NOVE KOMUNIKATIVNE TEHNOLOGIJE POWERPOINT PREZENTACIJE U NASTAVI FIZIKE

In the frame of our national project “Development of Natural Science Competences” we have prepared physical educational materials, which main goal is to indicate better didactic strategies for the systematic development of pupils\u27 natural science competences, one of them being the digital competence. In this contribution we describe two sets of representative materials, one for primary and the other one for secondary school pupils. The first set of materials is dedicated to the realization of group experimental work on the subject of electric circuits and the second set is a text- and web-based learning materials about optical phenomena in the atmosphere. A common feature of both sets of materials is that pupils are requested to prepare PowerPoint presentations of their new findings and present them to their schoolfellows. Our materials are supplied with instructions about a proper creation of slides and a suitable realization of the oral presentation.U okviru našeg nacionalnog projekta „Razvoj prirodoslovnih kompetencija“ pripremili smo obrazovne materijale za nastavu fizike, kojima je glavni cilj što bolje prikazati didaktičke strategije za sustavni razvoj prirodoslovnih kompetencija učenika, a jedna od njih je digitalna kompetencija. U ovom radu opisujemo dva reprezentativna seta obrazovnih materijala, jedan za učenike osnovnih i drugi za učenike srednjih škola. Prvi set materijala je posvećen eksperimentalnom radu sa temom strujnih krugova, dok se drugi set temelji na učenju o optičkim pojavama u atmosferi putem teksta i Interneta. Zajednička značajka oba seta materijala je u tome, da učenici moraju o novo stečenim znanjima pripremiti PowerPoint prezentacije i potom ih prezentirati svojim kolegama u razredu. Materijali sadrže točne upute za izradu slajdova kao i upute za usmeno izlaganje

Both electrical and metabolic coupling shape the collective multimodal activity and functional connectivity patterns in beta cell collectives: A computational model perspective

Pancreatic beta cells are coupled excitable oscillators that synchronize their activity via different communication pathways. Their oscillatory activity manifests itself on multiple timescales and consists of bursting electrical activity, subsequent oscillations in the intracellular Ca2+, as well as oscillations in metabolism and exocytosis. The coordination of the intricate activity on the multicellular level plays a key role in the regulation of physiological pulsatile insulin secretion and is incompletely understood. In this contribution, we investigate theoretically the principles that give rise to the synchronized activity of beta cell populations by building up a phenomenological multicellular model that incorporates the basic features of beta cell dynamics. Specifically, the model is composed of coupled slow and fast oscillatory units that reflect metabolic processes and electrical activity, respectively. Using a realistic description of the intercellular interactions, we study how the combination of electrical and metabolic coupling generates collective rhythmicity and shapes functional beta cell networks. It turns out that while electrical coupling solely can synchronize the responses, the addition of metabolic interactions further enhances coordination, the spatial range of interactions, increases the number of connections in the functional beta cell networks, and ensures a better consistency with experimental findings. Moreover, our computational results provide additional insights into the relationship between beta cell heterogeneity, their activity profiles, and functional connectivity, supplementing thereby recent experimental results on endocrine networks

Endogenous social distancing and its underappreciated impact on the epidemic curve

Social distancing is an effective strategy to mitigate the impact of infectious diseases. If sick or healthy, or both, predominantly socially distance, the epidemic curve flattens. Contact reductions may occur for different reasons during a pandemic including health-related mobility loss (severity of symptoms), duty of care for a member of a high-risk group, and forced quarantine. Other decisions to reduce contacts are of a more voluntary nature. In particular, sick people reduce contacts consciously to avoid infecting others, and healthy individuals reduce contacts in order to stay healthy. We use game theory to formalize the interaction of voluntary social distancing in a partially infected population. This improves the behavioral micro-foundations of epidemiological models, and predicts differential social distancing rates dependent on health status. The model’s key predictions in terms of comparative statics are derived, which concern changes and interactions between social distancing behaviors of sick and healthy. We fit the relevant parameters for endogenous social distancing to an epidemiological model with evidence from influenza waves to provide a benchmark for an epidemic curve with endogenous social distancing. Our results suggest that spreading similar in peak and case numbers to what partial immobilization of the population produces, yet quicker to pass, could occur endogenously. Going forward, eventual social distancing orders and lockdown policies should be benchmarked against more realistic epidemic models that take endogenous social distancing into account, rather than be driven by static, and therefore unrealistic, estimates for social mixing that intrinsically overestimate spreading

Calcium imaging in intact mouse acinar cells in acute pancreas tissue slices.

The physiology and pathophysiology of the exocrine pancreas are in close connection to changes in intra-cellular Ca2+ concentration. Most of our knowledge is based on in vitro experiments on acinar cells or acini enzymatically isolated from their surroundings, which can alter their structure, physiology, and limit our understanding. Due to these limitations, the acute pancreas tissue slice technique was introduced almost two decades ago as a complementary approach to assess the morphology and physiology of both the endocrine and exocrine pancreas in a more conserved in situ setting. In this study, we extend previous work to functional multicellular calcium imaging on acinar cells in tissue slices. The viability and morphological characteristics of acinar cells within the tissue slice were assessed using the LIVE/DEAD assay, transmission electron microscopy, and immunofluorescence imaging. The main aim of our study was to characterize the responses of acinar cells to stimulation with acetylcholine and compare them with responses to cerulein in pancreatic tissue slices, with special emphasis on inter-cellular and inter-acinar heterogeneity and coupling. To this end, calcium imaging was performed employing confocal microscopy during stimulation with a wide range of acetylcholine concentrations and selected concentrations of cerulein. We show that various calcium oscillation parameters depend monotonically on the stimulus concentration and that the activity is rather well synchronized within acini, but not between acini. The acute pancreas tissue slice represents a viable and reliable experimental approach for the evaluation of both intra- and inter-cellular signaling characteristics of acinar cell calcium dynamics. It can be utilized to assess many cells simultaneously with a high spatiotemporal resolution, thus providing an efficient and high-yield platform for future studies of normal acinar cell biology, pathophysiology, and screening pharmacological substances

Stochastic resonance in soft matter systems: combined effects of static and dynamic disorder

We study the impact of static and dynamic disorder on the phenomenon of stochastic resonance (SR) in a representative soft matter system. Due to their extreme susceptibility to weak perturbations soft matter systems appear to be excellent candidates for the observation of SR. Indeed, we derive generic SR equations from a polymer stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal (LC) cell, which is a typical soft matter representative constituting one of the basic components in several electro-optic applications. We generalize these equations further in order to study an even broader class of qualitatively different systems, especially disclosing the influence of different types of static disorder and interaction ranges amongst LC molecules on the SR response. We determine the required conditions for the observation of SR in the examined system, and moreover, reveal that a random field type static disorder yields qualitatively different responses with respect to random dilution, random bond and spin glass universality classes. In particular, while the latter three decrease the level of dynamic disorder (Gaussian noise) warranting the optimal response, the former evokes exactly the opposite effect, hence increasing the optimal noise level that is needed to resonantly fine-tune the system's response in accordance with the weak deterministic electric field. These observations are shown to be independent of the system size and range of interactions, thus implying their general validity and potentially wide applicability also within other similar settings. We argue that soft matter systems might be particularly adequate as a base for different SR-based sensitive detectors and thus potent candidates for additional theoretical as well as experimental research in the presently outlined direction.Comment: 11 two-column pages, 6 figures; accepted for publication in Soft Matte

PLoS One

Quantitative analysis of the vascular network anatomy is critical for the understanding of the vasculature structure and function. In this study, we have combined microcomputed tomography (microCT) and computational analysis to provide quantitative three-dimensional geometrical and topological characterization of the normal kidney vasculature, and to investigate how 2 core genes of the Wnt/planar cell polarity, Frizzled4 and Frizzled6, affect vascular network morphogenesis. Experiments were performed on frizzled4 (Fzd4-/-) and frizzled6 (Fzd6-/-) deleted mice and littermate controls (WT) perfused with a contrast medium after euthanasia and exsanguination. The kidneys were scanned with a high-resolution (16 μm) microCT imaging system, followed by 3D reconstruction of the arterial vasculature. Computational treatment includes decomposition of 3D networks based on Diameter-Defined Strahler Order (DDSO). We have calculated quantitative (i) Global scale parameters, such as the volume of the vasculature and its fractal dimension (ii) Structural parameters depending on the DDSO hierarchical levels such as hierarchical ordering, diameter, length and branching angles of the vessel segments, and (iii) Functional parameters such as estimated resistance to blood flow alongside the vascular tree and average density of terminal arterioles. In normal kidneys, fractal dimension was 2.07±0.11 (n = 7), and was significantly lower in Fzd4-/- (1.71±0.04; n = 4), and Fzd6-/- (1.54±0.09; n = 3) kidneys. The DDSO number was 5 in WT and Fzd4-/-, and only 4 in Fzd6-/-. Scaling characteristics such as diameter and length of vessel segments were altered in mutants, whereas bifurcation angles were not different from WT. Fzd4 and Fzd6 deletion increased vessel resistance, calculated using the Hagen-Poiseuille equation, for each DDSO, and decreased the density and the homogeneity of the distal vessel segments. Our results show that our methodology is suitable for 3D quantitative characterization of vascular networks, and that Fzd4 and Fzd6 genes have a deep patterning effect on arterial vessel morphogenesis that may determine its functional efficiency

Topologically determined optimal stochastic resonance responses of spatially embedded networks

We have analyzed the stochastic resonance phenomenon on spatial networks of bistable and excitable oscillators, which are connected according to their location and the amplitude of external forcing. By smoothly altering the network topology from a scale-free (SF) network with dominating long-range connections to a network where principally only adjacent oscillators are connected, we reveal that besides an optimal noise intensity, there is also a most favorable interaction topology at which the best correlation between the response of the network and the imposed weak external forcing is achieved. For various distributions of the amplitudes of external forcing, the optimal topology is always found in the intermediate regime between the highly heterogeneous SF network and the strong geometric regime. Our findings thus indicate that a suitable number of hubs and with that an optimal ratio between short- and long-range connections is necessary in order to obtain the best global response of a spatial network. Furthermore, we link the existence of the optimal interaction topology to a critical point indicating the transition from a long-range interactions-dominated network to a more lattice-like network structure

Pacemaker-driven stochastic resonance on diffusive and complex networks of bistable oscillators

We study the phenomenon of stochastic resonance on diffusive, small-world and scale-free networks consisting of bistable overdamped oscillators. Important thereby is the fact that the external subthreshold periodic forcing is introduced only to a single oscillator of the network. Hence, the forcing acts as a pacemaker trying to impose its rhythm on the whole network through the unit to which it is introduced. Without the addition of additive spatiotemporal noise, however, the whole network, including the unit that is directly exposed to the pacemaker, remains trapped forever in one of the two stable steady states of the local dynamics. We show that the correlation between the frequency of subthreshold pacemaker activity and the response of the network is resonantly dependent on the intensity of additive noise. The reported pacemaker-driven stochastic resonance depends most significantly on the coupling strength and the underlying network structure. Namely, the outreach of the pacemaker obeys the classic diffusion law in the case of nearest-neighbor interactions, thus being proportional to the square root of the coupling strength, whereas it becomes superdiffusive by an appropriate small-world or scale-free topology of the interaction network. In particular, the scale-free topology is identified as being optimal for the dissemination of localized rhythmic activity across the whole network. Also, we show that the ratio between the clustering coefficient and the characteristic path length is the crucial quantity defining the ability of a small-world network to facilitate the outreach of the pacemaker-emitted subthreshold rhythm. We additionally confirm these findings by using the FitzHugh-Nagumo excitable system as an alternative to the bistable overdamped oscillator

How optimal synchronization of oscillators depends on the network structure and the individual dynamical properties of the oscillators

The problem of making a network of dynamical systems synchronize onto a common evolution is the subject of much ongoing research in several scientific disciplines. It is nowadays a well-known fact that the synchronization processes are gradually in influenced by the interaction topology between the dynamically interacting units. A complex coupling configuration can significantly affect the synchronization abilities of a networked system. However, the question arises what is the optimal network topology that provides enhancement of the synchronization features under given circumstances. In order to address this issue we make use of a network model in which we can smoothly tune the topology from a highly heterogeneous and efficient scale-free network to a homogeneous and less efficient network. The network is then populated with Poincaré oscillators, a paradigmatic model for limit-cycle oscillations. This oscillator model exhibits a parameter that enables changes of the limit cycle attraction and is thus immediately related to flexibility/rigidity properties of the oscillator. Our results reveal that for weak attractions of the limit cycle, intermediate homogeneous topology ensures maximal synchronization, whereas highly heterogeneous scale-free topology ensures maximal synchronization for strong attractions of the limit cycle. We argue that the flexibility/rigidity of individual nodes of the networks defines the topology, where maximal global coherence is achieved