Building a High-Quality Climate Science Information Environment: The Role of Social Media

This issue brief is part of a larger body of work around the intersection of digital rights with environmental; and climate justice, supported by the Ford Foundation, Ariadne and Mozilla Foundation. This research project aims at better equipping digital rights funders to craft grantmaking strategies that maximise impact on these issues.This issue brief by BSR was published alongside several publications, including a research report mapping the landscape at this intersection by The Engine Room, and issue briefs by APC, Open Environmental Data and Open Climate.All publications can be found at https://engn.it/climatejusticedigitalright

A study to assess the knowledge of female medical students on polycystic ovary syndrome in NRI Institute of Medical Sciences

Background: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a hyperandrogenic disorder with an approximate prevalence of 15% to 20%; despite being a common disease in women, an estimated 68% of the total cases remain undiagnosed. Long-term consequences of PCOS on psychological health have been underestimated and disregarded. Even though the disorder has a wide spectrum of symptoms affecting a female's life from early teenage to later in life, it is not given as much importance as other chronic diseases like diabetes mellitus, hypertension, or a thyroid disorder. The need to address this syndrome both as a burden to the healthcare system, as well as on an individual basis right now, is of paramount importance. Previous studies have found that there was a gap in the knowledge of medical students about PCOS and its symptoms and signs, and that lifestyle preferences may predispose to PCOS. Delay in the diagnosis of PCOS may lead to metabolic and reproductive abnormalities associated with it. This study was mainly aimed at assessing the knowledge of female medical students on PCOS in NRIIMS, Sangivalasa.Methods: This was an online questionnaire based cross sectional study conducted on 550 female medical students of NRIIMS from March 2022 to September 2022 after taking approval from the institute ethics committee. The completely filled questionnaires (500) were analysed for the results.Results: In the present study though the female medical students had good knowledge regarding the causes and risk factors associated with PCOS, their knowledge about the complications of PCOS was found to be significantly less. The main source of knowledge regarding PCOS was from the treating doctor and browsing the internet being the next source.Conclusions: Effective educational intervention can significantly increase the level of knowledge on PCOS in female medical students

Representations of specific acoustic patterns in the auditory cortex and hippocampus

Previous behavioural studies have shown that repeated presentation of a randomly chosen acoustic pattern leads to the unsupervised learning of some of its specific acoustic features. The objective of our study was to determine the neural substrate for the representation of freshly learnt acoustic patterns. Subjects first performed a behavioural task that resulted in the incidental learning of three different noise-like acoustic patterns. During subsequent high-resolution functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning, subjects were then exposed again to these three learnt patterns and to others that had not been learned. Multi-voxel pattern analysis was used to test if the learnt acoustic patterns could be 'decoded' from the patterns of activity in the auditory cortex and medial temporal lobe. We found that activity in planum temporale and the hippocampus reliably distinguished between the learnt acoustic patterns. Our results demonstrate that these structures are involved in the neural representation of specific acoustic patterns after they have been learnt

Brain Bases of Working Memory for Time Intervals in Rhythmic Sequences

Perception of auditory time intervals is critical for accurate comprehension of natural sounds like speech and music. However, the neural substrates and mechanisms underlying the representation of time intervals in working memory are poorly understood. In this study, we investigate the brain bases of working memory for time intervals in rhythmic sequences using functional magnetic resonance imaging. We used a novel behavioral paradigm to investigate time-interval representation in working memory as a function of the temporal jitter and memory load of the sequences containing those time intervals. Human participants were presented with a sequence of intervals and required to reproduce the duration of a particular probed interval. We found that perceptual timing areas including the cerebellum and the striatum were more or less active as a function of increasing and decreasing jitter of the intervals held in working memory respectively whilst the activity of the inferior parietal cortex is modulated as a function of memory load. Additionally, we also analyzed structural correlations between gray and white matter density and behavior and found significant correlations in the cerebellum and the striatum, mirroring the functional results. Our data demonstrate neural substrates of working memory for time intervals and suggest that the cerebellum and the striatum represent core areas for representing temporal information in working memory

Spin transport properties in a naphthyl diamine derivative film investigated by the spin pumping

We report the spin transport properties in a thin film of a naphthyl diamine derivative: N,N'-Bis(naphthalen-1-yl)-N,N'-bis(phenyl)-2,2'-dimethylbenzidine (alpha-NPD). In a palladium(Pd)/alpha-NPD/Ni80Fe20 tri-layer structure sample, a pure spin current is generated in the alpha-NPD layer with the spin pumping driven by ferromagnetic resonance (FMR). The generated spin current is absorbed into the Pd layer, and converted into a charge current with the inverse spin-Hall effect (ISHE) in Pd. An electromotive force due to the ISHE in the Pd layer is observed under the FMR of the Ni80Fe20 layer, which is clear evidence for the spin transport in an alpha-NPD film. The spin diffusion length in an alpha-NPD film is estimated to be about 62 nm at room temperature, which is long enough as a spin transport material for spintronic devices.Comment: 21 pages, 5 figures. To be appeared in Solid State Commu

Analysis of Project Acceleration Implementation Using the CPM and PERT at Lettu Imam Building

The implementation of construction projects generally has a predetermined time limit. To achieve the time limit, planning and controlling are necessary. Planning can determine what work needs to be done and when it is done, what resources are needed, and what risks may arise. Clear activity targets can be identified for each activity. The case study in this research is Lettu Imam Building Construction Project in the OPD Office Complex of Pasuruan Regency. This study uses the Critical Path Method (CPM) to determine the work items passed through the critical path and the Project Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) to determine the probability of project success. The results of the analysis using the Critical Path Method are 14 work items that were on the critical path A1 - A2 - A3 - B1 - C1 - C2 - C3 - C4 - C5 - C6 - C7 - C8 - C9 - D1. And the result analysis using Project Evaluation and Review Technique has a project completion probability of 89.43% - 99.37%, with the project implementation duration being 162 - 164 days. Keywords: Critical Path, Critical Path Method, Planning, Probability, Project Evaluation and Review Techniqu