On the development of creativity in children

There seems to be a quantitative increase in creativity scores through the years of childhood and adolescence, with some strong declines at certain developmental stations. However, earlier studies give no information about qualitative changes in creativity development. Traditional divergent thinking tests, for example, give more or less pure quantitative information about cognitive skills. The present investigation examined age trends using the recently developed Test zum schöpferischen Denken—Zeichnerisch, or in English, Test for Creative Thinking‐Drawing Production (TCT‐DP). The TCT‐DP recognizes qualitative response categories. In the present investigation, the TCT‐DP was administered to children between four and eight years of age (N = 272) from kindergarten and the first two school grades. In addition to a quantitative analysis, a special qualitative analysis of the drawings shows how and in which way different subcomponents of creativity develop. Six developmental stages of creativity, closely related to general cognitive development, were identified.     

Dark Webs: Tantra,Black Magic,and Cyberspace

International Journal of Hindu Studies - This article examines the changing nature of Tantra in the digital era by focusing on three online tāntrik practitioners from Assam. The region of...     

Determination of the Burgers vector of dislocations in icosahedral quasicrystals by a high-resolution lattice-fringe technique

A technique for the determination of the full six-dimensional Burgers vector characterizing a dislocation in an icosahedral quasicrystal is presented. It is based on the lattice-fringe analysis of two high-resolution transmission electron microscopy images taken at two different sample orientations. As an example we present the analysis of a dislocation in a bent icosahedral Al-Pd-Mn quasicrystal. We obtained a Burgers vector B = A₀[-2,0,3,-2,3,0] where A₀ = 0.645nm is the six-dimensional hyperlattice constant. This result is consistent with previous results obtained by diffraction contrast analysis and convergent-beam electron diffraction techniques.     

The atomic structure of the dislocation cores in a small-angle grain boundary in BaTiO3 thin films

The atomic structure of the cores of the dislocations forming a [110] tilt boundary of 10^o misorientation in a BaTiO₃ film is characterized by means of focal-series reconstruction. Along the small-angle grain boundary, facets with different inclinations are accompanied by different types of dislocation. The dislocation with a Burgers vector of a [001] appears as a perfect edge type. Those with a Burgers vector of a [111] are dissociated into three partials with a Burgers vector of (a/3)[111], leading to two segments of stacking faults. Structural models of these dislocation cores are suggested on the basis of the phase of the reconstructed wavefunction and tested by simulation of the wavefunction.     

Plastic deformation behaviour of decagonal Al70Ni15Co15 single quasicrystals

High-temperature deformation experiments have been performed on decagonal Al₇₀Ni₁₅Co₁₅ single quasicrystals at a constant strain rate of 10^-5s^-1 in the temperature range between 700 and 860°C. The samples were deformed in compression with the compression axis in different orientations, parallel to, inclined by 45° and perpendicular to the tenfold symmetry axis. Stress relaxation tests and temperature changes were carried out to determine thermodynamic activation parameters. The flow stress and the activation enthalpy were found to depend on the sample orientation whereas dependences of the activation volume and the stress exponent on the orientation were not observed. Additionally, deformation tests were performed on samples of the basic Co-rich modification of the decagonal phase at the temperature of 860°C in the same three orientations. The deformation behaviours of the two different modifications of the decagonal phase are discussed.     

Reducing obstacles to the provision of quality diabetic care

Abstract

High quality diabetic care is seen as influenced by the organisation of care, health care workers' involvement in diabetes-specific areas, co-operation among staff members, the availability of resources, and the competence of medical staff (including both physicians and nurses). In a prospective study we have tested a programme for improvements of the quality of diabetes services which combined organisational development and continuing medical education (CME) measures. The study involved 34 primary health care centres over an 18 month period and was based on the responses to questionnaires answered by 123 general practitioners and 247 registered nurses at the 34 PHCCs.

The combined programme had a considerable influence on inter-group co-operation, staff members' perceptions of resources available, and nurses' involvement in diabetic care (54 versus 30% seeing diabetic patients for regular check-ups).

The results show that, in order to diminish obstacles to high quality care, organisation of care as well as care workers' theoretical knowledge has to be focused.     

Self-regulation processes and thriving in childhood and adolescence: a view of the issues

Both organismic and intentional self-regulation processes must be integrated across childhood and adolescence for adaptive developmental regulations to exist and for the developing person to thrive, both during the first two decades of life and through the adult years. To date, such an integrated, life-span approach to self-regulation during childhood and adolescence has not been fully formulated. The purpose of this monograph is to provide such integration; in this introduction, the editors of the monograph explain the purposes of the volume and provide a brief overview of the work of the contributing scholars.