Introducing creativity techniques and software apps to the care of people with dementia

This poster reports research to introduce creative problem solving techniques and software to the care for people with dementia in residential homes

Creativity Support in a Serious Game for Dementia Care

This paper advocates the use of computer-based serious games as a form of creativity support tool. Whilst the use of serious games has grown considerably in recent years, support for players to think creatively is often implicit in the game, and does not exploit the wide range of creativity techniques and software tools available. This paper makes the case for explicit creativity support in serious games, explores how implicit creativity support can be delivered in game play, and extends one reported model of serious game play with activities in which players deploy different forms of supported creative thinking. The model is then applied to inform 2 versions of a serious game developed to train carers in creativity techniques to deliver more person-centered care to people with dementia. Each version of the game was delivered as a prototype to support playtesting of the game and its effect on carer training

A software app to support creativity in dementia care

This paper reports a new mobile software app to support creative thinking by carers for people with dementia. The design of the app was informed by both pre-studies that demonstrated the potential of investigating challenging behaviors in non-care domains to improve person-centered care, and a model of creative problem solving adapted to dementia care. The resulting app implements different versions of the Other Worlds creativity technique to generate then reflect on ideas to improve resident care. An evaluation of the app in one residential home revealed that carers were able to use the app as described in the model, and deliver novel care to one resident in the home

Reliable in silico ranking of engineered therapeutic TCR binding affinities with MMPB/GBSA

Accurate and efficient in silico ranking of proteinprotein binding affinities is useful for protein design with applications in biological therapeutics. One popular approach to rank binding affinities is to apply the molecular mechanics Poisson-Boltzmann/generalized Born surface area (MMPB/ GBSA) method to molecular dynamics (MD) trajectories. Here, we identify protocols that enable the reliable evaluation of T-cell receptor (TCR) variants binding to their target, peptide-human leukocyte antigens (pHLAs). We suggest different protocols for variant sets with a few (<= 4) or many mutations, with entropy corrections important for the latter. We demonstrate how potential outliers could be identified in advance and that just 5-10 replicas of short (4 ns) MD simulations may be sufficient for the reproducible and accurate ranking of TCR variants. The protocols developed here can be applied toward in silico screening during the optimization of therapeutic TCRs, potentially reducing both the cost and time taken for biologic development

Computing Technologies for Reflective and Creative Care for People with Dementia

Digital technologies have much to offer the care for people with dementia. However, their uptake so far has been slow. In this article, we report the introduction of sensor and mobile technologies and applications to support carers of people with dementia in residential homes to be more reflective and creative. Results revealed that carers can and want to use these technologies, but more effective app alignment with different dementia care strategies will be needed to achieve widespread technology take‐up

Peptide cargo tunes a network of correlated motions in human leukocyte antigens

Most biomolecular interactions are typically thought to increase the (local) rigidity of a complex, for example, in drug‐target binding. However, detailed analysis of specific biomolecular complexes can reveal a more subtle interplay between binding and rigidity. Here, we focussed on the human leucocyte antigen (HLA), which plays a crucial role in the adaptive immune system by presenting peptides for recognition by the αβ T‐cell receptor (TCR). The role that the peptide plays in tuning HLA flexibility during TCR recognition is potentially crucial in determining the functional outcome of an immune response, with obvious relevance to the growing list of immunotherapies that target the T‐cell compartment. We have applied high‐pressure/temperature perturbation experiments, combined with molecular dynamics simulations, to explore the drivers that affect molecular flexibility for a series of different peptide–HLA complexes. We find that different peptide sequences affect peptide–HLA flexibility in different ways, with the peptide cargo tuning a network of correlated motions throughout the pHLA complex, including in areas remote from the peptide‐binding interface, in a manner that could influence T‐cell antigen discrimination

bicop: A command for fitting bivariate ordinal regressions with residual dependence characterized by a copula function and normal mixture marginals

In this article, we describe a new Stata command, bicop, for fitting a model consisting of a pair of ordinal regressions with a flexible residual distribution, with each marginal distribution specified as a two-part normal mixture, and stochastic dependence governed by a choice of copula functions. The bicop command generalizes the existing biprobit and bioprobit commands, which assume a bivariate normal residual distribution. We present and explain the bicop estimation command and the available postestimation commands using data on financial well-being from the UK Understanding Society Panel Survey

A Comparison of Recall and Diary Food Expenditure Data

Recall food expenditure data, which is the basis of a great deal of empirical work, is believed to suffer from considerable measurement error. Diary records are believed to be more accurate. We study an unusual data set that collects recall and diary data from the same households and so allows a direct comparison of the two methods of data collection. The diary data imply measurement errors in recall food expenditure data that are substantial, and which do not have the properties of classical measurement error. However, we also present evidence that the diary measures are themselves imperfect

Understanding Society Innovation Panel Wave 6: results from methodological experiments

This paper presents some preliminary findings from Wave 6 of the Innovation Panel (IP6) of Understanding Society: The UK Household Longitudinal Study. Understanding Society is a major panel survey in the UK. In March 2013, the sixth wave of the Innovation Panel went into the field. IP6 used a mixed-mode design, using on-line interviews and face-to-face interviews. This paper describes the design of IP6, the experiments carried and the preliminary findings from early analysis of the data