Carrying the Burden Into the Pandemic – Effects of Social Disparities on Elementary Students’ Parents’ Perception of Supporting Abilities and Emotional Stress During the COVID-19 Lockdown

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed many challenges, especially for families. Both the public and the scientific community are currently discussing the extent to which school closings have worsened existing social differences, especially with regard to children’s academic and socio-emotional development. At the same time, parents have had to manage childcare and home schooling alongside their jobs and personal burdens posed by the pandemic. Parents’ possibilities for meeting these cognitive and emotional challenges might also depend on the different conditions in families. For this reason, the present paper investigates the structural and process characteristics of the family as well as children’s and parents’ psychological characteristics that predict how parents assess their ability to support their child’s learning during homeschooling as well as parents’ perceived emotional stress caused by school closure. The study analyses data of the Newborn Cohort Study of the German National Educational Panel Study. The two dependent variables (self-assessment of abilities, perceived stress) were measured during the COVID-19 pandemic after the first school closure in Germany, at a time when the children of this cohort were attending second grade. Besides a number of control variables (including the child’s struggle with home schooling), families’ structural characteristics [socioeconomic status (SES), education], process characteristics (home learning environment, HLE), parents’ psychological characteristics (preceding psychological stress), and the child’s psychological characteristics (self-regulation, school-related independence) from earlier waves were included as predictors. The results of structural equation models show that perceived stress was associated with structural factors and the preceding psychological stress of parents. Parents with higher preceding stress reported higher perceived stress. Interestingly, higher-educated parents also reported more stress than lower educated parents during the pandemic. The effect was the other way around for SES – parents with lower SES reported more stress than parents with higher SES. The self-reported abilities to support the learning of the child seemed to be mainly predicted by the parent’s education as well as preceding psychological stress. To sum up, the results identify important aspects that determine how parents handle the challenges of the school closures. Especially, socially disadvantaged families carry their burden into the pandemic.

Risk Assessment—the Key to More Security? Factors, Tools, and Practices in Dealing with Extremist Individuals

In recent years, risk assessments for violent extremism have attracted great interest from both scholars and practitioners, and many assessment tools have been developed. After a critical review of this development, the paper examines differences and similarities between the indicators of various violent extremist risk assessment tools and checklists. Based on an interview study with 34 experts in the field of Counter Violent Extremism and 24 (formerly) radicalized persons from the right-wing radical and Salafi-Jihadist spectrum, risk factors were identified and the findings merged and compared with already existing risk assessment tools. The paper will present results especially regarding the risk signals’ occurrence and applicability in the German context. One key finding is that existing assessment tools insufficiently take into account personal contacts in the radicalization process. Thus, the paper—based on the results of a social network analysis—draws attention to the potential and importance of networks. The paper concludes by outlining the potential of risk assessment, suggesting improvements, and raising awareness of the limits and deficits of these tools. The paper thus scientifically addresses the challenge of more security through efficient risk assessment and management. It offers a list of radicalization process characteristics (ARISNA: Assessment of Radicalized Individuals including Social Network Analysis), which is designed to help users analyze the risk of radicalization based on concrete traits of a person and their environment.

Inverse Determination of Johnson–Cook Parameters of Additively Produced Anisotropic Maraging Steel

In powder bed-based additive manufacturing (AM), complex geometries can be produced in a layer-wise approach. Results of material science experiments regarding material property identification, e.g., tensile strength, show interdependencies between the test load direction and the layer orientation. This goes hand-in-hand with the measured cutting force, changing with the relative angle between cutting direction and layer orientation in orthogonal cutting tests. However, due to the specific process characteristics, the layer orientation results in anisotropic material properties. Therefore, during machining, the material behaves depending on the buildup direction, which influences the cutting process. To predict this behavior, a simplified inverse approach is developed to determine the buildup direction-dependent parameters of a modified Johnson–Cook model for cutting simulation. To qualify these cutting models, mainly the cutting force and additionally the chip formation examined during orthogonal cuts are used. In the present paper, the influence of the laser-powder-bed-fusion (LPBF) process parameters on subtractive post-processing are shown. A good agreement between verification experiments and simulations is achieved.

Structural and Process Data on Radiological Imaging in the Treatment of Severely Injured Patients – Results of a Survey of Level I and II Trauma Centers in Germany

Purpose Systematic data collection regarding the integration of radiology as well as structural and process characteristics of radiological diagnostics of severely injured patients in Germany using a structured questionnaire. Materials and Methods Personal contact with all certified Level I and Level II Trauma Centers in Germany. Data on infrastructure, composition of the trauma room team, equipment, and data on the organization/performance of primary major trauma diagnostics were collected. Results With a participation rate of 46.9 % (n = 151) of all German trauma centers (N = 322), a solid database is available. There were highly significant differences in the structural characteristics incl. CT equipment between the level I and II centers: In 63.8 % of the level II centers, the CT unit was located more than 50 m away from the trauma room (34.2 % in the level I centers). A radiologist was part of the trauma room team in 59.5 % of level II centers (level I 88.1 %). Additionally, highly significant differences were found comparing 24-h provision of other radiologic examinations and interventions, such as MRI (level II 44.9 %, level I 92.8 %) and angiography (level II 69.2 %, level I 97.1 %). Conclusion Heterogeneous structural and process characteristics of the diagnosis of severely injured patients in Germany were revealed, with highly significant differences between level I and level II centers. Key Points: Citation Format

Design of Optical Free-Form Surface Milling Machine Based on Mechanical Shunt and Dynamic Analysis

An optical free-form surface milling machine is designed according to the process characteristics and cutting force of optical components manufacturing. The Z-axis column of the milling machine is designed by a mechanical shunt. In this paper, based on the principle of multibody dynamics (MBD), a virtual prototype (VP) of the optical free-form surface milling machine was established by the ADAMS software. The Z-axis characteristics of the milling machine were simulated and studied, and a modal analysis was carried out to obtain the natural frequencies and vibration modes of the milling machine. The simulation results show that the Z-axis of the milling machine has excellent dynamic characteristics when the gravity balance device is not working. The average torque of the Z-axis motor is 0.5 N·m when the gravity balance device is working, the average torque of the Z-axis motor is 0.1 N·m, and the average torque is reduced by 80%; therefore, the gravity balance device can obviously lower the load of the Z-axis motor, and improve the efficiency of the milling machine.

Examining the Relationship Between Hospice Agency Characteristics and Complaint Deficiencies

The U.S. hospice industry has expanded over the last decade. Similar to nursing homes, research guided by the Donabedian framework has documented quality differences in hospice based on agency characteristics, including profit status and rural status. Yet, compared to nursing homes, quality oversight and transparency in hospice remain limited. When families report substandard care, a complaint survey is launched to investigate allegations. Using publicly available regulatory oversight data (e.g., CMS QCOR, Medicare PACPUF, CAHPS HIS, Hospice Compare), and guided by the Donabedian framework, this study describes hospice agency structure and process characteristics associated with care complaint deficiencies (outcome). Of the 4,415 hospice facilities examined, 453 (or 10.3%) have had complaint survey deficiency citations between January 2018 and December 2020. Chi-square and ANOVA tests were conducted to compare facility characteristics (e.g., ownership status, percentage of Medicare beneficiaries in rural zips), nursing and social work involvement, and CAHPS scores between hospices with and without complaint survey deficiencies. Results indicated that the average proportion of beneficiaries with a rural zip for Medicare correspondence was significantly lower in hospices with deficiencies (p<.001). Finding also suggested that weekly total nursing and social work minutes were significantly higher in hospices with deficiencies. Additionally, family ratings of hospice team communication, symptom management, and overall satisfaction were higher in facilities without complaint survey deficiencies. Future research and practice implications will be discussed.

Process Characteristics of Water-based Self-curing Coatings for Sand Casting

The rheological and gas evolution characteristics of water-based self-curing coatings for sand casting were analyzed and the influence of coating-thickness and graded coating on self-curing rate of coatings was studied. It can be seen from the test results that: the new water-based self-curing coating has both the characteristics of thixotropic fluid and pseudoplastic fluid, which has moderate thixotropy rate and high brushing index, good brushability and excellent comprehensive balance of flow-levelling and anti-flowability. It can meet the rheological requirements of various coating methods. The self-curing speed of water-based self-curing coating increases in an approximately linear manner with the decrease of its thickness. Thick coating should be best to paint at one time in the premise of ensuring its surface quality. Although the gas evolution volume of the new water-based self-curing coating is approximately equal to that of ordinary water-based baking coatings, but the gas evolution speed of self-curing coatings is almost half as that of the latter, which provides good conditions for preventing gas hole defect of casting.