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DC Labs Lecture by Andreas Roepstorff on Playfulness

by Lauren Welbourne

Hi everyone, I'd like to invite you all to attend the following talk by Andreas Roepstorff at *2:30pm* next *Tuesday, 19th Feb*, at the Department of Computer Science (Hes. East). Andreas is an anthropologist/neuroscientist/interdisciplinarist and he directs the Interacting Minds Centre in Denmark, which explores new weird, wonderful ways of studying minds in interaction. Please find the talk abstract below (and attached), as well as directions to the seminar room in the Computer Science building. I hope you can make it! Kind regards Lauren *Playfulness: A Surprising State of Mind* *A Digital Creativity Labs Lecture by Andreas Roepstorff* *February 19, 2019, 2:30-3:30pm* *Heslington East, room **CSE/082&083 http://bit.ly/2E7aWXW <http://bit.ly/2E7aWXW>* *Attendance is free, no registration required* These days, theories of prediction error minimization are *en vogue* across the cognitive sciences. Cognition seems to be all about control: of events, hidden causes, environments, and many things in between. Playful activities seem to open up a very different terrain. They appear to involve letting go of control, to let processes, materials and collaborators do ‘their’ thing, and in and through that create unexpected trajectories. We have recently explored a number of such activities involving unusual research tools, like Ouija boards, Lego bricks, and haunted houses. I will describe some of these experiments, drawing on both qualitative and quantitative methods, to explore emergent dynamics of play-like activities. This will allow us to explore whether playfulness is a surprising state of mind. *Biography* Andreas Roepstorff is a Professor of Cognition, Communication and Culture at Aarhus University (Denmark). He works at the interface between anthropology, cognitive science, and neuroscience, and is equally interested in the workings of the mind and brain, and in how cognitive science and brain imaging, as fields of knowledge production, relate to other scientific and public fields. He is the director of the Interacting Minds Centre at Aarhus University and is involved in a number of transdisciplinary collaborations, focusing on aspects of human interaction. Most recently, he won a major grant to work with renowned artist Olafur Eliasson to create engaging experiments on perception, decision-making, action, and collaboration in public spaces. For more, visit interactingminds.au.dk. -- Lauren Welbourne, PhD Senior Research Technician York Neuroimaging Centre University of York Innovation Way Heslington York YO10 5NY

6 years, 4 months

Weekly YNiC news & YBRI Social Event

by Lauren Welbourne

Hi all A couple of things to be aware of for the coming weeks: - There is a *YBRI Social event* on the* 28th Feb* in Biology. The theme this year is Neuroscience, and it is a good platform for discussing your work in a social setting. Pizza and drinks are provided. If you'd like to attend, please register via Eventbrite <https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ybri-social-neuroscience-theme-tickets-54695…> (password YBRI2019). If you'd also like to bring a poster, please let the administrator know at ybri(a)york.ac.uk - Due to the above event, *YNiC will be closed from 3:45pm on the 28th Feb * - Open plan will be open all of this week, as there is no teaching during Reading Week - If you are running projects at YNiC, please take note of the updates to the screening procedure highlighted in our emails earlier today Kind regards Lauren -- Lauren Welbourne, PhD Senior Research Technician York Neuroimaging Centre University of York Innovation Way Heslington York YO10 5NY

6 years, 4 months

IMPORTANT: changes to MRI screening procedures

by Andre Gouws

(Sorry for cross posting - MRI operators may get this twice) Hi all We would like to make you aware of recent updates we have made to the GE and Siemens MRI Safety and Consent forms, which can be found here https://www.ynic.york.ac.uk/forms. In particular, please draw your attention to the section on piercings and tattoos. The piercings question now reads: "Are you currently wearing any jewellery? – e.g. piercings, watches, bracelets, necklaces, hair clips, rings" Please read the *full question *to participants, including the list of examples. This question should be answered /after/ all jewellery has been removed, which may be when the participant is in the control room. In most cases, the answer to this question should be 'No'. If jewellery cannot be removed, operators will require a Level 3 signature. In your initial screening of your participants you should establish if any jewellery cannot be removed, and then notify support(a)ynic.york.ac.uk <mailto:support@ynic.york.ac.uk> if you will require a Level 3 signature (please provide details of the scan date/time). You will no longer be required to obtain a Level 3 signature for participants with tattoos. Instead, you will direct the participant's attention to the tattoo warning sign located on the control room wall (near the other safety information signs), read the warning to the subject, and advise them to press the emergency buzzer if they feel any heating of the tattooed area during the scan session. Finally, both operators in charge of the scanning session should sign the boxes now marked as 'Operator A' and 'Operator B' - the order of the signatures is irrelevant, but it should only be signed by those acting as operators for the scan. We hope that these updates will improve your scanning process, whilst maintaining the safety of our participants. Please read through the full questionnaire to familiarise yourself with this updated version - *every question* on this form will require a yes or no answer now. -- André ************************************************************************ André Gouws PhD Manager of Imaging Services York Neuroimaging Centre University of York The Biocentre York Science Park Heslington YO10 5NY Tel: +44 (0) 1904 435327 Fax: +44 (0) 1904 435356

6 years, 4 months

Fwd: Burst water pipe bio

by Antony Morland

Hello All, It will be a bit chilly at YNiC this morning (see below). We have independent heating control of the MRI areas, so scanning can still go ahead. In even better news, we have escaped flooding this time! All good wishes Tony ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Adam Douglas <adam.douglas(a)york.ac.uk> Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2019 at 08:55 Subject: Burst water pipe bio To: Good morning. Unfortunately due to the cold weather we have had a burst pipe in the bio centre. This has only damaged the 2nd floor at the moment. However, to bring it under control and fix the pipe we have had to turn the pumps off. This means the heating will be off this morning until it is repaired. Engineers are on site and will get the heating back on as soon as possible. If you need a heater please let me or a member of the team know and we will happily provide. The engineers hope to have the heating back on by lunch time, I will keep you updated as much as possible. Please accept my apologies for any inconvenience caused. We are working to rectify this as soon as possible. Kind regards Adam -- *Adam Douglas* *Facilities Manager* York Science Park Ltd T: 01904 435100 *DD: *01904 567824 E: Email address W: www.yorksciencepark.co.uk <http://www.facebook.com/pages/York-Science-Park-Ltd/178260196498> An Exciting Environment for Growth... Virtual Office | Hot Desks | Next to world-leading University of York For more info contact - enquiries(a)yorksciencepark.co.uk Innovation Centre, Innovation Way, Heslington, York, YO10 5DG F: 01904 435135 Company No. 2939132 | Registered address: Heslington Hall, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD | VAT No. 647 2055 41 Email Disclaimer <http://www.yorksciencepark.co.uk/disclaimer.html> -- Antony Morland, PhD. Director, York Neuroimaging Centre Department of Psychology, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK.

6 years, 4 months

Reserved slots

by Antony Morland

Dear All, We are trialing a 'reserved slot' model for some scanning activities at YNiC. What does this mean? 1. In general terms, it means that the system we use to reserve slots for teaching is being rolled out for some grant funded research activity. There are however some differences in the timing of when unused reserved slots become available to others to book. 2. The reserved slots open up 6 weeks in advance - coinciding with the booking access that externally funded projects have. 3. If reserved slots have not been booked one week ahead of those reserved slots, they will become available to others to book. This means that those researchers who have one week booking access are unaffected. The rationale behind this change is to allow funded researchers to plan ahead, which can be very valuable when high participant throughput is needed. At the same time however we are happy to reserve slots for any funded researchers even if they intend only to scan a few participants. As part of the trial we will also monitor the use of reserved slots by the researchers who requested them. Best wishes Tony -- Antony Morland, PhD. Director, York Neuroimaging Centre Department of Psychology, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK.

6 years, 4 months

Earing

by YNiC Reception

Hi all I have an earing in reception which was handed in yesterday if you lost one. Best wishes Jackie

6 years, 4 months

This week at YNiC

by Lauren Welbourne

Hi all There are no project presentations this week, but there is one reminder: - The open plan area will be used for teaching on Tuesday and Friday between 12:00 and 16:00, and therefore the area will be closed to anyone not involved in these activities. Best Lauren -- Lauren Welbourne, PhD Senior Research Technician York Neuroimaging Centre University of York Innovation Way Heslington York YO10 5NY

6 years, 4 months

Updates

by Antony Morland

Hello All, We closed for a brief period before Christmas. Here is what we did: Work completed over the Christmas closure period. - Patching of systems to ensure we are up to date with latest security updates. - Full backup of data - Testing of a Discussion board for ynic users - Archiving of raw data - Setup new clinical database for YDI - Testing changes on how we report quota usages based on project rather that folder. - Updates to the YNiC database so we can track more information. - Complete clean of MRI console room - Tidying and cleaning open plan If you notice anything that has changed and affects your work at YNiC, please let us know. Best wishes Tony -- Antony Morland, PhD. Director, York Neuroimaging Centre Department of Psychology, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK.

6 years, 5 months

Updates in response to issues raise at YNiC Science Committee

by Antony Morland

Hello All, Apologies for the length of this email, but issues were raised at the last Science Committee meeting that I thought would be good to share with you along with our responses to them. Thanks to those who raised the issues - they help us improve our service. Best wishes Tony YNiC issues list: 1. After the update the remote server is considerably slower, sometimes it does not connect at all. Running even simple scripts takes an inordinate amount of time. In addition, some of the software (e.g., LibreOffice) crashes often. We have deployed a new Remote Desktop system that is based on x2go broker. It has more memory and allows users to reconnect to a quieter server if they find other users are using up resources. We will be looking to add more capacity to this service this year. However, our general advice is to come to the centre and use the facilities here, which are more resilient and better specified, if you require a more efficient throughput on analysis. To be clear, we cannot offer a remote access system that works to the same performance as the systems on site. One fact that may focus the mind is a desktop at YNiC has much more memory than allocated to a remote connection. Also note that if analysis is undertaken on the remote desktop server rather than submitting jobs to the cluster, as recommended, the server(s) will allocate much of the limited resources to the analysis and that will interfere with all other users of (and connections to) the remote desktop. 1. It is also unclear why Microsoft packages have been removed, some of them (e.g., Excel) have functions superior to the Linux version. The Microsoft packages have not been removed from the machines at YNiC. We are however experiencing issues with opening files. We will work on this and update users when we have debugged the package. Libre office is working fine and can be used to open Microsoft office files and save changes in Microsoft formats. The updates to LibreOffice during the summer 2018 upgrade also fixed many compatibility issues with Microsoft Office documents. The remote desktop has been updated to have Microsoft Office package available. However, related to the point above, we had largely specified the remote access to allow investigators to run analysis jobs on the cluster when they were unable to be at YNiC. This remains our priority. So, although we have installed Office on the remote server, it should be noted that not all analysis and office software can be guaranteed to work remotely because of the configurations of these releases. 1. Scanning at 9am results in difficulties as there is not always a receptionist (to print the relevant forms) or level 3 (to sign off any issues on the information sheet). We are sorry about there sometimes being staff shortages. We were facing a challenging period as we were waiting new staff arrivals. We have only one level 3 operator. We suggest that all participants are talked through the screening form 24 hours in advance of the scan session, so the need for a countersignature from a level 3 can be identified. It should also be noted that this would be essential for any scanning that occurs outside normal hours, when a level 3 would not be available to countersign forms. We are also working on the safety form so level 3 signatures are not required for the most commonly arise advisory conditionals. This is an ongoing project and we will update operators once it is complete. This approach may require additional training for operators. 1. The air con is far too cold, making working in open plan unpleasant. We monitor the temperature in open plan (and the rest of the centre) because of historic issues of temperature fluctuations arising from failure of the York Science Park’s Building Management System. The temperature in Open Plan currently varies between 21.5 and 23 degrees. The Building Management System, which sets the temperatures, is controlled by York Science Park, not YNiC. The temperature is currently set to 22 degrees. We are happy to contact York Science Park if users alert us to an unsatisfactory temperature. 1. Making sure that operators are available for slots that are booked as operator covered (even if they come from a lab with trained operators because sometimes these people are not on hand). I think there may be a misunderstanding. If there is an YNiC operator covered slot and you need an operator, or just want them on hand, please ensure that the booking requests a YNiC operator. You are fully entitled to make that selection when you book and it helps us. If you are a qualified operator and indicate that you will operate, the default behaviour of the booking system is to mark up the time as not needing a YNiC operator. 1. Training needs to be more regular to afford more projects to begin in a timely fashion. We struggle to meet demand for training, particularly as it has grown over the last three years. The training also has multiple levels. We attempt to run level 0 training frequently and it can be done in small groups. Level 1 training is more challenging insofar as it cannot always be done in groups and we need a large number of scan hours to ‘offer’ the trainee to become safe and effective at operating the scanner before we sign them off. We set up training for the Autumn term and when possible we try to meet requests for training at other times too, but this can be a challenge. We also try to use both the MSci and MSc reserved slots as training opportunities, which means that in addition to the Autumn term, we also have the potential to run efficient training in the Summer term. That said, I think we found last year that there was little demand at that time of year. We hope that our new appointees will help alleviate the pressure on our other staff to provide training. We also anticipate that more operator covered slots will be made available in 2019 as we train up our new appointees. 1. YNiC wiki contains outdated information and is difficult to navigate. It would be very useful if specific issues can be submitted to RT so we can make appropriate updates. 1. Poor communication i.e. informing users of status of the scanner, or the status of unresolved RT tickets. We endeavour to keep people informed about the status of the scanners. This is done via messages to ynic-users(a)ynic.york.ac.uk. The loss of service is unpredictable and re-establishing service can sometimes depend on many factors outside our control. I have checked the messages sent to the email list and found that we have, in general, kept users of the centre up-to-date with the scanner outages. We will continue to send messages concerning scanner status to ynic-users(a)ynic.york.ac.uk and will strive to improve comms in general. RT remains the best way to communicate with us. Yes, it does seem impersonal and there can be delays, but it is the only way that we can manage and prioritise requests. It is also a system similar to those used the Department of Psychology and some University services. When we were short staffed, so some things took longer than usual to resolve. Please be patient and please don’t ask staff to do things in person to try to accelerate resolution of your issue – I know it is human nature to try, but it simply delays the resolution of everyone else’s issues. We now review tickets at our weekly staff meeting to ensure outstanding tickets are resolved. 1. Variation in the times of operator covered activity would help recruitment because it would allow participants with a broader range of availability to be tested. We have considered this before and when we have a full staff complement we will re-engage with the issue. At present however we need to arrange staff meetings and undertake other tasks (e.g. Training, Helium fills, Quality Assurance, Scanner Cleaning) to ensure the centre runs safely and effectively. The best way to manage these tasks is to do them at fixed times during the week. Indeed diary conflicts often mean that only a limited number of slots are available to arrange meetings and activities even when we have a fixed pattern of operator slots. At the moment varying the operator cover pattern will make arranging our activities impossible. We can frequently accommodate special requests, however, and have done so particularly when participants come from special populations that are a challenge to recruit and their availability may therefore limit recruitment opportunities. Moreover, if your requirement is known well in advance we can be more flexible. I suggest those who have specific needs get in touch with us. 1. Cleanliness around the coffee machine and in the open plan more generally. The coffee area is cleaned by a member of YNiC staff at least once a day. We usually wipe the area down in the period that we are waiting for the kettle to boil or the coffee machine to fill our cups. There are wet wipes (in a white, blue-lidded tub) that can be used if you would also like to wipe the area down if it appears unclean. The contract cleaners do not clean this area, so it is up to us (those who use the area) to clean it. During the closure periods (in the summer 2018 and over Christmas) we cleaned the open plan area carefully, including the computer screens and all desks. The open plan area is cleaned by contract cleaning staff daily. We will encourage those who use the Open Plan Areas to keep it clean. We have now cleaned keyboards and hope that enhances the user experience of the centre. We are in the process of arranging a carpet clean this term. -- Antony Morland, PhD. Director, York Neuroimaging Centre Department of Psychology, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK.

6 years, 5 months

YNiC Project Presentation 4pm

by Lauren Welbourne

Hi all Today MiaoMiao Yu will present her project proposal. The talk will be at 4pm in YNiC open plan. Hope to see you all there, Lauren -- Lauren Welbourne, PhD Senior Research Technician York Neuroimaging Centre University of York Innovation Way Heslington York YO10 5NY

6 years, 5 months

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