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Agency in Circular City Ecosystems-A Rationalities Perspective
No full textThe concept of agency is increasingly used in the literature on sustainability transitions. In this paper, we add to that discussion by arguing that the concept of rationality opens new avenues to theorizing relational agency in transitions toward a circular economy. To this end, we compare rationality conceptions from management (e.g., collaboration and competition) with critical theory perspectives on rationality (e.g., instrumental and communicative rationality). This leads us to develop a typology matrix for describing plural rationalities underpinning relational agency. We illustrate this typology using excerpts from an in-depth case study of an ongoing city-coordinated ecosystem that develops a smart technology-enabled urban area based on the principles of circularity. The first contribution of this interdisciplinary paper is to offer a rational perspective on theorizing the antecedents of relational agency in circular economy transitions, where communicatively rational action enables agency and change. Secondly, our paper contributes to the literature on circular cities through conceptualizing circular transition as simultaneous collaboration and competition. Thirdly, our paper introduces a dyadic perspective on rationality to the literature on coopetition and provides an operating space from which professionals can navigate, depending on the type of coopetitive situation
Spectropolarimetry of a Nuclear Transient AT2023clx: Revealing the Geometrical Alignment between the Transient Outflow and the Nuclear Dusty Region
No full textAT2023clx, which occurred in NGC 3799 with a low-ionization nuclear emission-line region (LINER), is one of the most nearby nuclear transients classified as a tidal disruption event (TDE). We present three-epoch spectropolarimetric follow-up observations of AT2023clx. We detected two polarization components; one is a constant polarization of similar to 1% originating from an aspherical outflow associated with the transient, while the other is a blue-excess polarization toward similar to 2% originating from a nuclear dusty environment via light echoes. The polarization angle flipped by 90 degrees between the two epochs, indicating that the outflow direction was perpendicular to the dust plane. Furthermore, the polarized flux might suggest that the nuclear dust favors relatively large grains, potentially offering constraints on its physical properties. Such polarization features-the blue excess and the 90 degrees flip-have never been observed in previous TDE polarization samples, highlighting unique mechanisms behind AT2023clx. We propose possible scenarios: the disruption of a star formed within or captured by a nuclear dusty cloud. Given the LINER nature of NGC3799, the dusty region may possibly be linked to a torus or disk associated with a weak active galactic nucleus (AGN). Furthermore, as a more speculative scenario, the event might have been triggered by AGN-like activity, potentially linked to changing-look AGNs or ambiguous nuclear transients. These findings highlight the power of time-series spectropolarimetry of TDEs, not only in probing the origins of nuclear transients but also in investigating the physical properties of nuclear dust
Games and Learning Alliance : 11th International Conference, GALA 2022, Tampere, Finland, November 30 – December 2, 2022, Proceedings
No full textStrengthening adaptive expertise in mathematics education through deliberate practice is a challenging task in traditional classrooms. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether Number Navigation Game (NNG) promotes deliberate practice and how the game performance profiles relate to Adaptive Number Knowledge (ANK) development, perceived challenge, flow, and math interest. NNG is a game-based learning environment that requires students to progress by making more complex arithmetic solutions, which is particularly important to promote ANK. Game performances of 214 Finnish students require not only addition and subtraction but also multiplication and division operations were compiled and compared to the best performance possible for each level. A growth mixture model based on students’ relative performance levels was employed to offer insight into the changes in students’ game performance throughout the game, and the relations of students’ game performance with knowledge gains, perceived challenge, math motivation, and flow. We identified four profiles of students’ game performance. The largest profile steadily enhanced their performance in playing the game despite having lower-than-average initial performance. This group experienced lower flow and larger learning gains than other groups, which suggests their engagement may be more aligned with deliberate practice.</p
Cases of trisomy 21 and trisomy 18 among historic and prehistoric individuals discovered from ancient DNA
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GRASIAN: shaping and characterization of the cold hydrogen and deuterium beams for the forthcoming first demonstration of gravitational quantum states of atoms
No full textA low energy particle confined by a horizontal reflective surface and gravity settles in gravitationally bound quantum states. These gravitational quantum states (GQS) were so far only observed with neutrons. However, the existence of GQS is predicted also for atoms. The GRASIAN collaboration pursues the first observation of GQS of atoms, using a cryogenic hydrogen beam. This endeavor is motivated by the higher densities, which can be expected from hydrogen compared to neutrons, the easier access, the fact that GQS were never observed with atoms and the accessibility to hypothetical short-range interactions. In addition to enabling gravitational quantum spectroscopy, such a cryogenic hydrogen beam with very low vertical velocity components—a few cm s−1, can be used for precision optical and microwave spectroscopy. In this article, we report on our methods developed to reduce background and to detect atoms with a low horizontal velocity, which are needed for such an experiment. Our recent measurement results on the collimation of the hydrogen beam to 2 mm, the reduction of background and improvement of signal-to-noise and finally our first detection of atoms with velocities <72ms−1 are presented. Furthermore, we show calculations, estimating the feasibility of the planned experiment and simulations which confirm that we can select vertical velocity components in the order of cm s−1.</p
An advanced Internet-of-Drones System with Blockchain for improving quality of service of Search and Rescue: A feasibility study
No full textDrone-based systems supporting Search and Rescue (SAR) missions help expeditiously improve the possibility of discovering the missing victims. Nonetheless, the current drone-based systems have some limitations, such as the need for humans in control of large-scale drones, drone’s energy inefficiency, repercussion of quality of service (QoS) from abnormalities events, shortages of automaticity and real-time interactions, deficiency of swift decisions from artificial intelligence-based SAR, and underestimation of security issues in SAR systems. Therefore, developing a more advanced drone-based system is necessary to overcome these limitations. However, it is challenging to achieve the target due to trade-off relationships of technologies and strict requirements of time-critical SAR. This paper studies the feasibility of an Internet-of-Drones (IoD) system using blockchain and artificial intelligence at the edge to overcome limitations and improve SAR QoS. An advanced IoD system architecture from drones to a back-end system and end-users terminals has been proposed. Furthermore, advanced edge services and artificial intelligence at the edge have been presented for automatically searching for missing persons. In addition, computation offloading approaches have been provided to improve the energy efficiency of drones and reduce system latency. Last but not least, public and private blockchain, including Ethereum and Hyperledger Fabric, for providing secure and decentralized healthcare platform has been investigated and analyzed to enable real-time interaction between healthcare entities and improves healthcare services. The results show that the proposed system helps overcome the limitations and improve the SAR QoS. Besides, the proposed system satisfies the security requirements, including confidentiality, integrity, authentication, authorization, access control, privacy, trust, transparency, availability, automaticity, and tolerance.</p
Development and psychometric testing of the actualisation of evidence-based nursing instrument
No full textAim: To describe the development of the Actualisation of Evidence-Based Nursing instrument targeted at nurses working in clinical practice (ActEBN-nurses), meant for evaluating the actualisation of individual and organisational-level support structures for evidence-based nursing within social and healthcare organisations, and to test its validity and reliability.Design: Cross-sectional survey.Methods: The FinYHKÄ model was used as the theoretical background of the instrument development and supplemented with the JBI Model of Evidence-Based Healthcare, previous literature and items from a previous instrument, the Evidence-Based Practice Process Assessment Scale, with permission of the copyright holders. After two rounds of expert panel and piloting, a national survey was conducted with the instrument in 2021. The target group consisted of nurses working in clinical practice. Psychometric testing included internal consistency (Omega, item analysis) confirmatory factor analysis and t-test for comparison of two groups' differences (sensitivity).Results: A new instrument, ActEBN-nurses was developed, comprising two parts: Individual-level (32 items, 5-point Likert-scale) and Organisational-level support structures for evidence-based nursing (37 items, 5-point Likert-scale). In total, 1289 nurses participated in the survey. The ActEBN-nurses proved to have good internal consistency in both parts (Omega ω .931 and .966), structural validity and sensitivity based on the two educational levels within the sample. The structure of both parts was slightly modified, based on the CFA modification indices, considering the impact of the reverse worded items in part Individual and redundant items within both parts.Conclusion: The ActEBN-nurses has promising psychometrics, and it can be used for evaluating individual and organisational-level support structures for evidence-based nursing within social and healthcare organisations.Implications for the profession and/or patient care: Evaluation of the support structures within social and healthcare organisations is needed to recognise shortcomings in current structures and advance evidence-based nursing across different contexts.Reporting method: The authors state that they have adhered to relevant EQUATOR guidelines: STROBE statement for cross-sectional studies.Patient or public contribution: No patient or public contribution.</p
Whole-genome analysis reveals phylogenetic and demographic history of Eurasian perch
No full textThe contemporary diversity and distribution of species are shaped by their evolutionary and ecological history. This can be deciphered with the help of phylogenetic and demographic analysis methods, ideally combining and supplementing information from mitochondrial and nuclear genomes. In this study, we investigated the demographic history of Eurasian perch (Perca fluviatilis), a highly adaptable teleost with a distribution range across Eurasia. We combined whole-genome resequencing data with available genomic resources to analyse the phylogeny, phylogeography, and demographic history of P. fluviatilis populations from Europe and Siberia. We identified five highly diverged evolutionary mtDNA lineages, three of which show a strong signal of admixture in the Baltic Sea region. The estimated mean divergence time between these lineages ranged from 0.24 to 1.42 million years. Based on nuclear genomes, two distinct demographic trajectories were observed in European and Siberian samples reflecting contrasting demographic histories ca. 30,000-100,000 years before the present. A comparison of mtDNA and nuclear DNA evolutionary trees and AMOVA revealed concordances, as well as incongruences, between the two types of data, most likely reflecting recent postglacial colonization and hybridization events. Overall, our findings demonstrate the power and usefulness of genome-wide information for delineating historical processes that have shaped the genome of P. fluviatilis. We also highlight the added value of data-mining existing transcriptomic resources to complement novel sequence data, helping to shed light on putative glacial refugia and postglacial recolonization routes
Traumatic dental injuries among children attending the public after-hours emergency dental clinic in Bergen, Norway
No full textObjectives: To investigate traumatic dental injuries (TDIs) among children who for 1 year attended a Norwegian public after-hours emergency public dental (EPD) clinic.Materials and methods: The study included 7–18-year-olds (n = 312) who presented at the EPD clinic, underwent a clinical dental examination, and consented to the disclosure of clinical information. Recording of TDIs was restricted to anterior permanent teeth. Potential TDI predictors were also analysed.Results: Almost half (n = 148) of the children were assessed with TDIs in permanent teeth, showing a mean age of 11.0 (standard deviation [SD]: 3.5) years. Males constituted 54.7%. The children experienced TDIs often outside school hours (43.9%), and the majority (58.1%) were caused by falls/accidents. Sixty of them experienced only one TDI. The most common location was the maxillary central incisors. Assessment of TDIs according to severity, could only be done in 131 individuals, involving 253 TDIs. Of these, 81.8% were mild. The odds of visiting the emergency clinic for a TDI were higher (odds ratio [OR] = 2.64, confidence interval [CI]: 1.61–4.31) among children with previous TDIs and lower (OR = 0.28, CI: 0.12–0.68) among those with poor dental attendance.Conclusions: Traumatic dental injuries were a common reason for seeking emergency care. Milder injuries dominated and involved mostly one maxillary central incisor. Previous episodes of TDIs and attendance patterns seemed to be associated with seeking care for TDIs.</p
A Mobile Application–Based Citizen Science Product to Compile Bird Observations
No full textCitizen science covers initiatives from crowdsourcing, distributed intelligence, and participatory science, to extreme citizen science. Terminological overlap, varied project aims, and cultural differences in the fields of research have, however, led to discord regarding how impactful citizen science projects can be. Here, we showcase a mobile application–based citizen science campaign (in Finnish: Muuttolintujen kevät), an automated bird sound classifier of Finnish birds. Over a single season (2023), the method attracted 140,000 participants who uploaded close to three million recordings containing six million bird observations. We report the spatial and temporal distribution of the observations collected, characterize the user behaviour, and discuss reliability of the user-based validations of the AI-powered species identifications. To circumvent data quality problems that characterize many citizen science projects, our approach stores the raw audio in a centralized repository, enabling rigorous validation and re-analysis. Mobile application-based citizen science initiatives can be harnessed to probe the state of our environment almost in real time and potentially guide conservation acts in the future.</p