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Optical Solar Reflectors (OSRs) combine low solar radiation absorption (α) and high broadband infrared emissivity (ε) and are applied to the external surface of spacecraft for its thermal management. Bulk glass OSR tiles are the incumbent, but ultra-lightweight and thin-film flexible OSR coatings are raising considerable interest for both space and terrestrial radiative cooling applications. In this work, a genetic algorithm combined with a transfer matrix method is used for the design and optimization of multimaterial thin-film OSRs for broadband radiative cooling. The algorithm simultaneously optimizes the spectral performance of the OSR at two parts of the wavelength spectrum, solar (0.3–2.5 μm) and thermal infrared (2.5–30 μm). The designed optimized OSR structure consists of 18 alternating layers of three materials, SiN, SiO2, and Ta2O5, on top of an Al mirror backreflector, with a total thickness of only 2.088 μm. The optimized multilayer stack contributes distributed Bragg reflections that reduce the residual solar absorption below that of an uncoated Al mirror. The optimized OSR is demonstrated experimentally on a 150 mm (6 in.) Si wafer and on a flexible polyimide substrate using a production level reactive sputtering tool. The fabricated thin film OSR shows good thermal-optical property with α = 0.11 and ε = 0.75 and achieves a net cooling power of 150.1 W/m2 under conditions of one sun total solar irradiance in space. The ultrathin coating fabricated using hard inorganic materials facilitates its integration onto flexible foils and enables large-scale manufacture of low-cost OSRs for broadband radiative cooling applications.

Cognitive dissonance is an important element in adult learning in that it challenges previously held ideas in favor of new knowledge. In-class simulations and game-based learning are used as innovative and effective pedagogical tools in challenging adult learners and enhancing the students' ability to think critically about larger societal needs. This paper will review the literature relevant to cognitive dissonance, adult learning, and game and simulation practices in higher education. The authors present the results of one simulation activity in a quasi-experimental non-random comparison group conducted across five universities within multiple undergraduate and graduate level social work policy courses. Findings of this research on the use of simulations in social work policy courses can be used to guide other social work programs with embedding this effective educational practice into their programs. Institutions of higher education, specifically within the discipline of social work, can play an important role in continuing the research and evaluation of this effective pedagogical practice through measuring outcomes on student critical thinking and changes in student beliefs and biases.

Abstract Preschool programs provide opportunities to improve early childhood educational outcomes as well as long-term outcomes, such as improved educational attainment, improved socioeconomic status, and improved health in adulthood. However, recent studies of long-term impacts have shown equivocal results, with some educational gains occurring immediately following participation in preschool that diminish or “fadeout” over time. The purpose of this study was to use multivariable linear regression and school fixed effects to determine the impact of Alabama’s First Class Pre-K (FCPK) program on reading and math proficiency. In an effort to test for fadeout, a second multivariable linear regression was used with an additional interaction term of FCPK receipt with time since receipt, to assess for changes in the impact of FCPK as children progress from 3rd grade to 7th grade. Results indicate that children who received FCPK were statistically significantly more likely to be proficient in both math and reading compared to students who did not receive FCPK. Further, there was no statistical evidence of fadeout of the benefits of FCPK through the 7th grade, indicating the persistence of the benefits of FCPK into middle school.

The development of a wide range of technologies based on terahertz (THz) electromagnetic radiation drives a strong demand for flexible optical elements. Metasurfaces based on metallic resonators offer a versatile toolkit that permits easy tuning over a wide spectral range by the geometric design. Herein, a mechanically tuned metasurface perfect absorber comprised of split‐ring resonators in combination with a metallic mirror in a microcavity arrangement, is demonstrated. By mechanically tuning the length of the microcavity in the range of 10 μm and above, precise control over the perfect absorption condition is exhibited. A maximum recorded extinction of 45.8 dB is obtained at the perfect absorption condition, corresponding to a suppression of the reflected radiation by almost five orders of magnitude. Experiments are performed in a reflection arrangement using a terahertz time‐domain spectrometer. Simulations of the experimental arrangement show that near‐field effects are weak and the enhancement of metamaterial perfect absorption is in agreement with purely interferometric effects.

Abstract Background The AMBER (Assessment, Management, Best Practice, Engagement, Recovery Uncertain) care bundle is a complex intervention used in UK hospitals to support patients with uncertain recovery. However, it has yet to be evaluated in a randomised controlled trial (RCT) to identify potential benefits or harms. The aim of this trial was to investigate the feasibility of a cluster RCT of the AMBER care bundle. Methods This is a prospective mixed-methods feasibility cluster RCT. Quantitative data collected from patients (or proxies if patients lack capacity) were used (i) to examine recruitment, retention and follow-up rates; (ii) to test data collection tools for the trial and determine their optimum timing; (iii) to test methods to identify the use of financial resources; and (iv) to explore the acceptability of study procedures for health professionals and patients. Descriptive statistical analyses and thematic analysis used the framework approach. Results In total, 894 patients were screened, of whom 220 were eligible and 19 of those eligible (8.6%) declined to participate. Recruitment to the control arm was challenging. Of the 728 patients screened for that arm, 647 (88.9%) were excluded. Overall, 65 patients were recruited (81.3% of the recruitment target of 80). Overall, many were elderly (≥80 years, 46.2%, n = 30, mean = 77.8 years, standard deviation [SD] = 12.3 years). Over half (53.8%) had a non-cancer diagnosis, with a mean of 2.3 co-morbidities; 24.6% patients (n = 16) died during their hospital stay and 35.4% (n = 23) within 100 days of discharge. In both trial arms, baseline IPOS subscale scores identified moderate patient anxiety (control: mean 13.3, SD 4.8; intervention: mean 13.3, SD 5.1), and howRwe identified a good care experience (control: mean 13.1, SD 2.5; intervention: mean 11.5, SD 2.1). Collecting quantitative service use and quality of life data was feasible. No patient participants regarded study involvement negatively. Focus groups with health professionals identified concerns regarding (i) the subjectivity of the intervention’s eligibility criteria, (ii) the need to prognosticate to identify potential patients and (iii) consent procedures and the length of the questionnaire. Conclusions A full trial of the AMBER care bundle is technically feasible but impractical due to fundamental issues in operationalising the intervention’s eligibility criteria, which prevents optimal recruitment. Since this complex intervention continues to be used in clinical care and advocated in policy, alternative research approaches must be considered and tested. Trial registration International Standard Randomised Controlled Trial Number (ISRCTN) Register, ISRCTN36040085.

Alterations in the development of attention control and learning have been associated with autism and can be measured using the "antisaccade task," which assesses a child's ability to make an oculomotor response away from a distracting stimulus, and learn to instead anticipate a later reward. We aimed to assess these cognitive processes using portable eye-tracking in an understudied population of pre-school children with and without a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder in community settings in New Delhi, India. The eye-tracking antisaccade task was presented to children in three groups (n = 104) (children with a clinical diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder or intellectual disability and children meeting developmental milestones). In accordance with findings from high-income, laboratory-based environments, children learnt to anticipate looks towards a reward, as well as inhibit eye-movements towards a distractor stimulus. We also provide novel evidence that while differences in inhibition responses might be applicable to multiple developmental conditions, a reduced learning to anticipate looks towards a target in this age group may be specific to autism. This eye-tracking task may, therefore, have the potential to identify and assess autism specific traits across development, and be used in longitudinal research studies such as investigating response to intervention in low-resource settings.

A diagnosis of autism typically depends on clinical assessments by highly trained professionals. This high resource demand poses a challenge in low-resource settings. Digital assessment of neurodevelopmental symptoms by non-specialists provides a potential avenue to address this challenge. This cross-sectional case-control field study establishes proof of principle for such a digital assessment. We developed and tested an app, START, that can be administered by non-specialists to assess autism phenotypic domains (social, sensory, motor) through child performance and parent reports. N = 131 children (2-7 years old; 48 autistic, 43 intellectually disabled and 40 non-autistic typically developing) from low-resource settings in Delhi-NCR, India were assessed using START in home settings by non-specialist health workers. The two groups of children with neurodevelopmental disorders manifested lower social preference, greater sensory interest and lower fine-motor accuracy compared to their typically developing counterparts. Parent report further distinguished autistic from non-autistic children. Machine-learning analysis combining all START-derived measures demonstrated 78% classification accuracy for the three groups. Qualitative analysis of the interviews with health workers and families of the participants demonstrated high acceptability and feasibility of the app. These results provide feasibility, acceptability and proof of principle for START, and demonstrate the potential of a scalable, mobile tool for assessing neurodevelopmental conditions in low-resource settings.

Racism is enmeshed within the fabric of U.S. public education, making it critical to identify and dismantle. One way to do this is to provide professional development (PD) to teachers targeting antiracism to build awareness, decenter whiteness, and advance racial equity in schools. This systematic review is a synthesis of antiracism PD studies, summarizing the (a) topics and activities integrated, (b) participants, (c) settings, and (d) outcomes associated with participation. Thirty-eight studies published from 1981 to 2020 met study criteria. Results indicated that study participants were most likely to be white educators from urban, public elementary schools who received, on average, nearly 18 hours of professional development. Training included authentic learning and reflection opportunities, with many participants reporting increased critical consciousness and improved racial literacy after PD. However, results also illuminated (a) inconsistencies in the way white teachers responded to training, likely aligning with their own readiness to learn and racial identity development, (b) that school leadership has a key role in creating a safe, trusting, well-resourced environment for this work, and (c) white teachers may need assistance moving from talking about decentering whiteness to taking antiracist action. We conclude with implications for research, practice, and policy.

Huntington’s disease (HD) is a genetically caused neurodegenerative disorder characterized by heterogeneous motor, psychiatric, and cognitive symptoms. Although motor symptoms may be the most prominent presentation, cognitive symptoms such as memory deficits and executive dysfunction typically co-occur. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and task fMRI-based dynamic causal modeling (DCM) to evaluate HD-related changes in the neural network underlying working memory (WM). Sixty-four pre-symptomatic HD mutation carriers (preHD), 20 patients with early manifest HD symptoms (earlyHD), and 83 healthy control subjects performed an n-back fMRI task with two levels of WM load. Effective connectivity was assessed in five predefined regions of interest, comprising bilateral inferior parietal cortex, left anterior cingulate cortex, and bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. HD mutation carriers performed less accurately and more slowly at high WM load compared with the control group. While between-group comparisons of brain activation did not reveal differential recruitment of the cortical WM network in mutation carriers, comparisons of brain connectivity as identified with DCM revealed a number of group differences across the whole WM network. Most strikingly, we observed decreasing connectivity from several regions toward right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (rDLPFC) in preHD and even more so in earlyHD. The deterioration in rDLPFC connectivity complements results from previous studies and might mirror beginning cortical neural decline at premanifest and early manifest stages of HD. We were able to characterize effective connectivity in a WM network of HD mutation carriers yielding further insight into patterns of cognitive decline and accompanying neural deterioration.

Extreme environmental conditions such as those found in the polar regions on Earth are thought to test the limits of life. Microorganisms living in these environments often seek protection from environmental stresses such as high UV exposure, desiccation and rapid temperature fluctuations, with one protective habitat found within rocks. Such endolithic microbial communities, which often consist of bacteria, fungi, algae and lichens, are small-scale ecosystems comprised of both producers and consumers. However, the harsh environmental conditions experienced by polar endolithic communities are thought to limit microbial diversity and therefore the rate at which they cycle carbon. In this study, we characterized the microbial community diversity, turnover rate and microbe–mineral interactions of a gypsum-based endolithic community in the polar desert of the Canadian high Arctic. 16S/18S/23S rRNA pyrotag sequencing demonstrated the presence of a diverse community of phototrophic and heterotrophic bacteria, archaea, algae and fungi. Stable carbon isotope analysis of the viable microbial membranes, as phospholipid fatty acids and glycolipid fatty acids, confirmed the diversity observed by molecular techniques and indicated that present-day atmospheric carbon is assimilated into the microbial community biomass. Uptake of radiocarbon from atmospheric nuclear weapons testing during the 1960s into microbial lipids was used as a pulse label to determine that the microbial community turns over carbon on the order of 10 yr, equivalent to 4.4 g C m−2 yr−1 gross primary productivity. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) micrographs indicated that mechanical weathering of gypsum by freeze–thaw cycles leads to increased porosity, which ultimately increases the habitability of the rock. In addition, while bacteria were adhered to these mineral surfaces, chemical analysis by micro-X-ray fluorescence (μ-XRF) spectroscopy suggests little evidence for microbial alteration of minerals, which contrasts with other endolithic habitats. While it is possible that these communities turn over carbon quickly and leave little evidence of microbe–mineral interaction, an alternative hypothesis is that the soluble and friable nature of gypsum and harsh conditions lead to elevated erosion rates, limiting microbial residence times in this habitat. Regardless, this endolithic community represents a microbial system that does not rely on a nutrient pool from the host gypsum cap rock, instead receiving these elements from allochthonous debris to maintain a more diverse and active community than might have been predicted in the polar desert of the Canadian high Arctic.

Introduction Early childhood development forms the foundations for functioning later in life. Thus, accurate monitoring of developmental trajectories is critical. However, such monitoring often relies on time-intensive assessments which necessitate administration by skilled professionals. This difficulty is exacerbated in low-resource settings where such professionals are predominantly concentrated in urban and often private clinics, making them inaccessible to many. This geographic and economic inaccessibility contributes to a significant ‘detection gap’ where many children who might benefit from support remain undetected. The Scalable Transdiagnostic Early Assessment of Mental Health (STREAM) project aims to bridge this gap by developing an open-source, scalable, tablet-based platform administered by non-specialist workers to assess motor, social and cognitive developmental status. The goal is to deploy STREAM through public health initiatives, maximising opportunities for effective early interventions.Methods and analysis The STREAM project will enrol and assess 4000 children aged 0–6 years from Malawi (n=2000) and India (n=2000). It integrates three established developmental assessment tools measuring motor, social and cognitive functioning using gamified tasks, observation checklists, parent-report and audio-video recordings. Domain scores for motor, social and cognitive functioning will be developed and assessed for their validity and reliability. These domain scores will then be used to construct age-adjusted developmental reference curves.Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval has been obtained from local review boards at each site (India: Sangath Institutional Review Board; All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) Ethics Committee; Indian Council of Medical Research—Health Ministry Screening Committee; Malawi: College of Medicine Research and Ethics Committee; Malawi Ministry of Health—Blantyre District Health Office). The study adheres to Good Clinical Practice standards and the ethical guidelines of the 6th (2008) Declaration of Helsinki. Findings from STREAM will be disseminated to participating families, healthcare professionals, policymakers, educators and researchers, at local, national and international levels through meetings, academic journals and conferences.

Based on the findings of a qualitative case study, this article describes the experiences of key stakeholders about the inclusion of learners with disabilities in regular schools in the South Central Region of Botswana. Multiple stakeholders, such as school-heads, general education teachers, learners with disabilities, and their peers, from six elementary schools participated in this research. The data collection methods included focus group discussions, school and classroom observations, and document analysis. Findings indicate that most of the teachers preferred to include learners with mild disabling conditions compared with learners with severe to profound disabling conditions. School-heads raised concerns such as inadequate training in special education, lack of resources, and high student–teacher ratio as barriers to successful implementation of inclusive education. In contrast to this, the students’ peers expressed high levels of acceptance of learners with disabilities. This reflects Botswana’s history of diversity and culture incorporating regional ethnic differences. It is a real strength to build on in the movement toward fully inclusive education.

In the title compound, C15H17NOS·H2O, the benzene and pyridine rings form a dihedral angle of 71.18 (2)°. The intramolecular S...O distance [2.737 (3) Å] is shorter than expected and, in terms of hybridization principles, the N—C—S angle [114.1 (2)°] is smaller than expected. The crystal structure is stabilized by intermolecular O—H...O and weak C—H...O hydrogen bonds. In addition, weak π–π stacking interactions with a centroid–centroid distance of 3.778 (3) Å are also observed.

In the title compound, C12H11NOS, the dihedral angle between the oxopyridinium and phenyl rings is 58.40 (1)°. The crystal structure is stabilized by C—H...O hydrogen bonds, π–π stacking interactions involving the pyridinium rings [centroid–centroid distance = 3.6891 (9) Å] and C—H...π interactions.

Introduction The North American toxic drug crisis has been framed as an epidemic primarily affecting white people. However, evidence suggests that deaths are rising among racialised people. Accordingly, we sought to describe and compare characteristics and circumstances of opioid toxicity deaths across ethno-racial groups.Methods We conducted a population-based, descriptive cross-sectional study of all individuals who died of accidental opioid toxicity in Ontario, Canada between 1 July 2017 and 30 June 2021. Decedents were categorised as Asian, black, Latin American or white. We summarised decedents’ sociodemographic characteristics, circumstances surrounding death and patterns of healthcare utilisation preceding death by ethno-racial group, and used standardised differences (SDs) to draw comparisons.Results Overall, 6687 Ontarians died of opioid toxicity, of whom 275 were Asian (4.1%), 238 were black (3.6%), 53 were Latin American (0.8%), 5222 were white (78.1%) and 899 (13.4%) had an unknown ethno-racial identity. Black people (median age: 35 years; SD: 0.40) and Asian people (median age: 37 years; SD: 0.30) generally died younger than white people (median age: 40 years), and there was greater male predominance in deaths among Asian people (86.2%; SD: 0.30), Latin American people (83.0%; SD: 0.21) and black people (80.3%; SD: 0.14) relative to white people (74.6%). Cocaine contributed to more deaths among black people (55.9%; SD: 0.37) and Asian people (45.1%; SD: 0.15) compared with white people (37.6%). Racialised people had a lower prevalence of opioid agonist treatment in the 5 years preceding death (black people: 27.9%, SD: 0.73; Asian people: 51.1%, SD: 0.22; white people: 61.9%).Conclusions There are marked differences in the risk factors, context and patterns of drug involvement in opioid toxicity deaths across ethno-racial groups, and substantial disparities exist in access to harm reduction and treatment services. Prevention and response strategies must be tailored and targeted to racialised people.