This paper describes a model for studying collaborative knowledge building (CKB) as a group activity. We integrate the model described by Stahl (2000a) with an analysis based on the principles of cultural historical activity theory (CHAT), using the analysis of a self reflective case study to guide the description. The concept of the CKB activity system is developed, and the role of contradicti...

This paper established how LAN Chat Messenger (LCM) using Rational Unified Process (RUP) methodology provides low-cost communication between staff in an organization. In the process, it enables users to make voice calls, chat and transfer of small to medium-sized files. The paper provides information about how voice calls are made, call history is shown, chat conversations are saved and quick f...

This article examines the communication of text-based synchronous online discussion (chat) participants during the process of information sharing. It addresses the communicational constraints imposed by the computer-mediated communication (CMC) channel on participants’ expression of interpersonal and affective stances, analyzes the mechanisms participants employed to overcome these constraints,...

In Hong Kong, the discussion of youth internet chatting is largely framed as part and parcel of the broader emergence of internet “idling culture.” Surprisingly, there has been little news reports and columns that focus on the discussion of internet chatting in Hong Kong. When it does appear, most of them focus on internet crime, slander and sexual harassment; in other words, local news rarely ...

The ephemeral nature of human communication via networks today poses interesting and challenging problems for information technologists. The Intelink intelligence network, for example, has a need to monitor chat-room conversations to ensure the integrity of sensitive data being transmitted via the network. However, the sheer volume of communication in venues such as email, newsgroups, and chat ...

Introduction Cri du chat syndrome is a rare genetic disorder due to deletion of variable length of short arm of chromosome 5(5p). It mainly presents with typical cat like cry, facial dysmorphism, poor growth with feeding problems and severe cognitive, speech, and motor delays. Case Report We present here a one year old child who did not presented with typical features but presented with recurre...

Choline acetyltransferase (ChAT; EC ) catalyzes the reversible synthesis of acetylcholine (ACh) from acetyl CoA and choline at cholinergic synapses. Mutations in genes encoding ChAT affecting motility exist in Caenorhabditis elegans and Drosophila, but no CHAT mutations have been observed in humans to date. Here we report that mutations in CHAT cause a congenital myasthenic syndrome associated ...

Ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) influences the levels of choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) in cultures of dissociated sympathetic neurons from newborn rats. In the presence of CNTF both the total and specific activity of ChAT was increased 7 d after culture by 15- and 18-fold, respectively, as compared to cultures kept in the absence of CNTF. Between 3 and 21 d i...

The ephemeral nature of human communication via networks today poses interesting and challenging problems for information technologists. The sheer volume of communication in venues such as email, newsgroups, and chat precludes manual techniques of information management. Currently, no systematic mechanisms exist for accumulating these artifacts of communication in a form that lends itself to th...