KINECTWheels: wheelchair-accessible motion-based game interaction

The increasing popularity of full-body motion-based video games creates new challenges for game accessibility research. Many games strongly focus on able-bodied persons and require players to move around freely. To address this problem, we introduce KINECTWheels, a toolkit that facilitates the integration of wheelchair-based game input. Our library can help game designers to integrate wheelchair input at the development stage, and it can be configured to trigger keystroke events to make off-the-shelf PC games wheelchair-accessible

Creating wheelchair-controlled video games: challenges and opportunities when involving young people with mobility impairments and game design experts

Although participatory design (PD) is currently the most acceptable and respectful process we have for designing technology, recent discussions suggest that there may be two barriers to the successful application of PD to the design of digital games: First, the involvement of audiences with special needs can introduce new practical and ethical challenges to the design process. Second, the use of non-experts in game design roles has been criticised in that participants lack skills necessary to create games of appropriate quality. To explore how domain knowledge and user involvement influence game design, we present results from two projects that addressed the creation of movement-based wheelchair-controlled video games from different perspectives. The first project was carried out together with a local school that provides education for young people with special needs, where we invited students who use wheelchairs to take part in design sessions. The second project involved university students on a game development course, who do not use wheelchairs, taking on the role of expert designers. They were asked to design concepts for wheelchair-controlled games as part of a final-year course on game design. Our results show that concepts developed by both groups were generally suitable examples of wheelchair-controlled motion-based video games, but we observed differences regarding level of detail of game concepts, and ideas of disability. Additionally, our results show that the design exercise exposed vulnerabilities in both groups, outlining that the risk of practical and emotional vulnerability needs to be considered when working with the target audience as well as expert designers

Creating wheelchair-controlled video games: challenges and opportunities when involving young people with mobility impairments and game design experts

Although participatory design (PD) is currently the most acceptable and respectful process we have for designing technology, recent discussions suggest that there may be two barriers to the successful application of PD to the design of digital games: First, the involvement of audiences with special needs can introduce new practical and ethical challenges to the design process. Second, the use of non-experts in game design roles has been criticised in that participants lack skills necessary to create games of appropriate quality. To explore how domain knowledge and user involvement influence game design, we present results from two projects that addressed the creation of movement-based wheelchair-controlled video games from different perspectives. The first project was carried out together with a local school that provides education for young people with special needs, where we invited students who use wheelchairs to take part in design sessions. The second project involved university students on a game development course, who do not use wheelchairs, taking on the role of expert designers. They were asked to design concepts for wheelchair-controlled games as part of a final-year course on game design. Our results show that concepts developed by both groups were generally suitable examples of wheelchair-controlled motion-based video games, but we observed differences regarding level of detail of game concepts, and ideas of disability. Additionally, our results show that the design exercise exposed vulnerabilities in both groups, outlining that the risk of practical and emotional vulnerability needs to be considered when working with the target audience as well as expert designers

2013 Wild Blueberry Project Reports

The 2013 edition of the Wild Blueberry Project Reports was prepared for the Wild Blueberry Commission of Maine and the Wild Blueberry Advisory Committee by researchers at the University of Maine, Orono. Projects in this report include: 1. Development of effective intervention measures to maintain and improve food safety for wild blueberries 2. Do wild blueberries alleviate risk factors related to the Metabolic Syndrome? 3. Wild Blueberry consumption and exercise-induced Oxidative Stress: Inflammatory Response and DNA damage 4. Control tactics for blueberry pest insects, 2013 5. Pesticide residues on wild blueberry, 2013 6. Biology of pest insects and IPM, 2013 7. Biology of blueberry, beneficial insects, and blueberry pollination 8. Biology of spotted wing drosophila, 2013 9. Maine wild blueberry –mummy berry research and extension 10. Evaluation of fungicides for control of mummy berry on lowbush blueberry (2013) 11. Wild blueberry Extension Education Program in 2013 INPUT SYSTEMS STUDY: 12. Systems approach to improving the sustainability of wild blueberry production, Year Four of a four-year study – experimental design 13. Food safety- Prevalence study of Escherichia coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella spp. on lowbush blueberries (Vaccinium angustifolium) 14. Agronomic input effects on sensory quality and chemical composition of wild Maine blueberries 15. Systems approach to improving the sustainability of wild blueberry production, Year four of a four-year study – reports from Frank Drummond 16. Systems approach to improving the sustainability of wild blueberry production, Year 4 of a four-year study, disease management results 17. Systems approach to improving the sustainability of wild blueberry production, Year Four of a four-year study, weed management results 18. Phosphorus and organic matter interactions on short-range ordered minerals in acidic barren soils 19. Systems approach to improving the sustainability of wild blueberry production, preliminary economic comparison for 2012-13 20. Ancillary projects in disease research (ancillary study) 21. Systems approach to improving the sustainability of wild blueberry production – Ancillary land-leveling study, Year Three of a four-year study (ancillary study) 22. Pre-emergent combinations of herbicides for weed control in wild blueberry fields – 2013 results from the 2012 trial (ancillary study) 23. Evaluation of herbicides for 2012 prune year control of fineleaf sheep fescue in wild blueberries – 2013 crop year results (ancillary study) 24. 2012 pre-emergence application timing and rate of Alion and Sandea in combination with Velpar or Sinbar – 2013 yields (ancillary study) 25. Pre-emergence Sinbar combinations for weed control in a non-crop wild blueberry field – 2012-2014 (ancillary study) 26. Evaluation of three pre-emergence herbicides alone and in combination with Velpar or Sinbar for effects on wild blueberry productivity and weed control (ancillary study) 27. Post-harvest control of red sorrel in a non-crop blueberry field, 2012-2014 (ancillary study) 28. Compost and mulch effects on soil health and nutrient dynamics in wild blueberry (ancillary study) 29. Evaluation of conventional and organic fertilizers on blueberry growth and yield (ancillary study

Dopaminergic neurons regenerate following chemogenetic ablation in the olfactory bulb of adult Zebrafish (Danio rerio)

Adult zebrafish have the ability to regenerate cells of the central nervous system. However, few neuronal regeneration studies in adult zebrafish addressed their ability to regenerate specific types of neurons following cell specific ablation. We show here that treatment of transgenic Tg(dat:CFP-NTR) adult zebrafish with the prodrug metronidazole (Mtz) according to our administration regimen predominantly ablates dopamine (DA) neurons within the olfactory bulb (OB) of adult fish. Loss of DA neurons was accompanied by an impaired olfaction phenotype, as early as 1-week post-treatment, in which fish were unable to sense the presence of the repulsive stimulus cadaverine. The olfactory impairment was reversed within 45 days and coincided with the recovery of DA neuron counts in the OB. A multi-label pulse-chase analysis with BrdU and EdU over the first seventeen days-post Mtz exposure showed that newly formed DA neurons were recruited within the first nine days following exposure and led to functional and morphological recovery of the OB

Games as neurofeedback training for children with FASD

Biofeedback games help people maintain specific mental or physical states and are useful to help children with cognitive impairments learn to self-regulate their brain function. However, biofeedback games are expensive and difficult to create and are not sufficiently appealing to hold a child's interest over the long term needed for effective biofeedback training. We present a system that turns off-the-shelf computer games into biofeedback games. Our approach uses texture-based graphical overlays that vary in their obfuscation of underlying screen elements based on the sensed physiological state of the child. The textures can be visually customized so that they appear to be integrated with the underlying game. Through a 12-week deployment, with 16 children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, we show that our solution can hold a child's interest over a long term, and balances the competing needs of maintaining the fun of playing, while providing effective biofeedback training.Ye

Gene-by-Psychosocial Factor Interactions Influence Diastolic Blood Pressure in European and African Ancestry Populations: Meta-Analysis of Four Cohort Studies

Inter-individual variability in blood pressure (BP) is influenced by both genetic and non-genetic factors including socioeconomic and psychosocial stressors. A deeper understanding of the gene-by-socioeconomic/psychosocial factor interactions on BP may help to identify individuals that are genetically susceptible to high BP in specific social contexts. In this study, we used a genomic region-based method for longitudinal analysis, Longitudinal Gene-Environment-Wide Interaction Studies (LGEWIS), to evaluate the effects of interactions between known socioeconomic/psychosocial and genetic risk factors on systolic and diastolic BP in four large epidemiologic cohorts of European and/or African ancestry. After correction for multiple testing, two interactions were significantly associated with diastolic BP. In European ancestry participants, outward/trait anger score had a significant interaction with the C10orf107 genomic region (p = 0.0019). In African ancestry participants, depressive symptom score had a significant interaction with the HFE genomic region (p = 0.0048). This study provides a foundation for using genomic region-based longitudinal analysis to identify subgroups of the population that may be at greater risk of elevated BP due to the combined influence of genetic and socioeconomic/psychosocial risk factors

Provider‐to‐provider telemedicine for sepsis is used less frequently in communities with high social vulnerability

Publication status: PublishedFunder: University of Maryland Honors CollegePurpose: Sepsis disproportionately affects patients in rural and socially vulnerable communities. A promising strategy to address this disparity is provider‐to‐provider emergency department (ED)‐based telehealth consultation (tele‐ED). The objective of this study was to determine if county‐level social vulnerability index (SVI) was associated with tele‐ED use for sepsis and, if so, which SVI elements were most strongly associated. Methods: We used data from the TELEmedicine as a Virtual Intervention for Sepsis in Rural Emergency Department study. The primary exposures were SVI aggregate and component scores. We used multivariable generalized estimating equations to model the association between SVI and tele‐ED use. Findings: Our study cohort included 1191 patients treated in 23 Midwestern rural EDs between August 2016 and June 2019, of whom 326 (27.4%) were treated with tele‐ED. Providers in counties with a high SVI were less likely to use tele‐ED (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 0.51, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.31‒0.87), an effect principally attributable to the housing type and transportation component of SVI (aOR = 0.44, 95% CI 0.22–0.89). Providers who treated fewer sepsis patients (1‒10 vs. 31+ over study period) and therefore may have been less experienced in sepsis care, were more likely to activate tele‐ED (aOR = 3.91, 95% CI 2.08‒7.38). Conclusions: Tele‐ED use for sepsis was lower in socially vulnerable counties and higher among providers who treated fewer sepsis patients. These findings suggest that while tele‐ED increases access to specialized care, it may not completely ameliorate sepsis disparities due to its less frequent use in socially vulnerable communities