The MUPPLE competence continuum

The idea of Personal Learning Environments (PLEs) seems to polarise the educational sphere into supporters and opponents. Both groups relate their enthusiasm or criticism to underlying competences motivated by or needed for building up, running, and maintaining a PLE. Within the following article, results of a qualitative study with multiple cases will be presented to shed light onto which competence and which of its building blocks are involved in running a (mash-up) PLE. Data about the involved skills, abilities, habits, attitudes and knowledge will be presented in a raster of the five dimensions 'plan', 'reflect', 'monitor', 'act', and 'interact' against the three stages 'start', 'trigger', and 'outcome'. The findings indicate that there is a continuum ranging from the ones needed right ahead to the ones ultimately sought

Multi-Target Localization in Multi-Static Integrated Sensing and Communication Deployments

In future wireless communication networks, existing active localization will gradually evolve into more sophisticated (passive) sensing functionalities. One main enabler for this process is the merging of information collected from the network's nodes, sensing the environment in a multi-static deployment. The current literature considers single sensing node systems and/or single target scenarios, mainly focusing on specific issues pertaining to hardware impairments or algorithmic challenges. In contrast, in this work we propose an ensemble of techniques for processing the information gathered from multiple sensing nodes, jointly observing an environment with multiple targets. A scattering model is used within a flexibly configurable framework to highlight the challenges and issues with algorithms used in this distributed sensing task. We validate our approach by supporting it with detailed link budget evaluations, considering practical millimeter-wave systems' capabilities. Our numerical evaluations are performed in an indoor scenario, sweeping a variety of parameter to analyze the KPIs sensitivity with respect to each of them. The proposed algorithms to fuse information by multiple nodes show significant gains in terms of targets' localization performance, with up to 35\% for the probability of detection, compared to the baseline with a mono-static setup.Comment: 8 pages, 10 figures, 1 table. This work has been submitted to the IEEE for possible publication. Copyright may be transferred without notice, after which this version may no longer be accessibl

CRAP: Clutter Removal with Acquisitions Under Phase Noise

The emergence of Integrated Sensing and Communication (ISAC) in future 6G networks comes with a variety of challenges to be solved. One of those is clutter removal, which should be applied to remove the influence of unwanted components, scattered by the environment, in the acquired sensing signal. While legacy radar systems already implement different clutter removal algorithms, ISAC requires techniques that are tailored to the envisioned use cases and the specific challenges that communications deployments bring along, like phase noise due to clock errors between transmitter and receiver. To that end, in this work we introduce Clutter Removal with Acquisitions Under Phase Noise (CRAP). We propose to vectorize the time-frequency channel acquired in a radio frame in a high-dimensional space. In an offline clutter acquisition step, singular value decomposition is used to determine the major clutter components. At runtime, the clutter is then estimated and removed by a subspace projection of the acquired radio frame onto the clutter components. Simulation results prove that CRAP offers benefits over prior art techniques robust to phase noise. In particular, our proposal does not suppress zero Doppler information, thereby enabling the detection of slow targets. Moreover, we show CRAP's real-time applicability in a millimeter-wave ISAC proof of concept, where a pedestrian is tracked in a cluttered lab environment.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures. This work has been submitted to the IEEE for possible publication. Copyright may be transferred without notice, after which this version may no longer be accessibl

New Perspectives for Evaluating the Mass Transport in Porous Catalysts and Unfolding Macro- and Microkinetics

In this article we shed light on newly emerging perspectives to characterize and understand the interplay of diffusive mass transport and surface catalytic processes in pores of gas phase metal catalysts. As a case study, nanoporous gold, as an interesting example exhibiting a well-defined pore structure and a high activity for total and partial oxidation reactions is considered. PFG NMR (pulsed field gradient nuclear magnetic resonance) measurements allowed here for a quantitative evaluation of gas diffusivities within the material. STEM (scanning transmission electron microscopy) tomography furthermore provided additional insight into the structural details of the pore system, helping to judge which of its features are most decisive for slowing down mass transport. Based on the quantitative knowledge about the diffusion coefficients inside a porous catalyst, it becomes possible to disentangle mass transport contributions form the measured reaction kinetics and to determine the kinetic rate constant of the underlying catalytic surface reaction. In addition, predictions can be made for an improved effectiveness of the catalyst, i.e., optimized conversion rates. This approach will be discussed at the example of low-temperature CO oxidation, efficiently catalysed by npAu at 30 °C. The case study shall reveal that novel porous materials exhibiting well-defined micro- and mesoscopic features and sufficient catalytic activity, in combination with modern techniques to evaluate diffusive transport, offer interesting new opportunities for an integral understanding of catalytic processes

Z-osteotomy in hallux valgus: clinical and radiological outcome after Scarf osteotomy

Correction osteotomies of the first metatarsal are common surgical approaches in treating hallux valgus deformities whereas the Scarf osteotomy has gained popularity. The purpose of this study was to analyze short- and mid-term results in hallux valgus patients who underwent a Scarf osteotomy. The subjective and radiological outcome of 131 Scarf osteotomies (106 hallux valgus patients, mean age: 57.5 years, range: 22–90 years) were retrospectively analyzed. Mean follow-up was 22.4 months (range: 6 months–5 years). Surgical indications were: intermetatarsal angle (IMA) of 12–23°; increased proximal articular angle (PAA>8°), and range of motion of the metatarsophalangeal joint in flexion and extension >40°. Exclusion criteria were severe osteoporosis and/or osteoarthritis. The mean subjective range of motion (ROM) of the great toe post-surgery was 0.8±1.73 points (0: full ROM, 10: total stiffness). The mean subjective cosmetic result was 2.7±2.7 points (0: excellent, 10: poor). The overall post-operative patient satisfaction with the result was high (2.1±2.5 points (0: excellent, 10: poor). The mean hallux valgus angle improvement was 16.6° (pre-operative mean value: 37.5°) which was statistically significant (p<0.01). The IMA improved by an average of 5.96° from a pre-operative mean value of 15.4° (p<0.01). Neither osteonecrosis of the distal fragment nor perioperative fractures were noted during the follow-up. In keeping with our follow-up results, the Scarf osteotomy approach shows potential in the therapy of hallux valgus

Quantifying social performance: A review with implications for further work

Human social performance has been a focus of theory and investigation for more than a century. Attempts to quantify social performance have focused on self-report and non-social performance measures grounded in intelligence-based theories. An expertise framework, when applied to individual differences in social interaction performance, offers novel insights and methods of quantification that could address limitations of prior approaches. The purposes of this review are 3-fold. First, to define the central concepts related to individual differences in social performance, with a particular focus on the intelligence-based framework that has dominated the field. Second, to make an argument for a revised conceptualization of individual differences in social–emotional performance as a social expertise. In support of this second aim, the putative components of a social–emotional expertise and the potential means for their assessment will be outlined. To end, the implications of an expertise-based conceptual framework for the application of computational modeling approaches in this area will be discussed. Taken together, expertise theory and computational modeling methods have the potential to advance quantitative assessment of social interaction performance