Mixed reality entertainment with wearable computers

Master'sMASTER OF ENGINEERIN

Cavitation Bubble Dynamics For Biomedical Applications: Shockwave and Ultrasound Bubble Interaction Simulation

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

Does prior experience really matter for disaster preparedness?

Climate change and transition toward urbanization had resulted in more frequent and severe disasters in the last decade. While urbanization is potential driver of change and economic growth, climate change had exacerbated resource scarcity and exposed local communities to greater and more frequent disasters. The local communities in Malaysia are of no exception. The most common types of disasters in Malaysia are landslide, flash flood and haze. This study explores the extent to which prior experience affects the level of preparedness among Malaysian communities before occurrence of natural disasters. Although previous studies have proven prior experience aided better handling of preparedness, yet some researchers have not found significant correlation between prior experience and preparedness. Having inconclusive results and with the rise of unexpected disaster events, has lead this present study to investigate the link in the Malaysian context. Questionnaire surveys were distributed to more than 1,000 respondents and face-to-face interviews were conducted with 12 local communities from Klang Valley, Malaysia. The results indicated that prior experience does contribute towards the level of disaster preparedness among the local communities in Malaysia. Hence, the findings of this present study may reduce the impact of disasters and thus could help local communities to effectively cope with the events of disasters

Roles of mentees via virtual mentoring

This paper presents a case study that highlights online mentoring among pre-service teachers and in-service teachers from three local public tertiary institutions. Specifically, it investigates the roles of mentees during virtual mentoring sessions. Four groups of pre-service teachers from three local tertiary institutions mentored by four in-service teachers from Johor Bahru participated in the study. Each group was assigned an online newsletter and required to carry out writing of the online newsletter task by discussing through Nicenet, an online forum, when carrying out the task. The data obtained from the online postings on Nicenet was analyzed using Ambrosetti and Dekkers’s (2010) roles of mentees. Findings implied that the e-mentees acted as supporters, active participants, collaborators, leaders, and role models. The findings also revealed three salient themes which are: i) collaboration as an inevitable practice, ii) the need for mentees to be actively involved in mentoring practice and iii) the lack of experience and self-esteem among mentees

Brachytherapy boost for T1/T2 nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Background. The aim of this study was to review our experience and demonstrate the safety of intracavitary brachytherapy (ICB) in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Methods. Hundred seventy-eight patients with early T1-2b disease underwent radical external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) followed by ICB boost. The primary tumor received 66 Gy of EBRT over 33 fractions using 6 or 10 MV photons. ICB insertions were performed 1 week later, delivering 10 Gy in 2 fractions over 8 days. Kaplan-Meier survival analyses were used to calculate the actuarial 5-year overall survival (OS), cause-specific survival, local control, and disease-free survival (DFS). Results. Five-year local control rates were 91.6%. OS, DFS, and cause-specific survival were estimated to be 85.25%, 81.7%, and 87.9%, respectively. Median follow-up was 86 months. There were no documented serious complications noted with ICB. Conclusion. ICB boost supplementing radical EBRT is an excellent method of enhancing local control for patients with NPC with early T1-2b diseas

Game-city: A ubiquitous large area multi-interface mixed reality game space for wearable computers

This paper presents a novel wearable computer interaction and entertainment system which provides an interactive physical and mixed reality computer environment that spans large areas with multi-users, and can be extended to a whole city. Our system called "Game-City " is an embodied (ubiquitous, tangible, and social) wearable computing based mixed reality (MR) game space which regains the social aspects of traditional game plays whilst also maintaining the exciting fantasy features of traditional computer entertainment. 1

Constructing literature review: e-tutors' feedback and concern

Constructing literature review is an integral part of writing a proposal or research report. In order to conjure up literature review, student writers need to conduct readings on pertinent previous studies and situate their study among the previous studies. This paper aims at exploring the e-tutors' or content instructors' pedagogical practices in tutoring the student writers on improving their literature review via Google Docs. Google Docs was selected as the platform for the tutoring to take place because it allows both synchronous as well as asynchronous modes of networking. The participants involved are four pairs of e-tutor-student where one-on-one tutoring was conducted. The data collection instruments include the student writers' writing drafts, virtual observation, as well as interview with both the student writers and e-tutors. In analyzing the data, qualitative analysis was performed. Analysis of the data suggests that the e-tutors' pedagogical practices include frequent use of direct feedback, pointing out the strengths of the student writers, and asking for the expansion on certain subject matter. The findings are discussed in terms of e-tutors' concern and the issues pertaining to error correction and praises

A phase II trial of induction gemcitabine and vinorelbine followed by concurrent vinorelbine and radiotherapy in locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer

This is phase II study evaluating a non-platinum-containing regimen, used in conjunction with radiotherapy, in patients with locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Patients with non-resectable stage III NSCLC were treated with two cycles of induction gemcitabine (1000 mg/m2) and vinorelbine (25 mg/m2) given on D1,8 every 21 days, followed by thoracic radiotherapy (60–66 Gy) with concurrent weekly vinorelbine (15 mg/m2). The primary objective was to assess response rate and secondary objectives to assess tolerability and to determine the progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). Of the 42 patients enrolled on the study, 15 (36%) achieved a partial response (PR) after induction chemotherapy. After chemo-radiotherapy, five patients had complete response (CR) and 19 patients had PR, giving an overall response rate of 52%. The median PFS was 8 months and median OS was 17 months. The regimen was tolerable, with a 21% grade 3/4 neutropenia rate and 38% grade 2/3 esophagitis rate

Current Pharmacotherapy and Multi-Target Approaches for Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by decreased synaptic transmission and cerebral atrophy with appearance of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. Cognitive, functional, and behavioral alterations are commonly associated with the disease. Different pathophysiological pathways of AD have been proposed, some of which interact and influence one another. Current treatment for AD mainly involves the use of therapeutic agents to alleviate the symptoms in AD patients. The conventional single-target treatment approaches do not often cause the desired effect in the disease due to its multifactorial origin. Thus, multi-target strategies have since been undertaken, which aim to simultaneously target multiple targets involved in the development of AD. In this review, we provide an overview of the pathogenesis of AD and the current drug therapies for the disease. Additionally, rationales of the multi-target approaches and examples of multi-target drugs with pharmacological actions against AD are also discussed