Modelling Reactive Multimedia: Design and Authoring

Multimedia document authoring is a multifaceted activity, and authoring tools tend to concentrate on a restricted set of the activities involved in the creation of a multimedia artifact. In particular, a distinction may be drawn between the design and the implementation of a multimedia artifact. This paper presents a comparison of three different authoring paradigms, based on the common case study of a simple interactive animation. We present details of its implementation using the three different authoring tools, MCF, Fran and SMIL 2.0, and we discuss the conclusions that may be drawn from our comparison of the three approaches

Mexitl: Multimedia in Executable Interval Temporal Logic

This paper explores a formalism for describing a wide class of multimedia document constraints, based on an interval temporal logic. We describe the requirements on temporal logic specification that arise from the multimedia documents application area. In particular, we highlight a canonical specification example. Then we present the temporal logic formalism that we use. This extends existing interval temporal logic with a number of new features: actions, framing of actions, past operators, a projection-like operator called filter and a new handling of interval length. A model theory, logic and satisfaction relation are defined for the notation, a specification of the canonical example is presented, and a proof system for the logic is introduced

The Neurophysiology of Tone: The Role of the Muscle Spindle and the Stretch Reflex

The excitability of the stretch reflex is used as a measure of tone. The muscle spindle is the receptor for the stretch reflexes which may be phasic or tonic in nature. This paper provides a theoretical background through an overview of published studies as a basis for the under-standing of the contribution of the muscle spindle to both the phasic and tonic stretch reflexes

Researcher development program of the primary health care research, evaluation and development strategy

Author accepted manuscript (Post-Print) made available according to publisher copyright policy.The Research Development Program (RDP) was initiated in 2004 under the Primary Health Care Research, Evaluation and Development (PHCRED) Strategy to increase the number and range of people with knowledge and skills in primary health care research and evaluation. RDP Fellows were invited to participate in an online survey about the effect the program had on their research knowledge, attitudes and practice. The response rate was 42% (105/248). Most were female (88%) with 66% aged between 31 and 50 years. Over two-thirds (72%) were health practitioners. Activities undertaken during the RDP ranged from literature reviews, developing a research question, preparing ethics submissions, attending and presenting at conferences and seminars, preparing papers and reports, and submitting grant applications. Despite the fact that only 52% agreed that the RDP time was adequate, 94% agreed that the RDP was a valuable experience, with 89% expressing interest in undertaking further research. These results indicate that this program has had a positive effect on the RDP Fellows in terms of their knowledge about research, their attitude to research, and the way they use research in their work

Melatonin as a potential therapy for sepsis : a phase I dose escalation study and an ex vivo whole blood model under conditions of sepsis

This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This study was funded by the Chief Scientist Office, NHS Scotland. We would like to thank all the volunteers who gave up their time and blood to take part in the study and the data monitoring committee and staff of the intensive care unit for their support. In addition, thanks to Dr Malachy Columb for performing Page's trend test for us and to Annette Fearnley at Nu-Pharm Ltd for her advice.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Intersubjectivity, participation and the moral order in everyday family talk involving young autistic children

Studying real-world, everyday family interactions is valuable for developing our knowledge of how autistic children and their family members participate in and organise social interaction. This thesis examines naturally occurring family interactions involving young autistic children with speech, language and communication needs. It aims to broaden our knowledge of how the autistic children participate in family interaction and how autism becomes relevant to everyday family talk. The thesis focuses on three specific phenomena: initiating and responsive action sequences in parent-child dyadic interaction, how co-participants refer to their autistic child in their presence within multiparty interaction and how parents issue directives to non-autistic siblings about activities related to their autistic sibling. The study employed the methodology of conversation analysis to examine over twelve hours of video-recorded naturalistic interactions produced by four families. Both dyadic and multiparty interactions were analysed. The findings from this study demonstrate how family interactions were vulnerable to a loss of intersubjectivity between interlocutors, how this delayed the progressivity of sequences and how this situation was managed. The analysis also evidences how participants engage in sense-making practices related to the autistic children’s communication and how they oriented to communication successes as well as difficulties. Lastly, the findings demonstrate how co-present siblings participate in interactions and how the family moral order is interactionally established in parent-sibling sequences. These findings expand our understanding of the sequential organisation of dyadic and multiparty family interactions involving autistic children

Evaluation of the Researcher Development Program (RDP) of the Primary Health Care Research, Evaluation and Development (PHCRED) Strategy: The Fellows’ perspective

This study examines the extent to which the Researcher Development Program (RDP) has impacted on knowledge, attitudes and practice in relation to research and to develop a profile of RDP participants. RDP fellows (appointed between 2005 and 2009) were invited to complete an on-line survey which looked at issues such as previous research experience, research training and activities during the RDP and time allocated to RDP

Informing early intervention: preschool predictors of anxiety disorders in middle childhood

Background: To inform early intervention practice, the present research examines how child anxiety, behavioural inhibition, maternal overinvolvement, maternal negativity, mother-child attachment and maternal anxiety, as assessed at age four, predict anxiety at age nine. Method: 202 children (102 behaviourally inhibited and 100 behaviourally uninhibited) aged 3–4 years were initially recruited and the predictors outlined above were assessed. Diagnostic assessments, using the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule, were then conducted five years later. Results: Behavioural inhibition, maternal anxiety, and maternal overinvolvement were significant predictors of clinical anxiety, even after controlling for baseline anxiety (p,.05). No significant effect of negativity or attachment security was found over and above baseline anxiety (p..1). Conclusions: Preschool children who show anxiety, are inhibited, have overinvolved mothers and mothers with anxiety disorders are at increased risk for anxiety in middle childhood. These factors can be used to identify suitable participants for early intervention and can be targeted within intervention programs