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For centuries, the have and have nots have been distant from one another both socially and spatially. This is also how privilege shaped the COVID-19 pandemic.

Objective: The primary contribution of this work is the development of an abstract framework to which a variety of multitasking scenarios can be mapped. The metaphor of a juggler spinning plates was introduced to represent an operator performing multiple concurrent tasks. Background: This allowed seeking a quantitative model for management of multiple continuous tasks instead of a model for completing multiple discrete tasks, which was considered in previous studies. Methods: The multitasking performance of 10 participants in five scenarios was measured in a low-fidelity simulator (named Tardast), which was developed based on the concept of the juggler metaphor. This performance was then compared with a normative model, which was a near-optimal solution to a mathematical programming problem found by tabu search heuristics. Results: Tabu outperformed the participants overall, although the best individual performance nearly equaled that of tabu. It was also observed that participants initially tended to manage numerous tasks poorly but that they gradually learned to handle fewer tasks and excel in them. Conclusion: This suggests that they initially overreacted to the penalization associated with poor performance in the software. Participants' strategic task management (e.g., what tasks to handle) was more significant in obtaining a good score than their tactical task management (e.g., how often to switch between two tasks). Application: Potential applications include better design of equipment, procedures, and training of operators of complex systems.

There is a substantial theoretical literature arguing that African American families, more than other ethnic groups, push their children towards sports. However, there is a dearth of generalizable empirical research examining whether African American families do in fact encourage their children to participate in sport more than families of other ethnic groups do, or whether families encourage their youth more than non-kin, such as teachers, coaches and peers. Using a nationally representative US sample of 2185 third- through twelfth-graders, this study compares African American youths' perceptions of encouragement for sports participation relative to other groups. Results indicate that relative to White, Hispanic and Asian youth, African American youth are more likely to receive encouragement for sports participation from all sources (total encouragement scores). While African Americans are also more likely to obtain encouragement from family members and non-kin than other ethnic groups are, African Americans receive equal amounts of encouragement from family and non-kin sources. The results of this study suggest that both African Americans and the larger community emphasize sport more for African American youth than for other youth.

We outline a quantum-enabled blockchain architecture based on a consortium of quantum servers. The network is hybridised, utilising digital systems for sharing and processing classical information combined with a fibre-optic infrastructure and quantum devices for transmitting and processing quantum information. We deliver an energy efficient interactive mining protocol enacted between clients and servers which uses quantum information encoded in light and removes the need for trust in network infrastructure. Instead, clients on the network need only trust the transparent network code, and that their devices adhere to the rules of quantum physics. To demonstrate the energy efficiency of the mining protocol, we elaborate upon the results of two previous experiments (one performed over 1km of optical fibre) as applied to this work. Finally, we address some key vulnerabilities, explore open questions, and observe forward-compatibility with the quantum internet and quantum computing technologies.

Despite increased structural opportunities through Title IX, adolescent females in the US continue to participate in physical activity less than males. This persistent pattern suggests gender stereotypes might subtly groom girls' and boys' choices about health behaviors. Although communication can shape gender stereotypes, the majority of physical activity studies employ social influence frameworks (i.e. social learning theory) that ignore this important dimension of influence. Because the family is a primary socializing agent where gender roles are learned, the current qualitative interview study of high school basketball players illustrates: (1) how communication within the family context prompts learning about parental role models in sport; (2) how adolescents talk about maternal and paternal sports participation. This research suggests that communication is an important modifiable social process for physical activity interventions that include a family influence component.

This research was conducted to investigate the relation between transformational leadership and staff's attitudes with consideration of the mediating role in psychological empowerment. The purpose was applied type and the method used in this research was descriptive-survey. To collect the relevant data in this study, Sung's staff attitude standard questionnaire (2006), Bass & Alluvium's Transformational Leadership Questionnaire (2000) and Spreitzer's Psychological Capital Questionnaire (1998) were used. The reliability of each questionnaire was 0.786.0.802 and 0.799, respectively. The population studied was the staff and managers of the municipality in Region 1, Karaj with 280 persons. Regarding to their limited number, 162 individuals were selected randomly to determine the sample size using the Morgan table and the questionnaire was distributed among these individuals. To collect the information and data required to evaluate the research's hypotheses, a questionnaire and statistical analysis software as SPSS and LISREL were evaluated. At the inferential level, inferential techniques such as Kolmogorov-Smirnov's normal test, Pearson correlation test, and structural equation modeling were used to test the hypotheses. Based on the results, the studied hypotheses were accepted.