Treasure codes: augmenting learning from physical museum exhibits through treasure hunting

Previous studies have highlighted the difficulty that designers face in creating mobile museum guides to enhance small group experiences. In this paper, we report a study exploring the potential of mobile visual recognition technology (Artcodes) to improve users’ experiences in a visitor centre. A prototype mobile guide in the form of a treasure hunt was developed and evaluated by means of a field study comparing this technology with the existing personal guided tour. The results reveal a preference for the mobile guide amongst participants and show significant learning gains from pre-test to post-test compared with the pre-existing personal tour. Our observational analyses indicate how the mobile guide can be used to improve visitors’ learning experiences by supporting active discovery and by balancing physical and digital interactions. We further expand the concept of design trajectories to consider micro-scaffolding as a way of understanding and designing future public technologies

A method for the reconstruction of unknown non-monotonic growth functions in the chemostat

We propose an adaptive control law that allows one to identify unstable steady states of the open-loop system in the single-species chemostat model without the knowledge of the growth function. We then show how one can use this control law to trace out (reconstruct) the whole graph of the growth function. The process of tracing out the graph can be performed either continuously or step-wise. We present and compare both approaches. Even in the case of two species in competition, which is not directly accessible with our approach due to lack of controllability, feedback control improves identifiability of the non-dominant growth rate.Comment: expansion of ideas from proceedings paper (17 pages, 8 figures), proceedings paper is version v

Who are these youths? Language in the service of policy

In the 1990s policy relating to children and young people who offend developed as a result of the interplay of political imperatives and populist demands. The ‘responsibilisation’ of young offenders and the ‘no excuses’ culture of youth justice have been ‘marketed’ through a discourse which evidences linguistic changes. This article focuses on one particular area of policy change, that relating to the prosecutorial decision, to show how particular images of children were both reflected and constructed through a changing selection of words to describe the non-adult suspect and offender. In such minutiae of discourse can be found not only the signifiers of public attitudinal and policy change but also the means by which undesirable policy developments can be challenged

A study of general practitioners' perspectives on electronic medical records systems in NHS Scotland

<b>Background</b> Primary care doctors in NHSScotland have been using electronic medical records within their practices routinely for many years. The Scottish Health Executive eHealth strategy (2008-2011) has recently brought radical changes to the primary care computing landscape in Scotland: an information system (GPASS) which was provided free-of-charge by NHSScotland to a majority of GP practices has now been replaced by systems provided by two approved commercial providers. The transition to new electronic medical records had to be completed nationally across all health-boards by March 2012. <p></p><b> Methods</b> We carried out 25 in-depth semi-structured interviews with primary care doctors to elucidate GPs' perspectives on their practice information systems and collect more general information on management processes in the patient surgical pathway in NHSScotland. We undertook a thematic analysis of interviewees' responses, using Normalisation Process Theory as the underpinning conceptual framework. <p></p> <b>Results</b> The majority of GPs' interviewed considered that electronic medical records are an integral and essential element of their work during the consultation, playing a key role in facilitating integrated and continuity of care for patients and making clinical information more accessible. However, GPs expressed a number of reservations about various system functionalities - for example: in relation to usability, system navigation and information visualisation. <b>Conclusion </b>Our study highlights that while electronic information systems are perceived as having important benefits, there remains substantial scope to improve GPs' interaction and overall satisfaction with these systems. Iterative user-centred improvements combined with additional training in the use of technology would promote an increased understanding, familiarity and command of the range of functionalities of electronic medical records among primary care doctors

Bigger, Faster, Better? Rhetorics and Practices of Large-Scale Research in Contemporary Bioscience

publication-status: Publishedtypes: ArticleEditorial for Special Issu

Dupilumab provides favourable long‐term safety and efficacy in children aged ≥ 6 to < 12 years with uncontrolled, severe atopic dermatitis: results from an open‐label phase IIa study and subsequent phase III open‐label extension study

Background Children aged ≥ 6 to < 12 years with severe atopic dermatitis (AD) have limited treatment options. In a 16‐week, randomized, placebo‐controlled, phase III trial in children, dupilumab, a monoclonal antibody inhibiting interleukin (IL)‐4/IL‐13 signalling, significantly improved signs and symptoms with acceptable safety; longer‐term safety and efficacy data are lacking. Objectives To report the pharmacokinetic profile and long‐term safety and efficacy of dupilumab in children (aged ≥ 6 to < 12 years) with severe AD. Methods Children (aged ≥ 6 to < 12 years) with severe AD were enrolled in a global, multicentre, phase IIa, open‐label, ascending‐dose, sequential cohort study and subsequent open‐label extension (OLE) study. Patients received single‐dose dupilumab 2 or 4 mg kg−1 followed by 8‐week pharmacokinetic sampling, then 2 or 4 mg kg−1 weekly for 4 weeks (phase IIa), followed by the same weekly regimen (OLE). Primary endpoints were dupilumab concentration–time profile and treatment‐emergent adverse events (TEAEs); secondary assessments included Eczema Area and Severity Index (EASI) and Peak Pruritus Numeric Rating Scale (PP‐NRS) score. Results Of 38 children enrolled, 37 completed phase IIa and 33 continued to the OLE. Nonlinear, target‐mediated pharmacokinetics characterized dupilumab concentrations (week 24–48 mean serum concentrations: 2 mg kg−1, 61–77 mg L−1; 4 mg kg−1, 143–181 mg L−1). TEAEs were mostly mild to moderate and transient; none led to treatment discontinuation. The most commonly reported TEAEs were nasopharyngitis (2 mg kg−1, 47%; 4 mg kg−1, 56%) and AD exacerbation (29% and 13%, respectively). Single‐dose dupilumab rapidly improved AD with further improvements through week 52. Mean EASI and PP‐NRS improved by −37%/−33% and −17%/−20% at week 2 (phase IIa) and −92%/−84% and −70%/−58% at week 52 (OLE), respectively. Conclusions These safety and efficacy results support the use of dupilumab as a continuous long‐term treatment for children aged ≥ 6 to < 12 years with severe AD

Isotope Effect for the Penetration Depth in Superconductors

We show that various factors can lead to an isotopic dependence of the penetration depth $\delta$. Non-adiabaticity (Jahn-Teller crossing) leads to the isotope effect of the charge carrier concentration $n$ and, consequently, of $\delta$ in doped superconductors such as the cuprates. A general equation relating the isotope coefficients of $T_c$ and of $\delta$ is presented for London superconductors. We further show that the presence of magnetic impurities or a proximity contact also lead to an isotopic dependence of $\delta$; the isotope coefficient turns out to be temperature dependent, $\beta(T)$, in these cases. The existence of the isotope effect for the penetration depth is predicted for conventional as well as for high-temperature superconductors. Various experiments are proposed and/or discussed.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Computing prime factors with a Josephson phase qubit quantum processor

A quantum processor (QuP) can be used to exploit quantum mechanics to find the prime factors of composite numbers[1]. Compiled versions of Shor's algorithm have been demonstrated on ensemble quantum systems[2] and photonic systems[3-5], however this has yet to be shown using solid state quantum bits (qubits). Two advantages of superconducting qubit architectures are the use of conventional microfabrication techniques, which allow straightforward scaling to large numbers of qubits, and a toolkit of circuit elements that can be used to engineer a variety of qubit types and interactions[6, 7]. Using a number of recent qubit control and hardware advances [7-13], here we demonstrate a nine-quantum-element solid-state QuP and show three experiments to highlight its capabilities. We begin by characterizing the device with spectroscopy. Next, we produces coherent interactions between five qubits and verify bi- and tripartite entanglement via quantum state tomography (QST) [8, 12, 14, 15]. In the final experiment, we run a three-qubit compiled version of Shor's algorithm to factor the number 15, and successfully find the prime factors 48% of the time. Improvements in the superconducting qubit coherence times and more complex circuits should provide the resources necessary to factor larger composite numbers and run more intricate quantum algorithms.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Ecological Invasion, Roughened Fronts, and a Competitor's Extreme Advance: Integrating Stochastic Spatial-Growth Models

Both community ecology and conservation biology seek further understanding of factors governing the advance of an invasive species. We model biological invasion as an individual-based, stochastic process on a two-dimensional landscape. An ecologically superior invader and a resident species compete for space preemptively. Our general model includes the basic contact process and a variant of the Eden model as special cases. We employ the concept of a "roughened" front to quantify effects of discreteness and stochasticity on invasion; we emphasize the probability distribution of the front-runner's relative position. That is, we analyze the location of the most advanced invader as the extreme deviation about the front's mean position. We find that a class of models with different assumptions about neighborhood interactions exhibit universal characteristics. That is, key features of the invasion dynamics span a class of models, independently of locally detailed demographic rules. Our results integrate theories of invasive spatial growth and generate novel hypotheses linking habitat or landscape size (length of the invading front) to invasion velocity, and to the relative position of the most advanced invader.Comment: The original publication is available at www.springerlink.com/content/8528v8563r7u2742

Neutron-proton asymmetry dependence of spectroscopic factors in Ar isotopes

Spectroscopic factors have been extracted for proton rich 34Ar and neutron rich 46Ar using the (p,d) neutron transfer reaction. The experimental results show little reduction of the ground state neutron spectroscopic factor of the proton rich nucleus 34Ar compared to that of 46Ar. The results suggest that correlations, which generally reduce such spectroscopic factors, do not depend strongly on the neutron-proton asymmetry of the nucleus in this isotopic region as was reported in knockout reactions. The present results are consistent with results from systematic studies of transfer reactions but inconsistent with the trends observed in knockout reaction measurements.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures. submitted to PR