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Exploring Factors Associated with Parent Engagement in A Parenting Program in Southeastern Europe
Get PDFParental engagement in parenting programs is essential for good outcomes but can be challenging for many families. In lowand middle-income countries, where resources are limited and there are fewer support services, there is little researchexamining the factors that influence engagement. This mixed-methods study explored factors associated with parent engagement, as well as barriers and supports, in a pilot evaluation of a parenting program with 140 parents in NorthMacedonia, Republic of Moldova, and Romania. The relationship between various quantitative types of engagement (e.g., premature drop-out, participation) and a range of demographic, personal, and implementation factors were examined.Qualitative parent interviews explored barriers and supports to program engagement. Implementation variables (e.g., phone calls with parents, program fidelity and text messages sent to parents) were consistently positively associated with different types of engagement after controlling for other factors. Parents of boys, being a victim of intimate partner violence, more children in the household and better parental well-being were positively associated with premature drop-out whilst having a child enrolled in school was positively associated with participation. Barriers included logistical factors such as timing andlack of childcare facilities. Factors that increased engagement included facilitator skills/support, weekly text messages and phone calls and engagement strategies such as transport and childcare. The results emphasise the importance ofimplementation factors in increasing parent engagement in parenting programs and will help to inform the next phase of the project as well as other family-support initiatives in the three countries. The trial is registered on ClinicalTrials.gov (ID:NCT03552250)
The role of plant-fungus and plant-insect interactions in the dynamics of secondary and mature tropical rainforests
Get PDFRoute navigation in homing pigeons (Columba livia): the use of visual cues over a familiar area.
Get PDFQuasi Type-1 PLL With Tunable Phase Detector for Unbalanced and Distorted Three-Phase Grid
Get PDFOut of various moving average filter (MAF)-based phase-locked-loop (PLL), quasi type-1 PLL (QT1-PLL) is widely adopted due to its fast dynamic performance, implementation simplicity, and harmonics rejection abilities. However, the performance of QT1-PLL deteriorates in the presence of an off-nominal frequency unbalanced grid voltage component. Moreover, the sensitivity towards the fundamental frequency negative sequence (FFNS) component is high. Hence, this paper proposes a novel enhanced QT1-PLL solution that is insensitive to unbalance in the grid voltage signal during off-nominal frequency conditions. The proposed adaptive phase detector makes it possible to estimate both the fundamental frequency positive sequence (FFPS) and FFNS components with a high degree of immunity against harmonics. Notably, the pre-loop separation of the FFPS and the FFNS components helps suppress the second harmonic oscillations for improving the parameter estimation accuracy. The loop-filter design of QT1-PLL remains unaffected and requires a proportional gain to estimate the fundamental phase and frequency information. To address the DC offset issue, a modified delayed signal cancellation method is also proposed, which can theoretically eliminates the DC offset for any arbitrary delay length. A small-signal model of the proposed PLL is developed for the sake of stability analysis. Comparative results are provide
Robust Intrusion Detection for Resilience Enhancement of Industrial Control Systems: An Extended State Observer Approach
Get PDFWe address the problem of attack signal estimation in industrial control systems that are subjected to actuator false data injection attack (FDIA) and where the sensor measurements are corrupted by non-negligible high-frequency measurement noise. The actuator FDIA signal is categorized as disturbance to be estimated and subsequently compensated, based on the concept of extended state observer (ESO). We investigate the efficacy of two alternatives to conventional ESO namely, cascade ESO (CESO) and low-power higher-order ESO (LHESO), that guarantee improved estimation performance in case of noisy measurement data as well as time-varying attack signals. Simulation results under different types of FDIAs demonstrate the advantages of designed schemes in comparison to conventional linear and nonlinear ESOs, using network motion control system as an illustrative example
Measurement microscale vibration information with living biological probes
Get PDFWe report on the first demonstration of a living biological probe that is utilized to measure microscale vibration information. The microsphere-based living biological probes were precisely manipulated through optical fiber tweezers technology, enabling to transmission and focus of the emitted light on the surface of the vibrating microstructure and then combining it with laser self-mixing interference to obtain the microscale vibration information. Experiments show that the living probes can successfully detect the microscale vibration information of microstructure, and the relationship between the interference fringe number of the self-mixing signal and the peak-to-peak amplitude of the vibration of the microstructure was analyzed. The presented living probes may expand the application of optical fiber probes for detecting microscale vibration information in the biological field
Effect of ZrB2 and UB2 Discrete Burnable Absorber Pins on Fuel Reactivity
Get PDFImprovements in fuel efficiency and economy are significantly important both for today's nuclear power reactors and for new, advanced nuclear reactor designs. Burnable absorbers (BA), which are a key component in fuel efficiency and economy, are being developed to improve fuel cycle flexibility and to reduce some of the performance drawbacks associated with their use. In this study, a novel concept is studied: Discrete Burnable Absorber Pins (DBAP) containing ZrB2 and UB2 which have immense potential for fuel efficiency and fuel cycle economy, analysed by Monte Carlo particle transport methods. It has been shown that the use of each type of discrete burnable absorber pin provides an increase in reactivity at the end of fuel life compared to the situation without a BA. This is attributed to the change in 239Pu breeding in the region adjacent to the BA
The intricacy of interactions: qualitative exploration of prefernces and perceptions of advance care planning among healthcare professionals, patients and those close to them
Get PDFAbstract Objectives: Advance care planning (ACP) is a way of documenting preferences in case of a change or decline in health via verbal discussion and may include a written document. ACP relates not only to treatment preferences but to all aspects of future care such as place of death, plans for dependents and spiritual beliefs. Research has shown that ACP can have a positive impact but needs further understanding to enhance communication and increase uptake. This article focusses on the importance and intricacy of interactions and why a preference-based approach may be beneficial for the future. Methods: This article reports two separate, but related, pieces of qualitative research. First, focus groups to evaluate perspectives of healthcare professionals (HCPs) following their attendance at a North Wales ACP training workshop. The second study comprised interviews exploring the views of patients, those close to them and HCPs regarding ACP. Results: ACP interactions are complex and intricate. There is an association with end of life rather than changes in health among patients and HCPs often view discussions as akin to ‘breaking bad news’. Good communication between patients, loved ones and HCPs is essential to reduce distress and ensure preferences are understood. Trust between patients and HCPs is of high importance and often a patient will have a preferred HCP who they feel comfortable discussing ACP with. Conclusion: A preference-based approach to ACP has potential to widen participation in ACP, relieve anxiety and ease burden for patients and carers. Further research is needed to identify ways to increase inclusivity