This research paper presents a Screening Room tool, inspired from the Film and TV industry, that is then applied to the game industry. The work involved the creation and development of several in-game prototypes of a Screening Room tool within the game engine Unity 5. The iterative development involved usability testing and benchmarking against an example of current game development quality assurance processes that use BugZilla. The prototype resulting from the third iteration was then tested within a commercial games company CodeGlue and it was found that an overall time saving of approximately 500% was made whilst usability being arguably better for bug finding staff whilst similar to more complex for the bug fixing staff.
BackgroundA key factor in successfully preventing falls, is early identification of elderly with a high risk of falling. However, currently there is no easy-to-use pre-screening tool available; current tools are either not discriminative, time-consuming and/or costly. This pilot investigates the feasibility of developing an automatic gait-screening method by using a low-cost optical sensor and machinelearning algorithms to automatically detect features and classify gait patterns.MethodParticipants (n = 204, age 27 ± 7 yrs.) performed a gait test under two conditions: control and with distorted depth perception (induced by wearing special goggles). Each test consisted of 4x 3m walking at comfortable speed. Full-body 3D kinematics were captured using an optical sensor (Microsoft Xbox One Kinect). Tests were conducted in a public space to establish relatively 'natural' conditions. Data was processed in Matlab and common spatiotemporal variables were calculated per gait section. The 3D-time series data of the centre of mass for each section was used as input for a neural network, that was trained to discriminate between the two conditions.ResultsWearing the goggles affected the gait pattern significantly: gait velocity and step length decreased, and lateral sway increased compared to the control condition. A 2-layer neural network could correctly classify 79% of the gait segments (i.e. with or without distorted vision).ConclusionsThe results show that gait patterns of healthy people with distorted vision could automatically be classified with the proposed approach. Future work will focus on adapting this model for identification of specific physical risk-factors in elderly.
Chemical preservation is an important process that prevents foods, personal care products, woods and household products, such as paints and coatings, from undesirable change or decomposition by microbial growth. To date, many different chemical preservatives are commercially available, but they are also associated with health threats and severe negative environmental impact. The demand for novel, safe, and green chemical preservatives is growing, and this process is further accelerated by the European Green Deal. It is expected that by the year of 2050 (or even as soon as 2035), all preservatives that do not meet the ‘safe-by-design’ and ‘biodegradability’ criteria are banned from production and use. To meet these European goals, there is a large need for the development of green, circular, and bio-degradable antimicrobial compounds that can serve as alternatives for the currently available biocidals/ preservatives. Anthocyanins, derived from fruits and flowers, meet these sustainability goals. Furthermore, preliminary research at the Hanze University of Applied Science has confirmed the antimicrobial efficacy of rose and tulip anthocyanin extracts against an array of microbial species. Therefore, these molecules have the potential to serve as novel, sustainable chemical preservatives. In the current project we develop a strategy consisting of fractionation and state-of-the-art characterization methods of individual anthocyanins and subsequent in vitro screening to identify anthocyanin-molecules with potent antimicrobial efficacy for application in paints, coatings and other products. To our knowledge this is the first attempt that combines in-depth chemical characterization of individual anthocyanins in relation to their antimicrobial efficacy. Once developed, this strategy will allow us to single out anthocyanin molecules with antimicrobial properties and give us insight in structure-activity relations of individual anthocyanins. Our approach is the first step towards the development of anthocyanin molecules as novel, circular and biodegradable non-toxic plant-based preservatives.
Worldwide, coral reefs are rapidly declining due to increased sea water temperatures and other environmental stresses (Figure 1). To counter the extinction of major coral reef building species on the island of Bonaire, the non-profit organization Reef Renewal Foundation Bonaire is restoring degraded reef sites using corals that are grown in local nurseries. In these nurseries, corals are propagated on artificial trees using fragmentation. After 6-8 months of growth in the nursery, the corals are transplanted to degraded reef sites around the island. Over the years more than 21.000 corals have been outplanted to reef restoration sites in this way. These corals show high survivorship under natural reef conditions but remain under threat by environmental disturbances, such as increased water temperatures, diseases, and competition with macroalgae. A promising intervention to increase reef persistence and resilience is to manipulate the coral-associated microbiome. At present, the composition of the microbiome in nursery-reared and outplanted corals on Bonaire is unknown. The aim of the current project is to identify and isolate naturally occurring beneficial bacteria that may stimulate the resilience of these corals. Our key objectives are: 1) to assess the presence of functionally beneficial bacteria in corals in nursery and restoration sites on Bonaire using metagenomic screening. 2) to design culture strategies to isolate these functionally beneficial bacteria. In the future, a selection of these beneficial bacteria can be applied to the corals to increase their resilience against environmental disturbances.
Burgers kunnen met hun juridische vragen aankloppen bij Het Juridisch Loket. Maar wat als er achter hun vraag meerdere problemen schuilgaan, zoals schulden of psychische nood? Daar is de dienstverlening niet op ingericht. Dit onderzoek kijkt hoe mensen met multiproblematiek beter kunnen worden geholpen.Doel Het doel van dit onderzoeksproject is de dienstverlening van Het Juridisch Loket (HJL) aan hulpvragers met multiproblematiek te verbeteren door een multidisciplinaire aanpak. Deze nieuwe klantgerichte aanpak helpt om multiproblematiek op tijd te signaleren en waar nodig de klant door te verwijzen. Hulpvragers met multiproblematiek ervaren niet alleen problemen op het juridische vlak, maar ook psychische, financiële en/of fysieke problemen. De combinatie van problemen op verschillende vlakken maakt de hulpvraag van deze doelgroep complex. Resultaten De resultaten van het onderzoek worden gedeeld in publicaties, workshops en een slotconferentie. Ook worden ze opgenomen in de juridische opleidingen van Hogeschool Utrecht, zodat huidige én toekomstige juridische professionals ervan kunnen profiteren. Highlights Eerstelijns rechtshulp aan mensen met multiproblematiek – Publieksversie eindrapport Samenvatting project t.b.v. eindcongres. Veel aan hun hoofd: mensen met multiproblematiek in de eerstelijns rechtshulp Whiteboard animatie over multiproblematiek in de eerstelijns rechtshulp Blog 'Eerstelijns (rechts)hulp voor cliënten met multiproblematiek. Een wereld te winnen' Rechtshulp moet niet alleen juridisch zijn Artikel op socialevraagstukken.nl Voorkomen van multiproblematiek Factsheet voorkomen multiproblematiek in de eerstelijns rechtshulpverlening Screeningsinstrument Multiproblematiek herkennen Opname college multiproblematiek in de eerstelijns (rechts)hulpverlening Presentatie multiproblematiek in de eerstelijns (rechts)hulpverlening Ontwikkelwerkplaatsen In de werkplaatsen Arnhem en Dordrecht hebben professionals in de eerstelijns (rechts)hulp afspraken gemaakt over de warme doorverwijzing van klanten met multiproblematiek. Afspraken over de warme doorverwijzing Dordrecht Afspraken over de warme doorverwijzing Arnhem Wetenschappelijke publicaties Focus op cliënt behoeften – Een studie over eerstelijns rechtshulp in Nederland Artikel in de European Journal of Social Work Aanbevelingen uit de literatuur Aanbevelingen voor (rechts)hulp bij multiproblematiek Een overzicht van aanbevelingen uit de praktijkliteratuur. Prezi ‘Recht doen’ aan de cliënt met multiproblematiek - Adviezen uit de praktijkliteratuur. Een dynamisch online presentatietool gebaseerd op mindmappen (Prezi) waarin aanbevelingen uit de praktijkliteratuur worden toegelicht. ‘Recht doen’ aan de client met multiproblematiek – Workshop voor professionals Werkvormen waarmee de aanbevelingen uit de praktijkliteratuur kunnen worden overgebracht naar professionals op de werkvloer. Animatie ‘Recht doen’ aan de client met multiproblematiek - Adviezen uit de praktijkliteratuur. In onderstaande animatie wordt uitgelegd hoe op basis van adviezen uit de praktijkliteratuur recht kan worden gedaan aan cliënten met multiproblematiek. Looptijd 01 januari 2019 - 30 juni 2021 Aanpak Mixed-methods opzet: kwantitatieve (enquête onder cliënten) en kwalitatieve (diepte interviews met professionals en cliënten) data-analyse en actieonderzoek in twee lokale settings. Financiering Het onderzoek heeft een subsidie gekregen van SIA-RAAK.
