Open Access

A Stereo Active Vision Interface is introduced which detects frontal faces in real world environments and performs particular active control tasks dependent on changes in the visual field. Firstly, connected skin colour regions in the visual scene are detected by applying a radial scanline algorithm. Secondly, facial features are searched for in the most salient skin colour region while the blob is tracked by the camera system. The facial features are evaluated and, based on the obtained results and the current state of the system, particular actions are performed. The SAVI system is thought of as a smart user interface for teleconferencing, telemedicine, and distance learning. The system is designedas a Perception-Action-Cycle (PAC), processing sensory data ofdifferent kinds and qualities. Both the vision module and the head motion control module work at frame rate. Hence, the system is able to react instantaneously to changing conditions in the visual scene.

Sinapine is the main secondary metabolite present in rapeseed pomace (RSP) with its concentration being dependent on rapeseed processing, growing conditions, extraction parameters and the country of origin. Here we report, the concentration of sinapine from an extract of defatted RSP harvested in the North East of Scotland. Using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry, the most abundant phenolic compound in the RSP extract was, as expected, sinapine (109.1 mg/g RSP extract). Additionally, sinapic, caffeic, ferulic and syringic acids were identified (0.159–3.91 mg/g RSP extract). Sinapine together with the phenolics at the concentration present in the RSP extract, exhibited ≥50% activity relative to the extract in antioxidant assays. Furthermore, sinapine provided plasmid DNA (pBR322) protection, from 2,2′-azobis(2-amidinopropane) dihydrochloride and inhibited acetylcholinesterase activity by 85%. Molecular docking was utilised to explain the inhibitory activity. RSP can be an excellent source of bioactive compounds for pharmaceuticals, food additive and nutraceutical applications.

Need for care and accordingly the prevalence of dementia is increasing rapidly. Information and communication technologies (ICT) may have the potential to support collaboration and cooperation between people with dementia and their caregivers and thus promote independency, wellbeing and quality of life of involved parties. In this context, the authors investigated the potential of an ICT-based videogame system to generate and facilitate social experiences of people with dementia and their caregivers. 26 people with dementia and their caregivers participated in a 16 month participatory design study. Results suggest that collaboration and cooperation among involved parties increased by using the system. Further, the study revealed positive and negative social experiences triggered by the videogame based system. This article will report on these results and provide implications that may support researchers to design similar systems with the potential to increase collaboration and cooperation among people with dementia and their caregivers.

Almost unnoticed by the e-learning community, the underlying technology of the WWW is undergoing massive technological changes on all levels these days. In this paper we draw the attention to the emerging game changer and discuss the consequences for online learning. In our e-learning project "Work & Study", funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, we have experimented with several new technological approaches such as Mobile First, Responsive Design, Mobile Apps, Web Components, Client-side Components, Progressive Web Apps, Course Apps, e-books, and web sockets for real time collaboration and report about the results and consequences for online learning practice. The modular web is emerging where e-learning units are composed from and delivered by universally embeddable web components.

The potential of papain-like cysteine proteases, such as cathepsin B, as drug discovery targets for systemic human diseases has prevailed over the past years. The development of potent and selective low-molecular cathepsin B inhibitors relies on the detailed expertise on preferred amino acid and inhibitor residues interacting with the corresponding specificity pockets of cathepsin B. Such knowledge might be obtained by mapping the active site of the protease with combinatorial libraries of peptidic substrates and peptidomimetic inhibitors. This review, for the first time, summarizes a wide spectrum of active site mapping approaches. It considers relevant X-ray crystallographic data and discloses propensities towards favorable protein-ligand interactions in case of the therapeutically relevant protease cathepsin B.

Serine/threonine kinase 4 (STK4) deficiency is an autosomal recessive genetic condition that leads to primary immunodeficiency (PID) typically characterized by lymphopenia, recurrent infections and Epstein Barr Virus (EBV) induced lymphoproliferation and -lymphoma. State-of-the-art treatment regimens consist of prevention or treatment of infections, immunoglobulin substitution (IVIG) and restoration of the immune system by hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Here, we report on two patients from two consanguineous families of Turkish (patient P1) and Moroccan (patient P2) decent, with PID due to homozygous STK4 mutations. P1 harbored a previously reported frameshift (c.1103 delT, p.M368RfsX2) and P2 a novel splice donor site mutation (P2; c.525+2 T>G). Both patients presented in childhood with recurrent infections, CD4 lymphopenia and dysregulated immunoglobulin levels. Patient P1 developed a highly malignant B cell lymphoma at the age of 10 years and a second, independent Hodgkin lymphoma 5 years later. To our knowledge she is the first STK4 deficient case reported who developed lymphoma in the absence of detectable EBV or other common viruses. Lymphoma development may be due to the lacking tumor suppressive function of STK4 or the perturbed immune surveillance due to the lack of CD4+ T cells. Our data should raise physicians' awareness of [1] lymphoma proneness of STK4 deficient patients even in the absence of EBV infection and [2] possibly underlying STK4 deficiency in pediatric patients with a history of recurrent infections, CD4 lymphopenia and lymphoma and unknown genetic make-up. Patient P2 experienced recurrent otitis in childhood, but when she presented at the age of 14, she showed clinical and immunological characteristics similar to patients suffering from Autoimmune Lymphoproliferative Syndrome (ALPS): elevated DNT cell number, non-malignant lymphadenopathy and hepatosplenomegaly, hematolytic anemia, hypergammaglobulinemia. Also patient P1 presented with ALPS-like features (lymphadenopathy, elevated DNT cell number and increased Vitamin B12 levels) and both were initially clinically diagnosed as ALPS-like. Closer examination of P2, however, revealed active EBV infection and genetic testing identified a novel STK4 mutation. None of the patients harbored typically ALPS-associated mutations of the Fas receptor mediated apoptotic pathway and Fas-mediated apoptosis was not affected. The presented case reports extend the clinical spectrum of STK4 deficiency.

In this paper, we introduce the international program erp4students as general example on how to successfully prepare university students for the world of works without having to give up the basic principle in higher education, i.e., to exclusively provide sustainable education. We start with introducing the basic concept and design of the program and provide information regarding the demographic development over the past decade and implemented quality assurance mechanisms. Subsequently, the scope and design of and hitherto achieved insights from the Learning Culture Survey are outlined. On the basis of found results, we finally discuss how erp4students can deal with possible culture-specific issues that latest might emerge when the program gets available for learners in the Asian context.

Despite the opportunities and benefits of OER, research and practice has shown how the OER repositories have a hard time in reaching an active user-base. The opportunities of experience exchange and simple feedback mechanisms of social software have been realized for improving the situation and many are basing or transforming their OER offerings towards socially powered environments. Research on social software has shown how knowledge-sharing barriers in online environments are highly culture and context-specific and require proper investigation. It is crucial to study what challenges might arise in such environments and how to overcome them, ensuring a successful uptake. A large-scale (N = 855) cross-European investigation was initiated in the school context to determine which barriers teachers and learners perceive as critical. The study highlights barriers on cultural distance, showing how those are predicted by nationality and age of the respondents. The paper concludes with recommendations for overcoming those barriers.