Code Shrew: Software platform for teaching programming through drawings and animations

In this paper, we present Code Shrew, a new software platform accompanied by an interactive programming course. Its aim is to teach the fundamentals of computer programming by enabling users to create their own drawings and animations. The programming language has a straightforward syntax based on Python, with additions that enable easy drawing and animating using object-oriented code. The editor reacts seamlessly and instantly, providing an engaging and interactive environment for experimenting and testing ideas. The programming course consists of lessons that cover essential programming principles, as well as challenges to test users' skills as they progress through the course. Both the lessons and challenges take advantage of the editor's instant feedback, allowing for a focus on learning-by-doing. We describe the software and the content, the motivation behind them, and their connection to constructionism.Comment: 7 page

Niemczech po I Wojnie Światowej ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem działalności berlińskiego towarzystwa mieszkaniowego GEHAG

After the First World War many reasons caused the increase of the scale of the problem of the bad housing conditions. This text presents the overview of the solutions, from the field of architecture and town planning as well as from the field of law and economy, created in Germany as an answer for the housing problem. The circumstances connected with them are also presented. There is a more detailed presentation of the activity of the biggest german association acting in the field of erecting housing assemblies – the GEHAG society (Gemeinnützige Heimsstätten- Aktiengesellschaft = Join-Stock Society for Social Settlements).Po I Wojnie Światowej z wielu względów wzrosła skala, występującego już wcześniej, problemu złych warunków mieszkaniowych. Artykuł przedstawia przegląd rozwiązań zarówno architektonicznych oraz urbanistycznych jak i prawnych oraz ekonomicznych stworzonych w Niemczech jako odpowiedź na problem mieszkaniowy, a także związane z nimi uwarunkowania. Bardziej szczegółowo omówiona jest działalność największej niemieckiej organizacji zajmującej się w dwudziestoleciu wojennym budowaniem zespołów mieszkaniowych – powstałego w 1924 roku towarzystwa GEHAG (Gemeinnützige Heimsstätten- Aktiengesellschaft = Towarzystwo Akcyjne Osiedli Społecznych)

Berlińskie osiedla Onkel-Toms-Hütte i Am Fischtal jako odzwierciedlenie w budownictwie mieszkaniowym relacji między nurtem awangardowym a nurtem kontynuacji w architekturze Niemiec lat dwudziestych XX wieku

Onkel-Toms-Hütte i Am Fischtal settlements had been built side by side in Berlin in the twenties of the twentieth century. Together they create the example of the coexistence of the avant-garde and continuation tendencies in architecture. The shape of the settlements and their architecture show both the differences in the opinions of their authors, mainly concerning using flat or steeped roofs, as well as influences coming in both directions. Both settlements create interesting reference in many fields. Especially interesting is the way of incorporation of green into the space of settlements and the relation between public and private space. The Onkel-Toms-Hütte is an interesting example of placing shopping in the settlement.Powstałe w latach dwudziestych XX wieku tuż obok siebie berlińskie osiedla Onkel-Toms-Hütte i Am Fischtal razem stanowią przykłady współistnienia awangardowego i kontynuacyjnego nurtu w architekturze. Ukształtowanie osiedli, oraz architektury wzniesionych w nich budynków jest obrazem zarówno odmienności w poglądach między autorami obu osiedli, która dotyczyła głównie stosowania płaskich, bądź spadzistych dachów, jak i wzajemnego przenikania się wpływów. Oba osiedla pod wieloma względami mogą stanowić wzór do naśladowania. Szczególnie interesująco przedstawia się kwestia wpisania zieleni w przestrzeń osiedli, a także relacji pomiędzy przestrzenią publiczną i prywatną. Osiedle Onkel-Toms-Hütte stanowi interesujący przykład umiejscowienia w przestrzeni osiedla usług

Inna codzienność. Funkcjonowanie Wenecji jako miasta bez samochodów

Shaping of the space generally follows the standards which are created in search for fulfilling the human needs. Unfortunately the means often became more important than the goals. In order to provide mobility and at the same time protection from the oppressiveness of transportation the huge space is lost for the transportation roads which are alienated from their surrounding and for the buffer spaces. There are different solutions. The spectacular example of their use is Venice – the city big part of which is inaccesibble for cars. It means it is free from oppressiveness connected with the presence of cars, but also it does not use the possibilities given by using cars for different needs. The function reserved in majority of the world for cars in Venice is provided by different kinds of boats. It is worth to pay attention on different everyday situations from the part of Venice which is free of cars. They are substituted not only by water transit but also by the pedestrian transit. The small scale of the streets and squares of Venice also has an important meaning for the everyday of the city. Venice faces a serious problem of the loss of its inhabitants which are pushed out of the city by the tourists. Also the functions which serve the inhabitants are pushed out by the functions for tourists. However the problems of the city should not discredit the management of the traffic in the city. The problems are the site effect of success of Venice as a tourist destination which follows the unique quality of the place. The examples of the solutions which base on the rejection of the domination of the car in the space of the city one can find also in other places, where the rejection of the hegemony of the cars does not have such a total scale as in Venice. Such examples can be found also in Poland. Different space relations cause different relations between different users, as well as different relations between spending time in the city and passing it through.W kształtowaniu przestrzeni zazwyczaj przyjmowane są standardy wynikające z przyjętych powszechnie rozwiązań mających zaspokajać ludzkie potrzeby. Niestety często środki okazują się ważniejsze niż cele. Dążąc do zapewnienia mobilności i jednocześnie ochrony przed uciążliwościami transportu ogromne przestrzenie przeznacza się na wyalienowane z otoczenia trasy komunikacyjne i przestrzenie izolujące. Są jednak inne rozwiązania. Spektakularnym przykładem jest Wenecja – miasto, którego spora część jest niedostępna dla samochodów. Zatem pozbawiona jest związanych z ich obecnością uciążliwości, ale także możliwości wykorzystania ich w wielu różnych celach. W Wenecji w rolach w większości świata zarezerwowanych dla samochodów występują różnego rodzaju łodzie i statki. Warto zwrócić uwagę na szereg codziennych sytuacji z funkcjonowania części Wenecji pozbawionej samochodów. Zastępuje je nie tylko transport wodny, ale także pieszy. Znaczenie dla codzienności Wenecji ma także kameralna skala pieszych placów i uliczek. Wenecja boryka się z problemem utraty mieszkańców wypieranych przez turystów, oraz wypierania funkcji służących mieszkańcom przez przeznaczone dla turystów. Jednakże te problemy nie powinny dyskredytować organizacji przestrzeni w mieście. Są one bowiem skutkiem ubocznym sukcesu turystycznego wynikającego z wyjątkowej jakości miejsca. Przykłady rozwiązań opartych na odrzuceniu podporządkowania przestrzeni samochodom można znaleźć także w wielu innych miejscowościach, na terenie których odrzucenie dominacji samochodu nie przybrało takiej skali jak w Wenecji. Przykłady można znaleźć także w Polsce. Inne relacje przestrzenne powodują inne relacje między różnymi użytkownikami, a także inne relacje między przebywaniem w mieście, a przemieszczaniem się przez nie

Analkanalkarzinome : Retrospektive Auswertung der Behandlungsergebnisse am St.-Marien-Hospital in Bonn von 1990 – 2001

Die vorliegende retrospektive Studie untersucht Therapie, Behandlungsergebnisse und Langzeitverlauf bei 24 Patienten, die zwischen 1990 und 2001 in der chirurgischen Abteilung des St.-Marien-Hospital in Bonn wegen eines Analkarzinomes behandelt worden waren und eine Radio-Chemotherapie erhalten hatten. Bei allen 24 Patienten (19 Frauen und 5 Männer) waren histologisch Plattenepithelkarzinome des Analkanales nachgewiesen worden, die aufgrund der erfolgten Diagnostik den Tumorstadien 0 bis III b zugeordnet wurden. Am häufigsten (16 Patienten) lag ein Tumorstadium II vor. Als Hauptursache für die Entstehung des Analkanalkarzinomes wird heute – in Analogie zum Cervixkarzinom der Frau – eine lokale Infektion mit HPV (Human Papilloma Virus) gewertet. Durch gezielte Nachuntersuchungen der Operationspräparate konnte mittels PCR bei dem untersuchten Patientenkollektiv eine Infektionsrate von 94 % mit HPV nachgewiesen werden. Nach erfolgter Radio-Chemotherapie zeigten 4 Patienten (20 %) bei der Kontrollbiopsie eine Tumorpersistenz, so dass eine Operation als weitere Behandlung erforderlich wurde (APR oder lokale Nachresektion mit Salvage – Chemotherapie). Im Langzeitverlauf zeigte sich für alle Patienten nach Radio-Chemotherapie eine 5-Jahres-Überlebensrate von 85,3 % sowie eine 5-Jahres-Tumorkontrollrate von 70,2 %. Im Vergleich mit den Therapiestudien der Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group und der European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer zeigt das Patientenkollektiv des St.-Marien-Hospitals bei den relevanten Therapieergebnissen (Tumorpersistenz, lokale Tumorkontrolle und Kolostomierate) vergleichbare Behandlungsergebnisse

The :envihab - Linking biomedical research and technological innovation for Astronaut health

The DLR Institute of Aerospace Medicine has longtime experience in supporting human spaceflights. Ever since contributing to the Spacelab Program, the Institute has supported the psychological and medical astronaut selection, training, and mission operations. The program is flanked by state-of-the-art ground based biological, medical, and psychological research. The :envihab, derived from the words environment and habitat, is a unique medical research facility operated by the DLR Institute of Aerospace Medicine. Within its eight modules, :envihab houses multi-purpose laboratories and specialized equipment for life science research. Furthermore, :envihab features a high-end research ward accommodating study participants in bedrest studies and sleep investigations among others. The module comprises 12 individual rooms and can be conditioned using normobaric hypoxia or hypercapnia. :envihab offers a fully equipped human short-arm centrifuge equipped with a robotic-controlled ultrasonography device for examinations of cardiovascular parameters during exposure to centrifugation. The 3 Tesla PET-MRI allows for sophisticated structural, functional, and molecular imaging. The Biology Lab consists of four microbiology laboratory rooms, one of them is an ISO class 8 clean room. A large hypobaric chamber is suitable for hypobaric hypoxia, normobaric hypoxia, and hypercapnia studies. Finally, advanced cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, metabolic, ophthalmological, and psychological testing as well as highly controlled dietary support make :envihab a worldwide unique human research facility. Meanwhile, several mechanism-oriented sleep studies as well as bed rest studies up to 60 days have been successfully completed. The Institute supports postflight activities of ESA astronauts – the so-called “Direct Return”. Astronauts, crew surgeon and operational staff can be accommodated. The Crew Quarters are access-controlled for infection control and astronaut privacy. All medical post-flight examinations required according to the Medical Standards for Crewmembers can be performed at the adjacent DLR Flight Medicine Clinic. Pre- and post-flight examinations and measurements can be performed at the same site with the same equipment and the same staff, thus, limiting variability. Similarly, post-flight experiments are conducted by DLR scientists within :envihab. In November 2014, Alexander Gerst was the first astronaut to directly return to Cologne, followed by Andreas Mogensen (Sept. 2015), Timothy Peake (June 2016) and Thomas Pesquet (June 2017). We expect ISS commander Alexander Gerst as the next astronaut hosted at :envihab in 2018

A sea of Lilliputians

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2008. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier B.V. for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 284 (2009): 88-113, doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2009.08.020.Smaller size is generally seen as a negative response of organisms to stressful environmental conditions, associated with low diversity and species dominance. The mean size of the coccolithophorids decreased through the Neogene, leading to the prediction that their extant representatives are characterized by poor diversification and low specialization. The study of the (exo)coccospheres of selected taxa in the order Syracosphaerales negates this prediction, revealing that on the contrary some extant lineages are highly diversified and remarkably specialized. Whereas the general role of coccoliths remains indeterminate, this analysis suggests that some highly derived coccoliths may be modified for the collection of food particles, including picoplankton, thus implying that mixotrophy may characterize these lineages. In the extant coccolithophorids, species richness of genera is inversely correlated with the size of cells, definitive evidence that small size is part of a morphologic strategy rather than a sign of evolutionary failure. Because of their extreme minuteness, the extant nannoplankton can be well compared to Lilliputians, but the trend toward size decrease in Neogene lineages is not attributable to the Lilliput effect described by Urbanek (1993)

The effects of acute CRAM supplementation on reaction time and subjective measures of focus and alertness in healthy college students

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of acute and prolonged (4-weeks) ingestion of a supplement designed to improve reaction time and subjective measures of alertness, energy, fatigue, and focus compared to placebo.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Nineteen physically-active subjects (17 men and 2 women) were randomly assigned to a group that either consumed a supplement (21.1 ± 0.6 years; body mass: 80.6 ± 9.4 kg) or placebo (21.3 ± 0.8 years; body mass: 83.4 ± 18.5 kg). During the initial testing session (T1), subjects were provided 1.5 g of the supplement (CRAM; α-glycerophosphocholine, choline bitartrate, phosphatidylserine, vitamins B3, B6, and B12, folic acid, L-tyrosine, anhydrous caffeine, acetyl-L-carnitine, and naringin) or a placebo (PL), and rested quietly for 10-minutes before completing a questionnaire on subjective feelings of energy, fatigue, alertness and focus (PRE). Subjects then performed a 4-minute quickness and reaction test followed by a 10-min bout of exhaustive exercise. The questionnaire and reaction testing sequence was then repeated (POST). Subjects reported back to the lab (T2) following 4-weeks of supplementation and repeated the testing sequence.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Reaction time significantly declined (p = 0.050) between PRE and POST at T1 in subjects consuming PL, while subjects under CRAM supplementation were able to maintain (p = 0.114) their performance. Significant performance declines were seen in both groups from PRE to POST at T2. Elevations in fatigue were seen for CRAM at both T1 and T2 (p = 0.001 and p = 0.000, respectively), but only at T2 for PL (p = 0.029). Subjects in CRAM maintained focus between PRE and POST during both T1 and T2 trials (p = 0.152 and p = 0.082, respectively), whereas significant declines in focus were observed between PRE and POST in PL at both trials (p = 0.037 and p = 0.014, respectively). No difference in alertness was seen at T1 between PRE and POST for CRAM (p = 0.083), but a significant decline was recorded at T2 (p = 0.005). Alertness was significantly lower at POST at both T1 and T2 for PL (p = 0.040 and p = 0.33, respectively). No differences in any of these subjective measures were seen between the groups at any time point.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Results indicate that acute ingestion of CRAM can maintain reaction time, and subjective feelings of focus and alertness to both visual and auditory stimuli in healthy college students following exhaustive exercise. However, some habituation may occur following 4-weeks of supplementation.</p