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Background The long-term outcomes of COVID-19 hospitalisation in individuals with pre-existing airway diseases are unknown. Methods Adult participants hospitalised for confirmed or clinically suspected COVID-19 and discharged between 5 March 2020 and 31 March 2021 were recruited to the Post-hospitalisation COVID-19 (PHOSP-COVID) study. Participants attended research visits at 5 months and 1 year post discharge. Clinical characteristics, perceived recovery, burden of symptoms and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of individuals with pre-existing airway disease (i.e., asthma, COPD or bronchiectasis) were compared to the non-airways group. Results A total of 615 out of 2697 (22.8%) participants had a history of pre-existing airway diseases (72.0% diagnosed with asthma, 22.9% COPD and 5.1% bronchiectasis). At 1 year, the airways group participants were less likely to feel fully recovered (20.4% versus 33.2%, p

Substorms are a commonly occurring but insufficiently understood form of dynamics in the coupled magnetosphere–ionosphere system, associated with space weather disturbances and auroras. We have used principal component analysis (PCA) to characterize the spatiotemporal development of ionospheric equivalent currents as observed by the International Monitor for Auroral Geomagnetic Effects (IMAGE) magnetometers during 28 substorm onsets identified by Frey et al. (2004). Auroral observations were provided by all-sky cameras. We found that the equivalent currents can typically be described by three components: a channel of poleward equivalent current (wedgelet), a westward electrojet (WEJ) associated with an auroral arc, and a vortex. The WEJ and vortex are located at the equatorward end of the channel, which has been associated with bursty bulk flows (BBFs) by previous studies. Depending on its polarity, the vortex either indents the WEJ and arc equatorward or bulges the WEJ poleward while winding the arc into an auroral spiral. In addition, there may be a background current system associated with the large-scale convection. The dynamics of the WEJ, vortex, and channel can describe up to 95 % of the variance of the time derivative of the equivalent currents during the examined 20 min interval. Rapid geomagnetic variations at the substorm onset location, which can drive geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) in technological conductor networks, are mainly associated with the oscillations of the WEJ, which may be driven by oscillations of the transition region between dipolar and tail-like field lines in the magnetotail due to the BBF impact. The results contribute to the understanding of substorm physics and to the understanding of processes that drive intense GICs.

Abstract Enabling elliptically polarized high-order harmonics overcomes a historical limitation in the generation of this highly nonlinear process in atomic, molecular and optical physics with applications in other branches. Here, we shed new light on a controversy between experimental observations and theoretical predictions on the possibility to generate harmonics with large ellipticity using two bichromatic laser pulses which are linearly polarized in orthogonal directions. Results of numerical calculations confirm the previous experimental data that in short laser pulses even harmonics with large ellipticity can be obtained for the interaction of such cross-polarized laser pulses with atoms initially in a s- or p-state, while odd harmonics have low ellipticity. The amount of the ellipticity can be controlled via the relative carrier-envelope phase of the pulses, their intensity ratio and the duration of the pulses.

IntroductionThis study aims to (1) determine the average and most demanding passage (MDP) load of national-level female soccer matches and (2) evaluate the relationship between average and MDP load during small-sided games (SSGs), large-sided games (LSGs), and matches.MethodsA total of 37 national-level female soccer players from a single club senior team and the U18 team participated. The average and 1-, 3-, and 5-min MDP external (total, high-speed, and very-high-speed running distances, acceleration and deceleration distances, average metabolic power, and high-metabolic load distance) and internal loads (average heart rate, rate of perceived exertion) of the 29 league matches, ten 4 vs. 4 + goalkeepers SSGs, and six 8 vs. 8 + goalkeepers LSGs were analyzed by the Polar Team Pro player tracking system.ResultsIn matches, the external load variables during 1-, 3-, and 5-min MDPs were 167%–1,165%, 135%–504%, and 126%–359%, of match average values, respectively. In LSGs, all external load variables reached higher average values compared with those during matches, except for the very-high-speed running distance; however, no variable reached higher values of 1-min MDP compared with those during the matches. In SSGs, the average acceleration and deceleration distances were higher compared with those during the matches.DiscussionThe findings from the present study suggest that LSGs and SSGs can be used to overload the average values of the selected external load variables compared with those during the matches; however, other training options must be explored to overload 1-min match MDPs.

ABSTRACT: Necrotic enteritis (NE) is a widespread infectious disease caused by Clostridium perfringens that inflicts major economic losses on the global poultry industry. Due to regulations on antibiotic use in poultry production, there is an urgent need for alternative strategies to mitigate the negative effects of NE. This paper presents a passive immunization technology that utilizes hyperimmune egg yolk immunoglobulin Y (IgY) specific to the major immunodominant antigens of C. perfringens. Egg yolk IgYs were generated by immunizing hens with 4 different recombinant C. perfringens antigens, and their protective effects against NE were evaluated in commercial broilers. Six different spray-dried egg powders were produced using recombinant C. perfringens antigens: α-toxin, NE B-like toxin (NetB; EB), elongation factor-Tu (ET), pyruvate:ferredoxin oxidoreductase, a mixture of 4 antigens (EM-1), and a nonimmunized control (EC). The challenged groups were either provided with different egg powders at a 1% level or no egg powders (EN). The NE challenge model based on Eimeria maxima and C. perfringens dual infection was used. In Experiments 1 and 2, the EB and ET groups exhibited increased body weight gain (BWG; P < 0.01), decreased NE lesion scores (P < 0.001), and reduced serum NetB levels (P < 0.01) compared to the EN and EC groups. IgY against NetB significantly reduced Leghorn male hepatocellular cytotoxicity in an in vitro test (P < 0.01). In Experiment 3, the protective effect of the IgYs mixture (EM-2) against C. perfringens antigens (NetB and EFTu) and Eimeria antigens (elongation factor-1-alpha: EF1α and Eimeria profilin: 3-1E) was tested. The EM-2 group showed similar body weight, BWG, and feed intake from d 7 to 22 compared to the NC group (P < 0.05). On d 20, the EM-2 group showed comparable intestinal permeability, NE lesion scores, and jejunal NetB and collagen adhesion protein levels to the NC group (P < 0.05). In conclusion, dietary mixture containing antibodies to NetB and EFTu provides protection against experimental NE in chickens through passive immunization.

Summary: Background: The scale of COVID-19 and its well documented long-term sequelae support a need to understand long-term outcomes including frailty. Methods: This prospective cohort study recruited adults who had survived hospitalisation with clinically diagnosed COVID-19 across 35 sites in the UK (PHOSP-COVID). The burden of frailty was objectively measured using Fried's Frailty Phenotype (FFP). The primary outcome was the prevalence of each FFP group—robust (no FFP criteria), pre-frail (one or two FFP criteria) and frail (three or more FFP criteria)—at 5 months and 1 year after discharge from hospital. For inclusion in the primary analysis, participants required complete outcome data for three of the five FFP criteria. Longitudinal changes across frailty domains are reported at 5 months and 1 year post-hospitalisation, along with risk factors for frailty status. Patient-perceived recovery and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) were retrospectively rated for pre-COVID-19 and prospectively rated at the 5 month and 1 year visits. This study is registered with ISRCTN, number ISRCTN10980107. Findings: Between March 5, 2020, and March 31, 2021, 2419 participants were enrolled with FFP data. Mean age was 57.9 (SD 12.6) years, 933 (38.6%) were female, and 429 (17.7%) had received invasive mechanical ventilation. 1785 had measures at both timepoints, of which 240 (13.4%), 1138 (63.8%) and 407 (22.8%) were frail, pre-frail and robust, respectively, at 5 months compared with 123 (6.9%), 1046 (58.6%) and 616 (34.5%) at 1 year. Factors associated with pre-frailty or frailty were invasive mechanical ventilation, older age, female sex, and greater social deprivation. Frail participants had a larger reduction in HRQoL compared with before their COVID-19 illness and were less likely to describe themselves as recovered. Interpretation: Physical frailty and pre-frailty are common following hospitalisation with COVID-19. Improvement in frailty was seen between 5 and 12 months although two-thirds of the population remained pre-frail or frail. This suggests comprehensive assessment and interventions targeting pre-frailty and frailty beyond the initial illness are required. Funding: UK Research and Innovation and National Institute for Health Research.

The world's large rivers are facing reduced sediment loads due to anthropogenic activities such as hydropower development and sediment extraction. Globally, estimates of sand extraction from large river systems are lacking, in part due to the pervasive and distributed nature of extraction processes. For the Mekong River, the widely assumed estimate of basin-wide sand extraction is 50 Mt per year. This figure is based on 2013 estimates and is likely to be outdated. Here, we demonstrate the ability of high-resolution satellite imagery to map, monitor, and estimate volumes of sand extraction on the Lower Mekong River in Cambodia. We use monthly composite images from PlanetScope imagery (5 m resolution) to estimate sand extraction volumes over the period 2016–2020 through tracking sand barges. We show that rates of extraction have increased on a yearly basis from 24 Mt (17 to 32 Mt) in 2016 to 59 Mt (41 to 75 Mt) in 2020 at a rate of ∼8 Mt yr−1 (6 to 10 Mt yr−1), where values in parentheses relate to lower and upper error bounds, respectively. Our revised estimates for 2020 (59 Mt) are nearly 2 times greater than previous best estimates for sand extraction for Cambodia (32 Mt) and greater than current best estimates for the entire Mekong Basin (50 Mt). We show that over the 5-year period, only 2 months have seen positive (supply exceeds extraction) sand budgets under mean scenarios (5 months under the scenarios with the greatest natural sand supply). We demonstrate that this net negative sand budget is driving major reach-wide bed incision with a median rate of −0.26 m a−1 over the period 2013 to 2019. The use of satellite imagery to monitor sand mining activities provides a low-cost means to generate up-to-date, robust estimates of sand extraction in the world's large rivers that are needed to underpin sustainable management plans of the global sand commons.

This paper reports endurance tests on engineering model high-temperature resistojets manufactured using flight-representative materials. High-temperature resistojets improve the economics of small satellites and are an attractive technology for auxiliary propulsion on all-electric geosynchronous satellites. Additive manufacturing was used to economically produce the geometrically complex heating element. Endurance tests were performed on heaters and full thruster assemblies. Eight engineering model thrusters were tested, with five manufactured from Inconel 625, and three having a tantalum heater and nozzle operating at higher temperatures. The eight units were operated in vacuum to determine their endurance. The Inconel thrusters were operated at 30 W electrical power, while the tantalum thrusters were operated at 60 W, representative of intended operating conditions. Measurements of temperature and electrical resistance throughout the tests were used to infer the condition of the thrusters. Following a retrofit of two of the Inconel 625 thrusters with a modified component to mechanically support the heater, they completed 6000 heating cycles without failure. The tantalum thrusters, equipped from the outset with the modified component, completed 10000 heating cycles. Both variants exceeded the minimum cycle requirement of 4000. This work demonstrates the operational feasibility of additive-manufactured, high-temperature resistojets.

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are associated with disparate health and educational outcomes. The objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to determine the relationship between ACEs and academic performance among U.S. children and adolescents. A total of 20 articles were included for a descriptive synthesis and 11 articles were included in the quantitative synthesis. Among the 11 studies, we found a weak, negative correlation between ACEs and academic performance. Further research is needed to explore all the potential adverse exposures that could impact academic outcomes and factors that might mediate the effects of ACEs on academic performance.

Abstract Background Attainment gaps for students with disabilities have been noted in pre-registration physiotherapy courses in the UK. Previous research suggests disclosure, lack of staff knowledge and poor communication between University and placement sites may be relevant, but these are limited to small case studies with students with visual or physical disabilities. The purpose of this study was to explore disabled physiotherapy students’ experiences of their education in order to elucidate factors that may influence success. Methods Qualitative study drawing on phenomenological traditions. Four focus groups including 15 students with disabilities were conducted. Transcripts were analysed thematically. Procedures for transparency and rigour such as member checking and peer debriefing were implemented. Results Three major themes were derived from data. “It was quite a relief” explores the personal and social implications of diagnosis. “They’re not natural” focuses on academic assessment and the specifics of adjustments made and not made within that context. “My dyslexia doesn’t switch off” explores the inaccessibility of the learning environment and dissects the contrast between the 24-h nature of having a specific learning condition and the somewhat piecemeal nature of adjustments during their education. Conclusions This study indicates that having a specific learning disability or anxiety creates a number of hurdles to success in physiotherapy education. Most were within the University setting and were perceived to result from staff ignorance or piecemeal approaches to inclusion. A lack of consistency alongside facilitated dialogue and acknowledgement of enhancements results in frustration, ambiguity towards disclosure and reinforcement of a deficit model. Such an approach belies the intention of the profession and the NHS and does not maximise the potential of widening participation.

Siblings of those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have increased likelihood of ASD or related subclinical traits. Here, studying 253 ASD families, D’Abate et al. test the predictive value of genomic copy number variation involving ASD-associated loci, with confirmation in a second cohort.

Abstract The presence of mélange at the subduction interface influences numerous geochemical and geophysical processes. However, the relationship between the timescales of mélange development, deformation, and resultant mass transport is poorly understood. Here, we use Sm‐Nd garnet geochronology to elucidate the timing of peak metamorphism for five garnet amphibolite tectonic blocks from the amphibolite‐facies mélange zone of the Catalina Schist (Santa Catalina Island, CA). Ages range from 108 to 116 Ma and do not appear to correlate with the peak metamorphic temperature recorded by each block (between 640 and 740°C). The lack of correlation between age and peak temperature favors the tectonic mixing model previously proposed for the unit. These ages overlap with previous estimates of 111–114 Ma for peak metamorphism of the mélange zone but are predominately younger than an estimate for the structurally lower coherent amphibolite unit of ca. 115 Ma. White mica 40Ar/39Ar ages from previous studies suggest that the units cooled asynchronously to 400–425°C by 106 to 97 Ma at rates between 18 and 43°C/Ma. Collectively, these results demonstrate that mélange formation occurred over at least 8 Myr from 116 to 108 Ma and was followed by cooling. The structural and chronologic relationship between the mélange zone and underlying lower‐grade units indicates that the cooling occurred in conjunction with an underplating event between 109 and 108 Ma. The age discrepancy between the mélange zone and the underlying coherent amphibolite unit may indicate that the two units were juxtaposed either during or after the underplating event.

Abstract Aims Mobile Airways Sentinel NetworK (MASK) belongs to the Fondation Partenariale MACVIA-LR of Montpellier, France and aims to provide an active and healthy life to rhinitis sufferers and to those with asthma multimorbidity across the life cycle, whatever their gender or socio-economic status, in order to reduce health and social inequities incurred by the disease and to improve the digital transformation of health and care. The ultimate goal is to change the management strategy in chronic diseases. Methods MASK implements ICT technologies for individualized and predictive medicine to develop novel care pathways by a multi-disciplinary group centred around the patients. Stakeholders Include patients, health care professionals (pharmacists and physicians), authorities, patient’s associations, private and public sectors. Results MASK is deployed in 23 countries and 17 languages. 26,000 users have registered. EU grants (2018) MASK is participating in EU projects (POLLAR: impact of air POLLution in Asthma and Rhinitis, EIT Health, DigitalHealthEurope, Euriphi and Vigour). Lessons learnt (i) Adherence to treatment is the major problem of allergic disease, (ii) Self-management strategies should be considerably expanded (behavioural), (iii) Change management is essential in allergic diseases, (iv) Education strategies should be reconsidered using a patient-centred approach and (v) Lessons learnt for allergic diseases can be expanded to chronic diseases.

Abstract Background Glycolysis is altered in various kidney diseases, but little is known about glycolysis in pre-eclampsia, a multi-system disorder with major pathological effects on the kidney. Urinary exosomes provide a non-invasive alternative for studying changes in kidney metabolism. This study aims to characterise the expression and phosphorylation of isozymes of the key glycolytic regulatory protein, 6-phosphofructokinase-2-kinase/fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase (PFK-2/FBPase-2), in urinary exosomes of subjects with pre-eclampsia (PE), compared to normotensive non-pregnant (NC) and normotensive pregnant (NP) controls. Methods A cross-sectional study of NC (n = 19), NP (n = 23) and PE (n = 29) subjects was performed. Exosomes were isolated from urine samples by differential ultracentrifugation, and then analyzed by Western blot and densitometry for expression of PFK-2/FBPase-2 isozymes (PFKFB2, PFKFB3 and PFKFB4) and phosphorylation of PFKFB2 at residues Ser483 and Ser466 and PFKFB3 at Ser461. Results PFKFB2 expression was increased 4.7-fold in PE compared to NP (p

Remarkable advances in three-dimensional (3D) cell cultures and organ-on-a-chip technologies have opened the door to recapitulate complex aspects of human physiology, pathology, and drug responses in vitro. The challenges regarding oxygen delivery, throughput, assay multiplexing, and experimental complexity are addressed to ensure that perfused 3D cell culture organ-on-a-chip models become a routine research tool adopted by academic and industrial stakeholders. To move the field forward, we present a throughput-scalable organ-on-a-chip insert system that requires a single tube to operate 48 statistically independent 3D cell culture organ models. Then, we introduce in-well perfusion to circumvent the loss of cell signaling and drug metabolites in otherwise one-way flow of perfusate. Further, to augment the relevancy of 3D cell culture models in vitro, we tackle the problem of oxygen transport by blood using, for the first time, a breathable hemoglobin analog to improve delivery of respiratory gases to cells, because in vivo approximately 98% of oxygen delivery to cells takes place via reversible binding to hemoglobin. Next, we show that improved oxygenation shifts cellular metabolic pathways toward oxidative phosphorylation that contributes to the maintenance of differentiated liver phenotypes in vitro. Lastly, we demonstrate that the activity of cytochrome P450 family of drug metabolizing enzymes is increased and prolonged in primary human hepatocytes cultured in 3D compared to two-dimensional (2D) cell culture gold standard with important ramifications for drug metabolism, drug-drug interactions and pharmacokinetic studies in vitro.

Evidence suggests that new vocabulary undergoes a period of strengthening and integration offline, particularly during sleep. Practical questions remain, however, including whether learning closer to bedtime can optimize consolidation, and whether such an effect varies with vocabulary ability. To examine this, children aged 8–12-years-old (n 59) were trained on written novel forms (e.g. BANARA) in either the morning (long delay) or the evening (short delay). Immediately after training and the next day, lexical competition (a marker of integration) was assessed via speeded semantic decisions to neighbouring existing words (e.g. BANANA); explicit memory was measured via recognition and recall tasks. There were no main effects indicating performance changes across sleep for any task, counter to studies of spoken word learning. However, a significant interaction was found, such that children with poorer vocabulary showed stronger lexical competition on the day after learning if there was a short delay between learning and sleep. Furthermore, while poorer vocabulary was associated with slower novel word recognition speed before and after sleep for the long delay group, this association was only present before sleep for the short delay group. Thus, weak vocabulary knowledge compromises novel word acquisition, and when there is a longer period of post-learning wake, this disadvantage remains after a consolidation opportunity. However, when sleep occurs soon after learning, consolidation processes can compensate for weaker encoding and permit lexical integration. These data provide preliminary suggestion that children with poorer vocabulary may benefit from learning new words closer to bedtime.

Pleural involvement is rare in sarcoidosis. The presence of a large symptomatic effusion in a patient with sarcoidosis should therefore prompt further investigation for an alternate aetiology. Here we present a case of confirmed pleuro-parenchymal sarcoidosis. We discuss the important differential diagnoses and review the current literature.

We theoretically investigate the ionization of neonlike atoms by an intense ultrashort circularly polarized laser pulse as a function of wavelength, spanning the regime from single-photon ionization to multiphoton and tunneling ionization. In order to determine the dependence of the ionization probabilities on the magnetic quantum number of the initial state, we perform ab initio numerical calculations of the corresponding time-dependent Schrödinger equation in the single-active-electron approximation. Specific emphasis of our analysis is given to the intermediate-wavelength regime of about 50 nm to 300 nm, in which the trend in the ionization probability of counterrotating electrons strongly differs from those for electrons in the other two initial magnetic sublevels. Theoretical analysis and numerical results indicate that the enhanced emission of counterrotating electrons occurs via photon absorption channels, which are only accessible for electrons rotating opposite to the rotation direction of the external electric field. Physical mechanisms behind the enhancement are identified as threshold effects, in which the emission into continuum states with low angular momentum quantum numbers is favored, and resonant enhanced ionization involving transitions via specific excited states in the atom. Numerical results showing the strong population in the relevant excited states, specifically those with low angular momentum quantum number, for the ionization of counterrotating electrons, and the overall similar trends in ionization and excitation for electrons with the other two initial magnetic quantum numbers support our interpretation. Overall, these effects lead to a change in the ionization ratio of co- to counterrotating electrons by two orders of magnitude from 10:1 to 1:10. This strong selectivity in the emission of electrons may lead to new opportunities in the generation of ultrashort spin-polarized electron pulses.

Abstract Background Irradiation is accepted as a phytosanitary treatment for horticultural products by many countries. Irradiation is a potential alternative to chemical fumigation for wood products; however, data supporting its efficacy against potential forestry pests is limited. Methods Irradiation efficacy data were obtained experimentally for Arhopalus ferus (Mulsant) and Hylurgus ligniperda (F.). The results are compared to existing ionising-radiation treatment data for various bark and wood-boring beetles species as found in the International Database on Insect Disinfestation and Sterilization (IDIDAS) and the published literature. Results Existing IDIDAS records suggest that the effective dose required to sterilise insects in the families Cerambycidae and Scolytinae is

Unlike much of the contiguous United States, new hydropower development continues in the Far North, where climate models project precipitation will likely increase over the next century. Regional complexities in the Arctic and sub-Arctic, such as glacier recession and permafrost thaw, however, introduce uncertainties about the hydrologic responses to climate change that impact water resource management. This work reviews hydroclimate changes in the Far North and their impacts on hydropower; it provides a template for application of current techniques for prediction and estimating uncertainty, and it describes best practices for integrating science into management and decision-making. The growing number of studies on hydrologic impacts suggests that information resulting from climate change science has matured enough that it can and should be integrated into hydropower scoping, design, and management. Continuing to ignore the best available information in lieu of status quo planning is likely to prove costly to society in the long term.

New vocabulary is consolidated offline, particularly during sleep; however, the parameters that influence consolidation remain unclear. Two experiments investigated effects of exposure level and delay between learning and sleep on adults' consolidation of novel competitors (e.g. BANARA) to existing words (e.g. BANANA). Participants made speeded semantic decisions (i.e. a forced choice: natural versus man-made) to the existing words, with the expectation that novel word learning would inhibit responses due to lexical competition. This competition was observed, particularly when assessed after sleep, for both standard and high exposure levels (10 and 20 exposures per word; Experiment 1). Using a lower exposure level (five exposures; Experiment 2), no post-sleep enhancement of competition was observed, despite evidence of consolidation when explicit knowledge of novel word memory was tested. Thus, when encoding is relatively weak, consolidation-related lexical integration is particularly compromised. There was no evidence that going to bed soon after learning is advantageous for overnight consolidation; however, there was some preliminary suggestion that longer gaps between learning and bed-onset were associated with better explicit memory of novel words one week later, but only at higher levels of exposure. These findings suggest that while lexical integration can occur overnight, weaker lexical traces may not be able to access overnight integration processes in the sleeping brain. Furthermore, the finding that longer-term explicit memory of stronger (but not weaker) traces benefit from periods of wake following learning deserves examination in future research.

Improvement of household food security in the Limpopo Basin has been elusive due to a combination of factors related to information and market constraints, but also farmers’ risk aversion induced by the high variability of rainfall during the growing season. The purpose of this study was to (1) characterize the rainfall and growing season patterns experienced by smallholder farmers, and (2) measure soil water dynamics in ripper and basin tillage systems being promoted in the semi-arid Limpopo Basin of southern Africa. The results show that the second half of the growing season receives more rainfall than the first half in the Limpopo Basin. However, rainfall is more variable during the January-March than the October-December period. Growing seasons start earlier and end later in the Mozambique part of the basin which is closer to the Indian Ocean. The Limpopo Basin is prone to two and three week dry spells with chances of 14 day spells higher (34–42%) than the 21 day spells (8–12%). The chances of 14 and 21 day dry spells increase substantially during the second half of the growing season. The 1980–1990 was one of the driest decades in the Limpopo Basin. Planting basin system conserved more soil water on sandy loam (18–24%) and clay loam (4–12%) soils than the conventional practice during flowering and grain filling maize growth stages. Ripper had 17–29% more soil water than conventional practice during flowering and grain filling maize growth stages. There is a high risk of dry spells and soil water deficits in smallholder cropping systems of the Limpopo basin. There is therefore scope in promoting rain and soil water management technologies, and good land husbandry in order to reduce risk of crop failure in the smallholder cropping systems.

Differentiated instruction is an inclusive approach that recognises and values diversities among students and adapts instruction to include every student. The concept of differentiation has been discussed over the past two decades. However, only limited attention has been paid to how pre-service teachers understand this phenomenon, while very little is known about how their beliefs about knowledge and knowing influence this understanding. This study investigated pre-service teachers' understanding of differentiated instruction through the lens of epistemic cognition. The findings suggest pre-service teachers demonstrate a predominantly narrow understanding of differentiation, interpreting it as an instructional strategy of adapting teaching to support struggling learners. In addition, the findings also reveal that diversity is generally interpreted as referring to 'others' and inclusion is considered as a strategy to bring the 'other' people into the mainstream.

Introduction.Based on extensive piloting work, we adapted the Incredible Years (IY) teacher-training programme to the Jamaican preschool setting and evaluated this adapted version through a cluster-randomised trial.Methods.Twenty-four community preschools in Kingston, Jamaica were randomly assigned to intervention (12 schools, 37 teachers) or control (12 schools, 36 teachers). The intervention involved training teachers in classroom management through eight full-day training workshops and four individual 1-h in-class support sessions. Outcome measurements included direct observation of teachers’ positive and negative behaviours to the whole class and to high-risk children and four observer ratings: two measures of class-wide child behaviour and two measures of classroom atmosphere. Measures were repeated at a six-month follow-up.Results.Significant benefits of intervention were found for teachers’ positive [effect size (ES) = 3.35] and negative (ES = 1.29) behaviours to the whole class and to high-risk children (positive: ES = 0.83; negative: ES = 0.50) and for observer ratings of class-wide child behaviour (ES = 0.73), child interest and enthusiasm (ES = 0.98), teacher warmth (ES = 2.03) and opportunities provided to share and help (ES = 5.72). At 6-month follow-up, significant benefits of intervention were sustained: positive behaviours (ES = 2.70), negative behaviours (ES = 0.98), child behaviour (ES = 0.50), child interest and enthusiasm (ES = 0.78), teacher warmth (ES = 0.91), opportunities to share and help (ES = 1.42).Conclusions.The adapted IY teacher-training programme produced large benefits to teacher's behaviour and to class-wide measures of children's behaviour, which were sustained at 6-month follow-up. Benefits were of a similar magnitude to those found in a pilot study of the minimally adapted version that required significantly more in-class support for teachers.

We report the first results of DarkSide-50, a direct search for dark matter operating in the underground Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) and searching for the rare nuclear recoils possibly induced by weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). The dark matter detector is a Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber with a (46.4±0.7) kg active mass, operated inside a 30 t organic liquid scintillator neutron veto, which is in turn installed at the center of a 1 kt water Cherenkov veto for the residual flux of cosmic rays. We report here the null results of a dark matter search for a (1422±67) kgd exposure with an atmospheric argon fill. This is the most sensitive dark matter search performed with an argon target, corresponding to a 90% CL upper limit on the WIMP-nucleon spin-independent cross section of 6.1×10−44 cm2 for a WIMP mass of 100 Gev/c2. Keywords: Dark matter, WIMP, Noble liquid detectors, Low-background detectors, Liquid scintillators

We are a group of researchers and clinicians with collective experience in child survival, nutrition, cognitive and social development, and treatment of common mental conditions. We join together to welcome an expanded definition of child development to guide global approaches to child health and overall social development. We call for resolve to integrate maternal and child mental health with child health, nutrition, and development services and policies, and see this as fundamental to the health and sustainable development of societies. We suggest specific steps toward achieving this objective, with associated global organizational and resource commitments. In particular, we call for a Global Planning Summit to establish a much needed Global Alliance for Child Development and Mental Health in all Policies.

Experimental demonstrations are reported for end-to-end real-time optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OOFDM) transceivers incorporating three widely adopted adaptive loading techniques, namely, power loading (PL), bit loading (BL), and bit-and-power loading (BPL). In directly modulated distributed-feedback (DFB) laser-based, intensity-modulation, and direct-detection (IMDD) transmission systems consisting of up to 35-km single-mode fibers (SMFs), extensive experimental comparisons between these adaptive loading techniques are made in terms of maximum achievable signal bit rate, optical power budget, and digital signal processing (DSP) resource usage. It is shown that BPL is capable of supporting end-to-end real-time OOFDM transmission of 11.75 Gb/s over 25-km SMFs in the aforementioned systems at sampling speeds as low as 4 GS/s. In addition, experimental measurements also show that BPL (PL) offers the highest (lowest) signal bit rate, and their optical power budgets are similar. The observed signal bit rate difference between BPL and PL is almost independent of sampling speed and transmission distance. All the aforementioned key features agree very well with numerical simulations. On the other hand, BPL-consumed DSP resources are approximately three times higher than those required by PL. The results indicate that PL is a preferred choice for cost-effective OOFDM transceiver design.

On 18 April 2002 the Cluster spacecraft crossed through the northern outer magnetospheric cusp region during 16:25-17:55 UT when the solar wind dynamic pressure was rather low (Bz was more negative than IMF By. The Cluster data from the FGM, CIS, PEACE, EFW, WHISPER and STAFF instruments reveal that the cusp is structured with three anti-sunward ion flow events of durations ≈1.5, 17.5 and 19.0 min, with bulk plasma flow roughly parallel to the magnetopause toward north. The ion and electron densities within the events are much greater than those outside. The zonal electric field in the ion flow events turns eastward as expected from V×B effect. The sharp inward boundaries of the ion flow events cross the four spacecraft in one time sequence, and the outward boundaries of the events cross the spacecraft in the reverse time sequence. The observations studied using magnetosphere and magnetopause models suggest that the structured cusp is a temporal feature that arises due to three inward and outward movements of the magnetopause by about 1.5RE so that Cluster, while crossing through the cusp, happened to be in the magnetosheath (ion flow event) and cusp alternately. The magnetopause moved due to the changes in the solar wind dynamic pressure by up to 100%.

Ultrahigh definition video streaming has been explored in recent years. Most recently the possibility of 4kUHD video streaming over wireless 802.11n was presented, using preencoded video. Live encoding for streaming using x264 has proven to be very slow. The use of parallel encoding has been explored to speed up the process using CUDA. However there hasnot been a parallel implementation for video streaming. We therefore present for the first time a novel implementation of 4kUHD live encoding for streaming over a wireless network at low bitrate indoors, using CUDA for parallel H264 encoding. Our experimental results are used to verify our claim.

Air travel poses a risk to patients with a pneumothorax due to in-flight pressure changes and guidance is available providing advice on air travel in patients with a pneumothorax. Pneumothorax is a recongnised complication of pleural thoracentesis, however chest radiographs have been shown to have limited sensitivity in diagnosing pneumothoraces and small pneumothoraces may not be recognised. There is, therefore a risk post thoracentesis, of exacerbating an unrecognised pneumothorax by air travel. This case outlines the presentation of a 55 year old lady, with a normal chest radiograph after an uncomplicated simple needle aspiration for a pleural effusion, who developed a large pneumothorax during air travel.