Development and evaluation of an intervention to reduce rip current related beach drowning

The objective of this research was to evaluate a campaign to improve beachgoer recognition of calm-looking rip currents, known to contribute to surf drowning. Posters, postcards, and brochures conveying the message “Don’t get sucked in by the rip” were distributed in an intervention area. Beachgoers were interviewed in this and a similar control area one year before and immediately after the intervention (respective response rates: 69.9% and 82.3%), Consenting respondents were sent follow-up questionnaires after approximately 6 months and 55% responded. In the intervention area, 28.8% of post-intervention, and 57.2% of follow-up respondents, had seen our campaign. At post-intervention, intervention respondents demonstrated improvement (relative to baseline) in intentions to swim away from a calm-looking rip, ability and confidence in identifying a rip, intention never to swim at unpatrolled beaches, and responses to being caught in a rip, compared to the control respondents. Similar improvements were observed post-intervention for respondents in the intervention area who had seen our campaign (relative to those who had not), and at 6 month follow-up for intervention respondents (relative to control respondents). The relatively brief print-based campaign was effective in warning beachgoers about calm-looking rips.     

Mapping and mining interictal pathological gamma (30-100 Hz) oscillations with clinical intracranial EEG in patients with epilepsy

Localizing an epileptic network is essential for guiding neurosurgery and antiepileptic medical devices as well as elucidating mechanisms that may explain seizure-generation and epilepsy. There is increasing evidence that pathological oscillations may be specific to diseased networks in patients with epilepsy and that these oscillations may be a key biomarker for generating and indentifying epileptic networks. We present a semi-automated method that detects, maps, and mines pathological gamma (30-100 Hz) oscillations (PGOs) in human epileptic brain to possibly localize epileptic networks. We apply the method to standard clinical iEEG (<100 Hz) with interictal PGOs and seizures from six patients with medically refractory epilepsy. We demonstrate that electrodes with consistent PGO discharges do not always coincide with clinically determined seizure onset zone (SOZ) electrodes but at times PGO-dense electrodes include secondary seizure-areas (SS) or even areas without seizures (NS). In 4/5 patients with epilepsy surgery, we observe poor (Engel Class 4) postsurgical outcomes and identify more PGO-activity in SS or NS than in SOZ. Additional studies are needed to further clarify the role of PGOs in epileptic brain.     

An Artificial Nocturnal Flower via Humidity‐Gated Photoactuation in Liquid Crystal Networks

Beyond their colorful appearances and versatile geometries, flowers can self‐shape‐morph by adapting to environmental changes. Such responses are often regulated by a delicate interplay between different stimuli such as temperature, light, and humidity, giving rise to the beauty and complexity of the plant kingdom. Nature inspires scientists to realize artificial systems that mimic their natural counterparts in function, flexibility, and adaptation. Yet, many of the artificial systems demonstrated to date fail to mimic the adaptive functions, due to the lack of multi‐responsivity and sophisticated control over deformation directionality. Herein, a new class of liquid‐crystal‐network (LCN) photoactuators whose response is controlled by delicate interplay between light and humidity is presented. Using a novel deformation mechanism in LCNs, humidity‐gated photoactuation, an artificial nocturnal flower is devised that is closed under daylight conditions when the humidity level is low and/or the light level is high, while it opens in the dark when the humidity level is high. The humidity‐gated photoactuators can be fueled with lower light intensities than conventional photothermal LCN actuators. This, combined with facile control over the speed, geometry, and directionality of movements, renders the “nocturnal actuator” promising for smart and adaptive bioinspired microrobotics.     

Tapping into past design experiences: knowledge sharing and creation during novice–expert design consultations

Designing is a knowledge-intensive activity. For novice design engineers, an important means of acquiring knowledge is to consult experienced colleagues. We observed novice?Cexpert consultations as part of three engineering projects in a large aerospace company. Seven meetings were analysed in detail regarding the design activity, the content, and the form of interaction. Although the meetings were initiated for the purpose of information seeking, this process amounted to only 8% of the time compared to knowledge creation between novices and experts (47% of meeting time), and contextual information sharing (45% of meeting time). Both experts and novices were found to contribute equally and interactively to the discussion and analysis of solutions. The analysis showed how the processes alternated in the meetings. We identified tentative patterns on how these consultation processes change over the course of the design process phases. The micro-level analysis of the design activities and form of interaction provided a deeper understanding of how the consultation processes are discursively produced by the experts and novices. Finally, implications for design engineering practitioners are derived and suggestions for further research are provided.