PACT: An initiative to introduce computational thinking to second-level education in Ireland

PACT (Programming ∧ Algorithms ⇒ Computational Thinking) is a partnership between researchers in the Department of Computer Science at Maynooth University and teachers at selected post-primary schools around Ireland. Starting in September 2013, seven Irish secondary schools took part in a pilot study, delivering material prepared by the PACT team to Transition Year students. Three areas of Computer Science were identified as being key to delivering a successful course in computational thinking, namely, programming, algorithms and computability. An overview of the PACT module is provided, as well as analysis of the feedback obtained from students and teachers involved in delivering the initial pilot

Formative research regarding kidney disease health information in a Latino American sample: Associations among threat, efficacy, frame, and behavioral intent

Using prospect theory and the extended parallel process model, this study examined the effect of gain/loss message framing on perceptions of severity, susceptibility, response efficacy, and self efficacy (derived from the extended parallel process model), as well as perception of message effectiveness and behavioral intention in a community based Latino American sample. Results indicated no significant differences between a gain- and loss-frame for any of the outcome variables. In addition, message effectiveness, susceptibility, and response efficacy were the best predictors of intention to engage in early testing behavior

Formative research regarding kidney disease health information in a Latino American sample: Associations among threat, efficacy, frame, and behavioral intent

Using prospect theory and the extended parallel process model, this study examined the effect of gain/loss message framing on perceptions of severity, susceptibility, response efficacy, and self efficacy (derived from the extended parallel process model), as well as perception of message effectiveness and behavioral intention in a community based Latino American sample. Results indicated no significant differences between a gain- and loss-frame for any of the outcome variables. In addition, message effectiveness, susceptibility, and response efficacy were the best predictors of intention to engage in early testing behavior

Applied simulations and integrated modelling for the understanding of toxic and harmful algal blooms (ASIMUTH): Integrated HAB forecast systems for Europe's Atlantic Arc

Reasons for the emergent interest in HABs are abundant, including concerns associated with human health, adverse effects on biological resources, economic losses attributed to recreation, tourism and seafood related industries, and the cost of maintaining public advisory services and monitoring programs for shellfish toxins and water quality. The impact of HABs can potentially be mitigated by early warning of their development. In this regard the project ASIMUTH (Applied Simulations and Integrated Modelling for the Understanding of Toxic and Harmful algal blooms) was borne in order to develop short term HAB alert systems for Atlantic Europe. This was achieved using information on the most current marine conditions (weather, water characteristics, toxicity, harmful algal presence etc.) combined with high resolution local numerical predictions. This integrated, multidisciplinary, trans-boundary approach to the study of HABs developed during ASIMUTH led to a better understanding of the physical, chemical and ecological factors controlling these blooms, as well as their impact on human activities. The outcome was an appropriate alert system for an effective management of areas that are usually associated with HAB events and where these episodes may have a more significant negative impact on human activities. Specifically for the aquaculture industry, the information provided enabled farmers to adapt their working practices in time to prevent mortalities in finfish farms and/or manage their shellfish harvest more effectively. This paper summarises the modelling and alert developments generated by the ASIMUTH project.Versión del editor3,083

Measuring nickel masses in Type Ia supernovae using cobalt emission in nebular phase spectra

The light curves of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) are powered by the radioactive decay of $^{56}$Ni to $^{56}$Co at early times, and the decay of $^{56}$Co to $^{56}$Fe from ~60 days after explosion. We examine the evolution of the [Co III] 5892 A emission complex during the nebular phase for SNe Ia with multiple nebular spectra and show that the line flux follows the square of the mass of $^{56}$Co as a function of time. This result indicates both efficient local energy deposition from positrons produced in $^{56}$Co decay, and long-term stability of the ionization state of the nebula. We compile 77 nebular spectra of 25 SN Ia from the literature and present 17 new nebular spectra of 7 SNe Ia, including SN2014J. From these we measure the flux in the [Co III] 5892 A line and remove its well-behaved time dependence to infer the initial mass of $^{56}$Ni ($M_{Ni}$) produced in the explosion. We then examine $^{56}$Ni yields for different SN Ia ejected masses ($M_{ej}$ - calculated using the relation between light curve width and ejected mass) and find the $^{56}$Ni masses of SNe Ia fall into two regimes: for narrow light curves (low stretch s~0.7-0.9), $M_{Ni}$ is clustered near $M_{Ni}$ ~ 0.4$M_\odot$ and shows a shallow increase as $M_{ej}$ increases from ~1-1.4$M_\odot$; at high stretch, $M_{ej}$ clusters at the Chandrasekhar mass (1.4$M_\odot$) while $M_{Ni}$ spans a broad range from 0.6-1.2$M_\odot$. This could constitute evidence for two distinct SN Ia explosion mechanisms.Comment: 16 pages, 12 figures (main text), plus data tables in appendix. Spectra released on WISeREP. Submitted to MNRAS, comments welcom

Harmful Algal Bloom Bulletins

Use Case Title: Harmful Algal Blooms Environmental matrix of interest (Air, Ice, Mar. Water, etc.): Marine Study Regions: Shelf Seas in Norway, Ireland and Spain Dissemination Method: Web Providing near real-time and forecast information for the aquaculture industry along Europe’s Atlantic coast is of vital importance in mitigating the effects of HABs. In this task, In-situ and satellite data will be amalgamated in a decision support system. In-situ data include oceanographic data e.g. water column structure, current speeds, biological samples (e.g. algal toxins, phytoplankton cell counts, barcoding) and hydrographic and biogeochemical information where possible. The In-situ data will be used to inform and validate biophysical models and to produce circulation forecasts for the coming three to five days. These data will undergo expert interpretation to produce an early warning bulletin to the aquaculture industry in Spain, Norway and Ireland. The bulletin will be distributed over a specified production season to fish farmers and shellfish production facilities so that husbandry and harvesting techniques can reflect the prevailing HAB conditions at any point in time

AtlantOS fitness for HAB Bulletins

Assessment of the observing system fitness for HAB warning bulletin in the Atlanti

The EXPRES Stellar Signals Project II. State of the Field in Disentangling Photospheric Velocities

Measured spectral shifts due to intrinsic stellar variability (e.g., pulsations, granulation) and activity (e.g., spots, plages) are the largest source of error for extreme-precision radial-velocity (EPRV) exoplanet detection. Several methods are designed to disentangle stellar signals from true center-of-mass shifts due to planets. The Extreme-precision Spectrograph (EXPRES) Stellar Signals Project (ESSP) presents a self-consistent comparison of 22 different methods tested on the same extreme-precision spectroscopic data from EXPRES. Methods derived new activity indicators, constructed models for mapping an indicator to the needed radial-velocity (RV) correction, or separated out shape- and shift-driven RV components. Since no ground truth is known when using real data, relative method performance is assessed using the total and nightly scatter of returned RVs and agreement between the results of different methods. Nearly all submitted methods return a lower RV rms than classic linear decorrelation, but no method is yet consistently reducing the RV rms to sub-meter-per-second levels. There is a concerning lack of agreement between the RVs returned by different methods. These results suggest that continued progress in this field necessitates increased interpretability of methods, high-cadence data to capture stellar signals at all timescales, and continued tests like the ESSP using consistent data sets with more advanced metrics for method performance. Future comparisons should make use of various well-characterized data sets—such as solar data or data with known injected planetary and/or stellar signals—to better understand method performance and whether planetary signals are preserved