Emory-Tibet Science Initiative: Changes in Monastic Science Learning Motivation and Engagement During a Six-Year Curriculum

Led by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the initiative taken by the Tibetan Buddhist monastic community to connect with western science and scientists presents a unique opportunity to understand the motivations and engagement behaviors that contribute to monastic science learning. In this study, we draw on quantitative data from two distinct surveys that track motivations and engagement behaviors related to science education among monastic students. The first survey was administered at one monastic university in 2018, and the second follow-up survey was completed by students at two monastic universities in 2019. These surveys assessed the reception of science education related to motivations among monastics and their demonstration of engagement-with-science behaviors. We also tested for variation over time by surveying students in all years of the science curriculum. We identified that monastic students are motivated by their perception that studying science has an overall positive effect and benefits their Buddhist studies, rather than negatively affecting their personal or collective Buddhist goals. In accordance with this finding, monastics behave in ways that encourage fellow scholars to engage with science concepts. Survey responses were disaggregated by years of science study and indicated changes in motivation and engagement during the six-year science curriculum. These insights support the relevance of considering motivation and engagement in a novel educational setting and inform ongoing work to expand the inclusiveness of science education. Our findings provide direction for future avenues of enhancing exchange of knowledge and practice between Buddhism and science.

TESS Eclipsing Binary Stars. I. Short-cadence Observations of 4584 Eclipsing Binaries in Sectors 1–26

In this paper we present a catalog of 4584 eclipsing binaries observed during the first two years (26 sectors) of the TESS survey. We discuss selection criteria for eclipsing binary candidates, detection of hitherto unknown eclipsing systems, determination of the ephemerides, the validation and triage process, and the derivation of heuristic estimates for the ephemerides. Instead of keeping to the widely used discrete classes, we propose a binary star morphology classification based on a dimensionality reduction algorithm. Finally, we present statistical properties of the sample, we qualitatively estimate completeness, and we discuss the results. The work presented here is organized and performed within the TESS Eclipsing Binary Working Group, an open group of professional and citizen scientists; we conclude by describing ongoing work and future goals for the group. The catalog is available from http://tessEBs.villanova.edu and from MAST.

Synthesis and Biological evaluation of some newer Pyrazole Derivatives

Pyrazoline is a 5-membered heterocyclic moiety has two adjoining nitrogen iotas and three carbon particles inside the ring. Pyrazoline subordinate are related wide scope of pharmacological and restorative exercises, for example, antibacterial, antifungal, pain relieving, calming, hostile to parasitic, against malarial, against oxidant. The ongoing work of exploration is fundamentally engaged at the revelation and improvement of a progression of 1,3,5-trisubstituted pyrazoline. A progression of new 1-phenyl-3-(4-nitrophenyl)- 5-(subbed phenyl) pyrazoline subordinates (2a-2j) were blended by the response of subbed acetophenone and subbed benzaldehyde within the sight of fluid sodium hydroxide arrangement by Claisen Schmidt buildup system. The subbed chalcone were integrated which is additionally dense with phenyl hydrazine in ethanol and results in the definition of conclusive subordinates of pyrazoline (2a-2j). The response blend was observed by TLC and the last mixes were refined by recrystallization from wanted dissolvable. All the structures of blended mixes were affirmed by FTIR, 1H NMR, mass unearthly information and essential investigation. All the recently combined mixes (2a-2j) were assessed for antibacterial and antifungal movement. Mixes 2f, 2i and 2h showed powerful inhibitory impact against on strains of both bacterial and parasitic species.

Handling Trust in a Cloud based Multi Agent System

Cloud computing is an opened and distributed network that guarantees access to a large amount of data and IT infrastructure at several levels (software, hardware...). With the increase demand, handling clients’ needs is getting increasingly challenging. Responding to all requesting clients could lead to security breaches, and since it is the provider’s responsibility to secure not only the offered cloud services but also the data, it is important to ensure clients reliability. Although filtering clients in the cloud is not so common, it is required to assure cloud safety. In this paper, by implementing multi agent systems in the cloud to handle interactions for the providers, trust is introduced at agent level to filtrate the clients asking for services by using Particle Swarm Optimization and acquaintance knowledge to determine malicious and untrustworthy clients. The selection depends on previous knowledge and overall rating of trusted peers. The conducted experiments show that the model outputs relevant results, and even with a small number of peers, the framework is able to converge to the best solution. The model presented in this paper is a part of ongoing work to adapt interactions in the cloud.

Critical Scholarship on Terrorism

Understandings of “critical” in critical scholarship on terrorism range from a Frankfurt School–influenced definition to a broader definition that aims to interrogate commonsense understandings of terrorism and counterterrorism. Overall, critical scholarship on terrorism draws on multiple disciplines and methodological traditions to analyze terrorism and counterterrorism. Within these, there have been ongoing debates and discussions about whether the state should be included in research on terrorism and, if so, what the inclusion of the state would do for the understanding of terrorism. Critical scholarship has also outlined the need for further attention to research ethics, as well as urged researchers to acknowledge their standpoints when conducting and communicating research. Some, but not all, critical scholarship has a normative orientation with the goal of emancipation, though the meaning of emancipation remains debated. Methodologically, the majority of critical scholarship on terrorism utilizes an interpretive lens to analyze terrorism and related issues. A central goal of critical terrorism research is to rework power relations such that Global South subjectivities are centered on research. This means including research conducted by Global South scholars and also centering Global South peoples and concerns in analyses of terrorism and counterterrorism. The role of gender, analytically and in practice, in relation to terrorism is also a key part of critical scholarship. Critical scholars of terrorism have observed that race is absent from much of terrorism scholarship, and there needs to be ongoing work toward addressing this imbalance. Media and popular culture, and their depiction of terrorism and counterterrorism, form another key strand in critical scholarship on terrorism. Overall, critical scholarship on terrorism is about scrutinizing and dismantling power structures that sustain commonsense knowledge regarding terrorism.

Development of interactive gadgets: pedagogical, methodological and ergonomic aspects for industrial design

The Industry 4.0 is a consequence of the evolution in technological advances, which has allowed and the use of new tools for simulation, digital integration, fabrication flexibility, and personalization to achieve new product design solutions. The importance and actuality of this revolution have had a great impact on the engineering and design education system, and this is the case of the Faculty of Engineering and Technology Sciences (FCITEC), from the Autonomous University of Baja California (UABC), where the implementation of gadget prototyping has been encouraged. This ongoing work is intended to delineate the methodological, pedagogical, and ergonomic aspects of gadget prototyping with platforms such as Arduino and NodeMCU, and its benefits to the Industrial Design (ID) Discipline. It is a project that started in 2018 with the scope of understanding interactivity, usability, and multidisciplinary collaboration, which are key for a designer’s profile. In this sense, User-Centered Design methodology is used as a framework for usable product development, with the aid of task, interface, and housing design. Specific tools of particular interest are persona design, interface analysis, and cognitive architecture outline. Important results so far include 1) student-made prototypes, 2) usability workshops in international congresses, 3) intellectual property registration, and 4) academic course designs.

Designing Depression Screening Chatbots

Advances in voice recognition, natural language processing, and artificial intelligence have led to the increasing availability and use of conversational agents (chatbots) in different settings. Chatbots are systems that mimic human dialogue interaction through text or voice. This paper describes a series of design considerations for integrating chatbots interfaces with health services. The present paper is part of ongoing work that explores the overall implementation of chatbots in the healthcare context. The findings have been created using a research through design process, combining (1) literature survey of existing body of knowledge on designing chatbots, (2) analysis on state-of-the-practice in using chatbots as service interfaces, and (3) generative process of designing a chatbot interface for depression screening. In this paper we describe considerations that would be useful for the design of a chatbot for a healthcare context.

Psychological Impacts and Implications of Aging During a Pandemic

Despite numerous losses associated with advanced age, older adults typically fare better than their younger counterparts in terms of psychological well-being. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately threatened the physical and mental well-being of older adults. How have older versus younger adults been doing? The goal of our symposium is to shed light on this question though presentations of intriguing research findings regarding the psychological impacts of the pandemic on older adults. Stone and Mak will describe their work examining momentary changes in affect, activities, locations, and social interactions over time during the first several months of the pandemic for older individuals. Mikels and colleagues will report on completed and ongoing work illuminating the complex ways in which certain older adults have been faring well during the pandemic, whereas others not so much, with attention to underlying factors. Jeste will discuss a diverse line of research that has examined the relationships between loneliness, social isolation, and compassion in older adults before and during the pandemic. Chi and Carstensen will report on completed and ongoing research that links work and prosocial behavior to wellbeing with consideration of associated age differences. Collectively, these presentations will describe the complex and multifaceted psychological impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on older individuals, revealing the multiple ways in which they are resilient as well as vulnerable.

Building and Using Data Resources for Research on Job Characteristics, Health, and Retirement

A growing literature seeks to understand the relationship between the experience of work and important later-life outcomes. Rich longitudinal measurement of both sides of this equation in datasets such as the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) have made this research possible. These data take the form of self-reported experiences of work (such as physical demands, job flexibility, job satisfaction etc.). Increasingly, researchers are looking to add potentially complementary information on the work environment available in the Occupational Information Network (O*NET) database through a linkage using occupation and industry codes in the survey data. The session talks will describe research conducted using O*NET linked with HRS data as well as ongoing work to create a new data resource that will allow other researchers to undertake research with O*NET-HRS linked data. Each presentation will include some discussion of both the value and limits of using the linkage to O*NET. Carpenter will provide a detailed description a new project linking the 2019 O*NET data to the HRS for public use.This presentation explains the types of variables that will be made available in the O*NET-HRS occupation project and will provide examples for how the measures can be used in longitudinal HRS studies. Using O*NET-HRS linked data, Carr will present on work examining the role of preretirement job complexity in alternative retirement paths and cognitive performance. Helppie-McFall will used the linked data to discuss the role of mismatch between demands of work and workers’ ability to meet those demands in retirement decisions.

OP223 A Semi-Automated Process To Monitor The Clinical Development And Regulatory Approval Pathway Of Innovative Medicines

IntroductionEarly identification of innovative medicines is crucial for timely health technology assessment (HTA) and efficient patient access. The National Institute for Health Research Innovation Observatory (NIHRIO) identifies, monitors and notifies key HTA stakeholders in England of ‘technologies’ (innovative medicines) within three to five years of regulatory approval. Increasing numbers of innovative medicines and significant uncertainties in clinical and regulatory pathways are major challenges in the monitoring and notification process. An active monitoring framework using pre-defined predictive criteria has previously been developed. This framework provides a standardized and consistent process, but is highly resource-intensive, requiring manual review of individual records.MethodsUsing the previous active monitoring framework, a scoring matrix was calculated and used to prioritize individual technologies using available data in the NIHRIO database: estimated regulatory timelines, regulatory awards/designations, innovative medicine type (for example gene therapies) and clinical trial phase, completion dates and results. A threshold for automatic and manual reviewing of technologies was developed and tested by NIHRIO analysts.ResultsThe scoring system identified approximately ninety percent of technologies meeting the threshold for semi-automated reviewing. The review period for these technologies are set automatically according to predefined criteria depending on data availability. The review periods are updated automatically until the record reaches the threshold that triggers manual reviewing. The remaining ten percent had estimated regulatory timelines necessitating the need for manual reviewing and early engagement with companies to verify regulatory timelines and/or notify HTA stakeholders.ConclusionsPreliminary analysis indicates that each technology is routinely and automatically updated. The semi-automatic updating represents a significant improvement in the efficiency of the monitoring of the large volume of technologies on the NIHRIO database. Ongoing work is being undertaken to further refine, pilot and test the system.This project is funded by the NIHR [(HSRIC-2016-10009)/Innovation Observatory]. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care.