Axiological Foundations of Social Pedagogy: Search Areas

The issue of values is of key importance in social sciences and thus in pedagogy. The process of education is strongly embedded and makes references to such aspects as models, templates and standards. In turn, they are interpreted axiologically and always receive the axiological interpretation. Every pedagogical sub-discipline tackles this issue in a specific and aspect-related mode. For social pedagogy, apart from the traditional cognitive and interpretative areas, such as the adopted concepts of man and social life, the area and the subject matter of principles on the basis of which the social world should be/ could be transformed is also of great importance. One of such principles is the principle of the common good. One may ask: to which traditions does social pedagogy refer in this respect, how does it interpret this principle and what are the present-day challenges related to it?

Transformation of guided modes into bound states in the continuum

We study a silicon-based structure composed of parallel rods arranged in a periodic array. The structure supports guided modes which due to the deformation of structure in general become leaky modes. At the same time the modes split at the Brillouin zone surface by a pair with certain symmetry. Here we report on guided modes transformation into symmetry-protected BIC under deforming the structure, because of inherent field distribution governed by the Bragg-related mode hybridization.

Reading the Entrails: The Extractive Work of a Fence

This essay offers an evisceration of my troubled links to ‘cattle country’, seeking a truth-telling that responds to my mother’s romancing. I trace my family’s part in the cattle industry imposed upon Jiman Country and Wulli Wulli Country, drawing on stories populated with the hooves of cattle, the flight of emus, and the stare of a goanna. I find myself in uncomfortable territory, complicit in the actions of my settler relatives in this region of Central Queensland, but to not examine this informal archive of possession feels like a lie. The stories that shape me begin with the tales of Mum’s foster-mother, my great-aunt, about the dreadful murderous harms done during the early settler occupation of Jiman Country. My family’s later deployment of this stolen land is a related act of war. I see a related mode of violence in tales of terrified cattle in nearby Wulli Wulli Country, Mum’s girl-self perched on the back of a weary horse, whip in her hand. In all this, there is me, telling tales, like settler writers before me, caught in the writing act, exposed as a fence, dealing in stolen goods, part of the ongoing posts of making up and wires of making do. Nonetheless, I take up my extractive blade, sharpened by a field trip to this region, and carve into my family history, with its legacy of generational violence to humans, cows, waterways, and earth, exposing three extractions: the near-genocidal murders of the Jiman and Wulli Wulli people; the ongoing slaughter of cattle; and finally, there, on the kill floor, entrails exposed, the stories of my mother, laid bare for this critical reading.

Influenza vaccine in COVID-19 patients: Who?, why?, when?

Considering the increased prevalence of influenza infections in the cold season and the pandemic evolution of severe acute respiratory syndrome-CoV-2 (SARS-CoV-2), the medical staffs are facing potential viral co-infection with SARS-CoV-2 and influenza virus. Both viruses belong to the category of ribonucleic acid (RNA) viruses, having common structural features, causing a similar immune response, with a related mode of transmission and with both respiratory and general symptoms. SARS-CoV-2 and influenza viruses cause contagious infections and the protective measures against them are the same: wearing masks in crowded spaces, proper hand hygiene and avoiding crowded places. Co-infections with influenza A and B viruses and SARS-CoV-2 virus involve additional precautions regarding the therapeutic and evolution approach. Studies show that patients who have been vaccinated against influenza have developed milder forms of confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. In elderly patients, increased influenza vaccination coverage has shown to be associated with a decrease in mortality rate and also reduced the heavy impact of double infection. The Influenza vaccine can trigger early immune mechanisms in order to facilitate early detection of SARS-CoV-2 as well as its clearance. Influenza vaccination should now be seen, more than ever, as a strategy to combat the growing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, especially in vulnerable populations (elderly and people with associated comorbidities).

Exploring Dynamic Brain Functional Networks Using Continuous “State-Related” Functional MRI

We applied a “temporal decomposition” method, which decomposed a single brain functional network into several “modes”; each of them dominated a short temporal period, on a continuous, “state-” related, “finger-force feedback” functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment. With the hypothesis that attention and internal/external information processing interaction could be manipulated by different (real and sham) feedback conditions, we investigated functional network dynamics of the “default mode,” “executive control,” and sensorimotor networks. They were decomposed into several modes. During real feedback, the occurrence of “default mode-executive control competition-related” mode was higher than that during sham feedback (P=0.0003); the “default mode-visual facilitation-related” mode more frequently appeared during sham than real feedback (P=0.0004). However, the dynamics of the sensorimotor network did not change significantly between two conditions (P>0.05). Our results indicated that the visual-guided motor feedback involves higher cognitive functional networks rather than primary motor network. The dynamics monitoring of inner and outside environment and multisensory integration could be the mechanisms. This study is an extension of our previous region-specific and static-styled study of our brain functional architecture.

ZnO Nanorods on Polymer Substrate by Solution Method

In this research, ZnO nanorods were fabricated on the polymer substrate using a hydrothermal process. The grown nanorods were characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), and Raman measurements. ZnO nanorod arrays have been fabricated with diameter of 30-50 nm, and highly c-axis oriented with hexagonal wurtzite structure and perpendicular to the substrate with high crystalline quality. Room temperature Raman measurements exhibit high intensity E2 high mode and low intensity defect related mode.