Overcoming Roadblocks in Introducing Virtual World Technology to High Schools

The EAST (Environmental And Spatial Technology) Initiative is a non-profit educational organization that provides students in over two hundred schools in eight states with access to advanced computing technologies for the purpose of enabling students to develop technical skills early and to produce solutions to local community problems. Although many high-end technologies are available through EAST, they are desktop solutions that individual students use and there are none that enable students within a school or between schools to collaborate. This thesis is a saga that documents the identification and removal of many roadblocks to introducing a 3D multi-user virtual simulation platform known as OpenSimulator into an EAST high school, Greenland High, located in Northwest Arkansas. The end result seemed compelling, simple and achievable -- with OpenSimulator, students from one or many EAST Labs would be able connect, chat, and work together within the same or nearby virtual areas to build models of (parts and aspects of) their communities. But getting to the point where students can begin to use this platform involved solving cost, safety, firewall, administrative, sustainability, and other puzzles. Most of this thesis is concerned with solving problems up to introducing OpenSimulator to Greenland -- more work is needed in understanding whether and how this kind of technology will benefit high school computing programs like EAST

Le charme discret du droit bourgeois : reflections on the treatment of collective labour rights in the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Union

Award date: 17 June 2022. Supervisor: Professor Claire Kilpatrick, European University Institute; Professor Kalypso Nicolaïdis, European University InstituteThis study critically maps and analyses the treatment of collective labour rights in the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Union since the controversial Laval/Viking quartet. In doing so, it also touches on the jurisprudence which has developed in parallel at the European Court of Human Rights. In doing so, it nestles these past 15 years of jurisprudential development within the wider context and the changing natures of both Europe’s economic constitution and of labour law more generally

Incorporating Ethics in Computing Courses: Perspectives from Educators

Incorporating ethics into computing education has become a priority for the SIGCSE community. Many computing departments and educators have contributed to this endeavor by creating standalone computing ethics courses or integrating ethics modules and discussions into preexisting curricula. In this study, we hope to support this effort by reporting on computing educators' attitudes toward including ethics in their computing classroom, with a special focus on the structures that hinder or help this endeavor. We surveyed 138 higher education computing instructors to understand their attitudes toward including ethics in their classes, what barriers might be preventing them from doing so, and which structures best support them. We found that even though instructors were generally positive about ethics as a component of computing education, there are specific barriers preventing ethics from being included in some computing courses. In this work, we explore how to alleviate these barriers and outline support structures that could encourage further integration of ethics and computing in higher education

MULTI-PLANAR ANALYSIS OF THE TRADITIONAL BACK SQUAT AND SMITH MACHINE BACK SQUAT

This study evaluated the kinetic differences between the traditional back squat (T-BS) and Smith machine back squat (SM-BS) performed at a variety of loads. Ten subjects were tested in six conditions including the T-BS and SM-BS each performed at 50%, 80%, and 100% of the subject’s five repetition maximum load on a force platform. The analysis of vertical ground reaction forces (GRF) revealed significant main effects for exercise load (p ≤ 0.001) but not for squat condition or the interaction of load and squat condition (p \u3e 0.05). The analysis of sagittal plane GRF revealed significant main effects for exercise load (p ≤ 0.05), squat condition (p ≤ 0.001), and the interaction between load and condition (p ≤ 0.05). The analysis of frontal plane GRF revealed no main effects (p \u3e 0.05). The SM-BS offers the user a resistance stimuli in the sagittal plane against which the exerciser can produce greater sagittal force

KINETIC AND SUBJECTIVE ANALYSIS OF KNEE ROLLERS, HANDS FREE CRUTCH, AND CONVENTIONAL CRUTCHES

This study assessed the kinetic demands of ambulatory assistance devices and the subject’s perceptions of each. Twelve subjects used a knee roller (KR), a hands free crutch (HFC), and conventional axillary crutches (CC), while walking over a force platform. Ground reaction forces (GRF) were obtained for each device for the unaffected and the affected limb. Significant differences in GRF for each device were found for each limb (p ≤ 0.001). No gender interaction was found (p \u3e 0.05). The GRF of the un-affected limb was highest for the CC and lowest for the KR (p ≤ 0.05). The GRF of the affected limb was higher for the KR compared to the HFC (p =.045). For the unaffected limb, the CC produced 45% more kinetic demand than the KR, and 11% more than the HFC. However, the qualitative analysis suggested that the CC and KR were favored over the HFC

High fat diet alters gut microbiota but not spatial working memory in early middle-aged Sprague Dawley rats

As the global population ages, and rates of dementia rise, understanding lifestyle factors that play a role in the development and acceleration of cognitive decline is vital to creating therapies and recommendations to improve quality of later life. Obesity has been shown to increase risk for dementia. However, the specific mechanisms for obesity-induced cognitive decline remain unclear. One potential contributor to diet-induced cognitive changes is neuroinflammation. Furthermore, a source of diet-induced inflammation to potentially increase neuroinflammation is via gut dysbiosis. We hypothesized that a high fat diet would cause gut microbe dysbiosis, and subsequently: neuroinflammation and cognitive decline. Using 7-month old male Sprague Dawley rats, this study examined whether 8 weeks on a high fat diet could impact performance on the water radial arm maze, gut microbe diversity and abundance, and microgliosis. We found that a high fat diet altered gut microbe populations compared to a low fat, control diet. However, we did not observe any significant differences between dietary groups on maze performance (a measure of spatial working memory) or microgliosis. Our data reveal a significant change to the gut microbiome without subsequent effects to neuroinflammation (as measured by microglia characterization and counts in the cortex, hippocampus, and hypothalamus) or cognitive performance under the parameters of our study. However, future studies that explore duration of the diet, composition of the diet, age of animal model, and strain of animal model, must be explored

Local fractal dimension of collagen detects increased spatial complexity in fibrosis

Increase of collagen content and reorganization characterizes fibrosis but quantifying the latter remains challenging. Spatially complex structures are often analyzed via the fractal dimension; however, established methods for calculating this quantity either provide a single dimension for an entire object or a spatially distributed dimension that only considers binary images. These neglect valuable information related to collagen density in images of fibrotic tissue. We sought to develop a fractal analysis that can be applied to 3-dimensional (3D) images of fibrotic tissue. A fractal dimension map for each image was calculated by determining a single fractal dimension for a small area surrounding each image pixel, using fiber thickness as the third dimension. We found that this local fractal dimension increased with age and with progression of fibrosis regardless of collagen content. Our new method of distributed 3D fractal analysis can thus distinguish between changes in collagen content and organization induced by fibrosis.T32 HL076122 - NHLBI NIH HHS; R35 HL135828 - NIH HHS; R35 HL135828 - NHLBI NIH HHS; U01 HL139466 - NIH HHS; T32 HL076122 - NIH HHS; U01 HL139466 - NHLBI NIH HHS; R01 AG074488 - NIA NIH HHSPublished versio

Expectations of the size evolution of massive galaxies at 3≤z≤63 \leq z \leq 6 from the TNG50 simulation: the CEERS/JWST view

We present a catalog of about 25,000 images of massive ($M_{\star} \ge 10^9 M_{\odot}$) galaxies at redshift $3 \leq z \leq 6$ from the TNG50 cosmological simulation, tailored for observations at multiple wavelengths carried out with JWST. The synthetic images were created with the SKIRT radiative transfer code, including the effects of dust attenuation and scattering. The noiseless images were processed with the mirage simulator to mimic the Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) observational strategy (e.g., noise, dithering pattern, etc.) of the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) survey. In this paper, we analyze the predictions of the TNG50 simulation for the size evolution of galaxies at $3 \leq z \leq 6$ and the expectations for CEERS to probe that evolution. In particular, we investigate how sizes depend on wavelength, redshift, mass, and angular resolution of the images. We find that the effective radius accurately describes the three-dimensional half-mass radius of TNG50 galaxies. Sizes observed at 2~$\mu$m are consistent with those measured at 3.56~$\mu$m at all redshifts and masses. At all masses, the population of higher-$z$ galaxies is more compact than their lower-$z$ counterparts. However, the intrinsic sizes are smaller than the mock observed sizes for the most massive galaxies, especially at $z \lesssim 4$. This discrepancy between the mass and light distribution may point to a transition in the galaxy morphology at $z$=4-5, where massive compact systems start to develop more extended stellar structures.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ (20 pages, 12 figures). Data publicly released at https://www.tng-project.org/costantin22 and at https://www.lucacostantin.com/OMEG

Nrf2 activation reprograms macrophage intermediary metabolism and suppresses the I interferon

To overcome oxidative, inflammatory, and metabolic stress, cells have evolved cytoprotective protein networks controlled by nuclear factor-erythroid 2 p45-related factor 2 (Nrf2) and its negative regulator, Kelch-like ECH associated protein 1 (Keap1). Here, using high-resolution mass spectrometry we characterize the proteomes of macrophages with altered Nrf2 status revealing significant differences among the genotypes in metabolism and redox homeostasis, which were validated with respirometry and metabolomics. Nrf2 affected the proteome following lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulation, with alterations in redox, carbohydrate and lipid metabolism, and innate immunity. Notably, Nrf2 activation promoted mitochondrial fusion. The Keap1 inhibitor, 4-octyl itaconate remodeled the inflammatory macrophage proteome, increasing redox and suppressing type I interferon (IFN) response. Similarly, pharmacologic or genetic Nrf2 activation inhibited the transcription of IFN-β and its downstream effector IFIT2 during LPS stimulation. These data suggest that Nrf2 activation facilitates metabolic reprogramming and mitochondrial adaptation, and finetunes the innate immune response in macrophages

Rapid systematic review of systematic reviews : what befriending, social support and low intensity psychosocial interventions, delivered remotely, may reduce social isolation and loneliness among older adults and how? [version 2; peer review: 2 approved with reservations]

BACKGROUND: During the COVID-19 pandemic ‘social distancing’ has highlighted the need to minimise loneliness and isolation among older adults (aged 50+). We wanted to know what remotely delivered befriending, social support and low intensity psychosocial interventions may help to alleviate social isolation and loneliness and how they work. METHODS: We followed a systematic ‘review of reviews’ approach. Searches of 11 databases from the fields of health, social care, psychology and social science were undertaken during April 2020. Reviews meeting our PICOS criteria were included if they focussed on the evaluation of remote interventions to reduce levels of social isolation or loneliness in adults aged 50+ and were critically appraised using AMSTAR2. Narrative synthesis was used at a review and study level to develop a typology of intervention types and their effectiveness. Intervention Component Analysis (ICA) and Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) were used at a study level to explore the characteristics of successful interventions. RESULTS: We synthesised evidence from five systematic reviews and 18 primary studies. Remote befriending, social support and low intensity psychosocial interventions took the form of: (i) supported video-communication; (ii) online discussion groups and forums; (iii) telephone befriending; (iv) social networking sites; and (v) multi-tool interventions. The majority of studies utilised the first two approaches, and were generally regarded positively by older adults, although with mixed evidence around effectiveness. Focussing on processes and mechanisms, using ICA and QCA, we found that the interventions that were most successful in improving social support: (i) enabled participants to speak freely and to form close relationships; (ii) ensured participants have shared experiences/characteristics; (iii) included some form of pastoral guidance. CONCLUSIONS: The findings highlight a set of intervention processes that should be incorporated into interventions, although they do not lead us to recommend specific modes of support, due to the heterogeneity of interventions