Mobile game for motor and cognitive assessment

Abstract. In the present day almost everyone has a powerful computer in their pocket, a smartphone. These new affordable devices can replace some traditional ways of assessing health. In this project we focused on assessing motoric and cognitive properties using a mobile application that we developed along the way. We looked into research related to the subjects of our project, such as reaction time, memory measuring methods, input accuracy, and serious games. Then, we looked at some potential use cases for this type of application. Before we started developing the application, each researcher made a small demo application to gain some experience with Android development. The mobile application that we designed was developed for the Android platform. It has two games, one for measuring memory, and the other for measuring input accuracy and reaction time. After the application was done, we tested it with our friends and family members to gather data. The tests were conducted between two age groups, one consisted of testees from age 20 to 25, while the other had testees from age 50 to 65. The results were then analyzed by using Mann-Whitney U test to assess the differences between the age groups. We also took notes of our observations during the tests and asked the testees for feedback on the test procedure and the games after the test. The younger age group got significantly better results as expected. However, the results of the older age group do not properly reflect their abilities, as the older age group is not as used to playing games or using a smartphone as the younger group, and because the games ended up being quite complex. Some of the testees from the older age group kept playing the games after the testing was done and got up to ten times higher scores than in the testing phase. We hope that at some stage the application could potentially be used to assess motor dysfunctionalities and cognitive impairment in elderlies and disabled people.Mobiilipeli motoristen ja kognitiivisten ominaisuuksien arviointiin. Tiivistelmä. Tänä päivänä melkein jokaiselta löytyy taskustaan tehokas tietokone, eli älypuhelin. Näiden uusien kohtuuhintaisten laitteiden avulla voidaan mahdollisesti korvata vanhoja tapoja arvioida terveyttä. Tässä projektissa me keskityimme mittaamaan motorisia ja kognitiivisia ominaisuuksia mobiilisovelluksen avulla, jonka kehitimme projektin aikana. Tarkastelimme aiemmin suorettuja tutkimuksia, jotka koskevat meidän projektimme eri osa-alueita, kuten reaktioaikaa, muistin mittausta, syötetarkkuutta ja hyötypelejä. Lisäksi tarkastelimme joitain mahdollisia käyttökohteita tämän tyylisille sovelluksille. Ennen sovelluskehityksen aloittamista jokainen tutkijoista teki pienen demo sovelluksen saadakseen hieman kokemusta Android kehityksestä. Mobiilisovellus, jonka suunnittelimme kehitettiin Android alustalle. Se sisältää kaksi peliä, joista toinen on muistin mittaamiseen, ja toinen syötetarkkuuden sekä reaktioajan mittaamiseen. Sovelluksen valmistuttua testasimme sitä ystävillämme ja perheen jäsenillämme kerätäksemme dataa. Testit suoritettiin kahden ikäryhmän välillä, ensimmäisen ryhmän testaajat olivat 20–25 vuotiaita ja toisen ryhmän testaajat olivat 50–65 vuotiaita. Analysoimme tämän jälkeen tuloksia Mann-Whitney U testillä arvioidaksemme eroja ikäryhmien välillä. Otimme myös ylös havaintoja testauksen aikana ja kysyimme testaajilta palautetta testiproseduurista sekä peleistä testin jälkeen. Nuorempi ikäryhmä sai huomattavasti parempia tuloksia. Kuitenkin, vanhemman ikäryhmän tulokset eivät täysin vastaa heidän kykyjään sillä vanhempi ikäryhmä ei ole yhtä tottunut pelaamaan pelejä tai käyttämään älypuhelinta kuin nuorempi ikäryhmä ja koska pelit olivat lopulta melko monimutkaisia. Osa vanhemman ikäryhmän testaajista jatkoivat pelien pelaamista testauksen jälkeen ja saivat jopa kymmennen kertaa suurempia pistemääriä kuin testauksen aikana. Toivomme, että tätä sovellusta voidaan joskus käyttää motoristen toimintahäiriöiden ja kognitiivisten rajoitteiden arviointiin vanhuksilla ja motorisesti tai kognitiivisesti vajaakuntoisilla henkilöillä

Omaopettajien kokemus ohjauksen roolista ja oppimisanalytiikan työpöydän käytöstä opiskelijoiden ohjauksessa

Tiivistelmä. Korkeakoulut haluavat hyödyntää suurta hallinnoimaansa tietomäärää opiskelijoiden oppimisprosessien tukemiseksi. Oppimisanalytiikan avulla tuodaan välittömästi esiin niitä asioita, joita opiskelijan oppimisprosessissa tapahtuu. Tieto esitetään oppimisanalytiikan työpöydän näkymällä ymmärrettävässä ja visualisoivassa muodossa. Opiskelijoiden ohjauksella on merkitystä korkeakouluopiskelijan opintojen etenemiselle, mutta omaopettajien opiskelijoiden ohjauksessa oppimisanalytiikkaa ei ole juuri käytetty. Tämän tutkielman tavoitteena on ymmärtää, millainen rooli omaopettajilla on opiskelijoiden ohjaajina ja millainen kokemus omaopettajilla on oppimisanalytiikan työpöydän käytöstä opiskelijoiden ohjauksessa. Tutkielma on laadullinen ja siinä tarkastellaan omaopettajien kokemuksia. Tutkimuksen aineistonkeruu on toteutettu haastatteluilla osana AnalytiikkaÄly -korkeakoulutuksen kehittämishankkeen pilottitutkimuksen aineistokeruuta. Tutkielman aineistona on yliopiston kahden tiedekunnan kahdeksan omaopettajaa, jotka ovat käyttäneet oppimisanalytiikan työpöytää opiskelijoiden ohjauksessa. Omaopettajat olivat Kasvatustieteiden ja Tieto- ja Sähkötekniikan tiedekuntien opiskelijoiden ohjaajia. Haastattelun tulokset on analysoitu hyödyntäen laadullista sisällönanalyysia, jota tehtiin teoriaohjaavasti. Analyysin pohjalta muodostui kaksi pääkategoriaa ja kahdeksan yläkategoriaa, jotka linkittyivät omaopettajan rooliin opiskelijoiden ohjauksessa ja oppimisanalytiikan käyttämiseen. Tutkielman tulosten mukaan omaopettajat kokevat roolinsa lähtevän liikkeelle opiskelijan tarpeista. Omaopettajat tarvitsevat tehtäväänsä resursseja, ammattitaitoa ja tukea yliopistolta, koska ohjauksen tavoitteina on edistää opiskelijan yliopistoon kiinnittymistä ja ammatillista kasvua erilaisin keinovalikoimin. Oppimisanalytiikan työpöytä koettiin positiiviseksi välineeksi, jota omaopettajat olivat kaivanneet työhönsä. Työpöytä koettiin selkeäksi, informatiiviseksi ja se oli helppokäyttöinen. Opiskelijan kohtaaminen oli myös helpompaa, koska työpöydän koettiin tukevan vuorovaikutusta ja keskustelua esimerkiksi opintoihin liittyvissä asioissa. Omaopettajilla oli haasteita tehdä tulkintoja työpöydän näkymästä ja sen sisältämää vertailutietoa kritisoitiin. Työpöytään toivottiin opiskelijan henkilökohtaisen opintosuunnitelman kuvaajaa, jotta tutkintorakenne tulee esille. Tutkielman tulokset osoittavat, että yliopistoissa opiskelijoiden ohjaus on moniulotteinen ilmiö ja sen tueksi soveltuu pilottitutkimuksessa käytetty oppimisanalytiikan työpöytä. Yliopiston ohjauspalveluita on tarkasteltava kokonaisuutena, jotta ohjauspalvelut tarjoavat opiskelijalle edellytykset opintojen sujuvalle etenemiselle, ammatillisen identiteetin muodostumiselle ja yksilön kasvun tukemiselle. Koulutuspoliittisten tavoitteiden lisäksi onkin huomioitava kasvatuksellinen puoli.The study advisors’ experience of the role of the guidance and the use of the learning analytics dashboard in students’ guidance. Abstract. Higher education institutions want to utilize a large amount of information governed by it, to support students’ learning processes. Learning analytics are used to immediately highlight events in student’s learning processes. Information is presented in learning analytics dashboards in an understandable and visually displayed form. Even though learning analytics has not been thus far used in study guidance by study advisors, guidance has potential impact on the progress of higher education students’ studies. The objective of this thesis is to understand what kind of role study advisors have as students’ guidance counsellors and the experiences that advisors have with the use of the learning analytics dashboard in study guidance. The thesis is qualitative and examines the study advisors’ experiences. Data collection has been carried out with interviews as part of the data collection of the pilot study of a higher education development project AnalytiikkaÄly. The thesis is based on the data of eight study advisors of the University’s two Faculties, who have used learning analytics dashboard in study guidance. Study advisors were from the Faculties of Education and Information Technology and Electrical Engineering. The results of the interviews have been analyzed utilizing qualitative content analysis, which was conducted in a theory-driven way. Based on the analysis, two main categories and eight upper-level categories were formed, which represented the study advisor’s role in study guidance and the use of learning analytics. According to the results of the study, advisors experienced that their role was to match the students’needs. The study advisors need resources to their task, professional skills and support from the university, because the objective of study guidance is to promote student’s engagement to studies and professional growth with a variety of guidance activities to use. The learning analytics dashboard was regarded as a positive tool that study advisors had hoped to have in their work. Dashboard was regarded clear, informative and it was easy to use. Meeting with the student was also easier with the dashboard because advisors experienced it support interaction and discussion, for example, in matters related to studies. The study advisors had some challenges to make interpretations of one visualization of the dashboard and the comparison information with peers was criticized. The dashboard should, in study advisors’ opinion, show students personal study plan, which would display the whole degree structure. The results of the thesis show that in the universities students’ study guidance is a multidimensional phenomenon and the piloted learning analytics visualizations were found suitable. The guidance services of the university must be examined as a whole, so the guidance services support progress of students’ studies, growth of professional identity and the growth of individual. In addition to the education policies objectives, attention must be paid to the educational sciences side

Dipolar and scalar 3^3He and 129^{129}Xe frequency shifts in mm-sized cells

We describe a $^{3}$He-$^{129}$Xe comagnetometer operating in stemless anodically bonded cells with a 6 mm$^3$ volume and a $^{129}$Xe spin coherence time of 300 sec. We use a $^{87}$Rb pulse-train magnetometer with co-linear pump and probe beams to study the nuclear spin frequency shifts caused by spin polarization of $^{3}$He. By systematically varying the cell geometry in a batch cell fabrication process we can separately measure the cell shape dependent and independent frequency shifts. We find that a certain aspect ratio of the cylindrical cell can cancel the effects of $^3$He magnetization that limit the stability of vapor-cell comagnetometers. Using this control we also observe for the first time a scalar $^{3}$He-$^{129}$Xe collisional frequency shift characterized by an enhancement factor $\kappa_{\text{HeXe}} = -0.011\pm0.001$.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Examining the Early Modern Canon : The English Short Title Catalogue and Large-Scale Patterns of Cultural Production

Peer reviewe

Reconstructing intellectual networks : From the ESTC’s bibliographic metadata to historical material

Peer reviewe

Molecular Electroporation and the Transduction of Oligoarginines

Certain short polycations, such as TAT and polyarginine, rapidly pass through the plasma membranes of mammalian cells by an unknown mechanism called transduction as well as by endocytosis and macropinocytosis. These cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) promise to be medically useful when fused to biologically active peptides. I offer a simple model in which one or more CPPs and the phosphatidylserines of the inner leaflet form a kind of capacitor with a voltage in excess of 180 mV, high enough to create a molecular electropore. The model is consistent with an empirical upper limit on the cargo peptide of 40--60 amino acids and with experimental data on how the transduction of a polyarginine-fluorophore into mouse C2C12 myoblasts depends on the number of arginines in the CPP and on the CPP concentration. The model makes three testable predictions.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figure

Evaluation of Multidrug Efflux Pump Inhibitors by a New Method Using Microfluidic Channels

Fluorescein-di-β-d-galactopyranoside (FDG), a fluorogenic compound, is hydrolyzed by β-galactosidase in the cytoplasm of Escherichia coli to produce a fluorescent dye, fluorescein. We found that both FDG and fluorescein were substrates of efflux pumps, and have developed a new method to evaluate efflux-inhibitory activities in E. coli using FDG and a microfluidic channel device. We used E. coli MG1655 wild-type, ΔacrB (ΔB), ΔtolC (ΔC) and ΔacrBΔtolC (ΔBC) harboring plasmids carrying the mexAB-oprM (pABM) or mexXY-oprM (pXYM) genes of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Two inhibitors, MexB-specific pyridopyrimidine (D13-9001) and non-specific Phe-Arg-β-naphthylamide (PAβN) were evaluated. The effects of inhibitors on pumps were observed using the microfluidic channel device under a fluorescence microscope. AcrAB-TolC and analogous pumps effectively prevented FDG influx in wild-type cells, resulting in no fluorescence. In contrast, ΔB or ΔC easily imported and hydrolyzed FDG to fluorescein, which was exported by residual pumps in ΔB. Consequently, fluorescent medium in ΔB and fluorescent cells of ΔC and ΔBC were observed in the microfluidic channels. D13-9001 substantially increased fluorescent cell number in ΔBC/pABM but not in ΔBC/pXYM. PAβN increased medium fluorescence in all strains, especially in the pump deletion mutants, and caused fluorescein accumulation to disappear in ΔC. The checkerboard method revealed that D13-9001 acts synergistically with aztreonam, ciprofloxacin, and erythromycin only against the MexAB-OprM producer (ΔBC/pABM), and PAβN acts synergistically, especially with erythromycin, in all strains including the pump deletion mutants. The results obtained from PAβN were similar to the results from membrane permeabilizer, polymyxin B or polymyxin B nonapeptide by concentration. The new method clarified that D13-9001 specifically inhibited MexAB-OprM in contrast to PAβN, which appeared to be a substrate of the pumps and permeabilized the membranes in E. coli

Identifying Cultural and Cognitive Proximity between Managers and Customers in Tornio and Haparanda Cross Border Region

Daily intercultural interactions in cross-border regions such as those between customers and managers can be a source of knowledge and ideas. However, such interactions can pose distinctive constraints and opportunities for learning and exchange of ideas. This study adopts a relatively fine–grained quantitative approach to study elements of cognitive and cultural proximity which have a major impact on these interactions. It is based on a survey of 91 managers of small service firms and 312 customers in the twin city of Tornio and Haparanda on the border between Finland and Sweden. Seven elements of proximity were identified and measured. Six elements of perceived cognitive and cultural proximity including values, conservative values towards new ideas, knowledge and use of technology, use of a foreign language, sufficiently focusing or providing specific details and ways of solving problems were found significant in terms of shaping perceptions of Swedish and Finnish managers and customers, which shape these interactions. The results enhance our understanding of how daily cross-border intercultural can be examined in the context of cross-border regional knowledge transfer

Resection margins and local recurrences in breast cancer : Comparison between conventional and oncoplastic breast conserving surgery

Background: This retrospective cohort study aims to compare surgical margins, reoperations and local recurrences after conventional or oncoplastic breast conservation surgery (BCS). Furthermore, we aim to investigate differences between various oncoplastic techniques. Material and methods: We reviewed 1800 consecutive patients with primary invasive breast cancer (N =1707) or ductal carcinoma in situ (N = 93) who underwent BCS at Helsinki University Hospital between 2010 and 2012. Results: Conventional BCS was performed in 1189 (66.1%) patients, oncoplastic BCS in 611 (33.9%). Various oncoplastic techniques were used. Patients with oncoplastic BCS had more often multifocal (p There was no difference, however, in surgical margins (p = 0.578) or reoperation rates (p = 0.430) between the groups. A total of 152 (8.4%) patients were reoperated because of insufficient margins, 96 (8.1%) in the conventional, 56 (9.2%) in the oncoplastic BCS group. The median follow-up time was 75 (2-94) months. There was no difference in local recurrence-free survival between the conventional and oncoplastic BCS groups (log-rank test, p = 0.172). Conclusions: Oncoplastic BCS was used for larger, multifocal and more aggressive tumours. Nevertheless, no difference in reoperation rate or local recurrences were found. Oncoplastic BCS is as safe as conventional BCS enabling breast conserving for patients who otherwise were candidates for mastectomy. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd, BASO - The Association for Cancer Surgery, and the European Society of Surgical Oncology. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe