What is functional thinking? Theoretical considerations and first results of an international interview study

In this paper, we present the first results from the Erasmus+ project FunThink which focuses on enhancing functional thinking from primary to upper secondary school. In an international interview study (in Cyprus, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, and Slovakia) we investigated 35 educational experts’ views on what they consider functional thinking to be. From each country between six and nine experts were interviewed. We analyze these semi-structured interviews using qualitative content analysis, with both deductive and inductive categories, related to different conceptualizations of functions, mathematization, activities supporting functional thinking, and cognitive aspects related to functions. These analyses are currently underway; therefore, we present our theoretical background, our coding scheme which is under construction, and excerpts of three interviews in this proposal

Dynamics and complexity of body temperature in preterm infants nursed in incubators

Poor control of body temperature is associated with mortality and major morbidity in preterm infants. We aimed to quantify its dynamics and complexity to evaluate whether indices from fluctuation analyses of temperature time series obtained within the first five days of life are associated with gestational age (GA) and body size at birth, and presence and severity of typical comorbidities of preterm birth.; We recorded 3h-time series of body temperature using a skin electrode in incubator-nursed preterm infants. We calculated mean and coefficient of variation of body temperature, scaling exponent alpha (Talpha) derived from detrended fluctuation analysis, and sample entropy (TSampEn) of temperature fluctuations. Data were analysed by multilevel multivariable linear regression.; Data of satisfactory technical quality were obtained from 285/357 measurements (80%) in 73/90 infants (81%) with a mean (range) GA of 30.1 (24.0-34.0) weeks. We found a positive association of Talpha with increasing levels of respiratory support after adjusting for GA and birth weight z-score (p<0.001; R2 = 0.38).; Dynamics and complexity of body temperature in incubator-nursed preterm infants show considerable associations with GA and respiratory morbidity. Talpha may be a useful marker of autonomic maturity and severity of disease in preterm infants

Sigh-induced changes of breathing pattern in preterm infants

Sighs are thought to play an important role in control of breathing. It is unclear how sighs are triggered, and whether preterm birth and lung disease influence breathing pattern prior to and after a sigh in infants. To assess whether frequency, morphology, size, and short-term variability in tidal volume (VT) before, during, and after a sigh are influenced by gestational age at birth and lung disease (bronchopulmonary dysplasia, BPD) in former preterm infants and healthy term controls measured at equivalent postconceptional age (PCA). We performed tidal breathing measurements in 143 infants during quiet natural sleep at a mean (SD) PCA of 44.8 (1.3) weeks. A total of 233 sighs were analyzed using multilevel, multivariable regression. Sigh frequency in preterm infants increased with the degree of prematurity and severity of BPD, but was not different from that of term controls when normalized to respiratory rate. After a sigh, VT decreased remarkably in all infants (paired t-test: P < 0.001). There was no major effect of prematurity or BPD on various indices of sigh morphology and changes in VT prior to or after a sigh. Short-term variability in VT modestly increased with maturity at birth and infants with BPD showed an earlier return to baseline variability in VT following a sigh. In early infancy, sigh-induced changes in breathing pattern are moderately influenced by prematurity and BPD in preterm infants. The major determinants of sigh-related breathing pattern in these infants remain to be investigated, ideally using a longitudinal study design

The role of regulatory T cells in antigen-induced arthritis: aggravation of arthritis after depletion and amelioration after transfer of CD4(+)CD25(+ )T cells

It is now generally accepted that CD4(+)CD25(+ )T(reg )cells play a major role in the prevention of autoimmunity and pathological immune responses. Their involvement in the pathogenesis of chronic arthritis is controversial, however, and so we examined their role in experimental antigen-induced arthritis in mice. Depletion of CD25-expressing cells in immunized animals before arthritis induction led to increased cellular and humoral immune responses to the inducing antigen (methylated bovine serum albumin; mBSA) and autoantigens, and to an exacerbation of arthritis, as indicated by clinical (knee joint swelling) and histological scores. Transfer of CD4(+)CD25(+ )cells into immunized mice at the time of induction of antigen-induced arthritis decreased the severity of disease but was not able to cure established arthritis. No significant changes in mBSA-specific immune responses were detected. In vivo migration studies showed a preferential accumulation of CD4(+)CD25(+ )cells in the inflamed joint as compared with CD4(+)CD25(- )cells. These data imply a significant role for CD4(+)CD25(+ )T(reg )cells in the control of chronic arthritis. However, transferred T(reg )cells appear to be unable to counteract established acute or chronic inflammation. This is of considerable importance for the timing of T(reg )cell transfer in potential therapeutic applications

Input Signal Generation for Barrier Bucket RF Systems at GSI

At the GSI facility in Darmstadt, Germany, Barrier Bucket RF systems are currently designed for the SIS 100 synchrotron (part of the future FAIR facility) and the Experimental Storage Ring (ESR). The purpose of these systems is to provide single sine voltage pulses at the cavity gap. Due to the high requirements regarding the gap signal quality, the calculation of the pre-distorted input signal plays a major role in the system development. A procedure to generate the input signal based on the dynamic properties in the linear region of the system has been developed and tested at a prototype system. It was shown that this method is able to generate single sine gap signals of high quality in a wide voltage range. As linearity can only be assumed up to a certain magnitude, nonlinear effects limit the quality of the output signal at very high input levels. An approach to overcome this limit is to extend the input signal calculation to a nonlinear model of the system. In this contribution, the current method to calculate the required input signal is presented and experimental results at a prototype system are shown. Additionally, first results in the nonlinear region are presented

Test Setup for Automated Barrier Bucket Signal Generation

For sophisticated beam manipulation several ring accelerators at FAIR and GSI like the main synchrotron SIS100 and the ESR will be equipped with barrier bucket systems. Hence, the associated LLRF has to be applicable to different RF systems, with respect to the cavity layout and the power amplifier used, as well as to variable repetition rates and amplitudes. Since already the first barrier bucket pulse of a long sequence has to meet certain minimum demands, an open-loop control on the basis of calibration data is foreseen. Closed-loop control is required to improve the signal quality during a sequence of pulses and to adapt to changing conditions like temperature drifts. A test setup was realized that allows controlling the signal generator, reading out the oscilloscope as well as processing the collected data. Frequency and time domain methods can be implemented to approach the dynamics of the RF system successively and under operating conditions, i.e. generating single sine pulses. The setup and first results from measurements are presented as a step towards automated acquisition of calibration data and iterative improvement of the same

Prototype Results of the ESR Barrier-Bucket System

The experimental storage ring (ESR), operated at the GSI facility in Darmstadt, Germany, allows experiments with a variety of ion species. In combination with the existing electron cooler, its RF cavities have been used to demonstrate longitudinal beam accumulation in order to increase the beam intensity. Limitations of the existing narrow-band cavities led to the development of a magnetic alloy (MA) based broad-band cavity for the generation of Barrier-Bucket signals. The application of a pre-distortion method demands high linearity of the driver amplifier and highlights the importance of its selection process. In this contribution, the cavity and amplifier system design is described and data measured at a prototype system are presented

Status of the Barrier-Bucket system for the ESR

In combination with beam cooling, Barrier-Bucket operation allows an intensity increase of particle beams by concentrating particles in one bucket, while creating an empty bucket for the next injection (“longitudinal stacking”). This can be achieved by generation of two RF voltage single-sine waves as barrier pulses, of which one is shifted in time to compress the beam (Fig. 1)