Reinventing the book: exploring the affordances of digital media to (re)tell stories and expand storyworlds

A thesis submitted to the University of Bedfordshire, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Professional Doctorate in Journalism, Media, Television and CinemaThe focus of this thesis is on analysing the affordances of new technologies of the book. It looks at the transition between the affordances of the material book and the digital, focusing on the formal aspects of the book and its digital production and consumption. The research uses a coreperiphery model to locate innovation, looking first at a range of practices and then at selected producers and artefacts to identify relevant uses of the affordances of digital media, namely participation, co-creation, online reading communities, and the potential for cross-media extension of stories into other forms. The analyses of selected digital artefacts evaluate their strengths and weaknesses and ask: how have the affordances of the digital medium been used? What do these affordances offer to producers and consumers? And how have certain affordances changed the use value, the pleasures and the suitability of texts for their intended functions? This evaluation takes into account professional publishing contexts and a range of practices, looking at the ways in which producers make, classify and present their works. Affordances theory is used throughout, and ultimately shows that good design practices reinvent the medium, push the boundaries of the book, whilst considering the habits, needs and expectations of readers/users. A practice-led project is subject to analysis and reflection on practice in order to draw further insights and recommend approaches and tools for designers, publishers and other producers. This project experimented with reader engagement and co-creation to adapt the Nature Mage fantasy book series (Duncan Pile, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2016) onto enhanced digital book and digital game texts. Media-specificity is used as a framework to look at the ways in which stories can be translated and expanded onto new forms that explore the affordances of digital media. The adaptations are located at the intersection of media, shaped by a range of intertexts from both analogue and digital media, and offering not simply another way of enjoying the narrative but texts that explore the digital affordances also to design features that relate to ludic, creative and social motivations and pleasures. Ultimately the thesis revisits the very definition of the book, its functions, its value and the ways in which emerging digital artefacts are doing the work of books and — thanks to new affordances and their hybrid nature — are not only changing the experience of reading, but also mixing it with the work of other media forms and genres. In doing so, this thesis contributes to furthering professional practice by highlighting a range of uses of the affordances of the digital medium to reinvent the book in the next chapter of its evolution

Endothelial cell invasion is controlled by dactylopodia

Copyright © 2021 the Author(s). Published by PNAS. This open access article is distributed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License 4.0 (CC BY-NC-ND).Sprouting angiogenesis is fundamental for development and contributes to cancer, diabetic retinopathy, and cardiovascular diseases. Sprouting angiogenesis depends on the invasive properties of endothelial tip cells. However, there is very limited knowledge on how tip cells invade into tissues. Here, we show that endothelial tip cells use dactylopodia as the main cellular protrusion for invasion into nonvascular extracellular matrix. We show that dactylopodia and filopodia protrusions are balanced by myosin IIA (NMIIA) and actin-related protein 2/3 (Arp2/3) activity. Endothelial cell-autonomous ablation of NMIIA promotes excessive dactylopodia formation in detriment of filopodia. Conversely, endothelial cell-autonomous ablation of Arp2/3 prevents dactylopodia development and leads to excessive filopodia formation. We further show that NMIIA inhibits Rac1-dependent activation of Arp2/3 by regulating the maturation state of focal adhesions. Our discoveries establish a comprehensive model of how endothelial tip cells regulate its protrusive activity and will pave the way toward strategies to block invasive tip cells during sprouting angiogenesis.C.A.F. was supported by a European Research Council starting grant (679368), the European Union H2020-TWINN-2015—Twinning (692322), the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia funding (grants IF/00412/2012, EXPL/BEX-BCM/2258/2013, PTDC/MED-PAT/31639/2017, and PTDC/BIA-CEL/32180/2017 and fellowships CEECIND/04251/2017 and CEECIND/02589/2018), and a grant from the Fondation Leducq (17CVD03).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Climate seasonality limits leaf carbon assimilation and wood productivity in tropical forests

The seasonal climate drivers of the carbon cycle in tropical forests remain poorly known, although these forests account for more carbon assimilation and storage than any other terrestrial ecosystem. Based on a unique combination of seasonal pan-tropical data sets from 89 experimental sites (68 include aboveground wood productivity measurements and 35 litter productivity measurements), their associated canopy photosynthetic capacity (enhanced vegetation index, EVI) and climate, we ask how carbon assimilation and aboveground allocation are related to climate seasonality in tropical forests and how they interact in the seasonal carbon cycle. We found that canopy photosynthetic capacity seasonality responds positively to precipitation when rainfall is  < 2000 mm yr⁻¹ (water-limited forests) and to radiation otherwise (light-limited forests). On the other hand, independent of climate limitations, wood productivity and litterfall are driven by seasonal variation in precipitation and evapotranspiration, respectively. Consequently, light-limited forests present an asynchronism between canopy photosynthetic capacity and wood productivity. First-order control by precipitation likely indicates a decrease in tropical forest productivity in a drier climate in water-limited forest, and in current light-limited forest with future rainfall  < 2000 mm yr⁻¹

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

Impaired nutritional status in outpatients in remission or with active Crohn's disease : classified by objective endoscopic and imaging assessments

Crohn's disease is a chronic inflammatory disease consisting of alternated periods of relapse and remission. The disease is associated with altered body composition and micronutrient deficiencies. This study aimed to evaluate the nutritional status of Crohn's disease outpatients in remission and activity of the disease. Patients were classified according to Crohn's Disease Endoscopic Index of Severity or Magnetic Resonance Imaging scan. Anthropometric and biochemical analysis was performed for nutritional status evaluation. A total of 60 patients were evaluated of which 31 were in endoscopic remission (mean Crohn's Disease Endoscopic Index of Severity: 1.76) and 29 in activity (mean Crohn's Disease Endoscopic Index of Severity: 7.88). Regarding markers of fat and lean mass, lower values were observed in the activity group when compared to the remission group (p < 0.05). There was a positive correlation regarding the duration of the disease and the anthropometric parameters in patients with active disease. Interestingly, the prevalence of overweight/obese patients was 55% in remission group and 28% in activity group according to the Body Mass Index classification. In addition, lower levels of iron, folic acid and albumin were also observed in Crohn's disease activity group. We observed important differences in nutritional markers between patients in remission and activity phases, with higher prevalence of overweight/obese in patients with remission of the disease336065COORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DE PESSOAL DE NÍVEL SUPERIOR - CAPESnão te

The inhibitory effect of BPP-BrachyNH₂ and captopril on rat serum ACE activity.

<p>Residual enzymatic activities are plotted against the corresponding inhibitor concentrations. IC₅₀ values were calculated from nonlinear regression analysis of obtained data using GraphPad 5.0 software (GraphPad Prism, San Diego, CA).</p

Molecular modeling of BPP-BrachyNH₂ and human ACE and <i>in silico</i> docking studies.

<p>(A) Theoretical model of BPP-BrachyNH₂ showing the structure with lower energy system; (B) theoretical model of ACE showing the structure with lower energy system; (C) Docking between BPP-BrachyNH₂/ACE; (D) binary complex relationship with zoom in and detailed interactions; and (E) interactions between the substrate and the catalytic triad His³⁸³, His³⁸⁷ and Glu⁴¹¹, indicating a probable block of the catalytic activity.</p

Sequencing of the proline-rich peptides (PROs) from the skin secretion of <i>B</i>. <i>ephippium</i>.

<p>(A) Mass spectra of BPP-Brachy, [M+H]⁺ = 907.37 and (B) BPP-BrachyNH₂, [M+H]⁺ = 906.36 acquired in an UltraFlex III MALDI-TOF/TOF operating under LIFT™ mode for MS/MS experiments. The observed fragments allowed complete assignment of the major y and b ion series. The peptide sequence using one-letter code following the y and b series orientation is shown on the top part of the spectra.</p

Vasodilator effect of BPP-BrachyNH₂ and captopril (10⁻⁹–3 × 10⁻⁵ M) on rat thoracic aorta.

<p>Aortic rings were pre-contracted with phenylephrine (3 × 10⁻⁷ M) and then cumulatively incubated with BPP-BrachyNH₂ (A) or captopril (B). Effect of L-NAME (100 μM) on BPP-BrachyNH₂-induced vasodilator effect (C). Respective comparisons among E_max (D) values were plotted. The results were expressed as means ± SEM (n = 6). Non-paired Student’s t test. ^**<i>p</i> < 0.01 and ^***<i>p</i> < 0.001 versus endothelium-intact (E+) preparations.</p