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“The Show Must Go On!” Dance talent development in the context of coping during the COVID-19 pandemic
Get PDFPsychobehavioral skills are acknowledged as useful for coping within talent development pathways, but the idiosyncratic nature of challenge experienced across individuals makes it hard to evaluate their use and efficacy. This study aimed to explore the impact of a generic stressor, the COVID-19 lockdowns, on dancers within a talent development pathway. We were interested in how dancers were perceived to have coped with this challenge and what skills, if any, they used. Fifteen practitioners (11 females, 4 males; Mage = 42.3 years; Mexperience = 18.4 years) were interviewed across eight Scottish performance/educational government-funded organisations. Data analysis used reflexive thematic analysis. Findings revealed important perceived impacts on physical and psychological health and wellbeing, with the majority of participants reporting surprise that some coped differently than expected. Coping well was perceived to result from taking advantage of developmental opportunities, facilitative environmental factors, and possessing key psychobehavioral characteristics. Performers who were perceived to struggle did not cope well with teaching, interpersonal, physical, and psychological factors which were exacerbated by social/environmental contexts, leading to pathway disengagement/derailment. Data suggest a need for greater and proactive integration of psychobehavioral skills within this pathway to better support those advancing to professional status and those who do not
Credit default swaps and firm cyclicality
Get PDFWe find firm cyclicality decreases by 40% after the inception of credit default swap (CDS) trading. The effect stems from CDS firms’ less aggressive asset growth in good times and is stronger for firms facing a more severe empty creditor problem. Important identification issues are addressed. The result cannot be explained with debt overhang, bank lending cyclicality or the cyclicality of firms’ business fundamentals. It holds for the cyclicality of various corporate outcomes (inventories, cash and employment). Importantly, CDS trading impedes unhealthy growth and enhances profitability and firm value. Our finding indicates an important positive real effect of financial innovation
The process of revolutionary protest:Development and democracy in the Tunisian revolution
Get PDFRevolutionary protest rarely begins as democratic or revolutionary. Instead, it grows in a process of positive feedback, incorporating new constituencies and generating new demands. If protest is not revolutionary at its onset, theory should reflect this and be able to explain the endogenous emergence of democratic demands. In this article, I combine multiple data sources on the 2010–2011 Tunisian Revolution, including survey data, an original event catalogue, and field interviews. I show that the correlates of protest occurrence and participation change significantly during the uprising. Using the Tunisian case as a theory-building exercise, I argue that the formation of protest coalitions is essential, rather than incidental, to democratic revolution
Pedagogical listening:Understanding how teachers listen to student struggle during mathematical sense-making discussions
Get PDFResearch suggests that students’ verbalisation of how they are struggling to understand something new is important for learning mathematics with conceptual understanding. However, less is known about how teachers listen while students ‘think aloud’ through struggle. In this study, we sought to answer the following research question: What types of listening do teachers enact when students are verbalising struggle during mathematical sense-making discussions? We detail how we created and applied a Framework for Pedagogical Listening, which extends previous theoretical and empirical research on teacher listening to identify and differentiate between five types of teacher listening: empathic, supportive, educative, self-reflective and generative. Our study involved nine teachers and their students in the US and Scotland, contexts which are focused on reform-efforts towards inquiry-oriented mathematics instruction that engages students in sense-making discussions. Our findings suggest that the five types of teacher listening in our framework are present when students verbalise struggle during sense-making discussions, and that our Pedagogical Listening Framework is a useful tool for identifying and documenting the complex ways teachers listen when students verbalise struggle. We present three vignettes of classroom interaction during mathematical discussion that illustrate the five pedagogical listening types.</p
Computed tomographic features of Morel-Lavallée lesion in 3 cats
Get PDFOBJECTIVETo describe the CT features of Morel-Lavallée lesions (MLLs) and their association with trauma in cats. This study aimed to investigate whether MLL fluid in cats accumulates between the dermis and deep fascia near superficial trauma, exhibits a vertical attenuation gradient, and shows no or only mild contrast enhancement on CT images.ANIMALS3 young cats: a 1-year-old neutered male domestic shorthair cat, a 2-year-old neutered male domestic shorthair cat, and a 3-year-old neutered female British Shorthair cat.CLINICAL PRESENTATIONThe clinical presentation of the 3 cats in the study involved recurrent swelling and fluid accumulation affecting at least 1 pelvic limb following trauma.RESULTSIn all cases, there was a fluid-filled space deep to the skin and superficial subcutaneous layer but superficial to the deep fascial plane overlying the muscular component of the pelvic limbs. The MLL fluid had a vertical attenuation gradient and no or only mild contrast enhancement.CLINICAL RELEVANCEMorel-Lavallée lesions are often initially overlooked, likely due to distraction by concomitant significant bone injuries, and can be mistaken for hematomas, seromas, subcutaneous edema, contusions, or cellulitis, leading to less aggressive treatment. If left untreated, MLLs present a significant risk of extensive skin necrosis compared to other types of subcutaneous swelling
Low-Velocity Impact Response of Hybrid Sheet Moulding Compound Composite Laminates
Get PDFThis work presents a comprehensive study on the impact damage tolerance of Sheet Moulding Compounds (SMCs). The performance of glass, carbon and hybrid glass/carbon SMCs are compared by means of tensile, compression, low-velocity impact and compression after impact experiments. Damage analysis of the impacted laminates was performed by ultrasonic and X-ray methodologies. The glass SMC exhibited the highest damage tolerance in low-velocity impact with the smallest damaged area, crack density and loss in compression after impact (CAI) strength. On the other hand, the carbon SMC demonstrated superior in-plane stiffness and strength, but exhibited a large damaged area and crack density under impact. The hybrid SMC displayed an optimal compromise, exhibiting intermediate tensile in-plane performance and excellent damage tolerance at lower impact energy levels, but suffered from extensive delamination at the highest impact energy. Overall, the findings highlight the suitability of hybrid SMCs for structural applications with potential impact risks
Bearing performance and progressive failure analysis of bolted joint in 3D printed pseudo-woven CFRP composite with fibre steering
Get PDFThis study investigates the bearing failure process of 3D printed pseudo-woven carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) composite joints, with a particular focus on the damage mechanisms influenced by steered fibres. A multiscale finite element model employing LaRC05 failure criteria is developed and validated against the experimental load–displacement curves and micro-computed microtomography (CT) images of four distinct cases. The model clearly demonstrates the critical importance of maintaining fibre continuity around the bolt hole, as this significantly influences the ability to reduce stress concentrations caused by the direct bearing loads from the bolt. Moreover, the model reveals that fibre steering can substantially improve the composite joint’s performance. This enhancement is achieved by adjusting the level of shear-induced damage propagation in individual filaments. The results demonstrate the potential and capability of the model to capture individual filament behaviour for the failure analysis of 3D printed composites, achieving good correlations with experimental measurements and observations, in terms of failure modes and load-bearing capacities
Generalized Additive Models
Get PDFGeneralized additive models are generalized linear models in which the linear predictor includes a sum of smooth functions of covariates, where the shape of the functions is to be estimated. They have also been generalized beyond the original generalized linear model setting to distributions outside the exponential family and to situations in which multiple parameters of the response distribution may depend on sums of smooth functions of covariates. The widely used computational and inferential framework in which the smooth terms are represented as latent Gaussian processes, splines, or Gaussian random effects is reviewed, paying particular attention to the case in which computational and theoretical tractability is obtained by prior rank reduction of the model terms. An empirical Bayes approach is taken, and its relatively good frequentist performance discussed, along with some more overtly frequentist approaches to model selection. Estimation of the degree of smoothness of component functions via cross validation or marginal likelihood is covered, alongside the computational strategies required in practice, including when data and models are reasonably large. It is briefly shown how the framework extends easily to location-scale modeling, and, with more effort, to techniques such as quantile regression. Also covered are the main classes of smooths of multiple covariates that may be included in models: isotropic splines and tensor product smooth interaction terms.</p
Integration of ZnO nanowires with coupled resonators for ammonia gas detection
Get PDFThis study presents a novel ammonia sensor using hydro-thermally synthesized ZnO nanowires integrated with a mode-localized coupled resonator. The ZnO nanowires, with their high sur-face area, act as an efficient gas adsorption layer. The resonator’s driving mechanism was optimized using finite element method (FEM) simulations, revealing that a coupled resonator pair exhibited 45.52 times higher sensitivity than a single resonator. Out-of-phase modes showed greater sensitivity than in-phase modes. Resonators R1 and R2 driven together had the lowest sensitivity, while Resonator 1, with a zinc oxide layer and driven individually, demonstrated the highest sensitivity. Additionally, the sensitivity of the coupled resonator in-creased with the decrease in DC bias voltage. Comprehensive mate-rials characterization of the ZnO nanowires was conducted using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) to confirm their structural and chemical properties. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) results showed that after ammonia adsorption, zinc oxide nanowires exhibited additional absorption bands at approximately 1430 cm−1, 1633 cm−1, and within the broad range of 3100 to 3550 cm−1. The sensor’s gas-sensing performance was evaluated with varying ammonia concentrations, achieving a very high sensitivity of 0.0026 ppm−1 in the 25–100 ppm range at room temperature. This design highlights the potential of integrating ZnO nanowires with modal-coupled resonators for highly sensitive, miniaturized, low-cost sensors for environmental monitoring and safety applications
Molecular mechanism targeting condensin for chromosome condensation
No full textGenomes are organised into DNA loops by the Structural Maintenance of Chromosomes (SMC) proteins. SMCs establish functional chromosomal sub-domains for DNA repair, gene expression and chromosome segregation, but how SMC activity is specifically targeted is unclear. Here, we define the molecular mechanism targeting the condensin SMC complex to specific chromosomal regions in budding yeast. A conserved pocket on the condensin HAWK subunit Ycg1 binds to chromosomal receptors carrying a related motif, CR1. In early mitosis, CR1 motifs in receptors Sgo1 and Lrs4 recruit condensin to pericentromeres and rDNA, to facilitate sister kinetochore biorientation and rDNA condensation, respectively. We additionally find that chromosome arm condensation begins as sister kinetochores come under tension, in a manner dependent on the Ycg1 pocket. We propose that multiple CR1- containing proteins recruit condensin to chromosomes and identify several additional candidates based on their sequence. Overall, we uncover the molecular mechanism that targets condensin to functionalise chromosomal domains to achieve accurate chromosome segregation during mitosis
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