Operationalising a Threshold Concept in Economics: A Pilot Study Using Multiple Choice Questions on Opportunity Cost

This paper addresses the emerging educational framework that envisions threshold concepts as mediators of learning outcomes. While the threshold concepts framework is highly appealing on a theoretical level, few researchers have attempted to measure threshold concept acquisition empirically. Achieving this would open a new arena for exploration and debate in the threshold concepts field, and provide potential results to inform teaching practice. We begin the process of operationalising threshold concepts in economics by attempting to measure students' grasp of the threshold concept of opportunity cost in an introductory economics class. We suggest two potential measures and correlate them with an array of ex ante and ex post variables, including students' expectations of success, prior misconceptions about economics and the work of economists, and actual success in the course. Results cast new light onto the factors that influence the acquisition of threshold concepts, the relationship between threshold concept acquisition and final learning outcomes, and the empirical viability of threshold concepts generally.

Heavy Meson Production in NN Collisions with Polarized Beam and Target -- A new facility for COSY

The study of near--threshold meson production in pp and pd collisions involving polarized beams and polarized targets offers the rare opportunity to gain insight into short--range features of the nucleon--nucleon interaction. The Cooler Synchrotron COSY at FZ--J\"ulich is a unique environment to perform such studies. Measurements of polarization observables require a cylindrically symmetrical detector, capable to measure the momenta and the directions of outgoing charged hadrons. The wide energy range of COSY leads to momenta of outgoing protons to be detected in a single meson production reaction between 300 and 2500 MeV/c. Scattering angles of protons to be covered extend to about $45^{\circ}$ in the laboratory system. An azimuthal angular coverage of the device around 98% seems technically achievable. The required magnetic spectrometer could consist of a superconducting toroid, providing fields around 3 T.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, submitted to Czechoslovak Journal of Physic

It Takes Two – Coincidence coding within the dual olfactory pathway of the honeybee

To rapidly process biologically relevant stimuli, sensory systems have developed a broad variety of coding mechanisms like parallel processing and coincidence detection. Parallel processing (e.g., in the visual system), increases both computational capacity and processing speed by simultaneously coding different aspects of the same stimulus. Coincidence detection is an efficient way to integrate information from different sources. Coincidence has been shown to promote associative learning and memory or stimulus feature detection (e.g., in auditory delay lines). Within the dual olfactory pathway of the honeybee both of these mechanisms might be implemented by uniglomerular projection neurons (PNs) that transfer information from the primary olfactory centers, the antennal lobe (AL), to a multimodal integration center, the mushroom body (MB). PNs from anatomically distinct tracts respond to the same stimulus space, but have different physiological properties, characteristics that are prerequisites for parallel processing of different stimulus aspects. However, the PN pathways also display mirror-imaged like anatomical trajectories that resemble neuronal coincidence detectors as known from auditory delay lines. To investigate temporal processing of olfactory information, we recorded PN odor responses simultaneously from both tracts and measured coincident activity of PNs within and between tracts. Our results show that coincidence levels are different within each of the two tracts. Coincidence also occurs between tracts, but to a minor extent compared to coincidence within tracts. Taken together our findings support the relevance of spike timing in coding of olfactory information (temporal code)

Aristoteles über die Psyche als Prinzip und Ursache des Lebens

Biology is the most extensive field in the Corpus Aristotelicum. In his fundamental work De anima, Aristotle tries to fix the borders of this life science. The term ψυχή has a twofold explanatory status. On the one hand, ψυχή is understood as a principle of all living beings. On the other hand, it is understood as a cause of the fact that all living beings are alive. The paper is divided into three sections. (1) The first part shows why Aristotle discusses these issues in a work entitled Περὶ ψυχῆς. Since Pythagoras and Heraclitus, ψυχή was understood as a life principle: Pythagoras believed that men, animals and plants share the same nature: they are all ἔμψυχα and they are homogenous qua ψυχή. (2) The second part of this article deals with Aristotle’s definition of the soul in DA II: ψυχή is the principle of all living things. This establishes (i) the external criteria to divide living and non-living beings and (ii) the internal criteria to divide living beings. (3) The third part of this paper is concerned with the methodological consequences of this definition: the life functions (δυνάμεις τῆς ψυχῆς) are the central explanandum in Aristotle’s biology. De anima II defines such various life-functions as nourishment, sense-perception and locomotion. These capacities contour the main fields of the philosopher’s biological investigation. For Aristotle, the faculty of reproduction is a subtype of nourishment. Reproduction is the most important and most natural function of all living beings. Genetics is, therefore, the most important field in Aristotle’s biology

Atmospheric water vapour isotopes in the Arctic at the interface with sea ice and open ocean

Due to the recent and severe downtrend in sea ice coverage, Arctic-derived moisture serves as new, increasingly important, water source for the northern hemisphere. Feedback and exchange processes between the different hydrological compartments of the Arctic might be tracked by stable water isotopologues (H216O, H218O, HD16O). This is possible as evaporative sources, phase changes and transport history have a specific imprint on the isotopic compositions. The MOSAiC drift experiment offered the unique possibility to tackle the main hydrological processes occurring in the Central Arctic, covering a complete seasonal cycle, including the understudied Arctic winter. A Cavity Ring Down Spectrometer (CRDS) was installed on board of RV Polarstern and atmospheric humidity, δ18O, δD and d-excess were observed continuously from October 2019 to October 2020. Simultaneously, isotopic changes of water vapour have been measured by international partners at several land-based Arctic stations. A first analysis of the Polarstern isotopic vapour dataset reveals a range of 30‰ (min=-48.4; max=-11.4; mean=-32.4) variations in δ18Ο of atmospheric water vapour. A clear seasonal cycle with the most depleted values occurring in the dry and cold winter months and increasingly enriched values in spring, peaking in August is noticed. Strong, positive correlation is found with both local specific humidity (r2 = 0.87) and air temperature (r2=0.81). Several short-term events on synoptical time scales with abrupt fluctuations in the isotopic composition are detected throughout the entire dataset, especially during the freeze up phase (Oct-Nov) and the transition from frozen conditions to summer melt (Apr-Jun). Preliminary comparison of the Polarstern data with measurements from different Arctic stations indicates a strong influence of sea ice coverage on the isotopic signal. For an in-depth understanding of the observed isotopic changes, we quantitatively compare the measured isotopic signatures with model results from an ECHAM6 atmosphere simulation, which includes explicit water isotope diagnostics. For this simulation, pressure and temperature fields have been nudged to ERA5 data. The model-data comparison assesses the capability of this state-of-the-art AGCM to capture the first-order evaporation/condensation processes and their seasonal evolution. However, both a systematic overestimation of winter values and overall decreased variability of modeled isotope values as compared to the observation is found. Investigation of such discrepancies may help to identify deficits in the representation of the fine-scale exchange processes characterizing the central-Arctic water cycle

Changes of atmospheric water vapour isotopes in the Arctic at the interface with sea ice and open ocean

Evaporation from the increasingly ice-free Arctic ocean causes moistening of the atmosphere and serves as an unprecedent water source for the Northern Hemisphere. Atmospheric transport of moisture and its interaction with the other Arctic hydrological compartments can be tracked by primary and secondary water isotope parameters. We present observations of atmospheric humidity, δ18O, δD and d-excess, obtained from a cavity-ring-down spectrometer installed on RV Polarstern and operated continuously during the MOSAiC expedition. The dataset reveals a clear seasonal cycle of the atmospheric water vapour; positive correlation is found both with local specific humidity and air temperature. The comparison of synoptical events, characterized by abrupt isotopic fluctuations, with simultaneous observations from land-based Arctic stations indicates a strong influence of sea ice coverage on the isotopic signal. For an in-depth understanding of the isotopic changes, the observations are compared to results of an isotope-enhanced ECHAM6 atmosphere simulation. The model-data comparison assesses the capability of this state-of-the-art AGCM to capture the first-order evaporation/condensation processes and their seasonal evolution. However, a systematic overestimation of winter values and overall decreased variability of modeled values is found. Investigation of such discrepancies may help to identify deficits in the representation of the fine-scale exchange processes characterizing the central-Arctic water cycle

Isotopic traits of the Arctic water cycle

The Arctic hydrological cycle undergoes rapid and pronounced changes, including marine and terrestrial ice loss, increased atmospheric humidity, shifting ocean circulation regimes, and changes in the magnitude and frequency of extreme weather events. Stable water isotopes (δ18O, δ2H) and the secondary parameter d-excess can be used to trace the processes within this new evaporative system including the potential feedback of them into the global climate system. However, characteristics of δ18O, δ2H and d-excess and the processes governing them are yet to be quantified across the Arctic due to a lack of long-term empirical data. The Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) expedition provided a unique opportunity to collect, analyze, and synthesize discrete samples of the different hydrological compartments in the central Arctic, covering a complete seasonal cycle over the course one year. These observations can lead to a new insight into coupled climate processes operating in the Arctic. Here, we present the isotopic traits of more than 1,900 discrete samples (i.e., seawater, sea ice, snow, brine, frost flower, lead ice, ridge ice). We found that: (i) average seawater δ18O of -1.7‰ conforms to observed and modelled isotopic traits of the Arctic Ocean with more depleted seawater closer to the north pole in winter and relatively enriched seawater in lower latitudes in spring; (ii) second year ice is relatively depleted compared to first year ice with average δ18O values of -3.1‰ and -0.7‰, respectively. This might be due to post-depositional exchange processes with snow; (iii) snow has the most depleted isotopic signature among all compartments (mean δ18O=-15.1‰) and a gradual enrichment trend in snow profiles from top to bottom might be partially due to sublimation of deposited snow. Our dataset provides an unprecedented description of the present-day isotopic composition of the Arctic water covering a complete seasonal cycle. We try to assess the relative contribution of snow, sea ice, leads, and melt ponds spatially and temporally on regional and local moisture in the Arctic. This will ultimately contribute to resolve the linkages between sea ice, ocean, and atmosphere during critical transitions from frozen ocean to open water conditions

Entwicklung von diagnostischen Assays mit Magnetic Beads und frequenzmischungs-basierter Detektion

Basierend auf der Methode der Frequenzmischung zur Detektion von Magnetic Beads als Antikörper-konjugierte Labels mit kleinen Chromatographiehülsen wurden mehrere Assays entwickelt und verglichen. Hierbei wurden neben verschiedenen Probenmatrices wie z. B. Puffer, Serum und Lebensmitteln verschiedene Assay-Methoden der sequentiellen Detektion sowie mit magnetischer Extraktion und einem fluidisches System getestet. Auch ein Vergleich der verschiedenen, kommerziell erhältlichen Magnetic Beads mehrerer Anbieter wurde durchgeführt und auf die Verwendbarkeit in diesem Detektionsystem hin überprüft

The ensemble of random Markov matrices

The ensemble of random Markov matrices is introduced as a set of Markov or stochastic matrices with the maximal Shannon entropy. The statistical properties of the stationary distribution pi, the average entropy growth rate $h$ and the second largest eigenvalue nu across the ensemble are studied. It is shown and heuristically proven that the entropy growth-rate and second largest eigenvalue of Markov matrices scale in average with dimension of matrices d as h ~ log(O(d)) and nu ~ d^(-1/2), respectively, yielding the asymptotic relation h tau_c ~ 1/2 between entropy h and correlation decay time tau_c = -1/log|nu| . Additionally, the correlation between h and and tau_c is analysed and is decreasing with increasing dimension d.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figur

A Computational Comparison of Optimization Methods for the Golomb Ruler Problem

The Golomb ruler problem is defined as follows: Given a positive integer n, locate n marks on a ruler such that the distance between any two distinct pair of marks are different from each other and the total length of the ruler is minimized. The Golomb ruler problem has applications in information theory, astronomy and communications, and it can be seen as a challenge for combinatorial optimization algorithms. Although constructing high quality rulers is well-studied, proving optimality is a far more challenging task. In this paper, we provide a computational comparison of different optimization paradigms, each using a different model (linear integer, constraint programming and quadratic integer) to certify that a given Golomb ruler is optimal. We propose several enhancements to improve the computational performance of each method by exploring bound tightening, valid inequalities, cutting planes and branching strategies. We conclude that a certain quadratic integer programming model solved through a Benders decomposition and strengthened by two types of valid inequalities performs the best in terms of solution time for small-sized Golomb ruler problem instances. On the other hand, a constraint programming model improved by range reduction and a particular branching strategy could have more potential to solve larger size instances due to its promising parallelization features