Managing expectations by projecting the future school : Observing the Nordic future school reports via temporal topologies

This study focuses on the politics of time in education by analysing 'The Future School' reports published by Nordic state authorities between 2010 and 2015. Building on a system-theoretical understanding of social time, steering and second-order observations, we investigate how temporal political communication frames the future of Nordic basic education. By applying semantic analysis, we identified four temporal topologies according to which these reports deal with the future: (a) calculated futures based on future projections with numbers; (b) unpredictable futures based on future projections contrasting learning with adaptivity; (c) technology-determined futures; and (d) personalised futures based on child well-being. Whereas these topologies constitute a shared semantical base for discussing the future of school education, a comparison of the reports also reveals differences and paradoxes between the temporal topologies in the Nordic welfare state context.Peer reviewe

en empirisk analyse af information og kognitioner om fusioner

Afhandlingen er skrevet indenfor paradigmet Pragmatismen48. Afhandlingens opbygning afspejler dette valg, og derfor består afhandlingen af sæt af videnskabelige erkendelsesrunder jf. Peirce (1901 og 1903). En videnskabelig erkendelsesrunde består af faserne: Abduktion, Deduktion, Induktion samt Verifikation eller falsifikation af Abduktionens hypotese. Afhandlingen har to videnskabelige erkendelsesrunder. Det overraskende forhold, der igangsætter afhandlingen, er en forskningsmæssig undren49 over, hvorfor der er så mange fusioner, hvis de ikke performer? Denne undren kvalificeres i søgningen af for-forståelse af problematikken via fusionsbølgeteori, konformitets-teori, herding-teori samt viden om informations læringsværdi, således at den undren, den anomali, der søges en forklaring på lyder: Hvorfor fortsætter fusionsbølgen udover ”the tipping point”?...

Dynamic simulator and model predictive control of a milk pasteurizer

In this study, the design, optimization and dynamic modelling of a milk pasteurization unit have been developed, using the pseudo-component approach for describing milk properties. The fluid has been regarded as a mixture of five major categories, namely water, fats, proteins, carbohydrates, and minerals. Exploiting the optimal pasteurizer configuration, selected based on the total annualized cost, a dynamic model of the process has been also derived. The simulation of the system is then used as a virtual plant to develop a nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) designed for rejecting the more important disturbances that can enter the system. The predicted trajectories have been calculated with a simplified version of the dynamic model, obtained by neglecting parameters temperature dependence. The NMPC performance has been compared with a PI controller in terms of set-point tracking and disturbance rejection. Similar results have been obtained when using the different control algorithms for the output responses, but the NMPC showed better behaviour of the manipulated variables

Oxygen vacancies as active sites for water dissociation on rutile TiO₂(110)

Through an interplay between scanning tunneling microscopy experiments and density functional theory calculations, we determine unambiguously the active surface site responsible for the dissociation of water molecules adsorbed on rutile TiO2(110). Oxygen vacancies in the surface layer are shown to dissociate H2O through the transfer of one proton to a nearby oxygen atom, forming two hydroxyl groups for every vacancy. The amount of water dissociation is limited by the density of oxygen vacancies present on the clean surface exclusively. The dissociation process sets in as soon as molecular water is able to diffuse to the active site

Active surveillance - Is it feasible for intermediate-risk localised prostate cancer?

Background Although active surveillance (AS) is a well-recognised treatment option for localised low-risk prostate cancer (LRPC), its role in the management of localised intermediate-risk prostate cancer (IRPC) is not clear yet and the available literature is slightly contradictory. Objective To compare the outcome of AS between LRPC and IRPC patients. Design, setting, and participants Between November 2002 and August 2019, 372 men with localised prostate cancer (PC) underwent AS in our hospital based on local departmental protocol. Outcome measurements and statistical analysis The primary outcome measures were overall survival, disease progression–free survival, treatment-free survival, and biochemical recurrence–free survival. Survival times in the low- and intermediate-risk groups were compared using Cox regression analysis. Results and limitations Out of 372 localised PC patients, 276 (74%) had LRPC and 96 (26%) IRPC. Overall, 86 (31.2%) low-risk and 25 (26%) intermediate-risk patients developed disease progression, and 86 (31.2%) low-risk and 22 (23%) intermediate-risk patients underwent active treatment. Among the treated patients, eight (2.9%) LRPC patients and one (1%) IRPC patient developed biochemical recurrence. In total, only one patient (from the low-risk group) had metastasis and 25 patients passed away (18 from the low-risk and seven from the intermediate-risk group). No death was recorded due to PC in the cohort. There was no difference in any of the survival outcomes between LRPC and IRPC patients in unadjusted analysis as well as when analysis was performed after adjusting the potentially confounding factors. Limitations include relatively short median follow-up time and failure to objectively define the criteria for the selection of IRPC patients suitable for AS. Conclusions The option of AS could be considered for carefully selected and well-informed patients with IRPC provided close structured monitoring is maintained. Patient summary In this report, we looked at various survival outcomes of active surveillance between low- and intermediate-risk prostate cancer patients in a large British population. There was no difference in any of the survival outcomes between the two groups. We concluded that carefully selected intermediate-risk prostate cancer patients could be offed the option of active surveillance

Cellular response to micropatterned growth promoting and inhibitory substrates

BACKGROUND: Normal development and the response to injury both require cell growth, migration and morphological remodeling, guided by a complex local landscape of permissive and inhibitory cues. A standard approach for studying by such cues is to culture cells on uniform substrates containing known concentrations of these molecules, however this method fails to represent the molecular complexity of the natural growth environment. RESULTS: To mimic the local complexity of environmental conditions in vitro, we used a contact micropatterning technique to examine cell growth and differentiation on patterned substrates printed with the commonly studied growth permissive and inhibitory substrates, poly-L-lysine (PLL) and myelin, respectively. We show that micropatterning of PLL can be used to direct adherence and axonal outgrowth of hippocampal and cortical neurons as well as other cells with diverse morphologies like Oli-neu oligodendrocyte progenitor cell lines and fibroblast-like COS7 cells in culture. Surprisingly, COS7 cells exhibited a preference for low concentration (1 pg/mL) PLL zones over adjacent zones printed with high concentrations (1 mg/mL). We demonstrate that micropatterning is also useful for studying factors that inhibit growth as it can direct cells to grow along straight lines that are easy to quantify. Furthermore, we provide the first demonstration of microcontact printing of myelin-associated proteins and show that they impair process outgrowth from Oli-neu oligodendrocyte precursor cells. CONCLUSION: We conclude that microcontact printing is an efficient and reproducible method for patterning proteins and brain-derived myelin on glass surfaces in order to study the effects of the microenvironment on cell growth and morphogenesis