Pre‐ and post‐testing in evaluating a CAL program: Preliminary findings

Pre‐ and post‐testing have been used as summative evaluation tools for the CALRAD (Computer‐Assisted Learning for RADiation protection) program. The method by which such testing was implemented is discussed, and the data collected is analysed One question which is addressed is whether the same or different tests should be used as a pre‐ and post‐test. Conclusions about the use of this evaluation method are presented, along with further considerations which should be taken into account

Wearable Computing: Interface, Emotions and the Wearer\u27s Culture

Wearable computing offers an interesting subset for the mobile computing field. While Google Glass might not yet have found the mass audience it sought, other, simpler, wearable devices have made an impact. This paper presents results of a four-week long experiment in how subjects interact and emotionally respond to the Fitbit Flex. Users tracked daily totals of steps, distance traveled, minutes active, calories burned, and time slept. They also found their own personal uses for the Fitbit interface. Users were asked to be aware of and report their emotional reactions by keeping continuous, daily journals. A popular and relatively inexpensive mobile device offered an opportunity to study an interface used with regularity over a defined and sustained time period. The interface and the user interacted; the device\u27s constant presence had the potential to bind it to the wearer’s emotional life. The wearable device prompted and reinforced emotions already present in the culture in which the users were immersed. There was also agreement among participants that the device altered users\u27 behaviors

Some properties of the dynamic intermediate state in type 1 superconductors

The high resolution magneto-optic method using the Faraday effect in thin films of EuS:EuF₂has been used to observe the dynamic intermediate state induced by the passage of an electric current or a heat current through thin slabs of the superconductors Pb, In and Sn. The ease with which the various intermediate state topologies could be made to move has been studied and several features of the interaction of moving flux with pinning sites have been noted. In the case of the current induced motion the measured characteristics of flux flow velocity versus current have been found to exhibit two distinct regions. Firstly, a linear region where the observed velocity was found to agree reasonably well with the predictions of the recent general theory of Andreev and Dzhikaev when allowance was made for the effects of pinning by the introduction of a velocity independent pinning force. Secondly, a curved region was found for currents close to the critical current J₀ in agreement with earlier work using other methods of observation. Possible reasons for the existence of this curvature were examined in detail, and. it was found, that a phenomenological model based, on the presence of a Gaussian distribution of critical current values throughout the sample could account satisfactorily for the observations. The presence of such a Gaussian distribution was confirmed by observing the variations in distance travelled by a domain subjected, to a pulsed, driving current. The curvature was found in disagreement with the theory of thermal activation and. no evidence could be found, for the presence of a velocity dependent pinning force. In the case of the thermally induced, motion which was investigated only in Pb, it was found, in agreement with the very recent work of Laeng and Rinderer, that there exist two competing mechanisms driving the flux. The first of these, that treated, by Andreev and Dzhikaev in their general theory, which acts in a direction parallel to the heat flow, was found to be effective at low temperatures (T ≪ 4.2K) but to be negligible at high temperatures. The magnitude of the velocity produced by this mechanism agreed reasonably well with the theory at low temperatures but was in complete disagreement at high temperatures when the theory predicts that it should still be observable. The second mechanism which acts perpendicularly to the heat flow dominated the motion at high temperatures but its magnitude did not agree with the predictions of the recent theory of Rothen, which ascribes the effect to the thermoelectric power of the normal state. It should be noted that to overcome the pinning all of the low temperature observations (T ≪ 4.2k) were performed in the presence of an electric current. Clearly, much more work requires to be done to clarify these observations

Cultural Heritage Preservation in the Context of Climate Change Adaptation or Relocation: Barbuda as a Case Study

This case study introduces an arts camp methodology of engaging communities in identifying their key cultural heritage features, thus serving as a meta study. It presents original research based on field studies on the climate-vulnerable Caribbean island of Barbuda during 2017 and 2018. Its Valued Cultural Elements survey, enabling precise identification of key tangible and intangible art forms and biocultural practices, may serve as a basis for further studies. Such approaches may facilitate future research or planning as climate-vulnerable communities harness Local or Indigenous Knowledge for purposes of biocultural heritage preservation, or towards adaptation or relocation. I report on findings in which participants identified key cultural heritage elements through drawings, paintings, sculpture, questionnaires and interviews. In this study focused on Barbuda both before and after Hurricane Irma, youth and adult stakeholders identified place-based cultural values, biocultural traditions and legal structures that they wish to preserve. Keywords: cultural heritage, climate change, Barbuda, art, environmental vulnerability, Local Knowledge, stakeholder involvement, adaptation, culture, Caribbean, documentation, Small Island Developing Stat

A Call for the Library Community to Deploy Best Practices Toward a Database for Biocultural Knowledge Relating to Climate Change

Abstract Purpose – In this paper, a call to the library and information science community to support documentation and conservation of cultural and biocultural heritage has been presented. Design/methodology/approach – Based in existing Literature, this proposal is generative and descriptive— rather than prescriptive—regarding precisely how libraries should collaborate to employ technical and ethical best practices to provide access to vital data, research and cultural narratives relating to climate. Findings – COVID-19 and climate destruction signal urgent global challenges. Library best practices are positioned to respond to climate change. Literature indicates how libraries preserve, share and cross-link cultural and scientific knowledge. With wildfires, drought, flooding and other extreme or slow-onset weather events presenting dangers, it is imperative that libraries take joint action toward facilitating sustainable and open access to relevant information. Practical implications – An initiative could create an easily-accessible, open, linked, curated, secure and stakeholder-respectful database for global biocultural heritage—documenting traditional knowledge, local knowledge and climate adaptation traditions. Social implications – Ongoing stakeholder involvement from the outset should acknowledge preferences regarding whether or how much to share information. Ethical elements must be embedded from concept to granular access and metadata elements. Originality/value – Rooted in the best practices and service orientation of library science, the proposal envisions a sustained response to a common global challenge. Stewardship would also broadly assist the global community by preserving and providing streamlined access to information of instrumental value to addressing climate change. Keywords Libraries, Open access, Local knowledge, Stewardship, Climate change, Best practices, Repository, Database management systems, Traditional knowledge, Biocultural heritage Paper type Conceptual pape

Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science Articles Quantitative Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Assessment of the Blood-Retinal Barrier

Application of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in two- The initial lesions of diabetic retinopathy include retinal capillary pericyte loss, endothelial cell proliferation, and microaneurysm formation. 1 These changes are accompanied by capillary dilatation and increased capillary permeability due to disruption of the inner blood-retinal barrier. While qualitative increases in permeability are demonstrated readily by fluorescein angiography, quantifying fluorescein leakage by vitreous fluorophotometry continues to be subject to several practical problems. These include the age-related reduction in light transmission by the lens, the necessity for clear optic media, 2 " 4 an intact vitreous gel 5 and the restriction with current fluoro

Application of texture analysis to muscle MRI: 1-What kind of information should be expected from texture analysis?

Several previous clinical or preclinical studies using computerized texture analysis of MR Images have demonstrated much more clinical discrimination than visual image analysis by the radiologist. In muscular dystrophy, a discriminating power has been already demonstrated with various methods of texture analysis of magnetic resonance images (MRI-TA). Unfortunately, a scale gap exists between the spatial resolutions of histological and MR images making a direct correlation impossible. Furthermore, the effect of the various histological modifications on the gray level of each pixel is complex and cannot be easily analyzed. Consequently, clinicians will not accept the use of MRI-TA in routine practice if TA remains a “black box” without clinical correspondence at a tissue level. A goal therefore of the multicenter European COST action MYO-MRI is to optimize MRI-TA methods in muscular dystrophy and to elucidate the histological meaning of MRI textures.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Volumetric texture description and discriminant feature selection for MRI

This paper considers the problem of classification of Magnetic Resonance Images using 2D and 3D texture measures. Joint statistics such as co-occurrence matrices are common for analysing texture in 2D since they are simple and effective to implement. However, the computational complexity can be prohibitive especially in 3D. In this work, we develop a texture classification strategy by a sub-band filtering technique that can be extended to 3D. We further propose a feature selection technique based on the Bhattacharyya distance measure that reduces the number of features required for the classification by selecting a set of discriminant features conditioned on a set training texture samples. We describe and illustrate the methodology by quantitatively analysing a series of images: 2D synthetic phantom, 2D natural textures, and MRI of human knees

Metrics and textural features of MRI diffusion to improve classification of pediatric posterior fossa tumors

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Qualitative radiologic MR imaging review affords limited differentiation among types of pediatric posterior fossa brain tumors and cannot detect histologic or molecular subtypes, which could help to stratify treatment. This study aimed to improve current posterior fossa discrimination of histologic tumor type by using support vector machine classifiers on quantitative MR imaging features. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective study included preoperative MRI in 40 children with posterior fossa tumors (17 medulloblastomas, 16 pilocytic astrocytomas, and 7 ependymomas). Shape, histogram, and textural features were computed from contrast-enhanced T2WI and T1WI and diffusivity (ADC) maps. Combinations of features were used to train tumor-type-specific classifiers for medulloblastoma, pilocytic astrocytoma, and ependymoma types in separation and as a joint posterior fossa classifier. A tumor-subtype classifier was also produced for classic medulloblastoma. The performance of different classifiers was assessed and compared by using randomly selected subsets of training and test data. RESULTS: ADC histogram features (25th and 75th percentiles and skewness) yielded the best classification of tumor type (on average >95.8% of medulloblastomas, >96.9% of pilocytic astrocytomas, and >94.3% of ependymomas by using 8 training samples). The resulting joint posterior fossa classifier correctly assigned >91.4% of the posterior fossa tumors. For subtype classification, 89.4% of classic medulloblastomas were correctly classified on the basis of ADC texture features extracted from the Gray-Level Co-Occurence Matrix. CONCLUSIONS: Support vector machine–based classifiers using ADC histogram features yielded very good discrimination among pediatric posterior fossa tumor types, and ADC textural features show promise for further subtype discrimination. These findings suggest an added diagnostic value of quantitative feature analysis of diffusion MR imaging in pediatric neuro-oncology