Engaging older adults with age-related macular degeneration in the design and evaluation of mobile assistive technologies

Ongoing advances in technology are undoubtedly increasing the scope for enhancing and supporting older adults’ daily living. The digital divide between older and younger adults, however, raises concerns about the suitability of technological solutions for older adults, especially for those with impairments. Taking older adults with Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) – a progressive and degenerative disease of the eye – as a case study, the research reported in this dissertation considers how best to engage older adults in the design and evaluation of mobile assistive technologies to achieve sympathetic design of such technologies. Recognising the importance of good nutrition and the challenges involved in designing for people with AMD, this research followed a participatory and user-centred design (UCD) approach to develop a proof–of–concept diet diary application for people with AMD. Findings from initial knowledge elicitation activities contribute to the growing debate surrounding the issues on how older adults’ participation is initiated, planned and managed. Reflections on the application of the participatory design method highlighted a number of key strategies that can be applied to maintain empathic participatory design rapport with older adults and, subsequently, lead to the formulation of participatory design guidelines for effectively engaging older adults in design activities. Taking a novel approach, the final evaluation study contributed to the gap in the knowledge on how to bring closure to the participatory process in as positive a way as possible, cognisant of the potential negative effect that withdrawal of the participatory process may have on individuals. Based on the results of this study, we ascertain that (a) sympathetic design of technology with older adults will maximise technology acceptance and shows strong indicators for affecting behaviour change; and (b) being involved in the design and development of such technologies has the capacity to significantly improve the quality of life of older adults (with AMD)

Application of MATLAB in -Omics and Systems Biology

Biological data analysis has dramatically changed since the introduction of high-throughput -omics technologies, such as microarrays and next-generation sequencing. The key advantage of obtaining thousands of measurements from a single sample soon became a bottleneck limiting transformation of generated data into knowledge. It has become apparent that traditional statistical approaches are not suited to solve problems in the new reality of “big biological data.” From the other side, traditional computing languages such as C/C++ and Java, are not flexible enough to allow for quick development and testing of new algorithms, while MATLAB provides a powerful computing environment and a variety of sophisticated toolboxes for performing complex bioinformatics calculations

Designing a mobile diet diary application with and for older adults with AMD:a case ctudy

Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is the UK’s leading cause of severe visual impairment amongst the elderly. It accounts for 16,000 blind/partial sight registrations per year and is the leading cause of blindness among people aged 55 years and older in western countries (Bressler, 2004). Our research aims to design and develop a self-monitoring, ability-reactive technology (SMART) for users with AMD to support their dietary-based AMD risk mitigation and progression retardation over time. In this paper, we reflect on our experience of adapting and applying a participatory design (PD) approach to support the effective design of our application with and for older adults with AMD. We introduce the outcome of a series of PD sessions with older adults with AMD - that is, a paper prototype of our proposed application which focuses on accessibility for our target users - and discuss implications for the eventual prototype developmen

PSF toolkit: an R package for pathway curation and topology-aware analysis

Most high throughput genomic data analysis pipelines currently rely on over-representation or gene set enrichment analysis (ORA/GSEA) approaches for functional analysis. In contrast, topology-based pathway analysis methods, which offer a more biologically informed perspective by incorporating interaction and topology information, have remained underutilized and inaccessible due to various limiting factors. These methods heavily rely on the quality of pathway topologies and often utilize predefined topologies from databases without assessing their correctness. To address these issues and make topology-aware pathway analysis more accessible and flexible, we introduce the PSF (Pathway Signal Flow) toolkit R package. Our toolkit integrates pathway curation and topology-based analysis, providing interactive and command-line tools that facilitate pathway importation, correction, and modification from diverse sources. This enables users to perform topology-based pathway signal flow analysis in both interactive and command-line modes. To showcase the toolkit’s usability, we curated 36 KEGG signaling pathways and conducted several use-case studies, comparing our method with ORA and the topology-based signaling pathway impact analysis (SPIA) method. The results demonstrate that the algorithm can effectively identify ORA enriched pathways while providing more detailed branch-level information. Moreover, in contrast to the SPIA method, it offers the advantage of being cut-off free and less susceptible to the variability caused by selection thresholds. By combining pathway curation and topology-based analysis, the PSF toolkit enhances the quality, flexibility, and accessibility of topology-aware pathway analysis. Researchers can now easily import pathways from various sources, correct and modify them as needed, and perform detailed topology-based pathway signal flow analysis. In summary, our PSF toolkit offers an integrated solution that addresses the limitations of current topology-based pathway analysis methods. By providing interactive and command-line tools for pathway curation and topology-based analysis, we empower researchers to conduct comprehensive pathway analyses across a wide range of applications

Transcriptome-Guided Drug Repositioning

Drug repositioning can save considerable time and resources and significantly speed up the drug development process. The increasing availability of drug action and disease-associated transcriptome data makes it an attractive source for repositioning studies. Here, we have developed a transcriptome-guided approach for drug/biologics repositioning based on multi-layer self-organizing maps (ml-SOM). It allows for analyzing multiple transcriptome datasets by segmenting them into layers of drug action- and disease-associated transcriptome data. A comparison of expression changes in clusters of functionally related genes across the layers identifies “drug target” spots in disease layers and evaluates the repositioning possibility of a drug. The repositioning potential for two approved biologics drugs (infliximab and brodalumab) confirmed the drugs’ action for approved diseases (ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease for infliximab and psoriasis for brodalumab). We showed the potential efficacy of infliximab for the treatment of sarcoidosis, but not chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Brodalumab failed to affect dysregulated functional gene clusters in Crohn’s disease (CD) and systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (SJIA), clearly indicating that it may not be effective in the treatment of these diseases. In conclusion, ml-SOM offers a novel approach for transcriptome-guided drug repositioning that could be particularly useful for biologics drugs

Re-imagining commonly used mobile interfaces for older adults

Many countries have an increasingly ageing population. In recent years, mobile technologies have had a massive impact on social and working lives. As the size of the older user population rises, many people will want to continue professional, social and lifestyle usage of mobiles into 70s and beyond. Mobile technologies can lead to increased community involvement and personal independence. While mobile technologies can provide many opportunities, the ageing process can interfere with their use. This workshop brings together researchers who are re-imagining common mobile interfaces so that they are more suited to use by older adults

Mobile assistive technologies for the visually impaired

There are around 285 million visually impaired people worldwide, and around 370,000 people are registered as blind or partially sighted in the UK. Ongoing advances in information technology (IT) are increasing the scope for IT-based mobile assistive technologies to facilitate the independence, safety, and improved quality of life of the visually impaired. Research is being directed at making mobile phones and other handheld devices accessible via our haptic (touch) and audio sensory channels. We review research and innovation within the field of mobile assistive technology for the visually impaired and, in so doing, highlight the need for successful collaboration between clinical expertise, computer science, and domain users to realize fully the potential benefits of such technologies. We initially reflect on research that has been conducted to make mobile phones more accessible to people with vision loss. We then discuss innovative assistive applications designed for the visually impaired that are either delivered via mainstream devices and can be used while in motion (e.g., mobile phones) or are embedded within an environment that may be in motion (e.g., public transport) or within which the user may be in motion (e.g., smart homes)

Subsurface scientific exploration of extraterrestrial environments (MINAR 5): analogue science, technology and education in the Boulby Mine, UK

The deep subsurface of other planetary bodies is of special interest for robotic and human exploration. The subsurface provides access to planetary interior processes, thus yielding insights into planetary formation and evolution. On Mars, the subsurface might harbour the most habitable conditions. In the context of human exploration, the subsurface can provide refugia for habitation from extreme surface conditions. We describe the fifth Mine Analogue Research (MINAR 5) programme at 1 km depth in the Boulby Mine, UK in collaboration with Spaceward Bound NASA and the Kalam Centre, India, to test instruments and methods for the robotic and human exploration of deep environments on the Moon and Mars. The geological context in Permian evaporites provides an analogue to evaporitic materials on other planetary bodies such as Mars. A wide range of sample acquisition instruments (NASA drills, Small Planetary Impulse Tool (SPLIT) robotic hammer, universal sampling bags), analytical instruments (Raman spectroscopy, Close-Up Imager, Minion DNA sequencing technology, methane stable isotope analysis, biomolecule and metabolic life detection instruments) and environmental monitoring equipment (passive air particle sampler, particle detectors and environmental monitoring equipment) was deployed in an integrated campaign. Investigations included studying the geochemical signatures of chloride and sulphate evaporitic minerals, testing methods for life detection and planetary protection around human-tended operations, and investigations on the radiation environment of the deep subsurface. The MINAR analogue activity occurs in an active mine, showing how the development of space exploration technology can be used to contribute to addressing immediate Earth-based challenges. During the campaign, in collaboration with European Space Agency (ESA), MINAR was used for astronaut familiarization with future exploration tools and techniques. The campaign was used to develop primary and secondary school and primary to secondary transition curriculum materials on-site during the campaign which was focused on a classroom extra vehicular activity simulation

Political transition, economic growth and reoccurring crisis in countries with and without experience of military dictatorship

This paper analyses the experience of 83 countries from the period of 1950 - 2004 and addresses the following question: when do democratic transitions produce (good) bad economic outcomes. Following the theoretical papers of Acemoglu et al . (2004, 2008(a)), an attempt is made to control for both de jure and de facto sides of political power. In addition, the countries with and without the experience of Military Dictatorship ( MD ) are analysed separately. The results imply that concentration of economic power per se produces bad economic outcomes. Besides, the data seem to contain an indication that democratisation induces additional socially wasteful investments into de facto political power. In addition, the analyses suggest that, when the army assumes political leadership, countries with low concentration of economic power demonstrate better economic performance. In terms of Acemoglu et al. (2007), this may support the idea that the institutional environment switches from a “weak” to a “strong” one. Finally, the potential trade - off between democratisation and political stability seems to be mainly relevant to the degree of severity of reoccurring economic crises in countries with MD experience