Families and mobile devices in museums: designing for integrated experiences

This paper presents an observational study of eight families engaging with a bespoke tablet experience produced for a space science centre. It documents the various ways in which family members orientate themselves to the usage of technology in this environment, with a particular focus on the work done to manage the tablet and facilitate the engagement of younger children with the narrative of the experience. These findings are considered in the broader context of the need to design experiences that cater for engagement by families as a whole. We conclude by motivating the need for technologies that are robust in light of regular disengagement and by family members, and which provide functionality to directly support facilitation work

Supporting place-specific interaction through a physical/digital assembly

This article examines visitor interactions with and through a physical/digital installation designed for an open-air museum that displays historic buildings and ways of life from the past. The installation was designed following the “Assembly” design scheme proposed by Fraser et al. (2003), and centred around five principles for the design of interactive experiences. We discuss how the Assembly framework was adapted and applied to our work on the installation called Reminisce, and we then present qualitative data gathered through the shadowing and naturalistic observations of small groups of visitors using Reminisce during their exploration of the museum. Through these data excerpts we illustrate how interaction occurred among visitors and with the assembly. We reflect on the guiding principles of the adapted Assembly framework and on their usefulness for the design of place-specific interactional opportunities in heritage settings. Results from the empirical study show that the adapted Assembly principles provide HCI researchers and designers with ways in which to flexibly support collocated interactions at heritage sites across artefacts and locations in ways that both complement and enrich the physical setting of the visit and its character

Attitudes towards Cypriot Greek and Standard Modern Greek in London’s Greek Cypriot community

Aim To investigate whether the positive attitudes towards Standard Modern Greek and the mixture of positive and negative attitudes towards Cypriot Greek that have been documented in Cyprus are also present in London's Greek Cypriot community. Approach Unlike previous quantitative works, the study reported in this article was qualitative and aimed at capturing the ways in which attitudes and attitude-driven practices are experienced by members of London's diasporic community. Data and Analysis Data were collected by means of semi-structured, sociolinguistic interviews with 28 members of the community. All participants were second-generation heritage speakers, successive bilinguals in Cypriot Greek and English, and successive bidialectal speakers in Cypriot Greek and Standard Modern Greek. The data were analysed qualitatively (thematic analysis). Findings – Positive perceptions of Standard Modern Greek and mixed perceptions, both positive and negative, of Cypriot Greek are found in the context of London. – As in Cyprus, Standard Modern Greek is perceived as a prestigious, proper and 'correct' variety of Greek. Cypriot Greek, in contrast, is described as a villagey, heavy and even broken variety. – Greek complementary schools play a key role in engendering these attitudes. – Unlike in Cyprus, in the London community, the use of Cypriot Greek is also discouraged in informal settings such as the home. Originality Papapavlou & Pavlou contended that "there are no signs of negative attitudes towards Cypriot Greek [in London]" (2001, p. 104). This research shows this claim to be false. Significance/Implications Negative attitudes towards Cypriot Greek lead to a community-wide preference for the use of Standard Modern Greek in communication with other members of the Greek Cypriot community, which poses a great threat to the intergenerational transmission and maintenance of Cypriot Greek as a heritage language in London

The Influence of the Internet on European Journalism

This study investigates how European journalists evaluate the changes that have occurred in their profession since the Internet has been integrated in newsrooms. How do journalists perceive the features and innovations associated with the Internet? What are the principal changes in the profession? Do practitioners believe that the quality of journalism has been raised or lowered? To answer to these research questions, we carried out a survey across 11 European countries–Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, United Kingdom, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden–of 239 journalists, working for 40 of the most-read print/online news outlets in these countries. The survey shows that the opportunity to use the Internet to reinforce the social functions of journalism has not been fully recognised

Effect of rituximab on a salivary gland ultrasound score in primary Sjögren’s syndrome: results of the TRACTISS randomised double-blind multicentre substudy

Objectives To compare the effects of rituximab versus placebo on salivary gland ultrasound (SGUS) in primary Sjögren’s syndrome (PSS) in a multicentre, multiobserver phase III trial substudy. Methods Subjects consenting to SGUS were randomised to rituximab or placebo given at weeks 0, 2, 24 and 26, and scanned at baseline and weeks 16 and 48. Sonographers completed a 0–11 total ultrasound score (TUS) comprising domains of echogenicity, homogeneity, glandular definition, glands involved and hypoechoic foci size. Baseline-adjusted TUS values were analysed over time, modelling change from baseline at each time point. For each TUS domain, we fitted a repeated-measures logistic regression model to model the odds of a response in the rituximab arm (≥1-point improvement) as a function of the baseline score, age category, disease duration and time point. Results 52 patients (n=26 rituximab and n=26 placebo) from nine centres completed baseline and one or more follow-up visits. Estimated between-group differences (rituximab-placebo) in baseline-adjusted TUS were −1.2 (95% CI −2.1 to −0.3; P=0.0099) and −1.2 (95% CI −2.0 to −0.5; P=0.0023) at weeks 16 and 48. Glandular definition improved in the rituximab arm with an OR of 6.8 (95% CI 1.1 to 43.0; P=0.043) at week 16 and 10.3 (95% CI 1.0 to 105.9; P=0.050) at week 48. Conclusions We demonstrated statistically significant improvement in TUS after rituximab compared with placebo. This encourages further research into both B cell depletion therapies in PSS and SGUS as an imaging biomarker

eIF2α Kinases Regulate Development through the BzpR Transcription Factor in Dictyostelium discoideum

A major mechanism of translational regulation in response to a variety of stresses is mediated by phosphorylation of eIF2α to reduce delivery of initiator tRNAs to scanning ribosomes. For some mRNAs, often encoding a bZIP transcription factor, eIF2α phosphorylation leads to enhanced translation due to delayed reinitiation at upstream open reading frames. Dictyostelium cells possess at least three eIF2α kinases that regulate various portions of the starvation-induced developmental program. Cells possessing an eIF2α that cannot be phosphorylated (BS167) show abnormalities in growth and development. We sought to identify a bZIP protein in Dictyostelium whose production is controlled by the eIF2α regulatory system.Cells disrupted in the bzpR gene had similar developmental defects as BS167 cells, including small entities, stalk defects, and reduced spore viability. β-galactosidase production was used to examine translation from mRNA containing the bzpR 5' UTR. While protein production was readily apparent and regulated temporally and spatially in wild type cells, essentially no β-galactosidase was produced in developing BS167 cells even though the lacZ mRNA levels were the same as those in wild type cells. Also, no protein production was observed in strains lacking IfkA or IfkB eIF2α kinases. GFP fusions, with appropriate internal controls, were used to directly demonstrate that the bzpR 5' UTR, possessing 7 uORFs, suppressed translation by 12 fold. Suppression occurred even when all but one uORF was deleted, and translational suppression was removed when the ATG of the single uORF was mutated.The findings indicate that BzpR regulates aspects of the development program in Dictyostelium, serving as a downstream effector of eIF2α phosphorylation. Its production is temporally and spatially regulated by eIF2α phosphorylation by IfkA and IfkB and through the use of uORFs within the bzpR 5' UTR

Myeloablative conditioning for allo-HSCT in pediatric ALL: FTBI or chemotherapy?—A multicenter EBMT-PDWP study

Although most children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) receive fractionated total body irradiation (FTBI) as myeloablative conditioning (MAC) for allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT), it is an important matter of debate if chemotherapy can effectively replace FTBI. To compare outcomes after FTBI versus chemotherapy-based conditioning (CC), we performed a retrospective EBMT registry study. Children aged 2-18 years after MAC for first allo-HSCT of bone marrow (BM) or peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC) from matched-related (MRD) or unrelated donors (UD) in first (CR1) or second remission (CR2) between 2000 and 2012 were included. Propensity score weighting was used to control pretreatment imbalances of the observed variables. 3.054 patients were analyzed. CR1 (1.498): median follow-up (FU) after FTBI (1.285) and CC (213) was 6.8 and 6.1 years. Survivals were not significantly different. CR2 (1.556): median FU after FTBI (1.345) and CC (211) was 6.2 years. Outcomes after FTBI were superior as compared with CC with regard to overall survival (OS), leukemia-free survival (LFS), relapse incidence (RI), and nonrelapse mortality (NRM). However, we must emphasize the preliminary character of the results of this retrospective "real-world-practice" study. These findings will be prospectively assessed in the ALL SCTped 2012 FORUM trial.Transplantation and immunomodulatio