Manifestations of hard and soft technologies in immersive spaces

Immersive spaces are innately flexible. However, for learners, some constraints and scaffolding may often be valuable. This paper looks at immersive spaces as soft and hard technologies. Soft technologies are technologies enabling creative and flexible use, while hard technologies embed processes that limit creativity but provide efficiency and freedom from error. Technologies may be softened or hardened by assembly. For instance, if your Learning Management System (LMS) has no wiki, then it may be softened by adding one from outside the system. If your wiki has no assessment management system, then it may be hardened by using a LMS. For learning, the intrinsically soft nature of immersive spaces sometimes requires scaffolded hardening. This paper provides an example of an ongoing project that realizes these soft and hard technologies in an immersive virtual space and discusses the rich potential of such spaces for technology assembly

The Genetic Determinants of Complex Lipid and Lipoprotein Phenotypes

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the primary cause of death globally and is estimated to cause one-third of deaths in Canada. Each year, millions of Canadians are affected by CVD despite ongoing efforts to reduce risk through lifestyle modifications and pharmacological therapies. With the expected rise in CVD prevalence due to the obesity epidemic, we need to better understand the genetic basis of heritable, modifiable risk factors, including levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and triglyceride, for insights into future therapeutic treatments and risk prediction. Through the use of a targeted next-generation sequencing panel designed specifically to study lipid and metabolic disorders, I have explored a spectrum of genetic variation—including rare and common variants, single-nucleotide and copy-number variants—in over 3,000 DNA samples isolated from individuals with abnormal lipid phenotypes, including: (i) hypoalphalipoproteinemia; (ii) hyperalphalipoproteinemia; and (iii) hypertriglyceridemia. From my research efforts, I demonstrated that the majority of individuals with abnormal HDL cholesterol levels did not carry many phenotypically-relevant genetic factors, but in those who did, rare variants were more prevalent in individuals with extremely low HDL cholesterol levels, while both rare variants and the accumulation of common variants were approximately equal in individuals with extremely high HDL cholesterol levels. Meanwhile, hypertriglyceridemia had a stronger genetic basis, with common variant accumulation being the most prevalent genetic determinant. Further, I uncovered that genetic determinants are more prevalent as the hypertriglyceridemia phenotype becomes more severe, and a genetic locus, CREB3L3, may have an extremely important, previously unappreciated role in hypertriglyceridemia susceptibility. By better understanding the genetic underpinnings of abnormal levels of HDL cholesterol and triglyceride, future efforts can explore the relationship between these phenotypes and their genetic determinants, and how we might leverage this information to develop better therapeutics to lower levels of these risk factors or create screening methods to identify individuals who might be at higher risk for CVD

Self-assembled Containers based on Extended-Tetrathiafulvalene

International audienc

Social media conversations about high engagement sports team brands

This study conducts an analysis of social media discussions related to high engagement sports brands. More specifically, our study examined the English Premier League (EPL). Our study sought to retrieve data systematically over the same day, weekly, for a period of 5-months. After this process we had built twenty datasets and NodeXL was utilised to analyse the data. After we had this data we were able to use qualitative observations to identify key users and conversations that formed around the EPL as well as the connections between the conversations that arose from the brand’s posts and people involved in them. We also analysed the quantitative data underpinning our network visualisations to provide further insights. The most obvious initial finding was that when the EPL tweets, this prompted a large volume of conversations directly related to these tweets. However, we also noted that EPL tweets also help instigate further, sometimes unrelated tweets and conversations. More specifically, we identified that the visualised network of conversations was of a broadcast form, which is characterised by messages being generated by a central account (the EPL) and shared by a number of decentralised users. Based on our analysis we propose the SCISM framework that is likely to be of interest to brands that wish to promote, sustain, and benefit from their instigation of social media conversations

Tetrathiafulvalene-based architectures : from recognition properties to self-assembly

Date du colloque&nbsp;: 06/2010</p

Оценка возможностей ракеты-носителя для вывода средств отвода космических объектов с околоземной орбиты

Розглянуто основні джерела утворення космічного сміття на космічних орбітах та шляхи й методи мінімізації забруднення навколоземного простру. Показано, що основними шляхами боротьби з космічним сміттям є запобігання появі нового й видалення вже існуючого. Визначені методи та засоби уводу космічних апаратів з робочих орбіт за закінченням терміну активного існування й відомі способи й системи активного видалення великих фрагментів космічного сміття. Як основний принцип видалення великих об’єктів з навколоземного космічного простору, розглядається кероване їх зведення в щільні шари атмосфери шляхом використання спеціального космічного апарата - космічного сміттєзбирача, до складу якого входить двигунна установка. Виконана оцінка можливостей ракет-носіїв, які можуть бути застосовані для виведення цих сміттєзбирачів на задані орбіти.The main sources of space debris in space orbit, ways and means to minimize the near-Earth space pollution. It is shown that the main ways to combat space Muso-set is to prevent the emergence of a new and deleting already-established th. Define methods and means of O spacecraft from working orbits of the expiration of the term of active existence, the known methods and B tem of active removal of space debris larger. As wasps basic principles remove large objects from near-Earth space, is considered to manage their erection in the dense layers of the atmosphere through the use of a special spacecraft - cosmic-ray clean sweep, which includes the propulsion system. You are a full assessment of the capabilities of carrier rockets, which can be applied to us, the withdrawal of these garbage trucks into the desired orbit.Рассмотрены основные источники образования космического мусора на космических орбитах, пути и методы минимизации загрязнения околоземного пространства. Показано, что основными путями борьбы с космическим мусором является предотвращение появления нового и удаления уже существующего. Определены методы и средства вывода космических аппаратов с рабочих орбит за истечением срока активного существования, известные способы и системы активного удаления крупных фрагментов космического мусора. Как основной принцип удаления крупных объектов из околоземного космического пространства, рассматривается управляемое их возведения в плотные слои атмосферы путем использования специального космического аппарата - космического мусоросборщика, в состав которого входит двигательная установка. Выполнена оценка возможностей ракет-носителей, которые могут быть применены для вывода этих мусоросборщиков на заданные орбиты

Targeted next generation sequencing as a tool for precision medicine

Background: Targeted next-generation sequencing (NGS) enables rapid identification of common and rare genetic variation. The detection of variants contributing to therapeutic drug response or adverse effects is essential for implementation of individualized pharmacotherapy. Successful application of short-read based NGS to pharmacogenes with high sequence homology, nearby pseudogenes and complex structure has been previously shown despite anticipated technical challenges. However, little is known regarding the utility of such panels to detect copy number variation (CNV) in the highly polymorphic cytochrome P450 (CYP) 2D6 gene, or to identify the promoter (TA)7 TAA repeat polymorphism UDP glucuronosyltransferase (UGT) 1A1∗28. Here we developed and validated PGxSeq, a targeted exome panel for pharmacogenes pertinent to drug disposition and/or response. Methods: A panel of capture probes was generated to assess 422 kb of total coding region in 100 pharmacogenes. NGS was carried out in 235 subjects, and sequencing performance and accuracy of variant discovery validated in clinically relevant pharmacogenes. CYP2D6 CNV was determined using the bioinformatics tool CNV caller (VarSeq). Identified SNVs were assessed in terms of population allele frequency and predicted functional effects through in silico algorithms. Results: Adequate performance of the PGxSeq panel was demonstrated with a depth-of-coverage (DOC) ≥ 20× for at least 94% of the target sequence. We showed accurate detection of 39 clinically relevant gene variants compared to standard genotyping techniques (99.9% concordance), including CYP2D6 CNV and UGT1A1∗28. Allele frequency of rare or novel variants and predicted function in 235 subjects mirrored findings from large genomic datasets. A large proportion of patients (78%, 183 out of 235) were identified as homozygous carriers of at least one variant necessitating altered pharmacotherapy. Conclusions: PGxSeq can serve as a comprehensive, rapid, and reliable approach for the detection of common and novel SNVs in pharmacogenes benefiting the emerging field of precision medicine

C60 Recognition from Extended Tetrathiafulvalene Bis-acetylide Platinum(II) Complexes

The favorable spatial organization imposed by the square planar 4,4′-di(tert-butyl)-2,2′-bipyridine (dbbpy) platinum(II) complex associated with the electronic and shape complementarity of π-extended tetrathiafulvalene derivatives (exTTF) toward fullerenes is usefully exploited to construct molecular tweezers, which display good affinities for C60