Turn off the Tap: Behavioural messages increase water efficiency during toothbrushing

Reducing consumer demand is part of a multidimensional strategy to increase water resilience. Theory-based ‘nudges’ or behaviour-change strategies may be effective at reducing demand at little cost. This paper reports a unique partnership between GlaxoSmithKline, water utility Anglian Water, and researchers at the University of East Anglia. Two experimental studies drawing on the strengths of these organizations investigated a behaviour change intervention designed to reduce water usage when toothbrushing. Study 1 tested the efficacy of three theory-based behavioural messages (social norms, ingroup norms, and collective efficacy) designed to encourage participants (N = 164) to turn off the tap whilst brushing teeth. In an actual toothbrushing scenario, all three messages proved to be effective compared to a no-treatment control condition. In study 2, homes in Newmarket, Suffolk (N = 382) were given toothbrushing packs containing a collective efficacy message that highlighted turning off the tap while toothbrushing. Smart-meter recorded water usage was obtained for three weeks before and three weeks after receiving the toothbrushing packs. Household water usage significantly decreased after receiving the packs. A control group of N = 382 households did not show a significant decrease in water usage during this timeframe. These studies suggest that behavioural messages from public or private companies can be effective in reducing real-world water usage while toothbrushing. This model of collaboration between industry, water utilities, and academics can serve as a model of best practice for public and private companies interested in reducing household water usage

OPERA AND ITALIAN IDENTITY: THE LONG VIEW

The nineteenth century is generally acknowledged as the period in which modern ideas of nation and nationalism crystallised; it is also seen as the period in which those ideas played a part in the process of Italian unification. The role that opera may have played in that process has been the object of much debate. Here I take a longer view, and begin to explore the more elusive ways in which music and opera may have contributed to the emergence of an Italian identity (an important condition for any thought about political unification) in the eighteenth century. Operatic practice can be seen as an element of social, linguistic and cultural integration across the Italian peninsula. Moreover, when Italian opera predominated throughout Europe, Italy exported an army of people associated with its creation, performance and business.  What these Italians did, how others interacted with them, and the widespread association between them and opera — all had an effect on their perceived image, helping to foster the impression that they were indeed a group with shared characteristics. More open and complex ideas of Italian identity may eventually emerge from the exploration of these historical realities

On “Diegesis” and “Diegetic”: Words and Concepts

In Act II scene 2 of Le nozze di Figaro, Susanna urges Cherubino to sing for the Countess a song he has composed himself. Cherubino’s hesitant response is shrugged off by Susanna (“manco parole”—“enough with talk”), who proceeds to accompany his performance of “Voi che sapete” on the Countess’s guitar. Following the performance, the Countess comments, “Bravo! che bella voce!” (“Bravo! what a beautiful voice!”). Needless to say, the actors on the stage sing throughout this scene—as they do virtually all the time in Italian opera (and in several other varieties of opera). But anyone familiar with the conventions of opera will have it quite clear that a) no character in the story is singing from the beginning of the scene up to “manco parole” (they are, rather, speaking to each other); b) Cherubino does sing during his song; and c) from “Bravo!” onward, all characters resume speaking. Put differently (and perhaps better), it is clear that the characters here do not hear any music until Susanna starts playing the song’s “ritornello” on the guitar, and again will not hear any music from “Bravo!” through the remainder of scene 2 (which includes Susanna’s aria “Venite, inginocchiatevi,” whose words represent what the characters hear as speech)

Academic research groups: evaluation of their quality and quality of their evaluation

In recent years, evaluation of the quality of academic research has become an increasingly important and influential business. It determines, often to a large extent, the amount of research funding flowing into universities and similar institutes from governmental agencies and it impacts upon academic careers. Policy makers are becoming increasingly reliant upon, and influenced by, the outcomes of such evaluations. In response, university managers are increasingly attracted to simple indicators as guides to the dynamics of the positions of their various institutions in league tables. However, these league tables are frequently drawn up by inexpert bodies such as newspapers and magazines, using rather arbitrary measures and criteria. Terms such as "critical mass' and "metrics" are often bandied about without proper understanding of what they actually mean. Rather than accepting the rise and fall of universities, departments and individuals on a turbulent sea of arbitrary measures, we suggest it is incumbent upon the scientific community itself to clarify their nature. Here we report on recent attempts to do that by properly defining critical mass and showing how group size influences research quality. We also examine currently predominant metrics and show that these fail as reliable indicators of group research quality.Comment: Presented at the International Conference on Computer Simulation in Physics and Beyond in Moscow, 2015. The Proceedings will appear in Journal of Physics: Conference Series (JPCS

OPERA AND ITALIAN IDENTITY: THE LONG VIEW

The nineteenth century is generally acknowledged as the period in which modern ideas of nation and nationalism crystallised; it is also seen as the period in which those ideas played a part in the process of Italian unification. The role that opera may have played in that process has been the object of much debate. Here I take a longer view, and begin to explore the more elusive ways in which music and opera may have contributed to the emergence of an Italian identity (an important condition for any thought about political unification) in the eighteenth century. Operatic practice can be seen as an element of social, linguistic and cultural integration across the Italian peninsula. Moreover, when Italian opera predominated throughout Europe, Italy exported an army of people associated with its creation, performance and business.  What these Italians did, how others interacted with them, and the widespread association between them and opera — all had an effect on their perceived image, helping to foster the impression that they were indeed a group with shared characteristics. More open and complex ideas of Italian identity may eventually emerge from the exploration of these historical realities

Toward homochiral protocells in noncatalytic peptide systems

The activation-polymerization-epimerization-depolymerization (APED) model of Plasson et al. has recently been proposed as a mechanism for the evolution of homochirality on prebiotic Earth. The dynamics of the APED model in two-dimensional spatially-extended systems is investigated for various realistic reaction parameters. It is found that the APED system allows for the formation of isolated homochiral proto-domains surrounded by a racemate. A diffusive slowdown of the APED network such as induced through tidal motion or evaporating pools and lagoons leads to the stabilization of homochiral bounded structures as expected in the first self-assembled protocells.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure

La homología en la carta a los Hebreos

La Carta a los Hebreos, llena de riquísimo contenido doctrinal, ha ofrecido material a centenares de comentarios antiguos y modernos y a innumerables estudios especiales. Estos trabajos cubren las grandes ideas doctrinales de la Carta, sobre todo los temas que se refieren al sacerdocio de Cristo y a su sacrificio redentor

Absorption of electromagnetic and gravitational waves by Kerr black holes

We calculate the absorption cross section for planar waves incident upon Kerr black holes, and present a unified picture for scalar, electromagnetic and gravitational waves. We highlight the spin-helicity effect that arises from a coupling between the rotation of the black hole and the helicity of a circularlypolarized wave. For the case of on-axis incidence, we introduce an extended ‘sinc approximation’ to quantify the spin-helicity effect in the strong-field regime

Analogue simulation with the use of artificial quantum coherent structures

An explosive development of quantum technologies since 1999 allowed the creation of arrays of natural and artificial quantum unit elements (viz. trapped ions and superconducting qubits), which maintain certain degree of quantum coherence and allow a degree of control over their quantum state. A natural application of such structures is towards simulating quantum systems, which are too big or too complex to allow a simulation with the means of classical computers. A digital quantum simulation promises a controlled accuracy, scalability and versatility, but it imposes practically as strict requirements on the hardware as a universal quantum computation. The other approach, analogue quantum simulation, is less demanding and thus more promising in short-to-medium term. It has already provided interesting results within the current experimental means and can be used as a stopgap approach as well as the means towards the perfecting of quantum technologies. Here I review the status of the field and discuss its prospects and the role it will play in the development of digital quantum simulation, universal quantum computing and, more broadly, quantum engineering

Development and validation of a deep learning system to detect glaucomatous optic neuropathy using fundus photographs

Importance A deep learning system (DLS) that could automatically detect glaucomatous optic neuropathy (GON) with high sensitivity and specificity could expedite screening for GON. Objective To establish a DLS for detection of GON using retinal fundus images and glaucoma diagnosis with convoluted neural networks (GD-CNN) that has the ability to be generalized across populations. Design, Setting, and Participants In this cross-sectional study, a DLS for the classification of GON was developed for automated classification of GON using retinal fundus images obtained from the Chinese Glaucoma Study Alliance, the Handan Eye Study, and online databases. The researchers selected 241 032 images were selected as the training dataset. The images were entered into the databases on June 9, 2009, obtained on July 11, 2018, and analyses were performed on December 15, 2018. The generalization of the DLS was tested in several validation datasets, which allowed assessment of the DLS in a clinical setting without exclusions, testing against variable image quality based on fundus photographs obtained from websites, evaluation in a population-based study that reflects a natural distribution of patients with glaucoma within the cohort and an additive dataset that has a diverse ethnic distribution. An online learning system was established to transfer the trained and validated DLS to generalize the results with fundus images from new sources. To better understand the DLS decision-making process, a prediction visualization test was performed that identified regions of the fundus images utilized by the DLS for diagnosis. Exposures Use of a deep learning system. Main Outcomes and Measures Area under the receiver operating characteristics curve (AUC), sensitivity and specificity for DLS with reference to professional graders. Results From a total of 274 413 fundus images initially obtained from CGSA, 269 601 images passed initial image quality review and were graded for GON. A total of 241 032 images (definite GON 29 865 [12.4%], probable GON 11 046 [4.6%], unlikely GON 200 121 [83%]) from 68 013 patients were selected using random sampling to train the GD-CNN model. Validation and evaluation of the GD-CNN model was assessed using the remaining 28 569 images from CGSA. The AUC of the GD-CNN model in primary local validation datasets was 0.996 (95% CI, 0.995-0.998), with sensitivity of 96.2% and specificity of 97.7%. The most common reason for both false-negative and false-positive grading by GD-CNN (51 of 119 [46.3%] and 191 of 588 [32.3%]) and manual grading (50 of 113 [44.2%] and 183 of 538 [34.0%]) was pathologic or high myopia. Conclusions and Relevance Application of GD-CNN to fundus images from different settings and varying image quality demonstrated a high sensitivity, specificity, and generalizability for detecting GON. These findings suggest that automated DLS could enhance current screening programs in a cost-effective and time-efficient manner