Ultrahigh Speed Direct PCR: A Method for Obtaining Y-STR and STR Based Genotypes in Under 20 Minutes

There are many situations in forensic DNA typing where the time it takes to identify an individual is critical. Examples include suspects under arrest and individuals detained at ports of entry. It is also important to identify victims quickly when dealing with mass disasters such as terrorist attacks, airplane crashes and natural disasters in order to notify families. The goal of this project was to develop an ultrafast method for screening saliva samples through the use of rapid direct PCR coupled to microfluidic separation and detection. Fast amplification was achieved through the use of high speed thermocyclers and the experimental optimization of PCR reactants and polymerases. High processivity mutant polymerases were tested at increased speeds along with PCR enhancers. Experimental optimizations and designs were used to ultimately achieve amplification of a 4 loci Y-STR multiplex in 12.5 minutes and a 7 loci STR multiplex in 6.5 minutes. The use of direct PCR not only decreases the overall time of sample processing through the elimination of the extraction, but also, by the removal of the extraction step cuts down on the possibility of contamination to the sample. By using inhibitor resistant fast polymerases such as Omnitaq, BSA and the PEC-1 enhancer, and optimizing cycling conditions, a direct PCR method was developed where amplification from diluted saliva was successfully achieved in 13.5 minutes. The products from these ultrafast amplifications can be coupled to a microfluidic chip for analysis. The electrophoretic system separates the PCR products and provides complete genotypes for both Y and autosomal STR multiplexes in 80 seconds. This permits complete sample processing in under 15 minutes for the rapid direct PCR protocol. This screening method can exclude individuals who do not match evidentiary material and test evidence to see if it is be viable for full analysis. The result of this work was a reliable and robust method for the rapid genotyping of forensic samples which can be used in situations where rapid single sample DNA analysis is necessary

Law and Order in Cyberspace: A Case Study of Cyberspace Governance in Hong Kong, 23 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 249 (2005)

Hong Kong, an international finance center, has been enjoying great benefits generated by computer-mediated communication ( CMC ) in the new Information Age. On the other hand with the rapid and advanced development in technology, Hong Kong\u27s economy is increasingly and irreversibly relying, and made dependent upon CMC and the Internet to operate, because the Internet has become a catalyst of reform and development in other arenas including social, cultural, and public policy. The Information Age raises new criminality concerns as it aggregates traditional criminal problems since great amounts of data are transmitted by and stored on computers is beyond imagination and CMCs are vulnerable to attack by hackers and computers can be used to defraud people and businesses of millions of dollars. Examining computer crime in Hong Kong presents major problems and issues such as agreeing in a commonly accepted definition of computer crime, fully understanding the extent of computer crime in Hong Kong\u27s society, given the fact that only a small fraction of such crime is actually reported and generating the empirical data needed if one wants to develop effective measures to deal with cyberspace\u27s disorder. After a short presentation of these challenges the authors describe, in statistical form, the trend of IT usage and Internet popularity in Hong Kong and also provide an overview of the background, the nature, extent, and distribution, of computer crime in Hong Kong. Subsequently the authors explore and seek to understand the policy, theory, legislative, law enforcement, and preventive measures through education as well as investigate whether the Hong Kong government\u27s regulation of the Internet is excessive or deficient. Concluding that the Hong Kong government and legislation has been passive and/or inadequate and outdated in bringing a deterrence effect to computer criminals while the piecemeal activities of the private sector can hardly be significant or persistent the authors propose a more comprehensive approach in the formation of the computer crime policy, both in the legislative arena and law enforcement. On the other hand the government and private sector co-operation should be promoted but the government should take a stronger leading role, particularly in the area of public awareness and education in computer and information ethic while the study of cyberspace governance in Hong Kong should be encouraged

The importance of early arthritis in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic inflammatory disorder that manifests predominantly in the synovial joint, where it causes a chronic inflammatory process, leading to early osteoarticular destructions. These destructions are progressive and irreversible, generating a significant functional deficiency. During the last years, the diagnostic approach of RA has focused on early arthritis. Early arthritis can develop into established RA or another established arthropathy, like systemic lupus erythematosus or psoriatic arthritis. It can have a spontaneous resolution or may remain undifferentiated for indefinite periods of time. The management of early arthritis has changed considerably in the past few years, under the influence of new concepts of diagnosis and new effective therapies. The treatment goal of early arthritis should now be the clinical remission and prevention of joint destruction. Methotrexate is the first line of therapy, used to treat early arthralgia and to reverse or limit impending exacerbation to RA. Biological treatment is used as a second line therapy in patients with severe disease who do not respond or have a contraindication to disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs). Patients with early arthritis should usually be identified and directed to rheumatologists to confirm the presence of arthritis, and to establish the correct diagnosis plus to initiate the proper treatment strategies

More than buttons on controllers: engaging social interactions in narrative VR games through social attitudes detection

People can understand how human interaction unfolds and can pinpoint social attitudes such as showing interest or social engagement with a conversational partner. However, summarising this with a set of rules is difficult, as our judgement is sometimes subtle and subconscious. Hence, it is challenging to program agents or non-player characters (NPCs) to react towards social signals appropriately, which is important for immersive narrative games in Virtual Reality (VR). We present a collaborative work between two game studios (Maze Theory and Dream Reality Interactive) and academia to develop an immersive machine learning (ML) pipeline for detecting social engagement. Here we introduce the motivation and the methodology of the immersive ML pipeline, then we cover the motivation for the industry-academia collaboration, how it progressed, the implications of joined work on the industry and reflective insights on the collaboration. Overall, we highlight the industry-academia collaborative work on an immersive ML pipeline for detecting social engagement. We demonstrate how creatives could use ML and VR to expand their ability to design more engaging commercial games

Direct Gaze Triggers Higher Frequency of Gaze Change: An Automatic Analysis of Dyads in Unstructured Conversation

Nonverbal cues have multiple roles in social encounters, with gaze behaviour facilitating interactions and conversational flow. In this work, we explore the conversation dynamics in dyadic settings in a free-flow discussion. Using automatic analysis (rather than manual labelling), we investigate how the gaze behaviour of one person is related to how much the other person changes their gaze (frequency in gaze change) and what their gaze target is (direct or avert gaze). Our results show that when one person is looked at they change their gaze direction with a higher frequency compared to when they are not looked at. They also tend to maintain a direct gaze to the other person when they are not looked at