Human performance measures for interactive haptic-audio-visual interfaces

Virtual reality and simulation are becoming increasingly important in modern society and it is essential to improve our understanding of system usability and efficacy from the users’ perspective. This paper introduces a novel evaluation method designed to assess human user capability when undertaking technical and procedural training using virtual training systems. The evaluation method falls under the user-centred design and evaluation paradigm and draws on theories of cognitive, skillbased and affective learning outcomes. The method focuses on user interaction with haptic-audio-visual interfaces and the complexities related to variability in users’ performance, and the adoption and acceptance of the technologies. A large scale user study focusing on object assembly training tasks involving selecting, rotating, releasing, inserting and manipulating 3D objects was performed. The study demonstrated the advantages of the method in obtaining valuable multimodal information for accurate and comprehensive evaluation of virtual training system efficacy. The study investigated how well users learn, perform, adapt to and perceive the virtual training. The results of the study revealed valuable aspects of the design and evaluation of virtual training systems contributing to an improved understanding of more usable virtual training systems.

In-hospital falls and fall-related injuries: a protocol for a cost of fall study

Background:
In-hospital falls are common and pose significant economic burden on the healthcare system. To date, few studies have quantified the additional cost of hospitalisation associated with an in-hospital fall or fall-related injury. The aim of this study is to determine  the additional length of stay and hospitalisation costs associated with in-hospital falls and fall-related injuries, from the acute hospital perspective.

Methods and design: 
A multisite prospective study will be conducted as part of a larger falls-prevention clinical trial—the 6-PACK project. This study will involve 12 acute medical and surgical wards from six hospitals across Australia. Patient and admission characteristics, outcome and hospitalisation cost data will be prospectively collected on approximately 15 000 patients during the 15-month study period. A review of all inhospital fall events will be conducted using a multimodal method (medical record review and daily verbal report from the nurse unit manager, triangulated with falls recorded in the hospital incident reporting and administrative database), to ensure complete case ascertainment. Hospital clinical costing data will be used to calculate patient-level hospitalisation costs incurred by a patient during their inpatient stay. Additional hospital and hospital resource utilisation costs attributable to inhospital falls and fall-related injuries will be calculated using linear regression modelling, adjusting for a prioridefined potential confounding factors.

Discussion:
This protocol provides the detailed statement of the planned analysis. The results from this study will be used to support healthcare planning, policy making and allocation of funding relating to falls prevention within acute hospitals.

Reframing conceptions of contemporary literacy capabilities in pre-service primary teacher education

This chapter describes the challenges of integrating new technologies with literacy education in pre-service primary teacher education in Australia. The authors describe the policy context and regulatory mechanisms controlling pre-service education, including a national set of professional standards for graduate teachers, a new national curriculum for school students, the introduction of high stakes national assessment for school students, and the looming threat of decontextualized back-to-the-basics professional entry tests for aspiring teachers. The chapter includes three case studies of the authors’ pedagogical practices that attempt to reframe conceptions of the literacy capabilities of pre-service teachers to reflect the complex and sophisticated requirements of teachers in contemporary schooling. The authors conclude the chapter with a discussion of the implications of these case studies as they illustrate the ways that pre-service teachers can be scaffolded and supported to develop creative capacity and critical awareness of the kinds of literacies required in the digital age despite restrictive regimes.

The visual/verbal nexus: conflating conventional notions of listening

This paper re-examines the terrain of traditional communication time-based studies in the context of a case study of the communication practices of higher education students in both formal and informal contexts through an online survey and semi-structured phenomenologically focussed interviews. While focussing on the nature of students’ listening behaviour for learning and for leisure, the study explores how ideas and information are mediated in contemporary communication environments which encompass mobile devices, social media, etc. In exploring the nexus between the visual and the verbal, the research probes the ways in which contemporary higher education students navigate the increasingly complex communication environment and questions the capacity of current multiliteracies theories, for example, to engage meaningfully with this less charted terrain. The data suggests that the rapid and pervasive changes due to digital affordances have now positioned listening in a pivotal position alongside the explosive visual communication media. The capacity of our current curricula to respond creatively to the increasingly complex mix of new communication paradigms is open to question.

Towards a cultural historical theory of knowledge mapping: collaboration and activity in the zone of proximal development

This chapter locates knowledge mapping within the theoretical framework of cultural historical activity theory. Cultural historical activity theory provides an analytic tool for understanding how knowledge maps can act as “stimuli-means”: a cultural artefact that can mediate the performance of subjects (Vygotsky, 1978 ). Knowledge maps possess Vygotsky’s double nature: they not only enable students to enact academic practice but also allow refl ection on that practice. They enable students to build an “internal cognitive schematisation of that practice” (Guile, 2005 , p.127). Further, cultural historical activity theory gives the tools to analyse the social context of our use of knowledge maps and thus consider the mediating rules (tacit and explicit) and division of labour that mediate our use of knowledge maps. Knowledge maps can be viewed as acting within Brandom’s ( 2000 ) space of reasons , which allows learners to use reasons to develop and exchange judgements based on shareable, theoretically articulated concepts and collectively develop the ability to restructure their knowledge and enact these judgements (Guile, 2011 ). In particular multimodal collaborative knowledge maps can act as Vygotsky’s (Vygotsky, 1978 ) zone of proximal development , where teacher and peer-to-peer interaction allow students to solve problems and learn concepts and skills that they would be otherwise unable to tackle.

A cartilage-inspired lubrication system

Articular cartilage is an example of a highly efficacious water-based, natural lubrication system that is optimized to provide low friction and wear protection at both low and high loads and sliding velocities. One of the secrets of cartilage's superior tribology comes from a unique, multimodal lubrication strategy consisting of both a fluid pressurization mediated lubrication mechanism and a boundary lubrication mechanism supported by surface bound macromolecules. Using a reconstituted network of highly interconnected cellulose fibers and simple modification through the immobilization of polyelectrolytes, we have recreated many of the mechanical and chemical properties of cartilage and the cartilage lubrication system to produce a purely synthetic material system that exhibits some of the same lubrication mechanisms, time dependent friction response, and high wear resistance as natural cartilage tissue. Friction and wear studies demonstrate how the properties of the cellulose fiber network can be used to control and optimize the lubrication and wear resistance of the material surfaces and highlight what key features of cartilage should be duplicated in order to produce a cartilage-mimetic lubrication system.

Culture, media and sport : the Gambling Act 2005: a bet worth taking? Written evidence submitted by Professor Linda Hancock

At the outset, it should be noted that under the watch of the 2005 Gambling Act, there is robust evidence of increasing harms caused by gambling. The increase in problem gambling from 0.6% (prior to the implementation of the Act) to 0.9% of the British population reported in the British Gambling Prevalence Survey (BGPS) (2010) is significant at the .05 level; which is internationally recognised as a robust significance level. This represents a 50% rise in problem gambling since the Act was implemented. It was disingenuous of the Gambling Commission to report the results as “not statistically relevant” and “at the margins of statistical relevance” in its media release concerning the study. This equates to around 451,000 adults aged 16 and over experiencing serious gambling-related problems and significant additional numbers experiencing moderate problems. Regular (approximately monthly) use of gaming machines, fixed odds betting terminals (FOBTs) in betting shops, casino games and online gambling are associated with problem gambling.

Student Dis/satisfaction and Academic Dis/enchantment with Edu-capitalism

Over three decades there has been a shift from ideologies of idealism and educationalism towards instrumentalism in higher education due to the global circulation of neoliberal ideologies. Facilitated by digital technologies and encouraged by international ranking systems, there is a paradoxical trend towards homogenisation rather than heterogeneity in terms of what counts as valued knowledge, producing tensions in national policies, institutional responses and academic work in Australia as elsewhere. The paper identifies the implications of trends driving universities towards entrepreneurialism, hyper-instrumentalism, continual rebranding in their search for distinctiveness in global markets, restructuring towards specialisation, focusing on immediate use-value of research, vocationalising teaching, demand driven curriculum that makes students happy, and the disaggregation of curriculum underpinning new multimodal forms of online learning / management technologies.

Redesigning learning through social media, Web 2.0 and F2F teaching : an action research study

The focus of this research was to explore how social and participatory media could be used to enhance the face-to-face teaching and learning process. Action research was used to design learning that valued the students’ own experiences and to encourage students to create, connect and form a partnership in the learning process: hence supporting students' strengths and abilities. To monitor and participate in the use of social media required an increase in the teacher's work time. As a partial counter-balance, it was found that the teacher/researcher successfully reduced her time spent on correction by implementing peer and self-assessment and by making more effective use of classroom observations. This led to a valuable triangulation of assessment data. Reviewing many of the screen clips collected in this study, one can see the diversity of roles and activities in which the students were engaged, and their development over time through the action research cycle. Combining Web 2.0, face-to-face teaching and social media, where students made online friends and used pseudonyms, provided students with more choices and flexibility when working, communicating and learning. This research may help curriculum developers interweave new technologies, new literacies and multimodal learning methods into day-to-day learning programs. The developed methods of learning and designs should also be transferable to other educational learning environments.

LNA aptamer based multi-modal, Fe3O4-saturated lactoferrin (Fe3O4-bLf) nanocarriers for triple positive (EpCAM, CD133, CD44) colon tumor targeting and NIR, MRI and CT imaging

This is the first ever attempt to combine anti-cancer therapeutic effects of emerging anticancer biodrug bovine lactoferrin (bLf), and multimodal imaging efficacy of Fe3O4 nanoparticles (NPs) together, as a saturated Fe3O4-bLf. For cancer stem cell specific uptake of nanocapsules/nanocarriers (NCs), Fe3O4-bLf was encapsulated in alginate enclosed chitosan coated calcium phosphate (AEC-CP) NCs targeted (Tar) with locked nucleic acid (LNA) modified aptamers against epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) and nucleolin markers. The nanoformulation was fed orally to mice injected with triple positive (EpCAM, CD133, CD44) sorted colon cancer stem cells in the xenograft cancer stem cell mice model. The complete regression of tumor was observed in 70% of mice fed on non-targeted (NT) NCs, with 30% mice showing tumor recurrence after 30 days, while only 10% mice fed with Tar NCs showed tumor recurrence indicating a significantly higher survival rate. From tumor tissue analyses of 35 apoptotic markers, 55 angiogenesis markers, 40 cytokines, 15 stem cell markers and gene expression studies of important signaling molecules, it was revealed that the anti-cancer mechanism of Fe3O4-bLf was intervened through TRAIL, Fas, Fas-associated protein with death domain (FADD) mediated phosphorylation of p53, to induce activation of second mitochondria-derived activator of caspases (SMAC)/DIABLO (inhibiting survivin) and mitochondrial depolarization leading to release of cytochrome C. Induction of apoptosis was observed by inhibition of the Akt pathway and activation of cytokines released from monocytes/macrophages and dendritic cells (interleukin (IL) 27, keratinocyte chemoattractant (KC)). On the other hand, the recurrence of tumor in AEC-CP-Fe3O4-bLf NCs fed mice mainly occurred due to activation of alternative pathways such as mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK)/extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK) and Wnt signaling leading to an increase in expression of survivin, survivin splice variant (survivin 2B) and other anti-apoptotic proteins Bad, Bcl-2 and XIAP. Apart from the promising anti-cancer efficacy and the exceptional tumor targeting ability observed by multimodal imaging using near-infrared (NIR) imaging, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computerized tomographic (CT) techniques, these NCs also maintained the immunomodulatory benefits of bLf as they were able to increase the RBC, hemoglobin, iron calcium and zinc levels in mice.

Hot topics in research: preventive neuroradiology in brain aging and cognitive decline

Preventive neuroradiology is a new concept supported by growing literature. The main rationale of preventive neuroradiology is the application of multimodal brain imaging toward early and subclinical detection of brain disease and subsequent preventive actions through identification of modifiable risk factors. An insightful example of this is in the area of age-related cognitive decline, mild cognitive impairment, and dementia with potentially modifiable risk factors such as obesity, diet, sleep, hypertension, diabetes, depression, supplementation, smoking, and physical activity. In studying this link between lifestyle and cognitive decline, brain imaging markers may be instrumental as quantitative measures or even indicators of early disease. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the major studies reflecting how lifestyle factors affect the brain and cognition aging. In this hot topics review, we will specifically focus on obesity and physical activity.

Reduced mu suppression and altered motor resonance in euthymic bipolar disorder: evidence for a dysfunctional mirror system?

Social cognitive difficulties are common in the acute phase of bipolar disorder and, to a lesser extent, during the euthymic stage, and imaging studies of social cognition in euthymic bipolar disorder have implicated mirror system brain regions. This study aimed to use a novel multimodal approach (i.e., including both transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and electroencephalogram (EEG)) to investigate mirror systems in bipolar disorder. Fifteen individuals with euthymic bipolar disorder and 16 healthy controls participated in this study. Single-pulse TMS was applied to the optimal site in the primary motor cortex (M1), which stimulates the muscle of interest during the observation of hand movements (goal-directed or interacting) designed to elicit mirror system activity. Single EEG electrodes (C3, CZ, C4) recorded mu rhythm modulation concurrently. Results revealed that the patient group showed significantly less mu suppression compared to healthy controls. Surprisingly, motor resonance was not significantly different overall between groups; however, bipolar disorder participants showed a pattern of reduced reactivity on some conditions. Although preliminary, this study indicates a potential mirror system deficit in euthymic bipolar disorder, which may contribute to the pathophysiology of the disorder.

Teaching and learning mathematics and science in a second or third language

 This study investigates the interaction between languages used for particular purposes in mathematics and science classrooms and the accompanying multimodal resources that support teachers’ strategies. The dual investigation sets this study apart, and produces its originality and contribution to the field. It develops a novel multimodal description of pedagogic strategies in multilingual mathematics and science classrooms in Malaysia.

Zinc doped ferrite magnetic resonance imaging contrast agent for atherosclerosis

 This project focuses on the development of zinc doped ferrite nanoparticle based MRI contrast agents with enhanced contrast and site-specific targeting for atherosclerosis diagnosis. The engineered nanocomplexes developed were validated through MRI scans using rat models with potential for multimodal imaging and effective therapy.