AUGGMED: developing multiplayer serious games technology to enhance first responder training

Many serious games are designed for single player access only. However, the benefits of the immersive nature of serious games and virtual reality may be enhanced when teams who usually train together can also do so within a virtual environment. The purpose of this article is to outline the architecture of the AUGGMED serious game and discuss the technical challenges faced when creating a multiplayer counter terrorism training serious game utilising virtual reality, touch screen interfaces and a realistic crowd simulation. AUGGMED is designed using an agile modular approach utilising user centred design principles, with each technical developer owning a set of tools which are continuously integrated, piloted, and improved throughout the development cycle. Constant piloting with first responders enables iterative improvements, which meet end user training requirements. Building a multiplayer training game specialised in providing realistic simulation of real situations, and enabling users to interface with the simulation through virtual reality identifies a large set of technical challenges. The article identifies a number of the challenges faced while developing AUGGMED and the solutions used to overcome them, including barriers and logistical/technical difficulties to integrating multiple existing (Exodus crowd simulation) and new (virtual reality) technologies into a single serious game for training first responders

A Review on Tools, Mechanics, Benefits, and Challenges of Gamified Software Testing

Gamification is an established practice in Software Engineering to increase effectiveness and engagement in many practices. This manuscript provides a characterisation of the application of gamification to the Software Testing area. Such practice in fact reportedly suffers from low engagement by both personnel in industrial contexts and learners in educational contexts. Our goal is to identify the application areas and utilised gamified techniques and mechanics, the provided benefits and drawbacks, as well as the open challenges in the field. To this purpose, we conducted a Multivocal Literature Review to identify white and grey literature sources addressing gamified software testing. We analysed 73 contributions and summarised the most common gamified mechanics, concepts, tools and domains where they are mostly applied. We conclude that gamification in software testing is mostly applied to the test creation phase with simple white-box unit or mutation testing tools, and is mostly used to foster good behaviours by promoting the testers’ accomplishment. Key research areas and main challenges in the field are: careful design of tailored gamified mechanics for specific testing techniques; the need for technological improvements to enable crowdsourcing, cooperation, and concurrency; the necessity for empirical and large-scale evaluation of the benefits delivered by gamification mechanics

Interventions use during the second stage of labour: An exploration of what affects their use in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

The increase in medical intervention has had a significant influence over the last century in western and developed countries, and such practices continue to increase despite efforts to encourage normal childbirth. The aim of this project is to explore the use of interventions during the second stage of labour among healthcare professionals in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and determine what factors may be influencing their use. It builds on the findings of my Master’s dissertation, which identified a high rate of routine interventions. To fulfil this aim, the research includes data from an exploratory qualitative study, conducted using an ethnographic approach. Data collection methods included participant observations of 19 labours and births (11 in HA and 8 in HB) and semi-structured interviews with 29 healthcare professionals (16 in HA and 13 in HB) comprising obstetricians [n=10], midwives [n=12], nurses [n=6] and nurse-midwife [n=1] from two government hospitals in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. In addition, the hospital labour and delivery ward policies and guidelines from those hospitals were also collected. Data were collected between October 2011 and September 2012 in Jeddah, after seeking ethical approval from City University London and from each of the hospitals involved in the study. All participant observations, interviews, field diary, and hospital documentation was recorded using a word processing package (Word 2010) and then transferred into qualitative data analysis software (QDAS) (Atlas.ti 7), which was used for the data analysis. My first impressions of these data are that there are many interventions used during labour and births, which are influenced by many factors mentioned by the healthcare professionals during the interviews or observed during birth. These factors are likely, however, to cluster into a smaller number of broad themes. One of the major themes that I am currently analysing is the routine use of the Electronic Foetal monitoring (EFM)

TENSOR: retrieval and analysis of heterogeneous online content for terrorist activity recognition

The proliferation of terrorist generated content online is a cause for concern as it goes together with the rise of radicalisation and violent extremism. Law enforcement agencies (LEAs) need powerful platforms to help stem the influence of such content. This article showcases the TENSOR project which focusses on the early detection of online terrorist activities, radicalisation and recruitment. Operating under the H2020 Secure Societies Challenge, TENSOR aims to develop a terrorism intelligence platform for increasing the ability of LEAs to identify, gather and analyse terrorism-related online content. The mechanisms to tackle this challenge by bringing together LEAs, industry, research, and legal experts are presented

Solution structure of the Hop TPR2A domain and investigation of target druggability by NMR, biochemical and in silico approaches

Heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) is a molecular chaperone that plays an important role in tumour biology by promoting the stabilisation and activity of oncogenic ‘client’ proteins. Inhibition of Hsp90 by small-molecule drugs, acting via its ATP hydrolysis site, has shown promise as a molecularly targeted cancer therapy. Owing to the importance of Hop and other tetratricopeptide repeat (TPR)-containing cochaperones in regulating Hsp90 activity, the Hsp90-TPR domain interface is an alternative site for inhibitors, which could result in effects distinct from ATP site binders. The TPR binding site of Hsp90 cochaperones includes a shallow, positively charged groove that poses a significant challenge for druggability. Herein, we report the apo, solution-state structure of Hop TPR2A which enables this target for NMR-based screening approaches. We have designed prototype TPR ligands that mimic key native ‘carboxylate clamp’ interactions between Hsp90 and its TPR cochaperones and show that they block binding between Hop TPR2A and the Hsp90 C-terminal MEEVD peptide. We confirm direct TPR-binding of these ligands by mapping 1H–15N HSQC chemical shift perturbations to our new NMR structure. Our work provides a novel structure, a thorough assessment of druggability and robust screening approaches that may offer a potential route, albeit difficult, to address the chemically challenging nature of the Hop TPR2A target, with relevance to other TPR domain interactors

Cybersecurity Education and Formal Methods

Formal methods have been largely thought of in the context of safety-critical systems, where they have achieved major acceptance. Tens of millions of people trust their lives every day to such systems, based on formal proofs rather than "we haven’t found a bug" (yet!); but why is "we haven’t found a bug" an acceptable basis for systems trusted with hundreds of millions of people’s personal data?This paper looks at some of these issues in cybersecurity, and the extent to which formal methods, ranging from "fully verified" to better tool support, could help. More importantly, recent policy reports and curricula initiatives appear to recommended formal methods in the limited context of "safety critical applications"; we suggest this is too limited in scope and ambition. Not only are formal methods needed in cybersecurity, the repeated and very public weaknesses of the cybersecurity industry provide a powerful motivation for formal methods

Application of Industry4.0 Tools: Integrated Building Site Payment Management Portal for Construction Works

Managing construction site financial engagement is one of prerequisite of an effective site management system. In recent times, Building informatics concept has been useful in developing state of art equipment and process. In this study therefore, building informatics integrated system was generated, which could be adapted to financial management purpose on site. The research was carried out using qualitative research method; qualitative research method involved the use of structured questionnaire developed in Likert scale 1 to 5. Therefore with the aid of purposive sampling method, sixty (60) samples were picked comprising of construction professionals. Construction professional constitute the nucleus of the respondents. The statistical inference was carried out on the data with Relative agreement Index and presented in tables. Qualitative method was used to develop the proposed integrated system. The study developed an integrated system that could assist in overcoming the negative vices of payment on site. The following task was carried out in line with aim of the study: identification of existing web-based financial platform, critical success factor in deployment of payment interface, methods of preventing financial conflict on site, challenges of web- interface, critical success factor in deployment of payment interface, identification of strengths and weaknesses of existing web-based financial platforms, among others. The interface can help solve basic problem about financial payment difficulty on site. The direction of choice should be in automating different aspect of building and construction for maximum productivity. The system that was developed in the context of this study can help prevent cost overrun on site, payment conflict, and delay payment among others

Neural correlates of visual perceptual learning and inhibitory neurotransmitter in humans using magnetic resonance spectroscopy

The role of excitatory processes in human visual learning has been well characterised through the use of technologies such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). However, established imaging modalities do not distinguish excitatory processes from the inhibitory ones that are also involved. Here we investigate inhibitory processes using magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) and the MEGA-PRESS pulse sequence. We measure concentrations of the inhibitory neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in different brain regions as functional markers of inhibitory potential. We then investigate the correlations between GABA concentrations and psychophysical learning metrics. We detail a full analysis pipeline that improves the accuracy of in vivo GABA quantification and introduce new scaling methods to resolve the grey matter contribution to metabolite measurements. We develop visual learning experiments that are mediated by training difficulty, which we link to inhibitory processes across different time scales. We also present novel evidence for GABAergic inhibitory mechanisms across multiple brain areas using fine and coarse discrimination tasks. Our results support a cooperative top-down and bottom-up model of visual learning in occipital and frontal cortical regions. Our findings reveal chemical interactions with cognition to contribute to our understanding of inhibitory processes in the human learning brain