28 research outputs found
Children’s Perceptions of Dental Experiences and Ways to Improve Them
No full textChildren’s Perceptions of Dental Experiences and Ways to Improve ThemMaster of Science, 2023
Melika Modabber
Paediatric Dentistry (Faculty of Dentistry), Univeristy of Toronto
AbstractA qualitative study was conducted to explore children’s perceptions of their dental experiences and the acceptability of the CARD™ (C-Comfort, A-Ask, R-Relax, D-Distract) system, as adapted for the dental setting. Semi-structured virtual interviews were conducted from a purposive sample receiving dental care at the Paediatric Dental Clinic in University of Toronto. Deductive data analysis was performed using a Person-Centered Care framework (PCC). Twelve children (7 males) aged 8-12 years participated. Four themes were identified: (1) establishing a therapeutic relationship, (2) shared power and responsibility, (3) getting to know the person, and (4) empowering the person. Children emphasized the importance of clinic staff characteristics and communication skills. They expressed a desire to have an active role in their care decisions and reflected on their need for pre-operative education and parental presence. Children also felt that the modified CARD™ system was an effective tool to facilitate self-advocacy and optimize their dental experience.M.Sc
Feron izabellae Melika, Nicholls & Stone 2023, sp. nov.
No full text<i>Feron izabellae</i> Melika, Nicholls & Stone, sp. nov. <p>Figs 216–227</p> <p>urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 809B97CC-BE9E-4B10-A15E-9A83E0D6B97F</p> <p> <b>Type material.</b> HOLOTYPE: Asexual female “ USA, CA, Friday Ridge Road, CA, <i>Q. garryana</i>, CA1600 ”, coll. 20.09.2014, leg. J. DeMartini. PARATYPES (4 asexual females) “ USA, CA, Lake Berry Essa Napa County, <i>Q. berberidifolia</i>, CA1752, coll. 27.10.2016, leg. J.DeMartini ”, “ USA, CA, Inspiration Point, Covelo, <i>Q. durata</i>, CA1792, coll. 11.10.2011, leg. J.DeMartini ”; “ USA, CA, <i>Q. durata</i>, CA1820, leg. J.DeMartini ”; USA, CA, Middletown, Lake County, CA2386, <i>Q. durata</i>, coll. 29.10.2014, leg. J.DeMartini ”. The holotype and one paratype female are deposited at the USNM, 2 female paratypes at the PHDNRL, 1 female paratype at the UB.</p> <p> <b>Etymology.</b> Named in memory of the author G. Melika’s mother, Izabella, and in honour of G. Melika’s granddaughter who carries on the Izabella name.</p> <p> <b>Diagnosis.</b> The asexual form of this species belongs to the <i>Feron</i> group in which the pronotum is laterally smooth to coriaceous, without carinae, and the mesoscutum is alutaceous to coriaceous, rugose-reticulate, or reticulate, sometimes with smooth areas and piliferous points, glabrous or pubescent; as in <i>F. atrimentum</i> (asex), <i>F. crystallinum</i> (asex), <i>F. pattersonae</i> (asex), and <i>F. sulfureum</i> (asex). It differs from those species in the following combination of characters: the frons is bulging in frontal view; ocelli are not elevated above the head, the transfacial distance is 1.4× as long as the height of eye, the eyes slightly convergent ventrally, and the metapleural sulcus reaching the mesopleuron on the upper 2/3 of its height. The most similar species is <i>F. albicomus</i> (asex) from which <i>F. izabellae</i> differs in having the head and mesosoma amber, the median mesoscutal line absent, mesoscutellar foveae divided by an elevated coriaceous triangle, and ventral spine of hypopygium 8.0× as long as broad in ventral view.</p> <p> <b>Description.</b> Asexual female (Figs 216–226). Head, antenna, mouthparts, mesosoma, legs, metasoma uniformly light brown to yellowish; head posteriorly slightly darker.</p> <p>Head alutaceous-reticulate, with denser setae on lower face, slightly higher than broad and as broad as mesosoma in frontal view; 1.9× as broad as long in dorsal view. Gena alutaceous-reticulate, slightly broadened behind eye in frontal view; gena in lateral view slightly narrower than transverse diameter of eye. Malar space delicately coriaceous, with striae radiating from clypeus and not reaching eye, malar sulcus absent; eye 2.7× as high as length of malar space. Inner margins of eyes slightly converging ventrally. POL 1.5× as long as OOL, OOL 2.5× as long as diameter of lateral ocellus and 1.3x as long as LOL, all ocelli ovate, of same size. Antennal toruli located above mid-height of eyes. Transfacial distance 1.6× as long as height of eye; frons nearly as high as height of lower face, diameter of antennal torulus 2.1× as long as distance between them, distance between torulus and eye equal to diameter of torulus; lower face alutaceous, with setae; slightly elevated median area and area between toruli delicately coriaceous, with a few setae. Clypeus impressed, flat, 2.0× as broad as high, smooth, with a few long setae along ventral edge; ventrally rounded, not emarginate and without median incision; anterior tentorial pit rounded, distinct, small; epistomal sulcus distinct, clypeo-pleurostomal line well impressed. Frons, interocellar area, vertex and occiput uniformly alutaceous-reticulate, without striae and setae; postocciput and postgena alutaceous, with dense white setae; posterior tentorial pit large, elongated, area below impressed; occipital foramen shorter than height of postgenal bridge; hypostomal carina emarginate, continuing into postgenal sulci which diverge strongly toward occipital foramen, postgenal bridge anteriorly slightly broader than occipital foramen. Antenna longer than head+mesosoma, with 12 flagellomeres, pedicel longer than broad; F1 1.3× as long as F2 and more than 1.9× as long as pedicel; F2 longer than F3, F4 slightly longer than F5, F6=F7=F8, subsequent flagellomeres nearly equal in length; F12=F11, placodeal sensilla on F6–F12.</p> <p>Mesosoma slightly longer than high, without setae. Pronotum glabrous, with delicate short inconspicuous parallel striae along posterior edge, with piliferous points; propleuron smooth, with sparse short setae. Mesoscutum uniformly alutaceous-reticulate, slightly longer than broad (greatest width measured across mesoscutum level with base of tegulae). Notaulus complete, distinctly impressed along entire length; posteriorly converging; at posterior end the distance between notauli shorter than distance between notaulus and side of mesoscutum; anterior parallel line, parapsidal and median mesoscutal line absent; parascutal carina narrow, reaching notaulus. Mesoscutellum slightly longer than broad, with subparallel sides; central part of mesoscutellum disk coriaceous, along sides and posteriorly with strong rugae, overhanging metanotum, with sparse setae. Mesoscutellar foveae distinct, slightly impressed smooth, glabrous, with elevated central carina. Mesopleuron smooth, alutaceous only in most anterodorsal part; speculum smooth, glabrous; mesopleural triangle smooth, with white setae; dorsal and lateral axillar areas smooth, with white setae; axillula with delicate parallel longitudinal striae; subaxillular bar smooth, glabrous, with subparallel sides, posteriorly as high as height of metanotal trough; metapleural sulcus reaching mesopleuron slightly above half of its height; upper part of sulcus indistinct; lower part of sulcus delimiting smooth area with dense long white setae. Metascutellum smooth, glabrous, as high as height of smooth, glabrous ventral impressed area; metanotal trough smooth, glabrous, with white setae; central propodeal area lyre-shaped, smooth, glabrous, without rugae; lateral propodeal carinae distinct, bent outwards in posterior 1/3 of its height; lateral propodeal area smooth, with long dense white setae. Nucha with longitudinal sulci dorsally and laterally. Tarsal claws with strong basal lobe.</p> <p>Fore wing longer than body, hyaline, with short cilia on margin, veins indistinct, yellowish to pale brown, radial cell open, 4.5× as long as broad; Rs and R1 nearly reaching wing margin; areolet small, triangular, indistinct. Rs+M indistinct, not reaching basalis, its projection reaching basalis in upper half.</p> <p>Metasoma longer than head+mesosoma, slightly longer than high in lateral view; 2nd metasomal tergum extending to 1/3 length of metasoma in dorsal view, with numerous white setae anterolaterally, without micropunctures; all subsequent terga without micropunctures. Hypopygium without micropunctures, prominent part of ventral spine of hypopygium 5.3× as long as broad in ventral view, with a few long white setae ventrally.</p> <p>Body length 1.5–1.8 mm (n = 5).</p> <p> <b>Gall</b> (Fig. 227). A small (up to 5mm diameter) monolocular spangle gall on the underside of leaves. Initially a disc-shaped gall lying flat against the leaf surface, pink in middle and around the edge with cream circle in between. When galls mature the opposite sides of the disc fold up and touch. Informally called the pink bowtie gall wasp in Russo (2006, 2021).</p> <p> <b>Biology.</b> Only the asexual generation is known which induces spangle leaf galls on <i>Q</i>. <i>berberidifolia</i>, <i>Q. douglasii</i>, <i>Q. dumosa</i> (= <i>Q. durata</i>), <i>Q. garryana</i> (all section <i>Quercus</i>, subsection <i>Dumosae</i>). Galls mature in September–October. Adults emerge soon afterwards.</p> <p> <b>Distribution.</b> USA: CA (authors).</p>Published as part of <i>Cuesta-Porta, Victor, Melika, George, Nicholls, James A., Stone, Graham N. & Pujade-Villar, Juli, 2023, Re-establishment of the Nearctic oak cynipid gall wasp genus Feron Kinsey, 1937 (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipini), including the description of six new species, pp. 1-174 in Zootaxa 5366 (1)</i> on pages 79-82, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5366.1.1, <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/10151426">http://zenodo.org/record/10151426</a>
Female power portrayals in advertising
No full textAlthough stereotypical female portrayals are still common in advertisements, in recent years it appears there has been a move toward portraying women in powerful positions in ads. This research investigates the recent trend in advertising that portrays women in positions of power and offers a typology of female power dimensions in ads. Building on previous literature on social power, feminine power, and current trends in advertising, a typology for female power is proposed and verified using two studies. In the first study, data from a pile sort of current print ads is collected and analyzed by cluster analysis and multidimensional scaling. In the second study, semi-structured interviews are employed to verify the proposed typology. Results verified that receivers perceive female power in advertisements in the following power dimensions: sexual power, expert power, family power, and empowerment (including athletic power).This article is published as Melika Kordrostami & Russell N. Laczniak (2021) Female power portrayals in advertising, International Journal of Advertising, DOI: 10.1080/02650487.2021.1998878. Posted with permission
Data for: Municipal Solid Waste Management with Cost Minimization and Emission Control Objectives: A Case Study of Ankara
No full textThis data corresponds to the input parameters used in the paper "Municipal Solid Waste Management with Cost Minimization and Emission Control Objectives: A Case Study of Ankara". Some of these parameters are taken from the literature, some are taken from online sources, some are generated using a GIS tool, and some are the actual values of the municipal solid waste management system in practice in Ankara. The sources of the data are provided in detail in the paper. You can contact the first author regarding detailed results of the case study
Spatial and Temporal Analysis of Road Deformation based on Remote Sensing and Subsurface Exploration
No full textIn the western part of the Netherlands, the soil contains mainly sand, peat, and clay which are known as soft soil layers. The buildings and infrastructures, such as roads, constructed on these soil layers are usually associated with substantial construction measures during the execution of the project and might suffer from damages induced by the post-construction deformations. In practice, one of the primary stages of road construction involves geotechnical in-situ investigations for determining the soil properties based on which the settlement is predicted through empirical models. There are several techniques for monitoring the post-construction deformation on roads, among which the most time and cost-efficient technique is advanced Differential InSAR (D-InSAR). Since no research has been dedicated to establishing a direct link between the geotechnical in situ measurements and deformation measurements, in this research, the main focus is to develop a fully data-driven methodology to model road deformation based on loading/unloading conditions and soil properties. The study area is the newly constructed part of the A4 highway (Delft-Schiedam) in the Netherlands.The proposed methodology in this research consists of three steps. In the first step of the methodology, the measurements that represent soil properties, loading/unloading and deformation measurements should be determined and gathered. Cone Penetration Testing (CPT) measurements and boreholes are two freely available data sets that represent soil properties. Another important soil property is the variations in soil water content can be characterized by temperature and precipitation. The latest stage of loading/unloading history can be determined by comparing the elevation of the study area before and after the construction. Deformation time series produced by D-InSAR techniques are suitable measurements for investigating spatiotemporal deformations on roads. After determining pre-processing steps for each of the raw data sets, the relevant parameters from each data source are extracted. In the next step, the correlations and similarities between the soil properties, loading/unloading condition, and deformation are investigated. The last step deals with extracting suitable features from CPT profiles in order to use machine learning to model the relationship between soil properties, loading/unloading conditions, and deformation. To this end, the CPT profiles are segmented, then qualitative (soil types) or quantitative descriptors of the segments are used as features. To determine the soil classes, Support Vector Machines (SVM) classifier is used. The relationship between soil properties, loading/unloading and the linear rate of deformation is modeled through two tree-based algorithms, i.e. Random Forests and Gradient tree-boosting. The Pearson correlation and the coefficient of determination between soil properties, loading/unloading and the linear rate of deformation are 0.6 and 0.4, respectively. The correlation of deformation time series and temperature and precipitation is quite low and no consistent pattern could be found between the time delays. The soil classification by SVM classifier is more accurate compared to empirical charts. For the deformation modeling, the best performance metrics are obtained through the Gradient Boosting algorithm with quantitative descriptors as features, (Mean Absolute Error (MAE) is 1.1 mm/year, Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) is 1.5 mm/year and the coefficient of determination is 0.5). In conclusion, the resulting models with different algorithms and different sets of features are of moderate accuracy. The uncertainty of the models is due to three main reasons: 1. The complexity of the study area in terms of construction history 2. Lack of other necessary data 3. The uncertainties caused by the proposed methodology.Geomatic
Children’s Perceptions of Dental Experiences and Ways to Improve Them
No full textThis qualitative study explored children’s perceptions of their dental experiences and their acceptability of the CARD™ (Comfort, Ask, Relax, Distract) system, adapted for the dental setting as a means to mitigate dental fear and anxiety (DFA). A purposive sample of 12 participants (7 males) aged 8-12 years receiving dental care at the Paediatric Dental Clinic, University of Toronto, was recruited. Virtual one-on-one interviews were augmented with visual aids. Participants were oriented to and asked about their perceptions of various dental procedures. Data were deductively analyzed, according to the Person-Centered Care framework (PCC). Four themes were identified: establishing a therapeutic relationship, shared power and responsibility, getting to know the person and empowering the person. Children emphasized the importance of clinic staff attributes and communication skills. They expressed a desire to engage more actively in their own care and highlighted the positive influence of pre-operative education and preparation. Participants found the CARD™ system to facilitate opportunities for self-advocacy in their dental care
Pulsatile Flows: Experimental Investigation of fully turbulent pulsatile pipe flows
No full textTurbulence is a commonly encountered state of fluid dynamics. Unsteady turbulent flows in pipes are present in many engineering applications and also in biological flows. However, the various processes active in such flows are not well understood. The present work employs stereo-PIV to investigate the effects of a sinusoidal pressure gradient on the various turbulence parameters, including the terms of the turbulent kinetic energy budget equation. The bulk flow rate was oscillated with a frequency of 0.5 Hz with a mean Re 26,000 and an amplitude of modulation, 0.23 times the mean value. It is seen that there is a delay in the response of turbulence to the oscillations of the bulk flow and the delay increases with increasing distance from the wall. The axial and the in-plane turbulence parameters show a difference in the delay of their responses. This delay extends into the small scales responsible for the dissipation of turbulent kinetic energy. Changes are also observed in azimuthal length scales when the flow oscillates.The effects of oscillation on the streaks of low momentum are also discussed and the structural organization in unsteady pipe flows are found to be different from that in steady pipe flow
Urban Horizon: A Technical Report on the Development of a Web Application for Sky View Factor Calculation
No full textIn this report, we briefly summarize the methodology behind the development of a web application for the municipality of the Hague. This application was developed by a group of students during the Synthesis Project (academic period 2017-2018) of the MSc Geomatics programme of TU Delft University, the Netherlands. The main purpose of this application is the estimation of Sky View Factor (SVF), a necessary element for modern urban planning. To calculate SVF, the methodology used is based on 3D point clouds in order to incorporate the urban environment in its entirety (including vegetation). Development of the webpage, along with use for different location across the Hague, have shown that this approach provides a fast and at the same time, quite accurate calculation for SVF.Synthesis Project 2018Geomatic
Reconciling a City with its Natural Identity (The Role of Water Systems in Mashhad City Sustainable Planning)
No full textAbstractToday, the livability of many urban environments is diminishing as a result of negligence towards natural systems. In Mashhad City, decades of unplanned development have led to crippling natural systems, deteriorated quality of life and environmental alienation. To ensure sustainability, it is therefore essential to reconcile Mashhad with its natural context. By extracting forgotten cultural identity and underlying infrastructure, the research results in a regeneration plan to reclaim streams, rehabilitate urban spaces and reintroduce sustainability into urban realm. Finally a sustainable green network is presented as a basis to integrate and orient the currently dispersed urban design and planning endeavours
Binti: Daughter of Arab America
No full textIn a fifth grade class a television sits propped on a metal stand. On the screen, images of smoke billow from two tall towers, the clip of planes formerly crashing into them repeat over and over again. A young child sits in the back row of the room. She draws on her desk. War on Terror reads the banner at the bottom of the screen; words that do not describe the culture to which she belongs. She invites friends to her home for djej emshermel, stewed chicken with lemon and olives, for kefta made of ground lamb and tomato sauce, foods of her father\u27s homeland. Foods of a place she longs to know. Her father calls her binti, daughter, my girl. Binti: Daughter of Arab America explores personal stories of a multicultural household in which a North African Arab man marries a white American woman and together they raise two children in a post-9/11 world. In a hand designed and printed book the author illustrates her Arab Muslim America through storytelling, poetry, and prose
