The Library of Birmingham project:lifelong learning for the digital age

The Library of Birmingham (LoB) is a £193million project designed to provide a new space for lifelong learning and knowledge growth, a physical and virtual portal for Birmingham's citizens to the wider world. In cooperation with a range of private, public, and third-sector bodies, as well as individual citizens, the library, due to open in June 2013, will articulate a continuing process of organic growth and emergence. Key delivery themes focus on: arts and creativity, citizenship and community, enterprise and innovation, learning and skills and the new media ecology. A landmark design in the heart of the cultural district of the city, the LoB aims to stimulate sustainable economic growth, urban regeneration and social inclusion by offering a wide range of new digital learning services, real and virtual community spaces, and new opportunities for interpreting and exploiting internationally significant collections of documentary archives, photography, moving image, and rare printed books. Additionally, the LoB will offer physical space for creative, cultural, enterprise, and knowledge development. This paper outlines the cultural and educational thinking that informs the project and the challenges experienced in developing innovative service redesign.

Virtual Reconstruction of the Ancient Russian Fortress Koporye

One of the major strategic tasks in Russia’s northwest of the past centuries was the defense of the country’s territories from enemy incursions coming from the West. In order to solve this task, a robust shield in the form of a system of fortresses was created between the 13th and 15th centuries. The system included such fortresses as Koporye, Yam, Korela, Oreshek, and others. In our age, these monuments have become an essential part of Russia’s historic and cultural heritage and an important element of the tourism cluster “The Silver Ring of Russia.” The Centre of Design and Multimedia at St. Petersburg National Research University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics, jointly with the Department of History and the Faculty of Arts at St. Petersburg State University, working under a three-year grant from the Russian Foundation for Humanities Research (#12-01-12041), is implementing a multimedia information system “Ancient Fortresses of Russia’s Northwest”. Historically accurate virtual reconstruction of several fortresses as they existed during certain historic periods, done in such a way as to allow the future creation of virtual tours of these sites, has become the focus of this project’s research. In the present paper, we describe the main phases and results of virtual reconstruction of the best-preserved fortress, Koporye.

Atividade eletroencefalográfica de pacientes com acidente vascular cerebral na aprendizagem motora de um jogo baseado em realidade virtual

Stroke is the leading cause of long-term disability among adults and motor relearning is essential in motor sequelae recovery. Therefore, various techniques have been proposed to achieve this end, among them Virtual Reality. The aim of the study was to evaluate electroencephalographic activity of stroke patients in motor learning of a virtual reality-based game. The study included 10 patients with chronic stroke, right-hande; 5 with left brain injury (LP), mean age 48.8 years (± 4.76) and 5 with injury to the right (RP), mean age 52 years (± 10.93). Participants were evaluated for electroencephalographic (EEG) activity and performance while performing 15 repetitions of darts game in XBOX Kinect and also through the NIHSS, MMSE, Fugl-Meyer and the modified Ashworth scale. Patients underwent a trainning with 45 repetitions of virtual darts game, 12 sessions in four weeks. After training, patients underwent reassessment of EEG activity and performance in virtual game of darts (retention). Data were analyzed using ANOVA for repeated measures. According to the results, there were differences between the groups (PD and PE) in frequencies Low Alpha (p = 0.0001), High Alpha (p = 0.0001) and Beta (p = 0.0001). There was an increase in alpha activation powers and a decrease in beta in the phase retention of RP group. In LP group was observed increased alpha activation potency, but without decrease in beta activation. Considering the asymmetry score, RP group increased brain activation in the left hemisphere with the practice in the frontal areas, however, LP group had increased activation of the right hemisphere in fronto-central areas, temporal and parietal. As for performance, it was observed a decrease in absolute error in the game for RP group between assessment and retention (p = 0.015), but this difference was not observed for LP group (p = 0.135). It follows then that the right brain injury patients benefited more from darts game training in the virtual environment with respect to the motor learning process, reducing neural effort in ipsilesionais areas and errors with the practice of the task. In contrast, patients with lesions in left hemisphere decrease neural effort in contralesionais areas important for motor learning and showed no performance improvements with practice of 12 sessions of virtual dart game. Thus, the RV can be used in rehabilitation of stroke patients upper limb, but the laterality of the injury should be considered in programming the motor learning protocol.

A Formação de professores nas tramas do virtual

This study aims to reflect on the cultural and aesthetics formation of teacher, and how they act as a co-author in the virtual environment. The reflection permeates on topics such as: The Information Age and the challenges of the teacher in the twenty-first century; teacher professional development and the multiple personal identities; the importance of cultural repertoire for teaching practice and the role of the teacher as co-author in the informational network. In addition to the theoretical reflections were conducted two focus groups with the participation of teachers with different graduations and working in various levels of education to discuss the presented topics. It was proposed to create a website for the teacher to sail and collaborate with posts on many cultural artifacts. For the construction of the content for the site, it developed a “daily creation”, which is the search information storage from multiple sources, such as academic papers, songs, websites, magazines, comics, blogs, books, photographs, advertisements, finally everything that can increase imagination and serve for the production of content. Data analysis of the focus group showed that teachers recognize the varied cultural repertoire makes for a good professional aplomb, but cannot actively participate in the local culture. It was also found that the teacher has difficulty manipulating information technology and communication and therefore, distance themselves from an active production network. The focus group contributed to building a website and posts on cultural artifacts. Production can be accessed at www.digitaldoprofessor.com.

Death Threat Letters: Allegories of American Authorship in the Age of Terrorism

This dissertation examines novels that use terrorism to allegorize the threatened position of the literary author in contemporary culture. Allegory is a term that has been differently understood over time, but which has consistently been used by writers to articulate and construct their roles as authors. In the novels I look at, the terrorist challenge to authorship results in multiple deployments of allegory, each differently illustrating the way that allegory is used and authorship constructed in the contemporary American novel. Don DeLillo’s Mao II (1991), first puts terrorists and authors in an oppositional pairing. The terrorist’s ability to traffic in spectacle is presented as indicative of the author’s fading importance in contemporary culture and it is one way that terrorism allegorizes threats to authorship. In Philip Roth’s Operation Shylock (1993), the allegorical pairing is between the text of the novel and outside texts – newspaper reports, legal cases, etc. – that the novel references and adapts in order to bolster its own narrative authority. Richard Powers’s Plowing the Dark (1999) pairs the story of an imprisoned hostage, craving a single book, with employees of a tech firm who are creating interactive, virtual reality artworks. Focusing on the reader’s experience, Powers’s novel posits a form of authorship that the reader can take into consideration, but which does not seek to control the experience of the text. Finally, I look at two of Paul Auster’s twenty-first century novels, Travels in the Scriptorium (2007) and Man in the Dark (2008), to suggest that the relationship between representations of authors and terrorists changed after 9/11. Auster’s author-figures forward an ethics of authorship whereby novels can use narrative to buffer readers against the portrayal of violent acts in a culture that is suffused with traumatizing imagery.

Utilização de um ambiente virtual de aprendizagem: um estudo na perspectiva da prática docente

Advances related to information technology are visible and inherent to the management of contemporary organizations, regardless of industrial action. Synchronized with this dynamic, educational institutions are incorporating technological tools that assist its management and academic support to teachers in teaching and interaction with the students. Given that technological innovations are not always taken homogeneously and with the same degree of coverage, remain current and relevant studies on how these technologies are being used in academia. The objective of this research is to identify the usage profile of the functionality of a virtual learning environment related to teaching (undergraduate or postgraduate), demographic variables (age and gender) and institutional (time of admission and academic center of origin.) The methodology applied to the study is descriptive and quantitative. The research is characterized as census, covering all 2152 teachers of undergraduate and graduate students of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, who accessed the virtual classes of the Integrated Management of Academic Activities. The study findings revealed that there is a statistically significant difference regarding the use of these tools to teachers who work with undergraduate (49.3%) compared to graduate (6.6%). Regarding gender, women (40.1%) use the system more than men (38.5%). It was also observed that the younger teachers, aged 37 years, are the most active users (42.5%) of the Virtual Class with respect to their elders. For teachers with up to three years time of admission to the UFRN, the pattern of use is more advanced than those with more seniority, as well as the faculty of the Center for Science and Technology are the least likely to use the tools available in relation to other academic centers. It is hoped that with this study managers can direct actions to improve and expand the use of this environment by teachers

Lo virtual en la era del autismo intelectual

El presente texto ofrece algunas reflexiones teóricas y visionesdel autor sobre la relación del hombre de hoy con el fenómeno dela comunicación digital, también conocida como comunicaciónvirtual, a través de Internet, unas reflexiones que aparecen deltrabajo investigativo sobre el modelo convergente del canalde televisión pública Telemedellín, y en las que se explora elpanorama de las relaciones del hombre con el otro, consigomismo y con las cosas, desde la mediación de la computadora.Por otro lado, indaga sobre la composición de las redes socialesy su producto, la comunidad virtual, lugar en el que se producenlos intercambios e interrelaciones humanas. Y finalmente,intenta mostrar el desasosiego del hombre de la época actual,encontrándolo como un ser solitario que lucha por un lugar enel mundo.

The Virtual International Stroke Trials Archive

Background and Purpose - Stroke has global importance and it causes an increasing amount of human suffering and economic burden, but its management is far from optimal. The unsuccessful outcome of several research programs highlights the need for reliable data on which to plan future clinical trials. The Virtual International Stroke Trials Archive aims to aid the planning of clinical trials by collating and providing access to a rich resource of patient data to perform exploratory analyses. Methods - Data were contributed by the principal investigators of numerous trials from the past 16 years. These data have been centrally collated and are available for anonymized analysis and hypothesis testing. Results - ”Currently, the Virtual International Stroke Trials Archive contains 21 trials. There are data on 15 000 patients with both ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke. Ages range between 18 and 103 years, with a mean age of 6912 years. Outcome measures include the Barthel Index, Scandinavian Stroke Scale, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale, Orgogozo Scale, and modified Rankin Scale. Medical history and onset-to-treatment time are readily available, and computed tomography lesion data are available for selected trials. Conclusions - This resource has the potential to influence clinical trial design and implementation through data analyses that inform planning. (Stroke. 2007;38:1905-1910.)

Caracter?sticas del perfil del aprendiz exitoso en un curso de ingl?s (EFL) virtual en el contexto Sena [recurso electr?nico]

This case study presents the general profile of the successful EFL online apprentice in the Colombian public vocational institution, SENA. This profile is described in terms of demographic, academic and cognitive aspects. The demographic profile is composed of features like sex, age, marital status and present job; the academic profile comprises information related to study habits, reasons to study English online, previous English learning experiences and type of ICT tools at home; and the cognitive profile refers to learning styles and EFL learning strategies. Four online surveys addressed to 33 successful online apprentices provide the data, which are also analyzed by means of a basic statistical description supported by Excel. The findings allow the author to conclude that the successful EFL online apprentice in SENA is basically a single person who is unemployed but has access to ICT tools to move forward in his learning process. Additionally, this apprentice has a divergent learning style who prefers the metacognitive, social and memory learning strategies for the EFL online process.

Content and Connectivity in the Age of Digital Libraries

"Behind the world of virtual university is more than a method or system of work, you need to own, develop and master a connectivity structure of both technological and content development in multimedia digital text and then implement teaching methods line. "

Utilização de um ambiente virtual de aprendizagem: um estudo na perspectiva da prática docente

Advances related to information technology are visible and inherent to the management of contemporary organizations, regardless of industrial action. Synchronized with this dynamic, educational institutions are incorporating technological tools that assist its management and academic support to teachers in teaching and interaction with the students. Given that technological innovations are not always taken homogeneously and with the same degree of coverage, remain current and relevant studies on how these technologies are being used in academia. The objective of this research is to identify the usage profile of the functionality of a virtual learning environment related to teaching (undergraduate or postgraduate), demographic variables (age and gender) and institutional (time of admission and academic center of origin.) The methodology applied to the study is descriptive and quantitative. The research is characterized as census, covering all 2152 teachers of undergraduate and graduate students of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, who accessed the virtual classes of the Integrated Management of Academic Activities. The study findings revealed that there is a statistically significant difference regarding the use of these tools to teachers who work with undergraduate (49.3%) compared to graduate (6.6%). Regarding gender, women (40.1%) use the system more than men (38.5%). It was also observed that the younger teachers, aged 37 years, are the most active users (42.5%) of the Virtual Class with respect to their elders. For teachers with up to three years time of admission to the UFRN, the pattern of use is more advanced than those with more seniority, as well as the faculty of the Center for Science and Technology are the least likely to use the tools available in relation to other academic centers. It is hoped that with this study managers can direct actions to improve and expand the use of this environment by teachers

Lung Age Is Related To Carotid Structural Alterations In Hypertensive Subjects.

Hypertensive patients exhibit higher cardiovascular risk and reduced lung function compared with the general population. Whether this association stems from the coexistence of two highly prevalent diseases or from direct or indirect links of pathophysiological mechanisms is presently unclear. This study investigated the association between lung function and carotid features in non-smoking hypertensive subjects with supposed normal lung function. Hypertensive patients (n = 67) were cross-sectionally evaluated by clinical, hemodynamic, laboratory, and carotid ultrasound analysis. Forced vital capacity, forced expired volume in 1 second and in 6 seconds, and lung age were estimated by spirometry. Subjects with ventilatory abnormalities according to current guidelines were excluded. Regression analysis adjusted for age and prior smoking history showed that lung age and the percentage of predicted spirometric parameters associated with common carotid intima-media thickness, diameter, and stiffness. Further analyses, adjusted for additional potential confounders, revealed that lung age was the spirometric parameter exhibiting the most significant regression coefficients with carotid features. Conversely, plasma C-reactive protein and matrix-metalloproteinases-2/9 levels did not influence this relationship. The present findings point toward lung age as a potential marker of vascular remodeling and indicate that lung and vascular remodeling might share common pathophysiological mechanisms in hypertensive subjects.

Impaired Incretin Secretion And Pancreatic Dysfunction With Older Age And Diabetes.

To estimate the impact of aging and diabetes on insulin sensitivity, beta-cell function, adipocytokines, and incretin production. Hyperglycemic clamps, arginine tests and meal tolerance tests were performed in 50 non-obese subjects to measure insulin sensitivity (IS) and insulin secretion as well as plasma levels of glucagon, GLP-1 and GIP. Patients with diabetes and healthy control subjects were divided into the following groups: middle-aged type 2 diabetes (MA-DM), aged Type 2 diabetes (A-DM) and middle-aged or aged subjects with normal glucose tolerance (MA-NGT or A-NGT). IS, as determined by the homeostasis model assessment, glucose infusion rate, and oral glucose insulin sensitivity, was reduced in the aged and DM groups compared with MA-NGT, but it was similar in the MA-DM and A-DM groups. Insulinogenic index, first and second phase insulin secretion and the disposition indices, but not insulin response to arginine, were reduced in the aged and DM groups. Postprandial glucagon production was higher in MA-DM compared to MA-NGT. Whereas the GLP-1 production was reduced in A-DM, no differences between groups were observed in GIP production. In non-obese subjects, diabetes and aging impair insulin sensitivity. Insulin production is reduced by aging, and diabetes exacerbates this condition. Aging associated defects superimposed diabetic physiopathology, particularly regarding GLP-1 production. On the other hand, the glucose-independent secretion of insulin was preserved. Knowledge of the complex relationship between aging and diabetes could support the development of physiopathological and pharmacological based therapies.

[food Insecurity In Brazilian Families With Children Under Five Years Of Age].

This article analyzes food insecurity and hunger in Brazilian families with children under five years of age. This was a nationally representative cross-sectional study using data from the National Demographic and Health Survey on Women and Children (PNDS-2006), in which the outcome variable was moderate to severe food insecurity, measured by the Brazilian Food Insecurity Scale (EBIA). Prevalence estimates and prevalence ratios were generated with 95% confidence intervals. The results showed a high prevalence of moderate to severe food insecurity, concentrated in the North and Northeast regions (30.7%), in economic classes D and E (34%), and in beneficiaries of conditional cash transfer programs (36.5%). Multivariate analysis showed that the socioeconomic relative risks (beneficiaries of conditional cash transfers), regional relative risks (North and Northeast regions), and economic relative risks (classes D and E) were 1.8, 2.0 and 2.4, respectively. Aggregation of the three risks showed 48% of families with moderate to severe food insecurity, meaning that adults and children were going hungry during the three months preceding the survey.

Neurodevelopment Of Small-for-gestational Age Infants: Behavioral Aspects In First Year.

The purpose of this study was to compare the behavior of full-term small-for-gestational age (SGA) with full-term appropriate-for gestational age (AGA) infants in the first year of life. We prospectively evaluated 68 infants in the 2nd month, 67 in the 6th month and 69 in the 12th month. The Bayley Scales of Infant Development-II were used, with emphasis on the Behavior Rating Scale (BRS). The groups were similar concerning the item interest in test materials and stimuli; there was a trend toward differences in the items negative affect, hypersensitivity to test materials and adaptation to change in test materials. The mean of Raw Score was significantly lower for the SGA group in the items predominant state, liability of state of arousal, positive affect, soothability when upset, energy, exploration of objects and surroundings, orientation toward examiner. A lower BRS score was associated with the SGA group in the 2nd month.