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How should a pedagogical agent in educational software be designed to support student learning? This question is complex seeing as there are many types of pedagogical agents and design features, and the effect on different student groups can vary. In this paper we explore the effects of designing a pedagogical agent’s self-efficacy in order to see what effects this has on students´ interaction wit
Fire smoke in a tunnel fire is a key factor causing casualties, thus the critical longitudinal ventilation velocity is a key parameter in tunnel fire safety ventilation design. The correlation of critical longitudinal ventilation velocity for smoke control in a tunnel induced by two nearby fires has rarely been studied experimentally and quantified before, despite the fact that this scenario exist
The Integrated Carbon Observation System Research Infrastructure aims to provide long-Term, continuous observations of sources and sinks of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and water vapour. At ICOS ecosystem stations, the principal technique for measurements of ecosystem-Atmosphere exchange of GHGs is the eddy-covariance technique. The establishment and setup of an
Research infrastructures play a key role in launching a new generation of integrated long-Term, geographically distributed observation programmes designed to monitor climate change, better understand its impacts on global ecosystems, and evaluate possible mitigation and adaptation strategies. The pan-European Integrated Carbon Observation System combines carbon and greenhouse gas (GHG; CO2, CH4, N
Miniaturized thermal infrared (TIR) cameras that measure surface temperature are increasingly available for use with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). However, deriving accurate temperature data from these cameras is non-trivialsince they are highly sensitive to changes in their internal temperature and low-cost models are often not radiometrically calibrated. We present the results of laboratory a
Temperature is a key constraint on ecosystem respiration but is typically measured at only one or a few points across a study site. Given the exponential relationship between temperature and respiration, small differences in temperature across a heterogeneous ecosystem may result in large differences in respiration fluxes. These differences are not captured in current respiration models which use
Study design: Cross-sectional study. Objectives: To identify socio-demographic and injury-related factors that contribute to activity limitations and participation restrictions in people with spinal cord injury (SCI) in Bangladesh. Setting: Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP), Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Methods: This study involved 120 (83% men) participants with SCI; their median
Fire frequency is changing globally and is projected to affect the global carbon cycle and climate. However, uncertainty about how ecosystems respond to decadal changes in fire frequency makes it difficult to predict the effects of altered fire regimes on the carbon cycle; for instance, we do not fully understand the long-term effects of fire on soil carbon and nutrient storage, or whether fire-dr
The strength and tensor structure of the Higgs boson's interactions are investigated using an effective Lagrangian, which introduces additional CP-even and CP-odd interactions that lead to changes in the kinematic properties of the Higgs boson and associated jet spectra with respect to the Standard Model. The parameters of the effective Lagrangian are probed using a fit to five differential cross
Background: Matrices are now commonly used in breast reconstruction, but the scientific evidence is still scares. The main aim was to compare complications and the need for corrections in immediate breast reconstruction with the porcine-derived Surgisis® with the traditional muscle-covered technique. The secondary aim was to compare long-term quality of life and satisfaction. Methods: All consecut
This paper introduces the notion of surprising institutions. We often carry incorrect beliefs about the world surrounding us and we are often mistaken about the nature of the institutional structure. The case story in this paper shows that an institution may come as a surprise, even though its origins lies some 500 years back, and that the information we receive as feedback on our actions does not
Avian malaria is a vector transmitted disease caused by Plasmodium and recent studies suggest that variation in its prevalence across avian hosts is correlated with a variety of ecological traits. Here we examine the relationship between prevalence and diversity of Plasmodium lineages in southeastern Amazonia and: (1) host ecological traits (nest location, nest type, flocking behaviour and diet);
The Amazon basin is characterized by a strong interplay between the atmosphere and vegetation. Anthropogenic land use and land cover change (LULCC) affects vegetation and the exchange of energy and water with the atmosphere. Here we have assessed potential LULCC impacts on climate and natural vegetation dynamics over South America with a regional Earth system model that also accounts for vegetatio
We have modified a method (Gilles et al: Anal. Biochem., 159:109-113, 1986) for measuring cell number, that is based on the binding of crystal violet to cell nuclei and used it to assay effects of various glycosaminoglycans on growth of human lung fibroblasts. The procedure was modified by growing cells in microcultures (96 well microplates) and by measuring the amount of adsorbed dye using a micr
AimThe aim was to explore the ambulance service as experienced by present and former employees.BackgroundOver the last decade, the number of ambulance assignments has increased annually by about 10%, and as many as 50% of all ambulance assignments are considered non-urgent. This raises questions about which assignments the Ambulance Service (AS) is supposed to deal with.Design/methodData were coll
Individual variation in fetal hemoglobin (HbF, alpha(2)gamma(2)) response underlies the remarkable diversity in phenotypic severity of sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia. HbF levels and HbF-associated quantitative traits (e.g., F cell levels) are highly heritable. We have previously mapped a major quantitative trait locus (QTL) controlling F cell levels in an extended Asian-Indian kindred wi
The important role of fire in regulating vegetation community composition and contributions to emissions of greenhouse gases and aerosols make it a critical component of dynamic global vegetation models and Earth system models. Over 2 decades of development, a wide variety of model structures and mechanisms have been designed and incorporated into global fire models, which have been linked to diff
