Integrating Whole Child Development (WCD) Measurement into Education Systems

Based on discussions with 10 education organizations working with a variety of whole child development (WCD) approaches across the globe, this article explores what such holistic approaches to building foundational skills mean for measuring student outcomes, including at young ages, and what other indicators are necessary to support education systems that foster the thriving of children with different needs across different contexts

Integrating Whole Child Development (WCD) into Teacher and School- Leader Training: Perspectives From Across the World

A Whole Child Development (WCD) approach considers foundational learning as being child-centred and multi-dimensional, emphasising a variety of interconnected and context-dependent skills, competencies, and values for a child to thrive. Drawn from discussions with 10 education organisations from across the globe, this article explores how education systems can support teachers and school leaders to take a WCD approach

Localisation of normal faults in multilayer sequences

Existing conceptual growth models for faults in layered sequences suggest that faults first localise in strong, and brittle, layers and are later linked in weak, and ductile, layers. We use the Discrete Element Method (DEM) for modelling the growth of a normal fault in a brittle/ductile multilayer sequence. The modelling reveals that faults in brittle/ductile sequences at low confining pressure and high strength contrast localise first as Mode I fractures in the brittle layers. Low amplitude monoclinal folding prior to failure is accommodated by ductile flow in the weak layers. The initially vertically segmented fault arrays are later linked via shallow dipping faults in the weak layers. Faults localise, therefore, as geometrically and kinematically coherent arrays of fault segments in which abandoned fault tips or splays are a product of the strain localisation process and do not necessarily indicate linkage of initially isolated faults. The modelling suggests that fault tip lines in layered sequences are more advanced in the strong layers compared to weak layers, where the difference in propagation distance is most likely related to strength and/or ductility contrast. Layer dependent variations in fault propagation rates generate fringed rather than smooth fault tip lines in multilayers.Not applicableEnterprise Irelan

Identifying Relevant Tactile Features for Object Identification

Schöpfer M, Pardowitz M, Haschke R, Ritter H. Identifying Relevant Tactile Features for Object Identification. In: Prassler E, Bischoff R, Burgard W, et al., eds. Towards Service Robots for Everyday Environments. Recent Advances In Designing Service Robots For Complex Tasks In Everyday Environments. Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics. Vol 76. Berlin: Springer; 2012: 417-430.Tactile sensing arrays for robotic applications become more and more popular these days. This allows us to equip robots with sensing abilities similar to those of our human skin. This article presents an approach to tactile-based recognition of objects and evaluates the utility of various feature extractors for tactile processing. Extracting these features from a tactile database, we describe a system that combines a discretization step with the well-known C4.5 algorithm in an object classification task. We analyze the usefulness of the features in terms of entropy-based considerations, taking into account the generated decision trees and report our results that give important hints for feature selection

A High-Speed Tactile Sensor for Slip Detection

Schürmann C, Schöpfer M, Haschke R, Ritter H. A High-Speed Tactile Sensor for Slip Detection. In: Prassler E, Burgard W, Handmann U, et al., eds. Towards Service Robots for Everyday Environments. Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics. Vol 76. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer; 2012: 403-415.Dexterous grasping and manipulation of objects with robot hands requires the ability to monitor contact locations in real-time and with good spatial resolution in order to close the control loop required for object and contact trajectory generation. The ability to recognize incipient slippage will allow for autonomous grasp force adaption – a major prerequisite to handle objects of unknown weight. To provide appropriate tactile sensing capabilities, this paper presents the development of a modular tactile sensor system focusing especially on high frame rates (up to 1.9 kHz) and good spatial resolution (5mm). Larger sensor areas are composed from identical sensor modules providing a 16×16 matrix of tactels. We compare different tactel layouts and force-sensitive materials to achieve optimal sensitivity especially to low forces in order to facilitate detection of first touch. Finally we demonstrate the versatility of the sensor to detect incipient slippage employing a Fourier transformation of the high-frequency tactile signal as input to a multi-layer perceptron, which learns to accomplish the classification tasks

Appropriateness and long-term discontinuation rate of biological therapies in ulcerative colitis.

BACKGROUND: Anti-TNFα agents are commonly used for ulcerative colitis (UC) therapy in the event of non-response to conventional strategies or as colon-salvaging therapy. The objectives were to assess the appropriateness of biological therapies for UC patients and to study treatment discontinuation over time, according to appropriateness of treatment, as a measure of outcome. METHODS: We selected adult ulcerative colitis patients from the Swiss IBD cohort who had been treated with anti-TNFα agents. Appropriateness of the first-line anti-TNFα treatment was assessed using detailed criteria developed during the European Panel on the Appropriateness of Therapy for UC. Treatment discontinuation as an outcome was assessed for categories of appropriateness. RESULTS: Appropriateness of the first-line biological treatment was determined in 186 UC patients. For 64% of them, this treatment was considered appropriate. During follow-up, 37% of all patients discontinued biological treatment, 17% specifically because of failure. Time-to-failure of treatment was significantly different among patients on an appropriate biological treatment compared to those for whom the treatment was considered not appropriate (p=0.0007). Discontinuation rate after 2years was 26% compared to 54% between those two groups. Patients on inappropriate biological treatment were more likely to have severe disease, concomitant steroids and/or immunomodulators. They were also consistently more likely to suffer a failure of efficacy and to stop therapy during follow-up. CONCLUSION: Appropriateness of first-line anti-TNFα therapy results in a greater likelihood of continuing with the therapy. In situations where biological treatment is uncertain or inappropriate, physicians should consider other options instead of prescribing anti-TNFα agents