Interdisciplinary Research Laboratory Research Articles

Școala clujeană de astronomie culturală / The School of Cultural Astronomy from Cluj-Napoca

In 1952, Professor Gheorghe Chiş from the Astronomical Institute together with the academician Constantin Daicoviciu initiated the idea of the existence of a Dacian calendar by deciphering the sanctuaries in the capital of Dacia at Sarmizegetusa Regia, and thus laying the foundations of Archaeoastronomy in Romania. This interdisciplinary branch has expanded over time due to new excavations, which have created to more detailed research, as it has led some researchers to think about the need to describe numerical calculation methods based on some huge databases. The School of Cultural Astronomy from Cluj-Napoca was founded by scientists from the Romanian Academy, the Institute and Astronomical Observatory of Cluj-Napoca, “Babeș-Bolyai” University, the History Museum and the Ethnographic Museum. These innovative researches from Cluj were supported and diversified within the “Tiberiu Popoviciu” Interdisciplinary Research Laboratory, where many ideas crystallized and working hypotheses were elaborated, attracting, almost from all over the country, enthusiastic researchers. The diversity of research topics addressed over the years in archaeoastronomy are presented, and at the end of the article is presented a pilot project of a Neolithic astronomical observatory in the Experimental Ethno-archaeological Park of Ţaga, to demonstrate the existence of Neolithic Solar Cult, knowledge about Heaven and the movement of the stars, in establishing the agro-pastoral calendar, as well as for knowing the construction and operation of the annual calendar and the day and night clock.

Conceptualizing Youth Participation in Children's Health Research: Insights from a Youth-Driven Process for Developing a Youth Advisory Council.

Given the power asymmetries between adults and young people, youth involvement in research is often at risk of tokenism. While many disciplines have seen a shift from conducting research on youth to conducting research with and for youth, engaging children and teens in research remains fraught with conceptual, methodological, and practical challenges. Arnstein’s foundational Ladder of Participation has been adapted in novel ways in youth research, but in this paper, we present a new rendering: a ‘rope ladder.’ This concept came out of our youth-driven planning process to develop a Youth Advisory Council for the Human Environments Analysis Laboratory, an interdisciplinary research laboratory focused on developing healthy communities for young people. As opposed to a traditional ladder, composed of rigid material and maintaining a static position, the key innovation of our concept is that it integrates a greater degree of flexibility and mobility by allowing dynamic movement beyond a 2D vertical plane. At the same time, the pliable nature of the rope makes it both responsive and susceptible to exogenous forces. We argue that involving youth in the design of their own participatory framework reveals dimensions of participation that are important to youth, which may not be captured by the existing participatory models.

The chemical engineering research laboratory as context for graduate students' training: The role of lab structure and cultural climate in collaborative work

Abstract The current study investigated the experiences of engineering graduate students in two interdisciplinary research laboratories studying materials engineering, their perceptions of influences on their learning and goals, and the collaborative tasks needed to produce quality journal articles. In a qualitative inquiry using constant comparison methods, data came from individual interviews of lab members and observations. Findings coalesced in three themes. First, the lab structure and lines of communication seemed to influence group collaboration and individual learning. Second, the importance of peer collaboration seemed crucial to students' knowledge acquisition through lab work. Finally, a lab's climate and culture influenced individuals' productivity and motivation to participate in research, sometimes facilitating, sometimes impeding progress in becoming fully participating lab members. Contributions include providing a better understanding of how engineering graduate students' lives in the lab are situated and intertwined with group collaborative processes.

Yrjö Tapio Konttinen 1952–2014

Yrjö Tapio Konttinen 1952–2014

The Advanced Interdisciplinary Research Laboratory: A Student Team Approach to the Fourth-Year Research Thesis Project Experience

The advanced interdisciplinary research laboratory (AIRLab) represents a novel, effective, and motivational course designed from the interdisciplinary research interests of chemistry, physics, biology, and education development faculty members as an alternative to the independent thesis project experience. Student teams are assembled to work toward the completion of an interdisciplinary research project. Each team is composed of at least one student from a differing area of specialization (e.g., biology, biotechnology, chemistry, and physics), and projects are based on current trends in research. The inaugural project was the development of a portable DNA sequencer for in-field species identification; a project at the interface between physical and life sciences and that holds the potential for real-world application and positive social change. This work describes the details underlying the design and implementation of the AIRLab course, and includes an account of the method of student team assembly, the selection of a suitable research challenge, the specialized training provided in Agile project management, the methods used to achieve cohesive team dynamics, the learning outcomes from this experience, future directions that will be pursued for course improvement, and how our undergraduate degree-level expectations were met at an advanced level.

Some Queries about “Some Queries”

Selected paper from the first edition of IinteR-La+b (the International Interdisciplinary Research Laboratory of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences and the Balzan Foundation) held in Rome, at the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, 12–13 November 2012. Published in Giovanni Tarantino (ed.), “Our words, and theirs:” A conversation with Carlo Ginzburg on the historian’s craft, Cromohs 18 (2013).

Carlo Ginzburg and the Historian’s Craft: Questions and Remarks.

Selected paper from the first edition of IinteR-La+b (the International Interdisciplinary Research Laboratory of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences and the Balzan Foundation) held in Rome, at the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, 12–13 November 2012. Published in Giovanni Tarantino (ed.), “Our words, and theirs:” A conversation with Carlo Ginzburg on the historian’s craft, Cromohs 18 (2013).

The application of a new and robust weighting scheme for establishing theta projection parameters to 1CrMoV rotor steel

Reservations about the need to weight the estimated theta parameters within the theta projection technique have often been expressed. However, the fact that the theta values are estimated values and are therefore not certain quantities necessitates the need to weight each theta value by some measure of its reliability. Traditionally, the weights have been calculated under the assumption that the random errors around an experimental creep curve are first-order autocorrelated. Using short-term data collected at the Interdisciplinary Research Laboratories in Swansea for 1CrMoV steels, this paper shows that such an assumption is generally incorrect and presents an alternative estimator for these weights. This estimator is robust in that it requires no assumptions to be made about the nature of the autocorrelation. When applied to these short-term creep data these robust weights are well behaved and alter the theta interpolation/extrapolation functions in such a way that excellent predictions are made for the longer-term rupture times published by the National Research Institute of Metals in Japan. Failure to use a weighting scheme within the theta projection technique is shown to have a detrimental impact on such long-term predictions.

Sensitivity of the theta projection technique to the functional form of the theta interpolation/extrapolation function

This paper estimates various interpolation/extrapolation functions for the theta parameters within the theta projection technique and assesses their ability to accurately predict the creep life of 1CrMoV rotor steel. The theta interpolation/extrapolation functions were estimated using short-term data collected at the Interdisciplinary Research Laboratories in Swansea and the accuracy of the predictions assessed using longer-term rupture times published by the National Research Institute of Metals in Japan. It was found that the theta interpolation/extrapolation function traditionally used by theta practioners was not the best predictor of long term life and that the most accurate long term life predictions were obtained using simpler functional forms. Further, it was found that more accurate lifetime predictions are obtained by estimating such interpolation/extrapolation functions using weighted rather than ordinary least squares.