The big picture? Video and the representation of interaction

Researchers who use video to record interactions usually need to translate the video data into another medium at some stage in order to facilitate its analysis and dissemination. This article considers some methodological issues that arise in this process by examining transcripts, diagrams and pictures as examples of different techniques for representing interaction. These examples are used to identify some general principles for the representation of data where video is the source material. The article presents an outline of guided interaction and this is used as a case for illustrating these principles in the context of young children, technology and adults in pre-school settings. Although the article focuses on a specific study and solution, the principles are applicable in all cases where video is used as a source of data for the representation of interaction, whether or not it is technologically mediated

Adjuvant External Beam Radiotherapy Following Enucleation of Eyes With Extraocular Extension From Uveal Melanoma

PURPOSE: To report local disease control and all-cause mortality in patients with extraocular extension (EOE) of uveal melanoma undergoing enucleation followed by observation or external beam radiotherapy (EBRT). METHODS: Charts of patients enucleated between January 1, 1997 and December 31, 2019, with histopathological evidence of EOE of uveal melanoma were reviewed. RESULTS: The cohort comprised 51 patients with a mean age of 67 ± 15 years, 22 (43%) of whom underwent adjuvant postenucleation EBRT. Risk factors for metastasis included presence of epithelioid cells (29/45; 88%), closed loops (20/43; 47%), monosomy 3 (16/25; 64%), and gain of 8q (20/22; 91%). Patients undergoing EBRT had more extensive EOE (median: 5.1 mm vs. 2.6 mm, p = 0.008) and surgical excision was less likely to be histologically complete (2/20; 10% vs. 14/25; 56%, p = 0.002). Local side effects following EBRT were seen in 64% (14/22). At latest follow up, 59% of patients (30/51) were alive, with a median follow up of 1.8 years (interquartile range: 2.9; range: 0.1-6.5]. By Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, the 5- and 10-year overall survival rates were 56% and 12%, respectively. There was no difference in all-cause mortality between those receiving adjuvant EBRT and those who were observed (log rank, p = 0.273). No cases of orbital recurrence were documented. CONCLUSIONS: Orbital EBRT causes significant morbidity. Cases with relatively small EOE undergoing enucleation can be safely observed, without adjuvant EBRT. Multicenter studies are required to better assess the role of EBRT when EOE is more extensive

Supporting learning with 3D interactive applications in early years

Early years education is an key element for the introduction of children in the education system. In order to improve this process, the aim of this study was to explore how guided interaction with 3D apps can fit into a preschool setting, how it can help children learn through playing and how it can improve their learning outcomes. A study was conducted with six classes of 87 students aged between 3 years to 6 years, over a 12-week period. Children used 10 inch Android tablets with a series of apps developed by our research team, about houses of the world, the skeleton & five senses and, animals. A quasi-experimental design based on a nonequivalent groups pretest and posttest de-sign revealed that an active behavior and better learning outcomes are obtained by children participating in the experimental groupCascales Martínez, A.; Martínez Segura, MJ.; Laguna- Segobia, M.; Pérez Lopez, DC.; Contero, M. (2014). Supporting learning with 3D interactive applications in early years. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. 8524:11-22. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-07485-6_2S11228524Plowman, L., Stephen, C.: Children, Play and Computers in Preschool Education. British Journal of Educational Technology 36(2), 145–157 (2005)Tootell, H., Plumb, M., Hadfield, C., Dawson, L.: Gestural Interface Technology in early childhood education: A framework for fully-engaged communication. In: Proceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, art. no. 6479836, pp. 13–20 (2013)Marco, J., Cerezo, E.: Bringing Tabletop Technologies to Kindergarten Children. In: HCI 2009 International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction–Celebrating People and Technology, pp. 103–111. Springer, Heidelberg (2009)Heft, T.M., Swaminathan, S.: Using Computers in Early Childhood Classrooms: Teachers’ Attitudes, Skills and Practices. Journal of Early Childhood Research 6(4), 169–188 (2006)Wang, X.C., Ching, C.C.: Social Construction of Computer Experience in a First-Grade Classroom: Social Processes and Mediating Artifacts. Early Education and Development 14(3), 335–361 (2003)Couse, L.J., Chen, D.W.: A Tablet Computer for Young Children? Exploring Its Viability for Early Childhood Education. Journal of Research on Technology in Education 43(1), 75–98 (2012)Kearney, J.: Educating Young Children - Learning and Teaching in the Early Childhood Years. Early Childhood Teachers’ Association (ECTA Inc.) 3(18) (2012)Rankothge, W.H., Sendanayake, S.V., Sudarshana, R.G.P., Balasooriya, B.G.G.H., Alahapperuma, D.R., Mallawarachchi, Y.: Technology Assisted Tool for Learning Skills Development in Early Childhood. In: Proc. of 2012 International Conference on Advances in ICT for Emerging Regions (ICTer), pp. 165–168 (2012)Sandvik, M., Smørdal, O., Østerud, S.: Exploring iPads in Practitioners’ Repertoires for Language Learning and Literacy Practices In Kindergarten. Nordic Journal of Digital Literacy 3(7), 204–221 (2012)Priyankara, K.W.T.G.T., Mahawaththa, D.C., Nawinna, D.P., Jayasundara, J.M.A., Tharuka, K.D.N., Rajapaksha, S.K.: Android Based e-Learning Solution for Early Childhood Education in Sri Lanka. In: Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Computer Science & Education (ICCSE), pp. 715–718 (2013)Zanchi, C., Presser, A.L., Vahey, P.: Next Generation Preschool Math Demo: Tablet Games for Preschool Classrooms. In: Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children, IDC 2013, pp. 527–530 (2013)Meyer, B.: Game-based Language Learning for Pre-School Children: A Design Perspective. Electronic Journal of e-Learning 11(1), 39–48 (2013)Straub, D.W.: Validating Instruments in MIS Research. MIS Quarterly 13(2), 147–169 (1989)Cook, T.D., Campbell, D.T., Day, A.: Quasi-experimentation: Design and Analysis Issues for Field Settings, pp. 19–21. Houghton Mifflin, Boston (1979)Buendía, L., Y Berrocal, E.: La Ética de la Investigación Educativa. Ágora Digital 1 (2011)Tojar, J., Serrano, J.: Ética e Investigación Educativa. RELIEVE 6(2) (2000)Cascales, A., Laguna, I., Pérez-López, D., Perona, P., Contero, M.: 3D Interactive Applications on Tablets for Preschoolers: Exploring the Human Skeleton and the Senses. In: Hernández-Leo, D., Ley, T., Klamma, R., Harrer, A. (eds.) EC-TEL 2013. LNCS, vol. 8095, pp. 71–83. Springer, Heidelberg (2013

Children, play and computers in pre-school education

The paper reports a study designed to inform the development of an information and communication technology strategy for the pre-school years of education. The main methods of collecting evidence were observations at seven pre-school settings and interviews with at least two practitioners and a number of children at each site. Practitioners generally referred to children “playing with the computer”. We describe some of the problems to be found in the emphasis on free play in nurseries and play groups when this means children are using computers as complete novices. There were few examples of peer support; adults rarely intervened or offered guidance and the most common form of intervention was reactive supervision. Interaction with a computer was therefore a limited experience for most children, but we provide examples of guided interaction that suggest a way forward for professional development

H-Ras Nanocluster Stability Regulates the Magnitude of MAPK Signal Output

H-Ras is a binary switch that is activated by multiple co-factors and triggers several key cellular pathways one of which is MAPK. The specificity and magnitude of downstream activation is achieved by the spatio-temporal organization of the active H-Ras in the plasma membrane. Upon activation, the GTP bound H-Ras binds to Galectin-1 (Gal-1) and becomes transiently immobilized in short-lived nanoclusters on the plasma membrane from which the signal is propagated to Raf. In the current study we show that stabilizing the H-Ras-Gal-1 interaction, using bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC), leads to prolonged immobilization of H-Ras.GTP in the plasma membrane which was measured by fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP), and increased signal out-put to the MAPK module. EM measurements of Raf recruitment to the H-Ras.GTP nanoclusters demonstrated that the enhanced signaling observed in the BiFC stabilized H-Ras.GTP nanocluster was attributed to increased H-Ras immobilization rather than to an increase in Raf recruitment. Taken together these data demonstrate that the magnitude of the signal output from a GTP-bound H-Ras nanocluster is proportional to its stability

No ‘silver bullet’:Multiple factors control population dynamics of european purple sea urchins in Lough Hyne marine reserve, Ireland

Two-decade-long monitoring studies at Europe\u27s first statutory marine reserve—Lough Hyne in SW Ireland—indicate that benthic communities are rapidly changing. Populations of the ecologically important purple urchin (Paracentrotus lividus) have fluctuated widely, most recently with a population boom in the late 1990s, followed by a mass mortality that persists to the present day. Eight general hypotheses have been proposed to account for the urchin decline including cold temperature limiting reproduction, ephemeral algal exudates disrupting urchin fertilization, low larval availability (due to over-harvesting and/or episodic recruitment), high mortality of settlers and juveniles due to hypoxia, hyperoxia, or predation (a trophic cascade hypothesis), and increased mortality due to pathogens (stress hypothesis). The cold-temperature and the trophic cascade hypotheses appear unlikely. The remaining hypotheses, however, all seem to play a role, to some degree, in driving the urchin decline. Ulvoid exudates, for example, significantly reduced urchin fertilization and few larvae were found in plankton tows (2012–2015), indicating low larval availability in summer. Whilst settling urchins regularly recruited under shallow-subtidal rocks until 2011, no settlers were found in these habitats from 2011 to 2014 or in field experiments (2012–2018) using various settlement substrata. Seawater quality was poor in shallow areas of the lough with extreme oxygen fluctuations (diel-cycling hypoxia), and 1-day experimental exposures to DO values < 1 mg L−1 were lethal to most juvenile urchins. Multiple increases of the predatory spiny starfish (Marthasterias glacialis) population in recent decades may also have contributed to the demise of the coexisting juvenile urchins. Finally, urchins of all sizes were seen suffering from dropped spines, tissue necrosis, or white-coloured infection, suggestive of stress-related pathogen mortality. There was a paucity of broken tests, indicating limited predation by large crustaceans; the large number of adult urchins ‘missing’ and few P. lividus tests on the north shore points to possible urchin removal by poachers and/or starfish predation. While these ecological, environmental, and anthropogenic processes occur on open coast rocky shores, many are exacerbated by the semi-enclosed nature of this fully marine sea lough due to its limited flushing. Multiple factors, including low larval availability and rapidly expanding starfish populations, coupled with degraded habitat quality (ephemeral algal mats and extreme oxygen fluctuations), indicate that the purple urchin populations will not recover without an improvement in the water quality of Lough Hyne Marine Reserve, the restocking of urchins, and protection from poaching

An ecological exploration of the Internet of Toys in early childhood everyday life

Throughout this chapter, the focus is on the importance of children’s agency in their use of Internet of Toys (IoToys). We think about children’s capabilities as part of digitally mediated eco-communities. Informed by the socio-ecological model, children’s, practitioners’ and parents’ dispositions helped contextualise the factors that shape children’s use of IoToys. We provide the following key messages throughout the chapter: 1.A discussion of passivity or empowerment as part of children’s digital lives with IoToys, in line with Craft’s (2013) work. 2.A reanalysis of perceptions of childhood in the digital age, linking to the sociological models of childhood and the role of children as competent and agentic. 3.An account of socio-ecological influences on digital lives, likened to Rogoff’s (2008) three planes relating to individual, interpersonal and community alongside a discussion of how the interpersonal plane can be reimagined to include interactions between child and machine. 4.A note of caution against the passive child agenda and recurrent moral panic