Search results

Even though multisensory environments (MSE) incorporate artifacts and technology to provide sensory stimuli, most of these artifacts are non-interactive. Twenty-four children with profound developmental disabilities from three MSE institutions have been involved in a research study. A handful of interactive design artifacts, which have been developed as a tool for ideation and to enhance the use o

Brain imaging systems are a set of techniques that allow visualizing the regions of the brain that are activated when (emotional) stimuli are presented. Their advantage over traditional methods of measuring emotion, like self-reports is that they leave out response biases. This paper presents what brain imaging measurement can do for emotional design. It also reviews the brain imaging studies that

The mechanical stress build up in fibre handling, the dynamical frictional phenomena between fibres and curves surfaces and formation of dust have been studied. Typical are stick slip behaviour and threshold stress levels for formation of dust. The emissions of dust can be limited by electrostatic charging. The measured coefficients of friction of the fibres depend on the mechanical properties, mi

Narrowband radio transmitters like radio amateurs and broadcast radio stations are considered to be a serious problem for high-bitrate data transmission over twisted pairs. Due to its high power level, radio frequency interference (RFI) has the potential of overloading the receiver's analog-to-digital converter (ADC). Once the ADC is in saturation, any countermeasure taken in the digital domain wi

The User Compass Chart (UCC) was used for eliciting middle-age subjects’ experiences of 33 photo-represented easy chairs, including consumer products and chairs designed for nursing-homes as well as institutions in general. The chairs were represented in black and white photos measuring 50 x 50 mm. The vectors used in the chart were most inviting - most repellent and most homelike- most nursing-ho

Force feedback (FF) devices will bring us new ways to interact with computers. The game industry is starting to create sophisticated devices that enable users to feel virtual objects and movements. For people with visual disabilities, this might be even m

Hyperplasia of the middle ear mucosa contributes to the sequelae of acute otitis media. Understanding the signal transduction pathways that mediate hyperplasia could lead to the development of new therapeutic interventions for this disease and its sequelae. Endotoxin derived from bacteria involved in middle ear infection can contribute to the hyperplastic response. The p38 mitogen-activated protei

The stars that populate the solar neighbourhood were formed in stellar clusters. Through N-body simulations of these clusters, we measure the rate of close encounters between stars. By monitoring the interaction histories of each star, we investigate the singleton fraction in the solar neighbourhood. A singleton is a star which formed as a single star, has never experienced any close encounters wi

The very bright red star HV2112 in the Small Magellanic Cloud could be a massive Thorne-A >> ytkow object (TA >> O), a supergiant-like star with a degenerate neutron core. With a luminosity of over 10(5) L-aS (TM), it could also be a super asymptotic giant branch (SAGB) star, a star with an oxygen/neon core supported by electron degeneracy and undergoing thermal pulses with third dredge up. Both T

We report experimental oscillator strengths for 88 Ti I transitions covering the wavelength range 465-3892 nm, 67 of which had no previous experimental values. Radiative lifetimes for 13 energy levels, including the low energy levels 3d(2)(F-3) 4s4p ((3)p) z(5)D(j)degrees have been measured using time-resolved laser-induced fluorescence. Intensity-calibrated Ti I spectra have been measured using F

We study the nature of the peculiar [Sr II] and Sr II emission filament found in the ejecta of Eta Carinae. To this purpose we carry out abinitio calculations of radiative transition probabilities and electron impact excitation rate coefficients for Sr II. Then we build a multilevel model for the system which is used to investigate the physical condition of the filament and the nature of the obser

Maternal effects by which females provide their offspring with non-genetic factors such as hormones, nutrients and antibodies can have an important impact on offspring fitness. In vertebrates, maternal antibodies (matAb) are transferred from the mother, via the placenta, egg yolk or milk during lactation to offspring until they are 2 weeks (birds), 4-10 weeks (rodents) and 9 months (humans) old, r

BACKGROUND. The clinical value of detecting prostate specific antigen (PSA) mRNA in the peripheral blood mononuclear cell fraction of patients (pts) by standard RT-PCR assays with localized prostate cancer remains controversial. We used a quantitative RT-PCR assay to measure the PSA mRNA copy number in addition to the qualitative PSA RT-PCR and correlated the results with clinical parameters. METH

Helicobacter pylori infection is associated with gastritis, ulcerations, and gastric adenocarcinoma. H. pylori secretes the vacuolating cytotoxin (VacA), a major pathogenicity factor. VacA has immunosuppressive effects, inhibiting interleukin-2 (IL-2) secretion by interference with the T cell receptor/IL-2 signaling pathway at the level of calcineurin, the Ca2+-calmodulin-dependent phosphatase. He

Diatom data of 192 surface sediment samples from the marginal seas in the western Pacific together with modern summer and winter sea surface temperature and salinity data were analyzed. The results of canonical correspondence analysis show that summer sea-surface salinity (SSS) is highly positively correlated with winter SSS and so is summer sea-surface temperature (SST) with winter SST. The corre

Myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein-induced experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) is an inflammatory disease in rats that closely mimics many clinical and histopathological aspects of multiple sclerosis. Non-MHC quantitative trait loci regulating myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein-induced EAE have previously been identified in the EAE-permissive strain, DA, on rat chromosomes 4,10,15, a