A nonhuman primate model of inherited retinal disease.

Inherited retinal degenerations are a common cause of untreatable blindness worldwide, with retinitis pigmentosa and cone dystrophy affecting approximately 1 in 3500 and 1 in 10,000 individuals, respectively. A major limitation to the development of effective therapies is the lack of availability of animal models that fully replicate the human condition. Particularly for cone disorders, rodent, canine, and feline models with no true macula have substantive limitations. By contrast, the cone-rich macula of a nonhuman primate (NHP) closely mirrors that of the human retina. Consequently, well-defined NHP models of heritable retinal diseases, particularly cone disorders that are predictive of human conditions, are necessary to more efficiently advance new therapies for patients. We have identified 4 related NHPs at the California National Primate Research Center with visual impairment and findings from clinical ophthalmic examination, advanced retinal imaging, and electrophysiology consistent with achromatopsia. Genetic sequencing confirmed a homozygous R565Q missense mutation in the catalytic domain of PDE6C, a cone-specific phototransduction enzyme associated with achromatopsia in humans. Biochemical studies demonstrate that the mutant mRNA is translated into a stable protein that displays normal cellular localization but is unable to hydrolyze cyclic GMP (cGMP). This NHP model of a cone disorder will not only serve as a therapeutic testing ground for achromatopsia gene replacement, but also for optimization of gene editing in the macula and of cone cell replacement in general

Analysis on Using Synthesized Singing Techniques in Assistive Interfaces for Visually Impaired to Study Music

Tactile and auditory senses are the basic types of methods that visually impaired people sense the world. Their interaction with assistive technologies also focuses mainly on tactile and auditory interfaces. This research paper discuss about the validity of using most appropriate singing synthesizing techniques as a mediator in assistive technologies specifically built to address their music learning needs engaged with music scores and lyrics. Music scores with notations and lyrics are considered as the main mediators in musical communication channel which lies between a composer and a performer. Visually impaired music lovers have less opportunity to access this main mediator since most of them are in visual format. If we consider a music score, the vocal performer’s melody is married to all the pleasant sound producible in the form of singing. Singing best fits for a format in temporal domain compared to a tactile format in spatial domain. Therefore, conversion of existing visual format to a singing output will be the most appropriate nonlossy transition as proved by the initial research on adaptive music score trainer for visually impaired [1]. In order to extend the paths of this initial research, this study seek on existing singing synthesizing techniques and researches on auditory interfaces

Audio description of audiovisual programmes for the visually impaired in Hong Kong

Audio description (AD) is a means of translating visual and sound elements in audiovisual programmes, as well as in the performing and visual arts, into verbal elements, thus making these materials accessible to viewers with visual impairments. It has been a major area of interest within the field of audiovisual translation studies in recent years and a considerable amount of literature has been published on end users’ reception in Western countries. When it comes to the Chinese speaking world, little literature is available on AD reception studies and no previous works have investigated the media uses and gratifications of the blind and the partially sighted in Hong Kong. The main purpose of this research is to examine the media use behaviour and motivations as well as the reception and preferences of the visually impaired audiences when consuming AD. After examining the main characteristics of AD and its history in Hong Kong, the study focuses on a media accessibility survey under the uses and gratifications framework, and an AD reception study. The views of 44 blind and partially sighted participants are elicited through individual face-to-face interviews. During the reception study, a pre-questionnaire, a questionnaire proper, experimental clips with different versions of AD, and a post-questionnaire were used to identify their AD preferences. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected. The results reveal that the participants are not satisfied with the current provision of AD services, they demand higher volumes of materials with AD, and have certain AD preferences that if taken properly into account by the industry could help improve their comprehension of audiovisual programmes. The findings offer important insights into the situation of AD in Hong Kong and recommendations are put forward for future developments to serve the community, especially in terms of training audio describers

Include 2011 : The role of inclusive design in making social innovation happen.

Include is the biennial conference held at the RCA and hosted by the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design. The event is directed by Jo-Anne Bichard and attracts an international delegation

Digital libraries for creative communities

Digital library technologies have a great deal to offer to creative, design communities. They can enable large collections of text, images, music, video and other information objects to be organised and accessed in interesting and diverse ways. Ordinary people—people not traditionally viewed as 'creators' or 'designers'—can now conceive, assemble, build, and disseminate new information collections. This paper explores the development rationale behind the Greenstone digital library technology. We also examine three examples of creative new techniques for accessing and presenting information in digital libraries and stress the importance of tailoring information access to support the requirements of the users and application area

A survey of comics research in computer science

Graphical novels such as comics and mangas are well known all over the world. The digital transition started to change the way people are reading comics, more and more on smartphones and tablets and less and less on paper. In the recent years, a wide variety of research about comics has been proposed and might change the way comics are created, distributed and read in future years. Early work focuses on low level document image analysis: indeed comic books are complex, they contains text, drawings, balloon, panels, onomatopoeia, etc. Different fields of computer science covered research about user interaction and content generation such as multimedia, artificial intelligence, human-computer interaction, etc. with different sets of values. We propose in this paper to review the previous research about comics in computer science, to state what have been done and to give some insights about the main outlooks

Self-study guide to developing English linguistic competences for students of Computer Sciences

Методичні вказівки призначені для самостійної роботи студентів ІТ спеціальностей над опануванням фахової термінології та мають на меті допомогти студентам І та ІІ курсів самостійно працювати над розширенням словникового запасу, розвитком вмінь здобування інформації з англомовних текстових джерел

Self-study guide to developing English linguistic competences for students of Computer Sciences

Методичні вказівки призначені для самостійної роботи студентів ІТ спеціальностей над опануванням фахової термінології та мають на меті допомогти студентам І та ІІ курсів самостійно працювати над розширенням словникового запасу, розвитком вмінь здобування інформації з англомовних текстових джерел