first and only authorized vaccine in Italy for selected categories, such as healthcare workers, fragile patients and people aged over 80 years old. To master our knowledge about BNT162b2 adverse reactions (ARs), an active surveillance system based on instant messaging was realized for voluntary participants who had been vaccinated at COVID-19 Vaccination …
Microbial Biofilms Along a Geochemical Gradient at the Shallow-Water Hydrothermal System of Vulcano Island, Mediterranean Sea
2022
Shallow water hydrothermal vents represent highly dynamic environments where strong geochemical gradients can shape microbial communities. Recently, these systems are being widely used for investigating the effects of ocean acidification on biota as vent emissions can release high CO2 concentrations causing local pH reduction. However, other gas species, as well as trace elements and metals, are often released in association with CO2 and can potentially act as confounding factors. In this study, we evaluated the composition, diversity and inferred functional profiles of microbial biofilms in Levante Bay (Vulcano Island, Italy, Mediterranean Sea), a well-studied shallow-water hydrothermal ve…
Del excentrismo formalista al principio del montaje
2022
J.Mª Pozuelo sostenía que la contribución fundamental de la OPOIAZ consistió en la rentabilidad del término teórico desautomatización oponiéndolo al de mero desvío. Esta consideración de conjunto puede ponerse en relación con el fenómeno que se ha dado en llamar 'crisis de la literariedad'. Con esta expresión se levanta acta de la decadencia producida desde finales de los años sesenta del paradigma formalista de cuño inmanentista en beneficio de una multiplicidad de paradigmas que Darío Villanueva, recogiendo el término de Paul K. Feyerabend, ha denominado proliferación. El presente artículo analiza la relación que el formalismo ruso mantuvo con la FEKS (Fábrica del Actor Excéntrico) y con …
Josephson-junction-based axion detection through resonant activation
2022
We discuss the resonant activation phenomenon on a Josephson junction due to the coupling of the Josephson system with axions. We show how such an effect can be exploited for axion detection. A nonmonotonic behavior, with a minimum, of the mean switching time from the superconducting to the resistive state versus the ratio of the axion energy and the Josephson plasma energy is found. We demonstrate how variations in switching times make it possible to detect the presence of the axion field. An experimental protocol for observing axions through their coupling with a Josephson system is proposed.
Updating thermal imaging dataset of hand gestures with unique labels.
2022
An update to the previously published low resolution thermal imaging dataset is presented in this paper. The new dataset contains high resolution thermal images corresponding to various hand gestures captured using the FLIR Lepton 3.5 thermal camera and Purethermal 2 breakout board. The resolution of the camera is with calibrated array of 19,200 pixels. The images captured by the thermal camera are light-independent. The dataset consists of 14,400 images with equal share from color and gray scale. The dataset consists of 10 different hand gestures. Each gesture has a total of 24 images from a single person with a total of 30 persons for the whole dataset. The dataset also contains the image…
Association between physical activity, sedentary time, participation in organized activities, social support, sleep problems and mental distress amon…
2022
Abstract Background Identification of modifiable factors associated with poor mental health is crucial to develop targeted and effective intervention strategies for prevention of mental distress and illness in the general population. Thus, the aim of the present study was to examine the association between low level of leisure-time physical activity, high sedentary time, low participation in organized activities, low social support, sleep problems, and mental distress in a large sample of Norwegian adults. Methods A cross-sectional study was completed by 28,047 adults (≥18 years old) in southern Norway by filling out an online self-report questionnaire. Multivariable binary logistic regres…
Skills for competitiveness: an empirical analysis of the educational provision for oenologists offered by Italian universities
2022
Purpose: Whilst operating in the context of a high-income economy, the Italian labour market is affected by the considerable challenges of vertical mismatch, skill gaps and skill shortages. In such a context, the aim of this empirical study is to explore current university provision regarding the formal qualification of the oenologist, in order to assess its alignment with the professionalism demands from the wine sector. Design/Methodology/Approach: The following was deployed to analyse university provision with a mixed method approach including social network analysis, cluster analysis and desk analyses based on descriptive statistics. Findings: The comparative analysis outlined in the re…
Modelo educativo y autogobierno valenciano 40 años de políticas educativas en la Generalitat
2022
Este artículo pretende explicar y analizar el desarrollo del modelo educativo valenciano en las últimas décadas, identificando también cuáles han sido sus resultados principales en términos de política pública. A tal fin se analizarán los principales hitos que marcan su desarrollo transitando por las diferentes etapas del autogobierno en paralelo a las grandes reformas legislativas que se han producido en España en materia de Educación. This articleaims to explain and analyze the development of the valencian educationmodel in recent decades, also identifying what its main results have been in terms of public policy. To this end, the main milestones that mark its development will be analyzed…
Psychometric Properties and Measurement Invariance by Gender of the Abbreviated Three-Item Version of the Satisfaction with Life Scale in a Colombian…
2022
(1) Background: The need to offer brief scales with items that can be answered with few response options is increasingly important in order to be able to access a broad range of the population. The three-item version of Diener’s Satisfaction with Life Scale has recently been proposed. The objective of this study is to study the psychometric properties of the three-item version of this Scale with five response options, as well as the measurement invariance by gender, in a Colombian sample; (2) Methods: A confirmatory factor model of the three items of the scale together with the Flourishing Scale has been tested, and the measurement invariance by gender of the model has been studied. The res…
PERSPECTIVE RESTITUTION FROM VIEW CAMERAS PHOTOS
2022
Abstract. The paper aims at discussing the accuracy of perspective restitution from view camera photos; view cameras are non-standard cameras frequently used in the past century for on field shooting of buildings and urban sites; this is why the reconstruction of lost buildings often deals with photos taken with a view camera. The case study chosen for the proposed experiment is an urban complex built in Palermo in the ‘50s. The site features a very regular layout with surfaces at right angle, that supports the graphic reconstruction of photos’ inner and outer orientation. The site has been surveyed with a laser scanner; the point cloud provided the metric information needed for the evaluat…
Out of Plane response of Unreinforced Masonry infills: Comparative analysis of experimental tests for the definition of strategies of macro modelling…
2022
During an earthquake, an interaction between the in-plane and out-of-plane seismic forces occurs and the infilled frames suffer damage in both in-plane and out-of-plane directions simultaneously. Particularly, the out-of-plane collapse of unreinforced masonry infill walls is critical even for new buildings complying with the modern seismic codes, resulting in high casualties and huge economic losses. However, the out-of-plane behaviour of infill walls is yet not fully understood. This study is therefore aimed towards characterizing the out-of-plane seismic capacity of unreinforced masonry infill walls. First of all, available out-of-plane experimental tests performed on unreinforced masonry…
Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) using the MASK-air® app in severe asthma
2022
Comparison of Mechanical, Assisted and Manual Harvest of Origanum vulgare L.
2022
In Italy, the production of Origanum vulgare L. is lower than the national market demand, so there is an increasing interest in this crop, even if the manual harvest and bunch binding represent ca. 60% of the production cost. The aim of this work is to evaluate the harvest efficiency, as well as the working capacity, productivity and quality of mechanical harvesting by means of a reaper-binder designed for cereal and forage crops and assisted harvesting by means of a long-reach edge trimmer. In fact, the final aim is to suggest a machine and a method for oregano harvesting that could significantly reduce the time and, therefore, the cost of this crop operation, while achieving a product qua…
Beyond life-skills: talented athletes, existential learning and (Un)learning the life of an athlete
2022
Following developments in educational discourse more broadly, learning discourses in youth sport have been shaped by outcome-based and instrumental goals of developing useful life-skills for ‘successful’ lives. There is, however, a need to expand such traditional understandings of sport-based youth development, which we undertook by exploring existential learning in sport through encountering discontinuity. We conducted in-depth qualitative research with 16 Finnish athletes (seven men/nine women, aged 19–20), five of whom had recently disengaged from the athlete development pathway. In the interviews, we used creative non-fiction vignettes to invite reflections on learning experiences in sp…
Meta-research in geriatric medicine: tips from an associate editor
2022
Diamagnetic susceptibility from a nonadiabatic path-integral simulation of few-electron systems
2022
Diamagnetism is the response of dynamical compositions of charged particles, electrons, and nuclei, to an incident magnetic field. In this paper, we study how the finite temperature and finite nuclear masses affect the diamagnetic susceptibilities of selected small atoms and molecules, as limiting cases of dilute gas. We use nonrelativistic path-integral Monte Carlo simulation (PIMC), where both electrons and nuclei are treated on equal footing at finite temperatures in sampling exact Coulomb pair density matrices. The PIMC estimator of diamagnetic susceptibility has been briefly introduced in Ceperley [D. M. Ceperley, Rev. Mod. Phys. 67, 279 (1995)], but here we present a comprehensive der…
Coulomb excitation of Rn-222
2022
The nature of quadrupole and octupole collectivity in 222Rn was investigated by determining the electric-quadrupole (E2) and octupole (E3) matrix elements using subbarrier, multistep Coulomb excitation. The radioactive 222Rn beam, accelerated to 4.23 MeV/u, was provided by the HIE-ISOLDE facility at CERN. Data were collected in the Miniball γ-ray spectrometer following the bombardment of two targets, 120Sn and 60Ni. Transition E2 matrix elements within the ground-state and octupole bands were measured up to 10ℏ and the results were consistent with a constant intrinsic electric-quadrupole moment, 518(11)efm2. The values of the intrinsic electric-octupole moment for the 0+→3− and 2+→5− transi…
Sociodemographic factors in fibromyalgia: results from the Italian Fibromyalgia Registry
2022
ObjectiveFibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic musculoskeletal pain syndrome of unknown aetiopathogenesis. Its development and maintenance are related to the interplay of biological, psychological, and contextual factors. Among the contextual factors, sociodemographic aspects are poorly elucidated. This study aimed to evaluate the relationships between sociodemographic/ clinical factors and symptom severity measures using a web-based registry of patients with FM.MethodsAdult patients with an ACR 2010/2011 diagnosis of FM underwent a clinical evaluation and were asked to complete questionnaires covering their sociodemographic data (gender, age, marital status, educational level), and disease-specif…
Coulomb excitation of 222Rn
2022
International audience; The nature of quadrupole and octupole collectivity in $^{222}$Rn was investigated by determining the electric-quadrupole (E2) and octupole (E3) matrix elements using subbarrier, multistep Coulomb excitation. The radioactive $^{222}$Rn beam, accelerated to 4.23 MeV/u, was provided by the HIE-ISOLDE facility at CERN. Data were collected in the Miniball $\gamma$ -ray spectrometer following the bombardment of two targets, $^{120}$Sn and $^{60}$Ni. Transition E2 matrix elements within the ground-state and octupole bands were measured up to 10 ¯h and the results were consistent with a constant intrinsic electric-quadrupole moment, 518(11) $e$ fm$^2$ . The values of the int…
Effects of Creatine Supplementation on Brain Function and Health
2022
While the vast majority of research involving creatine supplementation has focused on skeletal muscle, there is a small body of accumulating research which has focused on creatine and the brain. Preliminary studies indicate that creatine supplementation (and guanidinoacetic acid; GAA) has the ability to increase brain creatine content in humans. Further, creatine has shown some promise for attenuating symptoms of concussion, mild traumatic brain injury and depression but its effect on neurodegenerative diseases appears lacking. The purpose of this narrative review is to summarize the current body of research pertaining to creatine supplementation on total creatine and phophorylcreatine cont…
Establishing a New ECMO Referral Center Using an ICU-Based Approach: A Feasibility and Safety Study
2022
Background: A high-volume center with a multidisciplinary team is regarded as the optimal place for providing extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). We hypothesize that an ECMO center can also be successfully created and subsequently developed entirely by intensivists in a mid-size mixed intensive care unit (ICU). Methods: A model was created for setting up a new ECMO referral center within the structure of an existing mixed ICU in a tertiary hospital. A retrospective analysis was carried out of the first 33 patients treated in the initial period of the center’s activity, from mid 2018 to the end of 2020. Results: An ECMO center was established and developed entirely based on the resou…
Retraction Note: Evaluating polymicrobial immune responses in patients suffering from tick-borne diseases
2022
There is insufficient evidence to support screening of various tick-borne diseases (TBD) related microbes alongside Borrelia in patients suffering from TBD. To evaluate the involvement of multiple microbial immune responses in patients experiencing TBD we utilized enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Four hundred and thirty-two human serum samples organized into seven categories followed Centers for Disease Control and Prevention two-tier Lyme disease (LD) diagnosis guidelines and Infectious Disease Society of America guidelines for post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome. All patient categories were tested for their immunoglobulin M (IgM) and G (IgG) responses against 20 microbes associated wit…
Haemolymphatic Parameters in Two Aquaculture Crustacean Species Cherax destructor (Clark, 1836) and Cherax quadricarinatus (Von Martens, 1868)
2022
In the last few years, there has been a notable development in the breeding of freshwater shrimp (astaciculture), which involved various species and in particular, the two Australian Parastacidae species, Cherax destructor and Cherax quadricarinatus. Information about the haemolymphatic parameters of these two species is fragmentary, and filling these gaps becomes important given their importance in aquaculture. Cellular and biochemical parameters were analyzed in both species to create a reference baseline for these parameters to identify the state of welfare or suffering of these animals. The results showed that the total haemocyte count, haemocyte subpopulations, enzymatic activities and…
Asthma-Related Knowledge and Practices among Mothers of Asthmatic Children: A Latent Class Analysis
2022
Mothers’ knowledge about childhood asthma influences management practices and disease control, but validating knowledge/practice questionnaires is difficult due to the lack of a gold standard. We hypothesized that Latent Class Analysis (LCA) could help identify underlying mother profiles with similar knowledge/practices. A total of 438 mothers of asthmatic children answered a knowledge/practice questionnaire. Using answers to the knowledge/practice questionnaire as manifest variables, LCA identified two classes: Class 1, “poor knowledge” (33%); Class 2, “good knowledge” (67%). Classification accuracy was 0.96. Mothers in Class 2 were more likely to be aware of …
Changes in Physicochemical Properties of Biochar after Addition to Soil
2022
It is recognized that biochar undergoes changes when it is applied to soils. However, the mechanisms of biochar alterations are not fully understood yet. To this purpose, the present study is designed to investigate the transformations in the soil of two different biochars obtained from pyrolysis of fir-wood pellets. The production of the biochars differed for the dry and wet quenching procedures used to terminate the pyrolysis. Both biochars were applied to clay soil (26% sand, 6% silt, and 68% clay) placed into lysimeters. After water saturation and 15 days of equilibration, seeds of watercress (Lepidium sativum) were cultivated. After a further 7 weeks, the biochars were manually separat…
Applying Spring Security Framework with KeyCloak-Based OAuth2 to Protect Microservice Architecture APIs: A Case Study
2022
In this study, we implemented an integrated security solution with Spring Security and Keycloak open-access platform (SSK) to secure data collection and exchange over microservice architecture application programming interfaces (APIs). The adopted solution implemented the following security features: open authorization, multi-factor authentication, identity brokering, and user management to safeguard microservice APIs. Then, we extended the security solution with a virtual private network (VPN), Blowfish and crypt (Bcrypt) hash, encryption method, API key, network firewall, and secure socket layer (SSL) to build up a digital infrastructure. To accomplish and describe the adopted SSK solutio…
Safety and benefit of incretin-based therapies in patients with type 2 diabetes: learnings and reflections
2022
Passions de l’intérêt. Matérialisme et anthropologie chez Helvétius et Diderot
2022
International audience; Qu’en est-il de la « philosophie de l’intérêt » dans l’histoire du matérialisme du XVIIIe siècle ? En prenant l’intérêt depuis son déploiement anthropologique chez Helvétius et Diderot, ce livre apporte les éléments pour une révision de l’histoire moderne de la philosophie.On suivra le fil conducteur qui définit la science de l’homme comme le domaine des lois de l’intérêt, c’est-à-dire ce qui, chez Condillac, présidait à la genèse des opérations mentales : un mouvement propre à l’homme ordonné par la recherche du plaisir et la fuite de la douleur. La science de l’homme comme être intéressé se déploie en une théorie de la connaissance comme intérêt, une analyse des pa…