Mapping Learning and Game Mechanics for Serious Games Analysis in Engineering Education

In a world where students are increasing digitally tethered to powerful, ‘always on’ mobile devices, new models of engagement and approaches to teaching and learning are required from educators. Serious Games (SG) have proved to have instructional potential but there is still a lack of methodologies and tools not only for their design but also to support game analysis and assessment. This paper explores the use of SG to increase student engagement and retention. The development phase of the Circuit Warz game is presented to demonstrate how electronic engineering education can be radically reimagined to create immersive, highly engaging learning experiences that are problem-centered and pedagogically sound. The Learning Mechanics–Game Mechanics (LM-GM) framework for SG game analysis is introduced and its practical use in an educational game design scenario is shown as a case study

Clinical Processes - The Killer Application for Constraint-Based Process Interactions?

For more than a decade, the interest in aligning information systems in a process-oriented way has been increasing. To enable operational support for business processes, the latter are usually specified in an imperative way. The resulting process models, however, tend to be too rigid to meet the flexibility demands of the actors involved. Declarative process modeling languages, in turn, provide a promising alternative in scenarios in which a high level of flexibility is demanded. In the scientific literature, declarative languages have been used for modeling rather simple processes or synthetic examples. However, to the best of our knowledge, they have not been used to model complex, real-world scenarios that comprise constraints going beyond control-flow. In this paper, we propose the use of a declarative language for modeling a sophisticated healthcare process scenario from the real world. The scenario is subject to complex temporal constraints and entails the need for coordinating the constraint-based interactions among the processes related to a patient treatment process. As demonstrated in this work, the selected real process scenario can be suitably modeled through a declarative approach.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2016-76956-C3-2-RMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2015-71938-RED

The chemical composition of the aerial parts essential oil of Acinos alpinus subsp. nebrodensis (Lamiaceae) growing in Sicily (Italy)

Acinos is a small genus of economically important plants belonging to Lamiaceae family whose botanical collocation is quite problematic due to the disagreement among the botanists and the presence in litera- ture of several names and synonyms from different sources. In the pre- sent study the chemical composition of the essential oil from aerial parts of Acinos alpinus subsp. nebrodensis (Strobl) Brullo & Brullo col- lected in Central Sicily was analyzed by GC-MS. The result showed the presence of large quantity of sesquiterpene hydrocarbons with germa- crene D (37.9%) as the most abundant component followed by (E)- b-caryophyllene (5.1%). Among the oxygenated monoterpenes thymol (8.3%) was the most abundant; good quantity of hexadecanoic acid (6.8%) was also observed. Chemotaxonomic considerations with respect all the other oils of Acinos taxa, studied so far, were carried out

High Glucose Impairs Expression and Activation of MerTK in ARPE-19 Cells

MerTK (Mer Tyrosine Kinase) is a cell surface receptor that regulates phagocytosis of pho-toreceptor outer segments (POS) in retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells. POS phagocytosis is im-paired in several pathologies, including diabetes. In this study, we investigate whether hyperglyce-mic conditions may affect MerTK expression and activation in ARPE-19 cells, a retinal pigment epithelial cellular model. ARPE-19 cells were cultured in standard (CTR) or high-glucose (HG) me-dium for 24 h. Then, we analyzed: mRNA levels and protein expression of MerTK and ADAM9, a protease that cleaves the extracellular region of MerTK; the amount of cleaved Mer (sMer); and the ability of GAS6, a MerTK ligand, to induce MerTK phosphorylation. Since HG reduces miR-126 levels, and ADAM9 is a target of miR-126, ARPE-19 cells were transfected with miR-126 inhibitor or mimic; then, we evaluated ADAM9 expression, sMer, and POS phagocytosis. We found that HG reduced expression and activation of MerTK. Contextually, HG increased expression of ADAM9 and the amount of sMer. Overexpression of miR-126 reduced levels of sMer and improved phago-cytosis in ARPE-19 cells cultured with HG. In this study, we demonstrate that HG compromises MerTK expression and activation in ARPE-19 cells. Our results suggest that HG up-regulates ADAM9 expression, leading to increased shedding of MerTK. The consequent rise in sMer coupled to reduced expression of MerTK impairs binding and internalization of POS in ARPE-19 cells

Distinguishing cancerous from non-cancerous cells through analysis of electrical noise

Since 1984, electric cell-substrate impedance sensing (ECIS) has been used to monitor cell behavior in tissue culture and has proven sensitive to cell morphological changes and cell motility. We have taken ECIS measurements on several cultures of non-cancerous (HOSE) and cancerous (SKOV) human ovarian surface epithelial cells. By analyzing the noise in real and imaginary electrical impedance, we demonstrate that it is possible to distinguish the two cell types purely from signatures of their electrical noise. Our measures include power-spectral exponents, Hurst and detrended fluctuation analysis, and estimates of correlation time; principal-component analysis combines all the measures. The noise from both cancerous and non-cancerous cultures shows correlations on many time scales, but these correlations are stronger for the non-cancerous cells.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures; submitted to PR

RECENT SEISMICITY (2000-2007) IN THE TIBURTINI-PRENESTINI MOUNTAINS REGION (LATIUM, ITALY)

A detailed knowledge of the seismicity distribution enables us to gain a better understanding of the recent tectonic evolution and the present-day state of stress of the Tiburtini and Prenestini Mountains region, whose seismic importance is related with the nearness to the town of Rome. It has been carried out an analysis of the seismicity of the region using the data recorded by the permanent stations belonging to the Italian National Seismic Network (RSNC) from 2000, and subsequently integrated with data of local seismic network from 2003 to 2007. The increase of the number of stations in the last years allow us to obtain better quality earthquake localization as before done. We have produced a large database of re-picked events collecting arrival times of P and S waves of local earthquakes with magnitude larger than 2.0, belonging to the 2000-2007 period. The work is subdivided into three step. The first one consists in the determination of the VP/VS ratio using the modified Wadati method. In the second step we perform the analysis of the 1D velocity model that better approximates the structure of the crust in the studied area using the VELEST code (Kissling et al., 1995). Finally, we have the step with earthquake locations and focal mechanisms computation using the first motion polarities method. Fault plane solutions are selected following the two quality factors defined by the FPFIT code (Reasenberg and Oppenheimer, 1985). For the determination of the regional stress field it is used the focal mechanism inversion method elaborated by Gephart and Forsyth (1984). These results are compared with those available from the historical seismicity that struck the region under study

Multi-frequency observations of a superbubble in the LMC: The case of LHA 120-N 70

We present a detailed study of new Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) and XMM-Newton observations of LHA 120-N 70 (hereafter N 70), a spherically shaped object in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) classified as a superbubble (SB). Both archival and new observations were used to produce high quality radio-continuum, X-ray and optical images. The radio spectral index of N 70 is estimated to be $\alpha=-0.12\pm 0.06$ indicating that while a supernova or supernovae have occurred in the region at some time in the distant past, N70 is not the remnant of a single specific supernova. N70 exhibits limited polarisation with a maximum fractional polarisation of 9% in a small area of the north west limb. We estimate the size of N 70 to have a diameter of 104 pc ($\pm 1$ pc). The morphology of N 70 in X-rays closely follows that in radio and optical, with most X-ray emission confined within the bright shell seen at longer wavelengths. Purely thermal models adequately fit the soft X-ray spectrum which lacks harder emission (above 1 keV). We also examine the pressure output of N 70 where the values for the hot (PX) and warm (PHii) phase are consistent with other studied Hii regions. However, the dust-processed radiation pressure (PIR) is significantly smaller than in any other object studied in Lopez et al. (2013). N70 is a very complex region that is likely to have had multiple factors contributing to both the origin and evolution of the entire region.Comment: 21 pages 8 figures accepted for publication in A

On the isoperimetric problem with respect to a mixed Euclidean-Gaussian density

Abstract. The isoperimetric problem with respect to the product-type density e − |x| 2 2 dx dy on the Euclidean space R h × R k is studied, with particular emphasis on the case k = 1. A conjecture about the minimality of large cylinders in the case k > 1 is also formulated

Dexamethasone and oxygen therapy in care home residents with diabetes: a management guide and algorithm for treatment: a rapid response action statement from the European Diabetes Working Party for Older People (EDWPOP) and European Geriatric Medicine Society (EuGMS)

This statement addresses the need to provide clinically relevant and practical guidance for long-term care staff working in care homes and other stakeholders engaged in the care of residents who require consideration for dexamethasone and oxygen therapy. It had been provided following a series of consensus discussions between the EDWPOP and the EuGMS in January and February 2021. Its main aim is to minimise morbidity and mortality from serious acute illnesses including COVID-19 requiring these treatments within the long-term care sector. © 2021, The Author(s)

Healthcare Insights: Evaluating the Access to the Italian Healthcare System

The Italian health system is organised on a regional basis and services are provided by both public and private operators, affecting the planning of services, access to services by citizens and their health rights. The creation of an observatory monitoring the methods and times of access to healthcare services has been pursued. The preliminary phase of the project is presented, which will lead to the comparison of the data obtained from 2019, with an eye on the Covid-19 pandemic impact