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Student and teacher experiences using cutting-edge research as learning context
Get PDFBackground: Although cutting-edge research contexts can be motivating for students, studies reporting student and teacher experiences using this type of authentic contexts are hard to find. Purpose: In this study, we investigated how students and teachers experienced working with context-based learning materials centered on cutting-edge research that are designed to support teachers in fostering student understanding and motivation. Sample: Six chemistry teachers in their 10th grade pre-university classes used learning materials using research on ‘Early Cancer Diagnosis’ as a context to understand chemical bonding concepts. Design and methods: In this mixed-methods study, teacher and students experiences were investigated using semi-structured teacher and student group interviews, student pre- and post-tests, learner self-reports, and teacher logbooks. Results: The context-based learning materials did help to foster student understanding and motivation. In addition, students experienced working with the learning materials as interesting, relevant, complex, challenging and clear. Conclusion: Using authentic contexts can support teachers and foster student understanding and motivation. Teacher and student experiences were positive, and teachers were reflecting when working with the learning materials and trying to use new teaching strategies. Thus, we cautiously conclude that teachers were learning, while they are working with learning materials that feature cutting-edge research contexts.</p
Composing with the terra fluida of interaction:new paths for CCO research as relational practice
No full textPurpose: For more than 20 years, research on the communicative constitution of organizations (CCO) has drawn on interactional data to offer novel explanations of how organizational phenomena emerge, change, and stabilize in and through communication. Accordingly, the idea of “never leaving the terra firma of interaction” has become a tenet of CCO research, guiding scholars’ theorizing, data collection, and analysis. The aim of this paper is to reflect on and enrich this tenet. Design/methodology/approach: First, this paper traces the history of the concept of the terra firma of interaction and its usage until now. Second, drawing on ethnographic writings on complicit reflexivity and on the two first authors’ doctoral research experiences, this paper identifies current limitations of the terra firma notion. Findings: Reflecting on these experiences, the idea of composing with the terra fluida (fluid ground) of interaction is proposed as an enrichment of the terra firma of interaction concept because it advances present discussions about CCO researchers’ positionality and reflexivity while opening up new paths for understanding how organizational phenomena unfold as relational fields in processes of communication. Originality/value: This paper questions and reevaluates the role of the researcher in CCO scholarship and, in doing so, offers new insights into the value of acknowledging researchers’ entanglement and complicity with the fluid fields of interaction they aim to understand.</p
Stress in action wearables database:A database of noninvasive wearable monitors with systematic technical, reliability, validity, and usability information
Get PDFAmbulatory wearable monitoring of human physiology is increasingly utilized in the fields of psychology, movement sciences, and medicine. With the rapid growth of available consumer- and research-oriented wearables, researchers are faced with a multitude of devices to choose from. It is unfeasible timewise for researchers to determine all relevant technical specifications, available signals, signal sampling details, and (raw) data availability, and conduct a search of studies regarding the reliability, validity, and usability of wearables. Thus, selection of wearables for a given study proves highly challenging and will often be unsystematic and uninformed. The 10-year research program Stress in Action initiated a publicly accessible database of wearable ambulatory monitoring devices. We outline the genesis and final structure of the first version of the Stress in Action Wearables Database (SiA-WD) and a summary of the characteristics of the wearables it currently contains. Furthermore, one short-term (2 days) and one long-term (3 months) scenario from the field of stress research are provided with walkthroughs of how the SiA-WD can help select the optimal wearable for a specific research project. Insights gathered include the scarceness of studies testing wearable user-friendliness, inconsistencies in reported validity statistics, and imprecise manufacturer documentation on recorded physiological data such as sampling rate (or window) of signals and parameter extraction. The SiA-WD is the first open-access database to simultaneously include physiological sampling information and technical specifications along with a systematic reliability, validity, and usability search. It will be iteratively expanded to facilitate informed and time-efficient wearable selection. For access to the database, see the following: https://osf.io/umgvp/.</p
Robust thin film hydrogen permeation sensor at near-room temperature
No full textOne of the elements that shows promising contributions to the continuous global growth is hydrogen. With its many applications such electrochemistry, energy carrier, and the possible future hydrogen fusion reactions, it is widely studied. The diffusion of hydrogen through materials, also known as permeation, is of special interest for applications as hydrogen separation and possible hydrogen loss through protective layers. Additionally, as hydrogen is considered to be present as radical or ion in energetic environments such as fusion reactors, the fundamentals of diffusion and permeation are becoming important. The presence of hydrogen radicals, ions, and plasma can affect the diffusion through material.As many forms of energetic hydrogen will very likely play a role in the future use of hydrogen for its many applications, a sensor to test the hydrogen permeation through thin films is important. By the use of an optical changing sensing material underneath a thin film, the diffusion of hydrogen can be measured. By measuring the optical change during exposure to different hydrogen environments, the permeation is measured. With this sensor design a range of thin films can be tested to assist the growth of hydrogen technologies beyond its boundaries.<br/
Postictal resting-state connectivity changes after electroconvulsive therapy-induced seizures
Get PDFElectroconvulsive therapy (ECT) leads to temporary changes of brain function. It is unclear what changes take place shortly after the induced seizures. Here, we present the first human study on resting-state network (RSN) changes in the immediate postictal state. The objective was to investigate brain-wide RSNs connectivity changes shortly after ECT-induced seizures. We analyzed prospectively collected resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans from 17 patients with major depression at baseline and one hour after ECT-sessions. RSNs were extracted and changes in mean and voxel-wise RSN connectivity strength were calculated. Data were compared to 27 age, sex, and level of education matched healthy individuals to account for test–retest effects. Clinical postictal recovery was measured using the reorientation time questionnaire. Group by time interaction analyses showed postictal decreases in mean connectivity strength in the left central executive network and the auditory network in patients, compared to retest in healthy controls (β = − 0.18 [CrI95 − 0.27, − 0.09] and (β = − 0.22 [CrI95 − 0.36, − 0.07], respectively). Voxel-wise analyses revealed increased between-network connectivity in the salience network with cerebellar regions compared to healthy controls, along with decreased within-network connectivity in the default mode network and left central executive network. No significant associations with clinical recovery or other variables were observed. In this cohort, ECT-induced seizures were followed by postictal decreases of connectivity strength in the left central executive network and the auditory network and increase of connectivity between the salience network and cerebellum. Postictal network changes were not associated with clinical postictal recovery. Clinical trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04028596.</p
Disabling Scaffolds:The Lived Embodiment of Disability in an Oppressive Sociomaterial Environment
Get PDFThe influential social model understands disability in terms of oppression instantiated in a material environment that disables bodily impaired people. Many of the demands of disability activists for what we might call equal material access have since been satisfied. Yet oppression of subtler psychological and emotional forms persists for many disabled people. We will argue that the results of these psychosocial forms of oppression is that scaffolding which was set up to provide access to disabled people may become disabling. We introduce the concept of “disabling scaffolding” to refer to environmental structures that inhibit the disabled person’s abilities because of social structures of intersubjective and material oppression. We borrow Iris Marion Young’s concept of “inhibited intentionality” to describe the effects of oppression, which come to operate “from within” the disabled person, deeply affecting the person’s experience of the body as an “I-can”. Disabling scaffolding is a consequence of material and intersubjective oppression that leads to inhibited intentionality, gradually leading to a pathologization of the disabled person’s embodiment.</p
Silicon carbide coated alumina tight-ultrafiltration membrane prepared by low-pressure chemical vapor deposition for sulphate ion retention
Get PDFSulphate (SO42) is a model ion due to its negative charge and multivalent nature. Its rejection behavior serves as an indicator of the separation performance for other analogous ions in modified membranes. In literature the rejection of the SO42 by negatively charged polymeric nanofiltration (NF) membranes has been studied extensively with rejection percentages of >90 %. Silicon carbide (SiC) membranes have gained attention for wastewater treatment due to their high hydrophilicity and negative charge. However, no negatively charged ceramic ultrafiltration (UF) membranes have been tested yet for SO42 retention. In this study, a commercial alumina (Al2O3) UF membrane was converted into a highly negatively charged tight-UF membrane by coating it with SiC. This was achieved by depositing a 5 μm SiC coating in a single-step via low-pressure chemical vapor deposition (LP-CVD). LP-CVD facilitates the preparation of a SiC at much lower temperatures (700–900 °C) compared to the sol-gel methods (ca. 2100 °C), and it does not require multiple coating cycles and sintering steps to achieve the desired selective layer thickness. Subsequently, properties and performance of the as-prepared tight-UF membrane coated with SiC were evaluated. The SiC coated membrane had a highly negative charge of −70 mV at pH of 6, and a pure water permeability (PWP) of 26 L.m−2.h−1.bar−1. The SiC coated membrane furthermore demonstrated a SO42 rejection of 79 % despite having a large pore size of 7 nm, in comparison with the pore sizes of below 1 nm of NF membranes. These results highlight the potential of singe-step LP-CVD modification of commercial UF ceramic membranes to produce highly negatively charged SiC coated UF membranes with a high SO42 rejection, and without a large loss of PWP normally associated with NF membranes.</p
Rethinking self-diagnosis: Bridging doctor and patient perspectives
Get PDFThe rise of digital health technologies has reshaped the patient’s role in healthcare, enabling greater autonomy in managing health and making medical decisions. Self-diagnosis tools, including AI-driven applications, symptom checkers, and online health platforms, allow individuals to assess symptoms and explore potential conditions before consulting a healthcare professional. While these tools offer increased access to health information, they also raise concerns about misinformation, misinterpretation, and impacts on patient-provider relationships. By framing self-diagnosis not only as a personal health practice but as a way to reimagine relational aspects of care, this study examines how both patients and healthcare professionals perceive self-diagnosis, identifying tension points and shared concerns that shape its role in healthcare interactions. To explore these perspectives, we conducted two online surveys: one with 330 patients and another with 36 doctors. The findings contribute to design research by offering insights into how digital health tools can support shared decision-making, strengthen patient-provider relationships, and ensure responsible integration into care
Explainable few-shot learning workflow for detecting invasive and exotic tree species
Get PDFDeep Learning methods are notorious for relying on extensive labeled datasets to train and assess their performance. This can cause difficulties in practical situations where models should be trained for new applications for which very little data is available. While few-shot learning algorithms can address the first problem, they still lack sufficient explanations for the results. This research presents a workflow that tackles both challenges by proposing an explainable few-shot learning workflow for detecting invasive and exotic tree species in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) images. By integrating a Siamese network with explainable AI (XAI), the workflow enables the classification of tree species with minimal labeled data while providing visual, case-based explanations for the predictions. Results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed workflow in identifying new tree species, even in data-scarce conditions. With a lightweight backbone, e.g., MobileNet, it achieves an F1-score of 0.86 in 3-shot learning, outperforming a shallow CNN. A set of explanation metrics, i.e., correctness, continuity, and contrastivity, accompanied by visual cases, provide further insights about the prediction results. This approach opens new avenues for using AI and UAVs in forest management and biodiversity conservation, particularly concerning rare or understudied species.</p
Mapping the Landscape of Open Source Health Economic Models:A Systematic Database Review and Analysis: An ISPOR Special Interest Group Report
Get PDFObjectives: Health economic models are crucial for health technology assessments to evaluate the value of medical interventions. Open-source models (OSMs), in which source code and calculations are publicly accessible, enhance transparency, efficiency, credibility, and reproducibility. This study systematically reviewed databases to map the landscape of available OSMs in health economics. Methods: A systematic database review was conducted, informed by guidance from ISPOR's OSM Special Interest Group. Eleven databases and specific OSM repositories were searched using predefined terms. Identified models were screened and duplicates were removed. Results: The search yielded 8664 hits, resulting in 182 unique OSMs. GitHub hosted the majority (74%), followed by Zenodo (11%). R was the predominant software platform (64%). Infectious disease was the most common application domain (29%). Markov models were the most frequent model type (49%). Licensing with Creative Commons was typical. Government and academic institutions were the primary sponsors, although many models lacked clear sponsorship. Conclusions: This review highlights the diversity and availability of open-source models (OSMs) in health economics, predominantly hosted on GitHub and developed using R. The models span various medical fields, with a strong focus on infectious diseases, oncology, and neurology. Ensuring clear licensing and standardized reporting is crucial to maximizing their impact. A combined approach of repository searches and traditional literature reviews provides a comprehensive method for identifying OSMs. Future efforts should enhance search strategies, improve reporting standards, and leverage OSMs to inform health policy decisions.</p