Collaborative CoVE Projects for Digital Design in FE Teaching and Learning

The Batley School of Art & Design CoVE in Digital Design is a catalyst for collaboration between local schools, colleges and the creative industries. The digital CoVE bridges a regional skills gap in learning and teaching digital imaging technology. The paper discusses two aspects of current FE learning and teaching development. Firstly, the way in which the CoVE digital resource has impacted on the level 2 and 3 student learning experience within the college. Secondly, a case study outlines the fashion and digital textiles design collaboration between London College of Fashion, Chesterfield College and Batley School of Art & Design CoVe’s. The case study provides details of the CoVE project setup and illustrates student and academic experiences during the project

Introduction to the new usability

This paper introduces the motivation for and concept of the "new usability" and positions it against existing approaches to usability. It is argued that the contexts of emerging products and systems mean that traditional approaches to usability engineering and evaluation are likely to prove inappropriate to the needs of "digital consumers." The paper briefly reviews the contributions to this special issue in terms of their relation to the idea of the "new usability" and their individual approaches to dealing with contemporary usability issues. This helps provide a background to the "new usability" research agenda, and the paper ends by posing what are argued to be the central challenges facing the area and those which lie at the heart of the proposed research agenda

Quaternary stratigraphy, landscape, and soils of the Hamilton Basin

The Hamilton Basin is a roughly oval shaped depression 80 km north to south and 40 km wide centered about Hamilton City (Fig. 1). The basin is surrounded by ranges up to 300 m high developed mainly in Mesozoic basement strata. The physiographic basin is essentially a fault bounded basement depression of Late Tertiary and Pleistocene age. Throughout the Quaternary this basin has been a receptacle of terrestrial sedimentation; the materials have derived mainly from extrabasin sources and principally the Central Volcanic Region to the southeast. In addition, materials have been derived from erosion of the bounding ranges, and Coromandel Peninsula. The last major depositional episode involved flood deposit s of the Taupo Pumice. The present landscape has evolved through several episodes of deposition and incision. During the excursion it is intended to show the participants exposures of the major Quaternary units of basin infilling, and some aspects of the landscape and the soil pattern, within the environs of Hamilton City. The standard geological reference covering the geology of Hamilton Basin is New Zealand Geological Survey Bulletin 88 (Kear & Schofield, 1978) . The surface features and soil pattern of the basin are succinctly covered by McCraw (1967) and Bruce (1979)

Blood rheology, cardiovascular risk factors, and cardiovascular disease: The West of Scotland Coronary Prevention Study

The West of Scotland Coronary Prevention Study (WOSCOPS) showed that pravastatin reduced the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) events in 6,595 middle-aged hypercholesterolaemic men aged 45-64 years without prior myocardial infarction followed for an average of 4.9 years. We hypothesised prospectively (a) that baseline levels of haemorheological variables were related to baseline and incident CHD and to mortality; and (b) that reduction in lipoproteins by pravastatin would lower plasma and blood viscosity, a potential contributory mechanism to CHD events. We therefore studied plasma and blood viscosity, fibrinogen, haematocrit, and blood cell counts at baseline and 1 year. At baseline, plasma and blood viscosity were related to risk factors, CHD measures, and claudication. On univariate analysis, baseline levels of all rheological variables (except platelet count) were related to incident CHD; CHD mortality; and total mortality. On multivariate analysis including baseline CHD and risk factors, plasma and blood viscosity, haematocrit and white cell count each remained significantly associated with incident CHD; while fibrinogen remained an independent predictor of mortality (all p<0.03). After one year, lipoprotein reduction by pravastatin was associated with significant reductions (about one quarter of a standard deviation) in plasma viscosity (mean difference 0.02 mPa.s, p<0.001) and in blood viscosity (mean difference 0.06 mPa.s, p<0.001), but was not associated with significant changes in other rheological variables. We therefore suggest that pravastatin therapy, which reduces elevated lipoproteins in hypercholesterolaemic men, may lower risks of CHD and mortality partly by lowering plasma and blood viscosity. Further studies are required to test this hypothesis

San Francisco: 50 Years On - Part One

Dingman argues that the San Francisco settlement signaled the emergence of a new Pacific maritime order in which the United States Navy is the dominant naval force relying on significant bases in Japan. In particular, he focuses on the Yokosuka naval base whose retention was called for by the navy and became an important element in Washington's approach to the peace negotiations. Tozawa deals with the attitudes of the Yoshida government and the opposition parties to the peace negotiations and later to the ratification of the San Francisco Peace Treaty and the United States-Japan Security Pact. The points of difference were: whether Japan should negotiate with all the victors or with individual countries; whether Japan should observe disarmed neutrality; whether amendment to the Constitution was necessary. Cortazzi presents the perspective of a junior official in the United Kingdom Liaison Mission from October 1951. He gives an account of the activities of the British delegation to the San Francisco Conference and the conversations of Herbert Morrison and Robert Scott, especially with Prime Minister Yoshida. Lowe argues that British ministers and officials looked backward, influenced by economic, strategic and public opinion factors, the last referring to prisoners-of-war who had been treated harshly in Southeast Asia. The Labour government was worried over a probable revival in Japanese economic competition, referring particularly to textiles, shipping and the potteries. The British views of the treaty were much more critical of Japan than the USA. Foreign Secretary Herbert Morrison, anxious that the British contribution to the ultimate treaty should be properly acknowledged, agreed to be in San Francisco at the last moment for the signing of the peace treaty.San Francisco Treaty, Attlee Government, Herbert Morrison, Robert Scott, John Foster Dulles, Yoshida Shigeru, USA, Japan, United Kingdom Liaison Mission (Tokyo), United States -Japan Security Pact, British delegation to the San Francisco Peace Conference, Ratification, new Pacific maritime order, United States Navy, Yokosuka naval base.

Preliminary Sunyaev Zel'dovich Observations of Galaxy Clusters with OCRA-p

We present 30 GHz Sunyaev Zel'dovich (SZ) observations of a sample of four galaxy clusters with a prototype of the One Centimetre Receiver Array (OCRA-p) which is mounted on the Torun 32-m telescope. The clusters (Cl0016+16, MS0451.6-0305, MS1054.4-0321 and Abell 2218) are popular SZ targets and serve as commissioning observations. All four are detected with clear significance (4-6 sigma) and values for the central temperature decrements are in good agreement with measurements reported in the literature. We believe that systematic effects are successfully suppressed by our observing strategy. The relatively short integration times required to obtain these results demonstrate the power of OCRA-p and its successors for future SZ studies.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures. Accepted by MNRAS, online earl

Ages on weathered Plio-Pleistocene tephra sequences, western North Island, New Zealand

Using the zircon fission-track method, we have obtained five ages on members of two strongly-weathered silicic, Pliocene-Pleistocene tephra sequences, the Kauroa and Hamilton Ash formations, in western North Island, New Zealand. These are the first numerical ages to be obtained directly on these deposits. Of the Kauroa Ash sequence, member K1 (basal unit) was dated at 2.24 ± 0.29 Ma, confirming a previous age of c. 2.25 Ma obtained (via tephrochronology)from K/Ar ages on associated basalt lava. Members K2 and K3 gave indistinguishable ages between 1.68 ± 0.12 and 1.43 ± 0.17 Ma. Member K12, a correlative of Oparau Tephra and probably also Ongatiti Ignimbrite, was dated at 1.28 ± 0.11 Ma, consistent with an age of 1.23 ± 0.02 Ma obtained by various methods on Ongatiti Ignimbrite. Palaeomagnetic measurements indicated that members K13 to K15 (top unit, Waiterimu Ash) are aged between c. 1.2 Ma and 0.78 Ma. Possible sources of the Kauroa Ash Formation include younger volcanic centres in the southern Coromandel Volcanic Zone or older volcanic centres in the Taupo Volcanic Zone, or both. Of the Hamilton Ash sequence, the basal member Ohinewai Ash (HI) was dated at 0.38 ± 0.04 Ma. This age matches those obtained by various methods on Rangitawa Tephra of 0.34-0.35 Ma, supporting correlation with this Whakamaru-caldera derived deposit. The origin of the other Hamilton Ash beds is unknown but various younger volcanic centres in the Taupo Volcanic Zone are possible sources. The topmost member, Tikotiko Ash (H6-H7), is estimated to be aged between c. 0.18 and 0.08 Ma. Various silicic pyroclastic deposits documented in North Island and in marine cores may be co-eval with members of the Kauroa Ash and Hamilton Ash sequences on the basis of their age

Feasibility and tolerability of whole-body, low-intensity vibration and its effects on muscle function and bone in patients with dystrophinopathies: a pilot study.

IntroductionDystrophinopathies are X-linked muscle degenerative disorders that result in progressive muscle weakness complicated by bone loss. This study's goal was to evaluate feasibility and tolerability of whole-body, low-intensity vibration (WBLIV) and its potential effects on muscle and bone in patients with Duchenne or Becker muscular dystrophy.MethodsThis 12-month pilot study included 5 patients (age 5.9-21.7 years) who used a low-intensity Marodyne LivMD plate vibrating at 30-90 Hz for 10 min/day for the first 6 months. Timed motor function tests, myometry, and peripheral quantitative computed tomography were performed at baseline and at 6 and 12 months.ResultsMotor function and lower extremity muscle strength remained either unchanged or improved during the intervention phase, followed by deterioration after WBLIV discontinuation. Indices of bone density and geometry remained stable in the tibia.ConclusionsWBLIV was well tolerated and appeared to have a stabilizing effect on lower extremity muscle function and bone measures. Muscle Nerve 55: 875-883, 2017

Successful elimination of factor VIII inhibitor using cyclosporin A

No abstract available

Ethical Challenges in Data-Driven Dialogue Systems

The use of dialogue systems as a medium for human-machine interaction is an increasingly prevalent paradigm. A growing number of dialogue systems use conversation strategies that are learned from large datasets. There are well documented instances where interactions with these system have resulted in biased or even offensive conversations due to the data-driven training process. Here, we highlight potential ethical issues that arise in dialogue systems research, including: implicit biases in data-driven systems, the rise of adversarial examples, potential sources of privacy violations, safety concerns, special considerations for reinforcement learning systems, and reproducibility concerns. We also suggest areas stemming from these issues that deserve further investigation. Through this initial survey, we hope to spur research leading to robust, safe, and ethically sound dialogue systems.Comment: In Submission to the AAAI/ACM conference on Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, and Societ