LEDs as a tool to enhance faded colours of museums artefacts

A procedure to enhance the faded colours of museums artefacts is presented. The method is based on adjusting the spectral profile of the light while maintaining a given white colour of the illumination. The procedure is tested using colour LED clusters and a series of damaged samples and their good condition counterparts. The intensity of the three components of four feasible LED clusters is computed in order to produce white illumination metameric to a white LED light source taken as a reference. Colorimetric calculations are performed to model the colour changes undergone by target colour samples using illumination based on colour LED association with respect to the white LED reference. The model is based on CIELAB specification and allows to optimize the choice of three-colour LED associations that modify the hue and the saturation of a few target colour areas of illuminated samples while other areas are left moderately desaturated. Modelling and experimental visual validation were practically obtained by adjusting the intensity of five calibrated colour LEDs, blue, cyan, green, amber and red, accommodated in a light booth. A visual validation was conducted asking 20 observers to rate the colourfulness appearance of aged inkjet prints under every LED cluster with respect to the colourfulness of their original counterparts under the reference white LED source. The visual assessments agreed with the colorimetric predictions. Finally, a demonstration is shown of the feasibility of the method by simulating the rejuvenated appearance of a natural history specimen of which the museum possesses two differently aged items.     

Accelerometry to measure physical activity in toddlers: Determination of wear time requirements for a reliable estimate of physical activity

Accelerometry is widely used to evaluate physical activity in toddlers however recommendations regarding wear time are needed to understand physical activity behaviours in this age group. This study aimed to determine the minimum wear time to reliably evaluate physical activity in toddlers. Children from the 3D Birth Cohort (n = 255, 49.8% boys, 2.1 ± 0.2 years) were asked to wear an accelerometer (GT3X+, ActiGraph) for 7 days. Physical activity was expressed in active time (min/day) and counts per minute (CPM). Single day intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) were calculated to assess the effect of varying minimal wear time on reliability estimates. The Spearman-Brown formula was used to determine wear time required to achieve reliability levels of 70%, 80% and 90%. For active time, a reliability of 72.1% was achieved with wearing the accelerometer for ≥ 4 days of ≥ 6 h, which comprised 85.9% of the sample. For CPM, ≥ 4 days of ≥ 6 h provided a reliability of 74.7% and comprised 85.9% of the children. Results differed slightly when girls and boys were analysed separately, but restricting analyses to children with a weekend day did not. In summary, a minimum of 4 days with ≥ 6 h of accelerometry data provides a reliable estimate of physical activity in 2-year toddlers.     

Fluctuations in running and skill-related performance in elite rugby union match-play

This study investigated end-game and transient changes in running activities and whether these were concomitantly associated with reductions in skill-related performance in senior international rugby union match-play. Altogether, 18 official matches were analysed (322 individual observations) using computerised video-based tracking and event coding (Amisco Pro^®, SUP, Nice, France). In forwards and backs, trivial to small reductions (% difference: ?2.1, ±1.3 to ?10.0, ±4.0%) in total distance and that covered at high speeds (>18.0?km?h^?1) occurred in the second- versus the first-half while there were trivial differences in skill-related performance measures (?2.3, ±4.5 to 7.5, ±14.0%). In both positions, small to moderate declines (?42, ±10 to ?21, ±7%) occurred in high-speed running in the final 10-min and 5-min periods versus mean values for all other 10-min and 5-min periods throughout the game while only small changes (?18, ±51 to 13, ±41%) in skill-related performance were observed. Trivial changes in running and skill-related performance (?11, ±74 to 7, ±39%) were observed in the 5-min period immediately following the most intense 5-minute periods of play compared to mean performance over the other 5-min periods. These findings suggest that international rugby union players were generally able to maintain skill-related performance over the course of match-play even when declines in running performance occurred.     

Same but different? Research and technology organizations,universities and the innovation activities of firms

Research and Technology Organizations (RTOs) and universities are important elements of countries’ innovation systems. As they are both halfway between science and industry, they are often considered to be the same thing. However, recent studies have stressed the differences between the two. In this paper, we analyze the innovative characteristics (impacts and types of innovation and internal R&D investments) of firms that collaborate with RTOs versus universities. Our study is based on statistical analysis of Community Innovation Survey micro-data (CIS 2012). Our results suggest that firms that see RTOs as more important sources of knowledge than universities have a higher probability of developing service innovation, invest less in internal R&D but are less likely to introduce new, groundbreaking innovations into the market. These results have significant policy and management implications, especially regarding the different but complementary contributions offered respectively by RTOs and universities.     

Bridging the Gap between the Lab and the Classroom: An Online Citizen Scientific Research Project with Teachers Aiming at Improving Inhibitory Control of School‐Age Children

Online citizen science allows us to bridge the gap between researchers and nonresearchers and to improve the scientific literacy of nonresearchers. The aims of the present study were (a) to determine whether a 5‐week randomized control trial conducted by teachers in their classroom could improve 7‐ to 12‐year‐old children's inhibitory control (IC) and (b) to provide proof of concept that online scientific research projects can provide meaningful results in the context of education. As expected, children in the IC training group improved their IC efficiency to a greater extent than children in the control training group. We provide the first evidence that such online scientific research projects can be effective in improving children's IC abilities and bridge the gap between the lab and the classroom.     

Micro-scale technologies propel biology and medicine

Click here to view.^{(14M, mpg)}Historically, technology has been central to new discoveries in biology and progress in medicine. Among various technologies, microtechnologies, in particular, have had a prominent role in the revolution experienced by the life sciences in the last few decades, which will surely continue in the years to come. In this Perspective, we illustrate how microtechnologies, with a focus on microfluidics, have evolved in trends/waves to tackle the boundary of knowledge in the life sciences. We provide illustrative examples of technology-enabled biological breakthroughs and their current and future use in clinics. Finally, we take a closer look at the translational process to understand why the incorporation of new micro-scale technologies in medicine has been comparatively slow so far.     

Muddled Boundaries of Digital Shrines

Based on an online ethnography study of 274 YouTube videos posted during the Virginia Tech or the Newtown massacres, this article discusses how users resort to participatory media during such mediatized events to create a digital spontaneous shrine. The assemblage of this sanctuary on a website hosting billions of user-generated contents is made possible by means of folksonomy and website architecture, and a two-fold social dynamic based on participatory commitment and the institutionalization of a collective entity. Unlike “physical” spontaneous shrines erected in public spaces, these digital shrines connect the bereaved with provocative or outrageous contributions, notably tributes from school shooting fans using participatory media to commemorate the killer’s memory. This side effect, generated by the technical properties of the platform, compromises the tranquility of the memorial and muddles the boundaries and the contents of such sanctuaries.     

Utility of international normative 20 m shuttle run values for identifying youth at increased cardiometabolic risk

The purpose of this study was to examine the ability of international normative centiles for the 20 m shuttle run test (20mSRT) to identify youth at increased cardiometabolic risk. This was a cross-sectional study involving 961 children aged 10–17 years (53% girls) from the United Kingdom. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves determined the discriminatory ability of cardiorespiratory fitness percentiles for predicting increased cardiometabolic risk. ROC analysis demonstrated a significant but poor discriminatory accuracy of cardiorespiratory fitness in identifying low/high cardiometabolic risk in girls (AUC = 0.58, 95% CI: 0.54–0.63; p = 0.04), and in boys (AUC = 0.59, 95% CI: 0.54–0.63; p = 0.03). The cardiorespiratory fitness cut-off associated with high cardiometabolic risk was the 55^th percentile (sensitivity = 33.3%; specificity = 84.5%) in girls and the 60^th percentile (sensitivity = 42.9%; specificity = 73.6%) in boys. These 20mSRT percentile thresholds can be used to identify children and adolescents who may benefit from lifestyle intervention. Nonetheless, further work involving different populations and cardiometabolic risk scores comprising of different variables are needed to confirm our initial findings.     

Boys who don’t like sports: family lifestyle and transmission of dispositions

Many studies have stressed the key role played by competitive sports in the socialization of boys, particularly in middle-class families. This article looks at the minority group of boys from this social class who dislike competition and participate in few, if any, sports. We present case studies of six boys and their families, interviewed on several occasions. Based on Bourdieu’s [1979. La Distinction. Une critique sociale du jugement [Distinction. A social critique of the judgement of taste]. Paris: Minuit; 1980. Le sens pratique [Practical reason. On the theory of action]. Paris: Minuit] theoretical framework and the concepts of capital, habitus, and lifestyle, we analyze the socialization modes involved in the construction of an atypical gender habitus. All of the boys we interviewed had developed a liking for activities socially attributed to females, in specific family configurations. Beyond these common points, our data allowed us to identify two groups of families: in the middle-class families well endowed with cultural capital, the parents place priority on a ‘cultivated’ lifestyle and pass on to their sons a taste for mainstream cultural activities, which (from their point of view) do not include sports. In the middle-class families less interested in mainstream cultural forms, the parents wish their sons were more sports-oriented. In these homes, there is evidence of problems related to the transmission of the paternal sports capital.