Exploring young children's web searching and technoliteracy

Purpose – This paper aims to report findings from an exploratory study investigating the web interactions and technoliteracy of children in the early childhood years. Previous research has studied aspects of older children’s technoliteracy and web searching; however, few studies have analyzed web search data from children younger than six years of age. Design/methodology/approach – The study explored the Google web searching and technoliteracy of young children who are enrolled in a “preparatory classroom” or kindergarten (the year before young children begin compulsory schooling in Queensland, Australia). Young children were video- and audio-taped while conducting Google web searches in the classroom. The data were qualitatively analysed to understand the young children’s web search behaviour. Findings – The findings show that young children engage in complex web searches, including keyword searching and browsing, query formulation and reformulation, relevance judgments, successive searches, information multitasking and collaborative behaviours. The study results provide significant initial insights into young children’s web searching and technoliteracy. Practical implications – The use of web search engines by young children is an important research area with implications for educators and web technologies developers. Originality/value – This is the first study of young children’s interaction with a web search engine.

Psychometric evaluation of the Chinese version of the diabetes coping measure scale

Purpose: To evaluate the psychometric properties of a Chinese version of the Diabetes Coping Measure (DCM-C) scale.----- Methods: A self-administered questionnaire was completed by 205 people with type 2 diabetes from the endocrine outpatient departments of three hospitals in Taiwan. Confirmatory factor analysis, criterion validity, and internal consistency reliability were conducted to evaluate the psychometric properties of the DCM-C.----- Findings: Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed a four-factor structure (χ2 /df ratio=1.351, GFI=.904, CFI=.902, RMSEA=.041). The DCM-C was significantly associated with HbA1c and diabetes self-care behaviors. Internal consistency reliability of the total DCM-C scale was .74. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for each subscale of the DCM-C ranged from .37 (tackling spirit) to .66 (diabetes integration).----- Conclusions: The DCM-C demonstrated satisfactory reliability and validity to determine the use of diabetes coping strategies. The tackling spirit dimension needs further refinement when applies this scale to Chinese populations with diabetes.----- Clinical Relevance: Healthcare providers who deal with Chinese people with diabetes can use the DCM-C to implement an early determination of diabetes coping strategies.

4-(4-Nitrobenzyl)pyridinium 5-nitrosalicylate

In the title salt, C12H11N2O2+·C7H4NO5-, the cations and anions interact through asymmetric cyclic pyridinium-carboxylate N-HO,O' hydrogen-bonding associations [graph set R12(4)], giving discrete heterodimers having weak cation-anion - aromatic ring interactions [minimum ring centroid separation = 3.7116 (9) Å]

Bis[2-(2,4-dinitrobenzyl)pyridinium] biphenyl-4,4'-disulfonate

In the structure of the title compound, the salt 2(C12H10N3O4+) (C12H8O6S2)2- . 3H2O, determined at 173 K, the biphenyl-4,4'-disulfonate dianions lie across crystallographic inversion centres with the sulfonate groups interacting head-to-head through centrosymmetric cyclic bis(water)-bridged hydrogen-bonding associations [graph set R4/4(11)], forming chain structures. The 2-(2,4-dinitrobenzyl)pyridinium cations are linked to these chains through N+-H...O(water) hydrogen bonds and a two-dimensional network structure is formed through water bridges between sulfonate and 2-nitro O atoms, while the structure also has weak cation--anion pi-pi aromatic ring interactions [minimum ring centroid separation 3.8441(13)A].

4-Methylpyridinium 2-carboxy-4,5-dichlorobenzoate

In the structure of the 1:1 proton-transfer compound of 4-methylpyridine (\g-picoline) with 4,5-dichlorophthalic acid, C6H8N+ C8H3Cl2O4- . H2O, determined at 200 K, the 4,5-dichlorophthalate anions are bridged by the water molecule through O--H...O~carboxyl~ hydrogen bonds, giving zig-zag chains which extend along the c axial direction of the unit cell. The 4-methylpyridine cations are linked to the chains through single N--H...O~water~ hydrogen bonds and occupy the voids within the chains in the one-dimensional structure. The anions have the common 'planar' conformation with the short intramolecular O--H...O(carboxyl) hydrogen bond.

Improved image contrast of the bone-muscle interface with 3T MRI compared to 1.5T MRI [Abstract]

Virtual 3D models of long bones are increasingly being used for implant design and research applications. The current gold standard for the acquisition of such data is Computed Tomography (CT) scanning. Due to radiation exposure, CT is generally limited to the imaging of clinical cases and cadaver specimens. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) does not involve ionising radiation and therefore can be used to image selected healthy human volunteers for research purposes. The feasibility of MRI as alternative to CT for the acquisition of morphological bone data of the lower extremity has been demonstrated in recent studies [1, 2]. Some of the current limitations of MRI are long scanning times and difficulties with image segmentation in certain anatomical regions due to poor contrast between bone and surrounding muscle tissues. Higher field strength scanners promise to offer faster imaging times or better image quality. In this study image quality at 1.5T is quantitatively compared to images acquired at 3T. --------- The femora of five human volunteers were scanned using 1.5T and 3T MRI scanners from the same manufacturer (Siemens) with similar imaging protocols. A 3D flash sequence was used with TE = 4.66 ms, flip angle = 15° and voxel size = 0.5 × 0.5 × 1 mm. PA-Matrix and body matrix coils were used to cover the lower limb and pelvis respectively. Signal to noise ratio (SNR) [3] and contrast to noise ratio (CNR) [3] of the axial images from the proximal, shaft and distal regions were used to assess the quality of images from the 1.5T and 3T scanners. The SNR was calculated for the muscle and bone-marrow in the axial images. The CNR was calculated for the muscle to cortex and cortex to bone marrow interfaces, respectively. --------- Preliminary results (one volunteer) show that the SNR of muscle for the shaft and distal regions was higher in 3T images (11.65 and 17.60) than 1.5T images (8.12 and 8.11). For the proximal region the SNR of muscles was higher in 1.5T images (7.52) than 3T images (6.78). The SNR of bone marrow was slightly higher in 1.5T images for both proximal and shaft regions, while it was lower in the distal region compared to 3T images. The CNR between muscle and bone of all three regions was higher in 3T images (4.14, 6.55 and 12.99) than in 1.5T images (2.49, 3.25 and 9.89). The CNR between bone-marrow and bone was slightly higher in 1.5T images (4.87, 12.89 and 10.07) compared to 3T images (3.74, 10.83 and 10.15). These results show that the 3T images generated higher contrast between bone and the muscle tissue than the 1.5T images. It is expected that this improvement of image contrast will significantly reduce the time required for the mainly manual segmentation of the MR images. Future work will focus on optimizing the 3T imaging protocol for reducing chemical shift and susceptibility artifacts.

Phenyl-ring disorder in the two-dimensional hydrogen-bonded structure of the 1:1 proton-transfer salt of the diazo-dye precursor 4-(phenyldiazenyl)aniline (aniline yellow) with L-tartaric acid

The structure of the 1:1 proton-transfer compound from the reaction of L-tartaric acid with the azo-dye precursor aniline yellow [4-(phenylazo)aniline], 4-(phenyldiazenyl)anilinium hydrogen 2R,3R-tartrate C12H12N3+ . C4H6O6- has been determined at 200 K. The asymmetric unit of the compound contains two independent phenylazoanilinium cations and two hydrogen L-tartrate anions. The structure is unusual in that all four phenyl rings of both cations have identical 50% rotational disorder. The two hydrogen L-tartrate anions form independent but similar chains through head-to-tail carboxylic O--H...O~carboxyl~ hydrogen bonds [graph set C7] which are then extended into a two-dimensional hydrogen-bonded sheet structure through hydroxyl O--H...O hydrogen-bonding links. The anilinium groups of the phenyldiazenyl cations are incorporated into the sheets and also provide internal hydrogen-bonding extensions while their aromatic tails layer in the structure without significant interaction except for weak \p--\p interactions [minimum ring centroid separation, 3.844(3) \%A]. The hydrogen L-tartrate residues of both anions have the common short intramolecular hydroxyl O--H...O~carboxyl~ hydogen bonds. This work has provided a solution to the unusual disorder problem inherent in the structure of this salt as well as giving another example of the utility of the hydrogen tartrate in the generation of sheet substructures in molecular assembly processes.

Mapping a suburb with a single camera using a biologically inspired SLAM system

This paper describes a biologically inspired approach to vision-only simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) on ground-based platforms. The core SLAM system, dubbed RatSLAM, is based on computational models of the rodent hippocampus, and is coupled with a lightweight vision system that provides odometry and appearance information. RatSLAM builds a map in an online manner, driving loop closure and relocalization through sequences of familiar visual scenes. Visual ambiguity is managed by maintaining multiple competing vehicle pose estimates, while cumulative errors in odometry are corrected after loop closure by a map correction algorithm. We demonstrate the mapping performance of the system on a 66 km car journey through a complex suburban road network. Using only a web camera operating at 10 Hz, RatSLAM generates a coherent map of the entire environment at real-time speed, correctly closing more than 51 loops of up to 5 km in length.

Low-dimensional hydrogen-bonded structures in the 1:1 and 1:2 proton-transfer compounds of 4,5-dichlorophthalic acid with the aliphatic Lewis bases triethylamine, diethylamine, n-butylamine and piperidine

The structures of proton-transfer compounds of 4,5-dichlorophthalic acid (DCPA) with the aliphatic Lewis bases triethylamine, diethylamine, n-butylamine and piperidine, namely triethylaminium 2-carboxy-4,5-dichlorobenzoate C~6~H~16~N^+^ C~8~H~3~Cl~2~O~4~^-^ (I), diethylaminium 2-carboxy-4,5-dichlorobenzoate C~4~H~12~N^+^ C~8~H~3~Cl~2~O~4~^-^ (II), bis(n-butylaminium) 4,5-dichlorophthalate monohydrate 2(C~4~H~12~N^+^) C~8~H~2~Cl~2~O~4~^2-^ . H~2~O (III) and bis(piperidinium) 4,5-dichlorophthalate monohydrate 2(C~5~H~12~N^+^) C~8~H~2~Cl~2~O~4~^2-^ . H~2~O (IV)have been determined at 200 K. All compounds have hydrogen-bonding associations giving in (I) discrete cation-anion units, linear chains in (II) while (III) and (IV) both have two-dimensional structures. In (I) a discrete cation-anion unit is formed through an asymmetric R2/1(4) N+-H...O,O' hydrogen-bonding association whereas in (II), one-dimensional chains are formed through linear N-H...O associations by both aminium H donors. In compounds (III) and (IV) the primary N-H...O linked cation-anion units are extended into a two-dimensional sheet structure via amide N-H...O(carboxyl) and ...O(carbonyl) interactions. In the 1:1 salts [(I) and (II)], the hydrogen 4,5-dichlorophthalate anions are essentially planar with short intramolecular carboxylic acid O-H...O(carboxyl) hydrogen bonds [O...O, 2.4223(14) and 2.388(2)A respectively]. This work provides a further example of the uncommon zero-dimensional hydrogen-bonded DCPA-Lewis base salt and the one-dimensional chain structure type, while even with the hydrate structures of the 1:2 salts with the primary and secondary amines, the low dimensionality generally associated with 1:1 DCPA salts is also found.

2-(2,4-dinitrobenzyl)pyridinium 2-hydroxy-3,5-dinitrobenzoate

In the structure of the title compound, the salt C12H10N3O4+ C7H3N2O72-, the cations and the anions are linked by a single N+-H...O(carboxyl) hydrogen bond, the discrete cation-anion unit having no intermolecular associations other than weak cation--anion aromatic ring pi--pi interactions [ring centroid separation, 3.7320(14)A] and a number of weak inter-unit aromatic C-H...O contacts.

Guanidinium phenylarsonate-guanidine-water (1/1/2)

In the structure of CH6N3+ C6H6AsO3- . CH5N3 . 2H2O, the phenylarsonate anion gives two R2/2(8) cyclic hydrogen-bonding interactions, one with a guanidinium cation, the other with a guanidine molecule. The anions are also bridged by the water molecules, one of which completes a cyclic R3/5(9) hydrogen-bonding association with the guanidinum cation, conjoint with one of the three R^2^~2~(8) associations about that ion, as well as forming an R1/2(6) cyclic association with the guanidine molecule. The result is a three-dimensional framework structure.

Guanidinium 3-nitrobenzoate

The structure of title compound, the anhydrous guanidinium salt, CH6N3+ C7H4NO4- shows a three-dimensional structure in which the guanidinium cation is involved in three cyclic R1/2(6) hydrogen-bonding associations with separate carboxylate O-acceptors. Further peripheral associations include a cyclic R2/1(4)cation--anion interaction, forming inter-linked undulating sheets in the framework structure.

Guanidinium 2-phenylacetate

In the structure of CH6N3+ C8H7O2-, the guanidinium cation gives three cyclic hydrogen-bonding interactions with O acceptors of three independent phenylacetate anions, one R2/2(8) and two R1/2(6), giving one-dimensional columnar structures which extend down the 4~2~ axis in the tetragonal cell. Within these structures there are 86.5A^3^ solvent accessible voids.

Vibrational spectroscopic study of the antimonate mineral stibiconite Sb3+Sb5+2O6(OH)

The Raman and infrared spectrum of the antimonate mineral stibiconite Sb3+Sb5+2O6(OH) were used to define aspects of the molecular structure of the mineral. Bands attributable to water, OH stretching and bending and SbO stretching and bending were assigned. The mineral has been shown to contain both calcium and water and the formula is probably best written (Sb3+,Ca)ySb5+2-x(O,OH,H2O)6-7 where y approaches 1 and x varies from 0 to 1. Infrared spectroscopy complimented with thermogravimetric analysis proves the presence of water in the stibiconite structure. The mineral stibiconite is formed through replacement of the sulphur in stibnite. No Raman or infrared bands attributable to stibnite were identified in the spectra.