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"The Life and Times of Chinua Achebe introduces readers to the life, literary works, and times of arguably the most widely-read African novelist of recent times, an icon, both in continental Africa and abroad. The book weaves together the story of Chinua Achebe, a young Igboman whose novel Things Fall Apart opened the eyes of the world to a more realistic image of Africa, a continent warped by generations of European travelers, colonists, and writers. Whilst continuing to write further influential novels and essays, Achebe also taught other African writers to use their skills to help their national leaders to fight for their freedoms in the post-colonial era, as internal warfare compounded the damage caused by European powers during the colonial era. In this book Kalu Ogbaa, an esteemed expert on Achebe and his works, draws on extensive research and personal interviews with the great man and his colleagues and friends, to tell the story of Achebe and his work. This intimate and powerful new biography will be essential reading for students and scholars of Chinua Achebe, and to anyone with an interest in the literature and post-colonial politics of Africa"--

Mobile health apps have been widely considered in the healthcare sector as innovative channels to reach patients and their families. Accordingly, the aim of the chapter was to investigate factors that influence the customers' adoption of digital health apps in Algeria. The authors adopted an extende...

The ability to write clearly and effectively is an important communication skill that is necessary for school and employment, as it is often the best way to disseminate information and ideas. Both unrecorded sign and speech are ephemeral, but writing allows the author to share an experience or idea...

Face to face communication typically involves audio and visual components to the speech signal. To examine the effect of task demands on gaze patterns in response to a speaking face, adults participated in two eye-tracking experiments with an audiovisual (articulatory information from the mouth was visible) and a pixelated condition (articulatory information was not visible). Further, task demands were manipulated by having listeners respond in a passive (no response) or an active (button press response) context. The active experiment required participants to discriminate between speech stimuli and was designed to mimic environmental situations which require one to use visual information to disambiguate the speaker’s message, simulating different listening conditions in real-world settings. Stimuli included a clear exemplar of the syllable /ba/ and a second exemplar in which the formant initial consonant was reduced creating an /a/−like consonant. Consistent with our hypothesis, results revealed that the greatest fixations to the mouth were present in the audiovisual active experiment and visual articulatory information led to a phonemic restoration effect for the /a/ speech token. In the pixelated condition, participants fixated on the eyes, and discrimination of the deviant token within the active experiment was significantly greater than the audiovisual condition. These results suggest that when required to disambiguate changes in speech, adults may look to the mouth for additional cues to support processing when it is available.

Background The body positivity movement on social media is thought to foster body appreciation, but pervasive societal concern persists about the body positivity movement and the body image, health behaviors, and “normalization of obesity” of young adult women. Purpose This study explored the relationship between engagement in the body positivity movement on social media and weight status, body appreciation, body dissatisfaction, and the health behaviors of intuitive eating and physical activity in young adult women (18–35 years). Methods Participants (N = 521; ∼64% engaged in body positivity content on social media) were recruited using Qualtrics online panels for this cross-sectional survey during February 2021. Outcomes included weight status, weight consideration, weight perception, body appreciation, body dissatisfaction, physical activity, and intuitive eating. Logistic and linear regression models adjusted for age, race, ethnicity, education level, and household income were used to assess the association between engagement in the body positivity movement and specified outcomes. Results Engagement in body positivity content was associated with greater body dissatisfaction (β = 2.33, t(519) = 2.90 p = .017), body appreciation (β = 0.26, t(519) = 2.90 p = .004), and greater likelihood of reporting high amounts of physical activity (odds ratio = 2.28; p < .05) relative to nonengaged peers; these associations remained significant after further adjustment for weight status. Body positivity was not associated with weight status, weight perception, or intuitive eating. Conclusions Engagement in the body positivity movement is associated with higher body dissatisfaction and body appreciation in young adult women, which suggests they may be drawn to and engage in the body positivity movement as a protective or coping mechanism for body dissatisfaction.

We report systematic measurements of dielectron (e+e−) invariant-mass Mee spectra at midrapidity in Au+Au collisions at √sNN = 27, 39, and 62.4 GeV taken with the STAR detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. For all energies studied, a significant excess yield of dielectrons is observed in the low-mass region (0.40<Mee<0.75 MeV/c2) compared to hadronic cocktail simulations at freeze-out. Models that include an in-medium broadening of the ρ-meson spectral function consistently describe the observed excess. In addition, we report acceptance-corrected dielectron-excess spectra for Au+Au collisions at midrapidity (|yee|< 1) in the 0–80% centrality bin for each collision energy. The integrated excess yields for 0.4<Mee<0.75GeV/c2, normalized by the charged particle multiplicity at midrapidity, are compared with previously published measurements for Au+Au at √sNN1 = 19.6 and 200 GeV. Models that include an in-medium broadening of the ρ-meson spectral function consistently describe the observed excess. The normalized excess yields in the low-mass region show no significant collision energy dependence. The data, however, are consistent with model calculations that demonstrate a modest energy dependence.

Purpose This study examined the language skills and the type and frequency of disfluencies in the spoken narrative production of typically developing Spanish-English bilingual children. Method A cross-sectional sample of 106 bilingual children (50 boys; 56 girls) enrolled in kindergarten through Grade 4, produced a total of 212 narrative retell language samples in English and Spanish. A specialized fluency coding system was implemented to index the percentage of total (%TD) and stuttering-like disfluencies (%SLD) in each language. Large-scale reference databases were used to classify children’s dual language proficiency profiles (balanced, English dominant, Spanish dominant) based on language sample analysis measures of morphosyntax and lexical diversity. Results The bilingual Spanish-English children in this study did not demonstrate significant cross-linguistic differences for mean %TD or %SLD. However, the mean %TD and %SLD in both languages exceeded the risk threshold based on monolingual English-speaking norms. English dominant bilingual children demonstrated significantly lower %TD in English than Spanish. Spanish dominant children demonstrated significantly lower %SLD in Spanish than English. Conclusions This study included the largest sample size of bilingual Spanish-English children investigated to date from a fluency perspective. The frequency of disfluencies was found to be variable across participants and change dynamically as a function of grade and dual language proficiency profiles, indicating the need for studies that employ larger sample sizes and longitudinal designs.

We report the triton (t) production in midrapidity (|y|<0.5) Au+Au collisions at √sNN=7.7–200 GeV measured by the STAR experiment from the first phase of the beam energy scan at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. The nuclear compound yield ratio (Nt×Np/N2d), which is predicted to be sensitive to the fluctuation of local neutron density, is observed to decrease monotonically with increasing charged-particle multiplicity (dNch/dη) and follows a scaling behavior. The dNch/dη dependence of the yield ratio is compared to calculations from coalescence and thermal models. Enhancements in the yield ratios relative to the coalescence baseline are observed in the 0%-10% most central collisions at 19.6 and 27 GeV, with a significance of 2.3σ and 3.4σ, respectively, giving a combined significance of 4.1σ. The enhancements are not observed in peripheral collisions or model calculations without critical fluctuation, and decreases with a smaller pT acceptance. The physics implications of these results on the QCD phase structure and the production mechanism of light nuclei in heavy-ion collisions are discussed.

IntroductionMotivation to be physically active and sedentary is a transient state that varies in response to previous behavior. It is not known: (a) if motivational states vary from morning to evening, (b) if they are related to feeling states (arousal/hedonic tone), and (c) whether they predict current behavior and intentions. The primary purpose of this study was to determine if motivation states vary across the day and in what pattern. Thirty adults from the United States were recruited from Amazon MTurk.MethodsParticipants completed 6 identical online surveys each day for 8 days beginning after waking and every 2–3 h thereafter until bedtime. Participants completed: (a) the CRAVE scale (Right now version) to measure motivation states for Move and Rest, (b) Feeling Scale, (c) Felt Arousal Scale, and (d) surveys about current movement behavior (e.g., currently sitting, standing, laying down) and intentions for exercise and sleep. Of these, 21 participants (mean age 37.7 y; 52.4% female) had complete and valid data.ResultsVisual inspection of data determined that: a) motivation states varied widely across the day, and b) most participants had a single wave cycle each day. Hierarchical linear modelling revealed that there were significant linear and quadratic time trends for both Move and Rest. Move peaked near 1500 h when Rest was at its nadir. Cosinor analysis determined that the functional waveform was circadian for Move for 81% of participants and 62% for Rest. Pleasure/displeasure and arousal independently predicted motivation states (all p's < .001), but arousal had an association twice as large. Eating, exercise and sleep behaviors, especially those over 2 h before assessment, predicted current motivation states. Move-motivation predicted current body position (e.g., laying down, sitting, walking) and intentions for exercise and sleep more consistently than rest, with the strongest prediction of behaviors planned for the next 30 min.DiscussionWhile these data must be replicated with a larger sample, results suggest that motivation states to be active or sedentary have a circadian waveform for most people and influence future behavioral intentions. These novel results highlight the need to rethink the traditional approaches typically utilized to increase physical activity levels.

King Zedekiah of Judah’s covenant to release Hebrew slaves during the siege of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 588/587 and Jeremiah’s idealistic denunciation of the reclaiming of those slaves in Jer 34 has been the subject of interesting scholarly debate. For all the proposed foreign and intra-Biblical parallels, the policy was purely pragmatic and can be understood as a recognizable strategy from ancient texts that recommend procedures during a siege. Therefore when the siege is temporarily lifted, the policy is reversed.

The purpose of this 1-group, retrospective case study was to analyze the expanded role of registered nurse care coordination (RNCC) on health outcomes in a primary care setting in its real-life context. The convenience sample consisted of 244 adults diagnosed with uncontrolled diabetes mellitus and/or hypertension. Secondary data entered into the electronic health record by the health care team during patient visits pre- and post-implementation of the RNCC program were analyzed. Clinical findings suggest that RNCC may provide a valuable service. Additionally, financial analysis demonstrated that the cost of the RNCC position was both self-sustaining and revenue producing.

This study examines the complexities of cultural-heritage management in Vietnam and the various tensions that arise within initiatives promoting “authentic” versions of cultural practice. In particular, this research investigates local perceptions concerning the commodification of the Cham New Year (Rija Nâgar) at temple-tower complexes, and explores the implications of sacred religious holidays (ngày lễ) that are organized as festival (lễ hội) events. Arranged by local Vietnamese officials, the implementation of these events for tourists contradicts important Cham worldviews, leading to negative perceptions of tourism among community members, and fears that such practices pose irrevocable damage for Cham spirituality and the future of their ancestral heritage. This research underscores the importance of community involvement with respect to decision making in cultural-heritage management, and that heritage tourism in Vietnam, and Southeast Asia more generally, may be dramatically improved with guidance from indigenous voices and local spiritual leaders.

A deep learning (DL) algorithm is built and tested for its ability to determine centers of star images in HST/WFPC2 exposures, in filters F555W and F814W. These archival observations hold great potential for proper-motion studies, but the undersampling in the camera’s detectors presents challenges for conventional centering algorithms. Two exquisite data sets of over 600 exposures of the cluster NGC 104 in these filters are used as a testbed for training and evaluating the DL code. Results indicate a single-measurement standard error from 8.5 to 11 mpix, depending on the detector and filter. This compares favorably to the ∼20 mpix achieved with the customary “effective point spread function (PSF)” centering procedure for WFPC2 images. Importantly, the pixel-phase error is largely eliminated when using the DL method. The current tests are limited to the central portion of each detector; in future studies, the DL code will be modified to allow for the known variation of the PSF across the detectors.

The college student population is among the highest risk group for contracting sexually transmitted infections (STIs) such as gonorrhea, chlamydia, and HIV. Safe sex practices, which are intended to mitigate risks associated with sexually transmitted infections, are often negated in the population of heterosexual college students. Historically, research on safe sex practices has shown that the burden of behavior change and the focus on educational efforts historically fall onto the female population. There is little published on how safe sex education for males impacts attitudes and behaviors towards safe sex practices. This community-based participatory research (CBPR) project explored heterosexual college male attitudes and behaviors about safe sex responsibilities with the goal of creating effective health promotion messages to increase safer sex. The research team comprised almost entirely of undergraduate male students, which strengthened the design and translation of results to practice. A mixed methods design was employed utilizing both focus groups and surveys as data collection (n=121). Results showed that young men are still prioritizing pregnancy prevention over disease contraction and/or testing, and relying on female partners to initiate safe sex. Implications for health promotion practice efforts on college campuses include: male-led peer education programming and support and messaging around screening and prevention of STIs. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.

Fingerprinting-based indoor positioning systems require a significant amount of time to set up due to the need for prior, offline signal map creation. We propose a mobile phone-based indoor positioning system that can be set up in a short amount of time in any environment with existing Wi-Fi infrastructure. We introduce interpolation into a fingerprinting-based system to reduce the number of reference points needed, leading to a reduction in signal map creation time. The proposed interpolation method is used in conjunction with a particle filter algorithm to provide an accuracy level comparable to the state-of-the-art. We created signal maps at three separate locations using a 100%, 50%, 20%, and 10% scan coverage in order to evaluate the effectiveness of our interpolation on the localization error on a lower scan percentage. We evaluated our signal maps before and after interpolation using 16 tests which included both motion and stationary tests, as well as tests taken 2 and 3 weeks after the initial data gathering. We show that our interpolation method is able to reduce the effects of a dimensional mismatch between signal map reference point vectors and a test sample vector, as well as reduce the effects of signal map aging. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.

The earth’s population is growing at a rapid rate, while the availability of water resources remains limited. Water is required for various purposes, including drinking, agriculture, industry, recreation, and development. Accurate forecasting of river flows can have a significant economic impact, particularly in agricultural water management and planning during water resource scarcity. Developing precise river flow forecasting models can greatly improve the management of water resources in many countries. In this study, we propose a two-phase model for predicting the flow of the Blackwater river located in the South Central United States. In the first phase, we use Multigene Symbolic Regression Genetic Programming (MG-GP) to develop a mathematical model. In the second phase, Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) is employed to fine-tune the model parameters. Fine-tuning the MG-GP parameters improves the prediction accuracy of the model. The newly fine-tuned model exhibits 96% and 94% accuracy in training and testing cases, respectively © 2023, International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications.All Rights Reserved.