Communicating with feeling

Communication between users in shared editors takes place in a deprived environment - distributed users find it difficult to communicate. While many solutions to the problems this causes have been suggested this paper presents a novel one. It describes one possible use of haptics as a channel for communication between users. User's telepointers are considered as haptic avatars and interactions such as haptically pushing and pulling each other are afforded. The use of homing forces to locate other users is also discussed, as is a proximity sensation based on viscosity. Evaluation of this system is currently underway

Solving multi-target haptic problems in menu interaction

While haptic feedback has been shown to enhance user performance and satisfaction in single target interactions in desktop user interfaces, it is not clear whether this will hold for more realistic, multi-target interactions. Here we present an experimental study of haptically enhanced menus. We evaluate a visual condition, a haptic condition and an adjusted haptic condition designed to support menu interactions. We conclude that thoughtful design can create multi-target haptic augmentations that provide performance benefits

Putting the feel in ’look and feel‘

Haptic devices are now commercially available and thus touch has become a potentially realistic solution to a variety of interaction design challenges. We report on an investigation of the use of touch as a way of reducing visual overload in the conventional desktop. In a two-phase study, we investigated the use of the PHANToM haptic device as a means of interacting with a conventional graphical user interface. The first experiment compared the effects of four different haptic augmentations on usability in a simple targeting task. The second experiment involved a more ecologically-oriented searching and scrolling task. Results indicated that the haptic effects did not improve users performance in terms of task completion time. However, the number of errors made was significantly reduced. Subjective workload measures showed that participants perceived many aspects of workload as significantly less with haptics. The results are described and the implications for the use of haptics in user interface design are discussed

Detection of the glucocorticoid receptors in brain protein extracts by SDS-PAGE

Uncorrected proofGlucocorticoids are steroid hormones vital for organ system homeostasis and for the maintenance of essential biological processes. A significant part of these actions are mediated through glucocorticoid receptor (GR) that belongs to the nuclear receptor superfamily. To cover such variety of processes the different glucocorticoids act through different GR isoforms that are originated due to posttranscriptional and posttranslational mechanisms. For this reason when evaluating the levels of GRs we should preferentially determine protein levels instead of gene expression. Here, we describe the detection by Western blotting of the GR (a and ß isoforms) protein, using macrodissected brain tissue

Higher Dosage of the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Mutant Allele in Lung Adenocarcinoma Correlates with Younger Age, Stage IV at Presentation, and Poorer Survival

IntroductionThe clinical significance of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutant allele specific imbalance (MASI) in lung adenocarcinomas is unknown.MethodsEGFR MASI was characterized by sequencing electropherograms (SEs) and EGFR fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) in 96 prospectively tested lung adenocarcinoma patients with a median follow-up of 20 months (all cases were EGFR mutation-positive).ResultsIn 25 cases, the mutant allele (MA) peak was higher than the wild-type allele (WA) peak, indicating the presence of EGFR MASI (25/96, 26%). The adenocarcinomas with EGFR MASI had a 4.4-fold higher average EGFR/Chromosome Enumeration Probe 7 ratio than carcinomas without MASI (7.9 ± 3.8 versus 1.8 ± 0.6, p = 0.01). A high degree of correlation between the MA/WA ratio (SE) and the EGFR/CEP7 ratio (FISH) (ρ = 0.757, p = 0.003) validated the quantitative nature of SE. Amplification was the most common mechanism of EGFR MASI (13/21, 62%). EGFR MASI was more commonly associated with exon 19 mutations than with exon 21 mutations (19/53, 36%, versus 6/43, 14%, p = 0.015, odds ratio [OR] = 3.4) and in patients younger than 65 years (17/46, 37%, versus 8/50, 16%, p = 0.019, OR = 3.1). Patients with EGFR MASI presented with stage IV disease more frequently (p = 0.01, OR = 3.5) and had a poorer disease-specific survival rate (p = 0.021, 54% versus 83% at 31 months).ConclusionsEGFR MASI in lung adenocarcinomas can be assessed based on SE and can be used to identify younger patients with more aggressive disease

Efficient History Matching of a High Dimensional Individual-Based HIV Transmission Model

History matching is a model (pre-)calibration method that has been applied to computer models from a wide range of scientific disciplines. In this work we apply history matching to an individual-based epidemiological model of HIV that has 96 input and 50 output parameters, a model of much larger scale than others that have been calibrated before using this or similar methods. Apart from demonstrating that history matching can analyze models of this complexity, a central contribution of this work is that the history match is carried out using linear regression, a statistical tool that is elementary and easier to implement than the Gaussian process--based emulators that have previously been used. Furthermore, we address a practical difficulty with history matching, namely, the sampling of tiny, nonimplausible spaces, by introducing a sampling algorithm adjusted to the specific needs of this method. The effectiveness and simplicity of the history matching method presented here shows that it is a useful tool for the calibration of computationally expensive, high dimensional, individual-based models

Academic motherhood and fieldwork: Juggling time, emotions and competing demands

The idea and practice of going ‘into the field’ to conduct research and gather data is a deeply rooted aspect of Geography as a discipline. For global North Development Geographers, amongst others, this usually entails travelling to, and spending periods of time in, often far-flung parts of the global South. Forging a successful academic career as a Development Geographer in the UK, is therefore to some extent predicated on mobility. This paper aims to critically engage with the gendered aspects of this expected mobility, focusing on the challenges and time constraints that are apparent when conducting overseas fieldwork as a mother, unaccompanied by her children. The paper emphasises the emotion work that is entailed in balancing the competing demands of overseas fieldwork and mothering, and begins to think through the implications of these challenges in terms of the types of knowledge we produce, as well as in relation to gender equality within the academy

Research and theory for nursing and midwifery: Rethinking the nature of evidence

Background and Rationale: The rise in the principles of evidence-based medicine in the 1990s heralded a re-emerging orthodoxy in research methodologies. The view of the randomised controlled trial (RCT) as a “gold standard” for evaluation of medical interventions has extended recently to evaluation of organisational forms and reforms and of change in complex systems—within health care and in other human services. Relatively little attention has been given to the epistemological assumptions underlying such a hierarchy of research evidence. Aims and Methods: Case studies from research in maternity care are used in this article to describe problems and limitations encountered in using RCTs to evaluate some recent policy-driven and consumer-oriented developments. These are discussed in relation to theory of knowledge and the epistemological assumptions, or paradigms, underpinning health services research. The aim in this discussion is not to advocate, or to reject, particular approaches to research but to advocate a more open and critical engagement with questions about the nature of evidence. Findings and Discussion: Experimental approaches are of considerable value in investigating deterministic and probabilistic cause and effect relationships, and in testing often well-established but unevaluated technologies. However, little attention has been paid to contextual and cultural factors in the effects of interventions, in the culturally constructed nature of research questions themselves, or of the data on which much research is based. More complex, and less linear, approaches to methodology are needed to address these issues. A simple hierarchical approach does not represent the complexity of evidence well and should move toward a more cyclical view of knowledge development

Vascular endothelial growth factor and tryptase changes after chemoembolization in hepatocarcinoma patients

AIM: To evaluate vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and tryptase in hepatocellular cancer (HCC) before and after trans-arterial chemoembolization (TACE). METHODS: VEGF and tryptase serum concentrations were assessed from 71 unresectable HCC patients before and after hepatic TACE performed by binding DC-Beads® to doxorubicin. VEGF levels were examined for each serum sample using the Quantikine Human VEGF-enzyme-linked immuno-absorbent assay (ELISA), whereas tryptase serum concentrations were assessed for each serum sample by means of fluoro-enzyme immunoassay (FEIA) using the Uni-CAP100 tool. Differences between serum VEGF and tryptase values before and after TACE were evaluated using Student t test. Person's correlation was used to assess the degree of association between the two variables. RESULTS: VEGF levels and serum tryptase in HCC patients before TACE had a mean value and standard deviation (SD) of 114.31 ± 79.58 pg/mL and 8.13 ± 3.61 μg/L, respectively. The mean levels and SD of VEGF levels and serum tryptase in HCC patients after TACE were 238.14 ± 109.41 pg/mL and 4.02 ± 3.03 μg/L. The changes between the mean values of concentration of VEGF and tryptase before treatment and after treatment was statistically significant (P < 0.000231 and P < 0.00124, by Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney respectively). A significant correlation between VEGF levels before and after TACE and between tryptase levels before and after TACE was demonstrated (r = 0.68, P = 0.003; r = 0.84, P = 0.000 respectively). CONCLUSION: Our pilot results suggest that the higher serum VEGF levels and the lower tryptase levels following TACE may be potential biomarkers changing in response to therapy

Ethical issues in the use of in-depth interviews: literature review and discussion

This paper reports a literature review on the topic of ethical issues in in-depth interviews. The review returned three types of article: general discussion, issues in particular studies, and studies of interview-based research ethics. Whilst many of the issues discussed in these articles are generic to research ethics, such as confidentiality, they often had particular manifestations in this type of research. For example, privacy was a significant problem as interviews sometimes probe unexpected areas. For similar reasons, it is difficult to give full information of the nature of a particular interview at the outset, hence informed consent is problematic. Where a pair is interviewed (such as carer and cared-for) there are major difficulties in maintaining confidentiality and protecting privacy. The potential for interviews to harm participants emotionally is noted in some papers, although this is often set against potential therapeutic benefit. As well as these generic issues, there are some ethical issues fairly specific to in-depth interviews. The problem of dual role is noted in many papers. It can take many forms: an interviewer might be nurse and researcher, scientist and counsellor, or reporter and evangelist. There are other specific issues such as taking sides in an interview, and protecting vulnerable groups. Little specific study of the ethics of in-depth interviews has taken place. However, that which has shows some important findings. For example, one study shows participants are not averse to discussing painful issues provided they feel the study is worthwhile. Some papers make recommendations for researchers. One such is that they should consider using a model of continuous (or process) consent rather than viewing consent as occurring once, at signature, prior to the interview. However, there is a need for further study of this area, both philosophical and empirical