Sensational In(ter)⇒action: Designing Creative Learning Environments

Emotion plays an important role in life, both in personal and work life. In fact, it is part of almost everything we do, including artwork, decision-making and interpreting reality in general. Recently developed information technology may create emotionally-arousing sensations in the user, producing motivation and interest, but on the other hand too much emotion can impede use of devices, everyday creativity and learning. In this paper, we discuss how emotion can be used in design in order both to increase engagement and support creative learning. The idea is based on the notion of Perceptually-Seductive Technology (PST, outlined in Waterworth, 2001) and how PST can be applied to support creative learning in classrooms and other settings. Creative learning is characterised as the intersection of creativity (the production of novel and adaptive ideas) and learning (change persisting over time). Sensational in(ter)⇒action alludes to the need for frequent switches between presence and absence, action and inaction, and between the real and virtual worlds according to a design space defined by the three-dimensional Focus, Locus and Sensus model (Waterworth and Waterworth, 2001a)

The Presence of Emotion: Designing the Feeling of Being There in Interactive Media Experiences

We discuss key psychological factors relevant to the design of interactive experiences with intended specific emotional impacts: the sense of presence, reality judgement, and awareness of the need for embodied responses. The extent to which a participant experiences a sense of presence (the feeling of being there) within an external environment is particularly important, but is complicated by the fact that mediated experiences are influenced by many other factors, including mental media schemata, which vary across cultures, across historical timescales, and within and between individuals. We expand on these factors in relation to three example interactive environments, each designed to invoke specific emotional responses and types of experience

Does the Exploratorium Evoke Emotion?

In this paper we describe a virtual reality (VR) environment, the Exploratorium, which was developed within the EU funded project EMMA (http://www.emma.upv.es/), and was designed to encourage self-directed exploration of emotions in learning how to handle different moods. It consists of three levels, each designed to generate a different mood. One main idea behind the Exploratorium is to evoke different kinds of emotions in different areas, and when the user explores and experiences these areas she recognizes, becomes aware of and gets in touch with her own feelings and emotions. The article starts by describing the theoretical background behind the environment, followed by a description of the environment (The Exploratorium) and the interaction device (The Body Joystick). We also report a first pilot study of the emotional aspects of the environment and the interaction device. The article ends with conclusions from the pilot study and a discussion about future work with the Exploratorium

Eyes Open or Closed: is a virtual beach more relaxing than an imagined beach?

This paper describes a virtual reality (VR) island that has recently been developed within the EMMA Project to induce relaxed mood states. The island is designed to augment standard relaxation techniques such as progressive muscular relaxation and breathing techniques. The effectiveness of such techniques may usually depend on an individual’s ability to visualise relaxing scenarios, but the VR island brings a relaxing island into a user’s perceived reality and users are taught a variety of adapted procedures to elicit a state of calm. Users can explore the island using a wireless “seashell” with a pearl as the navigation tool. Different zones on the island have specific visuals, narratives and biofeedback to relax the user. For example, in the beach zone the user learns relaxed breathing as the narrative reminds her to take slow deep breaths and to be in the moment. The body joystick, a sensor-based device for measuring chest expansion, responds to the user’s breathing by altering the rhythm of the waves on the shoreline, providing a form of biofeedback. The design rationale is of interaction for experience, requiring that the style of interaction be intuitive and in harmony with the user’s body, movements, sense impressions and responses to the ambient world. The paper also describes a pilot test that has been conducted with the relaxation island and the new interaction device, the Seashell

Transnational comparison : A retrospective study on e-health in sparsely populated areas of the northern periphery

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Meta-Analysis of the INSIG2 Association with Obesity Including 74,345 Individuals: Does Heterogeneity of Estimates Relate to Study Design?

The INSIG2 rs7566605 polymorphism was identified for obesity (BMI≥30 kg/m2) in one of the first genome-wide association studies, but replications were inconsistent. We collected statistics from 34 studies (n = 74,345), including general population (GP) studies, population-based studies with subjects selected for conditions related to a better health status (‘healthy population’, HP), and obesity studies (OB). We tested five hypotheses to explore potential sources of heterogeneity. The meta-analysis of 27 studies on Caucasian adults (n = 66,213) combining the different study designs did not support overall association of the CC-genotype with obesity, yielding an odds ratio (OR) of 1.05 (p-value = 0.27). The I2 measure of 41% (p-value = 0.015) indicated between-study heterogeneity. Restricting to GP studies resulted in a declined I2 measure of 11% (p-value = 0.33) and an OR of 1.10 (p-value = 0.015). Regarding the five hypotheses, our data showed (a) some difference between GP and HP studies (p-value = 0.012) and (b) an association in extreme comparisons (BMI≥32.5, 35.0, 37.5, 40.0 kg/m2 versus BMI<25 kg/m2) yielding ORs of 1.16, 1.18, 1.22, or 1.27 (p-values 0.001 to 0.003), which was also underscored by significantly increased CC-genotype frequencies across BMI categories (10.4% to 12.5%, p-value for trend = 0.0002). We did not find evidence for differential ORs (c) among studies with higher than average obesity prevalence compared to lower, (d) among studies with BMI assessment after the year 2000 compared to those before, or (e) among studies from older populations compared to younger. Analysis of non-Caucasian adults (n = 4889) or children (n = 3243) yielded ORs of 1.01 (p-value = 0.94) or 1.15 (p-value = 0.22), respectively. There was no evidence for overall association of the rs7566605 polymorphism with obesity. Our data suggested an association with extreme degrees of obesity, and consequently heterogeneous effects from different study designs may mask an underlying association when unaccounted for. The importance of study design might be under-recognized in gene discovery and association replication so far

Meta-Analysis of 28,141 Individuals Identifies Common Variants within Five New Loci That Influence Uric Acid Concentrations

Elevated serum uric acid levels cause gout and are a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and diabetes. To investigate the polygenetic basis of serum uric acid levels, we conducted a meta-analysis of genome-wide association scans from 14 studies totalling 28,141 participants of European descent, resulting in identification of 954 SNPs distributed across nine loci that exceeded the threshold of genome-wide significance, five of which are novel. Overall, the common variants associated with serum uric acid levels fall in the following nine regions: SLC2A9 (p = 5.2×10−201), ABCG2 (p = 3.1×10−26), SLC17A1 (p = 3.0×10−14), SLC22A11 (p = 6.7×10−14), SLC22A12 (p = 2.0×10−9), SLC16A9 (p = 1.1×10−8), GCKR (p = 1.4×10−9), LRRC16A (p = 8.5×10−9), and near PDZK1 (p = 2.7×10−9). Identified variants were analyzed for gender differences. We found that the minor allele for rs734553 in SLC2A9 has greater influence in lowering uric acid levels in women and the minor allele of rs2231142 in ABCG2 elevates uric acid levels more strongly in men compared to women. To further characterize the identified variants, we analyzed their association with a panel of metabolites. rs12356193 within SLC16A9 was associated with DL-carnitine (p = 4.0×10−26) and propionyl-L-carnitine (p = 5.0×10−8) concentrations, which in turn were associated with serum UA levels (p = 1.4×10−57 and p = 8.1×10−54, respectively), forming a triangle between SNP, metabolites, and UA levels. Taken together, these associations highlight additional pathways that are important in the regulation of serum uric acid levels and point toward novel potential targets for pharmacological intervention to prevent or treat hyperuricemia. In addition, these findings strongly support the hypothesis that transport proteins are key in regulating serum uric acid levels

Genetic variants in novel pathways influence blood pressure and cardiovascular disease risk.

Blood pressure is a heritable trait influenced by several biological pathways and responsive to environmental stimuli. Over one billion people worldwide have hypertension (≥140 mm Hg systolic blood pressure or  ≥90 mm Hg diastolic blood pressure). Even small increments in blood pressure are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events. This genome-wide association study of systolic and diastolic blood pressure, which used a multi-stage design in 200,000 individuals of European descent, identified sixteen novel loci: six of these loci contain genes previously known or suspected to regulate blood pressure (GUCY1A3-GUCY1B3, NPR3-C5orf23, ADM, FURIN-FES, GOSR2, GNAS-EDN3); the other ten provide new clues to blood pressure physiology. A genetic risk score based on 29 genome-wide significant variants was associated with hypertension, left ventricular wall thickness, stroke and coronary artery disease, but not kidney disease or kidney function. We also observed associations with blood pressure in East Asian, South Asian and African ancestry individuals. Our findings provide new insights into the genetics and biology of blood pressure, and suggest potential novel therapeutic pathways for cardiovascular disease prevention

New genetic loci link adipose and insulin biology to body fat distribution.

Body fat distribution is a heritable trait and a well-established predictor of adverse metabolic outcomes, independent of overall adiposity. To increase our understanding of the genetic basis of body fat distribution and its molecular links to cardiometabolic traits, here we conduct genome-wide association meta-analyses of traits related to waist and hip circumferences in up to 224,459 individuals. We identify 49 loci (33 new) associated with waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for body mass index (BMI), and an additional 19 loci newly associated with related waist and hip circumference measures (P < 5 × 10(-8)). In total, 20 of the 49 waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for BMI loci show significant sexual dimorphism, 19 of which display a stronger effect in women. The identified loci were enriched for genes expressed in adipose tissue and for putative regulatory elements in adipocytes. Pathway analyses implicated adipogenesis, angiogenesis, transcriptional regulation and insulin resistance as processes affecting fat distribution, providing insight into potential pathophysiological mechanisms

Altered, expanded and distributed embodiment : the three stages of interactive presence

This conceptual chapter outlines three stages in the development of interactive presence, and outlines some possibilities and challenges raised by each, and by their combination. The first stage, presence via altered embodiment, refers to the way technology allows us to experience the world with modified or enhanced senses. The second stage, via expanded embodiment, refers to technology pushing the envelope of the mental body in which one feels present, out beyond the physical body. Finally, distributed embodiment refers to how the sense of being present in the world can be separated from that of ownership of a particular body, through the development of new approaches to deploying the technologies of virtual realization. We suggest that presence is the yardstick of embodiment from an experiential perspective. If you cannot feel presence, you are not embodied in the world