A robotic telescope for university-level distance teaching

We present aspects of the deployment of a remotely operable telescope for teaching practical science to distance learning undergraduate students. We briefly describe the technical realisation of the facility, PIRATE, in Mallorca and elaborate on how it is embedded in the Open University curriculum. The PIRATE teaching activities were studied as part of a wider research project into the importance of realism, sociability and metafunctionality for the effectiveness of virtual and remote laboratories in teaching practical science. We find that students accept virtual experiments (e.g. a telescope simulator) when they deliver genuine, "messy" data, clarify how they differ from a realistic portrayal, and are flagged as training tools. A robotic telescope is accepted in place of on-site practical work when realistic activities are included, the internet connection is stable, and when there is at least one live video feed. The robotic telescope activity should include group work and facilitate social modes of learning. Virtual experiments, though normally considered as asynchronous tools, should also include social interaction. To improve student engagement and learning outcomes a greater situational awareness for the robotic telescope setting should be devised. We conclude this report with a short account of the current status of PIRATE after its relocation from Mallorca to Tenerife and its integration into the OpenScience Observatories

Clarity from Confusion: Using Intended Interactions to Design Information Systems

Two tools are described that help designers visualize the structure of a system in the requirements phase of a project. First, a matrix is constructed that represents the tendency of components to interact. The matrix is derived from sequence diagrams, which in turn are based on textual scenarios. This interaction matrix is transformed into a structure plot of the system, showing a graph of the essential connections between actors. Second, this same matrix is used to generate a sequence plot: a sequence diagram optimized for problem-solving. We illustrate the effectiveness of this approach, first with a simulation study, and later with a participant-based study of inference from diagrams. The results suggest that a similarity-based approach to information systems design can generate new testable tools. Pragmatically, the tools help novices and experts alike by automatically generating candidate system configurations in the form of structural diagrams, and by generating better sequence diagrams

Removal of Arsenic, Phosphate and Chromate from Water by Iron Fumarate

Water is often called the "universal solvent" for its ability to dissolve a wide range of chemicals. Water may therefore contain a wide variety of dissolved substances. Often, these may be toxic compounds such as arsenic which can turn groundwater into poison. Other compounds may not harm us directly, but may lead to dangerous changes in the environment (phosphorus). We have developed a family of compounds based on an iron fumarate coordination polymer. The material was synthesized in a precipitation reaction from the reaction of ferric chloride and disodium fumarate. Synthesis was carried out in water at room temperature, open to the atmosphere. The empirical formula is believed to be Fe(C4H2O4)(OH)*0.5H2O. Iron fumarate has been shown to react with phosphate, arsenate, arsenite and dichromate. It represents an advantage over other iron based materials due to ease of synthesis and high capacity for pollutants (phosphate capacity was found to be 690 mg PO43- / g iron fumarate). The capacity of iron fumarate for dichromate was found to be 26.3 mg Cr(VI) / g iron fumarate.In the case of arsenate, the material was optimized by changing the iron to fumarate ratio. Several different materials were synthesized and tested. The material synthesized that showed the highest capacity was Fe4(C4H2O4)3(OH)6 (capacity of 200.9 mg As / g iron fumarate). A relationship was then determined from four of the highest capacity materials. The relationship was used to determine the optimum iron to fumarate ratio for the reaction between iron fumarate and arsenate. The estimated optimum material is Fe5(C4H2O4)4(OH)7.Chemistr

Cooperative Categorization: Coordination of Reference and Categories in Learning a Joint Prediction Task

We investigated the interaction of structure and convention in the emergence of schemes for joint reference in the context of indirect category learning. Participants worked individually or in dyads to learn a set of functionally-defined categories, instantiated as supposed alien creatures. The perceptual structure of these categories was complex: one function could be predicted by a unidimensional rule but the other was defined by a family-resemblance substructure. In addition to the main function-prediction task, each learner worked individually to sort the exemplars (pre- and post-function prediction) and in an individual prediction test that yielded selective attention data. Dyadic learners predicted the functional features with significantly greater accuracy compared to individual learners. This dyadic advantage was even greater for predicting the simple rule-based function compared to the FR function. Also, the post-task sorts produced by dyadic learners correlated more closely to the true categories than did those of individual learners

The Spatial Nature of Thought: Understanding Systems Design Through Diagrams

Design entails the interaction of minds and the tools used to express the design, notably, diagrams. Systems designers use the affordances of the page when they generate structural diagrams of systems. Specifically, they use proximity to augment connectedness (path) information by grouping subsystems. They use horizontal position on the page to express sequence and vertical position to reflect actual spatial position. Finally, they use the permanence of diagrams to generate alternative designs. These conclusions were reached through the analysis of work by student designers, many of whom were practicing information technology professionals. The analysis of designs in topological and Euclidean space required the creation of computational tools that show promise as decision aids for designers, by separating the intertwined qualities of topological and Euclidean space, and by making visible the conceptual similarity of design alternatives

Matching Mechanisms to Situations Through the Wisdom of the Crowd

Designing a system often begins with matching existing solutions to current problems. Specifically, integration mechanisms are mapped onto situations. Novices are not good at this task, and experts are rare. Could crowdsourcing, that is, aggregating the suggestions of individuals working independently, be effective? Two experiments, one with design students in a classroom, and another with participants on the web, demonstrated that the crowd possesses wisdom about how to match mechanisms to situations. Participants also categorized situations, and those who name their categories were better at matching than those who didn’t. The results have pragmatic implications, suggesting it is possible to crowdsource design, and providing new ways of eliciting, testing, and training expertise. More generally, the paper suggests a new model for information system design based on analogical mapping

Measuring category intuitiveness in unconstrained categorization tasks

What makes a category seem natural or intuitive? In this paper, an unsupervised categorization task was employed to examine observer agreement concerning the categorization of nine different stimulus sets. The stimulus sets were designed to capture different intuitions about classification structure. The main empirical index of category intuitiveness was the frequency of the preferred classification, for different stimulus sets. With 169 participants, and a within participants design, with some stimulus sets the most frequent classification was produced over 50 times and with others not more than two or three times. The main empirical finding was that cluster tightness was more important in determining category intuitiveness, than cluster separation. The results were considered in relation to the following models of unsupervised categorization: DIVA, the rational model, the simplicity model, SUSTAIN, an Unsupervised version of the Generalized Context Model (UGCM), and a simple geometric model based on similarity. DIVA, the geometric approach, SUSTAIN, and the UGCM provided good, though not perfect, fits. Overall, the present work highlights several theoretical and practical issues regarding unsupervised categorization and reveals weaknesses in some of the corresponding formal models

Child Health Partnerships: a review of program characteristics, outcomes and their relationship

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Novel approaches are increasingly employed to address the social determinants of health of children world-wide. Such approaches have included complex social programs involving multiple stakeholders from different sectors jointly working together (hereafter Child Health Partnerships). Previous reviews have questioned whether these programs have led to significant improvements in child health and related outcomes. We aim to provide definitive answers to this question as well as identifying the characteristics of successful partnerships.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A comprehensive literature search identified 11 major Child Health Partnerships in four comparable developed countries. A critical review is focused on various aspects of these including their target groups, program mechanics and outcomes.</p> <p>Results and Conclusions</p> <p>There was evidence of success in several major areas from the formation of effective joint operations of partners in different partnership models to improvement in both child wellbeing and parenting. There is emerging evidence that Child Health Partnerships are cost-effective. Population characteristics and local contexts need to be taken into account in the introduction and implementation of these programs.</p