Learning in Real-World Laboratories : A Systematic Impulse for Discussion

Real-world laboratories (RwLs) are a form of transdisciplinary research that facilitates learning processes as part of its transformative objectives. Nevertheless, little conceptual effort has been put into the understanding, planning, and evaluation of the learning dimension of RwL work. This paper applies a systematic approach from the discourse on education for sustainable development (ESD) to differentiate three perspectives on the various learning processes occurring in RwLs and exemplifies them with experiences from the RwL Urban Transition Lab 131 in Karlsruhe

Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) attitude measurements of the Interplanetary Dust Experiment

Analysis of the data from the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) Interplanetary Dust Experiment (IDE) sun sensors has allowed a confirmation of the attitude of LDEF during its first year in orbit. Eight observations of the yaw angle at specific times were made and are tabulated in this paper. These values range from 4.3 to 12.4 deg with maximum uncertainty of plus or minus 2.0 deg and an average of 7.9 deg. No specific measurements of pitch or roll were made but the data indicates that LDEF had an average pitch down attitude of less than 0.7 deg

Literacy and mental disorders

Purpose of review: This review examines recent evidence on the comorbidity between literacy problems and psychiatric disorder in childhood and discusses possible contributory factors. Recent findings: Recent studies confirm the substantial overlap of literacy problems with a range of emotional/behavioural difficulties in childhood. Literacy problems and inattention may share genetic influences, contributing to associations with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. To an extent, links with conduct problems may be also mediated by attentional difficulties. In addition, findings suggest bidirectional influences whereby disruptive behaviours impede reading progress and reading failure exacerbates risk for behaviour problems. Associations between literacy problems and anxiety disorders are not entirely mediated by inattentiveness. Rather, comorbid anxiety disorders seem likely to arise from the stressors associated with reading failure. Findings in relation to depression are less consistent, but suggest that poor readers may be vulnerable to low mood. Children with autism seem more likely to face problems in reading comprehension than the decoding difficulties more prominent in other disorders. Summary: Literacy problems are associated with increased risks of both externalizing and internalizing disorders in childhood, with different mechanisms likely to be implicated in each case. When comorbid problems occur, each is likely to require separate treatment

IDE spatio-temporal impact fluxes and high time-resolution studies of multi-impact events and long-lived debris clouds

The purpose of the Interplanetary Dust Experiment (IDE) on the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) was to sample the cosmic dust environment and to use the spatio-temporal aspect of the experiment to distinguish between the various components of the environment: zodiacal cloud, beta meteoroids, meteor streams, interstellar dust, and orbital debris. It was found that the introduction of precise time and even rudimentary directionality as co-lateral observables in sampling the particulate environment in near-Earth space produces an enormous qualitative improvement in the information content of the impact data. The orbital debris population is extremely clumpy, being dominated by persistent clouds in which the fluxes may rise orders of magnitude above the background. The IDE data suggest a strategy to minimize the damage to sensitive spacecraft components, using the observed characteristics of cloud encounters

Flexible Adaptive Paradigms for fMRI Using a Novel Software Package ‘Brain Analysis in Real-Time’ (BART)

In this work we present a new open source software package offering a unified framework for the real-time adaptation of fMRI stimulation procedures. The software provides a straightforward setup and highly flexible approach to adapt fMRI paradigms while the experiment is running. The general framework comprises the inclusion of parameters from subject’s compliance, such as directing gaze to visually presented stimuli and physiological fluctuations, like blood pressure or pulse. Additionally, this approach yields possibilities to investigate complex scientific questions, for example the influence of EEG rhythms or fMRI signals results themselves. To prove the concept of this approach, we used our software in a usability example for an fMRI experiment where the presentation of emotional pictures was dependent on the subject’s gaze position. This can have a significant impact on the results. So far, if this is taken into account during fMRI data analysis, it is commonly done by the post-hoc removal of erroneous trials. Here, we propose an a priori adaptation of the paradigm during the experiment’s runtime. Our fMRI findings clearly show the benefits of an adapted paradigm in terms of statistical power and higher effect sizes in emotion-related brain regions. This can be of special interest for all experiments with low statistical power due to a limited number of subjects, a limited amount of time, costs or available data to analyze, as is the case with real-time fMRI

First experience with single-source, dual-energy CCTA for monochromatic stent imaging

Aims Single-source, dual-energy coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) with monochromatic image reconstruction allows significant noise reduction. The aim of the study was to evaluate the impact of monochromatic CCTA image reconstruction on coronary stent imaging, as the latter is known to be affected by artefacts from highly attenuating strut material resulting in artificial luminal narrowing. Methods and results Twenty-one patients with 62 stents underwent invasive coronary angiography and single-source, dual-energy CCTA after stent implantation. Standard polychromatic images as well as eight monochromatic series (50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 120, and 140 keV) were reconstructed for each CCTA. Signal and noise were measured within the stent lumen and in the aortic root. Mean in-stent luminal diameter was assessed in all CCTA reconstructions and compared with quantitative invasive coronary angiography (QCA). Luminal attenuation was higher in the stent than in the aortic root throughout all monochromatic reconstructions (P < 0.001). An increase in monochromatic energy was associated with a decrease in luminal attenuation values (P < 0.001). The mean in-stent luminal diameter underestimation by monochromatic CCTA compared with QCA was 90% at low monochromatic energy (50 keV) and improved to 37% at high monochromatic (140 keV) reconstruction while stent diameter was underestimated by 39% with standard CCTA. Conclusion Monochromatic CCTA can be used reliably in patients with coronary stents. However, reconstructions with energies below 80 keV are not recommended as the blooming artefacts are most pronounced at such low energies, resulting in up to 90% stent diameter underestimatio

In vivo Recording Quality of Mechanically Decoupled Floating Versus Skull-Fixed Silicon-Based Neural Probes

Throughout the past decade, silicon-based neural probes have become a driving force in neural engineering. Such probes comprise sophisticated, integrated CMOS electronics which provide a large number of recording sites along slender probe shanks. Using such neural probes in a chronic setting often requires them to be mechanically anchored with respect to the skull. However, any relative motion between brain and implant causes recording instabilities and tissue responses such as glial scarring, thereby shielding recordable neurons from the recording sites integrated on the probe and thus decreasing the signal quality. In the current work, we present a comparison of results obtained using mechanically fixed and floating silicon neural probes chronically implanted into the cortex of a non-human primate. We demonstrate that the neural signal quality estimated by the quality of the spiking and local field potential (LFP) recordings over time is initially superior for the floating probe compared to the fixed device. Nonetheless, the skull-fixed probe also allowed long-term recording of multi-unit activity (MUA) and low frequency signals over several months, especially once pulsations of the brain were properly controlled

Interrupted Time-Series Analysis of Regulations to Reduce Paracetamol (Acetaminophen) Poisoning

BACKGROUND: Paracetamol (acetaminophen) poisoning is the leading cause of acute liver failure in Great Britain and the United States. Successful interventions to reduced harm from paracetamol poisoning are needed. To achieve this, the government of the United Kingdom introduced legislation in 1998 limiting the pack size of paracetamol sold in shops. Several studies have reported recent decreases in fatal poisonings involving paracetamol. We use interrupted time-series analysis to evaluate whether the recent fall in the number of paracetamol deaths is different to trends in fatal poisoning involving aspirin, paracetamol compounds, antidepressants, or nondrug poisoning suicide. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We calculated directly age-standardised mortality rates for paracetamol poisoning in England and Wales from 1993 to 2004. We used an ordinary least-squares regression model divided into pre- and postintervention segments at 1999. The model included a term for autocorrelation within the time series. We tested for changes in the level and slope between the pre- and postintervention segments. To assess whether observed changes in the time series were unique to paracetamol, we compared against poisoning deaths involving compound paracetamol (not covered by the regulations), aspirin, antidepressants, and nonpoisoning suicide deaths. We did this comparison by calculating a ratio of each comparison series with paracetamol and applying a segmented regression model to the ratios. No change in the ratio level or slope indicated no difference compared to the control series. There were about 2,200 deaths involving paracetamol. The age-standardised mortality rate rose from 8.1 per million in 1993 to 8.8 per million in 1997, subsequently falling to about 5.3 per million in 2004. After the regulations were introduced, deaths dropped by 2.69 per million (p = 0.003). Trends in the age-standardised mortality rate for paracetamol compounds, aspirin, and antidepressants were broadly similar to paracetamol, increasing until 1997 and then declining. Nondrug poisoning suicide also declined during the study period, but was highest in 1993. The segmented regression models showed that the age-standardised mortality rate for compound paracetamol dropped less after the regulations (p = 0.012) but declined more rapidly afterward (p = 0.031). However, age-standardised rates for aspirin and antidepressants fell in a similar way to paracetamol after the regulations. Nondrug poisoning suicide declined at a similar rate to paracetamol after the regulations were introduced. CONCLUSIONS: Introduction of regulations to limit availability of paracetamol coincided with a decrease in paracetamol-poisoning mortality. However, fatal poisoning involving aspirin, antidepressants, and to a lesser degree, paracetamol compounds, also showed similar trends. This raises the question whether the decline in paracetamol deaths was due to the regulations or was part of a wider trend in decreasing drug-poisoning mortality. We found little evidence to support the hypothesis that the 1998 regulations limiting pack size resulted in a greater reduction in poisoning deaths involving paracetamol than occurred for other drugs or nondrug poisoning suicide

High-fidelity quantum driving

The ability to accurately control a quantum system is a fundamental requirement in many areas of modern science such as quantum information processing and the coherent manipulation of molecular systems. It is usually necessary to realize these quantum manipulations in the shortest possible time in order to minimize decoherence, and with a large stability against fluctuations of the control parameters. While optimizing a protocol for speed leads to a natural lower bound in the form of the quantum speed limit rooted in the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, stability against parameter variations typically requires adiabatic following of the system. The ultimate goal in quantum control is to prepare a desired state with 100% fidelity. Here we experimentally implement optimal control schemes that achieve nearly perfect fidelity for a two-level quantum system realized with Bose-Einstein condensates in optical lattices. By suitably tailoring the time-dependence of the system's parameters, we transform an initial quantum state into a desired final state through a short-cut protocol reaching the maximum speed compatible with the laws of quantum mechanics. In the opposite limit we implement the recently proposed transitionless superadiabatic protocols, in which the system perfectly follows the instantaneous adiabatic ground state. We demonstrate that superadiabatic protocols are extremely robust against parameter variations, making them useful for practical applications.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figure