Using Sunflower Plots and Classification Trees to Study Typeface Legibility

This article describes the application of sunflower plots and classification trees to the study of onscreen typeface legibility. The two methods are useful for describing high-dimensional data in an intuitive manner, which is crucial for interacting with both the typographers who design the typefaces and the practitioners who must make decisions about which typeface to use for specific applications. Furthermore, classification trees help us make specific recommendations for how much of a character attribute is “enough” to make it legible. We present examples of sunflower plots and classification trees using data from a recent typeface legibility experiment, and we present R code for replicating our analyses. Some familiarity with classification trees and logistic regression will be helpful to the reader

Up in the Air: A Human Factors Approach to Enhancing eVTOL Passenger Experience

Although electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicles are an emerging mode of transportation, current research indicates that the general public may be unwilling to ride in them due to unfamiliarity and uncertainty about their trust in the technology. This research aimed to better understand potential passenger concerns as well as the factors related to eVTOL design and ride journey that contribute to people’s willingness to ride in them. Understanding these human factors considerations are crucial for addressing issues surrounding the end-to-end passenger experience. Passenger safety, comfort, and acceptance were identified as important areas that influence users’ experience. These areas informed the development of our low-fidelity conceptual designs of physical (e.g., electrochromic windows, ultraviolet light self-cleaning cabin, etc.) and digital (e.g., user-facing mobile app, in-vehicle displays, etc.) solutions. To gauge people’s opinions on these solutions, Embry-Riddle students were asked to participate in questionnaires, interviews, focus groups, and user testing. Findings from data analysis informed a second iteration of our designs. This research highlights the importance of considering human factors in the design of eVTOLs to enhance passenger safety, comfort, and acceptance, ultimately facilitating the widespread adoption of this new mode of transportation

Flying Blind: Exploring the Visual Cues Used by Helicopter Pilots in Degraded Visual Environments

Helicopter pilots rely on visual cues from the environment and instrument displays during critical phases of flight – particularly final approach and landing – to safely land. However, the specific visual cues pilots rely on and how they integrate those cues to make anticipatory inceptor inputs or corrections are not well understood. Importantly, those cues may be degraded under nighttime and brownout/whiteout conditions where the downwash of a helicopter’s rotors cause loose dirt/snow to be projected into the air, resulting in the obfuscation of the pilot’s vision outside the aircraft. The lack of visual cues in these conditions means that pilots are often ‘flying blind’ and must transition from using visual scene-based cues and motion-based cues to alphanumeric or pictographic information on displays. This transition of in-flight rules involves changes in perceptual and cognitive processing during a time of increased cognitive and physical workload. Pilots must shift their visual and attentional focus from the external scene to head-down displays. Additionally, cognitive processing shifts from natural visual cues to detection and response. This shift is not instantaneous. Delays in recognizing and understanding the alphanumeric information increases the risk of spatial disorientation. Therefore, it becomes imperative to identify what cues pilots may rely on to inform the design of displays that may be more effective under degraded viewing conditions. To address this issue, we reviewed the literature on the visual cues used to process forward motion (i.e., speed, heading), altitude, position in space, and collision detection (specifically during the landing flare). Analyses conclude that (a) optical flow supports awareness of linear motion, (b) lines of splay and depression promote altitude regulation, (c) accretion and deletion of environmental features outside the aircraft allow for roll, yaw, and heave detection, (d) motion parallax is crucial for motion detection when an aircraft is hovering, and (e) a successful landing flare may rely on a combination of time-to-contact and time-to-passage cues. These results suggest that visual cues can be incorporated in an artificial visual environment. Providing information on the visual cues processed during landing can assist designers and developers alike to design a synthetic display that facilitates spatial awareness

The Receptor-Like Kinase SERK3/BAK1 Is Required for Basal Resistance against the Late Blight Pathogen Phytophthora infestans in Nicotiana benthamiana

BACKGROUND The filamentous oomycete plant pathogen Phytophthora infestans causes late blight, an economically important disease, on members of the nightshade family (Solanaceae), such as the crop plants potato and tomato. The related plant Nicotiana benthamiana is a model system to study plant-pathogen interactions, and the susceptibility of N. benthamiana to Phytophthora species varies from susceptible to resistant. Little is known about the extent to which plant basal immunity, mediated by membrane receptors that recognise conserved pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs), contributes to P. infestans resistance. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We found that different species of Phytophthora have varying degrees of virulence on N. benthamiana ranging from avirulence (incompatible interaction) to moderate virulence through to full aggressiveness. The leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinase (LRR-RLK) BAK1/SERK3 is a major modulator of PAMP-triggered immunity (PTI) in Arabidopsis thaliana and N. benthamiana. We cloned two NbSerk3 homologs, NbSerk3A and NbSerk3B, from N. benthamiana based on sequence similarity to the A. thaliana gene. N. benthamiana plants silenced for NbSerk3 showed markedly enhanced susceptibility to P. infestans infection but were not altered in resistance to Phytophthora mirabilis, a sister species of P. infestans that specializes on a different host plant. Furthermore, silencing of NbSerk3 reduced the cell death response triggered by the INF1, a secreted P. infestans protein with features of PAMPs. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE We demonstrated that N. benthamiana NbSERK3 significantly contributes to resistance to P. infestans and regulates the immune responses triggered by the P. infestans PAMP protein INF1. In the future, the identification of novel surface receptors that associate with NbSERK3A and/or NbSERK3B should lead to the identification of new receptors that mediate recognition of oomycete PAMPs, such as INF1.This work was supported by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, BBSRC, Nuffield Foundation and the German Research Foundation (DFG). SS was supported by a personal research fellowship (SCHO1347/1-1). JPR is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow (FT0992129). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

Editorial: Teaching history in the era of globalization: epistemological and methodological challenges

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need of several changes within the field of History Education. Firstly, the need of a methodological change that integrates active learning methods, digital resources, and emerging technologies in order to attend the non-presential lessons for the students. Secondly, the need of a multicultural approach on teaching history, social, and gender equality moving away from supremacists' dogma. It is necessary for teachers to change their conception of why and for what reasons they teach history. This need has become more acute with the COVID-19 pandemic: fighting vs. hate speeches through argumentation and critical analysis of sources to avoid fake news and to develop a learning perception evidences. This Research Topic is focused both on Primary and Secondary Education, but also on Higher Education, considering History teachers training courses. Particularly, this book focuses to know the development of the skills of active and future History teachers who are trained at programs at universities to bring a profound methodological and content change in the way History is taught..

Reactive transport modelling of the long-term interaction between carbon steel and MX-80 bentonite at 25 °C

The geological disposal in deep bedrock repositories is the preferred option for the management of high-level radioactive waste (HLW). In some of these concepts, carbon steel is considered as a potential canister material and bentonites are planned as backfill material to protect metallic waste containers. Therefore, a 1D radial reactive transport model has been developed in order to better understand the processes occurring during the long-term iron-bentonite interaction. The numerical model accounts for diffusion, aqueous complexation reactions, mineral dissolution/precipitation and cation exchange at a constant temperature of 25 °C under anoxic conditions. Our results suggest that Fe is sorbed at the montmorillonite surface via cation exchange in the short-term, and it is consumed by formation of the secondary phases in the long-term. The numerical model predicts precipitation of nontronite, magnetite and greenalite as corrosion products. Calcite precipitates due to cation exchange in the short-term and due to montmorillonite dissolution in the long-term. Results further reveal a significant increase in pH in the long-term, while dissolution/precipitation reactions result in limited variations of the porosity. A sensitivity analysis has also been performed to test the effect of selected parameters, such as corrosion rate, diffusion coefficient and composition of the bentonite porewater, on the corrosion processes. Overall, outcomes suggest that the predicted main corrosion products in the long-term are Fe-silicate minerals, such phases thus should deserve further attention as a chemical barrier in the diffusion of radionuclides to the repository far field

The interplay between immune system and microbiota in inflammatory bowel disease: A narrative review

The importance of the gut microbiota in human health is currently well established. It contributes to many vital functions such as development of the host immune system, digestion and metabolism, barrier against pathogens or brain–gut communication. Microbial colonization occurs during infancy in parallel with maturation of the host immune system; therefore, an adequate cross‐talk between these processes is essential to generating tolerance to gut microbiota early in life, which is crucial to prevent allergic and immune‐mediated diseases. Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is characterized by an exacerbated immune reaction against intestinal microbiota. Changes in abundance in the gut of certain microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, viruses, and archaea have been associated with IBD. Microbes that are commonly found in high abundance in healthy gut microbiomes, such as F. prausnitzii or R. hominis, are reduced in IBD patients. E. coli, which is usually present in a healthy gut in very low concentrations, is increased in the gut of IBD patients. Microbial taxa influence the immune system, hence affecting the inflammatory status of the host. This review examines the IBD microbiome profile and presents IBD as a model of dysbiosis.This study was supported by Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), Spain (grant numbers PI16/01296 and PI19/01034), by Sara Borrell contract CD19/00247 to L.A.-G. and by CIBEReh

A new species of Bryophryne (Anura: Strabomantidae) from the Cordillera de Vilcabamba, southeastern Peruvian Andes

Descrevemos uma nova espécie de Bryophryne proveniente da Cordilheira de Vilcabamba, Departamento de Cusco, nos Andes do sudeste do Peru. A nova espécie se diferencia das demais espécies do gênero, excepto de B. flammiventris e de B. gymnotis, por apresentar membrana e anel timpânicos pouco definidos, machos com sacos e fendas vocais e por emitir cantos nupciais; além disso, diferencia-se de B. flammiventris e de B. gymnotis pela textura da pele, presença de processos vomerianos pequenos e oblíquos, coloração ventral cinza azulado a cinza claro com manchas marrons irregulares ou reticuladas e canto nupcial composto por duas ou três notas. Os espécimes da nova espécie caracterizam-se ainda pela pele dorsal finamente granulada com tubérculos, pregas dorso-laterais descontínuas, pele lisa nas partes ventrais e presença de quilhas laterais nos dedos das mãos e dos pés. Esta espécie habita os bosques altoandinos, entre a puna e o bosque montano, e foi encontrada em ambientes úmidos entre musgos e debaixo de pedras em altitudes de 3519 a 3707 m acima do nível do mar.Describimos una nueva especie de Bryophryne proveniente de la Cordillera de Vilcabamba, en el Departamento de Cusco, en los Andes del sureste de Perú. La nueva especie se diferencia de las demás especies de Bryophryne, excepto por B. flammiventris y B. gymnotis, por tener membrana y anillo timpánico poco definidos, machos con sacos y hendiduras vocales, y por emitir llamados nupciales; además, se diferencia de B. flammiventris y B. gymnotis por la textura de su piel, la presencia de procesos vomerianos pequeños y oblicuos, coloración ventral gris azulada a gris clara con manchas marrones irregulares o reticuladas, y llamado nupcial compuesto por dos o tres notas. Los especímenes de la nueva especie se caracterizan además por tener piel dorsal finamente granulada con tubérculos, pliegues dorsolaterales discontinuos, piel lisa en partes ventrales, y presencia de quillas laterales en los dedos de manos y pies. Esta especie habita los bosques altoandinos, entre la puna y el bosque montano, y fue encontrada en ambientes húmedos entre musgo y bajo piedras a elevaciones de 3519 a 3707 m s.n.m.We describe a new species of Bryophryne from the Cordillera de Vilcabamba in Department Cusco, in the southeastern Peruvian Andes. The new species differs from all other congeneric taxa, except B. flammiventris and B. gymnotis, by possessing a weakly defined tympanic membrane and tympanic annulus, by the presence of vocal sac and vocal slits in males, and by producing advertisement calls. The new species is distinguished from B. flammiventris and B. gymnotis by skin texture, presence of small, oblique dentigerous processes on the vomer, ventral coloration ranging from bluish-gray to whitish-gray with irregular or reticulate dark brown spots, and call composed of two or three notes. The new species is further characterized by having dorsal skin shagreen with tubercles, discontinuous dorsolateral folds, skin smooth on ventral surfaces of the body, and lateral fringes on fingers and toes. This species was found at the transition from montane forest to high Andean puna, where it occurs in moist microhabitats under moss and rocks at elevations from 3519 to 3707 m a.s.l