Improving immersive experiences for visitors with sensory impairments to the aquarium of the pacific

This case study describes the development of a mid-air haptic solution to enhance the immersive experience of visitors who are deaf, blind or wheelchair users to the Aquarium of the Pacific's movie theatre. During the project we found that adding a sense of touch, using an innovative ultrasound technology, to an immersive experience can improve the sense of engagement users have with the content, and can help to improve agreement with the topics presented. We present guidelines on the design of haptic sensations. By describing how this project took place within the tight timelines of a commercial deployment, we hope to encourage more organisations to do similar work

Postglacial expansion of the arctic keystone copepod calanus glacialis

Calanus glacialis, a major contributor to zooplankton biomass in the Arctic shelf seas, is a key link between primary production and higher trophic levels that may be sensitive to climate warming. The aim of this study was to explore genetic variation in contemporary populations of this species to infer possible changes during the Quaternary period, and to assess its population structure in both space and time. Calanus glacialis was sampled in the fjords of Spitsbergen (Hornsund and Kongsfjorden) in 2003, 2004, 2006, 2009 and 2012. The sequence of a mitochondrial marker, belonging to the ND5 gene, selected for the study was 1249 base pairs long and distinguished 75 unique haplotypes among 140 individuals that formed three main clades. There was no detectable pattern in the distribution of haplotypes by geographic distance or over time. Interestingly, a Bayesian skyline plot suggested that a 1000-fold increase in population size occurred approximately 10,000 years before present, suggesting a species expansion after the Last Glacial Maximum.GAME from the National Science Centre, the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education Iuventus Plus [IP2014 050573]; FCT-PT [CCMAR/Multi/04326/2013]; [2011/03/B/NZ8/02876

A four phase development model for integrated care services in the Netherlands

Background. Multidisciplinary and interorganizational arrangements for the delivery of coherent integrated care are being developed in a large number of countries. Although there are many integrated care programs worldwide, the process of developing these programs and interorganizational collaboration is described in the literature only to a limited extent. The purpose of this study is to explore how local integrated care services are developed in the Netherlands, and to conceptualize and operationalize a development model of integrated care. Methods. The research is based on an expert panel study followed by a two-part questionnaire, designed to identify the development process of integrated care. Essential elements of integrated care, which were developed in a previous Delphi and Concept Mapping Study, were analyzed in relation to development process of integrated care. Results. Integrated care development can be characterized by four developmental phases: the initiative and design phase; the experimental and execution phase; the expansion and monitoring phase; and the consolidation and transformation phase. Different elements of integrated care have been identified in the various developmental phases. Conclusion. The findings provide a descriptive model of the development process that integrated care services can undergo in the Netherlands. The findings have important implications for integrated care services, which can use the model as an instrument to reflect on their current practices. The model can be used to help to identify improvement areas in practice. The model provides a framework for developing evaluation designs for integrated care arrangements. Further research is recommended to test the developed model in practice and to add international experiences

ChloroMitoSSRDB: open source repository of perfect and imperfect repeats in organelle genomes for evolutionary genomics

This article has been accepted for publication in DNA Research Published by Oxford University Press.[EN] Microsatellites or simple sequence repeats (SSRs) are repetitive stretches of nucleotides (A, T, G, C) that are distributed either as single base pair stretches or as a combination of two- to six-nucleotides units that are non-randomly distributed within coding and in non-coding regions of the genome. ChloroMitoSSRDB is a complete curated web-oriented relational database of perfect and imperfect repeats in organelle genomes. The present version of the database contains perfect and imperfect SSRs of 2161 organelle genomes (1982 mitochondrial and 179 chloroplast genomes). We detected a total of 5838 chloroplast perfect SSRs, 37 297 chloroplast imperfect SSRs, 5898 mitochondrial perfect SSRs and 50 355 mitochondria! imperfect SSRs across these genomes. The repeats have been further hyperlinked to the annotated gene regions (coding or non-coding) and a link to the corresponding gene record in National Center for Biotechnology Information(vvww.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/) to identify and understand the positional relationship of the repetitive tracts. ChloroMitoSSRDB is connected to a user-friendly web interface that provides useful information associated with the location of the repeats (coding and non-coding), size of repeat, motif and length polymorphism, etc. ChloroMitoSSRDB will serve as a repository for developing functional markers for molecular phylogenetics, estimating molecular variation across speciesThis work was supported by BIOMASFOR (Z0912003I, Italy) and EC FP7 (BIOSUPPORT, Bulgaria). M.A.F. was supported by a grant from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Inovacio´n (BFU2009- 12022).Sablok, G.; Mudunuri, SB.; Patnana, S.; Popova, M.; Fares Riaño, MA.; La Porta, N. (2013). ChloroMitoSSRDB: open source repository of perfect and imperfect repeats in organelle genomes for evolutionary genomics. DNA Research. 20(2):127-133. https://doi.org/10.1093/dnares/dss038S12713320

Networks or structures? : organizing cultural routes around heritage values : case studies from Poland

The most common way of managing cultural heritage recently takes form of cultural routes as they seem to offer a new model of participation in culture to their recipients; they are often a peculiar anchor point for inhabitants to let them understand their identity and form the future; they offer actual tours to enter into interaction with culture and history, to build together that creation of the heritage, which so is becoming not only a touristic product, but, first of all, the space for cultural, social and civic activity. Yet, so far, according to what we know, the research problem concerning the method of cultural route organization (points on the route) into solid structures or more of the networked nature, has not been deliberated. A question arises, what values are brought by routes and how to organize routes to be the carriers of the values important for communities, where routes are functioning. And, as a consequence, if, from the point of view of the values of local communities, organizing solid route structures or organizing more widely-spaced, network-based routes would bring effects and what those effects would be. Thus, the posed question is of course scientifically imprecise because a network is a type of structure but presents a given direction for the development of cultural route structures. Our objective here is to present a certain solidity and rigidity of structure with dynamic and smooth understanding of the network. The research presented in the article is based on 3 case studies. We have selected for this purpose the three largest cultural routes in Poland, organized to various degrees. The outcome of the research was referred also to other cultural route organization research

The Emergence of Hospital Federations: An Integration of Perspectives from Organizational Theory

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68464/2/10.1177_107755878704400206.pd