RESULTS OF EXPERIMENTAL WORK AIMED TO IDENTIFY SCHOOL ANXIETY AMONG TEENAGERS

The article describes the concepts of «anxiety» and «school anxiety»: interpretation and development in psychological science. This article studies the reasons and factors of anxiety of school anxiety in teenagers. The relevance of this topic caused by an increasing number of teenagers who get increasing anxiety and experiencing negative emotions. This article identifies the level of school and personal anxiety of teenagers (5th-7th grade) and discusses possible causes of anxiety in this age group. The article presents the results of the work of a school psychologist aimed to identify the level of school anxiety: results of the ascertaining experiment, forming experiment, individual and group consultations with elements of psychological theater, aimed at reducing the high level of anxiety of teenagers. The article describes productive options for teacher-student cooperation aimed to decrease the level of anxiety among teenagers. The article explains the recommendations for formation a psychologically safe educational environment.

Catalytic conversion of ethanol into alkenes and acetaldehyde

Bioethanol is an example of a renewable energy source which can be produced not only by fermentation of simple sugars but also by depolymerisation of cellulose, as the second-generation feedstock, in the first step. This will help to further develop the bioethanol economy. Ethanol can be used as a promising platform molecule for the production of a variety of industrially important chemicals such as alkenes or oxygenates. Alkenes are produced industrially by petrochemical way mainly from crude oil, a non-renewable energy source. Conversion of ethanol to light olefins using an appropriate catalyst could replace the production of these key building blocks for the chemical industry. In this work, the focus is on the preparation and testing of heterogeneous catalysts in the transformation of ethanol to alkenes and acetaldehyde. In most cases, magnesia-based catalysts were used on a silica support during the experiment. Individual types of catalysts were compared in terms of yields of particular products, the effect of the feedstock load and that of calcination temperature of the catalyst on the catalytic activity are discussed. The highest ethylene yields (95 %) were achieved over an Mg-β-zeolite catalyst; the highest yield of 1,3-butadiene (29.1 %) was achieved in case of an Na/alumina catalyst; and the highest acetaldehyde yield (22.3 %) was achieved using a K-doped MgO/SiO2 catalyst.

Working dogs transfer different tasks in reciprocal cooperation

Direct reciprocity can establish stable cooperation among unrelated individuals. It is a common assumption of direct reciprocity models that agents exchange like with like, but this is not necessarily true for natural interactions. It is yet unclear whether animals apply direct reciprocity rules when successive altruistic help involves different tasks. Here, we tested whether working dogs transfer help from one to another cooperative task in an iterated prisoner's dilemma paradigm. In our experiment, individual dogs received help to obtain food from a conspecific, which involved a specific task. Subsequently, the focal subject could return received favour by using a different task. Working dogs transferred the cooperative experience received through one task by applying an alternative task when they helped a previously cooperative partner. By contrast, they refrained from helping previously defecting partners. This suggests that dogs realize the cooperative act of a conspecific, which changes their propensity to provide help to that partner by different means. The ability of animals to transfer different tasks when helping a social partner by satisfying the criteria of direct reciprocity might explain the frequent occurrence of reciprocal cooperation in nature.

Thermal Predictions of the AGR-3/4 Experiment With Post Irradiation Examination Measured Time-Varying Gas Gaps

A thermal analysis was performed for the advanced gas reactor test experiment (AGR-3/4) with post irradiation examination (PIE) measured time (fast neutron fluence) varying gas gaps. The experiment was irradiated at the advanced test reactor (ATR) at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL). Several fuel irradiation experiments are planned for the AGR Fuel Development and Qualification Program, which supports the development of the very high-temperature gas-cooled reactor under the advanced reactor technologies project. The AGR-3/4 test was designed primarily to assess fission product transport through various graphite materials. Irradiation in the ATR started in December 2011 and finished in April 2014. Forty-eight (48) tristructural-isotropic-fueled compacts were inserted into 12 separate capsules for the experiment. The purpose of this analysis was to calculate the temperatures of each compact and graphite layer to obtain daily average temperatures using PIE-measured time (fast neutron fluence) varying gas gaps and compare with experimentally measured thermocouple (TC) data. PIE-measured experimental data were used for the graphite shrinkage versus fast neutron fluence. PIE dimensional measurements were taken on all the fuel compacts, graphite holders, and all of the graphite rings used. Heat rates were input from a detailed physics analysis for each day during the experiment. Individual heat rates for each nonfuel component were input as well. A steady-state thermal analysis was performed for each daily calculation. A finite element model was created for each capsule.

Growth of young Tabebuia aurea seedlings under irrigation with wastewater from fish farming

ABSTRACT This study aimed to evaluate the growth of young Tabebuia aurea seedlings irrigated with different concentrations of wastewater from fish farming. The experiment was conducted in a seedling nursery, from June to August 2013. The treatments consisted of five concentrations of wastewater from fish farming diluted in freshwater (0, 25, 50, 75 and 100% of wastewater). Plant height, stem diameter and plant height/stem diameter ratio were evaluated every 15 days to verify the effects of treatments on seedlings growth. At the end of the experiment, individual leaf area, leaf area, leaf dry matter, stem dry matter, root dry matter, total dry matter and Dickson quality index were also evaluated. The reuse of wastewater from fish farming diluted at concentrations of 25 and 50% in freshwater is a viable alternative in the production of Tabebuia aurea seedlings. However, higher concentrations hinder the production of seedlings of this species.

Performance and bunk attendance of cattle fed steam-rolled or ground corn supplemented with laidlomycin and chlortetracycline or monensin and tylosin

British cross steer calves (n = 240; 332 ± 23 kg) in 16 pens were fed ground (G) or steam-rolled (SR) corn-based finishing diets medicated with 12 mg kg-1 laidlomycin propionate and 42.2 mg kg-1 chlortetracycline hydrochloride (LC) or with 30.4 mg kg-1 monensin sodium and 10.5 mg kg-1 tylosin phosphate (MT) in a 2 × 2 factorial experiment. Individual bunk attendance was monitored using radio frequency identification in one pen per diet. Finishing diets were fed for 125 d following a 27-d adaptation from 65 to 91% concentrate diet. In the first 56 d and overall, daily dry matter intake (DMI) was greater (P < 0.05) with LC than with MT (8.8 vs. 8.3 kg), but did not differ (P = 0.97) between G and SR diets. There was a trend (P = 0.11) towards greater ADG for cattle fed LC than those fed MT (1.54 vs. 1.47 kg d-1), but gain:feed was similar (0.169; P = 0.80) between antibiotic supplements. Processing method did not (P = 0.29) affect rate of gain, but SR tended (P = 0.06) to improve gain:feed compared with G (0.171 vs. 0.165). Steers fed LC spent more (P < 0.001) time at the bunk than those fed MT (125 vs. 120 min d-1). On G diets, cattle fed LC made fewer daily visits (9.3 vs. 9.5 visits d-1; P = 0.03), but spent more time at the bunk (135.9 vs. 124.0 min d-1; P < 0.001) resulting in greater duration per meal (15.4 vs. 13.7 min meal-1; P < 0.001). These cattle also had the greatest deviation in daily duration at the bunk (37.3 vs. 33.7 min; P < 0.001). The prevalence of liver abscesses was 13.2% with LC and 6.5% with MT (P = 0.09). However, the prevalence of severely abscessed livers (2.9%) was unaffected (P = 0.45) by treatment. The prevalence of foot rot was greater (P = 0.02) for cattle fed MT (7.5%) than for cattle fed LC (0.8%). Compared with feeding MT, feeding LC may enhance ADG, possibly due to greater DMI. Key words: Beef, chlortetracycline, corn processing, laidlomycin, monensin, tylosin

Level of Joint Optimization

The macroergonomic construct of joint optimization was operationally defined as time allotment to the personnel and technological subsystems in a laboratory quality inspection experiment. Individual and group performance as well as perceived level of joint optimization were measured for each treatment condition. The experiment was organized as a one-factor between subjects design with six levels: 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70% and 80% allotted to the technological subsystem. While there were no significant differences in individual performance due to the amount of time allotted to tasks in the technical or social subsystems, differences did occur at the group performance level. Overall, the results of the study are encouraging and suggest there may be a cause and effect relationship between time allotment and level of joint optimization and performance in the technical subsystem.

Quantifying the Effect of Canopy Closure on Poinsettia Stem Elongation

The rate of poinsettia stem elongation is affected by several factors, including light quality, i.e., specific wavelengths of irradiance. As the plants grow and the canopy closes, the red to far-red ratio is reduced and stem elongation is promoted. The objective of this project was to quantify the effect of canopy closure on the stem elongation rate of pinched `Freedom' poinsettias. In the first experiment, individual plants received 413, 645, 929, 1264, or 2580 cm2 of growing area at the time of pinch. The maximum rate of stem elongation for the five spacing treatments was 2.9, 3.8, 4.3, 5.6, or 7.5 mm/day, respectively. In the second experiment, plants were grown at a “tight” or a “wide” spacing as defined by the percentage of PPF transmission measured between plants. The “wide” spacing treatments allowed 50% PPF transmission, while the “tight” spacing treatment allowed 10% PPF transmission. A constant degree of closure was maintained by weekly adjusting plant spacing based on the PPF transmission measurements. The maximum rate of stem elongation of the “tight” spacing was 4.6 mm/day compared to 3.1 mm/day for the “wide” spacing treatment.

Angiotensin II as a semen extender component increases retention of spermatozoa within the uterus of the heifer

The effects of angiotensin II (Ang II) as a semen extender were studied. In the first experiment, individual ejaculates from 10 bulls were split and extended in egg yolk citrate in the absence or presence of varying concentrations of Ang II (10-5 –10-10 M) to a final concentration of 35×106 sperm per mL. The percentage of intact acrosomes and percentage motility were determined in all treatments for all bulls at 0 h (immediately post thaw) and after incubation for 4 h at 37°C. Extension of the semen with Ang II did not affect spermatozoal viability at either time studied. In the second experiment, mixed breed virgin heifers were induced into oestrus with intramuscular injections of prostaglandin F2α on Days 0 and 3. Animals that stood to be mounted were paired for bilateral intracornual insemination using a 0·5-mL French straw on each side approximately 8 h later. One of the paired heifers received semen containing Ang II (10-5 M) while the other received control semen. A 1-mL aspirate of vaginal mucus was collected at hourly intervals for 8 h after insemination. Concentration of spermatozoa was determined by haemocytometry. There was a significant reduction in cumulative semen loss into the vagina of heifers inseminated with Ang II extended semen (14·4%) compared with heifers inseminated with control semen (19 ·7%). This suggests that Ang II, when added to extended semen, may reduce retrograde sperm loss following insemination without affecting sperm viability.

Phonological Processing and Right minus Left Hand Skill

Two experiments tested the hypothesis that children at the left of the distribution of right minus left (R-L) hand skill are at risk for poor phonological processing. In the first experiment, individual assessments of spoken rhyme awareness were made in 5- to 8-year-olds. In the second experiment, a group test of word order memory for spoken confusable and nonconfusable items was given to 9- to 11-year-olds. Evidence of poorer phonological processing in those at the left of the R-L distribution was found in both experiments. Rhyme judgements and word order memory were both associated with reading ability, but reading did not interact with effects for hand skill. A group test of homophone comprehension was given to the same children tested for word order memory. Homophone errors did not differ between hand skill groups, showing a dissociation between the two tasks for R-L hand difference. The findings suggest that some risks for phonological processing could be due to normal genetic variation associated with the hypothesized rs + gene (Annett, 1972, 1978).