MISPE – Mobile Information Sharing in the Presentation Environment

While many studies have developed systems for use by students in educational settings very few of these systems can be implemented practically in a third world country like South Africa. Furthermore, the body of research into developing useful systems for educators and students is very small. This report outlines the design and implement of a high fidelity prototype system which will aid educators and students in performing work tasks. The system described allows educators to distribute presentations via a wireless link to a client system. In addition educators are able to ask questions of students and also to answer student questions. Students on the other hand are able to receive the lecture slides, make annotations on these, ask question on these, answer lecturer questions and vote on lecturer polls. All of the above are done electronically across the wireless link. This report also describes a research study that was conducted to ascertain the usability and usefulness of this system and also the abilities of the backbone support network. Naturalistic observations were conducted. The QUIS questionnaire for assessing usability was also administered to participants along with a questionnaire to assess the usefulness of the system. The network was tested by means of simulations. It was found that the educators and students found the system to be usable and useful, while the network provides sufficient support to the client and server parts

Consumption of rice, acceptability and sensory qualities of fortified rice amongst consumers of social safety net rice in Nepal

INTRODUCTION: Micronutrient deficiencies are prevalent in Nepal where starchy foods constitute a large proportion of diets and consumption of micronutrient-rich foods is inadequate. We conducted a study to determine whether rice would be an appropriate vehicle for micronutrient fortification in Nepal. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In Bajura in remote rural Nepal, we conducted a household survey to characterize rice intakes in 195 households, and a double-blinded acceptability test with 177 social safety net rice consumers ≥18 years of age. Of these, 168 tasted fortified and unfortified rice to assess whether respondents could differentiate between fortified and non-fortified rice and their sensory properties. Rice was fortified by blending hot extruded kernels containing 6 micronutrients together with non-fortified rice at a 1:99 ratio. We used binomial tests to assess whether participants could correctly differentiate fortified rice, from non-fortified rice and paired t-tests to compare scores for sensory qualities of cooked fortified and non-fortified rice. We used multiple regression to test associations between per capita consumption and age, gender, wealth and food security. RESULTS: Per capita consumption of rice (median 216g/day, IQR 144.0, 288.0) did not vary by wealth but was +52.08g, (95% CI 10.43, 93.72) higher amongst moderately to severely food insecure households compared with food secure / mildly food insecure. Most respondents could not differentiate fortified rice from non-fortified rice: 37.5% identified uncooked fortified rice and 39.3% cooked rice, which was not different from the 33% expected by chance (p = 0.22 and p = 0.09 respectively). The sensory qualities of fortified rice were acceptable (scoring 3.9 out of 5) and did not differ from non-fortified rice (p>0.05). CONCLUSION: A rice fortification programme implemented through the Nepal Food Corporation's social safety nets has potential because purchase and consumption of rice is high and fortified rice is acceptable among consumers in remote food insecure areas of Nepal

Conversational affective social robots for ageing and dementia support

Socially assistive robots (SAR) hold significant potential to assist older adults and people with dementia in human engagement and clinical contexts by supporting mental health and independence at home. While SAR research has recently experienced prolific growth, long-term trust, clinical translation and patient benefit remain immature. Affective human-robot interactions are unresolved and the deployment of robots with conversational abilities is fundamental for robustness and humanrobot engagement. In this paper, we review the state of the art within the past two decades, design trends, and current applications of conversational affective SAR for ageing and dementia support. A horizon scanning of AI voice technology for healthcare, including ubiquitous smart speakers, is further introduced to address current gaps inhibiting home use. We discuss the role of user-centred approaches in the design of voice systems, including the capacity to handle communication breakdowns for effective use by target populations. We summarise the state of development in interactions using speech and natural language processing, which forms a baseline for longitudinal health monitoring and cognitive assessment. Drawing from this foundation, we identify open challenges and propose future directions to advance conversational affective social robots for: 1) user engagement, 2) deployment in real-world settings, and 3) clinical translation

Survey of the quality of experimental design, statistical analysis and reporting of research using animals

For scientific, ethical and economic reasons, experiments involving animals should be appropriately designed, correctly analysed and transparently reported. This increases the scientific validity of the results, and maximises the knowledge gained from each experiment. A minimum amount of relevant information must be included in scientific publications to ensure that the methods and results of a study can be reviewed, analysed and repeated. Omitting essential information can raise scientific and ethical concerns. We report the findings of a systematic survey of reporting, experimental design and statistical analysis in published biomedical research using laboratory animals. Medline and EMBASE were searched for studies reporting research on live rats, mice and non-human primates carried out in UK and US publicly funded research establishments. Detailed information was collected from 271 publications, about the objective or hypothesis of the study, the number, sex, age and/or weight of animals used, and experimental and statistical methods. Only 59% of the studies stated the hypothesis or objective of the study and the number and characteristics of the animals used. Appropriate and efficient experimental design is a critical component of high-quality science. Most of the papers surveyed did not use randomisation (87%) or blinding (86%), to reduce bias in animal selection and outcome assessment. Only 70% of the publications that used statistical methods described their methods and presented the results with a measure of error or variability. This survey has identified a number of issues that need to be addressed in order to improve experimental design and reporting in publications describing research using animals. Scientific publication is a powerful and important source of information; the authors of scientific publications therefore have a responsibility to describe their methods and results comprehensively, accurately and transparently, and peer reviewers and journal editors share the responsibility to ensure that published studies fulfil these criteria

A network approach for managing ecosystem services and improving food and nutrition security on smallholder farms

Smallholder farmers are some of the poorest and most food insecure people on Earth. Their high nutritional and economic reliance on home-grown produce makes them particularly vulnerable to environmental stressors such as pollinator loss or climate change which threaten agricultural productivity. Improving smallholder agriculture in a way that is environmentally sustainable and resilient to climate change is a key challenge of the 21st century. Ecological intensification, whereby ecosystem services are managed to increase agricultural productivity, is a promising solution for smallholders. However, smallholder farms are complex socio-ecological systems with a range of social, ecological and environmental factors interacting to influence ecosystem service provisioning. To truly understand the functioning of a smallholder farm and identify the most effective management options to support household food and nutrition security, a holistic, systems-based understanding is required. In this paper, we propose a network approach to understand, visualise and model the complex interactions occurring among wild species, crops and people on smallholder farms. Specifically, we demonstrate how networks may be used to (a) identify wild species with a key role in supporting, delivering or increasing the resilience of an ecosystem service; (b) quantify the value of an ecosystem service in a way that is relevant to the food and nutrition security of smallholders; and (c) understand the social interactions that influence the management of shared ecosystem services. Using a case study based on data from rural Nepal, we demonstrate how this framework can be used to connect wild plants, pollinators and crops to key nutrients consumed by humans. This allows us to quantify the nutritional value of an ecosystem service and identify the wild plants and pollinators involved in its provision, as well as providing a framework to predict the effects of environmental change on human nutrition. Our framework identifies mechanistic links between ecosystem services and the nutrients consumed by smallholder farmers and highlights social factors that may influence the management of these services. Applying this framework to smallholder farms in a range of socio-ecological contexts may provide new, sustainable and equitable solutions to smallholder food and nutrition security. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article

No Intra-Locus Sexual Conflict over Reproductive Fitness or Ageing in Field Crickets

Differences in the ways in which males and females maximize evolutionary fitness can lead to intra-locus sexual conflict in which genes delivering fitness benefits to one sex are costly when expressed in the other. Trade-offs between current reproductive effort and future reproduction and survival are fundamental to the evolutionary biology of ageing. This leads to the prediction that sex differences in the optimization of age-dependent reproductive effort may generate intra-locus sexual conflict over ageing rates. Here we test for intra-locus sexual conflict over age-dependent reproductive effort and longevity in the black field cricket, Teleogryllus commodus. Using a half-sib breeding design, we show that the most important components of male and female reproductive effort (male calling effort and the number of eggs laid by females) were positively genetically correlated, especially in early adulthood. However, the genetic relationships between longevity and reproductive effort were different for males and females, leading to low genetic covariation between male and female longevity. The apparent absence of intra-locus sexual conflict over ageing suggests that male and female longevity can evolve largely independently of one another

Phylogenetic Analysis of the Neks Reveals Early Diversification of Ciliary-Cell Cycle Kinases

NIMA-related kinases (Neks) have been studied in diverse eukaryotes, including the fungus Aspergillus and the ciliate Tetrahymena. In the former, a single Nek plays an essential role in cell cycle regulation; in the latter, which has more than 30 Neks in its genome, multiple Neks regulate ciliary length. Mammalian genomes encode an intermediate number of Neks, several of which are reported to play roles in cell cycle regulation and/or localize to centrosomes. Previously, we reported that organisms with cilia typically have more Neks than organisms without cilia, but were unable to establish the evolutionary history of the gene family

Deathly Drool: Evolutionary and Ecological Basis of Septic Bacteria in Komodo Dragon Mouths

Komodo dragons, the world's largest lizard, dispatch their large ungulate prey by biting and tearing flesh. If a prey escapes, oral bacteria inoculated into the wound reputedly induce a sepsis that augments later prey capture by the same or other lizards. However, the ecological and evolutionary basis of sepsis in Komodo prey acquisition is controversial. Two models have been proposed. The “bacteria as venom” model postulates that the oral flora directly benefits the lizard in prey capture irrespective of any benefit to the bacteria. The “passive acquisition” model is that the oral flora of lizards reflects the bacteria found in carrion and sick prey, with no relevance to the ability to induce sepsis in subsequent prey. A third model is proposed and analyzed here, the “lizard-lizard epidemic” model. In this model, bacteria are spread indirectly from one lizard mouth to another. Prey escaping an initial attack act as vectors in infecting new lizards. This model requires specific life history characteristics and ways to refute the model based on these characteristics are proposed and tested. Dragon life histories (some details of which are reported here) prove remarkably consistent with the model, especially that multiple, unrelated lizards feed communally on large carcasses and that escaping, wounded prey are ultimately fed on by other lizards. The identities and evolutionary histories of bacteria in the oral flora may yield the most useful additional insights for further testing the epidemic model and can now be obtained with new technologies

Male reproductive health and environmental xenoestrogens

EHP is a publication of the U.S. government. Publication of EHP lies in the public domain and is therefore without copyright. Research articles from EHP may be used freely; however, articles from the News section of EHP may contain photographs or figures copyrighted by other commercial organizations and individuals that may not be used without obtaining prior approval from both the EHP editors and the holder of the copyright. Use of any materials published in EHP should be acknowledged (for example, "Reproduced with permission from Environmental Health Perspectives") and a reference provided for the article from which the material was reproduced.Male reproductive health has deteriorated in many countries during the last few decades. In the 1990s, declining semen quality has been reported from Belgium, Denmark, France, and Great Britain. The incidence of testicular cancer has increased during the same time incidences of hypospadias and cryptorchidism also appear to be increasing. Similar reproductive problems occur in many wildlife species. There are marked geographic differences in the prevalence of male reproductive disorders. While the reasons for these differences are currently unknown, both clinical and laboratory research suggest that the adverse changes may be inter-related and have a common origin in fetal life or childhood. Exposure of the male fetus to supranormal levels of estrogens, such as diethlylstilbestrol, can result in the above-mentioned reproductive defects. The growing number of reports demonstrating that common environmental contaminants and natural factors possess estrogenic activity presents the working hypothesis that the adverse trends in male reproductive health may be, at least in part, associated with exposure to estrogenic or other hormonally active (e.g., antiandrogenic) environmental chemicals during fetal and childhood development. An extensive research program is needed to understand the extent of the problem, its underlying etiology, and the development of a strategy for prevention and intervention.Supported by EU Contract BMH4-CT96-0314

Splint: the efficacy of orthotic management in rest to prevent equinus in children with cerebral palsy, a randomised controlled trial

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Range of motion deficits of the lower extremity occur in about the half of the children with spastic cerebral palsy (CP). Over time, these impairments can cause joint deformities and deviations in the children's gait pattern, leading to limitations in moblity. Preventing a loss of range of motion is important in order to reduce secondary activity limitations and joint deformities. Sustained muscle stretch, imposed by orthotic management in rest, might be an effective method of preventing a decrease in range of motion. However, no controlled study has been performed.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A single blind randomised controlled trial will be performed in 66 children with spastic CP, divided over three groups with each 22 participants. Two groups will be treated for 1 year with orthoses to prevent a decrease in range of motion in the ankle (either with static or dynamic knee-ankle-foot-orthoses) and a third group will be included as a control group and will receive usual care (physical therapy, manual stretching). Measurements will be performed at baseline and at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months after treatment allocation. The primary outcome measure will be ankle dorsiflexion at full knee extension, measured with a custom designed hand held dynamometer. Secondary outcome measures will be i) ankle and knee flexion during gait and ii) gross motor function. Furthermore, to gain more insight in the working mechanism of the orthotic management in rest, morphological parameters like achilles tendon length, muscle belly length, muscle fascicle length, muscle physiological cross sectional area length and fascicle pennation angle will be measured in a subgroup of 18 participants using a 3D imaging technique.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>This randomised controlled trial will provide more insight into the efficacy of orthotic management in rest and the working mechanisms behind this treatment. The results of this study could lead to improved treatments.</p> <p>Trial Registration Number</p> <p>Nederlands Trial Register <a href="http://www.trialregister.nl/trialreg/admin/rctview.asp?TC=2091">NTR2091</a></p