Leading by example: Exploring the influence of design examples on children’s creative ideation

Creative ideation is integral to the design process; to be considered creative an idea must be deemed both novel and appropriate. Design examples are often provided to inspire creativity but may also constrain designers’ imaginations (design fixation), a phenomenon observed during children’s ideation in participatory design (PD). This paper addresses a gap in the literature by empirically investigating this phenomenon through an exploratory case study of two game narrative design workshops involving 37 children. Children’s design ideas from these workshops were systematically coded by two researchers following a deductive content analysis approach and inter-rater reliability was established. Our findings show that utilising design examples can ensure appropriateness (i.e. narrative relevance and coherence), and albeit some design fixation more often facilitates the creative process by enabling existing ideas to be recycled and combined with novel ideas. This research contributes potential methodological adaptations to better foster children’s creativity during PD

The authorial delusion: counting lady Macbeth’s children

In 1933, literary critic L. C. Knights published a caustic essay against the notion cultivated by certain of his colleagues, predominantly A. C. Bradley, that Shakespeare is a ‘great creator of characters’. Knights (1973) regarded the examination of isolated particles such as ‘character’ as disorientating, alleging that an analysis of this sort obscures the greater merit of language. Knight’s polemic essentially stands in the threshold of the dissention between formalists and realists: the former consider the examination of the fictional narrative as anything but a textual construct a scholarly faux pas; the latter regard the referential relationship between text and the world as a foundation for the creation of fiction. This is a pseudo-dilemma. The notion that literature is denuded of its artistic merit once it is defined by its constituent artefacts is disorienting, for it completely bypasses the dynamics of its creation. Put differently, a post-event analysis can exist as a standalone act, albeit it cannot challenge or dismiss the foundational principles of the event’s creation process

App-based COVID-19 syndromic surveillance and prediction of hospital admissions in COVID Symptom Study Sweden

The app-based COVID Symptom Study was launched in Sweden in April 2020 to contribute to real-time COVID-19 surveillance. We enrolled 143,531 study participants (≥18 years) who contributed 10.6 million daily symptom reports between April 29, 2020 and February 10, 2021. Here, we include data from 19,161 self-reported PCR tests to create a symptom-based model to estimate the individual probability of symptomatic COVID-19, with an AUC of 0.78 (95% CI 0.74–0.83) in an external dataset. These individual probabilities are employed to estimate daily regional COVID-19 prevalence, which are in turn used together with current hospital data to predict next week COVID-19 hospital admissions. We show that this hospital prediction model demonstrates a lower median absolute percentage error (MdAPE: 25.9%) across the five most populated regions in Sweden during the first pandemic wave than a model based on case notifications (MdAPE: 30.3%). During the second wave, the error rates are similar. When we apply the same model to an English dataset, not including local COVID-19 test data, we observe MdAPEs of 22.3% and 19.0% during the first and second pandemic waves, respectively, highlighting the transferability of the prediction model

Syntheses, structures, and properties of six novel alkali metal tin sulfides: K2Sn2S8, α-Rb2Sn2S8, β-Rb2Sn2S8, K2Sn2S5, Cs2Sn2S6, and Cs2SnS14

Six alkali metal tin polysulfides and one monosulfide, K2Sn2S8 (I), α-Rb2Sn2S8 (II), β-Rb2Sn2S8 (III), K2Sn2S5 (IV), Cs2Sn2S6 (V), and Cs2SnS14 (VI), respectively, were synthesized by a molten salt technique. I and IV were made by heating mixtures of Sn/K2S/S (molar ratio 1/2/8) at 275 and 320°C, respectively, for 4-6 days. II and III were made by heating mixtures of Sn/Rb2S/S (molar ratio 1/2/12 for II and 1/1/8 for III at 330 and 450°C, respectively, for 4-6 days. V and VI were made by heating mixtures of Sn/Cs2S/S (molar ratio 1/3/8 for V and 1/2/8-12 for VI at 275°C for 4-6 days. The crystals form in a K2Sx, Rb2Sx, and Cs2Sx flux, respectively. Orange crystals of I crystallize in the monoclinic space group P21/n with a = 9.580(8) Å, b = 10.004(5) Å, c = 14.131(7) Å, β = 107.82(6)°, and Z = 4. Orange crystals of II and III have the same anionic frameworks as I. II crystallizes also in the monoclinic space group P21/n with a = 9.788(3) Å, b = 9.978(3) Å, c = 14.360(2) Å, and β = 106.70(2)°, and Z = 4. III crystallizes in the orthorhombic space group Pbcn with a = 9.987(5) Å, b = 19.635(3) Å, c = 13.747(3) Å, and Z = 8. The yellow-orange IV crystallizes in the monoclinic space group C2/c with a = 11.804(3) Å, b = 7.808(1) Å, c = 11.539(1) Å, β = 108.35(1)°, and Z = 4. The yellow V crystallizes in the triclinic space group P1 with a = 7.289(4) Å, b = 7.597(3) Å, c = 6.796(3) Å, α = 114.80(3)°, β = 108.56(4)°, γ = 97.54(4)°, and Z = 1. Red crystals of VI are monoclinic, space group P21/n, with a = 6.964(6) Å, b = 18.66(1) Å, c = 14.80(1) Å, β = 99.39(1)°, and Z = 4. The structures of these six compounds have been determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. IR and Raman spectra for these compounds are reported. I-III have novel two-dimensional structures. Each [Sn2S8]n2n- layer is composed of [Sn2S4]n parallel chains, which contain octahedral SnS6 and tetrahedral SnS4, cross-linked by S42- ligands. Charge-compensating potassium or rubidium cations are found between the layers. IV has the Tl2Sn2S3 structure type and has a three-dimensional structure, with [SnS3]n2n- chains formed by distorted SnS5 trigonal bipyramids sharing two of their common edges with one another. Those chains are then cross-linked by sharing the remaining vertices of the trigonal bipyramids to generate parallel tunnels in which potassium cations are located. The structure of V is closely related to IV. It also comprises [SnS3]n2n- chains which in a different fashion are cross-linked by S22- to form an extended two-dimensional structure. VI contains a molecular [SnS14]2- complex anion with octahedral Sn4+ ligated by two S42- and one S62- chelating ligands. The UV/vis optical properties of I-V are reported. The optical band gaps are 2.15 eV for I-III, 2.36 eV for IV, and 2.44 eV for

Syntheses, structures, and properties of six novel alkali metal tin sulfides: K2Sn2S8, α-Rb2Sn2S8, β-Rb2Sn2S8, K2Sn2S5, Cs2Sn2S6, and Cs2SnS14

Six alkali metal tin polysulfides and one monosulfide, K2Sn2S8 (I), α-Rb2Sn2S8 (II), β-Rb2Sn2S8 (III), K2Sn2S5 (IV), Cs2Sn2S6 (V), and Cs2SnS14 (VI), respectively, were synthesized by a molten salt technique. I and IV were made by heating mixtures of Sn/K2S/S (molar ratio 1/2/8) at 275 and 320°C, respectively, for 4-6 days. II and III were made by heating mixtures of Sn/Rb2S/S (molar ratio 1/2/12 for II and 1/1/8 for III at 330 and 450°C, respectively, for 4-6 days. V and VI were made by heating mixtures of Sn/Cs2S/S (molar ratio 1/3/8 for V and 1/2/8-12 for VI at 275°C for 4-6 days. The crystals form in a K2Sx, Rb2Sx, and Cs2Sx flux, respectively. Orange crystals of I crystallize in the monoclinic space group P21/n with a = 9.580(8) Å, b = 10.004(5) Å, c = 14.131(7) Å, β = 107.82(6)°, and Z = 4. Orange crystals of II and III have the same anionic frameworks as I. II crystallizes also in the monoclinic space group P21/n with a = 9.788(3) Å, b = 9.978(3) Å, c = 14.360(2) Å, and β = 106.70(2)°, and Z = 4. III crystallizes in the orthorhombic space group Pbcn with a = 9.987(5) Å, b = 19.635(3) Å, c = 13.747(3) Å, and Z = 8. The yellow-orange IV crystallizes in the monoclinic space group C2/c with a = 11.804(3) Å, b = 7.808(1) Å, c = 11.539(1) Å, β = 108.35(1)°, and Z = 4. The yellow V crystallizes in the triclinic space group P1 with a = 7.289(4) Å, b = 7.597(3) Å, c = 6.796(3) Å, α = 114.80(3)°, β = 108.56(4)°, γ = 97.54(4)°, and Z = 1. Red crystals of VI are monoclinic, space group P21/n, with a = 6.964(6) Å, b = 18.66(1) Å, c = 14.80(1) Å, β = 99.39(1)°, and Z = 4. The structures of these six compounds have been determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. IR and Raman spectra for these compounds are reported. I-III have novel two-dimensional structures. Each [Sn2S8]n2n- layer is composed of [Sn2S4]n parallel chains, which contain octahedral SnS6 and tetrahedral SnS4, cross-linked by S42- ligands. Charge-compensating potassium or rubidium cations are found between the layers. IV has the Tl2Sn2S3 structure type and has a three-dimensional structure, with [SnS3]n2n- chains formed by distorted SnS5 trigonal bipyramids sharing two of their common edges with one another. Those chains are then cross-linked by sharing the remaining vertices of the trigonal bipyramids to generate parallel tunnels in which potassium cations are located. The structure of V is closely related to IV. It also comprises [SnS3]n2n- chains which in a different fashion are cross-linked by S22- to form an extended two-dimensional structure. VI contains a molecular [SnS14]2- complex anion with octahedral Sn4+ ligated by two S42- and one S62- chelating ligands. The UV/vis optical properties of I-V are reported. The optical band gaps are 2.15 eV for I-III, 2.36 eV for IV, and 2.44 eV for

Nickel Coordination Chemistry with Oxothiolate Ligands and Its Relevance to Hydrogenase Enzymes

The coordination chemistry of several new nickel complexes with multidentate oxo/thiolate ligands, in relation with the active site problem of hydrogenase enzymes, is described. Structural, spectroscopic and electrochemical data are reported and discussed