With the increasing shift from STEM to STEAM education, arts-based approaches to science teaching and learning are considered promising for aligning school science curricula with the development of ...twenty-first century skills, including creativity. Yet the impact of STEAM practices on student creativity and specifically on how the latter is associated with science learning outcomes have thus far received scarce empirical support. This paper contributes to this line of research by reporting on a two-wave quantitative study that examines the effect of a long-term STEAM intervention on two cognitive processes associated with creativity (act, flow) and their interrelationships with intrinsic and extrinsic components of science motivation. Using pre- and post-survey data from 175 high-school students in Italy, results show an overall positive effect of the intervention both on the act subscale of creativity and science career motivation, whereas a negative effect is found on self-efficacy. Gender differences in the above effects are also observed. Further, results provide support for the mediating role of self-efficacy in the relationship between creativity and science career motivation. Implications for the design of STEAM learning environments are discussed.
The powerful muon and tracker systems of the CMS detector together with dedicated reconstruction software allow precise and efficient measurement of muon tracks originating from proton-proton ...collisions. The standard muon reconstruction algorithms, however, are inadequate to deal with muons that do not originate from collisions. This note discusses the design, implementation, and performance results of a dedicated cosmic muon track reconstruction algorithm, which features pattern recognition optimized for muons that are not coming from the interaction point, i.e., cosmic muons and beam-halo muons. To evaluate the performance of the new algorithm, data taken during Cosmic Challenge phases I and II were studied and compared with simulated cosmic data. In addition, a variety of more general topologies of cosmic muons and beam-halo muons were studied using simulated data to demonstrate some key features of the new algorithm.
Reliable population of the condition databases is critical for the correct operation of the online selection as well as of the offline reconstruction and analysis of data. We will describe here the ...system put in place in the CMS experiment to populate the database and make condition data promptly available both online for the high-level trigger and offline for reconstruction. The system, designed for high flexibility to cope with very different data sources, uses POOL-ORA technology in order to store data in an object format that best matches the object oriented paradigm for C++ programming language used in the CMS offline software. In order to ensure consistency among the various subdetectors, a dedicated package, PopCon (Populator of Condition Objects), is used to store data online. The data are then automatically streamed to the offline database hence immediately accessible offline worldwide. This mechanism was intensively used during 2008 in the test-runs with cosmic rays. The experience of this first months of operation will be discussed in detail.
During 1995 and 1996 LEP operated at an energy range from 130 to 172 GeV, allowing to continue to test QCD using the same experimental facilities and data analysis developped during the LEP 1 phase.
...This paper, describes the α, measurements at high energy, performed by LEP collaborations using the event shape analysis. These new precise determinations of the strong coupling constant allow us to study the
α
s
, running from 91 to 172 GeV.
In real time systems, such as CMS Online Condition Database, monitoring and fast detecting errors is a very challenging task. To recover the system and to put it in a safe state requires spotting a ...faulty situation with strict timing constraints and a fast reaction. In the context of real time monitoring, this implies that the interval of time from when a faulty event occurs to when it is noticed must be minimized. In the CMS experiment, many users have access to condition data with different needs: they exploit several applications with different roles. Therefore, the system that monitors the online condition database must describe the status of the infrastructure according to the different categories of users. For example, when no errors occur, it provides simple timing information or the history of all transactions towards all the database accounts; instead, in case of faulty situations, it returns simple error messages or more complete debugging information. Hence, to classify correctly an error, once observed, the monitoring system must describe both the timing aspects of the applications that populate the Online Condition Database schemas, and the complex relationship between the components of the heterogeneous software environment. In the first part of this paper, we define the expected behaviour of the handling, the storage and the retrieval of condition data for the CMS experiment. In the second part, we describe the software components used in order to determine system failures. Finally, we will present the monitoring system used to visualize the status of the condition data infrastructure, eventually spotting all the possible combinations of error states, and how these views can be customized on the basis of the different categories of users.
A general methodological approach is here discussed to integrate geological and geophysical information in seismic microzonation studies. In particular, the methodology aims at maximizing the ...exploitation of low-cost data for an extensive preliminary assessment of ground motion amplification phenomena induced by the local seismo-stratigraphical configuration. Three main steps are delineated: (a) the combination of geological/geomorphological analyses to develop an Engineering-Geological Model of the study area; (b) targeted geophysical prospecting to provide an Engineering-Geological/Geophysical Model; (c) evaluating effectiveness of Engineering-Geological/Geophysical Model by estimating expected ground motion amplification phenomena by the use of suitable computational tools. The workflow is illustrated by a case-study based on a set of villages in the Umbro-Marchean Apennine (Central Italy) damaged during the Seismic sequence that occurred in Central Italy during 2016–2017.
Motor imagery (MI), defined as the ability to mentally represent an action without actual movement, has been used to improve motor function in athletes and, more recently, in neurological disorders ...such as Parkinson's disease (PD). Several studies have investigated the neural correlates of motor imagery, which change also depending on the action imagined.
This review focuses on locomotion, which is a crucial activity in everyday life and is often impaired by neurological conditions. After a general discussion on the neural correlates of motor imagery and locomotion, we review the evidence highlighting the abnormalities in gait control and gait imagery in PD patients. Next, new perspectives and techniques for PD patients' rehabilitation are discussed, namely Brain Computer Interfaces (BCIs), neurofeedback, and virtual reality (VR).
Despite the few studies, the literature review supports the potential beneficial effects of motor imagery interventions in PD focused on locomotion. The development of new technologies could empower the administration of training based on motor imagery locomotor tasks, and their application could lead to new rehabilitation protocols aimed at improving walking ability in patients with PD.
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