Water Emissions Trading in Europe: A Literature Overview and Discussion of Opportunities

This report is about Water Emissions Trading (WET or Water Quality Trading) in Europe. The goal is to inform about the basic principles, provide an overview of studies done in Europe, and suggest some future opportunities for WET in Europe

Between anaphora and deixis...the resolution of the demonstrative noun-phrase ‘that N’

Three experiments examined the hypothesis that the demonstrative noun phrase (NP) that N, as an anadeictic expression, preferentially refers to the less salient referent in a discourse representation when used anaphorically, whereas the anaphoric pronoun he or she preferentially refers to the highly-focused referent. The findings, from a sentence completion task and two reading time experiments that used gender to create ambiguous and unambiguous coreference, reveal that the demonstrative NP specifically orients processing toward a less salient referent when there is no gender cue discriminating between different possible referents. These findings show the importance of taking into account the discourse function of the anaphor itself and its influence on the process of searching for the referent

An ERP study of anaphor resolution with focused and non-focused antecedents

The goal of this study is to better understand when (and why) the combination of semantic overlap between antecedent and anaphor and antecedent focus leads to difficulty in anaphor processing. To investigate these questions, three ERP experiments manipulating semantic overlap and focus compared the ERPs from the onset of the anaphor as well as from the onset of the last word in the sentence containing the anaphor. Our results suggest that although the focus status of an antecedent and the semantic overlap between the antecedent and anaphor are important, these factors are not the only significant contributors to online anaphor resolution. Factors such as readers‘ expectations about thematic shifts also influence the processing. We consider our results in relation to two accounts of anaphor resolution, the Informational Load Hypothesis (Almor, 1999; Almor & Eimas, 2008) and JANUS (Garnham & Cowles, 2008)

Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes as Shadow Masks for Nanogap Fabrication

We describe a technique for fabricating nanometer-scale gaps in Pt wires on insulating substrates, using individual single-walled carbon nanotubes as shadow masks during metal deposition. More than 80% of the devices display current-voltage dependencies characteristic of direct electron tunneling. Fits to the current-voltage data yield gap widths in the 0.8-2.3 nm range for these devices, dimensions that are well suited for single-molecule transport measurements

Assessment of Practice-Focused Middle School Science Modules

AMP-IT-UP is an NSF-funded K-12 program intended to promote math, science, and engineering learning through STEM integration-focused curricula. As part of this program, one-week modules were designed to teach specific science practices within the context of the appropriate grade-level content. Nine science modules were created, one focused on each practice (practices are data visualization, experimental design, and data-driven decision making) at grade levels 6, 7, and 8. In this presentation, we will focus on our assessment of the implementation of these modules across four middle schools during the 2016-2017 academic year. We will present our methodology for assessing this complex instructional effort, which includes classroom observations, online implementation surveys, and online teacher discussions about their experiences implementing the modules. We will also provide results from our pre-post assessments of student learning. Overall, the results indicate positive teacher experiences as well as significant increases in student learning in some modules

Staff perceptions of change resulting from participation in a European cancer accreditation programme:a snapshot from eight cancer centres

Background: Healthcare accreditation is considered to be an essential quality improvement tool. However, its effectiveness has been critiqued. Methods: Twenty-four interviews were conducted with clinicians (five), nurses (six), managers (eight), and basic/translational researchers (five) from eight European cancer centres on changes observed from participating in a European cancer accreditation programme. Data were thematically analysed and verified with participants and checked against auditor’s feedback. Results: Four change categories emerged: (i) the growing importance of the nursing and supportive care field (role change). Nurses gained more autonomy/clarity on their daily duties. Importance was given to the hiring and training of supportive care personnel (ii) critical thinking on data integration (strategic change). Managers gained insight on how to integrate institutional level data (iii) improved processes within multidisciplinary team (MDT) meetings (procedural change). Clinical staff experienced improved communication between MDTs (iv) building trust (organisational change). Accreditation improved the centre’s credibility with its own staff and externally with funders and patients. No motivational changes were perceived. Researchers perceived no changes. The auditor’s feedback included changes in 13 areas: translational research, biobanks, clinical trials, patient privacy and satisfaction, cancer registries, clinical practice guidelines, patient education, screening, primary prevention, role of nurses, MDT, supportive care, and data integration. However, our study revealed that staff perceived changes only in the last four areas. Conclusion: Staff perceived changes in data integration, nursing and supportive care, and in certain clinical aspects. Accreditation programmes must pay attention to the needs of different stakeholder groups, track changes, and observe how/why change happens