Going Virtual: A Step-by-Step Guide to Taking the In-Person Experimental Lab Online

This guide provides a detailed account of procedures for conducting traditional in-person laboratory experiments in a “virtual setting.” The main objective of these procedures is to maintain the control of traditional in-person lab studies when conducting studies over the internet. Using the participant pool of the in-person lab the key procedural steps include participants having their webcams on throughout the experiment, technical screenings and attention pledges, playing pre-recorded instructions out loud, upholding clear experimenter roles and communication protocols when interacting with participants, and finally detailed and scripted procedures for managing participants throughout the session. The described procedures have been used for more than 100 sessions and have secured results that are indistinguishable from those from the in-person lab

Complexity Bounds for Ordinal-Based Termination

`What more than its truth do we know if we have a proof of a theorem in a given formal system?' We examine Kreisel's question in the particular context of program termination proofs, with an eye to deriving complexity bounds on program running times. Our main tool for this are length function theorems, which provide complexity bounds on the use of well quasi orders. We illustrate how to prove such theorems in the simple yet until now untreated case of ordinals. We show how to apply this new theorem to derive complexity bounds on programs when they are proven to terminate thanks to a ranking function into some ordinal.Comment: Invited talk at the 8th International Workshop on Reachability Problems (RP 2014, 22-24 September 2014, Oxford

Single-grain optical dating properties of JSC Mars-1: preliminary measurements of radiation dose response and sensitivity change.

Martian surface deposits, including polar deposits, represent a vast storehouse of data recording the evolution Of Mars' climate and surface environment. However, the greatest challenge to deciphering these martian geo-records is the need for absolute dating techniques, Particularly those techniques applicable to the timeframes and surface processes of the 'Martian Quaternary'. Lepper and McKeever [3,4] have proposed developing optical dating, an established terrestrial chronometric dating method based on principles eri'solid-state physics, for retnote in-situ dating oCrnartian surface seditnents

Development of a simplified ray path model for estimating the range and depth of vocalising marine mammals

A simplified ray path model has been developed to simulate various source, receiver geometries. The difference in the arrival time of the multi-path signals (surface and seabed reflections) were calculated and compared with those measured on recorded data obtained during sea trials. A number of assumption have been made in initial models including a constant sound velocity-depth profile and the treatment of the surface and seabed as a simple reflecting surfaces. Initial results have shown a number of examples with a reasonable correlation between estimated position of a submerged cetacean and the associated surface observations. Examples of multiple (positioning) solutions were however found, these are in the main thought to be due to imprecision in the knowledge of the hydrophone and water depth and inaccuracies in the initial timing measurements. The use of correlation techniques and stand-alone depth measurement devices is therefore proposed for future measurements and analysis using this technique. It is felt that within constraints, this technique provides valuable additional information regarding cetacean behaviour in the wild and can be used on recorded data sets to validate observer records. The addition of more complex time measurement techniques and better ray path modelling will hopefully provide a useful analysis tool in the study of cetaceans

Simon Doesn’t Say: Minimal Qualitative Distortions from Experimenter Demand

Experimenter demand is a clear threat to the validity of experimental results. To understand the extent of this threat for lab studies, we apply the quantitative frame- work from de Quidt, Haushofer and Roth (2018) to explore whether experimenter demand can generate flawed qualitative inference in experimental studies, using four classic behavioral findings. In these four settings we examine the extent to which demand can alter the nature of a comparative-static conclusion, a stronger test of the potential distortions resulting from experimenter demand. Starting with the laboratory population, we demonstrate that even in a stark environment with deliberate researcher attempts to manipulate participant behavior, quantitative effects are small and experimenter demand effects are not large enough to impact the core qualitative inferences in our four experimental comparisons. This result is then extended to two commonly used online populations, Prolific and mTurk–which show larger quantitative demand effects, but again, not large enough to alter the qualitative conclusions

Application and clinical impact of the RESIST-4 O.K.N.V. rapid diagnostic test for carbapenemase detection in blood cultures and clinical samples

Invasive infections caused by carbapenemase-producing bacteria are associated with excess mortality. We applied a rapid diagnostic test (RDT) on clinical samples with an elevated likelihood of carbapenemase-producing bacteria and documented its impact on antibiotic treatment decisions. Among 38 patients, twelve tested positive for infections caused by carbapenemase-producing bacteria (31.6%), mainly in blood cultures. KPC (n = 10) was more frequent than OXA-48 (n = 2). RDT-based carbapenemase detection led to a treatment modification to ceftazidime/avibactam-containing regimens in all patients before detailed antibiotic testing results became available. Eleven patients (92%) survived the acute infection, whereas one patient with a ceftazidime/avibactam- and colistin-resistant OXA-48-positive isolate died

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) as salvage treatment for pulmonary Echinococcus granulosus infection with acute cyst rupture

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) has been used successfully for the treatment of patients with respiratory failure due to severe infections. Although rare, parasites can also cause severe pulmonary disease. Tapeworms of the genus Echinococcus give rise to the development of cystic structures in the liver, lungs, and other organs. Acute cyst rupture leads to potentially life-threatening infection, and affected patients may deteriorate rapidly. The case of a young woman from Bulgaria who was admitted to hospital with severe dyspnoea, progressive chest pain, and haemoptysis is described. Computed tomography of the chest was pathognomonic for cystic echinococcosis with acute cyst rupture. Following deterioration on mechanical ventilation, she was cannulated for veno-venous ECMO. The patient's condition improved considerably, and she was weaned successfully from ECMO and mechanical ventilation. Following lobectomy of the affected left lower lobe, the patient was discharged home in good condition. This appears to be the first report of the successful use of ECMO as salvage treatment for a severe manifestation of a helminthic disease. Due to recent migration to Western Europe, the number of patients presenting with respiratory failure due to pulmonary echinococcosis with cyst rupture is likely to increase

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) as salvage treatment for pulmonary Echinococcus granulosus infection with acute cyst rupture

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) has been used successfully for the treatment of patients with respiratory failure due to severe infections. Although rare, parasites can also cause severe pulmonary disease. Tapeworms of the genus Echinococcus give rise to the development of cystic structures in the liver, lungs, and other organs. Acute cyst rupture leads to potentially life-threatening infection, and affected patients may deteriorate rapidly. The case of a young woman from Bulgaria who was admitted to hospital with severe dyspnoea, progressive chest pain, and haemoptysis is described. Computed tomography of the chest was pathognomonic for cystic echinococcosis with acute cyst rupture. Following deterioration on mechanical ventilation, she was cannulated for veno-venous ECMO. The patient’s condition improved considerably, and she was weaned successfully from ECMO and mechanical ventilation. Following lobectomy of the affected left lower lobe, the patient was discharged home in good condition. This appears to be the first report of the successful use of ECMO as salvage treatment for a severe manifestation of a helminthic disease. Due to recent migration to Western Europe, the number of patients presenting with respiratory failure due to pulmonary echinococcosis with cyst rupture is likely to increase

Quantitative assessment of harmonic power doppler myocardial perfusion imaging with intravenous levovist™ in patients with myocardial infarction: comparison with myocardial viability evaluated by coronary flow reserve and coronary flow pattern of infarct-related artery

BACKGROUND: Myocardial contrast echocardiography and coronary flow velocity pattern with a rapid diastolic deceleration time after percutaneous coronary intervention has been reported to be useful in assessing microvascular damage in patients with acute myocardial infarction. AIM: To evaluate myocardial contrast echocardiography with harmonic power Doppler imaging, coronary flow velocity reserve and coronary artery flow pattern in predicting functional recovery by using transthoracic echocardiography. METHODS: Thirty patients with anterior acute myocardial infarction underwent myocardial contrast echocardiography at rest and during hyperemia and were quantitatively analyzed by the peak color pixel intensity ratio of the risk area to the control area (PIR). Coronary flow pattern was measured using transthoracic echocardiography in the distal portion of left anterior descending artery within 24 hours after recanalization and we assessed deceleration time of diastolic flow velocity. Coronary flow velocity reserve was calculated two weeks after acute myocardial infarction. Left ventricular end-diastolic volumes and ejection fraction by angiography were computed. RESULTS: Pts were divided into 2 groups according to the deceleration time of coronary artery flow pattern (Group A; 20 pts with deceleration time ≧ 600 msec, Group B; 10 pts with deceleration time < 600 msec). In acute phase, there were no significant differences in left ventricular end-diastolic volume and ejection fraction (Left ventricular end-diastolic volume 112 ± 33 vs. 146 ± 38 ml, ejection fraction 50 ± 7 vs. 45 ± 9 %; group A vs. B). However, left ventricular end-diastolic volume in Group B was significantly larger than that in Group A (192 ± 39 vs. 114 ± 30 ml, p < 0.01), and ejection fraction in Group B was significantly lower than that in Group A (39 ± 9 vs. 52 ± 7%, p < 0.01) at 6 months. PIR and coronary flow velocity reserve of Group A were higher than Group B (PIR, at rest: 0.668 ± 0.178 vs. 0.248 ± 0.015, p < 0.0001: during hyperemia 0.725 ± 0.194 vs. 0.295 ± 0.107, p < 0.0001; coronary flow velocity reserve, 2.60 ± 0.80 vs. 1.31 ± 0.29, p = 0.0002, respectively). CONCLUSION: The preserved microvasculature detecting by myocardial contrast echocardiography and coronary flow velocity reserve is related to functional recovery after acute myocardial infarction

Endogenous fantasy and learning in digital games.

Many people believe that educational games are effective because they motivate children to actively engage in a learning activity as part of playing the game. However, seminal work by Malone (1981), exploring the motivational aspects of digital games, concluded that the educational effectiveness of a digital game depends on the way in which learning content is integrated into the fantasy context of the game. In particular, he claimed that content which is intrinsically related to the fantasy will produce better learning than that which is merely extrinsically related. However, this distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic (or endogenous and exogenous) fantasy is a concept that has developed a confused standing over the following years. This paper will address this confusion by providing a review and critique of the empirical and theoretical foundations of endogenous fantasy, and its relevance to creating educational digital games. Substantial concerns are raised about the empirical basis of this work and a theoretical critique of endogenous fantasy is offered, concluding that endogenous fantasy is a misnomer, in so far as the "integral and continuing relationship" of fantasy cannot be justified as a critical means of improving the effectiveness of educational digital games. An alternative perspective on the intrinsic integration of learning content is described, incorporating game mechanics, flow and representations