A longitudinal study of how women's prenatal and postnatal concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic predicts their infants' social–emotional development

Infant social–emotional development may be impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. This study investigated associations between maternal pre- and postnatal pandemic-related concerns and social–emotional developmental risk. Data, collected in 2020–2021, came from 220 mothers (87% white, 6% Hispanic, 1% Black, 3% Asian, 1% American Indian, M_age = 32.46 years), and infants (53.18% male, M_age = 12.98 months) in the United States. Maternal postnatal pandemic-related concerns were associated with total risk scores (B = 6.09, p-value <.001) and offspring risk of scoring positive for problems related to inflexibility (B = 4.07, p-value = .006). The total score association was moderated by self-reported social support. Infants may be detrimentally impacted by the pandemic via maternal pandemic-related concerns. Maternal social support may buffer infants.     

Relationship of executive functioning and memory to autism symptomology and adaptive functioning: Implications for reducing future underemployment

Understanding the relationship between executive functioning and its connection to working memory and adaptive functioning can inform planning and employment efforts. This study explored the relationship between memory and adaptive functioning with a sample of Autistic youths/young adults. Participant mean age was 21.3 (SD = 3.0). Of the 22 participants, 17 were male, and 19 white, non-Hispanic/Latina/o/x. All but one lived with their parent(s). Participants were administered a full battery assessing cognitive ability (WAIS-IV), memory and executive functioning (WMS-IV and DKEFS), autism symptomatology (ADOS-II), and adaptive functioning (SIB-R). A multivariate lasso regression model was used. Memory, especially as measured on the WMS-IV, was found to be significantly related to adaptive functioning and autism symptomatology. There appears to be continuing evidence that memory is highly related to adaptive functioning and autism symptomatology. Interventions involving auditory and immediate memory could be helpful in promoting more mutually effective social interactions necessary for positive employment outcomes.     

How students reason about matter flows and accumulations in complex biological phenomena: An emerging learning progression for mass balance

In recent years, there has been a strong push to transform STEM education at K-12 and collegiate levels to help students learn to think like scientists. One aspect of this transformation involves redesigning instruction and curricula around fundamental scientific ideas that serve as conceptual scaffolds students can use to build cohesive knowledge structures. In this study, we investigated how students use mass balance reasoning as a conceptual scaffold to gain a deeper understanding of how matter moves through biological systems. Our aim was to lay the groundwork for a mass balance learning progression in physiology. We drew on a general models framework from biology and a covariational reasoning framework from math education to interpret students' mass balance ideas. We used a constant comparative method to identify students' reasoning patterns from 73 interviews conducted with undergraduate biology students. We helped validate the reasoning patterns identified with >8000 written responses collected from students at multiple institutions. From our analyses, we identified two related progress variables that describe key elements of students' performances: the first describes how students identify and use matter flows in biology phenomena; the second characterizes how students use net rate-of-change to predict how matter accumulates in, or disperses from, a compartment. We also present a case study of how we used our emerging mass balance learning progression to inform instructional practices to support students' mass balance reasoning. Our progress variables describe one way students engage in three dimensional learning by showing how student performances associated with the practice of mathematical thinking reveal their understanding of the core concept of matter flows as governed by the crosscutting concept of matter conservation. Though our work is situated in physiology, it extends previous work in climate change education and is applicable to other scientific fields, such as physics, engineering, and geochemistry.     

Isolation,resilience, and faith: Experiences of Black Christian students in biology graduate programs

To increase participation of students of color in science graduate programs, research has focused on illuminating student experiences to inform ways to improve them. In biology, Black students are vastly underrepresented, and while religion has been shown to be a particularly important form of cultural wealth for Black students, Christianity is stigmatized in biology. Very few studies have explored the intersection of race/ethnicity and Christianity for Black students in biology where there is high documented tension between religion and science. Since graduate school is important for socialization and Black students are likely to experience stigmatization of their racial and religious identity, it is important to understand their experiences and how we might be able to improve them. Thus, we interviewed 13 Black Christian students enrolled in biology graduate programs and explored their experiences using the theoretical lens of stigmatized identities. Through thematic content analysis, we revealed that students negotiated experiences of cultural isolation, devaluation of intelligence, and acts of bias like other racially minoritized students in science. However, by examining these experiences at the intersection of race/ethnicity and religion, we shed light on interactions students have had with faculty and peers within the biology community that cultivated perceptions of mistrust, conflict, and stigma. Our study also revealed ways in which students' religious/spiritual capital has positively supported their navigation through biology graduate school. These results contribute to a deeper understanding of why Black Christian graduate students are more likely to leave or not pursue advanced degrees in biology with implications for research and practice that help facilitate their success.     

On optimal location and management of a new industrial plant: Numerical simulation and control

Within the framework of numerical modelling and multi-objective control of partial differential equations, in this work we deal with the problem of determining the optimal location of a new industrial plant. We take into account both economic and ecological objectives, and we look not only for the optimal location of the plant but also for the optimal management of its emissions rate. In order to do this, we introduce a mathematical model (a system of nonlinear parabolic partial differential equations) for the numerical simulation of air pollution. Based on this model, we formulate the problem in the field of multi-objective optimal control from a cooperative viewpoint, recalling the standard concept of Pareto-optimal solution, and pointing out the usefulness of Pareto-optimal frontier in the decision making process. Finally, a numerical algorithm – based on a characteristics/Galerkin discretization of the adjoint model – is proposed, and some numerical results for a hypothetical situation in the region of Galicia (NW Spain) are presented.     

Team learning in IT implementation projects: Antecedents and consequences

This study investigates the antecedents and consequences of team learning, which is composed of information acquisition, dissemination, and implementation, in information technology (IT) implementation projects. By investigating 129 IT implementation project teams, we found that (1) information acquisition and information dissemination have a positive impact on project outcomes, such as speed-to-users, lower implementation cost, and operational effectiveness, and (2) team behavior and enabler variables, such as teamwork, team communication, interpersonal trust between team members, team commitment, and senior manager support, positively influence team learning. We also found that team anxiety moderates the relationship between team learning and project outcomes.     

Synchronization of discrete-time complex dynamical networks with interval time-varying delays via non-fragile controller with randomly occurring perturbation

This paper addresses synchronization problem for discrete-time complex dynamical networks with interval time-varying delays. In order to achieve the synchronization, a feedback controller subjected to randomly occurring perturbations will be considered. The randomly occurring perturbations are assumed to belong to the Binomial sequence. By constructing a suitable Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional, and utilizing reciprocally convex approach and Finsler?s lemma, the synchronization criteria for the networks are established in terms of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) which can be easily solved by various effective optimization algorithms. The networks are represented by the use of Kronecker product technique. The effectiveness of the proposed methods will be verified via numerical examples.     

Fabrication of two dimensional polyethylene terephthalate nanofluidic chip using hot embossing and thermal bonding technique

We present in this paper a method for obtaining a low cost and high replication precision 2D (two dimensional) nanofluidic chip with a PET (polyethylene terephthalate) sheet, which uses hot embossing and a thermal bonding technique. The hot embossing process parameters were optimized by both experiments and the finite element method to improve the replication precision of the 2D nanochannels. With the optimized process parameters, 174.67 ± 4.51 nm wide and 179.00 ± 4.00 nm deep nanochannels were successfully replicated into the PET sheet with high replication precision of 98.4%. O₂ plasma treatment was carried out before the bonding process to decrease the dimension loss and improve the bonding strength of the 2D nanofluidic chip. The bonding parameters were optimized by bonding rate of the nanofluidic chip. The experiment results show that the bonding strength of the 2D PET nanofluidic chip is 0.664 MPa, and the total dimension loss of 2D nanochannels is 4.34 ± 7.03 nm and 18.33 ± 9.52 nm, in width and depth, respectively. The fluorescence images demonstrate that there is no blocking or leakage over the entire micro- and nanochannels. With this fabrication technology, low cost polymer nanochannels can be fabricated, which allows for commercial manufacturing of nano-components.     

Persistent Focal Behavior and Physical Activity Performance

This article examines the proclivity and performance attributes of focal students across time and activities using data from 9,345 students. Three systematic focal behavior partitions are examined: Across activities, across time, and across activities and time. A student’s performance is focal if it ends in 0 or 5 for push-ups and 0 for curl-ups. Chi-square tests confirm that individual focal outcomes and systematic focal outcomes occur more frequently than random processes would suggest. In each instance, the only cell that is less populated than random processes would suggest is the one that exhibits no systematic focal behavior and the cell that exhibits the greatest deviation from expected is the full focal cell. Focal students outperform their peers on three activities at two assessments. Students with two-systematically focal outcomes have superior performance to students with no systematic focal outcomes but inferior performance to those with three or four focal outcomes.     

Growth influences biomechanical profile of talented swimmers during the summer break

This study aimed to analyse the effect of growth during a summer break on biomechanical profile of talented swimmers. Twenty-five young swimmers (12 boys and 13 girls) undertook several anthropometric and biomechanical tests at the end of the 2011–2012 season (pre-test) and 10 weeks later at the beginning of the 2012–2013 season (post-test). Height, arm span, hand surface area, and foot surface area were collected as anthropometric parameters, while stroke frequency, stroke length, stroke index, propelling efficiency, active drag, and active drag coefficient were considered as biomechanical variables. The mean swimming velocity during an all-out 25 m front crawl effort was used as the performance outcome. After the 10-week break, the swimmers were taller with an increased arm span, hand, and foot areas. Increases in stroke length, stroke index, propelling efficiency, and performance were also observed. Conversely, the stroke frequency, active drag, and drag coefficient remained unchanged. When controlling the effect of growth, no significant variation was determined on the biomechanical variables. The performance presented high associations with biomechanical and anthropometric parameters at pre-test and post-test, respectively. The results show that young talented swimmers still present biomechanical improvements after a 10-week break, which are mainly explained by their normal growth.