9 research outputs found
Scaffolding a Design Process for Applying Calm Technology Design to Smart Toys
No full textThe notion of Calm Technology, which can move between our focal and peripheral attention, is a potentially valuable but underexplored concept in relation to smart connected toys. In this paper, we explored two interconnected research questions: (a) How can scaffolding support children in understanding Calm and designing for Calm connected toys? (b) To what extent can children contribute towards the design of novel connected toys that apply Calm Technology Principles? Building on UX practice and research we developed a participatory approach to working with children we call Design School, which gave children knowledge and experience of a design process. Additionally, we created design cards to use within the Design School, which scaffolded the inclusion of Calm technology design principles within children’s designs. The Design School workshops ran over four days in a U.K. school with 30 children aged 10–11 years, design outputs were analyzed to answer the research questions. From our experiences and analysis, we make four contributions: (a) the success of design cards as a tool to scaffold children in operationalizing unfamiliar design principles, (b) an understanding of how different design activities afforded expression of Calm in design ideas, and (c) the Design School workshop format, which proved effective in enabling children to engage in design activities
Understanding Calm in the Context of Smart Toys
No full textSmart toys, which integrate sensing, processing, physical movement, sounds, and even internet connectivity, offer a range of new play opportunities. However, compared to traditional toys, current smart toy products can be limiting in the play they support, and they have received criticism for a range of reasons with calm being a potentially valuable design feature for smart toys. This work explores the application of a revised set of calm design principles applied in the context of currently available smart toy products in an expert evaluation inspection study. The specific focus of this paper is on understanding the challenges encountered by the evaluators in the study. This paper contributes four key recommendations valuable to researchers and practitioners conducting similar studies. These relate to the challenge of simulating play experience, the diversity of play context, the interpretation and understanding of principles, and the consideration of design intent vs. play experience. We propose “calm smart toys” as a strong concept that can potentially assist others interested in designing calm smart toys
Towards a Framework for Designing Connected Toys
No full textSmart and Internet-connected toys (IoToys) offer new and exciting possibilities to enhance play experiences analogous to Mark Weiser’s visions of ubiquitous and calm technology. Within this work, we sought to create a set of principles for evaluating and designing calm internet-connected toys and trial them through the evaluation of a set of popular (‘off the shelf’) IoToys. This work is the first of its kind to apply calm principles to IoToys and use them to evaluate current off-the-shelf connected toys. This work highlights the challenges
inherent in adults evaluating toys designed for children. We contribute an approach to understanding calm in the context of IoToys through our principles and a method for evaluating calm within IoToys. We found while that our IoT calm principles have some limitations our work provides key insights into how we might understand calm in IoToys. We hope this work will help inform practitioners and academics interested in designing future IoToys
Understanding Instagram’s Deep Dive into Teen Mental Health
No full textThis paper considers the ‘Teen Mental Health Deep Dive’ slide set created by staff at Instagram in 2019 to present results from internal research and later released publicly along with annotations. The slide set was initially highlighted by the Wall Street Journal in an article focusing on claims within the slide set that use of Instagram was a having a negative impact on teen mental health, especially that social comparison, afforded by features central to the Instagram app, was negatively affecting the mental health of young people. Our goal within this paper was to summarise the content of the slide set from an academic perspective and consider whether the content of the slides provide any insights which are valuable to the HCI community. While the results and conclusions presented within the slides have clear limitations, they did help us identify a set of issues and areas for further investigation
Scaffolding a Design Process for Applying Calm Technology Design to Smart Toys
No full textThe notion of Calm Technology, which can move between our focal and peripheral attention, is a potentially valuable but underexplored concept in relation to smart connected toys. In this paper, we explored two interconnected research questions: (a) How can scaffolding support children in understanding Calm and designing for Calm connected toys? (b) To what extent can children contribute towards the design of novel connected toys that apply Calm Technology Principles? Building on UX practice and research we developed a participatory approach to working with children we call Design School, which gave children knowledge and experience of a design process. Additionally, we created design cards to use within the Design School, which scaffolded the inclusion of Calm technology design principles within children’s designs. The Design School workshops ran over four days in a U.K. school with 30 children aged 10–11 years, design outputs were analyzed to answer the research questions. From our experiences and analysis, we make four contributions: (a) the success of design cards as a tool to scaffold children in operationalizing unfamiliar design principles, (b) an understanding of how different design activities afforded expression of Calm in design ideas, and (c) the Design School workshop format, which proved effective in enabling children to engage in design activities
Understanding calm in the context of smart toys
No full textSmart toys, which integrate sensing, processing, physical movement, sounds, and even internet connectivity, offer a range of new play opportunities. However, compared to traditional toys, current smart toy products can be limiting in the play they support, and they have received criticism for a range of reasons with calm being a potentially valuable design feature for smart toys. This work explores the application of a revised set of calm design principles applied in the context of currently available smart toy products in an expert evaluation inspection study. The specific focus of this paper is on understanding the challenges encountered by the evaluators in the study. This paper contributes four key recommendations valuable to researchers and practitioners conducting similar studies. These relate to the challenge of simulating play experience, the diversity of play context, the interpretation and understanding of principles, and the consideration of design intent vs. play experience. We propose “calm smart toys” as a strong concept that can potentially assist others interested in designing calm smart toys
Roles and responsibilities of the special-section editor
No full textInterpretation differs from most journals in that each issue is built largely on special sections that focus on integrated multidisciplinary approaches, techniques in exploration and production, on a specific technology, on a specific basin, or on a specific type of geologic process or feature common to multiple basins. Such special sections provide the reader with the perspective and expertise of authors from different institutions and disciplines focused on the same problem. Depending on the topic, the resulting collection of papers may exhibit diversity, consensus, or both.
While the editorial board of a given journal may be able to identify a subset of candidate topics for special sections, in-depth knowledge of critical problems and of the key players working on such topics is usually beyond their areas of expertise. To address this need, Interpretation draws upon such experts to construct most special sections.
In addition to providing a focused collection of articles on a given topic, there are two additional advantages of the special-section format. First, the journal broadens the scope of contributors beyond those whose career advancement (typically in academia and in government laboratories) requires them to publish in peer-reviewed journals. Typically, the special-section organizers will identify oral presentations and expanded abstracts presented at meetings (such as SEG, AAPG, URTeC, OTC, and SPE) and ask the authors to expand upon their work and generate a more comprehensive document. Apart from a few technology companies, most companies do not use external publications as a component of career development. For this reason, requests by a respected special editorial team provides not only recognition to the authors, but also the justification of the authors’ management to allow them to build on their work. Nearly all companies include the act of supporting communities among their core values. Contributing to a special section is a great way for professionals to demonstrate that value in action. Other advantages include the perspectives provided by such special-section authors, editors, and reviewers that draw in a diverse suite of geoscientists and engineers that truly represent the interpretation community.
Where there are advantages, there are also disadvantages. First, the vast majority of special-section editors are “new to the job,” never having served on an editorial board of a peer-reviewed scientific journal. The primary objective of this “From the Editor” note is to clarify the roles and responsibilities of this task. Second, many of the selected reviewers may never have had the opportunity to review a paper for publication. They too are new to the job. The August issue of the From the Editor column (Bui et al., 2017) titled “Qualities of a good reviewer” directly addresses this challenge. In this article, we encourage the reviewers to help the authors to construct a quality, well-referenced paper because many of them, too, are new to the job. The third disadvantage is that the special-section format skews the citation-index metrics. Obviously, if the special-section editors identify a good oral presentation and request the author to develop a full-length paper, the chances of acceptance are higher, thus lowering the citation index score. More on this conundrum will be found in the From the Editor column in the February 2018 issue of Interpretation.
The remainder of this short article addresses the issues specific to the special-section editors
Plasmodium falciparum erythrocyte invasion through glycophorin C and selection for Gerbich negativity in human populations
No full textGeographic overlap between malaria and the occurrence of mutant hemoglobin and erythrocyte surface proteins has indicated that polymorphisms in human genes have been selected by severe malaria. Deletion of exon 3 in the glycophorin C gene (called GYPCΔex3 here) has been found in Melanesians; this alteration changes the serologic phenotype of the Gerbich (Ge) blood group system, resulting in Ge negativity. The GYPCΔex3 allele reaches a high frequency (46.5%) in coastal areas of Papua New Guinea where malaria is hyperendemics. The Plasmodium falciparum erythrocyte-binding antigen 140 (EBA140, also known as BAEBL) binds with high affinity to the surface of human erythrocytes. Here we show that the receptor for EBA140 is glycophorin C (GYPC) and that this interaction mediates a principal P. falciparum invasion pathway into human erythrocytes. EBA140 does not bind to GYPC in Ge-negative erythrocytes, nor can P. falciparum invade such cells using this invasion pathway. This provides compelling evidence that Ge negativity has arisen in Melanesian populations through natural selection by severe malaria.Acknowledgments We thank study volunteers for their willing participation, and M. Bockarie and G. Casey (Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research) for collecting the blood. We thank J. Thompson and T. Triglia for assistance, and A. Batchelor, S. Miller and B. Crabb for gifts of antibodies. We thank R. Thomson for independent statistical assistance. We acknowledge the Red Cross Blood Service (Melbourne, Australia) for supply of human erythrocytes and serum. This work is supported by grants from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia and the National Institutes of Health USA (AI36478-07, AI46919-01A2, AI49390-01). A.F.C. is supported by an International Research Scholarship from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. M.T.D. is supported by a Wellcome Trust Advanced Training Fellowship (Tropical Medicine) and A.G.M. is a recipient of a Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft Research-Fellowship.Peer-reviewe
Exploring the context and potential benefits of implementing an Intermittent Preventive Treatment for malaria in infants (IPTi) in Papua New Guinea
No full textSummary: Background
Intermittent preventive treatment (IPTi) is an intervention aiming to reduce the
risk of malaria in infants. Its concept is to deliver a full treatment course of
antimalarial drugs to infants, three or four times during the first year of life,
following the expanded program of immunization (EPI) schedule and regardless
of clinical malaria episodes.
Mainly Sulphadoxine/pyrimthamine (SP) was studied and demonstrated to
reduce the risk of malaria by 30% in Africa, where Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) is
the predominant species. No study has been carried out in regions of the world
with a significant burden of non-Pf infections. There is therefore a need to
investigate the potential benefits of IPTi in areas, such as Papua New Guinea
(PNG), highly endemic for Plasmodium vivax (Pv) malaria.
Apart from efficacy, which is the corner stone of an intervention, it is essential to
have a clear picture of the context in which such an intervention might be
implemented. Indeed, determinants of effectiveness such as the malaria context
(epidemiology and case management), the acceptability and the access to the
intervention need to be investigated prior to the implementation of IPTi.
The present study investigates the efficacy of IPTi in PNG as well as some key
aspects of infant’s health in PNG that might help to understand the context in
which IPTi could be implemented.
Methods
Randomized controlled trial investigating the protective efficacy of 4 doses of SP
associated to 3 days of artesunate (SP-AS3) or 3 days of amodiaquine (SP-AQ3)
given at 3-month intervals during the first year of life. Most of infants were
followed-up for an additional 12 months. The study took place in Madang and
Maprik (PNG) from 2006 to 2010, but only the Madang cohort was used for the
IPTi efficacy analyses.
Making use of the morbidity passive case detection of the trial, the following
aspects of infant’s health in PNG were investigated:
· Effectiveness of treating infants with a unified treatment
(artemther/lumefantrine, AL) for Pf & Pv malaria based on the result of the
rapid diagnostic test (RDT)
· The incidence of common illnesses based on RDT and syndromic
definitions of diseases and the impact of IPTi on them.
· The performances of the integrated management childhood illness (IMCI)
supplemented with RDT & IPTi for the management of common
syndromes/diseases in PNG.
The acceptability of IPTi was also assed alongside the drug trial.
Findings
1605 infants 3 months old were enrolled in the IPTi trial, 1125 in Madang and 480
in Maprik. The intention-to-treat relative risk (RR) at 15 months of age (Madang
site only) was 0.72 (95%CI, 0.57 - 0.90) on all malaria episodes with SP-AQ3 and
0.88 (95%CI, 0.70 - 1.10) with SP-AS3, overall p=0.017. Using SP-AQ3, the RR
was 0.63 (95%CI, 0.45 - 0.88) on Pf and 0.78 (95%CI, 0.60 - 1.01) on Pv. No
difference was observed in the incidence of overall morbidity, severe diseases
and non-malarial illnesses between the placebo and IPTI intervention arms.
Fewer deaths were observed in the treatment arms compared to placebo:
placebo=8, SP-AQ3=1 and SP-AS3=3.
7223 fever episodes occurred (in Madang and Maprik) during the study and 5670
had a negative RDT result. Out of them, 133 (3.4%) re-attended the clinic within
7 days for fever, and 1 died of lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI). 23 (0.6%)
infants re-presented with a severe illness (4 with positive BS and/or RDT). 1728
children with positive RDT results were treated with artemether/lumefantrine (AL).
30 (1.7%) re-attended within 7 days for fever, none died.
Out of the total cohort, incidence rates (episodes/child/year) for common
syndromes/diseases were: 0.85 (95%CI, 0.81-0.90) for LRTI, 0.72 (95%CI, 0.65-
0.93) for gastroenteritis (GI), 0.62 for malaria (95%CI, 0.58 - 0.66) and 0.08
(95%CI, 0.07-0.09) for otitis.
The introduction of RDT led to a high accuracy of “on site” malaria diagnosis (К
=0.99). On the opposite, the clinical diagnosis accuracy for others syndromes
was poor: К=0.47 for LRTI, К=0.52 for GI and К= 0.52 for otitis.
25% of illness episodes were inappropriately treated: 6% did not receive
antibiotics when they should have and 19% received antibiotics when they should
not have (according to recommendations). The prescription’s rate of antibiotics
was 56% when the RDT for malaria was negative and 16% when the RDT was
positive (p<0.001). The acceptability of IPTi appears to be good in Melanesian
populations.
Conclusion
The use of RDT and artemether/lumefantrine is a safe and effective strategy for
the management of malaria cases in PNG and could be implemented very easily.
IPTi has demonstrated its efficacy to reduce both Pf and Pv episodes. However,
the apparent absence of benefit on the overall morbidity and on severe illnesses
is a concern and mitigates the interest of implementing this intervention in PNG.
Furthermore, other factors such as a low EPI coverage and rapidly changing
malaria endemicity due to the recent introduction in PNG of insecticide treated
nets (ITN) and artemisinin combination therapies (ACT) are likely to jeopardize
the potential benefits of IPTi in PNG. ---------- Zusammenfassung:
Hintergrund
Intermittent preventive treatment in infants (IPTi) ist eine Intervention mit dem
Ziel, das Risiko von Malaria bei Kleinkindern zu reduzieren. Sein Konzept ist den
Säuglingen Behandlung mit Malariamedikamenten, drei oder viermal während
des ersten Lebensjahres, nach dem Zeitplan des Erweitertens Programms der
Immunisierung (EPI) und unabhängig von klinischen Malaria Episoden.
Haupsächlich Sulfadoxin/pyrimthamine (SP) wurde studiert und zeigte, dass das
Risiko von Malaria um 30% in Afrika reduziert wurde, wo Plasmodium falciparum
(Pf) die vorherrschende Spezies ist. Keine Studie wurde in den Regionen der
Welt mit einer signifikanten Belastung durch nicht-Pf-Infektionen durchgeführt. Es
besteht daher ein Bedarf, die potenziellen Vorteile der IPTi in Bereichen wie
Papua-Neuguinea (PNG), hoch endemisch für Plasmodium vivax (Pv) Malaria,
zu untersuchen.
Abgesehen von Wirksamkeit, die der Grundstein für eine Intervention ist, ist es
wichtig, ein klares Bild des Kontextes zu haben, in dem ein solcher Eingriff
durchgeführt werden könnte. Tatsächlich, Determinante der Wirksamkeit wie der
Malariakontext (Epidemiologie und Case Management), die Akzeptanz und der
Zugang auf die Intervention, muss vor der Durchführung von IPTi untersucht
werden.
Die vorliegende Studie untersucht die Wirksamkeit von IPTi in PNG sowie einige
der wichtigsten Aspekte der kindlichen Gesundheit von Kleinkindern in PNG, die
helfen könnten, den Kontext, in dem IPTi implementiert werden könnte, zu
verstehen.
Methoden
Randomisierte kontrollierte Studie, die die schützende Wirkung untersucht von
vier Dosen von SP und 3 Tagen von Artesunat (SP-AS3) oder 3 Tage von
Amodiaquin (SP-AQ3) in 3-monatigen Abständen, gegeben während des ersten
Lebensyahres. Die meisten Kinder wurden für weitere 12 Monate beobachtet.
Die Studie fand in Madang und Maprik (PNG) von 2006 bis 2010 statt, aber nur
die Madang Kohorte wurde für die IPTi Wirksamkeit Analyse verwendet.
Folgende Aspekte der Gesundheit der Kleinkinder in PNG wurden untersucht,
indem die passiven Fälle der Studie registriert wurden:
• Wirksamkeit der Behandlung von Säuglingen mit einer einheitlichen
Behandlung (artemther / Lumefantrin, AL) für Pf & Pv Malaria, dem Ergebnis des
rapid diagnostic test (RDT) nach.
• Die Inzidenz von gewöhnlichen Krankheiten nach RDT und syndromalen
Definitionen von Krankheiten und die Auswirkungen von IPTi auf ihnen.
• Die Leistungen des integrierten Managementsystems Kinderkrankheiten (IMCI)
ergänzt mit RDT & IPTi für die Bewirtschaftung der gewöhnlichen Syndrome / in
PNG.
Die Akzeptanz von IPTi wurde während dieser Studie bestimmt .
Resultate
1605 3-Monate alt Säuglinge wurden in die IPTi Studie eingezogen, 1125 in
Madang und 480 in Maprik. Intention-to-treat relative Risiko (RR) bei 15 Monaten
alt betrug 0.72 (95% CI, 0.57 bis 0.90) auf allen Malariaepisoden mit SP-AQ3
und 0.88 (95% CI, 0.70 bis 1.10) mit SP-AS3, Insgesamt p = 0.017. Mit SP-AQ3
wurde das RR 0.63 (95% CI, 0.45 bis 0.88) auf Pf und 0.78 (95% CI, 0.60 bis
1.01) auf Pv. Es wurde kein Unterschied in der Inzidenz von insgesamter
Morbidität, schwere Erkrankungen und nicht-Malaria-Erkrankungen zwischen der
Placebo-und IPTi Intervention Arme beobachtet. Nur wenige Todesfälle wurden
in den Behandlungsgruppen im Vergleich zu Placebo beobachtet: Placebo = 8,
SP-AQ3 = 1 und SP-AS3 = 3 ist.
7223 Fieberepisode (in Madang und Maprik) sind während der Studie
aufgetreten und 5670 hatten einen negativen RDT. Aus ihnen, 133 (3.4%)
besuchten die Klinik innerhalb von 7 Tagen bei Fieber wieder und 1 starb an
unteren Atemwegeinfektion (LRTI). 23 (0.6%) Säuglinge kamen erneut mit einer
schweren Krankheit (4 mit positiven BS und / oder RDT). 1728 Kinder mit
positiven RDT Ergebnissen wurden mit Artemether / Lumefantrin (AL) behandelt.
30 (1.7%) besuchten die klinik innerhalb von 7 Tagen bei Fieber wieder, keiner
starb.
Von der insgesamten Kohorte waren Inzidenzraten (Episode / Kind / Jahr) für
gemeinsame Syndrome / Krankenheiten : 0.85 (95% CI, 0.81-0.90) für LRTI, 0.72
(95% CI, 0.65-0.93) für Gastroenteritis (GI), 0.62 f!ur malaria (95%CI, 0.58 - 0.66)
und 0.08 (95% CI, 0.07-0.09) für Otitis.
Die Einführung von RDT führte zu einer hohen Genauigkeit von "on site"
Malaria-Diagnose (К = 0.99). Im gegenteil, war die Genauigkeit klinischer
Diagnose für andere Syndrome schlecht : К = 0.47 für LRTI, К = 0.52 für GI und
К = 0.52 für Otitis.
25% der Krankheitsepisoden wurden unsachgemäß behandelt: 6% erhielten
keine Antibiotica, wenn sie sie haben sollten und 19% erhielten Antibiotika, wenn
sie sie nicht haben sollten (den Empfehlungen nach). Die Verschreibung von
Antibiotika war 56% wenn der RDT für Malaria negative war und 16% wenn der
RDT postiv war (p <0.001). Die Akzeptanz für IPTi scheint in melanesischen
Bevölkerung gut zu sein.
Schlussvolgernd
Die Verwendung von RDT und Artemether / Lumefantrin ist eine sichere und
wirksame Strategie für die Verwaltung der Malariafälle in PNG und könnte sehr
leicht realisiert werden. IPTi hat seine Wirksamkeit demonstriet, sowohl Pf und
Pv Episoden zu reduzieren. Allerdings ist die offensichtliche Abwesenheit von
Vorteilen auf die gesamte Morbidität und auf schwere Krankheiten ein Anliegen,
und mildert das Interesse der Durchführung dieser Intervention in PNG. Darüber
hinaus gibt es andere Faktoren, wie eine niedrige EPI Berichterstattung und die
sich rasch verändernde Malaria endemizität durch die kürzliche Einführung in
PNG von Insektiziden behandelte Moskitonetze (ITN) und Artemisinin-
Kombinationstherapien (ACT), die die potenziellen Vorteile der IPTi in PNG
gefährden könnten
