Minds Under Siege: Cognitive Signatures of Poverty and Trauma in Refugee and Non-Refugee Adolescents

The impacts of war and displacement on executive function (EF)—what we might call the cognitive signatures of minds under siege—are little known. We surveyed a gender-balanced sample of 12- to 18-year-old Syrian refugees (n = 240) and Jordanian non-refugees (n = 210) living in Jordan. We examined the relative contributions of poverty, trauma exposure, posttraumatic stress, and insecurity to variance in inhibitory control and working memory. We observed associations between poverty and WM, suggesting that, even in populations exposed to substantial violence and fear, poverty is a specific pathway to WM deficit. We did not, however, find associations between EFs and exposures to trauma. Careful distinction between childhood adversities may illuminate which neurocognitive pathways matter for measures of cognitive function.     

American influencies in Brazilian physical education: clues in the specialised periodical press (1932–1950)

This study investigates the American presence and influences in the physical education press to understand the way in which that presence influenced and contributed to the production of a sports culture in the first half of the twentieth century. As historical sources, the study uses periodicals in the field that were published in the period 1932–1950. As a theoretical frame of reference, it uses the repertoire of the New Cultural History in terms of strategy, tactics and devices. It is written in a narrative way, following Ginzburg's style, presenting data and contextualizing them with the historic scene. Clues enabled us to infer that the American presence, which was catalysed by the Brazilian Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA), sought to shape a sports culture from physical education and society. This effort reflected the yearning of Brazilian intellectuals for modernisation and an attempt at cultural colonisation by the government of the USA.     

Field-free particle focusing in microfluidic plugs

Particle concentration is a key unit operation in biochemical assays. Although there are many techniques for particle concentration in continuous-phase microfluidics, relatively few are available in multiphase (plug-based) microfluidics. Existing approaches generally require external electric or magnetic fields together with charged or magnetized particles. This paper reports a passive technique for particle concentration in water-in-oil plugs which relies on the interaction between particle sedimentation and the recirculating vortices inherent to plug flow in a cylindrical capillary. This interaction can be quantified using the Shields parameter (θ), a dimensionless ratio of a particle’s drag force to its gravitational force, which scales with plug velocity. Three regimes of particle behavior are identified. When θ is less than the movement threshold (region I), particles sediment to the bottom of the plug where the internal vortices subsequently concentrate the particles at the rear of the plug. We demonstrate highly efficient concentration (∼100%) of 38 μm glass beads in 500 μm diameter plugs traveling at velocities up to 5 mm/s. As θ is increased beyond the movement threshold (region II), particles are suspended in well-defined circulation zones which begin at the rear of the plug. The length of the zone scales linearly with plug velocity, and at sufficiently large θ, it spans the length of the plug (region III). A second effect, attributed to the co-rotating vortices at the rear cap, causes particle aggregation in the cap, regardless of flow velocity. Region I is useful for concentrating/collecting particles, while the latter two are useful for mixing the beads with the solution. Therefore, the two key steps of a bead-based assay, concentration and resuspension, can be achieved simply by changing the plug velocity. By exploiting an interaction of sedimentation and recirculation unique to multiphase flow, this simple technique achieves particle concentration without on-chip components, and could therefore be applied to a range of heterogeneous screening assays in discrete nl plugs.     

Association of Inflammatory Biomarker C-Reactive Protein, Lipid Peroxidation and Antioxidant Capacity Marker with HbF Level in Sickle Cell Disease Patients from Chattisgarh

This study was undertaken to determine the association of inflammatory biomarker, oxidative stress and antioxidant capacity marker with fetal haemoglobin (HbF) level among sickle cell trait and sickle cell disease (SCD) patients in Chattisgarh. The study group consisted of 51 SCD (SS) patients with painful episode, 49 SCD (SS) patients with steady state, 50 sickle cell trait (AS) and 50 controls. Malondialdehyde (MDA), CRP, total antioxidant power (FARP), total thiol and HbF levels were quantified. We found a significant positive (p < 0.0001) association between CRP and MDA levels and its inverse association with HbF level in SS patients. We also observed that antioxidant capacity had significantly positively (p < 0.0001) associated with HbF level. The protective effect of HbF was found, because the increase in HbF levels resulted in decrease in lipid peroxidation and inflammation in SCD patients. A decrease in the HbF level and its antioxidant capacity has been associated with the pathogenesis of SCD. These finding may explain the high level of HbF is ameliorating oxidative stress and inflammation in SCD patients.     

Use of IT in university libraries of Punjab, Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh: A comparative study

This paper is designed to measure the use of Information Technology (IT) in the university libraries of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh with an ulterior objective to establish some co-relation between quality in libraries and use of IT. The paper highlights the use of hardware and software facilities in university libraries. It also highlights the access of networks, information services and barriers in IT applications. A survey conducted on four university libraries, namely Panjab University library, Chandigarh; Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla; Punjabi university Library, Patiala; and Guru Nanak Dev University Library, Amritsar found that only Panjab University Library, Chandigarh and GND university library, Amritsar have provided computerised access to in-house databases. The findings presented are based on a survey conducted with the help of questionnaires, interview and observation methods. Library literature reveals that quality depends on merging print culture with digital culture but the result of this survey confirm that print culture is still dominating in university libraries of this region.     

Why does technology integration fail? Teacher beliefs and content developer assumptions in an Indian initiative

Educational technology research and development - This paper explores technology integration and the role of teacher beliefs in this integration to assess a ‘smart-class’ initiative...     

Cognition and creativity

Cognitive research on creativity is both traditional and innovative. It is traditional in the sense that many of the well-recognized processes, structures, and stores from mainstream cognitive psychology have been used to understand creative thinking. It is innovative because there is a need to understand processes which are not recognized unless one is specifically interested in creativity. Some of these are inherently subjective, a fact which is often disregarded by those hoping for a traditionally scientific analysis. Still, much of the interest in the cognitive sciences concerns how new constructs come into being; and anyone interested in that is in fact thinking about creativity. That is creativity. This article reviews several traditional cognitive topics, including knowledge, memory, classification, judgment, and categorization, and describes how each can influence creative thinking. It also presents an original model of creative thinking with problem finding, ideation, and judgmental processes as primary components, and knowledge and motivation as secondary (contributing but not controlling) components. Several issues are covered, including the relegation of motivation, the distinction between declarative and procedural knowledge, and the potential for knowledge to both facilitate and inhibit creative ideation.     

`Emergency Education': The Missing Dimension in Education Policy

Large numbers of children regularly experience educational disruption because of natural disasters. Donor and rehabilitation agencies, using an ‘emergency education’ framework, have usually addressed the immediate needs of such children and longer-term educational reconstruction. However, the imperative of continuous educational access to all children, and the need for resource and curricular policies to deal with frequent disruption, call for the inclusion of an emergency education dimension in traditional educational policy. This article outlines the features of such a dimension by drawing on the experiences of an earthquake rehabilitation effort in India (2001-02). Policies that target an improved post-crisis educational system create an opportunity to redress past disadvantages. Helping local educational institutions build capacities in curriculum development and continuing education of emergency personnel is crucial. Some new features highlighted include tracking local demographic shifts with the help of local leaders and the use of innovative teachers to handle children’s immediate recreational needs. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.