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The pandemic caused by COVID 19 forced education systems to offer their services remotely due to social distancing policies. This article discusses research results on the development of remote laboratory architectures to deliver scientific experimentation in the area of physics for secondary school students using desktop computers or mobile devices. The design of the remote laboratory is based on the Raspberry Pi device, using various sensors and a graphical interface through which access and communication is given. The purpose of the development of this remote laboratory is to provide teachers and students of secondary education access to the development of remote activities for scientific experimentation in physics courses, using low-cost devices and free software. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bayesian optimization (BO) is an indispensable tool to optimize objective functions that either do not have known functional forms or are expensive to evaluate. Currently, optimal experimental design is always conducted within the workflow of BO leading to more efficient exploration of the design space compared to traditional strategies. This can have a significant impact on modern scientific discovery, in particular autonomous materials discovery, which can be viewed as an optimization problem aimed at looking for the maximum (or minimum) point for the desired materials properties. The performance of BO-based experimental design depends not only on the adopted acquisition function but also on the surrogate models that help to approximate underlying objective functions. In this paper, we propose a fully autonomous experimental design framework that uses more adaptive and flexible Bayesian surrogate models in a BO procedure, namely Bayesian multivariate adaptive regression splines and Bayesian additive regression trees. They can overcome the weaknesses of widely used Gaussian process-based methods when faced with relatively high-dimensional design space or non-smooth patterns of objective functions. Both simulation studies and real-world materials science case studies demonstrate their enhanced search efficiency and robustness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I put forward a basic philosophical claim: empirical scientific knowledge, that is, knowledge generated in experimental and observational practices, presupposes real causation. My discussion exploits two core notions from the philosophical analysis of scientific experimentation and observation: the aim of realizing object-apparatus correlations and the required control of the relevant interactions between environment and experimental or observational system. The conclusion is that, without the notion of real causation, acquiring epistemically sound empirical knowledge is impossible. Several empiricist objections to this conclusion are discussed and refuted. As a consequence, empiricism faces an unsolvable dilemma: either it cannot account for empirical knowledge or it should accept the existence of unobservable but real causal interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Skew-Gaussian Processes (SkewGPs) extend the multivariate Unified Skew-Normal distributions over finite dimensional vectors to distribution over functions. SkewGPs are more general and flexible than Gaussian processes, as SkewGPs may also represent asymmetric distributions. In a recent contribution, we showed that SkewGP and probit likelihood are conjugate, which allows us to compute the exact posterior for non-parametric binary classification and preference learning. In this paper, we generalize previous results and we prove that SkewGP is conjugate with both the normal and affine probit likelihood, and more in general, with their product. This allows us to (i) handle classification, preference, numeric and ordinal regression, and mixed problems in a unified framework; (ii) derive closed-form expression for the corresponding posterior distributions. We show empirically that the proposed framework based on SkewGP provides better performance than Gaussian processes in active learning and Bayesian (constrained) optimization. These two tasks are fundamental for design of experiments and in Data Science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study begins by reviewing the historical importance of peace in the ITER fusion experiment, the world's largest science diplomacy experiment, including by referencing other nuclear peacebuilding attempts, like the Baruch Plan and Atoms for Peace. It thematically analyses the speeches delivered by ITER consortium member state leaders at the July 28, 2020 ITER Machine Assembly Phase launch, which covered topics including fusion being a clean and safe form of energy and fusion's potential applications for climate management. The study emphasizes that Putin and the US representative did not reference peace, despite ITER being conceived by the Soviet Union and USA as a peacebuilding experiment, while China and others did. To address backsliding, the study recommends ITER engaging with the Call for a Global Commission for Urgent Action on Fusion Energy, issued in 2020, which incorporates a peacebuilding strand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How are low techs experimented with and how are they documented? Based on a study of the Low-tech Lab, this paper shows that documentation mobilises different practices and various formats: tutorials that present 'cookbook recipes' for low techs, reports that assess experimentations in a scientific way, and videos that stage low techs as key actors in ecological lifestyles and part of modern adventures. The paper shows that documents not only record how low techs are experimented with, but that they also demonstrate that they are worth living with. It describes how literary technologies are entangled with technologies of affect, thereby positioning low techs at once as doable, reasonable and desirable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quest to identify materials with tailored properties is increasingly expanding into high-order composition spaces, with a corresponding combinatorial explosion in the number of candidate materials. A key challenge is to discover regions in composition space where materials have novel properties. Traditional predictive models for material properties are not accurate enough to guide the search. Herein, we use high-throughput measurements of optical properties to identify novel regions in three-cation metal oxide composition spaces by identifying compositions whose optical trends cannot be explained by simple phase mixtures. We screen 376,752 distinct compositions from 108 three-cation oxide systems based on the cation elements Mg, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Y, In, Sn, Ce, and Ta. Data models for candidate phase diagrams and threecation compositions with emergent optical properties guide the discovery of materials with complex phase-dependent properties, as demonstrated by the discovery of a Co-Ta-Sn substitutional alloy oxide with tunable transparency, catalytic activity, and stability in strong acid electrolytes. These results required close coupling of data validation to experiment design to generate a reliable end-to-end high-throughput workflow for accelerating scientific discovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a growing nature disconnection in society, which begins in childhood, more preocupant in cities. Education, starting in early childhood, should play a important role in reverse this disconection, using teaching-learning experiences and resources useful and tested, what less frequent in early ages. A didactic experience to increase close nature knowledge in the second cycle of Early Childhood Education is showed here. This experience is based on the search, observation, and classification of living beings in the vegetated schoolyard and scientific experimentation with natural elements, using as a learning axis field notebooks, an individual notebook filled by each student and a collaborative one by the full group. In the fieldnotes the students recorded observations mainly combining drawings, some words and dates, enhance scientific learning of the natural environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The Investigation/Study/Assay (ISA) Metadata Framework is an established and widely used set of open source community specifications and software tools for enabling discovery, exchange, and publication of metadata from experiments in the life sciences. The original ISA software suite provided a set of user-facing Java tools for creating and manipulating the information structured in ISA-Tab—a now widely used tabular format. To make the ISA framework more accessible to machines and enable programmatic manipulation of experiment metadata, the JSON serialization ISA-JSON was developed. Results In this work, we present the ISA API, a Python library for the creation, editing, parsing, and validating of ISA-Tab and ISA-JSON formats by using a common data model engineered as Python object classes. We describe the ISA API feature set, early adopters, and its growing user community. Conclusions The ISA API provides users with rich programmatic metadata-handling functionality to support automation, a common interface, and an interoperable medium between the 2 ISA formats, as well as with other life science data formats required for depositing data in public databases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nature of Science Experiments teaching and learning is based on vision, which is mostly not accessible at all by visually impaired students. Hence it needs adapted materials and instructional methods to understand and perform science experiments by visually impaired. The present study aims to find out the Learning of Science Concepts among Visually Impaired Students at Middle School Level [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we describe our experiences building a large-scale data science program aimed at supporting diversity in online data science learning. This program was built to support a set of introductory skills-based, higher education courses. We are motivated by work done in project-based learning contexts and culturally responsive pedagogies and are particularly keen to understand how we can scale such kinds of approaches to large and diverse global classrooms. Specifically, we consider the country from which a learner is accessing the course as the key context for our work and discuss two interrelated investigations we have undertaken to understand how this feature interacts with learners' motivation and learning. Our findings provide insights on how learners respond to location-specific problem-based personalizations in data science education and provides an initial exploration as to how this form of personalization differs depending on the geo-political context of the learners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Psicologia Clínica is the property of Faculdades Catolicas - Pontificia Universidade Catolica do Rio de Janeiro and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In the target article Mark Latash has argued that there is but a single bona-fide theory for hand motor control (referent configuration theory). If this is true, and research is often phenomenological, then we must admit that the science of hand motor control is immature. While describing observations under varying conditions is a crucial (but early) stage of the science of any field, it is also true that the key to maturing any science is to vigorously subject extant theories and budding laws to critical experimentation. If competing theories are absent at the present time is it time for scientists to focus their efforts on maturing the science of hand motor control through critical testing of this long-standing theory (and related collections of knowledge such as the uncontrolled manifold)? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For over 50 years, the satisfaction of search effect has been studied within the field of radiology. Defined as a decrease in detection rates for a subsequent target when an initial target is found within the image, these multiple target errors are known to underlie errors of omission (e.g., a radiologist is more likely to miss an abnormality if another abnormality is identified). More recently, they have also been found to underlie lab-based search errors in cognitive science experiments (e.g., an observer is more likely to miss a target 'T' if a different target 'T' was detected). This phenomenon was renamed the subsequent search miss (SSM) effect in cognitive science. Here we review the SSM literature in both radiology and cognitive science and discuss: (1) the current SSM theories (i.e., satisfaction, perceptual set, and resource depletion theories), (2) the eye movement errors that underlie the SSM effect, (3) the existing efforts tested to alleviate SSM errors, and (4) the evolution of methodologies and analyses used when calculating the SSM effect. Finally, we present the attentional template theory, a novel mechanistic explanation for SSM errors, which ties together our current understanding of SSM errors and the attentional template literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The last decades have seen a renewed interest in the study of argumentation in archaeology, particularly in response to the overproduction of weak and unreliable interpretations and explanations. Concurrently, recent appeals for scientific transparency and efficiency in the management of archaeological information in digital form have stressed the necessity of explicitly showing the processes followed. A growing body of literature has identified inference to the best explanation (IBE) as the most adequate way of interpreting archaeological data, although it has quietly existed for over a century. Despite this, the investigation of IBE-based models for recording archaeological reasoning remains a largely under-researched topic. The author concludes with a novel IBE-based model for recording archaeological argumentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have developed a method for automatically detecting the sources of ice block falls at the Martian north polar scarps. Multitemporal red-filter High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) images were processed by using the open source NASA Ames Stereo Pipeline in combination with the USGS Integrated Software for Imagers and Spectrometers to produce 0.25 m resolution images as well as a 1 m resolution DTM. The multi-temporal HiRISE images were firstly ortho-rectified by the DTM, and then co-registered by using the Enhanced Correlation Coefficient Maximization (ECC) algorithm. We applied the change detection method on the well-aligned sub-meter scale HiRISE images, which were taken in Mars Year 29 and Mars Year 30, to investigate mass wasting at the scarp area centred at 85.0°N, 151.5°E. The idea of the change detection method is to identify changing shadow patterns based on the grayscale difference between the images. The final results show that erosion events occurred at the full length of this study's scarp within one Mars Year. However, only the upper and lower part of the scarp show erosion activity, whereas the intermediate parts seem inactive, and this correlates with the slope. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid development of technology has enabled many types of technology to be used frequently by educators in learning and teaching activities. One of these frequently used educational technologies is Arduino. This study aims to determine how resistance changes depending on the cross-sectional area, length, and resistivity of the conductor using Arduino. In order to determine the factors affecting the resistance in the Arduino-based experiment, the experiment utilized the graphite leads that students use in their daily lives. An inexpensive and high mobility experiment system has been developed. The data obtained by the experimental setup complies with theoretical laws. This experiment, along with the use of Arduino, will enable students to experience Ohm's law and enable them to better understand the concepts of potential, current, and resistance in a series circuit. In addition, it is thought that the experiment will attract more attention from students by offering a technology-supported learning opportunity. Researchers and teachers can turn this experiment into a science, technology, engineering y mathematics (STEM) activity by integrating it into a problematic situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main belt comet 133P/Elst-Pizarro is one of the targets of the proposed Chinese small body exploration mission. The rotation and gravity of this comet will be modelled at the end of the mission phase. To prepare this mission, we performed a radio science simulation based on the current knowledge of the characteristics of 133P/Elst-Pizarro. Simulated two-way Earth–orbiter and orbiter–lander range rate tracking data with a lander positioned at the comet equator were used to determine the gravity field coefficients and the rotational parameters. Our simulation results show that the introduction of the orbiter–lander range rate data can significantly decrease the uncertainty in the initial state vector of the orbiter as well as the uncertainty in the rotation and gravity parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Power relations between humans and animals in scientific experimentation have been investigated to test the hypothesis that certain concepts, such as discipline, biopolitics, and device, may help think about the reality of animals and humans in the laboratory context. It starts from the premise that powers are subtle rather than explicitly violent. First, we validated the hypothesis through an online focus group analysis of the discourse of lecturers, graduates, and bioethicists. Second, we noted the importance of affections, the notion of responsibility, and care. There is a human-animal relationship characterized by ambivalence: instrumental knowledge and practices, on the one hand, care, affection, and emotions, on the other. Therefore, animals have a double ontology since they are objects (they must be studied) and subjects (they must be respected). From this ambivalence, we discuss the guinea pig device, a set of discourses and practices that involve instrumentality and affectivity and transform animals into guinea pigs through its techniques. It is argued that this ambivalence, as vital as it is to keep the animal in the subaltern place of the guinea pig, also has the potential to create other forms of relationship, other forms of experimenting that escape the device, that is, the logic of sacrifice to produce docile and killable lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

INTRODUCTION: There is an undeniable connection between humans and animals, with the relationship between the two being well documented across the centuries of history and storytelling. METHODS: This article outlines a scoping review of the literature and research exploring the history, efficacy, and currency of animal assisted therapies (AATs) as they have developed in recent decades within human services and social work programmes. FINDINGS AND IMPLICATIONS: Archaeological research suggests a mutualistic relationship has existed between canines and humans dating back 140,000 years evolving to deepened connections between animals and behaviourally modern humans including 15,000 years of animal domestication. These connections have generated relationships where animals both work for and with humans, assuming diverse roles ranging from service animal to companion pet, from livestock to live entertainment, from symbolic idol to science experiment and, as demonstrated in this article, as co-therapist or therapeutic medium in psychotherapeutic, human services and social work practice processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When experimental subjects can interact with each other, the outcome of one individual may be affected by the treatment status of others. In many social science experiments, such spillover effects may occur through multiple networks, for example, through both online and offline face-to-face networks in a Twitter experiment. Thus, to understand how people use different networks, it is essential to estimate the spillover effect in each specific network separately. However, the unbiased estimation of these network-specific spillover effects requires an often-violated assumption that researchers observe all relevant networks. We show that, unlike conventional omitted variable bias, bias due to unobserved networks remains even when treatment assignment is randomized and when unobserved networks and a network of interest are independently generated. We then develop parametric and nonparametric sensitivity analysis methods, with which researchers can assess the potential influence of unobserved networks on causal findings. We illustrate the proposed methods with a simulation study based on a real-world Twitter network and an empirical application based on a network field experiment in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is a critical reading of the book Une histoire du jeu vidéo en France by Alexis Blanchet and Guillaume Montagnon. The book - divided into five chapters - explains the first three decades (1960-1991) of digital game development in France, stretching from scientific experimentation, through the rise and fall of console and arcade gaming industry, to the rapid increase in microcomputing and the emergence of a French gaming identity. Close to the increasingly popular emancipatory paradigm in historical gaming research, the publication relies on comprehensive and exhaustive material, stretching from the gaming magazines to interviews with French game developers. Even though the book does not delve into the cultural contexts around the popularity of specific games, it remains an essential work for readers willing to understand the processes contributing to the French digital game field's state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In True enough, (The MIT Press, Cambridge, 2017), Elgin argues against veritism, which is the view that truth is the paramount epistemic objective. Elgin's argument against veritism proceeds from considering the role that models, idealizations, and thought experiments play in science to the conclusion that veritism is unacceptable. In this commentary, I argue that Elgin's argument fails as an argument against veritism. I sketch a refutation by logical analogy of Elgin's argument. Just as one can aim at gold medals and still find approximations to gold, such as silver and bronze medals, to be acceptable and honest achievements in competitive sports, one can aim at full truths as the paramount epistemic objective and still find approximations to truth, such as models and idealizations, to be acceptable and honest achievements in scientific inquiry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social studies of science have for many years analyzed and demonstrated the key role of experiments to science and the making of facts. But what is the role of experiments in market work? And what, if anything, can we learn from them about markets and commodities? It is perhaps tempting to say that we can learn very little. This paper investigates a series of market research experiments investigating consumers' valuations of farmed fish, and these are almost comical in their painstaking attention to mundane details. However, when looked into closely, they provide key insights into commodification processes and the scholarly literature to understand them. Most importantly, their analysis allows us to grasp how commodities do not simply emerge as the outcome of a one way process directed towards the market, but through a relational process that jointly works with and acts upon things and people, markets and production. The paper works with the notion of co-modification to trace and stay close to these relational processes. In doing this the paper simultaneously strives for an approach that is not framed by the dominant conceptual distinction between production and market, but instead directed towards the materiality and activeness of the things exchanged. The notion of co-modification emphasises that there is more to market that the human hand. The paper shows that it can also be used in a stronger sense to suggest that commodification is a process where things, people, production methods and markets are actively modifying one another. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heavy-metal hazardous wastes (HMHW) have a large emission, high toxicity and strong resource properties. Its proper disposal and resource utilization is a key challenge. High-temperature melt vitrification technology is an effective solution to realize the detoxification and resource utilization of HMHW. This paper summarizes and analyzes the control parameters of the existing vitrification treatment of HMHW. The phase transformation process of temperature, slag content, and CAS ratio (CaO-Al 2 O 3 -SiO 2) in the vitrification treatment of zinc leaching residue (ZLR) was investigated around the vitreous content. The common evolution characteristics of the formed vitrification products in infrared spectrum, UV–vis diffuse reflection spectrum, and microstructures were revealed. The idea of using the maximum UV–vis absorption intensity to qualitatively determine the vitreous content of the products is proposed. Moreover, the correlation between experimental parameters and vitreous content was quantified by combining the data science method, and the mapping of the whole process of ZLR vitrification treatment was constructed. This work provides reliable parameter guidance and method induction for the vitrification treatment of HMHW, especially for wastes with less glassy matrix such as Ca and Si. • Evolution characteristics of different vitreous content products. • Correlation between vitreous content and conditional parameters. • Uv-vis absorption intensity qualitative determination of vitreous content. • Mapping of vitrification treatment whole process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cryopreservation of microorganisms is an essential tool in industrial- and food applications where conservation of microbial activity and critical beneficial traits need to be guaranteed to provide a consistent product or production process. This often refers to simple, single species or low diversity assemblages in liquid cultures that can easily be revived and regrown to perform the desired process. Cryopreservation is also of essence for scientific experimentation where many environmental samples are taken in remote sampling sites and at high costs. Biobanking, or the long term preservation and potential revival of complex, structured samples come with an additional challenge related to maintaining the structure upon revival. Here we look at cryopreserving and reviving a complex photosynthesis driven microbial mat from a hypersaline ecosystem. Amplicon sequencing of the 16S and 18S ribosomal RNA gene was used to determine the community composition of bacteria and eukaryotes respectively. The tests included the use of different cryopreservative agents and different times of cryopreservation at −150 °C. Upon revival, the cryopreservatives cannot be separated from the preserved samples without disturbing the community structure, while carryover of these compounds may influence reconstitution of the communities. Indeed, although both glycerol and Me 2 SO are good cryopreservatives of microbial assemblages, carryover of these compounds had a profound negative effect on the reestablishment of a functional microbial mat. Best cryopreservation and reconstitution results were obtained in the absence of a cryopreservative agent or when methanol was used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Political scientists are increasingly conducting field experiments that raise ethical issues that standard review criteria and processes are ill equipped to address. Field experiments can answer important questions, but they can also present various harms to individuals, communities, and political processes; undermine autonomy; introduce partnerships that present complex questions of responsibility; and damage the public's trust in the discipline. This article reviews published empirical and theoretical research, professional guidelines, and media accounts, blog posts, and other sources when appropriate. It characterizes the state of the field regarding the identification of ethical problems, relevant normative guidance, proposed strategies for managing ethical concerns, and issues on the horizon. It concludes that the discipline is making good progress, with robust guidelines and strategies for conducting field experiments ethically. However, there is still much work to be done in refining and expanding current guidance, addressing remaining issues, and promoting norms. This review concludes with some general recommendations for researchers conducting political science field experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Legal scholarship has looked at problems of uncertainty-- "unknown unknowns"--in a variety of contexts, from financial regulation to national security. This Article, however, focuses on uncertain risk in what may be its most challenging arena: experimental scientific research. Notably, this context imposes a key conceptual hurdle. In other arenas, law and regulation can work to lessen uncertainty. But with science-experiment risk, uncertainty cannot be sidestepped, since going beyond the current state of human knowledge is the whole point of experimental research. Moreover, science-experiment risk involves the highest possible stakes, since future experiments could plausibly lead to global catastrophe, even human extinction. As a case study, this Article explores an extreme science-gone-wrong scenario: a particle-collider-spawned black hole that grows to devour our planet. No credible source considers such a disaster likely, but scientific uncertainty has made the possibility of such a mishap frustratingly difficult to exclude. Thus, the black hole case provides a sharp example of how the classical mode of quantitative risk assessment breaks down under the weight of unknown unknowns. Proceeding from this example, this Article attempts to answer questions such as: How can the courts make good decisions about the reasonableness of risk where safety depends on understanding laws of nature the experiment itself is designed to uncover? And how can the courts keep the masses safe from science while keeping science safe from the masses? The answers revolve around the insight that courts can conduct a qualitative meta-analysis, looking at such factors as the existence of conflicts of interest, the influence of institutional pressures, and the extent to which safety rationales rely on untested assumptions. With this test suite, courts can guard the rule of law while leaving the scientific frontier open for exploration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to show that scientific thought experiments and works of science fiction are highly suitable tools for facilitating and increasing understanding of science. After comparing one of Einstein's most famous thought experiments with the science fiction novel "The Forever War", I shall argue that both proceed similarly in making some of the more outlandish consequences of special relativity theory intelligible. However, as I will also point out, understanding in thought experiments and understanding in science fiction differ in one important respect: While the former aim at what I shall call "physical understanding", science fiction novels typically have "existential understanding" as their target. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monitoring of vibrational eigenmodes of an elastic body excited by gravitational waves was one of the first concepts proposed for the detection of gravitational waves. At laboratory scale, these experiments became known as resonant bar detectors first developed by Joseph Weber in the 1960s. Due to the dimensions of these bars, the targeted signal frequencies were in the kHz range. Weber also pointed out that monitoring of vibrations of Earth or the Moon could reveal gravitational waves in the mHz band. His Lunar Surface Gravimeter experiment deployed on the Moon by the Apollo 17 crew had a technical failure, which greatly reduced the science scope of the experiment. In this article, we revisit the idea and propose a Lunar Gravitational-Wave Antenna (LGWA). We find that LGWA could become an important partner observatory for joint observations with the space-borne, laser-interferometric detector LISA and at the same time contribute an independent science case due to LGWA's unique features. Technical challenges need to be overcome for the deployment of the experiment, and development of inertial vibration sensor technology lays out a future path for this exciting detector concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ian Hacking has argued that the notions of experiment and observation are distinct, not even the opposite ends of a continuum. More recently, other authors have emphasised their continuity, saying it is futile to distinguish between them as they belong on a continuum of epistemic activities. I take a middle road by suggesting that in scientific practice, experiment and observation constitute a continuum, but we can identify methodological and pragmatic aspects that define it, as well as various points on it that meaningfully delineate scientific practices. I explain the implications of the location of research projects on the continuum for scientists' epistemic responsibilities and their ethical and funding concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we considered the advantages and disadvantages of wearable devices, which have become popular in recent years, for experiments and surveys of hot springs research. Previous research have confirmed that wearable devices used as tools for measuring vital data such as the heart rate before, during and after bathing, achieved excellent workability, immediacy, and reduced cost. It may contribute to an increased sample size. In addition, it is possible to achieve a continuous change in vital data, which can lead to the discovery of knowledge that has been overlooked in the past. By expanding hot spring research to citizen science via the distribution of wearable devices, hot spring areas that witness a substantial amount of bathing on a daily basis will become a source of potential big data on bathing. Furthermore, new information on the correlation between the use of hot springs and health is expected to complement conventional hot spring research. However, wearable devices present hardware problems, such as inaccurate measurements, low battery life, short product life, and the uncomfortable sensation of wearing the device, as well as concerns on privacy and misuse of personal information, which limits the potential for performing a large-scale citizen science experiment. Thus, further consideration and examination are required for the development of future technology and the implementation in society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of augmented reality (AG) and the flipped learning model on the attitude of 4th-grade students towards the science and technology course and to determine the opinion of students concerning videos presented through AG. Another objective of the study is to determine parents' opinions concerning AG and FL in science and technology courses. A pre-test / post-test quasi-experimental design was used with the control group to obtain quantitative data. Qualitative data were also included in the analysis to support quantitative data obtained from a case study pattern. In the study, the Science and Technology Attitude Scale was used to measure students' attitudes. The Opinion Scale for Experimental Videos was used to evaluate video usage opinions in science and technology courses. Besides, parents' opinions concerning AG applications and the FL model were collected through the researchers' interview form. Independent sample t-test and ANCOVA tests were conducted to interpret the quantitative data of the study. Qualitative data were evaluated with the content analysis method. The results showed that the AR and FL model's application provides students with a positive attitude towards science and technology; it also helped them solve problems. Besides, families have also expressed positive opinions about AR and FL applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this research, it was aimed to investigate the self-efficacy of gifted students for science experiments in terms of planning, implementation and evaluation. In the research, survey, one of the quantitative research designs, method was used. The sample of the research consisted of 197 gifted students studying at a Science and Art Center. The Experiment-Related Self-Efficacy Scale was used as the data collection tool and, descriptive and inferential statistical analyzes were conducted. As a result of the research, it was found that the science experiments self-efficacy of the participants was at a medium level. In addition, the participants were found to have the most participation in the items in the evaluation dimension of the scale and the least participation in the items in the implementation dimension. Although there was no significant difference between the total scores obtained from the scale by the girl and boy participants, it was found that the students’ score obtained from the planning dimension of the students studying project production and management program was higher than those who were studying other programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the aesthetic dimensions of scientific experimentation, addressing specifically how aesthetic features enter the construction, evaluation and reception of an experiment. I highlight the relationship between experiments and artistic acts in the early years of the Royal Society where experiments do not serve only epistemic aims but also aim to generate feelings of awe and pleasure. I turn to analysing which aspects of experiments are appreciated aesthetically, identifying several contenders, from the ability of an experiment to uncover nature's beauty, to encapsulating original designs and human creativity. Following this analysis, I focus on the notion of beauty: what makes an experiment beautiful? Several common qualities are explored, from the simplicity and economy of the experiment, to the significance of the experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The history of how philosophers have dealt with thought experiments in science is the main focus of this special issue. Counterfactual analysis is an interesting feature of thought experiments, because it requires the imagination of alternative states of the world (see also publications by Fearon, Lebow and Stein, Reiss, and Tetlock and Belkin, who suggest the same). In historical analysis, the use of imagination is often the focus of criticisms of such counterfactual analysis. In this article, I consider three strategies for constraining imagination: making limited counterfactual changes, limiting counterfactual changes to decisions of important figures, and using evidence to restrict the scope for imagination. Given the focus of this special issue, I will relate this discussion to Lewis's and Woodward's analyses of counterfactuals in the philosophy of science. I show that counterfactual analysis in historical cases has some resemblance to Lewis's and Woodward's analyses, but that what Lewis calls "transition periods" cannot be left entirely vague, as Lewis suggests, nor can counterfactual changes be seen simply as interventions, as Woodward suggests. I propose that efforts to limit imagination in historical counterfactuals are ultimately problematic, but that imagination can nevertheless play a useful role in counterfactual analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

He leads science communication training programme for PhD students at the University of Helsinki. Massimiano Bucchi, professor of Science and Technology in Society and Director of Master SCICOMM, University of Trento, has been visiting professor in Asia, Europe, North America and Oceania. [Extracted from the article]

The science of X‐ray free‐electron lasers (XFELs) critically depends on the performance of the X‐ray laser and on the quality of the samples placed into the X‐ray beam. The stability of biological samples is limited and key biomolecular transformations occur on short timescales. Experiments in biology require a support laboratory in the immediate vicinity of the beamlines. The XBI BioLab of the European XFEL (XBI denotes XFEL Biology Infrastructure) is an integrated user facility connected to the beamlines for supporting a wide range of biological experiments. The laboratory was financed and built by a collaboration between the European XFEL and the XBI User Consortium, whose members come from Finland, Germany, the Slovak Republic, Sweden and the USA, with observers from Denmark and the Russian Federation. Arranged around a central wet laboratory, the XBI BioLab provides facilities for sample preparation and scoring, laboratories for growing prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, a Bio Safety Level 2 laboratory, sample purification and characterization facilities, a crystallization laboratory, an anaerobic laboratory, an aerosol laboratory, a vacuum laboratory for injector tests, and laboratories for optical microscopy, atomic force microscopy and electron microscopy. Here, an overview of the XBI facility is given and some of the results of the first user experiments are highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the data of the third Qinghai -- Tibet Plateau atmospheric science experiment from 2015 to 2017, the applicability of plateau weather systems and meteorological elements of two commonly used reanalysis data (NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data set, and ERA-Interim reanalysis data set) in the plateau was evaluated. Some conclusions are obtained as follows. Compared with EC reanalysis data, NCEP reanalysis data are more consistent with the scientific experimental data. The correlation of geopotential height is above 0.99, followed by temperature; The correlation of specific humidity is the worst. Seen from average deviation, geopotential height and temperature are both lower; for EC, the westerly and southerly winds are both weaker; for NCEP, westerly wind is weaker, while southerly wind is stronger; specific humidity is higher. From the perspective of monthly and seasonal distribution characteristics, the average deviation of geopotential height is larger in spring and summer, and that of temperature is slightly worse in late spring and early summer. In terms of wind field, EC deviation is more obvious in winter, while NCEP deviation is more obvious in late spring and early summer. Seen from spatial distribution, the deviations of geological height and temperature in the north of the plateau are smaller than those in the south of the plateau. For wind field, the westerly wind in the Qaidam Basin is weaker, and the southerly wind in the southern plateau is weaker. In vertical profile, the deviation of geopotential height at high levels is greater than that of low levels. The deviation of temperature and wind field is larger near the ground. The temperature at middle levels and the westerly wind at middle and high levels are smaller, and southerly wind is stronger for NCEP. The establishment of the three sounding stations (Gaize, Shenzha and Shiquanhe) is conducive to the discovery of plateau vortex and plateau shear line in the western plateau. The western plateau vortex and plateau shear line mostly appeared in the flood season. Most plateau weather systems were maintained within 24 h, and mainly appeared and disappeared in situ. The objective recognition rate of EC for plateau weather systems is higher than NCEP, so EC is more conducive to the diagnosis and analysis of evolution characteristics of plateau weather systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The epidural ligaments (ELs) (of Hofmann) were described as fibrous bands interconnecting the ventrolateral spinal dura and the posterior longitudinal ligament below L1. They are hardly ever discussed in the literature or considered in hypothesis-driven basic science experiments or spine biomechanical models. Methods: Intraoperative photographs were obtained to illustrate a group of posterolateral spinal ELs. In addition, electronic database searches (PubMed, Ovid Embase, and SCOPUS) were utilized to summarize the anatomy, and relevant clinical and surgical factors impacting these ELs. Results: ELs attach circumferentially at most spinal levels. They anchor the nerve root sleeves ventrally, and therefore, may play a role in the some idiopathic neurologic deficits (e.g., postoperative radiculopathies, C5 palsies) in patients without radiological compression. The posterolateral ELs originate on the dura dorsal to the nerve root sleeves and insert on the ipsilateral lamina, interlaminar ligament, and facet capsule. They appear to be continuous with the peridural membrane, a fibrovascular sheath that surrounds the thecal sac and serves as a scaffold for the internal vertebral venous plexus of Batson and epidural fat. Conclusion: The spinal ELs should be divided sharply during surgery to prevent durotomies, especially in patients with advanced spondylosis and facet arthropathy. Disconnecting these ligaments releases the thecal sac laterally and ventrally, allowing for medial mobilization when performing discectomies or for working in the ventral epidural space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil scientists are accustomed to geostatistical methods and tools such as semivariograms and kriging for analysis of observational data. Such methods assume and exploit that observations are spatially correlated. Conversely, analysis of variance (ANOVA) of designed experiments assumes that observations from different experimental units are independent, an assumption that is justified based on randomization. It may be beneficial, however, to perform an ANOVA assuming a geostatistical covariance model. Also, it is increasingly common to have multiple observations per experimental unit. Simple ANOVA assuming independence of observations is not appropriate for such data. Instead, a linear mixed model accounting for correlation among observations made on the same plot is required for proper analysis. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the benefits of integrating geostatistical covariance structures and ANOVA procedures into a linear mixed modelling framework. Two examples from designed experiments are considered in detail, making a link between terminologies and jargon used in geostatistical analysis on the one hand and linear mixed modelling on the other hand. We provide code in R and SAS for both examples in two supporting companion documents. Highlights: Analysis of variance and geostatistical analysis can be joined in a mixed model.Randomization justifies the independence assumption in analysis of variance.Geostatistical models imply a correlation of errors and can improve efficiency.Lacking randomization, spatial correlation can be accounted for in a mixed model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]