"Resisting Social Identity Threat and Maintaining Resilience" : A Qualitative Study of Chinese Parents Following the Loss of an Only Child
- Authors: Wang, Anni , Guo, Yufang , Cross, Wendy , Lam, Louisa , Plummer, Virginia , Zhang, Wen , Zhang, Jingping
- Date: 2024
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Psychol Trauma Vol. 16, no. 2 (2024), p. 167-175
- Full Text: false
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- Description: Objective: Parents who lose an only child in China are stressed and traumatized due to social identity threat (SIT). This qualitative study aimed to interpret their experience to inform culturally and socially sensitive intervention strategies. Methods: Using a phenomenological approach, 17 bereaved parents who lost an only child were interviewed. The transcripts were analyzed using Colaizzi's method. Results: Three themes were identified, namely, "assuming a new social identity," "triggering social identity threat," and "resisting social identity threat and maintaining resilience." The study showed that SIT initially began with identity reconstruction, where self-identity and social identity occurred 1 after another. Once labeled with such social identity, the bereaved parents suffered social identity threat triggered by inner inferiority and external stigmatization. The bereaved parents undertook a variety of coping strategies to resist the threat and to maintain resilience of these strategies, 4 patterns depicting resilience and threat were interpreted. Conclusion: The findings offer an understanding of the multifaceted bereavement dilemma and lay a foundation for developing intervention strategies. Promoting or maintaining resilience and alleviating SIT are 2 important ways that help parents move on. To help them with identity reconstruction, the development of culturally sensitive resilience-based programs and the linking of social resources to solve practical problems are recommended. Community health professionals should encourage parents to maintain good health management to prevent their predicament from worsening. Raising economic assistance, building an elderly care support system, and promoting social acceptance are strategies that could be considered by policymakers. Clinical Impact StatementThe bereaved parents who have lost an only child in China is facing a multifaceted dilemma, which involves psychological, economic and cultural issues. This study applies the construct of social identity threat to interpretive lived experience of parents in China who have lost their only child. The study contributes to better understanding of their multifaceted bereavement dilemma, and lay the foundation for developing psycho-behavioural intervention strategies, which potentially also benefit other marginalized or traumatized bereaved groups. Results in this study offered several recommendations for psychological counselors, community workers, community health professionals, and government policymakers.
Assessing the validity and reliability of a baseball pitch discrimination online task
- Authors: Grieve, Georgia , Besler, Zachary , Müller, Sean , Spering, Miriam , Hodges, Nicola
- Date: 2024
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology Vol. 22, no. 2 (2024), p. 481-505
- Full Text: false
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- Description: There has been an increasing interest in training perceptual skills in sports through online video-based methods, particularly in baseball. However, there is little empirical evidence related to the reliability and validity of such online methods for the assessment of these skill. Here we developed an online task to assess pitch discrimination and evaluated (a) inter-item reliability, (b) reliability in assessment compared to an in-person task, also tapping into external validity and (c) discriminability across different skill groups. We also compared performance on a non-sport specific Dynamic Visual Acuity task (DVA), thought to tap into underlying visual skills comprising pitch discrimination. Skilled, Varsity-level baseball players (n = 17) were compared to novices (n = 14) when discriminating pitches thrown by two different pitchers, across three pitch types, edited to progressively remove sections of ball flight (3 time points). The online task discriminated across skill groups, showed good reliability across repeated viewings and from the online task to an in-person assessment of skilled athletes (n = 8). There were, however, differences in reliability and discriminant validity based on the type of pitcher, with one pitcher being responded to more accurately and reliably. Skilled participants showed good discriminability between fastballs and change-ups. There were no group differences for DVA, nor did it correlate with pitch discrimination for the skilled group. These data illustrate the reliability of online video assessments, but raise issues concerning discriminability across different pitchers and when standing ready to swing. Greater sensitivity testing of such assessments is still needed, within and across skill groups. © 2024 International Society of Sport Psychology.
DCCGAN based intrusion detection for detecting security threats in IoT
- Authors: Cyriac, Robin , Balasubaramanian, Sundaravadivazhagn , Balamurugan, Venkatachalam , Karthikeyan, R.
- Date: 2024
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: International Journal of Bio-Inspired Computation Vol. 23, no. 2 (2024), p. 111-124
- Full Text: false
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- Description: Internet of things (IoT) consists of wired/wireless network, sensor, and actuator, where security is more important when more devices are connected to IoT. To increase more security in IoT devices, this manuscript proposes a dual-channel capsule generation adversarial network (DCCGAN) espoused intrusion detection scheme for detecting security threats in IoT network (DCCGAN-IDF-DST-IoT). Data are collected from MQTT-IoT-IDS2020 dataset and Bot-IoT dataset. Then, the data are fed to local least squares, which eradicate the redundancy and replace the missing value. The pre-processed dataset is supplied to fertile field optimisation algorithm (FFOA), which selects the relevant features. Then DCCGAN is used for classifying the data as normal or anomalous. The proposed technique is activated in Python language. The performance of proposed technique for MQTT-IoT-IDS2020 dataset attains 16.55%, 21.37%, 32.99%, 27.66%, 26.45%, 21.47% and 22.86% higher accuracy compared with the existing methods. Copyright © 2024 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.
Ecological and statistical models to configure flow regime for environment benefit in highly engineered rivers : a case study in the MacKenzie River, Southeast Australia
- Authors: Atazadeh, Ehsan , Gell, Peter , Mills, Keely , Barton, Andrew , Newall, Peter
- Date: 2024
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Environmental Science and Pollution Research Vol. 31, no. 5 (2024), p. 7408-7427
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Ecological and statistical models were developed using freshwater algal assemblages to assess water quality and ecological health of a regulated river. These models were used to inform configuration of flows to maintain or improve environmental conditions of the waterway whilst meeting consumptive water supply commitments. The flow regime of the MacKenzie River, western Victoria, Australia, has been substantially modified since the construction of a water supply reservoir on its upper reach in 1887. Water is withdrawn at several locations downstream of the reservoir, creating a substantially modified flow regime, impacting key environmental values of the river. To assess the impact of the different flow regimes on river health and ecosystem function, ten sites were repeatedly sampled along the river between February 2012 and April 2014. Physical and chemical characteristics of water, including pH, temperature, turbidity, electrical conductivity, dissolved oxygen, total nitrogen, total phosphorous, cations, and anions, were measured. Biological properties of the algal periphyton communities, including dry mass, ash-free dry mass, chlorophyll-a concentration, and species composition, were also measured. Exploration of the algal assemblage and water chemistry data using the computationally unconstrained ordination technique such as principal component analysis principal component analysis (PCA), correspondence analysis (CA), detrended correspondence analysis (DCA), and canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) indicated two strong gradients in the data sets. Furthermore, the quantitative ecosystem response models have been developed as the prototype tool to assist in the future configuration of flows in this river. The empirical data and models showed the lower reaches of the river to be in poor condition under low flows, but this condition improved under flows of 35 ML/day, as indicated by the reduction in green algae and cyanobacteria and improvement. Finally, the results are presented to tailor discharge and duration of water volume by amalgamation of consumptive and environmental flows to improve the condition of the stream thereby supplementing the flows dedicated to environmental outcomes. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.
A comparative study of two embodiments of the limaçon rotary compressor based on theoretical modelling of apex seal dynamics and leakage
- Authors: Lu, Kui , Sultan, Ibrahim , Phung, Truong
- Date: 2023
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: International Journal of Refrigeration Vol. 145, no. (2023), p. 467-480
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: As an emerging technology, the limaçon rotary compressor possesses great potential for fluid-processing applications. However, the technology and associated cost required to fabricate the limaçon machine could sometimes be beyond the capability of some manufacturers. To reduce the production cost, circolimaçon embodiment whose rotor and housing are constructed of circular arcs has been proposed. This paper is intended to investigate the viability of the circolimaçon embodiment of limaçon technology based on sealing performance. A nonlinear three-degree of freedom model is presented to describe the dynamic behaviour of the apex seal during the machine operation. Additionally, the leakage through the seal-housing gap is formulated by considering the inertia and viscous effects on the flow. A numerical illustration is offered to compare the performance of the circolimaçon embodiment with that of the limaçon-to-limaçon (L2L) type machine at different pressure ratios and operating speeds. The effect of limaçon aspect ratio on the apex seal dynamics is also investigated. Based on the results, it is found that the circolimaçon embodiment exhibits comparable performance to the L2L-type machine, despite having more significant seal vibrations. The differences in the volumetric and isentropic efficiencies between the two machines are found within 8% and 3%, respectively. Additionally, it is also discovered that the circolimaçon compressor with a small capacity undergoes lower level of seal dynamics, suggesting a better machine reliability. © 2022
A computational framework for the multiphysics simulation of microbubble-mediated sonothrombolysis using a forward-viewing intravascular transducer
- Authors: Tan, Zhi , Ooi, Ean Hin , Chiew, Yeong , Foo, Ji , Ng, Eddie , Ooi, Ean Tat
- Date: 2023
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Ultrasonics Vol. 131, no. (2023), p.
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Sonothrombolysis is a technique that utilises ultrasound waves to excite microbubbles surrounding a clot. Clot lysis is achieved through mechanical damage induced by acoustic cavitation and through local clot displacement induced by acoustic radiation force (ARF). Despite the potential of microbubble-mediated sonothrombolysis, the selection of the optimal ultrasound and microbubble parameters remains a challenge. Existing experimental studies are not able to provide a complete picture of how ultrasound and microbubble characteristics influence the outcome of sonothrombolysis. Likewise, computational studies have not been applied in detail in the context of sonothrombolysis. Hence, the effect of interaction between the bubble dynamics and acoustic propagation on the acoustic streaming and clot deformation remains unclear. In the present study, we report for the first time the computational framework that couples the bubble dynamic phenomena with the acoustic propagation in a bubbly medium to simulate microbubble-mediated sonothrombolysis using a forward-viewing transducer. The computational framework was used to investigate the effects of ultrasound properties (pressure and frequency) and microbubble characteristics (radius and concentration) on the outcome of sonothrombolysis. Four major findings were obtained from the simulation results: (i) ultrasound pressure plays the most dominant role over all the other parameters in affecting the bubble dynamics, acoustic attenuation, ARF, acoustic streaming, and clot displacement, (ii) smaller microbubbles could contribute to a more violent oscillation and improve the ARF simultaneously when they are stimulated at higher ultrasound pressure, (iii) higher microbubbles concentration increases the ARF, and (iv) the effect of ultrasound frequency on acoustic attenuation is dependent on the ultrasound pressure. These results may provide fundamental insight that is crucial in bringing sonothrombolysis closer to clinical implementation. © 2023 Elsevier B.V.
A data reporting protocol with revocable anonymous authentication for edge-assisted intelligent transport systems
- Authors: Wang, Yanping , Wang, Xiaofen , Dai, Hong-Ning , Zhang, Xiaosong , Imran, Muhammad
- Date: 2023
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics Vol. 19, no. 6 (2023), p. 7835-7847
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) have received growing attention recently driven by technical advances in Industrial Internet of Vehicles (IIoV). In IIoV, vehicles report traffic data to management infrastructures to achieve better ITS services. To ensure security and privacy, many anonymous authentication-enabled data reporting protocols are proposed. However, these protocols usually require a large number of preloaded pseudonyms or involve a costly and irrevocable group signature. Thus, they are not ready for realistic deployment due to large storage overhead, expensive computation costs, or absence of malicious users' revocation. To address these issues, we present a novel data reporting protocol for edge-assisted ITS in this paper, where the traffic data is sent to distributed edge nodes for local processing. Specifically, we propose a new anonymous authentication scheme fine-tuned to fulfill the needs of vehicular data reporting, which allows authenticated vehicles to report unlimited unlinkable messages to edge nodes without huge pseudonyms download and storage costs. Moreover, we designed an efficient certificate update scheme based on a bivariate polynomial function. In this way, malicious vehicles can be revoked with time complexity O(1). The security analysis demonstrates that our protocol satisfies source authentication, anonymity, unlinkability, traceability, revocability, nonframeability, and nonrepudiation. Further, extensive simulation results show that the performance of our protocol is greatly improved since the signature size is reduced by at least 8%, the computation costs in message signing and verification are reduced by at least 56% and 67%, respectively, and the packet loss rate is reduced by at least 14%. © 2005-2012 IEEE.
A health justice partnership for young people : strategies for program promotion to young people and youth workers
- Authors: Ollerenshaw, Alison , Camilleri, Margaret
- Date: 2023
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Australian Journal of Primary Health Vol. 29, no. 5 (2023), p. 422-427
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Health justice partnerships (HJP) are innovative models for delivering integrated health and legal services to people experiencing complex issues. An HJP was established in regional Victoria, Australia, for young people. Promoting the program to young people and workers was essential for program uptake. There is a dearth of published information about strategies that support program promotion for young people and workers. In this practice and innovation paper, three promotional strategies were employed: a dedicated program website, secondary consultations, and legal education and information sessions. Each strategy is examined, with information presented about why and how these strategies were implemented alongside this HJP. The strengths and limitations of each strategy are explored, with some strategies appearing to engage audiences with the program more than others. The insights about each of the strategies established for this program may inform other HJPs with their planning and implementation for increased program awareness. © 2023 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)).
A mesoscale modelling approach coupling SBFEM, continuous damage phase-field model and discrete cohesive crack model for concrete fracture
- Authors: Yu, Kelai , Yang, Zhenjun , Li, Hui , Ooi, Ean Tat , Li, Shangming , Liu, GuoHua
- Date: 2023
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Engineering Fracture Mechanics Vol. 278, no. (2023), p.
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: This study develops an innovative numerical approach for simulating complex mesoscale fracture in concrete. In this approach, the concrete meso-structures are generated using a random aggregate generation and packing algorithm. Each aggregate is modelled by a single scaled boundary finite element method (SBFEM) based polygon with the boundary discretized only. The damage and fracture in the mortar is simulated by the continuous damage phase-field regularized cohesive zone model (PF-CZM), and the aggregate-mortar interfaces are modelled by zero-thickness cohesive interface elements (CIEs) with nonlinear softening separation-traction laws. This new approach thus takes full advantages of different methods, including the semi-analytical accuracy and high flexibility in mesh generation and transition of SBFEM, the mesh and length-scale independence of PF-CZM, and the ease-of-use of CIEs in modelling discrete interfacial fracture. These advantages are demonstrated by successful simulations of a few 2D and 3D benchmark examples in mode-I and mixed-mode fracture. © 2022 Elsevier Ltd
A multi-layered approach to developing academic written communication skills for nursing students
- Authors: Garvey, Loretta , Willetts, Georgina , Herrmann, Antje , Verezub, Elena , Sinchenko, Elena
- Date: 2023
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: International Journal of Nursing Education Scholarship Vol. 20, no. 1 (2023), p.
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Objectives: Academic literacy in nursing students has historically been poor this research therefore aimed to investigate the effectiveness of an embedded multidisciplinary approach to academic written communication skills for first year Bachelor of Nursing students in Australia. Methods: This initiative consisted of (1) collaboratively embedding academic skills with nursing staff and Learning and Academic Skills Advisors using scaffolded tasks, curriculum/material development, workshops/tutorials on writing skills; and (2) individual support sessions. Data was obtained via questionnaire. Results: Responses were received from 92 (74% local and 26% international) students. Key findings showed the collaborative approach to embedding skills with added follow up, was beneficial for students' skills development, including improved academic writing, increased confidence, and recognition of the importance of academic writing. Conclusions: It is important to equip student to develop academic literacy and an embedded academic literacy program has been determined to assist and may contribute to future professionalisation in nursing. © 2023 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston.
A new multi-resolution closed-loop wind power forecasting method
- Authors: Nejati, Maryam , Amjady, Nima , Zareipour, Hamidreza
- Date: 2023
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy Vol. 14, no. 4 (2023), p. 2079-2091
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: By the increasing number and size of wind farms, wind generation forecasting has become a basic requirement for their connection to the power grid; otherwise, power system operators and electricity market participants cannot make the right decisions and may incur significant costs and penalties. In this paper, a new multi-resolution closed-loop wind power forecasting method with a difference signal feedback loop is proposed. Within the proposed method, wind power is initially predicted in two different resolutions (such as with hourly and sub-hourly time steps) by two low/high-resolution pre-predictors and then the inconsistency between their predictions is measured through the difference signal. The generated difference signal is used as a guide for the two low/high-resolution wind power post-predictors. If their wind power forecasts are inconsistent, the difference signal is updated and used as the feedback for the low/high-resolution post-predictors. This closed-loop forecasting-updating process is iterated until the post-predictors reach consistent results. To evaluate the performance of the proposed multi-resolution closed-loop method, it is tested on two different real-world wind farms and the results are compared with the results of several other widely used/recently published wind power forecast methods using various error metrics and different forecast horizons. © 2010-2012 IEEE.
A new species of Troglopedetes Joseph, 1872 with eyes (Collembola, Paronellidae) from a Christmas Island Cave, Australia
- Authors: Cipola, Nikolas , Greenslade, Penelope
- Date: 2023
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Zootaxa Vol. 5239, no. 4 (2023), p. 563-577
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: A new species of Troglopedetes Joseph from a Christmas Island Cave, Australia is described and illustrated here. Troglopedetes eberhardi sp. nov. resembles other species by presence of eyes and dorsal chaetotaxy of the second thoracic segment to third abdominal segment, but differs in head chaetotaxy, fourth abdominal segment and elongated unguis median tooth, which character is documented here in the genus for the first time. A comparison and identification key for all eyed species is provided. This is the first record of Troglopedetes for Australia and the genus now has 37 nominal species, of which nine have eyes. Copyright © 2023 Magnolia Press.
A novel continuous control set model predictive control for lc-filtered three-phase four-wire three-level voltage-source inverter
- Authors: Yang, Yong , Xiao, Yang , Fan, Mingdi , Wang, Kaixin , Zhang, Xinan , Hu, Jiefeng , Fang, Gang , Zeng, Weibo , Vazquez, Sergio , Rodriguez, Jose
- Date: 2023
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics Vol. 38, no. 4 (2023), p. 4572-4584
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: In this article, a novel continuous control set model predictive control (CCS-MPC) is proposed for an LC-filtered three-phase three-level four-wire voltage-source inverter (3P-4W-3L-VSI). The proposed MPC algorithm provides independent control of each phase of the 3P-4W-3L-VSI under various unbalanced load conditions, which shows superior performance under unbalanced loads. Furthermore, different from conventional MPC methods, the CCS-MPC achieves fixed switching frequency, hence simplifying the design of LC filters. In addition, dc offsets are introduced to the proposed modulation to effectively balance the neutral-point voltage of the 3P-4W-3L-VSI. Experimental results are presented to verify the effectiveness of the proposed MPC algorithm. © 1986-2012 IEEE.
A novel optimization approach towards improving separability of clusters
- Authors: Bagirov, Adil , Hoseini-Monjezi, Najmeh , Taheri, Sona
- Date: 2023
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Computers and Operations Research Vol. 152, no. (2023), p.
- Relation: http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP190100580
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: The objective functions in optimization models of the sum-of-squares clustering problem reflect intra-cluster similarity and inter-cluster dissimilarities and in general, optimal values of these functions can be considered as appropriate measures for compactness of clusters. However, the use of the objective function alone may not lead to the finding of separable clusters. To address this shortcoming in existing models for clustering, we develop a new optimization model where the objective function is represented as a sum of two terms reflecting the compactness and separability of clusters. Based on this model we develop a two-phase incremental clustering algorithm. In the first phase, the clustering function is minimized to find compact clusters and in the second phase, a new model is applied to improve the separability of clusters. The Davies–Bouldin cluster validity index is applied as an additional measure to compare the compactness of clusters and silhouette coefficients are used to estimate the separability of clusters. The performance of the proposed algorithm is demonstrated and compared with that of four other algorithms using synthetic and real-world data sets. Numerical results clearly show that in comparison with other algorithms the new algorithm is able to find clusters with better separability and similar compactness. © 2022
A Panorama of Maldon in 1861
- Authors: Reid, Derek , Cuffley, Peter , Oldfi, David
- Date: 2023
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Victorian Historical Journal Vol. 94, no. 2 (2023), p. 497-506
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: This note describes a panorama of Maldon that we believe was taken in 1861 by Thomas Hannay at the request of the commissioners of the 1861 Victorian Exhibition. The panorama consists of three photographs taken from Victoria Reef hill showing the buildings along High Street and Main Street. On the left Warnock Brothers Beehive Store can be seen leading to the Bank of New South Wales and the Carriers Arms Hotel, followed by the Kangaroo Hotel in High Street and the vacant allotment in Fountain Street where the Wesleyan Church would be built in 1863. The Market Hall, as it was before the addition of the portico in 1865, stands in the background with Wright Ross & Company’s Store in Main Street and the Electric Telegraph Office beyond. © 2023, Royal Historical Society of Victoria. All rights reserved.
A realist evaluation of post-implementation modifications : a context-initiative-mechanism-outcome perspective
- Authors: Oseni, Taiwo , Rahim, Mahbubur , Foster, Susan
- Date: 2023
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Critical Realism Vol. 22, no. 4 (2023), p. 645-669
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: This paper exemplifies a theoretical and methodological evaluation of IT Initiatives. It discusses post-implementation modifications (ERP-PIM) to enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems for the purpose of business process optimization (BPO) from a Context-Initiative-Mechanism-Outcome (CIMO) perspective. CIMO suggests that context and mechanisms are factors triggering causal effects responsible for outcomes derived from technology initiatives. Through conceptualization, data collection/analysis, and retroduction, the paper proposes a middle-range theory to facilitate the explanation of outcomes from diverse post-implementation initiatives. Data from multiple case study identifies situational and action-formation mechanisms, and actions as essential to realizing the desired outcomes. The proposed ERP-PIM-CIMO theory encapsulates: (i) Business Process Optimization (BPO) as context, (ii) ERP-PIM as structure, (iii) Business Process Efficiency, Effectiveness, and Flexibility as observable events, (iv) ERP capability as causal mechanism, (v) actions as necessary for the actualization of mechanism, and finally (vi) effort and cost, knowledge, and training as factors influencing actualization. © 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
A reconfigurable rectifier-based power improving method of free-standing two-coil magnetic field energy harvesters over a wide load range
- Authors: Li, Yong , Yan, Yihua , Yang, Huanyu , Hu, Jiefeng , He, Zhengyou
- Date: 2023
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics Vol. 38, no. 5 (2023), p. 5638-5643
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Free-standing magnetic field energy harvesters (FSMFEHs) have promising potential in charging sensors used in electrical power grids. The output power of the FSMFEH is highly dependent on the load resistance. However, the load resistance of the sensors varies over a wide range during the operation process. Therefore, a crucial challenge for an FSMFEH system is to maintain high output power over a wide load range. In this letter, an innovative reconfigurable rectifier-based FSMFEH system with two coils connected in parallel is proposed. First, a new structure of two identical coils in parallel is proposed in magnetic energy harvesting applications. Then, a reconfigurable rectifier with two operation modes is developed to incorporate the new coil structure. By switching between the full-bridge mode and the half-bridge mode according to the actual load demand, the proposed FSMFEH can maintain high output power over a wide load range. In addition, the mode transition can be easily achieved by shorting one of the diodes, leading to a simple and low-loss control. The effectiveness of the proposed FSMFEH system is verified based on a laboratory prototype. It is provided that the experimental result is consistent with the theoretical analysis. The output power can be maintained above 8.19 mW within the 50-1500
A roadmap for change : charting the course of gifted educational provision in Lebanon
- Authors: Antoun, Maya , Plunkett, Margaret
- Date: 2023
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: International Journal of Educational Reform Vol. 32, no. 3 (2023), p. 279-293
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: This article reviews and further develops understandings gleaned from an investigation of public and private school teachers’ perceptions of talent development and their ability to implement specialized approaches for gifted students in a country without specific educational policies for this population. Through a discussion of findings from a previous study investigating the perceptions and practices of more than 280 Lebanese teachers, new insights to inform future policy are provided into how talent development is perceived and responded to within the Lebanese educational context. These understandings helped inform the development of a culturally appropriate conceptual framework, derived from Gagné's Differentiated Model of Giftedness and Talent (2008). The resultant framework addresses how the broader socio-economic cultural context within Lebanon appears to have influenced teachers’ perceptions and practices and the choices made in terms of gifted provision in classrooms. This framework could assist educational leaders in Lebanon to implement changes that would not only benefit gifted learners but also have potential flow on benefits for the country as a whole. © The Author(s) 2023.
A robust local texture descriptor in the parametric space of the weibull distribution
- Authors: Tania, Sheikh , Karmakar, Gour , Teng, Shyh , Murshed, Manzur
- Date: 2023
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: IEEE Transactions on Multimedia Vol. 25, no. (2023), p. 6053-6066
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Research in texture feature approximation is still in the embryonic stage because of difficulties in developing a sound theoretical model to express the unique pattern in the intensity-variation of pixels in the neighbourhood of the pixel-of-interest so that it can sufficiently discriminate different textures. Local texture descriptors are widely used in image segmentation as they comprise pixel-wise features. The Weber local descriptor (WLD) with differential excitation and gradient orientation components, inspired by Weber's Law, has been leveraged in the state-of-the-art iterative contraction and merging (ICM) image segmentation technique. However, WLD has inherent drawbacks in the formulation of the components that limit its discriminatory capability. This paper introduces a novel texture descriptor by directly modelling the distribution of intensity-variation in the parametric space of the Weibull distribution using its shape and scale parameters. A unified 'joint scale' texture property is introduced, which can discriminate textures better than the individual parameters while keeping the length of the descriptor shorter. Additionally, the accuracy of WLD's gradient orientation component is improved by using an extended Sobel operator and expressing gradients in -
A Scoping review of autism and the way it changes the presentation of suicidal thoughts and behavior compared to the general population
- Authors: Cleary, Michelle , West, Sancia , McLean, Loyola , Hunt, Glenn , Hungerford, Catherine , Kornhaber, Rachel
- Date: 2023
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Issues Mental Health Nursing Vol. 44, no. 4 (2023), p. 282-301
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Autism spectrum conditions are a group of neurodevelopmental conditions that carries an array of co-occurring diagnoses, including a heightened risk of suicide attempts and suicide. This scoping review examined primary research focusing on autism and suicidality, to understand what is currently known on the topic, including how autism changes the presentation of suicidal thoughts and behavior and to assess the suicide awareness and prevention education programs currently available for autistic people, their families, and health professionals and support workers. A comprehensive search (November 2021) across Scopus, PubMed and CINAHL identified 39 articles from 38 studies. Three themes emerged, with five subthemes. 1. The prevalence of suicidality in autistic people 2. The presentation of suicidality in autistic people, including (a) risk of suicidality (b) gender, age, employment and education (c) co-occurring psychiatric conditions (d) autism traits and social communication (e) intellectual disability and 3. Autism-specific approaches to suicidal thoughts, behavior and prevention. Findings were mixed, including conflicting evidence on the risk of autism and suicidality, and limited evidence of resources related to autism-specific suicide awareness or information, and education or prevention programs.