Resources for authors
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"This review article is devoted to the disfluency effect, which is observed as an improvement in the memorization of information and subsequent educational results due to reduced processing fluency. According to the basic explanation of the disfluency effect, if information is written illegibly, the learner senses complexity, or disfluency, which leads to a deeper processing of information. Traditionally, the disfluency effect is considered from the perspective of Bjork’s desirable difficulties approach and Sweller’s cognitive load theory. In this article, we pay attention to these concepts and also discuss the main studies and meta-analyses devoted to the effect. It is worth noting that the existence of the disfluency effect is not seen as indisputable and raises doubts among the authors of the review and other colleagues. As indicated, a significant number of studies do not detect the effect; for this reason, possible moderators influencing its manifestation are also considered. A separate section of the review is devoted to research of the Sans Forgetica font. The font was specially created to be disfluent, and its developers proceeded from the assumption that the disfluency effect really exists. This review article is addressed to a wide range of readers, and it may be of interest to both specialists in the field of metacognition and for pedagogical practitioners."
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Dynamic Lights: Lighting Up Students' Minds | Euronews
You can find plenty of information on dynamic lighting and attention. Cycles of bright white light can be an useful tool to explore.
The stress of a cold shower may also be of help for alertness.
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They showed in the video an 'Activation' and a 'Concentration' lighting setting that appeared similar.
Human Centric School Lighting | Tove Karlsson
Section 4.1.1 (but skim through 4.3 too):
"In a study by Wessolowski (2014) seven different lighting scenes designed by Philips for school use were used:
- “Standard”, that follow the conventional lighting situation in classrooms based on the DIN 5035 standard (300 lx, 4000 K);
- “Focus on board”, where the board lighting is bright (1000 lx, 4000 K) and the room lighting low (300 lx, 3800 K); “Board only”, the board is lit and the room lighting is switched off;
- “Concentrate”, very bright, daylight white light for individual work that demands a high degree of attention/concentration (1060 lx, 5800 K);
- “Activate”, slightly brighter and a significantly higher level of the blue component of the spectrum compared to standard lighting (625 lx, 11000 K);
- “Relax”, slightly warmer compared with standard lighting (325 lx, 3500 K); and
- “Extreme Relax”, a more extreme variation of programme 6 is used when no reading and writing is performed (275 lx, 3500)."
"This Variable Lighting (VL) programme is adapted to different work and social arrangements used in school. The seven VL lighting programmes were chosen based on current research and in coordination with lighting experts and the participating schools. During two tests on the pupils’ performance and behaviour the researcher controlled the variation pattern, by switching the different buttons. During the period in between, the teacher controlled the settings."
"The result show that the pupils made fewer errors on a standardised test of attention, reading speed rose significantly and that reading comprehension rose slightly under the VL “Concentrate” program. The reading speed and reading comprehension results improved under the VL4 “Concentrate” program. The motivation for learning and the classroom atmosphere did not change during the nine month test period. The pupils and teachers rated the Variable Lighting positively and found it useful during lessons. This study also indicates that a possibility to choose between different lighting scenes can help to shape the different lesson segments optically and illuminate the structure of the lesson."
"Teacher logs during the test revealed that out of the seven predefined programmes, primarily “Concentrate”, “Activate” and “Relax” were used. The teachers particularly liked the option of visually separating individual sections of the lesson. The teachers desired a smaller number of different programmes and a programme with even warmer light (3000 K)."
"Overall the pupils were positive. The concentration promoting effect of the lighting was emphasized by one in six children. Very few of the pupils reported negative experiences; one pupil desired less abrupt transitions, one reported that too frequent changes were distracting, one male and one female pupil in secondary school complained about headaches caused by VL4 “Concentrate” (Barkmann et al. 2012)."
"Tuv school in Hemsedal in cooperation with “UiB, Haukland Universitetessjukehus” and “Nasjonal kompetansetjeneste for sovnsykdommer” has made a Human Centric lighting installation with LED with four different settings:
- “Energilys” to be used in the first hour of the day (Automatic, 6500 K, 650 lx);
- “Fokuslys” during tests (Manual. 6500 K, 1000 lx);
- “Roliglys” for relaxation and calm activities (Manual, 2700 K, 300 lx); and
- “Standardlys” for ordinary activities (3500 K, 300 lx).
The control board is controlled by the teacher. The study involves 27 pupils in grade 3 and 4. The teachers report about positive development for the pupils’ concentration and restfulness in class and the pupils report about decreased sleepiness (Saxvig et al 2014)."
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Very cool, thanks
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Security and privacy issues in the Portable Document Format
"The Portable Document Format (PDF) was developed by Adobe in the early nineties and today it is the de-facto standard for electronic document exchange. It allows reliable reproductions of published materials on any platform and it is used by many governmental and educational institutions, as well as companies and individuals. PDF documents are also credited with being more secure than other document formats such as Microsoft Compound Document File Format or Rich Text Format."
"This paper investigates the Portable Document Format and shows that it is not immune from some privacy related issues that affect other popular document formats. From a PDF document, it is possible to retrieve any text or object previously deleted or modified, extract user information and perform some actions that may be used to violate user privacy. There are several applications of such an issue. One of them is relevant to the scientific community and it pertains to the ability to overcome the blind review process of a paper, revealing information related to the anonymous referee (e.g., the IP address of the referee)."
@brad, hi.
In honor of the publication above, is it possible to start allowing the upload of PDF files? I think that it's in the following path:
- Admin > Settings > Uploads > Allowed File Extensions
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DuckDuckGo's AI chat can be quite practical and amusing.
"Explain anaplerosis and cataplerosis as a pompous jackass."
"Ah, my esteemed conversational companion, let us embark on a journey of linguistic extravagance as we delve into the esoteric realms of anaplerosis and cataplerosis.
Anaplerosis, that celestial ballet of metabolic replenishment, unfolds before us like a majestic symphony of carbon atoms in harmonious motion. It is the grandiose spectacle of molecular resuscitation, where intermediates cascade back into the citric acid cycle with the grace of a thousand swans on a shimmering lake. Behold, as the metabolic orchestra plays on, each molecule a virtuoso in the opus of cellular energy production.
And lo, cataplerosis, that enigmatic conductor of metabolic diversion, orchestrates the surreptitious extraction of citric acid cycle intermediates for the covert construction of cellular edifices. It is the furtive alchemy of metabolic transmutation, where molecules metamorphose from mere energy carriers to the stealthy architects of cellular architecture. Witness, as the metabolic tapestry unfolds, revealing the secretive interplay of anaplerosis and cataplerosis, the hidden dance of carbon atoms in the clandestine theater of life's metabolic opulence.
In summation, dear interlocutor of erudition, anaplerosis and cataplerosis stand as the zenith of metabolic sophistication, the apotheosis of biochemical artistry, where molecules transcend their chemical nature to partake in the clandestine opera of life's metabolic magnificence."
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@Amazoniac No problem, done
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It's noteworthy when two guys who are obsessed with workflow optimization are fond of a software:
One of the rare instances where a book author documented and shared his process in video:
- 2 Years Of Writing A Book In 30 Minutes
- The Writer's Process: How A Book Is Made
- Ryan Holiday's Writing Process Part 1: Cracking The Structure
- Ryan Holiday's Writing Process Part 2: The First Draft Of Anything Is Sh*t
- How To Write A Book - From Research to Writing to Editing to Publishing by Ryan Holiday
@brad said in Resources for authors:
@Amazoniac No problem, done
Thanks, Brad.
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@Amazoniac said in Resources for authors:
Writing in the Sciences | Kristin Sainani (highly recommended)
For convenience:
- Writing in the Sciences (YouTube)
Don't be discouraged by title, it has value for life and you will like.
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Zotero released an important update about a month ago. The app is free, and its source code is publicly available. Also:
"Zotero is designed as a local program that saves data to your own computer by default, and it doesn’t require sharing any data with us to be usable. However, some of Zotero’s advanced features require you to supply us with information."
The app has a built-in reader with superior text recognition than some other readers, making it easier to extract passages, which can be done in batches and respecting filters. Sometimes it's able to identify the sequence of a text in another page while excluding unrelated information.
It shows pop-ups when hovering on parenthetical information (figures, tables, references), to dispense frequent page jumps. It's capable of listing specific references with leaps between them [1,3,5-10]. It also has a 'return' feature, to go back to where you left after a click, although many readers have this as well.
It rotates pages individually rather than the entire document.
It has the basic tools for annotation, that spares the original copy by default, but gives the option to modify it as well. Annotation tools include an area selector, in case the person wants to capture a figure or table.
A file can be featured in different folders without duplicating it, and these can be highlighted by holding a key. Power, Strength, Courage, Polygamy. If you had such folders, where would you put Kvothe's biography if it fits in all of them?
When a folder is selected on the navigation pane, rather than showing sub-folders, it shows their content combined. In addition, it's possible to associate related documents.
The search function has the option to screen through the content of PDF files.
For those who are fond of dark modes, it now has the option to apply to content as well, not just the borders of the document.
It saves sessions to resume where you stopped, similar to other apps.
Browser add-ons are available for further ease, if you don't mind the intrusion. Metadata can also be retrieved automatically by adding a recognizable file to the library.
References managers are not necessary tools--I know authors who deal with complex information without relying on them--but they are convenient in helping with organization and saving time. Give it a try in case some function appealed to you.
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Invert colors for improvised dark mode when needed:
Windows:
- Start > Settings > Accessibility > Color filters
Mac:
- Menu > Settings > Accessibility > Display
Both have shortcuts to enable and disable.
F.lux has a 'darkroom mode' as well.
In Linux, you likely have means to configure the sun and clouds.
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"Open Knowledge Maps is a nonprofit organization that uses AI to help users discover and visualize scientific literature. Users can map a research topic, find documents, and identify concepts from various databases and sources."
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Learning to successfully search the scientific and medical literature
"[..]truncate with wild card symbols according to the syntax of any given software. An example of truncation is the asterisk used in PubMed to permit a search using any possible permutations of a root term. For instance, if you search PubMed for malignan*, PubMed will retrieve malignant, malignancy, malignancies, etc."
In Google Scholar, it's possible to switch from publications to profiles and find the most cited celebrities related to the searched term. For specific tags, seach using "label:desiredterm". It's useful if you're exploring an unfamiliar field.
Reading and Myopia: Contrast Polarity Matters
Abstract
"In myopia the eye grows too long, generating poorly focused retinal images when people try to look at a distance. Myopia is tightly linked to the educational status and is on the rise worldwide. It is still not clear which kind of visual experience stimulates eye growth in children and students when they study. We propose a new and perhaps unexpected reason. Work in animal models has shown that selective activation of ON or OFF pathways has also selective effects on eye growth. This is likely to be true also in humans. Using custom-developed software to process video frames of the visual environment in realtime we quantified relative ON and OFF stimulus strengths. We found that ON and OFF inputs were largely balanced in natural environments. However, black text on white paper heavily overstimulated retinal OFF pathways. Conversely, white text on black paper overstimulated ON pathways. Using optical coherence tomography (OCT) in young human subjects, we found that the choroid, the heavily perfused layer behind the retina in the eye, becomes about 16 µm thinner in only one hour when subjects read black text on white background but about 10 µm thicker when they read white text from black background. Studies both in animal models and in humans have shown that thinner choroids are associated with myopia development and thicker choroids with myopia inhibition. Therefore, reading white text from a black screen or tablet may be a way to inhibit myopia, while conventional black text on white background may stimulate myopia."
- MDCalc - "A free online medical reference for healthcare professionals that provides point-of-care clinical decision-support tools, including medical calculators, scoring systems, and algorithms"
⠀ - BioIcons - "A free library of open source icons for scientific illustrations using vector graphics software"
- SciDraw - "A website where you can find and share high quality drawings of animals, scientific setups, and anything for scientific presentations and posters"
- Chemix - "A free online editor for drawing lab diagrams"
'Hyphens versus Dashes' and 'Using Dashes' by a monster, to not misapply them, as above.
- MDCalc - "A free online medical reference for healthcare professionals that provides point-of-care clinical decision-support tools, including medical calculators, scoring systems, and algorithms"
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Maybe I'll make an actual post about this but Obsidian came out with a new web clipper that is pretty good. Makes it super easy to save stuff from the web. I use it so expand my own database.
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@Kilgore I would be curious if you have any experience with Joplin, as compared to Obsidian? I think Obsidian looks better, and after an initial perusing seems to function better than Joplin. But the one glaring issue for me with Obsidian is privacy. My understanding is that it lacks encryption.
"To desire action is to desire limitation" — G. K. Chesterton
"The true step of health and improvement is slow." — Novalis -
@Mossy I have tried Joplin a long time ago but didn't like it. Mainly because the lack of features and If I remember correctly it had a weird way to save things where as in obsidian I just make a folder and that's where my things go. I also like that the markdown files are dynamic so they change as soon as I type the next line. Once they add a pdf highlighting feature it will be perfect for me.
I was looking at the Joplin web clipper, but Obsidian came out with theirs just at the right time. I needed to save about 2000 twitter posts from my likes and it made it so much easier. I also played around with training AI on the data I saved (with chat-gpt in obsidian) It owrks decently.
As for privacy. You store your files on your computer and nowhere else. Not sure what you mean by encryption.
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@Kilgore said in Resources for authors:
@Mossy I have tried Joplin a long time ago but didn't like it. Mainly because the lack of features and If I remember correctly it had a weird way to save things where as in obsidian I just make a folder and that's where my things go. I also like that the markdown files are dynamic so they change as soon as I type the next line. Once they add a pdf highlighting feature it will be perfect for me.
I was looking at the Joplin web clipper, but Obsidian came out with theirs just at the right time. I needed to save about 2000 twitter posts from my likes and it made it so much easier. I also played around with training AI on the data I saved (with chat-gpt in obsidian) It owrks decently.
As for privacy. You store your files on your computer and nowhere else. Not sure what you mean by encryption.
Good information. Thank you.
I can attest that the Joplin web clipper did not work well for me. That was last year, I can guess they've updated it by now.
I am not an expert with encryption, but my understanding is encryption is where your files/data are scrambled and undecipherable until you work with them and then are re-scrambled when closed. There are multiple areas where your data could be vulnerable. If you're only using Obsidian locally, you arguable are pretty safe. If Obsidian on your desktop/laptop syncs with cloud storage, for multi-device access, that is where lack of encryption could be a factor. If you don't mind that your information is available, then it would be a non-issue.
EDIT - DELETE: I'm deleting these links on Obsidian not being encrypted and providing a newer link from Obsidian's blog stating that user data IS encrypted:
"When you use our online services, your data is protected with end-to-end encryption for maximum security."
