Individual 3D measurements of end users to personalize work wear clothing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mielicka, E.; Napieralska, L.; Jasińska, I.; Jarzyna, V.

2017-10-01

Body silhouette 3D measurements need to be performed separately in each country due to significant ethnic differences in body silhouette which preclude the transfer of European data to particular countries. Systematic research allows to update information on the population body silhouette and body proportions as well as select the size changes possible to implement in clothing construction modifications. The diversity in body silhouettes and sizes as well as the issue of clothing fitting encourage clothing producers to provide work wear clothing based on individual measurements of the end users’ bodies. In the framework of the carried research, the group of construction workers was selected as the target group of the analysed work wear clothing users. 42 construction workers, men only, were measured. The body silhouette measurement process was non-contact and was carried out with the use of 3D body scanner. The collected data on the body silhouette allowed to select sizes used to construct the work wear clothing and identify the clothing size. The selected measurement points of the body silhouette underwent statistical analysis to determine the distribution of random variables, here body sizes. The variables distribution characteristics were calculated. On that basis, the fitting appraisal of work wear clothing with respect to the size of the finished product corresponding to the adequate size of individually measured worker/end user was performed. The size overview of the work wear clothing used by the specific professional group and the appraisal of the size fitting to the body silhouette took into consideration the work wear clothing ergonomic functionality with respect to the body posture when performing the tasks, design and clothing construction. The analysis based on the currently gathered end users’ remarks and objections concerning the clothing fitting and performed body silhouette measurements allows to modify the existing work wear clothing for the

Individual heterogeneity and identifiability in capture-recapture models

USGS Publications Warehouse

Link, W.A.

2004-01-01

Individual heterogeneity in detection probabilities is a far more serious problem for capture-recapture modeling than has previously been recognized. In this note, I illustrate that population size is not an identifiable parameter under the general closed population mark-recapture model Mh. The problem of identifiability is obvious if the population includes individuals with pi = 0, but persists even when it is assumed that individual detection probabilities are bounded away from zero. Identifiability may be attained within parametric families of distributions for pi, but not among parametric families of distributions. Consequently, in the presence of individual heterogeneity in detection probability, capture-recapture analysis is strongly model dependent.

The analysis of influence of individual and environmental factors on 2-wheeled users' injuries.

PubMed

Marković, Nenad; Pešić, Dalibor R; Antić, Boris; Vujanić, Milan

2016-08-17

Powered 2-wheeled motor vehicles (PTWs) are one of the most vulnerable categories of road users. Bearing that fact in mind, we have researched the effects of individual and environmental factors on the severity and type of injuries of PTW users. The aim was to recognize the circumstances that cause these accidents and take some preventive actions that would improve the level of road safety for PTWs. In the period from 2001 to 2010, an analysis of 139 road accidents involving PTWs was made by the Faculty of Transport and Traffic Engineering in Belgrade. The effects of both individual (age, gender, etc.) and environmental factors (place of an accident, time of day, etc.) on the cause of accidents and severity and type of injuries of PTWs are reported in this article. Analyses of these effects were conducted using logistic regression, chi-square tests, and Pearson's correlation. Factors such as categories of road users, pavement conditions, place of accident, age, and time of day have a statistically significant effect on PTW injuries, whereas other factors (gender, road type; that is, straight or curvy) do not. The article also defines the interdependence of the occurrence of particular injuries at certain speeds. The results show that if PTW users died of a head injury, these were usually concurrent with chest injuries, injuries to internal organs, and limb injuries. It has been shown that there is a high degree of influence of individual factors on the occurrence of accidents involving 2-wheelers (PTWs/bicycles) but with no statistically significant relation. Establishing the existence of such conditionalities enables identifying and defining factors that have an impact on the occurrence of traffic accidents involving bicyclists or PTWs. Such a link between individual factors and the occurrence of accidents makes it possible for system managers to take appropriate actions aimed at certain categories of 2-wheelers in order to reduce casualties in a particular area

Spotting Cheetahs: Identifying Individuals by Their Footprints.

PubMed

Jewell, Zoe C; Alibhai, Sky K; Weise, Florian; Munro, Stuart; Van Vuuren, Marlice; Van Vuuren, Rudie

2016-05-01

The cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) is Africa's most endangered large felid and listed as Vulnerable with a declining population trend by the IUCN(1). It ranges widely over sub-Saharan Africa and in parts of the Middle East. Cheetah conservationists face two major challenges, conflict with landowners over the killing of domestic livestock, and concern over range contraction. Understanding of the latter remains particularly poor(2). Namibia is believed to support the largest number of cheetahs of any range country, around 30%, but estimates range from 2,905(3) to 13,520(4). The disparity is likely a result of the different techniques used in monitoring. Current techniques, including invasive tagging with VHF or satellite/GPS collars, can be costly and unreliable. The footprint identification technique(5) is a new tool accessible to both field scientists and also citizens with smartphones, who could potentially augment data collection. The footprint identification technique analyzes digital images of footprints captured according to a standardized protocol. Images are optimized and measured in data visualization software. Measurements of distances, angles, and areas of the footprint images are analyzed using a robust cross-validated pairwise discriminant analysis based on a customized model. The final output is in the form of a Ward's cluster dendrogram. A user-friendly graphic user interface (GUI) allows the user immediate access and clear interpretation of classification results. The footprint identification technique algorithms are species specific because each species has a unique anatomy. The technique runs in a data visualization software, using its own scripting language (jsl) that can be customized for the footprint anatomy of any species. An initial classification algorithm is built from a training database of footprints from that species, collected from individuals of known identity. An algorithm derived from a cheetah of known identity is then able to classify

Spotting Cheetahs: Identifying Individuals by Their Footprints

PubMed Central

Jewell, Zoe C.; Alibhai, Sky K.; Weise, Florian; Munro, Stuart; Van Vuuren, Marlice; Van Vuuren, Rudie

2016-01-01

The cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) is Africa's most endangered large felid and listed as Vulnerable with a declining population trend by the IUCN1. It ranges widely over sub-Saharan Africa and in parts of the Middle East. Cheetah conservationists face two major challenges, conflict with landowners over the killing of domestic livestock, and concern over range contraction. Understanding of the latter remains particularly poor2. Namibia is believed to support the largest number of cheetahs of any range country, around 30%, but estimates range from 2,9053 to 13,5204. The disparity is likely a result of the different techniques used in monitoring. Current techniques, including invasive tagging with VHF or satellite/GPS collars, can be costly and unreliable. The footprint identification technique5 is a new tool accessible to both field scientists and also citizens with smartphones, who could potentially augment data collection. The footprint identification technique analyzes digital images of footprints captured according to a standardized protocol. Images are optimized and measured in data visualization software. Measurements of distances, angles, and areas of the footprint images are analyzed using a robust cross-validated pairwise discriminant analysis based on a customized model. The final output is in the form of a Ward's cluster dendrogram. A user-friendly graphic user interface (GUI) allows the user immediate access and clear interpretation of classification results. The footprint identification technique algorithms are species specific because each species has a unique anatomy. The technique runs in a data visualization software, using its own scripting language (jsl) that can be customized for the footprint anatomy of any species. An initial classification algorithm is built from a training database of footprints from that species, collected from individuals of known identity. An algorithm derived from a cheetah of known identity is then able to classify free

Identifying Chinese Microblog Users With High Suicide Probability Using Internet-Based Profile and Linguistic Features: Classification Model

PubMed Central

Guan, Li; Hao, Bibo; Cheng, Qijin; Yip, Paul SF

2015-01-01

Background Traditional offline assessment of suicide probability is time consuming and difficult in convincing at-risk individuals to participate. Identifying individuals with high suicide probability through online social media has an advantage in its efficiency and potential to reach out to hidden individuals, yet little research has been focused on this specific field. Objective The objective of this study was to apply two classification models, Simple Logistic Regression (SLR) and Random Forest (RF), to examine the feasibility and effectiveness of identifying high suicide possibility microblog users in China through profile and linguistic features extracted from Internet-based data. Methods There were nine hundred and nine Chinese microblog users that completed an Internet survey, and those scoring one SD above the mean of the total Suicide Probability Scale (SPS) score, as well as one SD above the mean in each of the four subscale scores in the participant sample were labeled as high-risk individuals, respectively. Profile and linguistic features were fed into two machine learning algorithms (SLR and RF) to train the model that aims to identify high-risk individuals in general suicide probability and in its four dimensions. Models were trained and then tested by 5-fold cross validation; in which both training set and test set were generated under the stratified random sampling rule from the whole sample. There were three classic performance metrics (Precision, Recall, F1 measure) and a specifically defined metric “Screening Efficiency” that were adopted to evaluate model effectiveness. Results Classification performance was generally matched between SLR and RF. Given the best performance of the classification models, we were able to retrieve over 70% of the labeled high-risk individuals in overall suicide probability as well as in the four dimensions. Screening Efficiency of most models varied from 1/4 to 1/2. Precision of the models was generally below 30

Individual Characteristics of Adolescent Methamphetamine Users in Relation to Self-Reported Trouble with the Police

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gassman, Ruth; Nowicke, Carole E.; Jun, Mi Kung

2010-01-01

Survey responses by nonexperimental drug users in grades 6-12 were examined to determine whether MA users and nonusers with shared individual characteristics experience differential rates of police trouble, and whether specific factors place some users at greater risk than others. Findings showed that police trouble is pronounced for MA users,…

Development of methodologies and procedures for identifying STS users and uses

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Archer, J. L.; Beauchamp, N. A.; Macmichael, D. C.

1974-01-01

A study was conducted to identify new uses and users of the new Space Transporation System (STS) within the domestic government sector. The study develops a series of analytical techniques and well-defined functions structured as an integrated planning process to assure efficient and meaningful use of the STS. The purpose of the study is to provide NASA with the following functions: (1) to realize efficient and economic use of the STS and other NASA capabilities, (2) to identify new users and uses of the STS, (3) to contribute to organized planning activities for both current and future programs, and (4) to air in analyzing uses of NASA's overall capabilities.

Vulnerability- and Diversity-Aware Anonymization of Personally Identifiable Information for Improving User Privacy and Utility of Publishing Data

PubMed Central

Majeed, Abdul; Ullah, Farman; Lee, Sungchang

2017-01-01

Personally identifiable information (PII) affects individual privacy because PII combinations may yield unique identifications in published data. User PII such as age, race, gender, and zip code contain private information that may assist an adversary in determining the user to whom such information relates. Each item of user PII reveals identity differently, and some types of PII are highly identity vulnerable. More vulnerable types of PII enable unique identification more easily, and their presence in published data increases privacy risks. Existing privacy models treat all types of PII equally from an identity revelation point of view, and they mainly focus on hiding user PII in a crowd of other users. Ignoring the identity vulnerability of each type of PII during anonymization is not an effective method of protecting user privacy in a fine-grained manner. This paper proposes a new anonymization scheme that considers the identity vulnerability of PII to effectively protect user privacy. Data generalization is performed adaptively based on the identity vulnerability of PII as well as diversity to anonymize data. This adaptive generalization effectively enables anonymous data, which protects user identity and private information disclosures while maximizing the utility of data for performing analyses and building classification models. Additionally, the proposed scheme has low computational overheads. The simulation results show the effectiveness of the scheme and verify the aforementioned claims. PMID:28481298

Vulnerability- and Diversity-Aware Anonymization of Personally Identifiable Information for Improving User Privacy and Utility of Publishing Data.

PubMed

Majeed, Abdul; Ullah, Farman; Lee, Sungchang

2017-05-08

Personally identifiable information (PII) affects individual privacy because PII combinations may yield unique identifications in published data. User PII such as age, race, gender, and zip code contain private information that may assist an adversary in determining the user to whom such information relates. Each item of user PII reveals identity differently, and some types of PII are highly identity vulnerable. More vulnerable types of PII enable unique identification more easily, and their presence in published data increases privacy risks. Existing privacy models treat all types of PII equally from an identity revelation point of view, and they mainly focus on hiding user PII in a crowd of other users. Ignoring the identity vulnerability of each type of PII during anonymization is not an effective method of protecting user privacy in a fine-grained manner. This paper proposes a new anonymization scheme that considers the identity vulnerability of PII to effectively protect user privacy. Data generalization is performed adaptively based on the identity vulnerability of PII as well as diversity to anonymize data. This adaptive generalization effectively enables anonymous data, which protects user identity and private information disclosures while maximizing the utility of data for performing analyses and building classification models. Additionally, the proposed scheme has low computational overheads. The simulation results show the effectiveness of the scheme and verify the aforementioned claims.

Exploring online communication about cigarette smoking among Twitter users who self-identify as having schizophrenia

PubMed Central

Hswen, Yulin; Naslund, John A.; Chandrashekar, Pooja; Siegel, Robert; Brownstein, John S.; Hawkins, Jared B.

2018-01-01

Novel approaches are needed to address elevated tobacco use among people with schizophrenia. This exploratory study examined the frequency, timing, and type of communication about tobacco-related content on Twitter among users who self-identify as having schizophrenia compared with users from the general population. Over a 200-day period from January to July 2016, Twitter users who self-identify as having a schizophrenia spectrum disorder (n = 203) and a randomly selected group of general population control users (n = 173) posted 1,544,122 tweets. Communication frequency did not differ between groups. Tweets containing tobacco-related keywords were extracted. Twitter users with schizophrenia posted significantly more tweets containing any tobacco-related terms (mean = 3.74; SD = 16.3) compared with control users (mean = 0.82; SD = 1.8). A significantly greater proportion of Twitter users with schizophrenia (45%; n = 92) posted tweets containing any tobacco terms compared with control users (30%; n = 52). Schizophrenia users showed significantly greater odds of tweeting about tobacco compared with control users (OR = 1.99; 95% CI 1.29–3.07). These findings suggest that online communication about tobacco may parallel real world trends of elevated tobacco use observed among people with schizophrenia. By showing that Twitter users who self-identify as having schizophrenia discuss tobacco-related content online, popular social media could inform smoking cessation efforts targeting this at-risk group. PMID:28841509

Screening for Albuminuria Identifies Individuals at Increased Renal Risk

PubMed Central

van der Velde, Marije; Halbesma, Nynke; de Charro, Frank T.; Bakker, Stephan J.L.; de Zeeuw, Dick; de Jong, Paul E.; Gansevoort, Ronald T.

2009-01-01

It is unknown whether screening for albuminuria in the general population identifies individuals at increased risk for renal replacement therapy (RRT) or accelerated loss of renal function. Here, in a general population-based cohort of 40,854 individuals aged 28 to 75 yr, we collected a first morning void for measurement of urinary albumin. In a subset of 6879 individuals, we measured 24-h urinary albumin excretion and estimated GFR at baseline and during 6 yr of follow-up. Linkage with the national RRT registry identified 45 individuals who started RRT during 9 yr of follow-up. The quantity of albuminuria was associated with increased renal risk: the higher the level of albuminuria, the higher the risk of need for renal replacement therapy and the more rapid renal function decline. A urinary albumin concentration of ≥20 mg/L identified individuals who started RRT during follow-up with 58% sensitivity and 92% specificity. Of the identified individuals, 39% were previously unknown to have impaired renal function, and 50% were not being medically treated. Restricting screening to high-risk groups (e.g., known hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease [CVD], older age) reduced the sensitivity of the test only marginally but failed to identify 45% of individuals with micro- and macroalbuminuria. In conclusion, individuals with elevated levels of urinary albumin are at increased risk for RRT and accelerated loss of renal function. Screening for albuminuria identifies patients at increased risk for progressive renal disease, 40 to 50% of whom were previously undiagnosed or untreated. PMID:19211710

Individually adapted imagery improves brain-computer interface performance in end-users with disability.

PubMed

Scherer, Reinhold; Faller, Josef; Friedrich, Elisabeth V C; Opisso, Eloy; Costa, Ursula; Kübler, Andrea; Müller-Putz, Gernot R

2015-01-01

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) translate oscillatory electroencephalogram (EEG) patterns into action. Different mental activities modulate spontaneous EEG rhythms in various ways. Non-stationarity and inherent variability of EEG signals, however, make reliable recognition of modulated EEG patterns challenging. Able-bodied individuals who use a BCI for the first time achieve - on average - binary classification performance of about 75%. Performance in users with central nervous system (CNS) tissue damage is typically lower. User training generally enhances reliability of EEG pattern generation and thus also robustness of pattern recognition. In this study, we investigated the impact of mental tasks on binary classification performance in BCI users with central nervous system (CNS) tissue damage such as persons with stroke or spinal cord injury (SCI). Motor imagery (MI), that is the kinesthetic imagination of movement (e.g. squeezing a rubber ball with the right hand), is the "gold standard" and mainly used to modulate EEG patterns. Based on our recent results in able-bodied users, we hypothesized that pair-wise combination of "brain-teaser" (e.g. mental subtraction and mental word association) and "dynamic imagery" (e.g. hand and feet MI) tasks significantly increases classification performance of induced EEG patterns in the selected end-user group. Within-day (How stable is the classification within a day?) and between-day (How well does a model trained on day one perform on unseen data of day two?) analysis of variability of mental task pair classification in nine individuals confirmed the hypothesis. We found that the use of the classical MI task pair hand vs. feed leads to significantly lower classification accuracy - in average up to 15% less - in most users with stroke or SCI. User-specific selection of task pairs was again essential to enhance performance. We expect that the gained evidence will significantly contribute to make imagery-based BCI technology

Individually Adapted Imagery Improves Brain-Computer Interface Performance in End-Users with Disability

PubMed Central

Scherer, Reinhold; Faller, Josef; Friedrich, Elisabeth V. C.; Opisso, Eloy; Costa, Ursula; Kübler, Andrea; Müller-Putz, Gernot R.

2015-01-01

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) translate oscillatory electroencephalogram (EEG) patterns into action. Different mental activities modulate spontaneous EEG rhythms in various ways. Non-stationarity and inherent variability of EEG signals, however, make reliable recognition of modulated EEG patterns challenging. Able-bodied individuals who use a BCI for the first time achieve - on average - binary classification performance of about 75%. Performance in users with central nervous system (CNS) tissue damage is typically lower. User training generally enhances reliability of EEG pattern generation and thus also robustness of pattern recognition. In this study, we investigated the impact of mental tasks on binary classification performance in BCI users with central nervous system (CNS) tissue damage such as persons with stroke or spinal cord injury (SCI). Motor imagery (MI), that is the kinesthetic imagination of movement (e.g. squeezing a rubber ball with the right hand), is the "gold standard" and mainly used to modulate EEG patterns. Based on our recent results in able-bodied users, we hypothesized that pair-wise combination of "brain-teaser" (e.g. mental subtraction and mental word association) and "dynamic imagery" (e.g. hand and feet MI) tasks significantly increases classification performance of induced EEG patterns in the selected end-user group. Within-day (How stable is the classification within a day?) and between-day (How well does a model trained on day one perform on unseen data of day two?) analysis of variability of mental task pair classification in nine individuals confirmed the hypothesis. We found that the use of the classical MI task pair hand vs. feed leads to significantly lower classification accuracy - in average up to 15% less - in most users with stroke or SCI. User-specific selection of task pairs was again essential to enhance performance. We expect that the gained evidence will significantly contribute to make imagery-based BCI technology

Exploring online communication about cigarette smoking among Twitter users who self-identify as having schizophrenia.

PubMed

Hswen, Yulin; Naslund, John A; Chandrashekar, Pooja; Siegel, Robert; Brownstein, John S; Hawkins, Jared B

2017-11-01

Novel approaches are needed to address elevated tobacco use among people with schizophrenia. This exploratory study examined the frequency, timing, and type of communication about tobacco-related content on Twitter among users who self-identify as having schizophrenia compared with users from the general population. Over a 200-day period from January to July 2016, Twitter users who self-identify as having a schizophrenia spectrum disorder (n = 203) and a randomly selected group of general population control users (n = 173) posted 1,544,122 tweets. Communication frequency did not differ between groups. Tweets containing tobacco-related keywords were extracted. Twitter users with schizophrenia posted significantly more tweets containing any tobacco-related terms (mean = 3.74; SD = 16.3) compared with control users (mean = 0.82; SD = 1.8). A significantly greater proportion of Twitter users with schizophrenia (45%; n = 92) posted tweets containing any tobacco terms compared with control users (30%; n = 52). Schizophrenia users showed significantly greater odds of tweeting about tobacco compared with control users (OR = 1.99; 95% CI 1.29-3.07). These findings suggest that online communication about tobacco may parallel real world trends of elevated tobacco use observed among people with schizophrenia. By showing that Twitter users who self-identify as having schizophrenia discuss tobacco-related content online, popular social media could inform smoking cessation efforts targeting this at-risk group. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Individual and Network Interventions With Injection Drug Users in 5 Ukraine Cities

PubMed Central

Lehman, Wayne E. K.; Latkin, Carl A.; Dvoryak, Sergey; Brewster, John T.; Royer, Mark S.; Sinitsyna, Larisa

2011-01-01

Objectives. We evaluated the effects of an individual intervention versus a network intervention on HIV-related injection and sexual risk behaviors among street-recruited opiate injection drug users in 5 Ukraine cities. Methods. Between 2004 and 2006, 722 opiate injection drug users were recruited to participate in interventions that were either individually based or based on a social network model in which peer educators intervened with their network members. Audio computer-assisted self-interview techniques were used to interview participants at baseline and follow-up. Results. Multiple logistic analyses controlling for baseline injection and sexual risks revealed that both peer educators and network members in the network intervention reduced injection-related risk behaviors significantly more than did those in the individually based intervention and that peer educators increased condom use significantly more than did those in the individual intervention. Individual intervention participants, however, showed significantly greater improvements than did network members with respect to reductions in sexual risk behaviors. Conclusions. Social network interventions may be more effective than individually based interventions in changing injection risk behaviors among both peer educators and network members. The effectiveness of network interventions in changing sexual risk behaviors is less clear, probably owing to network composition and inhibitions regarding discussing sexual risk behaviors. PMID:20395584

Controlling user access to electronic resources without password

DOEpatents

Smith, Fred Hewitt

2017-08-22

Described herein are devices and techniques for remotely controlling user access to a restricted computer resource. The process includes obtaining an image from a communication device of a user. An individual and a landmark are identified within the image. Determinations are made that the individual is the user and that the landmark is a predetermined landmark. Access to a restricted computing resource is granted based on the determining that the individual is the user and that the landmark is the predetermined landmark. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Parental cancer: Characteristics of users of child-centred counselling versus individual psycho-oncological treatment.

PubMed

Inhestern, Laura; Geertz, Wiebke; Schulz-Kindermann, Frank; Bergelt, Corinna

2018-03-01

The aims of this study were to investigate the characteristics of users of a specific child-centred counselling service (COSIP) and to compare those to parents using an individual psycho-oncological treatment (PO). We conducted a retrospective analysis on data of users of COSIP and users of PO. Database was the routine assessment (demographic and disease-related characteristics, GAD-7, PHQ-9, EORTC QLQ-C30, and current concerns) of an outpatient psycho-oncological clinic with additional child-centred counselling. A total of 151 patients and 49 partners with children ≤21 years were included. We conducted descriptive analyses and group comparisons. Fifty-nine patients and partners used COSIP only or additionally to individual psycho-oncological service. PO users were more depressed and were more anxious than COSIP users. Patients using PO reported worse emotional functioning than patients using COSIP. Partners using PO reported worse global quality of life and more symptoms of fatigue than partners using COSIP. With regard to current concerns, patients using COSIP reported child-related issues more frequently than PO users. PO users reported symptoms of anxiety, depressive symptoms, or exhaustion more frequently than COSIP users. The findings demonstrate that patients and partners self-referring to PO or COSIP are highly burdened. COSIP users experience different psychosocial burden than PO users. As poor mental state of parents is a risk factor for the development of mental problems in children, parents using only PO may benefit from additional child-centred support. Accordingly, the need for COSIP should be assessed continuously during PO of patients with children ≤21 years. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Microbiota fingerprints lose individually identifying features over time.

PubMed

Wilkins, David; Leung, Marcus H Y; Lee, Patrick K H

2017-01-09

Humans host individually unique skin microbiota, suggesting that microbiota traces transferred from skin to surfaces could serve as forensic markers analogous to fingerprints. While it is known that individuals leave identifiable microbiota traces on surfaces, it is not clear for how long these traces persist. Moreover, as skin and surface microbiota change with time, even persistent traces may lose their forensic potential as they would cease to resemble the microbiota of the person who left them. We followed skin and surface microbiota within households for four seasons to determine whether accurate microbiota-based matching of individuals to their households could be achieved across long time delays. While household surface microbiota traces could be matched to the correct occupant or occupants with 67% accuracy, accuracy decreased substantially when skin and surface samples were collected in different seasons, and particularly when surface samples were collected long after skin samples. Most OTUs persisted on skin or surfaces for less than one season, indicating that OTU loss was the major cause of decreased matching accuracy. OTUs that were more useful for individual identification persisted for less time and were less likely to be deposited from skin to surface, suggesting a trade-off between the longevity and identifying value of microbiota traces. While microbiota traces have potential forensic value, unlike fingerprints they are not static and may degrade in a way that preferentially erases features useful in identifying individuals.

Identifying Differences among Novice Database Users: Implications for Training Material Effectiveness.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Antonucci, Yvonne Lederer; Wozny, Lucy Anne

1996-01-01

Identifies and describes sublevels of novices using a database management package, clustering those whose interaction is effective, partially effective, and totally ineffective. Among assistance documentation, functional tree diagrams (FTDs) were more beneficial to partially effective users than traditional reference material. The results have…

User Centered Reading Intervention for Individuals with Autism and Intellectual Disability.

PubMed

Yakkundi, Anita; Dillenburger, Karola; Goodman, Lizbeth; Dounavi, Katerina

2017-01-01

Individuals with autism and intellectual disability (ID) have complex learning needs and often have difficulty in acquiring reading comprehension skills using conventional teaching tools. Evidence based reading interventions for these learners and the use of assistive technology and application of behaviour analysis to develop user-centered teaching is discussed in this paper.

Experiences of marijuana-vaporizer users.

PubMed

Malouff, John M; Rooke, Sally E; Copeland, Jan

2014-01-01

Using a marijuana vaporizer may have potential harm-reduction advantages on smoking marijuana, in that the user does not inhale smoke. Little research has been published on use of vaporizers. In the first study of individuals using a vaporizer on their own initiative, 96 adults anonymously answered questions about their experiences with a vaporizer and their use of marijuana with tobacco. Users identified 4 advantages to using a vaporizer over smoking marijuana: perceived health benefits, better taste, no smoke smell, and more effect from the same amount of marijuana. Users identified 2 disadvantages: inconvenience of setup and cleaning and the time it takes to get the device operating for each use. Only 2 individuals combined tobacco in the vaporizer mix, whereas 15 combined tobacco with marijuana when they smoked marijuana. Almost all participants intended to continue using a vaporizer. Vaporizers seem to have appeal to marijuana users, who perceive them as having harm-reduction and other benefits. Vaporizers are worthy of experimental research evaluating health-related effects of using them.

Identifying users of traditional and Internet-based resources for meal ideas: An association rule learning approach.

PubMed

Doub, Allison E; Small, Meg L; Levin, Aron; LeVangie, Kristie; Brick, Timothy R

2016-08-01

Increasing home cooking while decreasing the consumption of food prepared away from home is a commonly recommended weight management strategy, however research on where individuals obtain ideas about meals to cook at home is limited. This study examined the characteristics of individuals who reported using traditional and Internet-based resources for meal ideas. 583 participants who were ≥50% responsible for household meal planning were recruited to approximate the 2014 United States Census distribution on sex, age, race/ethnicity, and household income. Participants reported demographic characteristics, home cooking frequency, and their use of 4 traditional resources for meal ideas (e.g., cookbooks), and 7 Internet-based resources for meal ideas (e.g., Pinterest) in an online survey. Independent samples t-tests compared home cooking frequency by resource use. Association rule learning identified those demographic characteristics that were significantly associated with resource use. Family and friends (71%), food community websites (45%), and cookbooks (41%) were the most common resources reported. Cookbook users reported preparing more meals at home per week (M = 9.65, SD = 5.28) compared to non-cookbook users (M = 8.11, SD = 4.93; t = -3.55, p < 0.001). Resource use was generally higher among parents and varied systematically with demographic characteristics. Findings suggest that home cooking interventions may benefit by modifying resources used by their target population. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hormonal contraception and HIV acquisition risk: implications for individual users and public policies.

PubMed

Jain, Anrudh K

2012-12-01

A recent observational study among HIV-1 serodiscordant couples (uninfected women living with an infected partner) raised concerns about the safety of injectable contraceptives, especially depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA). The purpose of this paper is to assess the implications of potentially elevated risk of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) acquisition with the use of hormonal contraceptives for individual users and public policies. Two indicators expressing costs (additional unwanted births and additional maternal deaths) in terms of the same unit of benefit (per 100 HIV infections averted) are estimated by using data on competing risks of unwanted birth and HIV acquisition associated with the use of various contraceptive methods. Elevated HIV acquisition risks associated with hormonal contraception observed in the observational studies of family planning users, sex workers and HIV-1 serodiscordant couples are used. Other relevant data for Kenya, South Africa and Zimbabwe are used to illustrate the potential effect of withdrawal of DMPA at the population level. Both the risks of unwanted birth and HIV acquisition with sterilization, intrauterine devices (IUDs) and implants at the individual level are lower than those with DMPA. A shift from DMPA to an oral contraceptive (OC) or male condom by an individual could result in about 600 and a shift to no method in about 5400 additional unwanted births per 100 HIV infections averted. At the population level, the withdrawal of DMPA from Kenya, for example, could result in 7600 annual additional unwanted births and 40 annual additional maternal deaths per 100 HIV infections averted. Individual DMPA users may be advised to shift to sterilization, IUD or implant depending upon their reproductive needs and circumstances, but not to no method, OC or even condom alone. At the macro level, the decision to withdraw DMPA from family planning programs in sub-Saharan Africa is not warranted. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier

Information About Users and Usages: A Literature Review.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hensley, Susan E.; Nelson, Carnot

Identified in this study are the factors which affect the user's capacity to seek out and utilize information, and the factors which serve as obstacles to information use. Factors relating to both organizational and individual use include level of use, user skills, and user motivation; differentiation of level of use is presented in three levels:…

Identifying influential user communities on the social network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hu, Weishu; Gong, Zhiguo; Hou U, Leong; Guo, Jingzhi

2015-10-01

Nowadays social network services have been popularly used in electronic commerce systems. Users on the social network can develop different relationships based on their common interests and activities. In order to promote the business, it is interesting to explore hidden relationships among users developed on the social network. Such knowledge can be used to locate target users for different advertisements and to provide effective product recommendations. In this paper, we define and study a novel community detection problem that is to discover the hidden community structure in large social networks based on their common interests. We observe that the users typically pay more attention to those users who share similar interests, which enable a way to partition the users into different communities according to their common interests. We propose two algorithms to detect influential communities using common interests in large social networks efficiently and effectively. We conduct our experimental evaluation using a data set from Epinions, which demonstrates that our method achieves 4-11.8% accuracy improvement over the state-of-the-art method.

49 CFR 1007.4 - Procedures for identifying the individual making the request.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 49 Transportation 8 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Procedures for identifying the individual making the request. 1007.4 Section 1007.4 Transportation Other Regulations Relating to Transportation... CONTAINING INFORMATION ABOUT INDIVIDUALS § 1007.4 Procedures for identifying the individual making the...

iBoard/CDX User Guide for Nonfederal Individuals and Company/Organization Points of Contact

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This user guide describes the process that individuals or company/organization points of contact (POCs) must follow to submit non-EPA personnel data through the EPA’s Central Data Exchange (CDX) iBoard application for review and approval.

Optimizing the User Experience: Identifying Opportunities to Improve Use of an Inpatient Portal.

PubMed

Walker, Daniel M; Menser, Terri; Yen, Po-Yin; McAlearney, Ann Scheck

2018-01-01

Patient portals specifically designed for the inpatient setting have significant potential to improve patient care. However, little is known about how the users of this technology, the patients, may interact with the inpatient portals. As a result, hospitals have limited ability to design approaches that support patient use of the portal. This study aims to evaluate the user experience associated with an inpatient portal. We used a Think-Aloud protocol to study user interactions with a commercially available inpatient portal-MyChart Bedside (MCB). Study participants included 19 English-speaking adults over the age of 18 years. In one-on-one sessions, participants narrated their experience using the MCB application and completing eight specific tasks. Recordings were transcribed and coded into three dimensions of the user experience: physical, cognitive, and sociobehavioral. Our analysis of the physical experience highlighted the navigational errors and technical challenges associated with the use of MCB. We also found that issues associated with the cognitive experience included comprehension problems that spurred anxiety and uncertainty. Analysis of the sociobehavioral experience suggested that users have different learning styles and preferences for learning including self-guided, handouts, and in-person training. Inpatient portals may be an effective tool to improve the patient experience in the hospital. Moreover, making this technology available to inpatients may help to foster ongoing use of technology across the care continuum. However, deriving the benefits from the technology requires appropriate support. We identified multiple opportunities for hospital management to intervene. In particular, teaching patients to use the application by making a variety of instructional materials available could help to reduce several identified barriers to use. Additionally, hospitals should be prepared to manage patient anxiety and increased questioning arising from the

Health e-mavens: identifying active online health information users.

PubMed

Sun, Ye; Liu, Miao; Krakow, Melinda

2016-10-01

Given the rapid increase of Internet use for effective health communication, it is important for health practitioners to be able to identify and mobilize active users of online health information across various web-based health intervention programmes. We propose the concept 'health e-mavens' to characterize individuals actively engaged in online health information seeking and sharing activities. This study aimed to address three goals: (i) to test the factor structure of health e-mavenism, (ii) to assess the reliability and validity of this construct and (iii) to determine what predictors are associated with health e-mavenism. This study was a secondary analysis of nationally representative data from the 2010 Health Tracking Survey. We assessed the factor structure of health e-mavenism using confirmatory factor analysis and examined socio-demographic variables, health-related factors and use of technology as potential predictors of health e-mavenism through ordered regression analysis. Confirmatory factor analyses showed that a second-order two-factor structure best captured the health e-maven construct. Health e-mavenism comprised two second-order factors, each encompassing two first-order dimensions: information acquisition (consisting of information tracking and consulting) and information transmission (consisting of information posting and sharing). Both first-order and second-order factors exhibited good reliabilities. Several factors were found to be significant predictors of health e-mavenism. This study offers a starting point for further inquiries about health e-mavens. It is a fruitful construct for health promotion research in the age of new media technologies. We conclude with specific recommendations to further develop the health e-maven concept through continued empirical research. © 2015 The Authors. Health Expectations. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Individual, network, and neighborhood correlates of exchange sex among female non-injection drug users in Baltimore, MD (2005–2007)

PubMed Central

Rudolph, Abby E; Linton, Sabriya; Dyer, Typhanye Penniman; Latkin, Carl

2012-01-01

The “HIV risk environment” has been characterized as a dynamic interplay between structural and network factors. However, most HIV prevention research has not examined the independent and combined impact of network and structural factors. We aimed to identify individual, network, and neighborhood correlates of exchange sex (≥1 exchange sex partner, past 90 days) among female non-injection drug users (NIDUs). We used baseline data from 417 NIDUs enrolled in a randomized HIV prevention trial in Baltimore (2005–2007). Surveys ascertained demographic variables, drug/sex risk behaviors, neighborhood perceptions, and social/sexual network characteristics. Correlates of exchange sex were identified with descriptive statistics and log-binomial regression. Our findings suggest that sex and drug relationships among female NIDUs are interlinked and may be difficult to modify without altering social norms. Strengthening ties that provide social support but not drug support and reducing ties that provide both drug and social support may facilitate reductions in individual-level HIV-risk behaviors. PMID:22983502

Finding Influential Users in Social Media Using Association Rule Learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Erlandsson, Fredrik; Bródka, Piotr; Borg, Anton; Johnson, Henric

2016-04-01

Influential users play an important role in online social networks since users tend to have an impact on one other. Therefore, the proposed work analyzes users and their behavior in order to identify influential users and predict user participation. Normally, the success of a social media site is dependent on the activity level of the participating users. For both online social networking sites and individual users, it is of interest to find out if a topic will be interesting or not. In this article, we propose association learning to detect relationships between users. In order to verify the findings, several experiments were executed based on social network analysis, in which the most influential users identified from association rule learning were compared to the results from Degree Centrality and Page Rank Centrality. The results clearly indicate that it is possible to identify the most influential users using association rule learning. In addition, the results also indicate a lower execution time compared to state-of-the-art methods.

Challenging stigma and discrimination in communities: a focus group study identifying UK mental health service users' main campaign priorities.

PubMed

Pinfold, Vanessa; Byrne, Peter; Toulmin, Hilary

2005-06-01

Stigma and discrimination experienced by people with mental health problems have been identified as major obstacles to treatment and recovery. Less is known about how to effectively tackle stigma-discrimination, although there are numerous international, national and local programmes attempting to improve public mental health literacy and anti-discrimination evidenced based practice. To explore mental health service users' views on how campaigns to address stigma and discrimination should prioritise their actions. Qualitative study using focus group discussions, involving 33 persons aged between 25 and 75. A triad of diminished credibility, dis-empowerment with particular reference to communication problems and avoidance by their social network defined experiences of stigma. Reactions to stigma can be placed in four categories: avoid stigma, resign yourself to it, challenge it, or distance yourself from others with a mental health problem. A range of solutions was discussed with most favouring changes within the health services that are currently supporting them over traditional educational programmes with the public. For mental health service users stigma must be tackled on many different levels reflecting the varied and complex impact that negative social reactions have on an individual's life. When asked to prioritise one area, most service users in our sample highlighted reforms within the health service for tackling stigma and discrimination.

National Environmental Data Referral Service (NEDRES) User Survey. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

MAXIMA Corp., Silver Spring, MD.

A survey was conducted to assess environmental data users' interest in a referral system such as the National Environmental Data Referral Service (NEDRES) and to gauge user willingness to participate in a proposed NEDRES network and to comply with a system of NEDRES user fees. Twenty-one organizations were identified and 3,200 individuals were…

Service user involvement in cancer care: the impact on service users

PubMed Central

Cotterell, Phil; Harlow, Gwen; Morris, Carolyn; Beresford, Peter; Hanley, Bec; Sargeant, Anita; Sitzia, John; Staley, Kristina

2011-01-01

Abstract Background  Service user involvement is embedded in the United Kingdom’s National Health Service, but knowledge about the impact of involvement on service users, such as the benefits and challenges of involvement, is scant. Our research addresses this gap. Objective  To explore the personal impact of involvement on the lives of service users affected by cancer. Design  We conducted eight focus groups with user groups supplemented by nine face‐to‐face interviews with involved individuals active at a local, regional and national level. Thematic analysis was conducted both independently and collectively. Setting and participants  Sixty‐four participants, engaged in involvement activities in cancer services, palliative care and research, were recruited across Great Britain. Results  We identified three main themes: (i) ‘Expectations and motivations for involvement’– the desire to improve services and the need for user groups to have a clear purpose, (ii) ‘Positive aspects of involvement’– support provided by user groups and assistance to live well with cancer and (iii) ‘Challenging aspects of involvement’– insensitivities and undervaluing of involvement by staff. Conclusions  This study identified that involvement has the capacity to produce varied and significant personal impacts for involved people. Involvement can be planned and implemented in ways that increase these impacts and that mediates challenges for those involved. Key aspects to increase positive impact for service users include the value service providers attach to involvement activities, the centrality with which involvement is embedded in providers’ activities, and the capacity of involvement to influence policy, planning, service delivery, research and/or practice. PMID:21029279

The Allure of Privacy or the Desire for Self-Expression? Identifying Users' Gratifications for Ephemeral, Photograph-Based Communication.

PubMed

Waddell, T Franklin

2016-07-01

Temporary messaging programs continue to rise in popularity, due in large part to the perceived privacy that they afford. However, recent controversies have revealed that messages shared on ephemeral messaging services are persistent and potentially retrieval, thus undermining the privacy they are assumed to provide. Given this paradox, why are temporary messaging services so popular? Does the allure of privacy still motivate the use of temporary messaging programs? Or, if privacy is no longer afforded by ephemeral messaging, what other psychological gratifications do these applications fulfill that might account for their continued use? Informed by the Modality-Agency-Interactivity-Navigability (MAIN) model and the uses and gratifications tradition, the current study conducted qualitative interviews to identify the gratifications that individuals derive from the popular ephemeral messaging application, Snapchat. Study results show that the visual affordances of ephemeral messaging have legitimized photographic communication, providing self-expression and relational gratifications that are unfulfilled by text-based applications. By comparison, users report low levels of trust in the privacy affordances of ephemeral messaging, and instead projecting negative effects of temporary messaging on other users rather than self. Theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.

Using Peer-Referral Chains with Incentives to Promote HIV Testing and Identify Undiagnosed HIV Infections Among Crack Users in San Salvador

PubMed Central

Glasman, Laura R.; Dickson-Gomez, Julia; Lechuga, Julia; Tarima, Sergey; Bodnar, Gloria; de Mendoza, Lorena Rivas

2016-01-01

In El Salvador, crack users are at high risk for HIV but they are not targeted by efforts to promote early HIV diagnosis. We evaluated the promise of peer-referral chains with incentives to increase HIV testing and identify undiagnosed HIV infections among networks of crack users in San Salvador. For 14 months, we offered HIV testing in communities with a high prevalence of crack use. For the following 14 months, we promoted chains in which crack users from these communities referred their peers to HIV testing and received a small monetary incentive. We recorded the monthly numbers of HIV testers, and their crack use, sexual risk behaviors and test results. After launching the referral chains, the monthly numbers of HIV testers increased significantly (Z = 6.90, p < .001) and decayed more slowly (Z = 5.93, p < .001), and the total number of crack-using testers increased nearly fourfold. Testers in the peer-referral period reported fewer HIV risk behaviors, but a similar percentage (~5 %) tested HIV positive in both periods. More women than men received an HIV-positive diagnosis throughout the study (χ2(1, N = 799) = 4.23, p = .040). Peer-referral chains with incentives can potentially increase HIV testing among networks of crack users while retaining a focus on high-risk individuals. PMID:26687093

Using Peer-Referral Chains with Incentives to Promote HIV Testing and Identify Undiagnosed HIV Infections Among Crack Users in San Salvador.

PubMed

Glasman, Laura R; Dickson-Gomez, Julia; Lechuga, Julia; Tarima, Sergey; Bodnar, Gloria; de Mendoza, Lorena Rivas

2016-06-01

In El Salvador, crack users are at high risk for HIV but they are not targeted by efforts to promote early HIV diagnosis. We evaluated the promise of peer-referral chains with incentives to increase HIV testing and identify undiagnosed HIV infections among networks of crack users in San Salvador. For 14 months, we offered HIV testing in communities with a high prevalence of crack use. For the following 14 months, we promoted chains in which crack users from these communities referred their peers to HIV testing and received a small monetary incentive. We recorded the monthly numbers of HIV testers, and their crack use, sexual risk behaviors and test results. After launching the referral chains, the monthly numbers of HIV testers increased significantly (Z = 6.90, p < .001) and decayed more slowly (Z = 5.93, p < .001), and the total number of crack-using testers increased nearly fourfold. Testers in the peer-referral period reported fewer HIV risk behaviors, but a similar percentage (~5 %) tested HIV positive in both periods. More women than men received an HIV-positive diagnosis throughout the study (χ(2)(1, N = 799) = 4.23, p = .040). Peer-referral chains with incentives can potentially increase HIV testing among networks of crack users while retaining a focus on high-risk individuals.

Processing dynamic facial affect in frequent cannabis-users: evidence of deficits in the speed of identifying emotional expressions.

PubMed

Platt, Bradley; Kamboj, Sunjeev; Morgan, Celia J A; Curran, H Valerie

2010-11-01

While heavy cannabis-users seem to show various cognitive impairments, it remains unclear whether they also experience significant deficits in affective functioning. Evidence of such deficits may contribute to our understanding of the interpersonal difficulties in cannabis-users, and the link between cannabis-use and psychological disorders (Moore et al., 2007). Emotion recognition performance of heavy cannabis-users and non-using controls was compared. A measure of emotion recognition was used in which participants identified facial expressions as they changed from neutral (open-mouth) to gradually more intense expressions of sadness, neutral, anger or happiness (open or closed mouth). Reaction times and accuracy were recorded as the facial expressions changed. Participants also completed measures of 'theory of mind,' depression and impulsivity. Cannabis-users were significantly slower than controls at identifying all three emotional expressions. There was no difference between groups in identifying facial expressions changing from open-mouth neutral expressions to closed-mouth neutral expressions suggesting that differences in emotion recognition were not due to a general slowing of reaction times. Cannabis-users were also significantly more liberal in their response criterion for recognising sadness. Heavy cannabis-use may be associated with affect recognition deficits. In particular, a greater intensity of emotion expression was required before identification of positive and negative emotions. This was found using stimuli which simulated dynamic changes in emotion expression, and in turn, suggests that cannabis-users may experience generalised problems in decoding basic emotions during social interactions. The implications of these findings are discussed for vulnerability to psychological and interpersonal difficulties in cannabis-users. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Identifying Problematic Internet Users: Development and Validation of the Internet Motive Questionnaire for Adolescents (IMQ-A)

PubMed Central

Bischof-Kastner, Christina; Kuntsche, Emmanuel

2014-01-01

Background Internationally, up to 15.1% of intensive Internet use among adolescents is dysfunctional. To provide a basis for early intervention and preventive measures, understanding the motives behind intensive Internet use is important. Objective This study aims to develop a questionnaire, the Internet Motive Questionnaire for Adolescents (IMQ-A), as a theory-based measurement for identifying the underlying motives for high-risk Internet use. More precisely, the aim was to confirm the 4-factor structure (ie, social, enhancement, coping, and conformity motives) as well as its construct and concurrent validity. Another aim was to identify the motivational differences between high-risk and low-risk Internet users. Methods A sample of 101 German adolescents (female: 52.5%, 53/101; age: mean 15.9, SD 1.3 years) was recruited. High-risk users (n=47) and low-risk users (n=54) were identified based on a screening measure for online addiction behavior in children and adolescents (Online-Suchtverhalten-Skala, OSVK-S). Here, “high-risk” Internet use means use that exceeds the level of intensive Internet use (OSVK-S sum score ≥7). Results The confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the IMQ-A’s 4-factor structure. A reliability analysis revealed good internal consistencies of the subscales (.71 up to .86). Moreover, regression analyses confirmed that the enhancement and coping motive groups significantly predicted high-risk Internet consumption and the OSVK-S sum score. A mixed-model ANOVA confirmed that adolescents mainly access the Internet for social motives, followed by enhancement and coping motives, and that high-risk users access the Internet more frequently for coping and enhancement motives than low-risk users. Low-risk users were primarily motivated socially. Conclusions The IMQ-A enables the assessment of motives related to adolescent Internet use and thus the identification of populations at risk. The questionnaire enables the development of preventive

Identifying problematic Internet users: development and validation of the Internet Motive Questionnaire for Adolescents (IMQ-A).

PubMed

Bischof-Kastner, Christina; Kuntsche, Emmanuel; Wolstein, Jörg

2014-10-09

Internationally, up to 15.1% of intensive Internet use among adolescents is dysfunctional. To provide a basis for early intervention and preventive measures, understanding the motives behind intensive Internet use is important. This study aims to develop a questionnaire, the Internet Motive Questionnaire for Adolescents (IMQ-A), as a theory-based measurement for identifying the underlying motives for high-risk Internet use. More precisely, the aim was to confirm the 4-factor structure (ie, social, enhancement, coping, and conformity motives) as well as its construct and concurrent validity. Another aim was to identify the motivational differences between high-risk and low-risk Internet users. A sample of 101 German adolescents (female: 52.5%, 53/101; age: mean 15.9, SD 1.3 years) was recruited. High-risk users (n=47) and low-risk users (n=54) were identified based on a screening measure for online addiction behavior in children and adolescents (Online-Suchtverhalten-Skala, OSVK-S). Here, "high-risk" Internet use means use that exceeds the level of intensive Internet use (OSVK-S sum score ≥7). The confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the IMQ-A's 4-factor structure. A reliability analysis revealed good internal consistencies of the subscales (.71 up to .86). Moreover, regression analyses confirmed that the enhancement and coping motive groups significantly predicted high-risk Internet consumption and the OSVK-S sum score. A mixed-model ANOVA confirmed that adolescents mainly access the Internet for social motives, followed by enhancement and coping motives, and that high-risk users access the Internet more frequently for coping and enhancement motives than low-risk users. Low-risk users were primarily motivated socially. The IMQ-A enables the assessment of motives related to adolescent Internet use and thus the identification of populations at risk. The questionnaire enables the development of preventive measures or early intervention programs, especially dealing

Identifying physical activity type in manual wheelchair users with spinal cord injury by means of accelerometers.

PubMed

García-Massó, X; Serra-Añó, P; Gonzalez, L M; Ye-Lin, Y; Prats-Boluda, G; Garcia-Casado, J

2015-10-01

This was a cross-sectional study. The main objective of this study was to develop and test classification algorithms based on machine learning using accelerometers to identify the activity type performed by manual wheelchair users with spinal cord injury (SCI). The study was conducted in the Physical Therapy department and the Physical Education and Sports department of the University of Valencia. A total of 20 volunteers were asked to perform 10 physical activities, lying down, body transfers, moving items, mopping, working on a computer, watching TV, arm-ergometer exercises, passive propulsion, slow propulsion and fast propulsion, while fitted with four accelerometers placed on both wrists, chest and waist. The activities were grouped into five categories: sedentary, locomotion, housework, body transfers and moderate physical activity. Different machine learning algorithms were used to develop individual and group activity classifiers from the acceleration data for different combinations of number and position of the accelerometers. We found that although the accuracy of the classifiers for individual activities was moderate (55-72%), with higher values for a greater number of accelerometers, grouped activities were correctly classified in a high percentage of cases (83.2-93.6%). With only two accelerometers and the quadratic discriminant analysis algorithm we achieved a reasonably accurate group activity recognition system (>90%). Such a system with the minimum of intervention would be a valuable tool for studying physical activity in individuals with SCI.

Experiences of User Involvement in Mental Health Settings: User Motivations and Benefits.

PubMed

Neech, Sophie G B; Scott, Helen; Priest, Helena M; Bradley, Eleanor J; Tweed, Alison E

2018-05-12

Despite guidance promoting user involvement, meaningful involvement continues to be debated within services. To effectively implement involvement, it is important to acknowledge why users devote time to such activities. This study explores user representatives' experiences of involvement, including motivations and personal benefits. Thirteen user representatives involved in activities such as staff training and interviews were recruited from a UK National Health Service mental health Trust during 2015. Themes within semi-structured interviews were developed using constructivist grounded theory analysis. Memo-writing, process and focused coding, and core categories supported development of the conceptual framework of being a user representative. Being a user representative was inextricably linked to wellness, yet staff governed opportunities. Making a difference to others and giving back were initial motivating factors. Experiences depended on feeling valued, and the theme of transition captured shifts in identity. User representatives reported increased confidence and wellbeing when supported by staff. However, involvement triggered mental health difficulties, and identified need for regular monitoring and reflection of involvement activities and practice. Services should consider coproduction, where users and staff agree together on involvement definitions. Dedicated involvement workers are crucial to supporting individual wellbeing and monitoring involvement. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

“High On My Own Supply”: Correlates of Drug Dealing among Heterosexually-identified Methamphetamine Users

PubMed Central

Semple, Shirley J.; Strathdee, Steffanie A.; Volkmann, Tyson; Zians, Jim; Patterson, Thomas L.

2011-01-01

Although rates of methamphetamine use continue to increase throughout the United States, little is known about the individuals who sell methamphetamine at the street level. This exploratory study examined the prevalence and correlates of drug-dealing behavior in a sample of 404 heterosexually-identified methamphetamine users who were participants in a sexual risk reduction intervention in San Diego, CA. Twenty-nine percent of participants (N = 116) reported “dealing” methamphetamine in the past two months. In a multivariate logistic regression, methamphetamine dealing was associated with being male (OR = 1.99; 95% CI 1.16 – 3.39), younger age (OR = 1.87 per year; 95% CI 1.10 – 3.17), more frequent use of methamphetamine (OR = 2.69; 95% CI 1.59 – 4.57), injecting methamphetamine (OR = 3.10; 95% CI 1.79 – 5.37), and higher hostility scores (OR = 1.07 per unit increase; 95% CI 1.01 – 1.13). These characteristics, particularly intensity of drug use and hostility, may be associated with greater resistance to drug treatment and lower success in treatment programs. PMID:21999496

Chemical cues identify gender and individuality in Giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca).

PubMed

Hagey, Lee; MacDonald, Edith

2003-06-01

The Giant panda communicates with conspecifics by depositing a mixture of volatile compounds (called scent marks) on trees and rocks. Using mass spectrometry, we identified 951 chemical components from scent glands, urine, vaginal secretions, and scent marks made by pandas. The scent marks of the two genders contained a similar array of chemicals but varied in concentration; specifically, males possessed a significantly greater amount of short chain fatty acids (F(1, 29) = 18.4, P = 0.002). Using stepwise discriminate analysis on the relative proportions of a subset of these chemicals, it was possible to classify gender (94% for males and females) and individuality (81% for males and 91% for females) from scent marks. The power to identify individual males was reduced due to the relatedness of two subjects. By cracking the identity code of Giant panda communication, we show insights into how these animals can match individuals with unique chemical profiles. Since radiocollaring is currently banned in China, the techniques described in this paper give field biologists a new means to identify and track pandas in the wild.

Real-Time Detection Method And System For Identifying Individual Aerosol Particles

DOEpatents

Gard, Eric Evan; Fergenson, David Philip

2005-10-25

A method and system of identifying individual aerosol particles in real time. Sample aerosol particles are compared against and identified with substantially matching known particle types by producing positive and negative test spectra of an individual aerosol particle using a bipolar single particle mass spectrometer. Each test spectrum is compared to spectra of the same respective polarity in a database of predetermined positive and negative spectra for known particle types and a set of substantially matching spectra is obtained. Finally the identity of the individual aerosol particle is determined from the set of substantially matching spectra by determining a best matching one of the known particle types having both a substantially matching positive spectrum and a substantially matching negative spectrum associated with the best matching known particle type.

Identifying functional reorganization of spelling networks: an individual peak probability comparison approach

PubMed Central

Purcell, Jeremy J.; Rapp, Brenda

2013-01-01

Previous research has shown that damage to the neural substrates of orthographic processing can lead to functional reorganization during reading (Tsapkini et al., 2011); in this research we ask if the same is true for spelling. To examine the functional reorganization of spelling networks we present a novel three-stage Individual Peak Probability Comparison (IPPC) analysis approach for comparing the activation patterns obtained during fMRI of spelling in a single brain-damaged individual with dysgraphia to those obtained in a set of non-impaired control participants. The first analysis stage characterizes the convergence in activations across non-impaired control participants by applying a technique typically used for characterizing activations across studies: Activation Likelihood Estimate (ALE) (Turkeltaub et al., 2002). This method was used to identify locations that have a high likelihood of yielding activation peaks in the non-impaired participants. The second stage provides a characterization of the degree to which the brain-damaged individual's activations correspond to the group pattern identified in Stage 1. This involves performing a Mahalanobis distance statistics analysis (Tsapkini et al., 2011) that compares each of a control group's peak activation locations to the nearest peak generated by the brain-damaged individual. The third stage evaluates the extent to which the brain-damaged individual's peaks are atypical relative to the range of individual variation among the control participants. This IPPC analysis allows for a quantifiable, statistically sound method for comparing an individual's activation pattern to the patterns observed in a control group and, thus, provides a valuable tool for identifying functional reorganization in a brain-damaged individual with impaired spelling. Furthermore, this approach can be applied more generally to compare any individual's activation pattern with that of a set of other individuals. PMID:24399981

Exploring User Acceptance of FOSS: The Role of the Age of the Users

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gallego, M. Dolores; Bueno, Salvador

Free and open source software (FOSS) movement essentially arises like answer to the evolution occurred in the market from the software, characterized by the closing of the source code. Furthermore, some FOSS characteristics, such as (1) the advance of this movement and (2) the attractiveness that contributes the voluntary and cooperative work, have increased the interest of the users towards free software. Traditionally, research in FOSS has focused on identifying individual personal motives for participating in the development of a FOSS project, analyzing specific FOSS solutions, or the FOSS movement itself. Nevertheless, the advantages of the FOSS for users and the effect of the demographic dimensions on user acceptance for FOSS have been two research topics with little attention. Specifically, this paper's aim is to focus on the influence of the userś age with FOSS the FOSS acceptance. Based on the literature, userś age is an essential demographic dimension for explaining the Information Systems acceptance. With this purpose, the authors have developed a research model based on the Technological Acceptance Model (TAM).

Activities on Facebook reveal the depressive state of users.

PubMed

Park, Sungkyu; Lee, Sang Won; Kwak, Jinah; Cha, Meeyoung; Jeong, Bumseok

2013-10-01

As online social media have become prominent, much effort has been spent on identifying users with depressive symptoms in order to aim at early diagnosis, treatment, and even prevention by using various online social media. In this paper, we focused on Facebook to discern any correlations between the platform's features and users' depressive symptoms. This work may be helpful in trying to reach and detect large numbers of depressed individuals more easily. Our goal was to develop a Web application and identify depressive symptom-related features from users of Facebook, a popular social networking platform. 55 Facebook users (male=40, female=15, mean age 24.43, SD 3.90) were recruited through advertisement fliers distributed to students in a large university in Korea. Using EmotionDiary, the Facebook application we developed, we evaluated depressive symptoms using the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression (CES-D) scale. We also provided tips and facts about depression to participants and measured their responses using EmotionDiary. To identify the Facebook features related to depression, correlation analyses were performed between CES-D and participants' responses to tips and facts or Facebook social features. Last, we interviewed depressed participants (CES-D≥25) to assess their depressive symptoms by a psychiatrist. Facebook activities had predictive power in distinguishing depressed and nondepressed individuals. Participants' response to tips and facts, which can be explained by the number of app tips viewed and app points, had a positive correlation (P=.04 for both cases), whereas the number of friends and location tags had a negative correlation with the CES-D scale (P=.08 and P=.045 respectively). Furthermore, in finding group differences in Facebook social activities, app tips viewed and app points resulted in significant differences (P=.01 and P=.03 respectively) between probably depressed and nondepressed individuals. Our results using Emotion

Identifying Service Delivery Strategies for Ethnically Diverse Users of a Wildland-Urban Recreation Site

Treesearch

John M. Baas

1992-01-01

Service delivery has become an increasingly important part of managing public lands for recreation. The range of preferences held by ethnically diverse users of recreation sites may warrant the development of more than one service delivery strategy. Two questions were examined: (1) Are there differences in site perceptions that can be identified on the basis on...

Functional connectome fingerprinting: identifying individuals using patterns of brain connectivity.

PubMed

Finn, Emily S; Shen, Xilin; Scheinost, Dustin; Rosenberg, Monica D; Huang, Jessica; Chun, Marvin M; Papademetris, Xenophon; Constable, R Todd

2015-11-01

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies typically collapse data from many subjects, but brain functional organization varies between individuals. Here we establish that this individual variability is both robust and reliable, using data from the Human Connectome Project to demonstrate that functional connectivity profiles act as a 'fingerprint' that can accurately identify subjects from a large group. Identification was successful across scan sessions and even between task and rest conditions, indicating that an individual's connectivity profile is intrinsic, and can be used to distinguish that individual regardless of how the brain is engaged during imaging. Characteristic connectivity patterns were distributed throughout the brain, but the frontoparietal network emerged as most distinctive. Furthermore, we show that connectivity profiles predict levels of fluid intelligence: the same networks that were most discriminating of individuals were also most predictive of cognitive behavior. Results indicate the potential to draw inferences about single subjects on the basis of functional connectivity fMRI.

Individual and Environmental Correlates to Quality of Life in Park Users in Colombia

PubMed Central

Camargo, Diana Marina

2017-01-01

Purpose: To explore individual and environmental correlates to quality of life (QoL) in park users in Colombia. Methods: A cross-sectional study with face-to-face interviews was conducted with 1392 park users from ten parks in Colombia. The survey included sociodemographic questions, health condition assessed with EuroQuol-5-Dimensions-5-Levels; in addition, questions about accessibility to the parks and perceptions about quality of infrastructure and green areas were asked. The Spanish version of the questionnaire EUROHIS-QOL-8 items was applied to assess QoL. Log-binomial regression models were applied for analyses. Results: Years of schooling, visits to the park with a companion, active use of the park, a maximum score for quality of trees and walking paths, and the perception of safety on the way to the park were positively associated with a better QoL (p < 0.05). Health conditions related to problems in the ability to perform activities of daily living and anxiety/depression showed negative associations. Conclusions: The present study contributes to the Latin American studies by providing information on how parks in an intermediate city may contribute to increased QoL of park users through safety in neighborhoods, social support, active use, and aesthetics, cleanliness, and care of green areas. PMID:29048373

Measuring individual work performance: identifying and selecting indicators.

PubMed

Koopmans, Linda; Bernaards, Claire M; Hildebrandt, Vincent H; de Vet, Henrica C W; van der Beek, Allard J

2014-01-01

Theoretically, individual work performance (IWP) can be divided into four dimensions: task performance, contextual performance, adaptive performance, and counterproductive work behavior. However, there is no consensus on the indicators used to measure these dimensions. This study was designed to (1) identify indicators for each dimension, (2) select the most relevant indicators, and (3) determine the relative weight of each dimension in ratings of work performance. IWP indicators were identified from multiple research disciplines, via literature, existing questionnaires, and expert interviews. Subsequently, experts selected the most relevant indicators per dimension and scored the relative weight of each dimension in ratings of IWP. In total, 128 unique indicators were identified. Twenty-three of these indicators were selected by experts as most relevant for measuring IWP. Task performance determined 36% of the work performance rating, while the other three dimensions respectively determined 22%, 20% and 21% of the rating. Notable consensus was found on relevant indicators of IWP, reducing the number from 128 to 23 relevant indicators. This provides an important step towards the development of a standardized, generic and short measurement instrument for assessing IWP.

Internet Video Telephony Allows Speech Reading by Deaf Individuals and Improves Speech Perception by Cochlear Implant Users

PubMed Central

Mantokoudis, Georgios; Dähler, Claudia; Dubach, Patrick; Kompis, Martin; Caversaccio, Marco D.; Senn, Pascal

2013-01-01

Objective To analyze speech reading through Internet video calls by profoundly hearing-impaired individuals and cochlear implant (CI) users. Methods Speech reading skills of 14 deaf adults and 21 CI users were assessed using the Hochmair Schulz Moser (HSM) sentence test. We presented video simulations using different video resolutions (1280×720, 640×480, 320×240, 160×120 px), frame rates (30, 20, 10, 7, 5 frames per second (fps)), speech velocities (three different speakers), webcameras (Logitech Pro9000, C600 and C500) and image/sound delays (0–500 ms). All video simulations were presented with and without sound and in two screen sizes. Additionally, scores for live Skype™ video connection and live face-to-face communication were assessed. Results Higher frame rate (>7 fps), higher camera resolution (>640×480 px) and shorter picture/sound delay (<100 ms) were associated with increased speech perception scores. Scores were strongly dependent on the speaker but were not influenced by physical properties of the camera optics or the full screen mode. There is a significant median gain of +8.5%pts (p = 0.009) in speech perception for all 21 CI-users if visual cues are additionally shown. CI users with poor open set speech perception scores (n = 11) showed the greatest benefit under combined audio-visual presentation (median speech perception +11.8%pts, p = 0.032). Conclusion Webcameras have the potential to improve telecommunication of hearing-impaired individuals. PMID:23359119

Internet video telephony allows speech reading by deaf individuals and improves speech perception by cochlear implant users.

PubMed

Mantokoudis, Georgios; Dähler, Claudia; Dubach, Patrick; Kompis, Martin; Caversaccio, Marco D; Senn, Pascal

2013-01-01

To analyze speech reading through Internet video calls by profoundly hearing-impaired individuals and cochlear implant (CI) users. Speech reading skills of 14 deaf adults and 21 CI users were assessed using the Hochmair Schulz Moser (HSM) sentence test. We presented video simulations using different video resolutions (1280 × 720, 640 × 480, 320 × 240, 160 × 120 px), frame rates (30, 20, 10, 7, 5 frames per second (fps)), speech velocities (three different speakers), webcameras (Logitech Pro9000, C600 and C500) and image/sound delays (0-500 ms). All video simulations were presented with and without sound and in two screen sizes. Additionally, scores for live Skype™ video connection and live face-to-face communication were assessed. Higher frame rate (>7 fps), higher camera resolution (>640 × 480 px) and shorter picture/sound delay (<100 ms) were associated with increased speech perception scores. Scores were strongly dependent on the speaker but were not influenced by physical properties of the camera optics or the full screen mode. There is a significant median gain of +8.5%pts (p = 0.009) in speech perception for all 21 CI-users if visual cues are additionally shown. CI users with poor open set speech perception scores (n = 11) showed the greatest benefit under combined audio-visual presentation (median speech perception +11.8%pts, p = 0.032). Webcameras have the potential to improve telecommunication of hearing-impaired individuals.

Workplace-Based Assessment: A Review of User Perceptions and Strategies to Address the Identified Shortcomings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Massie, Jonathan; Ali, Jason M.

2016-01-01

Workplace based assessments (WBAs) are now commonplace in postgraduate medical training. User acceptability and engagement is essential to the success of any medical education innovation. To this end, possessing an insight into trainee and trainer perceptions towards WBAs will help identify the major problems, permitting strategies to be…

Per-service supervised learning for identifying desired WoT apps from user requests in natural language.

PubMed

Yoon, Young

2017-01-01

Web of Things (WoT) platforms are growing fast so as the needs for composing WoT apps more easily and efficiently. We have recently commenced the campaign to develop an interface where users can issue requests for WoT apps entirely in natural language. This requires an effort to build a system that can learn to identify relevant WoT functions that fulfill user's requests. In our preceding work, we trained a supervised learning system with thousands of publicly-available IFTTT app recipes based on conditional random fields (CRF). However, the sub-par accuracy and excessive training time motivated us to devise a better approach. In this paper, we present a novel solution that creates a separate learning engine for each trigger service. With this approach, parallel and incremental learning becomes possible. For inference, our system first identifies the most relevant trigger service for a given user request by using an information retrieval technique. Then, the learning engine associated with the trigger service predicts the most likely pair of trigger and action functions. We expect that such two-phase inference method given parallel learning engines would improve the accuracy of identifying related WoT functions. We verify our new solution through the empirical evaluation with training and test sets sampled from a pool of refined IFTTT app recipes. We also meticulously analyze the characteristics of the recipes to find future research directions.

User-identified electronic cigarette behavioral strategies and device characteristics for cigarette smoking reduction.

PubMed

Soule, Eric K; Maloney, Sarah F; Guy, Mignonne C; Eissenberg, Thomas; Fagan, Pebbles

2018-04-01

There is limited evidence on how cigarette smokers use electronic cigarettes (ECIGs) for smoking cessation and reduction. This study used concept mapping, a participatory mixed-methods research approach, to identify ECIG use behaviors and device characteristics perceived to be associated with cigarette smoking cessation or reduction. Current ECIG users aged 18-64 were recruited from seven cities selected randomly from U.S. census tract regions. Participants were invited to complete concept mapping tasks: brainstorming, sorting and rating (n=72). During brainstorming, participants generated statements in response to a focus prompt ("A SPECIFIC WAY I HAVE USED electronic cigarettes to reduce my cigarette smoking or a SPECIFIC WAY electronic cigarettes help me reduce my cigarette smoking is…") and then sorted and rated the statements. Multidimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analyses were used to generate a cluster map that was interpreted by the research team. Eight thematic clusters were identified: Convenience, Perceived Health Effects, Ease of Use, Versatility and Variety, Advantages of ECIGs over Cigarettes, Cigarette Substitutability, Reducing Harms to Self and Others, and Social Benefits. Participants generated several statements that related to specific behavioral strategies used when using ECIGs for smoking reduction/complete switching behaviors such as making rapid transitions from smoking to ECIG use or using certain ECIG liquids or devices. Former smokers rated the Perceived Health Effects cluster and several behavioral strategy statements higher than current smokers. These results help to identify ECIG use behaviors and characteristics perceived by ECIG users to aid in cigarette smoking cessation or reduction. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Diabetes Disparity and Puerto Rican Identified Individuals.

PubMed

Johnson, Jalil A; Cavanagh, Stephen; Jacelon, Cynthia S; Chasan-Taber, Lisa

2017-04-01

Purpose The purpose of this systematic review was to describe what is known about the diabetes disparity affecting Puerto Rican identified adults living in the continental United States as well as illuminate areas that merit further investigation. Methods The CINAHL and PubMed databases were searched using the keywords Hispanic, Puerto Rican, and type 2 diabetes. Search limits included < 10-year-old, peer-reviewed, systematic reviews, available in the English language. The abstracts of 124 articles were reviewed, and 7 articles were reviewed in depth. Results The Puerto Rican identified Hispanic subgroup is disproportionately affected by diabetes-the diabetes disparity. Puerto Rican identified Hispanic adults are less affected by citizenship status, may be less affected by English proficiency, use health care services differently, and have contextually different fatalistic views of diabetes compared with other Hispanic identified people. Spiritual/religious influences, associated mental health problems, and general cultural practices related to diabetes self-care are understudied in this group. Conclusion Ambiguous use of the term Hispanic should be avoided when describing Hispanic subgroups. Stronger, more robust studies are needed to understand the unique cultural forces influencing the poor diabetes outcomes and individual behaviors that contribute to generally suboptimal diabetes self-care for Puerto Rican adults with type 2 diabetes.

Methods to identify, study and understand end-user participation in HIT development.

PubMed

Høstgaard, Anna Marie; Bertelsen, Pernille; Nøhr, Christian

2011-09-28

Experience has shown that for new health-information-technology (HIT) to be suc-cessful clinicians must obtain positive clinical benefits as a result of its implementation and joint-ownership of the decisions made during the development process. A prerequisite for achieving both success criteria is real end-user-participation. Experience has also shown that further research into developing improved methods to collect more detailed information on social groups participating in HIT development is needed in order to support, facilitate and improve real end-user participation. A case study of an EHR planning-process in a Danish county from October 2003 until April 2006 was conducted using process-analysis. Three social groups (physicians, IT-professionals and administrators) were identified and studied in the local, present perspective. In order to understand the interactions between the three groups, the national, historic perspective was included through a literature-study. Data were collected through observations, interviews, insight gathered from documents and relevant literature. In the local, present perspective, the administrator's strategy for the EHR planning process meant that there was no clinical workload-reduction. This was seen as one of the main barriers to the physicians to achieving real influence. In the national, historic perspective, physicians and administrators have had/have different perceptions of the purpose of the patient record and they have both struggled to influence this definition. To date, the administrators have won the battle. This explains the conditions made available for the physicians' participation in this case, which led to their role being reduced to that of clinical consultants--rather than real participants. In HIT-development the interests of and the balance of power between the different social groups involved are decisive in determining whether or not the end-users become real participants in the development process. Real

Identifying User Needs and the Participative Design Process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meiland, Franka; Dröes, Rose-Marie; Sävenstedt, Stefan; Bergvall-Kåreborn, Birgitta; Andersson, Anna-Lena

As the number of persons with dementia increases and also the demands on care and support at home, additional solutions to support persons with dementia are needed. The COGKNOW project aims to develop an integrated, user-driven cognitive prosthetic device to help persons with dementia. The project focuses on support in the areas of memory, social contact, daily living activities and feelings of safety. The design process is user-participatory and consists of iterative cycles at three test sites across Europe. In the first cycle persons with dementia and their carers (n = 17) actively participated in the developmental process. Based on their priorities of needs and solutions, on their disabilities and after discussion between the team, a top four list of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) solutions was made and now serves as the basis for development: in the area of remembering - day and time orientation support, find mobile service and reminding service, in the area of social contact - telephone support by picture dialling, in the area of daily activities - media control support through a music playback and radio function, and finally, in the area of safety - a warning service to indicate when the front door is open and an emergency contact service to enhance feelings of safety. The results of this first project phase show that, in general, the people with mild dementia as well as their carers were able to express and prioritize their (unmet) needs, and the kind of technological assistance they preferred in the selected areas. In next phases it will be tested if the user-participatory design and multidisciplinary approach employed in the COGKNOW project result in a user-friendly, useful device that positively impacts the autonomy and quality of life of persons with dementia and their carers.

Identifying influential individuals on intensive care units: using cluster analysis to explore culture.

PubMed

Fong, Allan; Clark, Lindsey; Cheng, Tianyi; Franklin, Ella; Fernandez, Nicole; Ratwani, Raj; Parker, Sarah Henrickson

2017-07-01

The objective of this paper is to identify attribute patterns of influential individuals in intensive care units using unsupervised cluster analysis. Despite the acknowledgement that culture of an organisation is critical to improving patient safety, specific methods to shift culture have not been explicitly identified. A social network analysis survey was conducted and an unsupervised cluster analysis was used. A total of 100 surveys were gathered. Unsupervised cluster analysis was used to group individuals with similar dimensions highlighting three general genres of influencers: well-rounded, knowledge and relational. Culture is created locally by individual influencers. Cluster analysis is an effective way to identify common characteristics among members of an intensive care unit team that are noted as highly influential by their peers. To change culture, identifying and then integrating the influencers in intervention development and dissemination may create more sustainable and effective culture change. Additional studies are ongoing to test the effectiveness of utilising these influencers to disseminate patient safety interventions. This study offers an approach that can be helpful in both identifying and understanding influential team members and may be an important aspect of developing methods to change organisational culture. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Identifying the conditions needed for integrated knowledge translation (IKT) in health care organizations: qualitative interviews with researchers and research users.

PubMed

Gagliardi, Anna R; Dobrow, Mark J

2016-07-12

Collaboration among researchers and research users, or integrated knowledge translation (IKT), enhances the relevance and uptake of evidence into policy and practice. However, it is not widely practiced and, even when well-resourced, desired impacts may not be achieved. Given that large-scale investment is not the norm, further research is needed to identify how IKT can be optimized. Interviews were conducted with researchers and research users (clinicians, managers) in a health care delivery (HCDO) and health care monitoring (HCMO) organization that differed in size and infrastructure, and were IKT-naïve. Basic qualitative description was used. Participants were asked about IKT activities and challenges, and recommendations for optimizing IKT. Data were analysed inductively using constant comparative technique. Forty-three interviews were conducted (28 HCDO, 15 HCMO) with 13 researchers, 8 clinicians, and 22 managers. Little to no IKT took place. Participants articulated similar challenges and recommendations revealing that a considerable number of changes were needed at the organizational, professional and individual levels. Given the IKT-absent state of participating organizations, this research identified a core set of conditions which must be addressed to prepare an environment conducive to IKT. These conditions were compiled into a framework by which organizations can plan for, or evaluate their capacity for IKT. The IKT capacity framework is relevant for organizations in which there is no current IKT activity. Use of the IKT framework may result in more organizations that are ready to initiate and establish IKT, perhaps ultimately leading to more, and higher-quality collaboration for health system innovation. Further research is needed to confirm these findings in other organizations not yet resourced for, or undertaking IKT, and to explore the resource implications and mechanisms for establishing the conditions identified here as essential to preparing for

User involvement in assisted reproductive technologies: England and Portugal.

PubMed

Samorinha, Catarina; Lichon, Mateusz; Silva, Susana; Dent, Mike

2015-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to compare user involvement in the case of assisted reproductive technologies in England and Portugal through the concepts of voice, choice and co-production, assessing the implications for user empowerment. This qualitative study draws primarily on policy review and uses exploratory semi-structured interviews with key informants as a way of illustrating points. Data on the following themes was compared: voice (users' representativeness on licensing bodies and channels of communication between users and doctors); choice (funding and accessibility criteria; choice of fertility centres, doctors and level of care); and co-production (criteria through which users actively engage with health professionals in planning the treatment). Inter- and intra-healthcare systems variations between the two countries on choice and co-production were identified. Differences between funding and accessibility, regions, public and private sectors and attitudes towards doctor-patient relationship (paternalistic/partnership) were the key issues. Although consumer choice and indicators of co-production are evident in treatment pathways in both countries, user empowerment is not. This is limited by inequalities in accessibility criteria, dependence on doctors' individual perspectives and lack of genuine and formal hearing of citizens' voice. Enhancing users' involvement claims for individual and organizational cultures reflecting user-centred values. Effective ways to incorporate users' knowledge in shared decision making and co-design are needed to empower patients and to improve the delivery of care.

Identifying the Role of Common Interests in Online User Trust Formation.

PubMed

Ji, Lei; Liu, Jian-Guo; Hou, Lei; Guo, Qiang

2015-01-01

Despite enormous recent efforts in detecting the mechanism of the social relation formation in online social systems, the underlying rules between the common interests and social relations are still under dispute. Do online users befriend others who have similar tastes, or do their tastes become more similar after they become friends? In this paper, we investigate the correlation between online user trust formation and their common interests, measured by the overlap rate ρ and taste similarity θ respectively. The trust relation creation time is set as the zero timestamp. The statistical results before and after the trust formation for an online network, namely Epinions, show that, the overlap rate ρ increases greatly before the trust formation, while it would increase smoothly after the creation of the trust relation. Comparing with the empirical results, two null models are presented by shuffling the temporal behaviors of online users, which suggests that the accumulation of the common interests can result in the trust formation. Furthermore, we investigate the taste similarity θ of the common interests, which can reflect the users' preference on their common interests. The empirical results show that the taste similarity θ is rapidly increased around the day when users trust the others. That is, the similar tastes on the common interests among users lead to the trust formation. Finally, we report that the user degree can also influence the effect of the taste similarity θ on user trust formation. This work may shed some light for deeply understanding the evolution mechanism of the online social systems.

A Study of Users with Suicidal Ideation on Sina Weibo.

PubMed

Wang, Zheng; Yu, Guang; Tian, Xianyun; Tang, Jingyun; Yan, Xiangbin

2018-01-02

Suicide is a leading cause of death in China, and so suicide intervention on social media is an important issue in the field of public health. Sina Weibo (Weibo) is an emerging surveillance tool that may provide online assistance for users at the risk of suicide. Keyword-based methods and supervised classifiers were employed to conduct this research. A control group was established to explore the differences between Weibo users with suicidal ideation (USI) and the general population. A total of 114 USI were detected from 1 million active Weibo users. By studying the negative postings of these USI, disclosure of the reasons for their bad moods was the most common theme. The emotions of USI tend to be particularly down between 05:00 pm and midnight. Use of the first-person pronoun by Weibo USI is significantly frequent. Our findings may help to identify individuals with suicidal ideation who are not identified by the traditional clinical approach. Consequently, detecting and helping individuals who may be at risk of committing suicide may become more efficient.

Typology of alcohol users based on longitudinal patterns of drinking.

PubMed

Harrington, Magdalena; Velicer, Wayne F; Ramsey, Susan

2014-03-01

Worldwide, alcohol is the most commonly used psychoactive substance. However, heterogeneity among alcohol users has been widely recognized. This paper presents a typology of alcohol users based on an implementation of idiographic methodology to examine longitudinal daily and cyclic (weekly) patterns of alcohol use at the individual level. A secondary data analysis was performed on the pre-intervention data from a large randomized control trial. A time series analysis was performed at the individual level, and a dynamic cluster analysis was employed to identify homogenous longitudinal patterns of drinking behavior at the group level. The analysis employed 180 daily observations of alcohol use in a sample of 177 alcohol users. The first order autocorrelations ranged from -.76 to .72, and seventh order autocorrelations ranged from -.27 to .79. Eight distinct profiles of alcohol users were identified, each characterized by a unique configuration of first and seventh autoregressive terms and longitudinal trajectories of alcohol use. External validity of the profiles confirmed the theoretical relevance of different patterns of alcohol use. Significant differences among the eight subtypes were found on gender, marital status, frequency of drug use, lifetime alcohol dependence, family history of alcohol use and the Short Index of Problems. Our findings demonstrate that individuals can have very different temporal patterns of drinking behavior. The daily and cyclic patterns of alcohol use may be important for designing tailored interventions for problem drinkers. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Typology of Alcohol Users Based on Longitudinal Patterns of Drinking

PubMed Central

Harrington, Magdalena; Velicer, Wayne F.; Ramsey, Susan

2014-01-01

Objective Worldwide, alcohol is the most commonly used psychoactive substance. However, heterogeneity among alcohol users has been widely recognized. This paper presents a typology of alcohol users based on an implementation of idiographic methodology to examine longitudinal daily and cyclic (weekly) patterns of alcohol use at the individual level. Method A secondary data analysis was performed on the pre-intervention data from a large randomized control trial. A time series analysis was performed at the individual level, and a dynamic cluster analysis was employed to identify homogenous longitudinal patterns of drinking behavior at the group level. The analysis employed 180 daily observations of alcohol use in a sample of 177 alcohol users. Results The first order autocorrelations ranged from −.76 to .72, and seventh order autocorrelations ranged from −.27 to .79. Eight distinct profiles of alcohol users were identified, each characterized by a unique configuration of first and seventh autoregressive terms and longitudinal trajectories of alcohol use. External validity of the profiles confirmed the theoretical relevance of different patterns of alcohol use. Significant differences among the eight subtypes were found on gender, marital status, frequency of drug use, lifetime alcohol dependence, family history of alcohol use and the Short Index of Problems. Conclusions Our findings demonstrate that individuals can have very different temporal patterns of drinking behavior. The daily and cyclic patterns of alcohol use may be important for designing tailored interventions for problem drinkers. PMID:24333036

Individually identifiable body odors are produced by the gorilla and discriminated by humans.

PubMed

Hepper, Peter G; Wells, Deborah L

2010-05-01

Many species produce odor cues that enable them to be identified individually, as well as providing other socially relevant information. Study of the role of odor cues in the social behavior of great apes is noticeable by its absence. Olfaction has been viewed as having little role in guiding behavior in these species. This study examined whether Western lowland gorillas produce an individually identifiable odor. Odor samples were obtained by placing cloths in the gorilla's den. A delayed matching to sample task was used with human participants (n = 100) to see if they were able to correctly match a target odor sample to a choice of either: 2 odors (the target sample and another, Experiment 1) and 6 odors (the target sample and 5 others, Experiment 2). Participants were correctly able to identify the target odor when given either 2 or 6 matches. Subjects made fewest errors when matching the odor of the silverback, whereas matching the odors of the young gorillas produced most errors. The results indicate that gorillas do produce individually identifiable body odors and introduce the possibility that odor cues may play a role in gorilla social behavior.

Activities on Facebook Reveal the Depressive State of Users

PubMed Central

Kwak, Jinah

2013-01-01

Background As online social media have become prominent, much effort has been spent on identifying users with depressive symptoms in order to aim at early diagnosis, treatment, and even prevention by using various online social media. In this paper, we focused on Facebook to discern any correlations between the platform’s features and users’ depressive symptoms. This work may be helpful in trying to reach and detect large numbers of depressed individuals more easily. Objective Our goal was to develop a Web application and identify depressive symptom–related features from users of Facebook, a popular social networking platform. Methods 55 Facebook users (male=40, female=15, mean age 24.43, SD 3.90) were recruited through advertisement fliers distributed to students in a large university in Korea. Using EmotionDiary, the Facebook application we developed, we evaluated depressive symptoms using the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression (CES-D) scale. We also provided tips and facts about depression to participants and measured their responses using EmotionDiary. To identify the Facebook features related to depression, correlation analyses were performed between CES-D and participants’ responses to tips and facts or Facebook social features. Last, we interviewed depressed participants (CES-D≥25) to assess their depressive symptoms by a psychiatrist. Results Facebook activities had predictive power in distinguishing depressed and nondepressed individuals. Participants’ response to tips and facts, which can be explained by the number of app tips viewed and app points, had a positive correlation (P=.04 for both cases), whereas the number of friends and location tags had a negative correlation with the CES-D scale (P=.08 and P=.045 respectively). Furthermore, in finding group differences in Facebook social activities, app tips viewed and app points resulted in significant differences (P=.01 and P=.03 respectively) between probably depressed and

Individual and Group-Based Engagement in an Online Physical Activity Monitoring Program in Georgia.

PubMed

Smith, Matthew Lee; Durrett, Nicholas K; Bowie, Maria; Berg, Alison; McCullick, Bryan A; LoPilato, Alexander C; Murray, Deborah

2018-06-07

Given the rising prevalence of obesity in the United States, innovative methods are needed to increase physical activity (PA) in community settings. Evidence suggests that individuals are more likely to engage in PA if they are given a choice of activities and have support from others (for encouragement, motivation, and accountability). The objective of this study was to describe the use of the online Walk Georgia PA tracking platform according to whether the user was an individual user or group user. Walk Georgia is a free, interactive online tracking platform that enables users to log PA by duration, activity, and perceived difficulty, and then converts these data into points based on metabolic equivalents. Users join individually or in groups and are encouraged to set weekly PA goals. Data were examined for 6,639 users (65.8% were group users) over 28 months. We used independent sample t tests and Mann-Whitney U tests to compare means between individual and group users. Two linear regression models were fitted to identify factors associated with activity logging. Users logged 218,766 activities (15,119,249 minutes of PA spanning 592,714 miles [41,858,446 points]). On average, group users had created accounts more recently than individual users (P < .001); however, group users logged more activities (P < .001). On average, group users logged more minutes of PA (P < .001) and earned more points (P < .001). Being in a group was associated with a larger proportion of weeks in which 150 minutes or more of weekly PA was logged (B = 20.47, P < .001). Use of Walk Georgia was significantly higher among group users than among individual users. To expand use and dissemination of online tracking of PA, programs should target naturally occurring groups (eg, workplaces, schools, faith-based groups).

Identifying the Role of Common Interests in Online User Trust Formation

PubMed Central

Ji, Lei; Liu, Jian-Guo; Hou, Lei; Guo, Qiang

2015-01-01

Despite enormous recent efforts in detecting the mechanism of the social relation formation in online social systems, the underlying rules between the common interests and social relations are still under dispute. Do online users befriend others who have similar tastes, or do their tastes become more similar after they become friends? In this paper, we investigate the correlation between online user trust formation and their common interests, measured by the overlap rate ρ and taste similarity θ respectively. The trust relation creation time is set as the zero timestamp. The statistical results before and after the trust formation for an online network, namely Epinions, show that, the overlap rate ρ increases greatly before the trust formation, while it would increase smoothly after the creation of the trust relation. Comparing with the empirical results, two null models are presented by shuffling the temporal behaviors of online users, which suggests that the accumulation of the common interests can result in the trust formation. Furthermore, we investigate the taste similarity θ of the common interests, which can reflect the users’ preference on their common interests. The empirical results show that the taste similarity θ is rapidly increased around the day when users trust the others. That is, the similar tastes on the common interests among users lead to the trust formation. Finally, we report that the user degree can also influence the effect of the taste similarity θ on user trust formation. This work may shed some light for deeply understanding the evolution mechanism of the online social systems. PMID:26161853

Service user involvement in mental health system strengthening in a rural African setting: qualitative study.

PubMed

Abayneh, Sisay; Lempp, Heidi; Alem, Atalay; Alemayehu, Daniel; Eshetu, Tigist; Lund, Crick; Semrau, Maya; Thornicroft, Graham; Hanlon, Charlotte

2017-05-18

It is essential to involve service users in efforts to expand access to mental health care in integrated primary care settings in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). However, there is little evidence from LMICs to guide this process. The aim of this study was to explore barriers to, and facilitators of, service user/caregiver involvement in rural Ethiopia to inform the development of a scalable approach. Thirty nine semi-structured interviews were carried out with purposively selected mental health service users (n = 13), caregivers (n = 10), heads of primary care facilities (n = 8) and policy makers/planners/service developers (n = 8). The interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed in Amharic, and translated into English. Thematic analysis was applied. All groups of participants supported service user and caregiver involvement in mental health system strengthening. Potential benefits were identified as (i) improved appropriateness and quality of services, and (ii) greater protection against mistreatment and promotion of respect for service users. However, hardly any respondents had prior experience of service user involvement. Stigma was considered to be a pervasive barrier, operating within the health system, the local community and individuals. Competing priorities of service users included the need to obtain adequate individual care and to work for survival. Low recognition of the potential contribution of service users seemed linked to limited empowerment and mobilization of service users. Potential health system facilitators included a culture of community oversight of primary care services. All groups of respondents identified a need for awareness-raising and training to equip service users, caregivers, service providers and local community for involvement. Empowerment at the level of individual service users (information about mental health conditions, care and rights) and the group level (for advocacy and representation) were considered

Prototype development of user specific climate services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jacob, Daniela

2017-04-01

Systematic consultations in the last years with representatives from sectors particularly affected by climate change have helped the Climate Service Center Germany (GERICS) to identify the most pressing needs of stakeholders from public and private sectors. Besides the development of innovative climate service products and methods, areas are also identified, for which intensive research activities have to be initiated. An example is the demand of decision makers for high-resolution climate change information needed at regional to local levels for their activities towards climate change adaptation. For questions concerning adaptation to climate change, no standard solutions can be provided. Different from mitigation measures, adaptation measures must be framed in accordance with the specific circumstances prevailing in the local situation. Here, individual solutions, which satisfy the individual requirements and needs, are necessary. They have to be developed in close co-operation with the customers and users. For example, the implications of climate change on strategic and operative decisions, e.g. in enterprises and urban planning, are becoming increasingly important. Therefore, high-quality consultancy for businesses and public administration is needed, in order to support decision makers in identifying associated risks and opportunities. For the development of prototype products, GERICS has framed a general methodological approach, including the idea generation, the iterative development, and the prototype testing in co-development with the user. High process transparency and high product quality are prerequisite for the success of a product. The co-development process ensures the best possible communication of user tailored climate change information for different target groups.

Comparison of sensory, physiological, personality, and cultural attributes in regular spicy food users and non-users.

PubMed

Ludy, Mary-Jon; Mattes, Richard D

2012-02-01

Some individuals savor spicy foods, while others avoid them. Reasons underlying this range of hedonic responses are unknown. The purpose of this study was to explore the basis for individual differences in preference for spicy foods. Regular spicy food users (n=13) and non-users (n=12) were characterized for selected sensory, physiological, personality, and cultural attributes. Individual differences between users and non-users were primarily related to sensory and cultural attributes (i.e., a higher proportion of users reported consuming spicy foods since childhood and users rated spicy foods as more palatable and were better able to discriminate this burn than non-users). Users and non-users exhibited comparable responsiveness to noxious pressure pain, oral tactile sensitivity, and auditory sensitivity, varying only in responsiveness to oral thermal heat (i.e., users were more sensitive to increases than non-users). Studied personality traits did not vary between users and non-users. These findings suggest that prior experience, rather than physiological adaptation or personality differences, may best predict preference for spicy foods. These findings are of public health interest, given that spicy food consumption is reported to confer weight management and food safety benefits. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Enhanced understanding of predator-prey relationships using molecular methods to identify predator species, individual and sex.

PubMed

Mumma, Matthew A; Soulliere, Colleen E; Mahoney, Shane P; Waits, Lisette P

2014-01-01

Predator species identification is an important step in understanding predator-prey interactions, but predator identifications using kill site observations are often unreliable. We used molecular tools to analyse predator saliva, scat and hair from caribou calf kills in Newfoundland, Canada to identify the predator species, individual and sex. We sampled DNA from 32 carcasses using cotton swabs to collect predator saliva. We used fragment length analysis and sequencing of mitochondrial DNA to distinguish between coyote, black bear, Canada lynx and red fox and used nuclear DNA microsatellite analysis to identify individuals. We compared predator species detected using molecular tools to those assigned via field observations at each kill. We identified a predator species at 94% of carcasses using molecular methods, while observational methods assigned a predator species to 62.5% of kills. Molecular methods attributed 66.7% of kills to coyote and 33.3% to black bear, while observations assigned 40%, 45%, 10% and 5% to coyote, bear, lynx and fox, respectively. Individual identification was successful at 70% of kills where a predator species was identified. Only one individual was identified at each kill, but some individuals were found at multiple kills. Predator sex was predominantly male. We demonstrate the first large-scale evaluation of predator species, individual and sex identification using molecular techniques to extract DNA from swabs of wild prey carcasses. Our results indicate that kill site swabs (i) can be highly successful in identifying the predator species and individual responsible; and (ii) serve to inform and complement traditional methods. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Don't Judge a Book by its Cover: Examiner Expectancy Effects Predict Neuropsychological Performance for Individuals Judged as Chronic Cannabis Users.

PubMed

Sodos, Louise M; Hirst, Rayna B; Watson, Jessica; Vaughn, Dylan

2018-01-12

The experimenter expectancy effect confound remains largely unexplored in neuropsychological research and has never been investigated among cannabis users. This study investigated whether examiner expectancies of cannabis user status affected examinees' neuropsychological performance. Participants included 41 cannabis users and 20 non-users. Before testing, examiners who were blind to participant user status privately rated whether they believed the examinee was a cannabis user or non-user. Examiners then administered a battery of neuropsychological and performance validity measures. Multiple regression analyses compared performance between examinees judged as cannabis users (n = 37) and those judged as non-users (n = 24). Examiners' judgments of cannabis users were 75% accurate; judgments of non-users were at chance. After controlling for age, gender, and actual user status, examiner judgments of cannabis user status predicted performance on two measures (California Verbal Learning Test-II, and Trail Making Test B; p < .05), as individuals judged as cannabis users obtained lower scores than those judged as non-users. Examiners' judgments of cannabis user status predicted performance even after controlling for actual user status, indicating vulnerability to examiner expectancy effects. These findings have important implications for both research and clinical settings, as scores may partially reflect examiners' expectations regarding cannabis effects rather than participants' cognitive abilities. These results demonstrate the need for expectancy effect research in the neuropsychological assessment of all populations, not just cannabis users. © The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Identifying ontogenetic, environmental and individual components of forest tree growth

PubMed Central

Chaubert-Pereira, Florence; Caraglio, Yves; Lavergne, Christian; Guédon, Yann

2009-01-01

Background and Aims This study aimed to identify and characterize the ontogenetic, environmental and individual components of forest tree growth. In the proposed approach, the tree growth data typically correspond to the retrospective measurement of annual shoot characteristics (e.g. length) along the trunk. Methods Dedicated statistical models (semi-Markov switching linear mixed models) were applied to data sets of Corsican pine and sessile oak. In the semi-Markov switching linear mixed models estimated from these data sets, the underlying semi-Markov chain represents both the succession of growth phases and their lengths, while the linear mixed models represent both the influence of climatic factors and the inter-individual heterogeneity within each growth phase. Key Results On the basis of these integrative statistical models, it is shown that growth phases are not only defined by average growth level but also by growth fluctuation amplitudes in response to climatic factors and inter-individual heterogeneity and that the individual tree status within the population may change between phases. Species plasticity affected the response to climatic factors while tree origin, sampling strategy and silvicultural interventions impacted inter-individual heterogeneity. Conclusions The transposition of the proposed integrative statistical modelling approach to cambial growth in relation to climatic factors and the study of the relationship between apical growth and cambial growth constitute the next steps in this research. PMID:19684021

Workplace-based assessment: a review of user perceptions and strategies to address the identified shortcomings.

PubMed

Massie, Jonathan; Ali, Jason M

2016-05-01

Workplace based assessments (WBAs) are now commonplace in postgraduate medical training. User acceptability and engagement is essential to the success of any medical education innovation. To this end, possessing an insight into trainee and trainer perceptions towards WBAs will help identify the major problems, permitting strategies to be introduced to improve WBA implementation. A review of literature was performed to identify studies examining trainee and trainer perceptions towards WBAs. Studies were excluded if non-English or sampling a non-medical/dental population. The identified literature was synthesised for the purpose of this critical narrative review. It is clear that there is widespread negativity towards WBAs in the workplace. This has negatively impacted on the effectiveness of WBA tools as learning aids. This negativity exists in trainees but also to an extent in their trainers. Insight gained from the literature reveals three dominant problems with WBA implementation: poor understanding as to the purpose of WBAs; insufficient time available for undertaking these assessments; and inadequate training of trainers. Approaches to addressing these three problems with WBA implementation are discussed. It is likely that a variety of solutions will be required. The prevalence of negativity towards WBAs is substantial in both trainees and trainers, eroding the effectiveness of learning that is consequent upon them. The educational community must now listen to the concerns being raised by the users and consider the range of strategies being proposed to improve the experiences of trainees, and their trainers.

Bat wing biometrics: using collagen–elastin bundles in bat wings as a unique individual identifier

Treesearch

Sybill K. Amelon; Sarah E. Hooper; Kathryn M. Womack

2017-01-01

The ability to recognize individuals within an animal population is fundamental to conservation and management. Identification of individual bats has relied on artificial marking techniques that may negatively affect the survival and alter the behavior of individuals. Biometric systems use biological characteristics to identify individuals. The field of animal...

Chronnectome fingerprinting: Identifying individuals and predicting higher cognitive functions using dynamic brain connectivity patterns.

PubMed

Liu, Jin; Liao, Xuhong; Xia, Mingrui; He, Yong

2018-02-01

The human brain is a large, interacting dynamic network, and its architecture of coupling among brain regions varies across time (termed the "chronnectome"). However, very little is known about whether and how the dynamic properties of the chronnectome can characterize individual uniqueness, such as identifying individuals as a "fingerprint" of the brain. Here, we employed multiband resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data from the Human Connectome Project (N = 105) and a sliding time-window dynamic network analysis approach to systematically examine individual time-varying properties of the chronnectome. We revealed stable and remarkable individual variability in three dynamic characteristics of brain connectivity (i.e., strength, stability, and variability), which was mainly distributed in three higher order cognitive systems (i.e., default mode, dorsal attention, and fronto-parietal) and in two primary systems (i.e., visual and sensorimotor). Intriguingly, the spatial patterns of these dynamic characteristics of brain connectivity could successfully identify individuals with high accuracy and could further significantly predict individual higher cognitive performance (e.g., fluid intelligence and executive function), which was primarily contributed by the higher order cognitive systems. Together, our findings highlight that the chronnectome captures inherent functional dynamics of individual brain networks and provides implications for individualized characterization of health and disease. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Inclusion of service robots in the daily lives of frail older users: A step-by-step definition procedure on users' requirements.

PubMed

García-Soler, Álvaro; Facal, David; Díaz-Orueta, Unai; Pigini, Lucia; Blasi, Lorenzo; Qiu, Renxi

2018-01-01

The implications for the inclusion of robots in the daily lives of frail older adults, especially in relation to these population needs, have not been extensively studied. The "Multi-Role Shadow Robotic System for Independent Living" (SRS) project has developed a remotely-controlled, semi-autonomous robotic system to be used in domestic environments. The objective of this paper is to document the iterative procedure used to identify, select and prioritize user requirements. Seventy-four requirements were identified by means of focus groups, individual interviews and scenario-based interviews. The list of user requirements, ordered according to impact, number and transnational criteria, revealed a high number of requirements related to basic and instrumental activities of daily living, cognitive and social support and monitorization, and also involving privacy, safety and adaptation issues. Analysing and understanding older users' perceptions and needs when interacting with technological devices adds value to assistive technology and ensures that the systems address currently unmet needs. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Young macaques (Macaca fascicularis) preferentially bias attention towards closer, older, and better tool users.

PubMed

Tan, Amanda W Y; Hemelrijk, Charlotte K; Malaivijitnond, Suchinda; Gumert, Michael D

2018-05-12

Examining how animals direct social learning during skill acquisition under natural conditions, generates data for examining hypotheses regarding how transmission biases influence cultural change in animal populations. We studied a population of macaques on Koram Island, Thailand, and examined model-based biases during interactions by unskilled individuals with tool-using group members. We first compared the prevalence of interactions (watching, obtaining food, object exploration) and proximity to tool users during interactions, in developing individuals (infants, juveniles) versus mature non-learners (adolescents, adults), to provide evidence that developing individuals are actively seeking information about tool use from social partners. All infants and juveniles, but only 49% of mature individuals carried out interacted with tool users. Macaques predominantly obtained food by scrounging or stealing, suggesting maximizing scrounging opportunities motivates interactions with tool users. However, while interactions by adults was limited to obtaining food, young macaques and particularly infants also watched tool users and explored objects, indicating additional interest in tool use itself. We then ran matrix correlations to identify interaction biases, and what attributes of tool users influenced these. Biases correlated with social affiliation, but macaques also preferentially targeted tool users that potentially increase scrounging and learning opportunities. Results suggest that social structure may constrain social learning, but the motivation to bias interactions towards tool users to maximize feeding opportunities may also socially modulate learning by facilitating close proximity to better tool users, and further interest in tool-use actions and materials, especially during development.

Pragmatic User Model Implementation in an Intelligent Help System.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fernandez-Manjon, Baltasar; Fernandez-Valmayor, Alfredo; Fernandez-Chamizo, Carmen

1998-01-01

Describes Aran, a knowledge-based system designed to help users deal with problems related to Unix operation. Highlights include adaptation to the individual user; user modeling knowledge; stereotypes; content of the individual user model; instantiation, acquisition, and maintenance of the individual model; dynamic acquisition of objective and…

Utilization and user satisfaction with alternating pressure air cushions: a pilot study of at-risk individuals with spinal cord injury.

PubMed

Wu, Gary A; Garber, Susan L; Bogie, Kath M

2016-10-01

An appropriate wheelchair cushion is integral to pressure ulcer (PU) prevention for the wheelchair user with SCI. For users who find it difficult to remember or perform weight shifts, an alternating pressure air cushion (APAC) may off-load pressure to minimize PU risk. APACs are considered mobility assistive technology (AT). Effective AT delivery includes consideration of the AT consumer as a unique individual. The Quebec User Evaluation of Satisfaction with Assistive Technology (QUEST) is a structured and standardized method to measure user satisfaction with AT. Twelve full time wheelchair users with SCI were provided with an APAC six times for 2 weeks daily home use every 3 months. At the completion of the 18-month study period, the 8-variable QUEST 2.0b questionnaire was applied to evaluate satisfaction with APAC use. Users were generally quite satisfied with APAC weight (p < 0.01 relative to neutral). Durability was more likely to be an area of concern. Overall, 92% of participants considered themselves quite satisfied or very satisfied with APAC use (p < 0.001). Users with SCI were satisfied with the overall performance of the APAC tested after repeated periods of use. The majority of user's were very satisfied with APAC comfort overall. Implications for Rehabilitation Abandonment of AT may be reduced if user satisfaction is evaluated. The QUEST 2.0b is a useful and valid measure of user satisfaction with alternating pressure air cushions. In the current study cohort, users with SCI were satisfied with the performance and comfort of the APAC tested after repeated periods of use.

Bat wing biometrics: using collagen-elastin bundles in bat wings as a unique individual identifier.

PubMed

Amelon, Sybill K; Hooper, Sarah E; Womack, Kathryn M

2017-05-29

The ability to recognize individuals within an animal population is fundamental to conservation and management. Identification of individual bats has relied on artificial marking techniques that may negatively affect the survival and alter the behavior of individuals. Biometric systems use biological characteristics to identify individuals. The field of animal biometrics has expanded to include recognition of individuals based upon various morphologies and phenotypic variations including pelage patterns, tail flukes, and whisker arrangement. Biometric systems use 4 biologic measurement criteria: universality, distinctiveness, permanence, and collectability. Additionally, the system should not violate assumptions of capture-recapture methods that include no increased mortality or alterations of behavior. We evaluated whether individual bats could be uniquely identified based upon the collagen-elastin bundles that are visible with gross examination of their wings. We examined little brown bats ( Myotis lucifugus ), northern long-eared bats ( M. septentrionalis ), big brown bats ( Eptesicus fuscus ), and tricolored bats ( Perimyotis subflavus ) to determine whether the "wing prints" from the bundle network would satisfy the biologic measurement criteria. We evaluated 1,212 photographs from 230 individual bats comparing week 0 photos with those taken at weeks 3 or 6 and were able to confirm identity of individuals over time. Two blinded evaluators were able to successfully match 170 individuals in hand to photographs taken at weeks 0, 3, and 6. This study suggests that bats can be successfully re-identified using photographs taken at previous times. We suggest further evaluation of this methodology for use in a standardized system that can be shared among bat conservationists.

Bat wing biometrics: using collagen–elastin bundles in bat wings as a unique individual identifier

PubMed Central

Hooper, Sarah E.; Womack, Kathryn M.

2017-01-01

Abstract The ability to recognize individuals within an animal population is fundamental to conservation and management. Identification of individual bats has relied on artificial marking techniques that may negatively affect the survival and alter the behavior of individuals. Biometric systems use biological characteristics to identify individuals. The field of animal biometrics has expanded to include recognition of individuals based upon various morphologies and phenotypic variations including pelage patterns, tail flukes, and whisker arrangement. Biometric systems use 4 biologic measurement criteria: universality, distinctiveness, permanence, and collectability. Additionally, the system should not violate assumptions of capture–recapture methods that include no increased mortality or alterations of behavior. We evaluated whether individual bats could be uniquely identified based upon the collagen–elastin bundles that are visible with gross examination of their wings. We examined little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus), northern long-eared bats (M. septentrionalis), big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus), and tricolored bats (Perimyotis subflavus) to determine whether the “wing prints” from the bundle network would satisfy the biologic measurement criteria. We evaluated 1,212 photographs from 230 individual bats comparing week 0 photos with those taken at weeks 3 or 6 and were able to confirm identity of individuals over time. Two blinded evaluators were able to successfully match 170 individuals in hand to photographs taken at weeks 0, 3, and 6. This study suggests that bats can be successfully re-identified using photographs taken at previous times. We suggest further evaluation of this methodology for use in a standardized system that can be shared among bat conservationists. PMID:29674784

Using Medicare Data to Identify Individuals Who Are Electricity Dependent to Improve Disaster Preparedness and Response

PubMed Central

DeSalvo, Karen; Finne, Kristen; Worrall, Chris; Bogdanov, Alina; Dinkler, Ayame; Babcock, Sarah; Kelman, Jeffrey

2014-01-01

During a disaster or prolonged power outage, individuals who use electricity-dependent medical equipment are often unable to operate it and seek care in acute care settings or local shelters. Public health officials often report that they do not have proactive and systematic ways to rapidly identify and assist these individuals. In June 2013, we piloted a first-in-the-nation emergency preparedness drill in which we used Medicare claims data to identify individuals with electricity-dependent durable medical equipment during a disaster and securely disclosed it to a local health department. We found that Medicare claims data were 93% accurate in identifying individuals using a home oxygen concentrator or ventilator. The drill findings suggest that claims data can be useful in improving preparedness and response for electricity-dependent populations. PMID:24832404

Using Medicare data to identify individuals who are electricity dependent to improve disaster preparedness and response.

PubMed

DeSalvo, Karen; Lurie, Nicole; Finne, Kristen; Worrall, Chris; Bogdanov, Alina; Dinkler, Ayame; Babcock, Sarah; Kelman, Jeffrey

2014-07-01

During a disaster or prolonged power outage, individuals who use electricity-dependent medical equipment are often unable to operate it and seek care in acute care settings or local shelters. Public health officials often report that they do not have proactive and systematic ways to rapidly identify and assist these individuals. In June 2013, we piloted a first-in-the-nation emergency preparedness drill in which we used Medicare claims data to identify individuals with electricity-dependent durable medical equipment during a disaster and securely disclosed it to a local health department. We found that Medicare claims data were 93% accurate in identifying individuals using a home oxygen concentrator or ventilator. The drill findings suggest that claims data can be useful in improving preparedness and response for electricity-dependent populations.

Event-based user classification in Weibo media.

PubMed

Guo, Liang; Wang, Wendong; Cheng, Shiduan; Que, Xirong

2014-01-01

Weibo media, known as the real-time microblogging services, has attracted massive attention and support from social network users. Weibo platform offers an opportunity for people to access information and changes the way people acquire and disseminate information significantly. Meanwhile, it enables people to respond to the social events in a more convenient way. Much of the information in Weibo media is related to some events. Users who post different contents, and exert different behavior or attitude may lead to different contribution to the specific event. Therefore, classifying the large amount of uncategorized social circles generated in Weibo media automatically from the perspective of events has been a promising task. Under this circumstance, in order to effectively organize and manage the huge amounts of users, thereby further managing their contents, we address the task of user classification in a more granular, event-based approach in this paper. By analyzing real data collected from Sina Weibo, we investigate the Weibo properties and utilize both content information and social network information to classify the numerous users into four primary groups: celebrities, organizations/media accounts, grassroots stars, and ordinary individuals. The experiments results show that our method identifies the user categories accurately.

User Resistance and Trust in a Clinical RFID Employee Location Tracking Information System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wong, Wilson

2013-01-01

User resistance has been identified as a factor in information systems implementation failures in the health care industry. RFID, radio frequency identification, is being incorporated into new health care information systems in order to effect cost reductions by tracking, identifying and monitoring individuals and medical items. This is the first…

Identifying real and perceived barriers to therapeutic education programs for individuals with inflammatory arthritis.

PubMed

Bain, Lorna; Sangrar, Ruheena; Bornstein, Carolyn; Lukmanji, Sara; Hapuhennedige, Sandani; Thorne, Carter; Beattie, Karen A

2016-09-01

Therapeutic Education Programs (TEPs) grounded in self-management principles have been shown to improve quality of life of patients with chronic conditions and reduce patient-related healthcare costs. Though these programs are becoming more readily available, patients often experience barriers in participating. This study sought to identify barriers faced by inflammatory arthritis (IA) patients in attending a TEP and understand how patients overcame perceived barriers. A mixed-method study design was used. Questionnaires were distributed to individuals with IA who were invited to attend a TEP between 2010 and 2013. Respondents were those that chose not to attend (group A), individuals who attended ≤4 of 10 sessions (group B), individuals who attended ≥5 of 10 sessions prior to May 2013 (group C), and individuals who attended ≥5 of 10 sessions from June 2013 to November 2013 (group D). Individuals in group D were also invited to participate in focus groups to discuss how they had overcome perceived barriers. Real barriers identified by individuals in groups A and B included time, distance, and cost associated with attendance. Individuals who overcame perceived barriers (groups C and D) discussed strategies they used to do so. Aspects of the overall program experience and access to clinic and program also contributed to patients being able to overcome barriers. Time, distance, and cost are external barriers that prevented individuals from utilizing self-management education opportunities. These barriers were overcome if and when individuals had resources available to them. Readiness for behavior change also influenced commitment to participate in the program.

Per-service supervised learning for identifying desired WoT apps from user requests in natural language

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Web of Things (WoT) platforms are growing fast so as the needs for composing WoT apps more easily and efficiently. We have recently commenced the campaign to develop an interface where users can issue requests for WoT apps entirely in natural language. This requires an effort to build a system that can learn to identify relevant WoT functions that fulfill user’s requests. In our preceding work, we trained a supervised learning system with thousands of publicly-available IFTTT app recipes based on conditional random fields (CRF). However, the sub-par accuracy and excessive training time motivated us to devise a better approach. In this paper, we present a novel solution that creates a separate learning engine for each trigger service. With this approach, parallel and incremental learning becomes possible. For inference, our system first identifies the most relevant trigger service for a given user request by using an information retrieval technique. Then, the learning engine associated with the trigger service predicts the most likely pair of trigger and action functions. We expect that such two-phase inference method given parallel learning engines would improve the accuracy of identifying related WoT functions. We verify our new solution through the empirical evaluation with training and test sets sampled from a pool of refined IFTTT app recipes. We also meticulously analyze the characteristics of the recipes to find future research directions. PMID:29149217

Reasons for not using ecstasy: a qualitative study of non-users, ex-light users and ex-moderate users

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Although ecstasy is often consumed in the electronic music scene, not everyone with the opportunity to use it chooses to do so. The objective of this study was to understand the reasons for non-use or the cessation of use, which could provide information for public health interventions. Methods A qualitative reference method was used. Our “snowball” sample group consisted of 53 people who were split into three subgroups: non-users (NU, n = 23), ex-light users (EX-L, n = 12) and ex-moderate users (EX-M, n = 18). Individual, semi-structured interviews were conducted, transcribed and subjected to content analysis with the aid of NVivo8. Results Adverse health effects and personal values were given as reasons for non-use in the three groups. Non-users (NU) and ex-light users (EX-L) provided reasons that included fear of possible effects as well as moral, family and religious objections. Ex-moderate users (EX-M) cited reasons related to health complications and concomitant withdrawal from the electronic music scene. However, most of the ex-moderate users did not rule out the possibility of future use. Conclusions Potential effects and undesirable consequences appear to guide the decisions within the different groups. Prevention might target these motivations. Individuals who have used ecstasy indicate that social and environmental factors are the most important factors. PMID:22583984

Upper extremity prosthesis user perspectives on unmet needs and innovative technology.

PubMed

Benz, Heather L; Jia Yao; Rose, Laura; Olgac, Okan; Kreutz, Karen; Saha, Anindita; Civillico, Eugene F

2016-08-01

The needs of individuals with upper limb amputation and congenital limb difference are not being fully met by current prostheses, as evidenced by prosthesis rejection, non-wear, and user reports of pain and challenging activities. Emerging technologies such as dexterous sensorized robotic limbs, osseointegrated prostheses, implantable EMG electrodes, and electrical stimulation for sensory feedback have the potential to address unmet needs, but pose additional risks. We plan to assess upper limb prosthesis user needs and perspectives on these new benefits and risks using an extensive quantitative survey. In preparation for this survey, we report here on qualitative interviews with seven individuals with upper limb amputation or congenital limb difference. Unstructured text was mined using topic modeling and the results compared with identified themes. A more complete understanding of how novel technologies could address real user concerns will inform implementation of new technologies and regulatory decision-making.

Upper Extremity Prosthesis User Perspectives on Unmet Needs and Innovative Technology

PubMed Central

Benz, Heather L.; Yao, Jia; Rose, Laura; Olgac, Okan; Kreutz, Karen; Saha, Anindita; Civillico, Eugene F.

2017-01-01

The needs of individuals with upper limb amputation and congenital limb difference are not being fully met by current prostheses, as evidenced by prosthesis rejection, non-wear, and user reports of pain and challenging activities. Emerging technologies such as dexterous sensorized robotic limbs, osseointegrated prostheses, implantable EMG electrodes, and electrical stimulation for sensory feedback have the potential to address unmet needs, but pose additional risks. We plan to assess upper limb prosthesis user needs and perspectives on these new benefits and risks using an extensive quantitative survey. In preparation for this survey, we report here on qualitative interviews with seven individuals with upper limb amputation or congenital limb difference. Unstructured text was mined using topic modeling and the results compared with identified themes. A more complete understanding of how novel technologies could address real user concerns will inform implementation of new technologies and regulatory decision-making. PMID:28268333

High miR-124-3p expression identifies smoking individuals susceptible to atherosclerosis.

PubMed

de Ronde, Maurice W J; Kok, Maayke G M; Moerland, Perry D; Van den Bossche, Jan; Neele, Annette E; Halliani, Amalia; van der Made, Ingeborg; de Winther, Menno P J; Meijers, Joost C M; Creemers, Esther E; Pinto-Sietsma, Sara-Joan

2017-08-01

The risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD) is twice as high among smoking individuals compared to non-smokers. Monocytes are involved in smoking-related atherosclerotic plaque formation. In this study, we investigated whether smokers with an increased risk of developing CVD can be identified on the basis of monocyte-derived miRNA expression levels. We performed a miRNA microarray experiment on isolated monocytes from smoking, former smoking and non-smoking individuals in a cohort of patients with premature CVD and healthy controls (Cohort I, n = 76). We found miR-124-3p to be heterogeneously expressed among all smoking individuals, whereas expression was low in non-smokers. Subsequently, RT-qPCR measurements on whole blood showed that among smoking individuals an increase in miR-124-3p is associated with an increased risk for advanced atherosclerotic disease (cohort II, n = 24) (OR 11.72 95% CI 1.09-126.53) and subclinical atherosclerosis (coronary artery calcium score ≥ 80 th percentile, cohort III n = 138) (OR 2.71, 95% CI 1.05-7.01). This was not observed among former smokers or non-smoking individuals. Flow cytometric analysis demonstrated that high miR-124-3p expression was associated with upregulation of the monocyte surface markers CD45RA, CD29 and CD206, indicating an altered monocyte phenotype. Finally, overexpression of miR-124-3p resulted in an upregulation of CD206 surface expression on monocytes. High miR-124-3p expression is associated with an increased risk of subclinical atherosclerosis in smoking individuals and with an altered monocyte phenotype. This may suggest that miR-124-3p identifies which smoking individuals are susceptible to the atherogenic effects of smoking. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Substance Use and Depression Symptomatology: Measurement Invariance of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) among Non-Users and Frequent-Users of Alcohol, Nicotine and Cannabis.

PubMed

Moore, Ashlee A; Neale, Michael C; Silberg, Judy L; Verhulst, Brad

2016-01-01

Depression is a highly heterogeneous condition, and identifying how symptoms present in various groups may greatly increase our understanding of its etiology. Importantly, Major Depressive Disorder is strongly linked with Substance Use Disorders, which may ameliorate or exacerbate specific depression symptoms. It is therefore quite plausible that depression may present with different symptom profiles depending on an individual's substance use status. Given these observations, it is important to examine the underlying construct of depression in groups of substance users compared to non-users. In this study we use a non-clinical sample to examine the measurement structure of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) in non-users and frequent-users of various substances. Specifically, measurement invariance was examined across those who do vs. do not use alcohol, nicotine, and cannabis. Results indicate strict factorial invariance across non-users and frequent-users of alcohol and cannabis, and metric invariance across non-users and frequent-users of nicotine. This implies that the factor structure of the BDI-II is similar across all substance use groups.

Impulsivity, Attention, Memory, and Decision-Making among Adolescent Marijuana Users

PubMed Central

Dougherty, Donald M.; Mathias, Charles W.; Dawes, Michael A.; Furr, R. Michael; Charles, Nora E.; Liguori, Anthony; Shannon, Erin E.; Acheson, Ashley

2012-01-01

Rationale Marijuana is a popular drug of abuse among adolescents, and they may be uniquely vulnerable to resulting cognitive and behavioral impairments. Previous studies have found impairments among adolescent marijuana users. However, the majority of this research has examined measures individually rather than multiple domains in a single cohesive analysis. This study used a logistic regression model that combines performance on a range of tasks to identify which measures were most altered among adolescent marijuana users. Objectives The purpose of this research was to determine unique associations between adolescent marijuana user and performances on multiple cognitive and behavioral domains (attention, memory, decision-making, and impulsivity) in 14- to 17-year-olds while simultaneously controlling for performances across the measures to determine which measures most strongly distinguish marijuana users from non-users. Methods Marijuana-using adolescents (n=45) and controls (n=48) were tested. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to test for: (a) differences between marijuana users and non-users on each measure, (b) associations between marijuana use and each measure after controlling for the other measures, and (c) the degree to which (a) and (b) together elucidated differences among marijuana users and non-users. Results Of all the cognitive and behavioral domains tested, impaired short-term recall memory and consequence sensitivity impulsivity were associated with marijuana use after controlling for performances across all measures. Conclusions This study extends previous findings by identifying cognitive and behavioral impairments most strongly associated with adolescent marijuana users. These specific deficits are potential targets of intervention for this at-risk population. PMID:23138434

Identifying Topics in Microblogs Using Wikipedia.

PubMed

Yıldırım, Ahmet; Üsküdarlı, Suzan; Özgür, Arzucan

2016-01-01

Twitter is an extremely high volume platform for user generated contributions regarding any topic. The wealth of content created at real-time in massive quantities calls for automated approaches to identify the topics of the contributions. Such topics can be utilized in numerous ways, such as public opinion mining, marketing, entertainment, and disaster management. Towards this end, approaches to relate single or partial posts to knowledge base items have been proposed. However, in microblogging systems like Twitter, topics emerge from the culmination of a large number of contributions. Therefore, identifying topics based on collections of posts, where individual posts contribute to some aspect of the greater topic is necessary. Models, such as Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA), propose algorithms for relating collections of posts to sets of keywords that represent underlying topics. In these approaches, figuring out what the specific topic(s) the keyword sets represent remains as a separate task. Another issue in topic detection is the scope, which is often limited to specific domain, such as health. This work proposes an approach for identifying domain-independent specific topics related to sets of posts. In this approach, individual posts are processed and then aggregated to identify key tokens, which are then mapped to specific topics. Wikipedia article titles are selected to represent topics, since they are up to date, user-generated, sophisticated articles that span topics of human interest. This paper describes the proposed approach, a prototype implementation, and a case study based on data gathered during the heavily contributed periods corresponding to the four US election debates in 2012. The manually evaluated results (0.96 precision) and other observations from the study are discussed in detail.

Identifying Topics in Microblogs Using Wikipedia

PubMed Central

Yıldırım, Ahmet; Üsküdarlı, Suzan; Özgür, Arzucan

2016-01-01

Twitter is an extremely high volume platform for user generated contributions regarding any topic. The wealth of content created at real-time in massive quantities calls for automated approaches to identify the topics of the contributions. Such topics can be utilized in numerous ways, such as public opinion mining, marketing, entertainment, and disaster management. Towards this end, approaches to relate single or partial posts to knowledge base items have been proposed. However, in microblogging systems like Twitter, topics emerge from the culmination of a large number of contributions. Therefore, identifying topics based on collections of posts, where individual posts contribute to some aspect of the greater topic is necessary. Models, such as Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA), propose algorithms for relating collections of posts to sets of keywords that represent underlying topics. In these approaches, figuring out what the specific topic(s) the keyword sets represent remains as a separate task. Another issue in topic detection is the scope, which is often limited to specific domain, such as health. This work proposes an approach for identifying domain-independent specific topics related to sets of posts. In this approach, individual posts are processed and then aggregated to identify key tokens, which are then mapped to specific topics. Wikipedia article titles are selected to represent topics, since they are up to date, user-generated, sophisticated articles that span topics of human interest. This paper describes the proposed approach, a prototype implementation, and a case study based on data gathered during the heavily contributed periods corresponding to the four US election debates in 2012. The manually evaluated results (0.96 precision) and other observations from the study are discussed in detail. PMID:26991442

Prediction of brain-computer interface aptitude from individual brain structure.

PubMed

Halder, S; Varkuti, B; Bogdan, M; Kübler, A; Rosenstiel, W; Sitaram, R; Birbaumer, N

2013-01-01

Brain-computer interface (BCI) provide a non-muscular communication channel for patients with impairments of the motor system. A significant number of BCI users is unable to obtain voluntary control of a BCI-system in proper time. This makes methods that can be used to determine the aptitude of a user necessary. We hypothesized that integrity and connectivity of involved white matter connections may serve as a predictor of individual BCI-performance. Therefore, we analyzed structural data from anatomical scans and DTI of motor imagery BCI-users differentiated into high and low BCI-aptitude groups based on their overall performance. Using a machine learning classification method we identified discriminating structural brain trait features and correlated the best features with a continuous measure of individual BCI-performance. Prediction of the aptitude group of each participant was possible with near perfect accuracy (one error). Tissue volumetric analysis yielded only poor classification results. In contrast, the structural integrity and myelination quality of deep white matter structures such as the Corpus Callosum, Cingulum, and Superior Fronto-Occipital Fascicle were positively correlated with individual BCI-performance. This confirms that structural brain traits contribute to individual performance in BCI use.

Predicting individual fusional range from optometric data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Endrikhovski, Serguei; Jin, Elaine; Miller, Michael E.; Ford, Robert W.

2005-03-01

A model was developed to predict the range of disparities that can be fused by an individual user from optometric measurements. This model uses parameters, such as dissociated phoria and fusional reserves, to calculate an individual user"s fusional range (i.e., the disparities that can be fused on stereoscopic displays) when the user views a stereoscopic stimulus from various distances. This model is validated by comparing its output with data from a study in which the individual fusional range of a group of users was quantified while they viewed a stereoscopic display from distances of 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 meters. Overall, the model provides good data predictions for the majority of the subjects and can be generalized for other viewing conditions. The model may, therefore, be used within a customized stereoscopic system, which would render stereoscopic information in a way that accounts for the individual differences in fusional range. Because the comfort of an individual user also depends on the user"s ability to fuse stereo images, such a system may, consequently, improve the comfort level and viewing experience for people with different stereoscopic fusional capabilities.

Feature determination from powered wheelchair user joystick input characteristics for adapting driving assistance.

PubMed

Gillham, Michael; Pepper, Matthew; Kelly, Steve; Howells, Gareth

2017-01-01

Background : Many powered wheelchair users find their medical condition and their ability to drive the wheelchair will change over time. In order to maintain their independent mobility, the powered chair will require adjustment over time to suit the user's needs, thus regular input from healthcare professionals is required. These limited resources can result in the user having to wait weeks for appointments, resulting in the user losing independent mobility, consequently affecting their quality of life and that of their family and carers. In order to provide an adaptive assistive driving system, a range of features need to be identified which are suitable for initial system setup and can automatically provide data for re-calibration over the long term. Methods : A questionnaire was designed to collect information from powered wheelchair users with regard to their symptoms and how they changed over time. Another group of volunteer participants were asked to drive a test platform and complete a course which represented manoeuvring in a very confined space as quickly as possible. Two of those participants were also monitored over a longer period in their normal home daily environment. Features, thought to be suitable, were examined using pattern recognition classifiers to determine their suitability for identifying the changing user input over time. Results : The results are not designed to provide absolute insight into the individual user behaviour, as no ground truth of their ability has been determined, they do nevertheless demonstrate the utility of the measured features to provide evidence of the users' changing ability over time whilst driving a powered wheelchair. Conclusions : Determining the driving features and adjustable elements provides the initial step towards developing an adaptable assistive technology for the user when the ground truths of the individual and their machine have been learned by a smart pattern recognition system.

Individual human scent as a forensic identifier using mantrailing.

PubMed

Woidtke, Leif; Dreßler, Jan; Babian, Carsten

2018-01-01

Specially trained dogs have long been used by law enforcement agencies to help in criminal investigations and in searching for missing persons. Still, it is unclear which components of human scent released into the environment contribute to successful searches of individuals. In this study, saliva and axillary sweat samples were taken from a total of 190 people. Additionally, DNA was extracted from whole blood of seven different people and used as an odour sample as well. Overall 675 tests (trails) were performed during a period of 18 months. The ability to track individuals with the odour samples mentioned above was examined with seven dogs, four of which were specially-trained dogs (mantrailer) from the Saxony Police. Results indicated that specially-trained police dogs can track a person with an average success rate of 82% and correctly identify the absence of an odour track with an average success rate of 97% under various conditions. Private rescue dogs were less successful with an average success rate of 65% and 75% respectively. These data suggest that the potential error rate of a well-trained handler team is low and can be a useful tool for law enforcement personnel. Saliva, as a reference odour source, was found to be particularly suitable for the search. The results of the study suggest that the components contained in axillary sweat, saliva and DNA extracted from whole blood are sufficient, serving as a key stimulus for individualized searches. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Perspectives on distributed computing : thirty people, four user types, and the distributed computing user experience.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Childers, L.; Liming, L.; Foster, I.

2008-10-15

This report summarizes the methodology and results of a user perspectives study conducted by the Community Driven Improvement of Globus Software (CDIGS) project. The purpose of the study was to document the work-related goals and challenges facing today's scientific technology users, to record their perspectives on Globus software and the distributed-computing ecosystem, and to provide recommendations to the Globus community based on the observations. Globus is a set of open source software components intended to provide a framework for collaborative computational science activities. Rather than attempting to characterize all users or potential users of Globus software, our strategy has beenmore » to speak in detail with a small group of individuals in the scientific community whose work appears to be the kind that could benefit from Globus software, learn as much as possible about their work goals and the challenges they face, and describe what we found. The result is a set of statements about specific individuals experiences. We do not claim that these are representative of a potential user community, but we do claim to have found commonalities and differences among the interviewees that may be reflected in the user community as a whole. We present these as a series of hypotheses that can be tested by subsequent studies, and we offer recommendations to Globus developers based on the assumption that these hypotheses are representative. Specifically, we conducted interviews with thirty technology users in the scientific community. We included both people who have used Globus software and those who have not. We made a point of including individuals who represent a variety of roles in scientific projects, for example, scientists, software developers, engineers, and infrastructure providers. The following material is included in this report: (1) A summary of the reported work-related goals, significant issues, and points of satisfaction with the use of Globus

VOC-PLAN: Individual Vocational Education Plan (A Quick, Efficient and Creative Way to Generate Vocational I.E.P.s), Users Manual and Preview Manual.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Robinson, Jim; Seabolt, Pete

This User's Manual is intended to accompany VOC-PLAN, a computer (Apple) program designed to assist in the preparation of an Individualized Vocational Education Program (IVEP) for handicapped, disadvantaged, or regular vocational secondary and postsecondary students. The program is presented in standard IEP (Individualized Education Program)…

Event-Based User Classification in Weibo Media

PubMed Central

Wang, Wendong; Cheng, Shiduan; Que, Xirong

2014-01-01

Weibo media, known as the real-time microblogging services, has attracted massive attention and support from social network users. Weibo platform offers an opportunity for people to access information and changes the way people acquire and disseminate information significantly. Meanwhile, it enables people to respond to the social events in a more convenient way. Much of the information in Weibo media is related to some events. Users who post different contents, and exert different behavior or attitude may lead to different contribution to the specific event. Therefore, classifying the large amount of uncategorized social circles generated in Weibo media automatically from the perspective of events has been a promising task. Under this circumstance, in order to effectively organize and manage the huge amounts of users, thereby further managing their contents, we address the task of user classification in a more granular, event-based approach in this paper. By analyzing real data collected from Sina Weibo, we investigate the Weibo properties and utilize both content information and social network information to classify the numerous users into four primary groups: celebrities, organizations/media accounts, grassroots stars, and ordinary individuals. The experiments results show that our method identifies the user categories accurately. PMID:25133235

Mental health service user participation in Chinese culture: a model of independence or interdependence?

PubMed

Tang, Jessica Pui-Shan; Tse, Samson Shu-Ki; Davidson, Larry; Cheng, Patrick

2017-12-22

Current models of user participation in mental health services were developed within Western culture and thus may not be applicable to Chinese communities. To present a new model of user participation, which emerged from research within a Chinese community, for understanding the processes of and factors influencing user participation in a non-Western culture. Multiple qualitative methods, including focus groups, individual in-depth interviews, and photovoice, were applied within the framework of constructivist grounded theory and collaborative research. Diverging from conceptualizations of user participation with emphasis on civil rights and the individual as a central agent, participants in the study highlighted the interpersonal dynamics between service users and different players affecting the participation intensity and outcomes. They valued a reciprocal relationship with their caregivers in making treatment decisions, cooperated with staff to observe power hierarchies and social harmony, identified the importance of peer support in enabling service engagement and delivery, and emphasized professional facilitation in advancing involvement at the policy level. User participation in Chinese culture embeds dynamic interdependence. The proposed model adds this new dimension to the existing frameworks and calls for attention to the complex local ecology and cultural consistency in realizing user participation.

Algorithm research for user trajectory matching across social media networks based on paragraph2vec

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Qian; Chen, Hongchang; Zhi, Hongxin; Wang, Yanchuan

2018-04-01

Identifying users across different social media networks (SMN) is to link accounts of the same user that belong to the same individual across SMNs. The problem is fundamental and important, and its results can benefit many applications such as cross SMN user modeling and recommendation. With the development of GPS technology and mobile communication, more and more social networks provide location services. This provides a new opportunity for cross SMN user identification. In this paper, we solve cross SMN user identification problem in an unsupervised manner by utilizing user trajectory data in SMNs. A paragraph2vec based algorithm is proposed in which location sequence feature of user trajectory is captured in temporal and spatial dimensions. Our experimental results validate the effectiveness and efficiency of our algorithm.

Feature determination from powered wheelchair user joystick input characteristics for adapting driving assistance

PubMed Central

Gillham, Michael; Pepper, Matthew; Kelly, Steve; Howells, Gareth

2018-01-01

Background: Many powered wheelchair users find their medical condition and their ability to drive the wheelchair will change over time. In order to maintain their independent mobility, the powered chair will require adjustment over time to suit the user's needs, thus regular input from healthcare professionals is required. These limited resources can result in the user having to wait weeks for appointments, resulting in the user losing independent mobility, consequently affecting their quality of life and that of their family and carers. In order to provide an adaptive assistive driving system, a range of features need to be identified which are suitable for initial system setup and can automatically provide data for re-calibration over the long term. Methods: A questionnaire was designed to collect information from powered wheelchair users with regard to their symptoms and how they changed over time. Another group of volunteer participants were asked to drive a test platform and complete a course which represented manoeuvring in a very confined space as quickly as possible. Two of those participants were also monitored over a longer period in their normal home daily environment. Features, thought to be suitable, were examined using pattern recognition classifiers to determine their suitability for identifying the changing user input over time. Results: The results are not designed to provide absolute insight into the individual user behaviour, as no ground truth of their ability has been determined, they do nevertheless demonstrate the utility of the measured features to provide evidence of the users’ changing ability over time whilst driving a powered wheelchair. Conclusions: Determining the driving features and adjustable elements provides the initial step towards developing an adaptable assistive technology for the user when the ground truths of the individual and their machine have been learned by a smart pattern recognition system. PMID:29552641

Method and system for normalizing biometric variations to authenticate users from a public database and that ensures individual biometric data privacy

DOEpatents

Strait, Robert S.; Pearson, Peter K.; Sengupta, Sailes K.

2000-01-01

A password system comprises a set of codewords spaced apart from one another by a Hamming distance (HD) that exceeds twice the variability that can be projected for a series of biometric measurements for a particular individual and that is less than the HD that can be encountered between two individuals. To enroll an individual, a biometric measurement is taken and exclusive-ORed with a random codeword to produce a "reference value." To verify the individual later, a biometric measurement is taken and exclusive-ORed with the reference value to reproduce the original random codeword or its approximation. If the reproduced value is not a codeword, the nearest codeword to it is found, and the bits that were corrected to produce the codeword to it is found, and the bits that were corrected to produce the codeword are also toggled in the biometric measurement taken and the codeword generated during enrollment. The correction scheme can be implemented by any conventional error correction code such as Reed-Muller code R(m,n). In the implementation using a hand geometry device an R(2,5) code has been used in this invention. Such codeword and biometric measurement can then be used to see if the individual is an authorized user. Conventional Diffie-Hellman public key encryption schemes and hashing procedures can then be used to secure the communications lines carrying the biometric information and to secure the database of authorized users.

Individual and Network Correlates of Antisocial Personality Disorder Among Rural Nonmedical Prescription Opioid Users.

PubMed

Smith, Rachel V; Young, April M; Mullins, Ursula L; Havens, Jennifer R

2017-04-01

Examination of the association of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) with substance use and HIV risk behaviors within the social networks of rural people who use drugs. Interviewer-administered questionnaires were used to assess substance use, HIV risk behavior, and social network characteristics of drug users (n = 503) living in rural Appalachia. The MINI International Psychiatric Interview was used to determine whether participants met DSM-IV criteria for ASPD and Axis-I psychological comorbidities (eg, major depressive disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, generalized anxiety disorder). Participants were also tested for herpes simplex 2, hepatitis C, and HIV. Multivariate generalized linear mixed modeling was used to determine the association between ASPD and risk behaviors, substance use, and social network characteristics. Approximately one-third (31%) of participants met DSM-IV criteria for ASPD. In multivariate analysis, distrust and conflict within an individual's social networks, as well as past 30-day use of heroin and crack, male gender, younger age, lesser education, heterosexual orientation, and comorbid MDD were associated with meeting diagnostic criteria for ASPD. Participants meeting criteria for ASPD were more likely to report recent heroin and crack use, which are far less common drugs of abuse in this population in which the predominant drug of abuse is prescription opioids. Greater discord within relationships was also identified among those with ASPD symptomatology. Given the elevated risk for blood-borne infection (eg, HIV) and other negative social and health consequences conferred by this high-risk subgroup, exploration of tailored network-based interventions with mental health assessment is recommended. © 2016 National Rural Health Association.

Speaking of Users: On User Discourses in the Field of Public Libraries

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hedemark, Ase; Hedman, Jenny; Sundin, Olof

2005-01-01

Introduction: The aim of the study reported is to examine user discourses identified in the Swedish public library field. The following questions are posed: What user discourses can be found and what characterises them? How are users categorised and what does this categorisation imply? The departure point in this paper is that the ways users are…

Method for identifying eligible individuals for a prevalence survey in the absence of a disease register or population register.

PubMed

Richardson, A K; Clarke, G; Sabel, C E; Pearson, J F; Mason, D F; Taylor, B V

2012-11-01

Identifying eligible individuals for a prevalence survey is difficult in the absence of a disease register or a national population register. To develop a method to identify and invite eligible individuals to participate in a national prevalence survey while maintaining confidentiality and complying with privacy legislation. A unique identifier (based on date of birth, sex and initials) was developed so that database holders could identify eligible individuals, notify us and invite them on our behalf to participate in a national multiple sclerosis prevalence survey while maintaining confidentiality and complying with privacy legislation. Several organisations (including central government, health and non-governmental organisations) used the method described to assign unique identifiers to individuals listed on their databases and to forward invitations and consent forms to them. The use of a unique identifier allowed us to recognise and record all the sources of identification for each individual. This prevented double counting or approaching the same individual more than once and facilitated the use of capture-recapture methods to improve the prevalence estimate. Capture-recapture analysis estimated that the method identified over 96% of eligible individuals in this prevalence survey. This method was developed and used successfully in a national prevalence survey of multiple sclerosis in New Zealand. The method may be useful for prevalence surveys of other diseases in New Zealand and for prevalence surveys in other countries with similar privacy legislation and lack of disease registers and population registers. © 2012 The Authors; Internal Medicine Journal © 2012 Royal Australasian College of Physicians.

Classification of Twitter Users Who Tweet About E-Cigarettes

PubMed Central

Miano, Thomas; Chew, Robert; Eggers, Matthew; Nonnemaker, James

2017-01-01

Background Despite concerns about their health risks, e‑cigarettes have gained popularity in recent years. Concurrent with the recent increase in e‑cigarette use, social media sites such as Twitter have become a common platform for sharing information about e-cigarettes and to promote marketing of e‑cigarettes. Monitoring the trends in e‑cigarette–related social media activity requires timely assessment of the content of posts and the types of users generating the content. However, little is known about the diversity of the types of users responsible for generating e‑cigarette–related content on Twitter. Objective The aim of this study was to demonstrate a novel methodology for automatically classifying Twitter users who tweet about e‑cigarette–related topics into distinct categories. Methods We collected approximately 11.5 million e‑cigarette–related tweets posted between November 2014 and October 2016 and obtained a random sample of Twitter users who tweeted about e‑cigarettes. Trained human coders examined the handles’ profiles and manually categorized each as one of the following user types: individual (n=2168), vaper enthusiast (n=334), informed agency (n=622), marketer (n=752), and spammer (n=1021). Next, the Twitter metadata as well as a sample of tweets for each labeled user were gathered, and features that reflect users’ metadata and tweeting behavior were analyzed. Finally, multiple machine learning algorithms were tested to identify a model with the best performance in classifying user types. Results Using a classification model that included metadata and features associated with tweeting behavior, we were able to predict with relatively high accuracy five different types of Twitter users that tweet about e‑cigarettes (average F1 score=83.3%). Accuracy varied by user type, with F1 scores of individuals, informed agencies, marketers, spammers, and vaper enthusiasts being 91.1%, 84.4%, 81.2%, 79.5%, and 47.1%, respectively

Prediction of brain-computer interface aptitude from individual brain structure

PubMed Central

Halder, S.; Varkuti, B.; Bogdan, M.; Kübler, A.; Rosenstiel, W.; Sitaram, R.; Birbaumer, N.

2013-01-01

Objective: Brain-computer interface (BCI) provide a non-muscular communication channel for patients with impairments of the motor system. A significant number of BCI users is unable to obtain voluntary control of a BCI-system in proper time. This makes methods that can be used to determine the aptitude of a user necessary. Methods: We hypothesized that integrity and connectivity of involved white matter connections may serve as a predictor of individual BCI-performance. Therefore, we analyzed structural data from anatomical scans and DTI of motor imagery BCI-users differentiated into high and low BCI-aptitude groups based on their overall performance. Results: Using a machine learning classification method we identified discriminating structural brain trait features and correlated the best features with a continuous measure of individual BCI-performance. Prediction of the aptitude group of each participant was possible with near perfect accuracy (one error). Conclusions: Tissue volumetric analysis yielded only poor classification results. In contrast, the structural integrity and myelination quality of deep white matter structures such as the Corpus Callosum, Cingulum, and Superior Fronto-Occipital Fascicle were positively correlated with individual BCI-performance. Significance: This confirms that structural brain traits contribute to individual performance in BCI use. PMID:23565083

Device-Training for Individuals with Thoracic and Lumbar Spinal Cord Injury Using a Powered Exoskeleton for Technically Assisted Mobility: Achievements and User Satisfaction

PubMed Central

Gillner, Annett; Borgwaldt, Nicole; Kroll, Sylvia; Roschka, Sybille

2016-01-01

Objective. Results of a device-training for nonambulatory individuals with thoracic and lumbar spinal cord injury (SCI) using a powered exoskeleton for technically assisted mobility with regard to the achieved level of control of the system after training, user satisfaction, and effects on quality of life (QoL). Methods. Observational single centre study with a 4-week to 5-week intensive inpatient device-training using a powered exoskeleton (ReWalk™). Results. All 7 individuals with SCI who commenced the device-training completed the course of training and achieved basic competences to use the system, that is, the ability to stand up, sit down, keep balance while standing, and walk indoors, at least with a close contact guard. User satisfaction with the system and device-training was documented for several aspects. The quality of life evaluation (SF-12v2™) indicated that the use of the powered exoskeleton can have positive effects on the perception of individuals with SCI regarding what they can achieve physically. Few adverse events were observed: minor skin lesions and irritations were observed; no falls occurred. Conclusions. The device-training for individuals with thoracic and lumbar SCI was effective and safe. All trained individuals achieved technically assisted mobility with the exoskeleton while still needing a close contact guard. PMID:27610382

Identifying factors for optimal development of health-related websites: a delphi study among experts and potential future users.

PubMed

Schneider, Francine; van Osch, Liesbeth; de Vries, Hein

2012-02-14

The Internet has become a popular medium for offering tailored and targeted health promotion programs to the general public. However, suboptimal levels of program use in the target population limit the public health impact of these programs. Optimizing program development is considered as one of the main processes to increase usage rates. To distinguish factors potentially related to optimal development of health-related websites by involving both experts and potential users. By considering and incorporating the opinions of experts and potential users in the development process, involvement in the program is expected to increase, consequently resulting in increased appreciation, lower levels of attrition, and higher levels of sustained use. We conducted a systematic three-round Delphi study through the Internet. Both national and international experts (from the fields of health promotion, health psychology, e-communication, and technical Web design) and potential users were invited via email to participate. During this study an extensive list of factors potentially related to optimal development of health-related websites was identified, by focusing on factors related to layout, general and risk information provision, questionnaire use, additional services, and ease of use. Furthermore, we assessed the extent to which experts and potential users agreed on the importance of these factors. Differences as well as similarities among experts and potentials users were deduced. In total, 20 of 62 contacted experts participated in the first round (32% response rate); 60 of 200 contacted experts (30% response rate) and 210 potential users (95% response rate) completed the second-round questionnaire, and 32 of 60 contacted experts completed the third round (53% response rate). Results revealed important factors consented upon by experts and potential users (eg, ease of use, clear structure, and detailed health information provision), as well as differences regarding

Adaptive user displays for intelligent tutoring software.

PubMed

Beal, Carole R

2004-12-01

Intelligent tutoring software (ITS) holds great promise for K-12 instruction. Yet it is difficult to obtain rich information about users that can be used in realistic educational delivery settings--public school classrooms--in which eye tracking and other user sensing technologies are not suitable. We are pursuing three "cheap and cheerful" strategies to meet this challenge in the context of an ITS for high school math instruction. First, we use detailed representations of student cognitive skills, including tasks to assess individual users' proficiency with abstract reasoning, proficiency with simple math facts and computational skill, and spatial ability. Second, we are using data mining and machine learning algorithms to identify instructional sequences that have been effective with previous students, and to use these patterns to make decisions about current students. Third, we are integrating a simple focus-of-attention tracking system into the software, using inexpensive, web cameras. This coarse-grained information can be used to time the display of multimedia hints, explanations, and examples when the user is actually looking at the screen, and to diagnose causes of problem-solving errors. The ultimate goal is to create non-intrusive software that can adapt the display of instructional information in real time to the user's cognitive strengths, motivation, and attention.

Exploring the Use of Individualized, Reflective Guidance In an Educational Multi-User Virtual Environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nelson, Brian C.

2007-02-01

This study examines the patterns of use and potential impact of individualized, reflective guidance in an educational Multi-User Virtual Environment (MUVE). A guidance system embedded within a MUVE-based scientific inquiry curriculum was implemented with a sample of middle school students in an exploratory study investigating (a) whether access to the guidance system was associated with improved learning, (b) whether students viewing more guidance messages saw greater improvement on content tests than those viewing less, and (c) whether there were any differences in guidance use among boys and girls. Initial experimental findings showed that basic access to individualized guidance used with a MUVE had no measurable impact on learning. However, post-hoc exploratory analyses indicated that increased use of the system among those with access to it was positively associated with content test score gains. In addition, differences were found in overall learning outcomes by gender and in patterns of guidance use by boys and girls, with girls outperforming boys across a spectrum of guidance system use. Based on these exploratory findings, the paper suggests design guidelines for the development of guidance systems embedded in MUVEs and outlines directions for further research.

Attitudinal and behavioral differences between cigarette users who do and do not identify as "smokers".

PubMed

Berg, Michael B; Lin, Linda; White, Madeleine; Alfonso-Barry, Jacqueline

2017-01-01

The current research aimed to understand differences in smoking-related identity among college students and to illustrate the distinct characteristics of nonidentified smokers (NIS). Students from 2 colleges in Massachusetts (N = 538; April 2016). Respondents reported by online survey whether or not they had smoked a cigarette in the past 30 days and if they self-identified as smokers. Nonsmokers (NIS) and identified smokers (IS) were then compared on their smoking attitudes and behavior. NIS made up 12.5% of the sample and 64% of all tobacco users. NIS perceived themselves as less addicted and were more confident in their ability to quit smoking. They also were less likely to smoke alone, buy their own cigarettes, or have friends who smoked. College health officials can best motivate NIS to quit smoking by focusing on peer norms and the potential of long-term addiction.

Resettlement of individuals with learning disabilities into community care: a risk audit.

PubMed

Ellis, Roger; Hogard, Elaine; Sines, David

2013-09-01

This article describes a risk audit carried out on the support provided for 36 people with profound learning disabilities who had been resettled from hospital care to supported housing. The risks were those factors identified in the literature as associated with deleterious effects on quality of life. The audit was carried out with a specially designed tool that covered 24 possible risks and involved a support worker familiar with the service user choosing the most appropriate statement regarding each risk. Their judgements were verified by care managers and social needs assessors. Whilst one or more risks were identified for 32 of the 36 service users, the overall result showed relatively low risks for the group as a whole with 62 incidences (7%) from a possible 864, which nevertheless highlighted several areas that needed attention. The results of the audit have led to action plans for the provision and for the individual service users for whom risks were identified.

Classification of Twitter Users Who Tweet About E-Cigarettes.

PubMed

Kim, Annice; Miano, Thomas; Chew, Robert; Eggers, Matthew; Nonnemaker, James

2017-09-26

Despite concerns about their health risks, e‑cigarettes have gained popularity in recent years. Concurrent with the recent increase in e‑cigarette use, social media sites such as Twitter have become a common platform for sharing information about e-cigarettes and to promote marketing of e‑cigarettes. Monitoring the trends in e‑cigarette-related social media activity requires timely assessment of the content of posts and the types of users generating the content. However, little is known about the diversity of the types of users responsible for generating e‑cigarette-related content on Twitter. The aim of this study was to demonstrate a novel methodology for automatically classifying Twitter users who tweet about e‑cigarette-related topics into distinct categories. We collected approximately 11.5 million e‑cigarette-related tweets posted between November 2014 and October 2016 and obtained a random sample of Twitter users who tweeted about e‑cigarettes. Trained human coders examined the handles' profiles and manually categorized each as one of the following user types: individual (n=2168), vaper enthusiast (n=334), informed agency (n=622), marketer (n=752), and spammer (n=1021). Next, the Twitter metadata as well as a sample of tweets for each labeled user were gathered, and features that reflect users' metadata and tweeting behavior were analyzed. Finally, multiple machine learning algorithms were tested to identify a model with the best performance in classifying user types. Using a classification model that included metadata and features associated with tweeting behavior, we were able to predict with relatively high accuracy five different types of Twitter users that tweet about e‑cigarettes (average F 1 score=83.3%). Accuracy varied by user type, with F 1 scores of individuals, informed agencies, marketers, spammers, and vaper enthusiasts being 91.1%, 84.4%, 81.2%, 79.5%, and 47.1%, respectively. Vaper enthusiasts were the most challenging user

Soundwalk approach to identify urban soundscapes individually.

PubMed

Jeon, Jin Yong; Hong, Joo Young; Lee, Pyoung Jik

2013-07-01

This study proposes a soundwalk procedure for evaluating urban soundscapes. Previous studies, which adopted soundwalk methodologies for investigating participants' responses to visual and acoustic environments, were analyzed considering type, evaluation position, measurement, and subjective assessment. An individual soundwalk procedure was then developed based on asking individual subjects to walk and select evaluation positions where they perceived any positive or negative characteristics of the urban soundscape. A case study was performed in urban spaces and the results were compared with those of the group soundwalk to validate the individual soundwalk procedure. Thirty subjects (15 architects and 15 acousticians) participated in the soundwalk. During the soundwalk, the subjects selected a total of 196 positions, and those were classified into 4 groups. It was found that soundscape perceptions were dominated by acoustic comfort, visual images, and openness. It was also revealed that perceived elements of the acoustic environment and visual image differed across classified soundscape groups, and there was a difference between architects and acousticians in terms of how they described their impressions of the soundscape elements. The results show that the individual soundwalk procedure has advantages for measuring diverse subjective responses and for obtaining the perceived elements of the urban soundscape.

Important wheelchair skills for new manual wheelchair users: health care professional and wheelchair user perspectives.

PubMed

Morgan, Kerri A; Engsberg, Jack R; Gray, David B

2017-01-01

The purpose of this project was to identify wheelchair skills currently being taught to new manual wheelchair users, identify areas of importance for manual wheelchair skills' training during initial rehabilitation, identify similarities and differences between the perspectives of health care professionals and manual wheelchair users and use the ICF to organize themes related to rehabilitation and learning how to use a manual wheelchair. Focus groups were conducted with health care professionals and experienced manual wheelchair users. ICF codes were used to identify focus group themes. The Activities and Participation codes were more frequently used than Structure, Function and Environment codes. Wheelchair skills identified as important for new manual wheelchair users included propulsion techniques, transfers in an out of the wheelchair, providing maintenance to the wheelchair and navigating barriers such as curbs, ramps and rough terrain. Health care professionals and manual wheelchair users identified the need to incorporate the environment (home and community) into the wheelchair training program. Identifying essential components for training the proper propulsion mechanics and wheelchair skills in new manual wheelchair users is an important step in preventing future health and participation restrictions. Implications for Rehabilitation Wheelchair skills are being addressed frequently during rehabilitation at the activity-dependent level. Propulsion techniques, transfers in an out of the wheelchair, providing maintenance to the wheelchair and navigating barriers such as curbs, ramps and rough terrain are important skills to address during wheelchair training. Environment factors (in the home and community) are important to incorporate into wheelchair training to maximize safe and multiple-environmental-setting uses of manual wheelchairs. The ICF has application to understanding manual wheelchair rehabilitation for wheelchair users and therapists for improving

Individual and work-related risk factors for musculoskeletal pain: a cross-sectional study among Estonian computer users.

PubMed

Oha, Kristel; Animägi, Liina; Pääsuke, Mati; Coggon, David; Merisalu, Eda

2014-05-28

Occupational use of computers has increased rapidly over recent decades, and has been linked with various musculoskeletal disorders, which are now the most commonly diagnosed occupational diseases in Estonia. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of musculoskeletal pain (MSP) by anatomical region during the past 12 months and to investigate its association with personal characteristics and work-related risk factors among Estonian office workers using computers. In a cross-sectional survey, the questionnaires were sent to the 415 computer users. Data were collected by self-administered questionnaire from 202 computer users at two universities in Estonia. The questionnaire asked about MSP at different anatomical sites, and potential individual and work related risk factors. Associations with risk factors were assessed by logistic regression. Most respondents (77%) reported MSP in at least one anatomical region during the past 12 months. Most prevalent was pain in the neck (51%), followed by low back pain (42%), wrist/hand pain (35%) and shoulder pain (30%). Older age, right-handedness, not currently smoking, emotional exhaustion, belief that musculoskeletal problems are commonly caused by work, and low job security were the statistically significant risk factors for MSP in different anatomical sites. A high prevalence of MSP in the neck, low back, wrist/arm and shoulder was observed among Estonian computer users. Psychosocial risk factors were broadly consistent with those reported from elsewhere. While computer users should be aware of ergonomic techniques that can make their work easier and more comfortable, presenting computer use as a serious health hazard may modify health beliefs in a way that is unhelpful.

Identifying profiles of service users in housing services and exploring their quality of life and care needs.

PubMed

Bitter, Neis A; Roeg, Diana P K; van Nieuwenhuizen, Chijs; van Weeghel, Jaap

2016-11-23

Housing services aim to support people with mental illness in their daily life and recovery. As the level of recovery differs between service users, the quality of life and care needs also might vary. However, the type and amount of care and support that service users receive do not always match their recovery. In order to improve the quality of care, this study aims to explore whether subgroups of service users exist based on three dimensions of recovery and to examine and compare the quality of life and care needs of the persons in these subgroups. Latent class analysis was performed with data from 263 service users of housing services in the Netherlands. Classes were based on three variables: personal recovery (Mental Health Recovery Measure), social recovery (Social Functioning Scale), and clinical recovery (Brief Symptom Inventory). Subsequently, the quality of life (MANSA) and care needs (CANSAS) of the different classes were analysed by the use of descriptive and inferential statistics. Three classes could be distinguished. Class 1 (45%) comprised of people who score the highest of the three classes in terms of personal and social recovery and who experience the least number of symptoms. People in class 2 (44%) and class 3 (11%) score significantly lower on personal and social recovery, and they experience significantly more symptoms compared to class 1. The distinction between class 2 and 3 can be made on the significantly higher number of symptoms in class 3. All three classes differ significantly on quality of life and unmet needs. The quality of life of service users of housing services needs improvement, as even persons in the best-recovered subgroup have a lower quality of life than the average population. Workers of housing services need to be aware of the recovery of a client and what his or her individual needs and goals are. Furthermore, better care (allocation) concerning mental and physical health and rehabilitation is needed. Care should be

Web-based collaboration in individual care planning challenges the user and the provider roles – toward a power transition in caring relationships

PubMed Central

Bjerkan, Jorunn; Vatne, Solfrid; Hollingen, Anne

2014-01-01

Background and objective The Individual Care Plan (ICP) was introduced in Norway to meet new statutory requirements for user participation in health care planning, incorporating multidisciplinary and cross-sector collaboration. A web-based solution (electronic ICP [e-ICP]) was used to support the planning and documentation. The aim of this study was to investigate how web-based collaboration challenged user and professional roles. Methods Data were obtained from 15 semistructured interviews with users and eight with care professionals, and from two focus-group interviews with eight care professionals in total. The data were analyzed using systematic text condensation in a stepwise analysis model. Results Users and care professionals took either a proactive or a reluctant role in e-ICP collaboration. Where both user and care professionals were proactive, the pairing helped to ensure that the planning worked well; so did pairings of proactive care professionals and reluctant users. Proactive users paired with reluctant care professionals also made care planning work, thanks to the availability of information and the users’ own capacity or willingness to conduct the planning. Where both parties were reluctant, no planning activities occurred. Conclusion Use of the e-ICP challenged the user–professional relationship. In some cases, a power transition took place in the care process, which led to patient empowerment. This knowledge might be used to develop a new understanding of how role function can be challenged when users and care professionals have equal access to health care documentation and planning tools. PMID:25525367

The effect of temporal gap identification on speech perception by users of cochlear implants

PubMed Central

Sagi, Elad; Kaiser, Adam R.; Meyer, Ted A.; Svirsky, Mario A.

2008-01-01

Purpose This study examined the ability of listeners using cochlear implants (CIs) and listeners with normal-hearing (NH) to identify silent gaps of different duration, and the relation of this ability to speech understanding in CI users. Method Sixteen NH adults and eleven postlingually deafened adults with CIs identified synthetic vowel-like stimuli that were either continuous or contained an intervening silent gap ranging from 15 to 90 ms. Cumulative d’, an index of discriminability, was calculated for each participant. Consonant and CNC word identification tasks were administered to the CI group. Results Overall, the ability to identify stimuli with gaps of different duration was better for the NH group than for the CI group. Seven CI users had cumulative d' scores that were no higher than those of any NH listener, and their CNC word scores ranged from 0 to 30%. The other four CI users had cumulative d’ scores within the range of the NH group, and their CNC word scores ranged from 46% to 68%. For the CI group, cumulative d’ scores were significantly correlated with their speech testing scores. Conclusions The ability to identify silent gap duration may help explain individual differences in speech perception by CI users. PMID:18806216

Identifying Measures of Student Behavior from Interaction with a Course Management System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nickles, George M., III

2006-01-01

The purpose of this work is to identify process measures of student interaction with a course management system (CMS). Logs maintained by Web servers capture aggregate user interactions with a Website. When combined with a login system and context from the course recorded in the CMS, more detailed measures of individual student interaction can be…

Error processing in current and former cocaine users

PubMed Central

Castelluccio, Brian C.; Meda, Shashwath A.; Muska, Christine E.; Stevens, Michael C.; Pearlson, Godfrey D.

2013-01-01

Deficits in response inhibition and error processing can result in maladaptive behavior, including failure to use past mistakes to inform present decisions. A specific deficit in inhibiting a prepotent response represents one aspect of impulsivity and is a prominent feature of addictive behaviors in general, including cocaine abuse/dependence. Brain regions implicated in cognitive control exhibit reduced activation in cocaine abusers. The purposes of the present investigation were (1) to identify neural differences associated with error processing in current and former cocaine-dependent individuals compared to healthy controls and (2) to determine whether former, long-term abstinent cocaine users showed similar differences compared with current users. The present study used an fMRI Go/No-Go task to investigate differences in BOLD response to correct rejections and false alarms between current cocaine users (n=30), former cocaine users (n=29), and healthy controls (n=35). Impulsivity trait measures were also assessed and compared with BOLD activity. Nineteen regions of interest previously implicated in errors of disinhibition were queried. There were no group differences in the correct rejections condition, but both current and former users exhibited increased BOLD response relative to controls for false alarms. In current users, the pregenual cingulate gyrus and left angular/supramarginal gyri overactivated. In former users, the right middle frontal/precentral gyri, right inferior parietal lobule, and left angular/supramarginal gyri overactivated. Overall, our results support a hypothesis that neural activity in former users differs more from healthy controls than that of current users due to cognitive compensation that facilitates abstinence. PMID:23949893

21 CFR 803.32 - If I am a user facility, what information must I submit in my individual adverse event reports?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 8 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false If I am a user facility, what information must I submit in my individual adverse event reports? 803.32 Section 803.32 Food and Drugs FOOD AND DRUG... must submit the following: (1) Identification of adverse event or product problem; (2) Outcomes...

21 CFR 803.32 - If I am a user facility, what information must I submit in my individual adverse event reports?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 8 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false If I am a user facility, what information must I submit in my individual adverse event reports? 803.32 Section 803.32 Food and Drugs FOOD AND DRUG... must submit the following: (1) Identification of adverse event or product problem; (2) Outcomes...

Exploring end user adoption and maintenance of a telephone-based physical activity counseling service for individuals with physical disabilities using the Theoretical Domains Framework.

PubMed

Tomasone, Jennifer R; Arbour-Nicitopoulos, Kelly P; Pila, Eva; Lamontagne, Marie-Eve; Cummings, Isabelle; Latimer-Cheung, Amy E; Routhier, François

2017-06-01

In Canada, two counseling services are offered to facilitate physical activity participation among persons with physical disabilities, yet both have encountered concerns related to the recruitment and retainment of clients. The purpose of this paper is to explore factors related to service adoption among nonusers, and the barriers and facilitators to maintaining service participation among adopters. Individuals who had never enrolled in the services (nonusers, n = 13) as well as current/previous service clients (adopters, n = 26) participated in interviews based on the Theoretical Domains Framework. Transcripts were subjected to deductive thematic analysis according to participant group. Fifteen themes relating to service adoption within 10 of the 12 theoretical domains were identified for nonusers, while 23 themes relating to maintenence of service participation were identified across all 12 theoretical domains for adopters. The findings provide strategies to improve recruitment, adoption, and retention of clients in counseling services and to enhance the experiences of targeted service users. Implications for Rehabiliation Peer support and education for equipment use should be built into physical activity programs to encourage participation among persons with physical disabilities. Programs that encourage physical activity among individuals with disabilities should be designed by practitioners to be responsive to a variety of needs, which are addressed in the program's advertisements and offerings. The Theoretical Domains Framework is a useful framework for providing valuable insight about clients' experiences of adoption and maintenance of a behavior change service, suggesting merit in other rehabilitation settings.

21 CFR 803.32 - If I am a user facility, what information must I submit in my individual adverse event reports?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 8 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false If I am a user facility, what information must I submit in my individual adverse event reports? 803.32 Section 803.32 Food and Drugs FOOD AND DRUG... problem; (2) Outcomes attributed to the adverse event (e.g., death or serious injury). An outcome is...

Impulsivity, attention, memory, and decision-making among adolescent marijuana users.

PubMed

Dougherty, Donald M; Mathias, Charles W; Dawes, Michael A; Furr, R Michael; Charles, Nora E; Liguori, Anthony; Shannon, Erin E; Acheson, Ashley

2013-03-01

Marijuana is a popular drug of abuse among adolescents, and they may be uniquely vulnerable to resulting cognitive and behavioral impairments. Previous studies have found impairments among adolescent marijuana users. However, the majority of this research has examined measures individually rather than multiple domains in a single cohesive analysis. This study used a logistic regression model that combines performance on a range of tasks to identify which measures were most altered among adolescent marijuana users. The purpose of this research was to determine unique associations between adolescent marijuana use and performances on multiple cognitive and behavioral domains (attention, memory, decision-making, and impulsivity) in 14- to 17-year-olds while simultaneously controlling for performances across the measures to determine which measures most strongly distinguish marijuana users from nonusers. Marijuana-using adolescents (n = 45) and controls (n = 48) were tested. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to test for: (1) differences between marijuana users and nonusers on each measure, (2) associations between marijuana use and each measure after controlling for the other measures, and (3) the degree to which (1) and (2) together elucidated differences among marijuana users and nonusers. Of all the cognitive and behavioral domains tested, impaired short-term recall memory and consequence sensitivity impulsivity were associated with marijuana use after controlling for performances across all measures. This study extends previous findings by identifying cognitive and behavioral impairments most strongly associated with adolescent marijuana users. These specific deficits are potential targets of intervention for this at-risk population.

Learning User Preferences for Sets of Objects

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

desJardins, Marie; Eaton, Eric; Wagstaff, Kiri L.

2006-01-01

Most work on preference learning has focused on pairwise preferences or rankings over individual items. In this paper, we present a method for learning preferences over sets of items. Our learning method takes as input a collection of positive examples--that is, one or more sets that have been identified by a user as desirable. Kernel density estimation is used to estimate the value function for individual items, and the desired set diversity is estimated from the average set diversity observed in the collection. Since this is a new learning problem, we introduce a new evaluation methodology and evaluate the learning method on two data collections: synthetic blocks-world data and a new real-world music data collection that we have gathered.

Consumer-identified barriers and strategies for optimizing technology use in the workplace.

PubMed

De Jonge, Desleigh M; Rodger, Sylvia A

2006-01-01

This article explores the experiences of 26 assistive technology (AT) users having a range of physical impairments as they optimized their use of technology in the workplace. A qualitative research design was employed using in-depth, open-ended interviews and observations of AT users in the workplace. Participants identified many factors that limited their use of technology such as discomfort and pain, limited knowledge of the technology's features, and the complexity of the technology. The amount of time required for training, limited work time available for mastery, cost of training and limitations of the training provided, resulted in an over-reliance on trial and error and informal support networks and a sense of isolation. AT users enhanced their use of technology by addressing the ergonomics of the workstation and customizing the technology to address individual needs and strategies. Other key strategies included tailored training and learning support as well as opportunities to practice using the technology and explore its features away from work demands. This research identified structures important for effective AT use in the workplace which need to be put in place to ensure that AT users are able to master and optimize their use of technology.

The experience of being a motorised mobility scooter user.

PubMed

Fomiatti, Ryan; Moir, Lois; Richmond, Janet; Millsteed, Jeannine

2014-05-01

To explore the individual experience of being a scooter user and the ways in which scooters impact the individual's community and social engagement, daily activities and enhances mobility. A qualitative, constructive framework utilising purposive sampling and a semi structured interview was used with 14 individuals. Questions were categorised according to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health framework into the three areas of activities, participation and environmental factors. The three main themes identified through the research were knowledge, engagement and environments. Knowledge included a lack of concise information, and adequate trialling and training prior to purchase. Engagement consisted of participation and interaction demonstrating scooter use resulted in increased participation, role maintenance, choice, freedom and social interaction. Environments highlighted discrimination from the wider population and building design and barriers. The research demonstrated a strong positive impact on individual's engagement from using a scooter, while highlighting a lack of adequate knowledge about scooters, batteries, skill ability and design along with environmental challenges of discriminatory attitudes and physical barriers. The research indicates the need for pre-purchase assessments and trials along with improvements in community attitudes and environments. Development of a pre-purchase assessment including specific core skills for scooter use is of great importance to minimise accidents and death as a consequence of scooter driving. Education and training of prescribers and suppliers of scooters is important to match needs and skills to enable a better fit of scooter to user. Incorporation of adjustability of features within the standard design of scooters, including type of driving controls, seat height, and adjustment of distance to controls, will enable greater fit of scooter to the user s needs.

Our Deming Users' Group.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dinklocker, Christina

1992-01-01

After training in the Total Quality Management concept, a suburban Ohio school district created a Deming Users' Group to link agencies, individuals, and ideas. The group has facilitated ongoing school/business collaboration, networking among individuals from diverse school systems, mentoring and cooperative learning activities, and resource…

CDPOP Users Manual

Treesearch

E. L. Landguth; B. K. Hand; J. M. Glassy; S. A. Cushman; M. Jacobi; T. J. Julian

2011-01-01

The goal of this user manual is to explain the technical aspects of the current release of the CDPOP program. CDPOP v1.0 is a major extension of the CDPOP program (Landguth and Cushman 2010). CDPOP is an individual-based program that simulates the influences of landscape structure on emergence of spatial patterns in population genetic data as functions of individual-...

Micronucleus as biomarkers of cancer risk in anabolic androgenic steroids users.

PubMed

Souza, L da Cunha Menezes; da Cruz, L A; Cerqueira, E de Moraes Marcílio; Meireles, Jrc

2017-03-01

The use of anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) has grown among practitioners of recreational bodybuilding, with significant contributions of designer steroids, aiming muscle hypertrophy in healthy subjects. The abusive use of AAS in general is associated with adverse effects; one of the most worrisome is cancer development. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the cytokinesis block micronucleus (CBMN) test in human lymphocytes in identifying risk groups for cancer development in users of AAS. Blood was collected from 15 AAS users bodybuilders (G1), 20 non-users bodybuilders (G2) and 20 non-users sedentary (G3). MN analysis was performed on a minimum of 1000 binucleated lymphocytes. The occurrence of MN was significantly higher ( p < 0.05) in individuals of G1 compared to G2 and G3. The results indicate the sensitivity of CBMN in human lymphocytes in the identification of chromosomal damage in consequence of AAS.

The Human Genome Project and Eugenics: Identifying the Impact on Individuals with Mental Retardation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kuna, Jason

2001-01-01

This article explores the impact of the mapping work of the Human Genome Project on individuals with mental retardation and the negative effects of genetic testing. The potential to identify disabilities and the concept of eugenics are discussed, along with ethical issues surrounding potential genetic therapies. (Contains references.) (CR)

Neurocognition in individuals with incidentally-identified meningioma.

PubMed

Butts, Alissa M; Weigand, Stephen; Brown, Paul D; Petersen, Ronald C; Jack, Clifford R; Machulda, Mary M; Cerhan, Jane H

2017-08-01

Meningiomas are primary intracranial tumors that are often asymptomatic. To our knowledge, no study has attempted to describe neurocognitive function in patients with incidentally-discovered meningioma. We utilized the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging (MCSA), which is a population-based sample of Olmsted County, Minnesota residents that includes neuropsychological testing and brain MRI approximately every 15 months. Using a text search of radiologists' notes of 2402 MCSA individuals (mean age 77 years, scanned between 2004 and 2014) we identified 48 eligible subjects (2%) who had at least one meningioma. Most meningiomas were small (90% <3 cm). We matched each of the 48 subjects to 5 non-demented MCSA controls (n = 240) on age, sex, and education. Cognitive domains assessed included memory, attention-executive function, language, and visuospatial. More women (67%) had a meningioma than men (33%). Groups did not differ on prevalence of Mild Cognitive Impairment (Meningioma = 19%, Controls = 13%). Across cognitive domains, we observed similar performance for the two groups (p's ≥ 0.21). Subtle differences emerged in memory and language domains (p = 0.05 and p = 0.11) when we divided the Meningioma group by tumor location, wherein the small group with an infratentorial tumor performed more poorly than controls globally as well as on select memory and language measures. Our findings suggest that small meningiomas are generally cognitively benign, but that may change as the tumor evolves, and might be impacted by other factors such as meningioma location.

Suicide ideation of individuals in online social networks.

PubMed

Masuda, Naoki; Kurahashi, Issei; Onari, Hiroko

2013-01-01

Suicide explains the largest number of death tolls among Japanese adolescents in their twenties and thirties. Suicide is also a major cause of death for adolescents in many other countries. Although social isolation has been implicated to influence the tendency to suicidal behavior, the impact of social isolation on suicide in the context of explicit social networks of individuals is scarcely explored. To address this question, we examined a large data set obtained from a social networking service dominant in Japan. The social network is composed of a set of friendship ties between pairs of users created by mutual endorsement. We carried out the logistic regression to identify users' characteristics, both related and unrelated to social networks, which contribute to suicide ideation. We defined suicide ideation of a user as the membership to at least one active user-defined community related to suicide. We found that the number of communities to which a user belongs to, the intransitivity (i.e., paucity of triangles including the user), and the fraction of suicidal neighbors in the social network, contributed the most to suicide ideation in this order. Other characteristics including the age and gender contributed little to suicide ideation. We also found qualitatively the same results for depressive symptoms.

Anti-human immunodeficiency virus-1 antibody titers in injection drug users compared to sexually infected individuals.

PubMed

Bongertz, Vera; Ouverney, Elaine Priscilla; Teixeira, Sylvia L M; Silva-de-Jesus, Carlos; Hacker, Mariana A; Morgado, Mariza G; Bastos, Francisco I

2003-03-01

Sera from infected injection drug users (IDU) have shown to have antibodies against synthetic human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) envelope peptides more frequently. In this study, reactivity of 48 IDU plasma were compared to 60 plasmas obtained from sexually infected individuals (S). The overall reactivity of plasma from IDU compared to S was higher, and the reactivity titers were much higher for IDU plasma than S. IDU plasma also showed a broader antibody response. The higher reactivity titers were observed mainly for the gp41 immunodominant epitope and V3 peptides corresponding to the consensus sequences of HIV-1 subtypes/variants prevalent in Brazil (B, F, C) indicating the specificity in the higher immune response of IDU.

Satisfaction with nursing care in drug users: the evolution of a scale.

PubMed

Seabra, Paulo Rosário Carvalho; Sá, Luis Octávio; Amendoeira, José Joaquim Penedos; Ribeiro, Ana Leonor

2017-07-13

To identify the degree of satisfaction with nursing care, the significant variables and contribute to the evolution of the scale. Descriptive, correlational, cross study, with 180 drug users. Data collected using the scale called "Satisfaction of users with the Nursing Health Center26", between February and December 2012 in three treatment units in the region of Lisbon and Vale do Tejo, Portugal. Users indicated 83.3% satisfaction. The dimension "Information individualization" was the most marked (98.5%). The more stability in the programs, abstinence from stimulants and benzodiazepines and more nursing interventions, the greater the satisfaction. Better working conditions, specializing in mental health, younger ages and less experience of nurses also contributed to satisfaction. Four items of the scale were extracted, assuming new SUCECS22 designation. Satisfaction was high, influenced by structural variables of users, nurses and working conditions. The scale has proved suitable for assessment in this population.

Measuring User-Created Content: Implications for the ICT Access and Use by Households and Individuals Surveys. OECD Digital Economy Papers, No. 139

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van Beuzekom, Brigitte

2008-01-01

This paper reviews recent measurement work on User-Created Content (UCC) undertaken in OECD countries. It shows that UCC is emerging as a significant area of economic and social activity worthy of consideration for official measurement and discusses the implications for the OECD Model Survey on ICT Access and Use by Households and Individuals.…

New benzodiazepine and Z-hypnotic users and disability pension: an eight-year nationwide observational follow-up study.

PubMed

Tvete, Ingunn F; Bjørner, Trine; Skomedal, Tor

2017-09-01

To compare how newly initiated treatment with benzodiazepines, Z-hypnotics or both associates with the reception of disability pension among 40,661 individuals of a working age. Prescription register study. Norwegian nationwide prescriptions socio-economic and disability status data. Cox regression analyses. New benzodiazepine or Z-hypnotic users. Time to receive disability pension given benzodiazepine or Z-hypnotic use or both. Additional analyses focused on the benzodiazepine first redeemed. Among new users 8.65% of Z-hypnotic users, 12.29% of benzodiazepines users and 13.96% of combined Z-hypnotic and benzodiazepine users became disability pensioners. Z-hypnotic users were weaker associated with becoming disability pensioners (HR = 0.78, CI: 0.73-0.84) and combined users were stronger associated (HR = 1.09, CI: 1.01-1.17), than benzodiazepine users. Women had higher risk than men for becoming disability pensioners. Higher age, lower education, previous drug use and psychiatrist as first prescriber were risk factors. Comparing first benzodiazepine redeemed; clonazepam initiators were stronger associated with becoming disability pensioners than diazepam initiators were (HR = 2.22, CI: 1.81-2.71). No differences between other benzodiazepine users were found. Adjusting for known risk factors gave lower risk for Z-hypnotic users compared to benzodiazepine users for receiving disability pension. Combined use increased the risk further. Clonazepam initiators are especially at risk. These findings may be helpful in prescribing situations to identify and guide individuals at risk for becoming disability pensioners.

7 CFR 29.425 - Submission and disposition of pesticide residues and end user(s) certification.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... AGRICULTURE COMMODITY STANDARDS AND STANDARD CONTAINER REGULATIONS TOBACCO INSPECTION Regulations... a form approved by the Director for each lot of flue-cured or burley tobacco, including stems... end users so identified shall also complete an end user(s) certification until the tobacco is used in...

Identifying the Correlates and Barriers of Future Planning among Parents of Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burke, Meghan; Arnold, Catherine; Owen, Aleksa

2018-01-01

Although individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are living longer lives, fewer than half of parents of individuals with IDD conduct future planning. The correlates and barriers to future planning must be identified to develop targeted interventions to facilitate future planning. In this study, 388 parents of individuals…

End-Users: Dollars but Doubts.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arnold, Stephen E.

1989-01-01

Identifies existing categories of end users of online information retrieval systems, discusses problems that have been encountered by information providers and customers, and suggests strategies for capturing new end-user markets. Issues discussed include user cordial interfaces, CD-ROM products, ethics involved in information provision, and…

Identifying Twitter influencer profiles for health promotion in Saudi Arabia.

PubMed

Albalawi, Yousef; Sixsmith, Jane

2017-06-01

New media platforms, such as Twitter, provide the ideal opportunity to positively influence the health of large audiences. Saudi Arabia has one of the highest number of Twitter users of any country, some of whom are very influential in setting agendas and contributing to the dissemination of ideas. Those opinion leaders, both individuals and organizations, influential in the new media environment have the potential to raise awareness of health issues, advocate for health and potentially instigate change at a social level. To realize the potential of the new media platforms for public health, the function of opinion leaders is key. This study aims to identify and profile the most influential Twitter accounts in Saudi Arabia. Multiple measures, including: number of followers and four influence scores, were used to evaluate Twitter accounts. The data were then filtered and analysed using ratio and percentage calculations to identify the most influential users. In total, 99 Saudi Twitter accounts were classified, resulting in the identification of 25 religious men/women, 16 traditional media, 14 sports related, 10 new media, 6 political, 6 company and 4 health accounts. The methods used to identify the key influential Saudi accounts can be applied to inform profile development of Twitter users in other countries. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

An Algorithm Enabling Blind Users to Find and Read Barcodes

PubMed Central

Tekin, Ender; Coughlan, James M.

2010-01-01

Most camera-based systems for finding and reading barcodes are designed to be used by sighted users (e.g. the Red Laser iPhone app), and assume the user carefully centers the barcode in the image before the barcode is read. Blind individuals could benefit greatly from such systems to identify packaged goods (such as canned goods in a supermarket), but unfortunately in their current form these systems are completely inaccessible because of their reliance on visual feedback from the user. To remedy this problem, we propose a computer vision algorithm that processes several frames of video per second to detect barcodes from a distance of several inches; the algorithm issues directional information with audio feedback (e.g. “left,” “right”) and thereby guides a blind user holding a webcam or other portable camera to locate and home in on a barcode. Once the barcode is detected at sufficiently close range, a barcode reading algorithm previously developed by the authors scans and reads aloud the barcode and the corresponding product information. We demonstrate encouraging experimental results of our proposed system implemented on a desktop computer with a webcam held by a blindfolded user; ultimately the system will be ported to a camera phone for use by visually impaired users. PMID:20617114

Consolidated science and user needs for a sustained satellite gravity observing system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pail, R.

2015-12-01

In an internationally coordinated initiative among the main user communities of gravity field products the science requirements for a future gravity field mission constellation (beyond GRACE-FO) have been reviewed and defined. This activity was realized as a joint initiative of the IAG (International Association of Geodesy) Sub-Commissions 2.3 and 2.6, the GGOS (Global Geodetic Observing System) Working Group on Satellite Missions, and the IUGG (International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics). After about one year of preparation, in a user workshop that was held in September 2014 consensus among the user communities of hydrology, ocean, cryosphere, solid Earth and atmosphere on consolidated science requirements could be achieved.The consolidation of the user requirements became necessary, because several future gravity field studies have resulted in quite different performance numbers as a target for a future gravity mission (2025+). Based on limited number of mission scenarios which took also technical feasibility into account, a consolidated view on the science requirements among the international user communities was derived, research fields that could not be tackled by current gravity missions have been identified, and the added value (qualitatively and quantitatively) of these scenarios with respect to science return has been evaluated. The resulting document shall form the basis for further programmatic and technological developments. In this contribution, the main results of this initiative will be presented. An overview of the specific requirements of the individual user groups, the consensus on consolidated science and user needs as well as the new research fields that have been identified during this process will be discussed.

Can soft biometric traits assist user recognition?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jain, Anil K.; Dass, Sarat C.; Nandakumar, Karthik

2004-08-01

Biometrics is rapidly gaining acceptance as the technology that can meet the ever increasing need for security in critical applications. Biometric systems automatically recognize individuals based on their physiological and behavioral characteristics. Hence, the fundamental requirement of any biometric recognition system is a human trait having several desirable properties like universality, distinctiveness, permanence, collectability, acceptability, and resistance to circumvention. However, a human characteristic that possesses all these properties has not yet been identified. As a result, none of the existing biometric systems provide perfect recognition and there is a scope for improving the performance of these systems. Although characteristics like gender, ethnicity, age, height, weight and eye color are not unique and reliable, they provide some information about the user. We refer to these characteristics as "soft" biometric traits and argue that these traits can complement the identity information provided by the primary biometric identifiers like fingerprint and face. This paper presents the motivation for utilizing soft biometric information and analyzes how the soft biometric traits can be automatically extracted and incorporated in the decision making process of the primary biometric system. Preliminary experiments were conducted on a fingerprint database of 160 users by synthetically generating soft biometric traits like gender, ethnicity, and height based on known statistics. The results show that the use of additional soft biometric user information significantly improves (approximately 6%) the recognition performance of the fingerprint biometric system.

Using event related potentials to identify a user's behavioural intention aroused by product form design.

PubMed

Ding, Yi; Guo, Fu; Zhang, Xuefeng; Qu, Qingxing; Liu, Weilin

2016-07-01

The capacity of product form to arouse user's behavioural intention plays a decisive role in further user experience, even in purchase decision, while traditional methods rarely give a fully understanding of user experience evoked by product form, especially the feeling of anticipated use of product. Behavioural intention aroused by product form designs has not yet been investigated electrophysiologically. Hence event related potentials (ERPs) were applied to explore the process of behavioural intention when users browsed different smart phone form designs with brand and price not taken into account for mainly studying the brain activity evoked by variety of product forms. Smart phone pictures with different anticipated user experience were displayed with equiprobability randomly. Participants were asked to click the left mouse button when certain picture gave them a feeling of behavioural intention to interact with. The brain signal of each participant was recorded by Curry 7.0. The results show that pictures with an ability to arouse participants' behavioural intention for further experience can evoke enhanced N300 and LPPs (late positive potentials) in central-parietal, parietal and occipital regions. The scalp topography shows that central-parietal, parietal and occipital regions are more activated. The results indicate that the discrepancy of ERPs can reflect the neural activities of behavioural intention formed or not. Moreover, amplitude of ERPs occurred in corresponding brain areas can be used to measure user experience. The exploring of neural correlated with behavioural intention provide an accurate measurement method of user's perception and help marketers to know which product can arouse users' behavioural intention, maybe taken as an evaluating indicator of product design. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

Compensatory strategies during manual wheelchair propulsion in response to weakness in individual muscle groups: A simulation study.

PubMed

Slowik, Jonathan S; McNitt-Gray, Jill L; Requejo, Philip S; Mulroy, Sara J; Neptune, Richard R

2016-03-01

The considerable physical demand placed on the upper extremity during manual wheelchair propulsion is distributed among individual muscles. The strategy used to distribute the workload is likely influenced by the relative force-generating capacities of individual muscles, and some strategies may be associated with a higher injury risk than others. The objective of this study was to use forward dynamics simulations of manual wheelchair propulsion to identify compensatory strategies that can be used to overcome weakness in individual muscle groups and identify specific strategies that may increase injury risk. Identifying these strategies can provide rationale for the design of targeted rehabilitation programs aimed at preventing the development of pain and injury in manual wheelchair users. Muscle-actuated forward dynamics simulations of manual wheelchair propulsion were analyzed to identify compensatory strategies in response to individual muscle group weakness using individual muscle mechanical power and stress as measures of upper extremity demand. The simulation analyses found the upper extremity to be robust to weakness in any single muscle group as the remaining groups were able to compensate and restore normal propulsion mechanics. The rotator cuff muscles experienced relatively high muscle stress levels and exhibited compensatory relationships with the deltoid muscles. These results underline the importance of strengthening the rotator cuff muscles and supporting muscles whose contributions do not increase the potential for impingement (i.e., the thoracohumeral depressors) and minimize the risk of upper extremity injury in manual wheelchair users. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Compensatory Strategies during Manual Wheelchair Propulsion in Response to Weakness in Individual Muscle Groups: A Simulation Study

PubMed Central

Slowik, Jonathan S.; McNitt-Gray, Jill L.; Requejo, Philip S.; Mulroy, Sara J.; Neptune, Richard R.

2016-01-01

Background The considerable physical demand placed on the upper extremity during manual wheelchair propulsion is distributed among the individual muscles. The strategy used to distribute the workload is likely influenced by the relative force-generating capacities of individual muscles, and some strategies may be associated with a higher injury risk than others. The objective of this study was to use forward dynamics simulations of manual wheelchair propulsion to identify compensatory strategies that can be used to overcome weakness in individual muscle groups and identify specific strategies that may increase injury risk. Identifying these strategies can provide rationale for the design of targeted rehabilitation programs aimed at preventing the development of pain and injury in manual wheelchair users. Methods Muscle-actuated forward dynamics simulations of manual wheelchair propulsion were analyzed to identify compensatory strategies in response to individual muscle group weakness, using individual muscle mechanical power and stress as measures of upper extremity demand. Findings The simulation analyses found the upper extremity to be robust to weakness in any single muscle group as the remaining groups were able to compensate and restore normal propulsion mechanics. The rotator cuff muscles experienced relatively high muscle stress levels and exhibited compensatory relationships with the deltoid muscles. Interpretation These results underline the importance of strengthening the rotator cuff muscles and supporting muscles whose contributions do not increase the potential for impingement (i.e., the thoracohumeral depressors) and minimize the risk of upper extremity injury in manual wheelchair users. PMID:26945719

Identifying and individuating cognitive systems: a task-based distributed cognition alternative to agent-based extended cognition.

PubMed

Davies, Jim; Michaelian, Kourken

2016-08-01

This article argues for a task-based approach to identifying and individuating cognitive systems. The agent-based extended cognition approach faces a problem of cognitive bloat and has difficulty accommodating both sub-individual cognitive systems ("scaling down") and some supra-individual cognitive systems ("scaling up"). The standard distributed cognition approach can accommodate a wider variety of supra-individual systems but likewise has difficulties with sub-individual systems and faces the problem of cognitive bloat. We develop a task-based variant of distributed cognition designed to scale up and down smoothly while providing a principled means of avoiding cognitive bloat. The advantages of the task-based approach are illustrated by means of two parallel case studies: re-representation in the human visual system and in a biomedical engineering laboratory.

Analyses to help identify individuals from a historical mass grave in Kassel, Germany.

PubMed

v Grumbkow, Philipp; Zipp, Anna; Grosskopf, Birgit; Fueldner, Kai; Hummel, Susanne

2012-01-01

In 2008, the skeletal remains of more than 60 human individuals were found in a mass grave on the grounds of the University of Kassel, Germany. There was no evidence helping to identify them or throwing light on the cause of their death. Mainly due to 14C age determination and initial hints on age and sex distribution, historians hypothesized that they had been soldiers of Napoleon's army who died in an epidemic in the winter of 1813/14. To test this assumption, morphological and molecular analyses were carried out on a sample. The morphological analyses comprised an age and sex determination as well as a macro- and micro-morphological inspection for pathological deviations after the commingled bones had been assembled as individuals. The molecular investigations aimed to identify the geographic origin of the remains. For this, mitochondrial and Y-chromosomal haplotypings were carried out. The results point to a group of mainly young men, some of them suffering from systemic inflammation of the periosteum. Others revealed severe aberrations in bone microstructure. The greatest similarities revealed by Y-haplogroup and -haplotype distribution were to populations that live in what are now the Benelux countries. All aspects support the thesis that these were soldiers of the Napoleonic army.

Familiarity and prevalence of Facebook use for social networking among individuals with traumatic brain injury.

PubMed

Tsaousides, Theodore; Matsuzawa, Yuka; Lebowitz, Matthew

2011-01-01

To examine use of Facebook among individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and to identify barriers preventing Facebook use. An online survey was developed assessing frequency and barriers to use of Facebook. The survey was distributed electronically to individuals with TBI through four state brain injury associations. Ninety-six individuals with TBI completed the survey (60% female, age range: 23-70). The relative majority of respondents (60%) reported using Facebook on a regular basis. Among those who reported not using Facebook, the most commonly reported barriers were security concerns and cognitive deficits. Approximately half of non-users indicated interest in learning to use the site, with 70% reporting that they would use it more if they were more knowledgeable about it. Both users and non-users indicated that they would be interested in receiving training to learn how to use Facebook better. Social networking sites are increasingly important in creating and maintaining social networks. A significant number of survey respondents expressed interest in further training on Facebook use. Increased use of social networking may have important implications for social integration among individuals with TBI.

Real-time detection method and system for identifying individual aerosol particles

DOEpatents

Gard, Eric E [San Francisco, CA; Coffee, Keith R [Patterson, CA; Frank, Matthias [Oakland, CA; Tobias, Herbert J [Kensington, CA; Fergenson, David P [Alamo, CA; Madden, Norm [Livermore, CA; Riot, Vincent J [Berkeley, CA; Steele, Paul T [Livermore, CA; Woods, Bruce W [Livermore, CA

2007-08-21

An improved method and system of identifying individual aerosol particles in real time. Sample aerosol particles are collimated, tracked, and screened to determine which ones qualify for mass spectrometric analysis based on predetermined qualification or selection criteria. Screening techniques include one or more of determining particle size, shape, symmetry, and fluorescence. Only qualifying particles passing all screening criteria are subject to desorption/ionization and single particle mass spectrometry to produce corresponding test spectra, which is used to determine the identities of each of the qualifying aerosol particles by comparing the test spectra against predetermined spectra for known particle types. In this manner, activation cycling of a particle ablation laser of a single particle mass spectrometer is reduced.

Identification of discriminant proteins through antibody profiling, methods and apparatus for identifying an individual

DOEpatents

Apel, William A.; Thompson, Vicki S; Lacey, Jeffrey A.; Gentillon, Cynthia A.

2016-08-09

A method for determining a plurality of proteins for discriminating and positively identifying an individual based from a biological sample. The method may include profiling a biological sample from a plurality of individuals against a protein array including a plurality of proteins. The protein array may include proteins attached to a support in a preselected pattern such that locations of the proteins are known. The biological sample may be contacted with the protein array such that a portion of antibodies in the biological sample reacts with and binds to the proteins forming immune complexes. A statistical analysis method, such as discriminant analysis, may be performed to determine discriminating proteins for distinguishing individuals. Proteins of interest may be used to form a protein array. Such a protein array may be used, for example, to compare a forensic sample from an unknown source with a sample from a known source.

Identification of discriminant proteins through antibody profiling, methods and apparatus for identifying an individual

DOEpatents

Thompson, Vicki S; Lacey, Jeffrey A; Gentillon, Cynthia A; Apel, William A

2015-03-03

A method for determining a plurality of proteins for discriminating and positively identifying an individual based from a biological sample. The method may include profiling a biological sample from a plurality of individuals against a protein array including a plurality of proteins. The protein array may include proteins attached to a support in a preselected pattern such that locations of the proteins are known. The biological sample may be contacted with the protein array such that a portion of antibodies in the biological sample reacts with and binds to the proteins forming immune complexes. A statistical analysis method, such as discriminant analysis, may be performed to determine discriminating proteins for distinguishing individuals. Proteins of interest may be used to form a protein array. Such a protein array may be used, for example, to compare a forensic sample from an unknown source with a sample from a known source.

What matters to users of services? An explorative study to promote shared decision making in health care

PubMed Central

Padgett, Kath; Rhodes, Christine; Lumb, Maureen; Morris, Penny; Sherwin, Sue; Symons, Jools; Tate, Joannie; Townend, Ken

2012-01-01

Abstract Background  Involving service users and carers in decisions about their health care is a key feature of health‐care practice. Professional health and social care students need to develop skills and attributes to best enable this to happen. Aims  The aims were to explore service user and carer perceptions of behaviours, attributes and context required to enable shared decision making; to compare these perceptions to those of students and academic staff with a view to utilizing the findings to inform the development of student assessment tools. Methods  A mixed methods approach was used including action learning groups (ALG) and an iterative process alongside a modified Delphi survey. Participants  The ALGs were from an existing service user and carer network. The survey was sent to sixty students, sixty academics and 30 service users from 16 different professional disciplines, spanning four Universities in England. Results  The collaborative enquiry process and survey identified general agreement that being open and honest, listening, showing respect, giving time and being up to date were important. The qualitative findings identified that individual interpretation was a key factor. An unexpected result was an insight into possible insecurities of students. Conclusions  The findings indicate that distilling rich qualitative information into a format for student assessment tools could be problematic as the individual context could be lost, it is therefore proposed that the information could be better used as a learning rather than assessment tool. Several of those involved identified how they valued the process and found it beneficial. PMID:22390320

What matters to users of services? An explorative study to promote shared decision making in health care.

PubMed

Padgett, Kath; Rhodes, Christine; Lumb, Maureen; Morris, Penny; Sherwin, Sue; Symons, Jools; Tate, Joannie; Townend, Ken

2014-06-01

Involving service users and carers in decisions about their health care is a key feature of health-care practice. Professional health and social care students need to develop skills and attributes to best enable this to happen. The aims were to explore service user and carer perceptions of behaviours, attributes and context required to enable shared decision making; to compare these perceptions to those of students and academic staff with a view to utilizing the findings to inform the development of student assessment tools. A mixed methods approach was used including action learning groups (ALG) and an iterative process alongside a modified Delphi survey. The ALGs were from an existing service user and carer network. The survey was sent to sixty students, sixty academics and 30 service users from 16 different professional disciplines, spanning four Universities in England. The collaborative enquiry process and survey identified general agreement that being open and honest, listening, showing respect, giving time and being up to date were important. The qualitative findings identified that individual interpretation was a key factor. An unexpected result was an insight into possible insecurities of students. The findings indicate that distilling rich qualitative information into a format for student assessment tools could be problematic as the individual context could be lost, it is therefore proposed that the information could be better used as a learning rather than assessment tool. Several of those involved identified how they valued the process and found it beneficial. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

User interface and patient involvement.

PubMed

Andreassen, Hege Kristin; Lundvoll Nilsen, Line

2013-01-01

Increased patient involvement is a goal in contemporary health care, and of importance to the development of patient oriented ICT. In this paper we discuss how the design of patient-user interfaces can affect patient involvement. Our discussion is based on 12 semi-structured interviews with patient users of a web-based solution for patient--doctor communication piloted in Norway. We argue ICT solutions offering a choice of user interfaces on the patient side are preferable to ensure individual accommodation and a high degree of patient involvement. When introducing web-based tools for patient--health professional communication a free-text option should be provided to the patient users.

Analysis of individual cells identifies cell-to-cell variability following induction of cellular senescence.

PubMed

Wiley, Christopher D; Flynn, James M; Morrissey, Christapher; Lebofsky, Ronald; Shuga, Joe; Dong, Xiao; Unger, Marc A; Vijg, Jan; Melov, Simon; Campisi, Judith

2017-10-01

Senescent cells play important roles in both physiological and pathological processes, including cancer and aging. In all cases, however, senescent cells comprise only a small fraction of tissues. Senescent phenotypes have been studied largely in relatively homogeneous populations of cultured cells. In vivo, senescent cells are generally identified by a small number of markers, but whether and how these markers vary among individual cells is unknown. We therefore utilized a combination of single-cell isolation and a nanofluidic PCR platform to determine the contributions of individual cells to the overall gene expression profile of senescent human fibroblast populations. Individual senescent cells were surprisingly heterogeneous in their gene expression signatures. This cell-to-cell variability resulted in a loss of correlation among the expression of several senescence-associated genes. Many genes encoding senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) factors, a major contributor to the effects of senescent cells in vivo, showed marked variability with a subset of highly induced genes accounting for the increases observed at the population level. Inflammatory genes in clustered genomic loci showed a greater correlation with senescence compared to nonclustered loci, suggesting that these genes are coregulated by genomic location. Together, these data offer new insights into how genes are regulated in senescent cells and suggest that single markers are inadequate to identify senescent cells in vivo. © 2017 The Authors. Aging Cell published by the Anatomical Society and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

A typology of vaping: Identifying differing beliefs, motivations for use, identity and political interest amongst e-cigarette users.

PubMed

Farrimond, Hannah

2017-10-01

The aim of this study was to identify and differentiate socially shared accounts of e-cigarette use (vaping) using Q-methodology, combining factor analysis with qualitative comments. Seventy statements on e-cigarettes, drawn from media, academic and online discussions, were sorted by participants along a continuum of agreement/disagreement, commenting on strongly ranked items. Each participant thus created their own 'account' of their vaping. A by-person correlation matrix of the sorts was conducted, then factor analysed, to identify similar accounts (p<0.01). Fifty-five UK vapers participated by post, 55% male, mean age of 46, 84% only vaping/16% vaping and smoking, 95% vaping daily. Three accounts of e-cigarettes were identified. The first two were associated with having quit smoking; the third with ongoing tobacco smoking and vaping. In Factor One, 'Vaping as Pleasure', vaping was characterized as enjoyable, with long-term use envisaged and a medical model of vaping rejected. Factor One participants also held a strong vaping identity and were politically motivated to maintain the rights of adults to vape. In Factor Two, 'Vaping as Medical Treatment', vaping was understood as a pragmatic choice about how to medicate one's smoking addiction, with the aim being to treat and ultimately reduce nicotine dependence. In Factor Three, 'Ambivalent E-Cigarette Use', participants reported fewer benefits and harboured more negative beliefs about e-cigarettes; they also strongly rejected a vaper identity, having no interest in online forums or being labelled a 'vaper' themselves. The UK e-cigarette users in this sample were not a homogeneous group; differing in their beliefs, motivations for use, identity and political interest. In particular they diverged on whether they accepted a medicalized account of vaping and identified as a vaper. Public health messages targeted to one group of e-cigarette users may not resonate with others. Crown Copyright © 2017. Published by

Redefining the bureaucratic encounter between service providers and service users: evidence from the Norwegian HUSK projects.

PubMed

Carnochan, Sarah; Austin, Michael J

2015-01-01

The HUSK projects, involving collaboration between service users, providers, educators, and researchers, coincided with the reorganization of national government services (NAV). The NAV reorganization brought together employment services, social insurance, and municipal social service benefits, and called for a service model where users would be empowered to influence the provision of services. In this analysis of the HUSK cases the authors focus on the relationship between the service user and the service provider, identifying themes in two broad domains: concepts of the individual that included the service user and the service provider and concepts of the relationship that included power, role, activity, interaction, and communication. Within each theme, the analysis highlights the transition from a traditional or historical state to a new or desired state and draws upon some of the classic literature that frames the encounters between service users and providers.

Toward an Open-Ended BCI: A User-Centered Coadaptive Design.

PubMed

Dhindsa, Kiret; Carcone, Dean; Becker, Suzanna

2017-10-01

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) allow users to control a device by interpreting their brain activity. For simplicity, these devices are designed to be operated by purposefully modulating specific predetermined neurophysiological signals, such as the sensorimotor rhythm. However, the ability to modulate a given neurophysiological signal is highly variable across individuals, contributing to the inconsistent performance of BCIs for different users. These differences suggest that individuals who experience poor BCI performance with one class of brain signals might have good results with another. In order to take advantage of individual abilities as they relate to BCI control, we need to move beyond the current approaches. In this letter, we explore a new BCI design aimed at a more individualized and user-focused experience, which we call open-ended BCI. Individual users were given the freedom to discover their own mental strategies as opposed to being trained to modulate a given brain signal. They then underwent multiple coadaptive training sessions with the BCI. Our first open-ended BCI performed similarly to comparable BCIs while accommodating a wider variety of mental strategies without a priori knowledge of the specific brain signals any individual might use. Post hoc analysis revealed individual differences in terms of which sensory modality yielded optimal performance. We found a large and significant effect of individual differences in background training and expertise, such as in musical training, on BCI performance. Future research should be focused on finding more generalized solutions to user training and brain state decoding methods to fully utilize the abilities of different individuals in an open-ended BCI. Accounting for each individual's areas of expertise could have important implications on BCI training and BCI application design.

Distributed user services for supercomputers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sowizral, Henry A.

1989-01-01

User-service operations at supercomputer facilities are examined. The question is whether a single, possibly distributed, user-services organization could be shared by NASA's supercomputer sites in support of a diverse, geographically dispersed, user community. A possible structure for such an organization is identified as well as some of the technologies needed in operating such an organization.

Comparison of a video-based assessment and a multiple stimulus assessment to identify preferred jobs for individuals with significant intellectual disabilities.

PubMed

Horrocks, Erin L; Morgan, Robert L

2009-01-01

The authors compare two methods of identifying job preferences for individuals with significant intellectual disabilities. Three individuals with intellectual disabilities between the ages of 19 and 21 participated in a video-based preference assessment and a multiple stimulus without replacement (MSWO) assessment. Stimulus preference assessment procedures typically involve giving participants access to the selected stimuli to increase the probability that participants will associate the selected choice with the actual stimuli. Although individuals did not have access to the selected stimuli in the video-based assessment, results indicated that both assessments identified the same highest preference job for all participants. Results are discussed in terms of using a video-based assessment to accurately identify job preferences for individuals with developmental disabilities.

Peak experiences of psilocybin users and non-users.

PubMed

Cummins, Christina; Lyke, Jennifer

2013-01-01

Maslow (1970) defined peak experiences as the most wonderful experiences of a person's life, which may include a sense of awe, well-being, or transcendence. Furthermore, recent research has suggested that psilocybin can produce experiences subjectively rated as uniquely meaningful and significant (Griffiths et al. 2006). It is therefore possible that psilocybin may facilitate or change the nature of peak experiences in users compared to non-users. This study was designed to compare the peak experiences of psilocybin users and non-users, to evaluate the frequency of peak experiences while under the influence of psilocybin, and to assess the perceived degree of alteration of consciousness during these experiences. Participants were recruited through convenience and snowball sampling from undergraduate classes and at a musical event. Participants were divided into three groups, those who reported a peak experience while under the influence of psilocybin (psilocybin peak experience: PPE), participants who had used psilocybin but reported their peak experiences did not occur while they were under the influence of psilocybin (non-psilocybin peak experience: NPPE), and participants who had never used psilocybin (non-user: NU). A total of 101 participants were asked to think about their peak experiences and complete a measure evaluating the degree of alteration of consciousness during that experience. Results indicated that 47% of psilocybin users reported their peak experience occurred while using psilocybin. In addition, there were significant differences among the three groups on all dimensions of alteration of consciousness. Future research is necessary to identify factors that influence the peak experiences of psilocybin users in naturalistic settings and contribute to the different characteristics of peak experiences of psilocybin users and non-users.

High-Cost Users of Prescription Drugs: A Population-Based Analysis from British Columbia, Canada.

PubMed

Weymann, Deirdre; Smolina, Kate; Gladstone, Emilie J; Morgan, Steven G

2017-04-01

To examine variation in pharmaceutical spending and patient characteristics across prescription drug user groups. British Columbia's population-based linked administrative health and sociodemographic databases (N = 3,460,763). We classified individuals into empirically derived prescription drug user groups based on pharmaceutical spending patterns outside hospitals from 2007 to 2011. We examined variation in patient characteristics, mortality, and health services usage and applied hierarchical clustering to determine patterns of concurrent drug use identifying high-cost patients. Approximately 1 in 20 British Columbians had persistently high prescription costs for 5 consecutive years, accounting for 42 percent of 2011 province-wide pharmaceutical spending. Less than 1 percent of the population experienced discrete episodes of high prescription costs; an additional 2.8 percent transitioned to or from high-cost episodes of unknown duration. Persistent high-cost users were more likely to concurrently use multiple chronic medications; episodic and transitory users spent more on specialized medicines, including outpatient cancer drugs. Cluster analyses revealed heterogeneity in concurrent medicine use within high-cost groups. Whether low, moderate, or high, costs of prescription drugs for most individuals are persistent over time. Policies controlling high-cost use should focus on reducing polypharmacy and encouraging price competition in drug classes used by ordinary and high-cost users alike. © 2016 The Authors. Health Services Research published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Health Research and Educational Trust.

User community development for the space transportation system/Skylab

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Archer, J. L.; Beauchamp, N. A.

1974-01-01

The New User Function plan for identifying beneficial uses of space is described. Critical issues such as funding, manpower, and protection of user proprietary rights are discussed along with common barriers which impede the development of a user community. Studies for developing methodologies of identifying new users and uses of the space transportation system are included.

Substance Abuse among Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities

PubMed Central

Carroll Chapman, Shawna L.; Wu, Li-Tzy

2012-01-01

Individuals with disabilities are a growing population that confronts multiple disadvantages from social and environmental determinants of health. In particular, the 7–8 million people in the US with an intellectual disability (ID) suffer disproportionately from substance use problems, largely because of a lack of empirical evidence to inform prevention and treatment efforts for them. Although available research could inform future research efforts, studies are scattered across disciplines with the last review synthesizing findings written more than five years ago. To consider more recent findings with earlier works, PubMed, PsychINFO, and Google Scholar were searched and produced 37 peer-reviewed texts across multiple disciplines, 15 from 2006 or later. While the prevalence of alcohol and illicit drug use in this population are low, the risk of having a substance-related problem among ID substance users is comparatively high. Gaps in the research and population subgroups that warrant special attention are identified, such as individuals with borderline and mild ID, individuals with co-occurring mental illness, and individuals who are incarcerated. Compared with substance abusers without ID, ID substance abusers are less likely to receive substance abuse treatment or remain in treatment. Research is needed to better gauge the magnitude of substance use problems, identify prevention strategies, and specify treatment components that meet the unique needs of individuals with ID. PMID:22502840

A CONCISE PANEL OF BIOMARKERS IDENTIFIES NEUROCOGNITIVE FUNCTIONING CHANGES IN HIV-INFECTED INDIVIDUALS

PubMed Central

Marcotte, Thomas D.; Deutsch, Reena; Michael, Benedict Daniel; Franklin, Donald; Cookson, Debra Rosario; Bharti, Ajay R.; Grant, Igor; Letendre, Scott L.

2013-01-01

Background Neurocognitive (NC) impairment (NCI) occurs commonly in people living with HIV. Despite substantial effort, no biomarkers have been sufficiently validated for diagnosis and prognosis of NCI in the clinic. The goal of this project was to identify diagnostic or prognostic biomarkers for NCI in a comprehensively characterized HIV cohort. Methods Multidisciplinary case review selected 98 HIV-infected individuals and categorized them into four NC groups using normative data: stably normal (SN), stably impaired (SI), worsening (Wo), or improving (Im). All subjects underwent comprehensive NC testing, phlebotomy, and lumbar puncture at two timepoints separated by a median of 6.2 months. Eight biomarkers were measured in CSF and blood by immunoassay. Results were analyzed using mixed model linear regression and staged recursive partitioning. Results At the first visit, subjects were mostly middle-aged (median 45) white (58%) men (84%) who had AIDS (70%). Of the 73% who took antiretroviral therapy (ART), 54% had HIV RNA levels below 50 c/mL in plasma. Mixed model linear regression identified that only MCP-1 in CSF was associated with neurocognitive change group. Recursive partitioning models aimed at diagnosis (i.e., correctly classifying neurocognitive status at the first visit) were complex and required most biomarkers to achieve misclassification limits. In contrast, prognostic models were more efficient. A combination of three biomarkers (sCD14, MCP-1, SDF-1α) correctly classified 82% of Wo and SN subjects, including 88% of SN subjects. A combination of two biomarkers (MCP-1, TNF-α) correctly classified 81% of Im and SI subjects, including 100% of SI subjects. Conclusions This analysis of well-characterized individuals identified concise panels of biomarkers associated with NC change. Across all analyses, the two most frequently identified biomarkers were sCD14 and MCP-1, indicators of monocyte/macrophage activation. While the panels differed depending on

Using social media for support and feedback by mental health service users: thematic analysis of a twitter conversation.

PubMed

Shepherd, Andrew; Sanders, Caroline; Doyle, Michael; Shaw, Jenny

2015-02-19

Internet based social media websites represent a growing space for interpersonal interaction. Research has been conducted in relation to the potential role of social media in the support of individuals with physical health conditions. However, limited research exists exploring such utilisation by individuals with experience of mental health problems. It could be proposed that access to wider support networks and knowledge could be beneficial for all users, although this positive interpretation has been challenged. The present study focusses on a specific discussion as a case study to assess the role of the website www.twitter.com as a medium for interpersonal communication by individuals with experience of mental disorder and possible source of feedback to mental health service providers. An electronic search was performed to identify material contributing to an online conversation entitled #dearmentalhealthprofessionals. Output from the search strategy was combined in such a way that repeated material was eliminated and all individual material anonymised. The remaining textual material was reviewed and combined in a thematic analysis to identify common themes of discussion. 515 unique communications were identified relating to the specified conversation. The majority of the material related to four overarching thematic headings: The impact of diagnosis on personal identity and as a facilitator for accessing care; Balance of power between professional and service user; Therapeutic relationship and developing professional communication; and Support provision through medication, crisis planning, service provision and the wider society. Remaining material was identified as being direct expression of thanks, self-referential in its content relating to the on-going conversation or providing a link to external resources and further discussion. The present study demonstrates the utility of online social media as both a discursive space in which individuals with experience

User Choice.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Joy Selby

In vocational education and training (VET), user choice is a means of achieving a more client-responsive training system by allowing clients to have greater choice over how their training needs are met. Funding arrangements linked in some direct way to the expressed demands of individual clients are essential for effective operation of a user…

Individual-Based Modeling of Tuberculosis in a User-Friendly Interface: Understanding the Epidemiological Role of Population Heterogeneity in a City

PubMed Central

Prats, Clara; Montañola-Sales, Cristina; Gilabert-Navarro, Joan F.; Valls, Joaquim; Casanovas-Garcia, Josep; Vilaplana, Cristina; Cardona, Pere-Joan; López, Daniel

2016-01-01

For millennia tuberculosis (TB) has shown a successful strategy to survive, making it one of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases. This resilient behavior is based not only on remaining hidden in most of the infected population, but also by showing slow evolution in most sick people. The course of the disease within a population is highly related to its heterogeneity. Thus, classic epidemiological approaches with a top-down perspective have not succeeded in understanding its dynamics. In the past decade a few individual-based models were built, but most of them preserved a top-down view that makes it difficult to study a heterogeneous population. We propose an individual-based model developed with a bottom-up approach to studying the dynamics of pulmonary TB in a certain population, considered constant. Individuals may belong to the following classes: healthy, infected, sick, under treatment, and treated with a probability of relapse. Several variables and parameters account for their age, origin (native or immigrant), immunodeficiency, diabetes, and other risk factors (smoking and alcoholism). The time within each infection state is controlled, and sick individuals may show a cavitated disease or not that conditions infectiousness. It was implemented in NetLogo because it allows non-modelers to perform virtual experiments with a user-friendly interface. The simulation was conducted with data from Ciutat Vella, a district of Barcelona with an incidence of 67 TB cases per 100,000 inhabitants in 2013. Several virtual experiments were performed to relate the disease dynamics with the structure of the infected subpopulation (e.g., the distribution of infected times). Moreover, the short-term effect of health control policies on modifying that structure was studied. Results show that the characteristics of the population are crucial for the local epidemiology of TB. The developed user-friendly tool is ready to test control strategies of disease in any city in the

Individual-Based Modeling of Tuberculosis in a User-Friendly Interface: Understanding the Epidemiological Role of Population Heterogeneity in a City.

PubMed

Prats, Clara; Montañola-Sales, Cristina; Gilabert-Navarro, Joan F; Valls, Joaquim; Casanovas-Garcia, Josep; Vilaplana, Cristina; Cardona, Pere-Joan; López, Daniel

2015-01-01

For millennia tuberculosis (TB) has shown a successful strategy to survive, making it one of the world's deadliest infectious diseases. This resilient behavior is based not only on remaining hidden in most of the infected population, but also by showing slow evolution in most sick people. The course of the disease within a population is highly related to its heterogeneity. Thus, classic epidemiological approaches with a top-down perspective have not succeeded in understanding its dynamics. In the past decade a few individual-based models were built, but most of them preserved a top-down view that makes it difficult to study a heterogeneous population. We propose an individual-based model developed with a bottom-up approach to studying the dynamics of pulmonary TB in a certain population, considered constant. Individuals may belong to the following classes: healthy, infected, sick, under treatment, and treated with a probability of relapse. Several variables and parameters account for their age, origin (native or immigrant), immunodeficiency, diabetes, and other risk factors (smoking and alcoholism). The time within each infection state is controlled, and sick individuals may show a cavitated disease or not that conditions infectiousness. It was implemented in NetLogo because it allows non-modelers to perform virtual experiments with a user-friendly interface. The simulation was conducted with data from Ciutat Vella, a district of Barcelona with an incidence of 67 TB cases per 100,000 inhabitants in 2013. Several virtual experiments were performed to relate the disease dynamics with the structure of the infected subpopulation (e.g., the distribution of infected times). Moreover, the short-term effect of health control policies on modifying that structure was studied. Results show that the characteristics of the population are crucial for the local epidemiology of TB. The developed user-friendly tool is ready to test control strategies of disease in any city in the

Eating patterns among heroin users: a qualitative study with implications for nutritional interventions.

PubMed

Neale, Joanne; Nettleton, Sarah; Pickering, Lucy; Fischer, Jan

2012-03-01

To provide new insights into heroin users' eating patterns in order to inform nutritional interventions. Seventy-seven audio-recorded in-depth interviews which elicited detailed data on eating patterns. Community and residential drug services, pharmacies and peer support groups in Southern England, UK. Forty current or ex-heroin users (21 men and 19 women), of whom 37 (20 men and 17 women) were re-interviewed after 3 months. Audio data transcribed verbatim, coded systematically and analysed inductively. Heroin users' eating patterns were influenced by individual, social, cultural, economic and environmental factors. During active heroin use, participants consumed quick, convenient, cheap and sweet foods, ate infrequently and had little interest in food. Eating patterns often improved during stays in residential services and after heroin cessation. Ex-heroin users began to take pleasure in food preparation and eating and identified therapeutic benefits to cooking. Initially, weight gain was experienced positively, but subsequently generated anxieties as participants, particularly women, struggled to control their appetite and worried about becoming overweight. Findings complement and add to previous research and sociological and anthropological literatures. Heroin users have dysfunctional eating patterns that are amenable to change and community and residential services could enable them to experience the many health, psychological and social benefits of improved eating practices. Nutritional interventions need to be tailored to individual needs and circumstances, but also monitored and evaluated so that there is a future evidence base. © 2011 The Authors, Addiction © 2011 Society for the Study of Addiction.

Lamprey: tracking users on the World Wide Web.

PubMed

Felciano, R M; Altman, R B

1996-01-01

Tracking individual web sessions provides valuable information about user behavior. This information can be used for general purpose evaluation of web-based user interfaces to biomedical information systems. To this end, we have developed Lamprey, a tool for doing quantitative and qualitative analysis of Web-based user interfaces. Lamprey can be used from any conforming browser, and does not require modification of server or client software. By rerouting WWW navigation through a centralized filter, Lamprey collects the sequence and timing of hyperlinks used by individual users to move through the web. Instead of providing marginal statistics, it retains the full information required to recreate a user session. We have built Lamprey as a standard Common Gateway Interface (CGI) that works with all standard WWW browsers and servers. In this paper, we describe Lamprey and provide a short demonstration of this approach for evaluating web usage patterns.

Measuring Health Information Dissemination and Identifying Target Interest Communities on Twitter: Methods Development and Case Study of the @SafetyMD Network.

PubMed

Kandadai, Venk; Yang, Haodong; Jiang, Ling; Yang, Christopher C; Fleisher, Linda; Winston, Flaura Koplin

2016-05-05

Little is known about the ability of individual stakeholder groups to achieve health information dissemination goals through Twitter. This study aimed to develop and apply methods for the systematic evaluation and optimization of health information dissemination by stakeholders through Twitter. Tweet content from 1790 followers of @SafetyMD (July-November 2012) was examined. User emphasis, a new indicator of Twitter information dissemination, was defined and applied to retweets across two levels of retweeters originating from @SafetyMD. User interest clusters were identified based on principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) of a random sample of 170 followers. User emphasis of keywords remained across levels but decreased by 9.5 percentage points. PCA and HCA identified 12 statistically unique clusters of followers within the @SafetyMD Twitter network. This study is one of the first to develop methods for use by stakeholders to evaluate and optimize their use of Twitter to disseminate health information. Our new methods provide preliminary evidence that individual stakeholders can evaluate the effectiveness of health information dissemination and create content-specific clusters for more specific targeted messaging.

User recommendation in healthcare social media by assessing user similarity in heterogeneous network.

PubMed

Jiang, Ling; Yang, Christopher C

2017-09-01

The rapid growth of online health social websites has captured a vast amount of healthcare information and made the information easy to access for health consumers. E-patients often use these social websites for informational and emotional support. However, health consumers could be easily overwhelmed by the overloaded information. Healthcare information searching can be very difficult for consumers, not to mention most of them are not skilled information searcher. In this work, we investigate the approaches for measuring user similarity in online health social websites. By recommending similar users to consumers, we can help them to seek informational and emotional support in a more efficient way. We propose to represent the healthcare social media data as a heterogeneous healthcare information network and introduce the local and global structural approaches for measuring user similarity in a heterogeneous network. We compare the proposed structural approaches with the content-based approach. Experiments were conducted on a dataset collected from a popular online health social website, and the results showed that content-based approach performed better for inactive users, while structural approaches performed better for active users. Moreover, global structural approach outperformed local structural approach for all user groups. In addition, we conducted experiments on local and global structural approaches using different weight schemas for the edges in the network. Leverage performed the best for both local and global approaches. Finally, we integrated different approaches and demonstrated that hybrid method yielded better performance than the individual approach. The results indicate that content-based methods can effectively capture the similarity of inactive users who usually have focused interests, while structural methods can achieve better performance when rich structural information is available. Local structural approach only considers direct connections

[Predicting individual risk of high healthcare cost to identify complex chronic patients].

PubMed

Coderch, Jordi; Sánchez-Pérez, Inma; Ibern, Pere; Carreras, Marc; Pérez-Berruezo, Xavier; Inoriza, José M

2014-01-01

To develop a predictive model for the risk of high consumption of healthcare resources, and assess the ability of the model to identify complex chronic patients. A cross-sectional study was performed within a healthcare management organization by using individual data from 2 consecutive years (88,795 people). The dependent variable consisted of healthcare costs above the 95th percentile (P95), including all services provided by the organization and pharmaceutical consumption outside of the institution. The predictive variables were age, sex, morbidity-based on clinical risk groups (CRG)-and selected data from previous utilization (use of hospitalization, use of high-cost drugs in ambulatory care, pharmaceutical expenditure). A univariate descriptive analysis was performed. We constructed a logistic regression model with a 95% confidence level and analyzed sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive values (PPV), and the area under the ROC curve (AUC). Individuals incurring costs >P95 accumulated 44% of total healthcare costs and were concentrated in ACRG3 (aggregated CRG level 3) categories related to multiple chronic diseases. All variables were statistically significant except for sex. The model had a sensitivity of 48.4% (CI: 46.9%-49.8%), specificity of 97.2% (CI: 97.0%-97.3%), PPV of 46.5% (CI: 45.0%-47.9%), and an AUC of 0.897 (CI: 0.892 to 0.902). High consumption of healthcare resources is associated with complex chronic morbidity. A model based on age, morbidity, and prior utilization is able to predict high-cost risk and identify a target population requiring proactive care. Copyright © 2013 SESPAS. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

Identifying At-Risk Individuals for Insomnia Using the Ford Insomnia Response to Stress Test

PubMed Central

Kalmbach, David A.; Pillai, Vivek; Arnedt, J. Todd; Drake, Christopher L.

2016-01-01

Study Objectives: A primary focus of the National Institute of Mental Health's current strategic plan is “predicting” who is at risk for disease. As such, the current investigation examined the utility of premorbid sleep reactivity in identifying a specific and manageable population at elevated risk for future insomnia. Methods: A community-based sample of adults (n = 2,892; 59.3% female; 47.9 ± 13.3 y old) with no lifetime history of insomnia or depression completed web-based surveys across three annual assessments. Participants reported parental history of insomnia, demographic characteristics, sleep reactivity on the Ford Insomnia in Response to Stress Test (FIRST), and insomnia symptoms. DSM-IV diagnostic criteria were used to determine insomnia classification. Results: Baseline FIRST scores were used to predict incident insomnia at 1-y follow-up. Two clinically meaningful FIRST cutoff values were identified: FIRST ≥ 16 (sensitivity 77%; specificity 50%; odds ratio [OR] = 2.88, P < 0.001); and FIRST ≥ 18 (sensitivity 62%; specificity 67%; OR = 3.32, P < 0.001). Notably, both FIRST cut-points outperformed known maternal (OR = 1.49–1.59, P < 0.01) and paternal history (P = NS) in predicting insomnia onset, even after controlling for stress exposure and demographic characteristics. Of the incident cases, insomniacs with highly reactive sleep systems reported longer sleep onset latencies (FIRST ≥ 16: 65 min; FIRST ≥ 18: 68 min) than participants with nonreactive insomnia (FIRST < 16: 37 min; FIRST < 18: 44 min); these groups did not differ on any other sleep parameters. Conclusions: The current study established a cost- and time-effective strategy for identifying individuals at elevated risk for insomnia based on trait sleep reactivity. The FIRST accurately identifies a focused target population in which the psychobiological processes complicit in insomnia onset and progression can be better investigated, thus improving future preventive efforts

MS in self-identified Hispanic/Latino individuals living in the US

PubMed Central

Amezcua, Lilyana; Oksenberg, Jorge R; McCauley, Jacob L

2017-01-01

Self-identified Hispanic/Latino individuals living with multiple sclerosis (MS) in the continental United States (US) are a diverse group that represents different cultural and ancestral backgrounds. A marked variability in the way MS affects various subgroups of Hispanics in the US has been observed. We reviewed and synthesized available data about MS in Hispanics in the US. There are likely a host of multifactorial elements contributing to these observations that could be explained by genetic, environmental, and social underpinnings. Barriers to adequate MS care in Hispanics are likely to include delivery of culturally competent care and social and economic disadvantages. Considerable efforts, including the formation of a national consortium known as the Alliance for Research in Hispanic Multiple Sclerosis (ARHMS), are underway to help further explore these various factors. PMID:28979795

Understanding the Social Navigation User Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goecks, Jeremy

2009-01-01

A social navigation system collects data from its users--its community--about what they are doing, their opinions, and their decisions, aggregates this data, and provides the aggregated data--community data--back to individuals so that they can use it to guide behavior and decisions. Social navigation systems empower users with the ability to…

ASSIST: User's manual

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, S. C.

1986-01-01

Semi-Markov models can be used to compute the reliability of virtually any fault-tolerant system. However, the process of delineating all of the states and transitions in a model of a complex system can be devastingly tedious and error-prone. The ASSIST program allows the user to describe the semi-Markov model in a high-level language. Instead of specifying the individual states of the model, the user specifies the rules governing the behavior of the system and these are used by ASSIST to automatically generate the model. The ASSIST program is described and illustrated by examples.

Individual and couple-level risk factors for hepatitis C infection among heterosexual drug users: a multilevel dyadic analysis.

PubMed

McMahon, James M; Pouget, Enrique R; Tortu, Stephanie

2007-06-01

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is the most common bloodborne pathogen in the United States and is a leading cause of liver-related morbidity and mortality. Although it is known that HCV is most commonly transmitted among injection drug users, the role of sexual transmission in the spread of HCV remains controversial because of inconsistent findings across studies involving heterosexual couples. A novel multilevel modeling technique designed to overcome the limitations of previous research was performed to assess multiple risk factors for HCV while partitioning the source of risk at the individual and couple level. The analysis was performed on risk exposure and HCV screening data obtained from 265 drug-using couples in East Harlem, New York City. In multivariable analysis, significant individual risk factors for HCV included a history of injection drug use, tattooing, and older age. At the couple level, HCV infection tended to cluster within couples, and this interdependence was accounted for by couples' drug-injection behavior. Individual and couple-level sexual behavior was not associated with HCV infection. Our results are consistent with prior research indicating that sexual contact plays little role in HCV transmission. Rather, couples' injection behavior appears to account for the clustering of HCV within heterosexual dyads.

Post-mortem review of fentanyl-related overdose deaths among identified drug users in Southern Bavaria, Germany, 2005-2014.

PubMed

Sinicina, Inga; Sachs, Hans; Keil, Wolfgang

2017-11-01

Two decades ago, there were only single case reports on deaths in Europe following the consumption of illicitly manufactured fentanyl by problem drug users. Today, lethal fentanyl intoxication is now no longer a rarity. Since 2005, a rapid increase of lethal fentanyl-related intoxications in the drug scene has been observed at the Institute of Legal Medicine, Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich. We hypothesized that this rise is the result of the launch of fentanyl matrix patches in Germany in 2004, their broad acceptance, their diversion from the regulated supply chain, and incautious prescription by medical care providers. Post-mortem toxicological reports were reviewed for lethal fentanyl-related intoxications between 2004 und 2014. Blood and tissue samples were tested by GC/MS or LC-MS/MS. The results of police investigations, autopsy reports, and the database of the Institute of Legal Medicine, LMU, were analysed to identify problem drug users and to detect the source of fentanyl as well as the routes of administration. Between 2005 and 2014, 242 overdose victims with post-mortem toxicological detection of fentanyl were found. In the majority of cases, fentanyl matrix patches were the source of fentanyl. The onset of fentanyl-related deaths coincided with the launch of transdermal fentanyl matrix patches in Germany in 2004. Several approaches, such as providing drug users with information on the possible risks of fentanyl consumption, education of medical caregivers, and also monitoring of the prescription of fentanyl patches, are required to reduce the number of fentanyl-related deaths in drug addicts. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Development and usability testing of a web-based decision support for users and health professionals in psychiatric services.

PubMed

Grim, Katarina; Rosenberg, David; Svedberg, Petra; Schön, Ulla-Karin

2017-09-01

Shared decision making (SMD) related to treatment and rehabilitation is considered a central component in recovery-oriented practice. Although decision aids are regarded as an essential component for successfully implementing SDM, these aids are often lacking within psychiatric services. The aim of this study was to use a participatory design to facilitate the development of a user-generated, web-based decision aid for individuals receiving psychiatric services. The results of this effort as well as the lessons learned during the development and usability processes are reported. The participatory design included 4 iterative cycles of development. Various qualitative methods for data collection were used with potential end users participating as informants in focus group and individual interviews and as usability and pilot testers. Interviewing and testing identified usability problems that then led to refinements and making the subsequent prototypes increasingly user-friendly and relevant. In each phase of the process, feedback from potential end-users provided guidance in developing the formation of the web-based decision aid that strengthens the position of users by integrating access to information regarding alternative supports, interactivity between staff and users, and user preferences as a continual focus in the tool. This web-based decision aid has the potential to strengthen service users' experience of self-efficacy and control as well as provide staff access to user knowledge and preferences. Studies employing participatory models focusing on usability have potential to significantly contribute to the development and implementation of tools that reflect user perspectives. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Health-Related Quality of Life among Chronic Opioid Users, Nonchronic Opioid Users, and Nonopioid Users with Chronic Noncancer Pain.

PubMed

Hayes, Corey J; Li, Xiaocong; Li, Chenghui; Shah, Anuj; Kathe, Niranjan; Bhandari, Naleen Raj; Payakachat, Nalin

2018-02-25

Evaluate the association between opioid therapy and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in participants with chronic, noncancer pain (CNCP). Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Longitudinal, Medical Conditions, and Prescription Files. Using a retrospective cohort study design, the Mental Health Component (MCS12) and Physical Health Component (PCS12) scores of the Short Form-12 Version 2 were assessed to measure mental and physical HRQoL. Chronic, noncancer pain participants were classified as chronic, nonchronic, and nonopioid users. One-to-one propensity score matching was employed to match chronic opioid users to nonchronic opioid users plus nonchronic opioid users and chronic opioid users to nonopioid users. A total of 5,876 participants were identified. After matching, PCS12 was not significantly different between nonchronic versus nonopioid users (LSM Diff = -0.98, 95% CI: -2.07, 0.10), chronic versus nonopioid users (LSM Diff = -2.24, 95% CI: -4.58, 0.10), or chronic versus nonchronic opioid users (LSM Diff = -2.23, 95% CI: -4.53, 0.05). Similarly, MCS12 was not significantly different between nonchronic versus nonopioid users (LSM Diff = 0.76, 95% CI: -0.46, 1.98), chronic versus nonopioid users (LSM Diff = 1.08, 95% CI: -1.26, 3.42), or chronic versus nonchronic opioid users (LSM Diff = -0.57, 95% CI: -2.90, 1.77). Clinicians should evaluate opioid use in participants with CNCP as opioid use is not correlated with better HRQoL. © Health Research and Educational Trust.

Expressed Glycosylphosphatidylinositol-Anchored Horseradish Peroxidase Identifies Co-Clustering Molecules in Individual Lipid Raft Domains

PubMed Central

Miyagawa-Yamaguchi, Arisa; Kotani, Norihiro; Honke, Koichi

2014-01-01

Lipid rafts that are enriched in glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored proteins serve as a platform for important biological events. To elucidate the molecular mechanisms of these events, identification of co-clustering molecules in individual raft domains is required. Here we describe an approach to this issue using the recently developed method termed enzyme-mediated activation of radical source (EMARS), by which molecules in the vicinity within 300 nm from horseradish peroxidase (HRP) set on the probed molecule are labeled. GPI-anchored HRP fusion proteins (HRP-GPIs), in which the GPI attachment signals derived from human decay accelerating factor and Thy-1 were separately connected to the C-terminus of HRP, were expressed in HeLa S3 cells, and the EMARS reaction was catalyzed by these expressed HRP-GPIs under a living condition. As a result, these different HRP-GPIs had differences in glycosylation and localization and formed distinct clusters. This novel approach distinguished molecular clusters associated with individual GPI-anchored proteins, suggesting that it can identify co-clustering molecules in individual raft domains. PMID:24671047

Non-motor tasks improve adaptive brain-computer interface performance in users with severe motor impairment

PubMed Central

Faller, Josef; Scherer, Reinhold; Friedrich, Elisabeth V. C.; Costa, Ursula; Opisso, Eloy; Medina, Josep; Müller-Putz, Gernot R.

2014-01-01

Individuals with severe motor impairment can use event-related desynchronization (ERD) based BCIs as assistive technology. Auto-calibrating and adaptive ERD-based BCIs that users control with motor imagery tasks (“SMR-AdBCI”) have proven effective for healthy users. We aim to find an improved configuration of such an adaptive ERD-based BCI for individuals with severe motor impairment as a result of spinal cord injury (SCI) or stroke. We hypothesized that an adaptive ERD-based BCI, that automatically selects a user specific class-combination from motor-related and non motor-related mental tasks during initial auto-calibration (“Auto-AdBCI”) could allow for higher control performance than a conventional SMR-AdBCI. To answer this question we performed offline analyses on two sessions (21 data sets total) of cue-guided, five-class electroencephalography (EEG) data recorded from individuals with SCI or stroke. On data from the twelve individuals in Session 1, we first identified three bipolar derivations for the SMR-AdBCI. In a similar way, we determined three bipolar derivations and four mental tasks for the Auto-AdBCI. We then simulated both, the SMR-AdBCI and the Auto-AdBCI configuration on the unseen data from the nine participants in Session 2 and compared the results. On the unseen data of Session 2 from individuals with SCI or stroke, we found that automatically selecting a user specific class-combination from motor-related and non motor-related mental tasks during initial auto-calibration (Auto-AdBCI) significantly (p < 0.01) improved classification performance compared to an adaptive ERD-based BCI that only used motor imagery tasks (SMR-AdBCI; average accuracy of 75.7 vs. 66.3%). PMID:25368546

Individual Human Brain Areas Can Be Identified from Their Characteristic Spectral Activation Fingerprints

PubMed Central

Keitel, Anne; Gross, Joachim

2016-01-01

The human brain can be parcellated into diverse anatomical areas. We investigated whether rhythmic brain activity in these areas is characteristic and can be used for automatic classification. To this end, resting-state MEG data of 22 healthy adults was analysed. Power spectra of 1-s long data segments for atlas-defined brain areas were clustered into spectral profiles (“fingerprints”), using k-means and Gaussian mixture (GM) modelling. We demonstrate that individual areas can be identified from these spectral profiles with high accuracy. Our results suggest that each brain area engages in different spectral modes that are characteristic for individual areas. Clustering of brain areas according to similarity of spectral profiles reveals well-known brain networks. Furthermore, we demonstrate task-specific modulations of auditory spectral profiles during auditory processing. These findings have important implications for the classification of regional spectral activity and allow for novel approaches in neuroimaging and neurostimulation in health and disease. PMID:27355236

Individual Human Brain Areas Can Be Identified from Their Characteristic Spectral Activation Fingerprints.

PubMed

Keitel, Anne; Gross, Joachim

2016-06-01

The human brain can be parcellated into diverse anatomical areas. We investigated whether rhythmic brain activity in these areas is characteristic and can be used for automatic classification. To this end, resting-state MEG data of 22 healthy adults was analysed. Power spectra of 1-s long data segments for atlas-defined brain areas were clustered into spectral profiles ("fingerprints"), using k-means and Gaussian mixture (GM) modelling. We demonstrate that individual areas can be identified from these spectral profiles with high accuracy. Our results suggest that each brain area engages in different spectral modes that are characteristic for individual areas. Clustering of brain areas according to similarity of spectral profiles reveals well-known brain networks. Furthermore, we demonstrate task-specific modulations of auditory spectral profiles during auditory processing. These findings have important implications for the classification of regional spectral activity and allow for novel approaches in neuroimaging and neurostimulation in health and disease.

MAMA- User Feedback and Training Summary

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Porter, Reid B.; Ruggiero, Christy E.

2014-05-21

This document describes the current state of the MAMA (Morphological Analysis of Materials) software user identified bugs, issues, and requests for improvements. It also lists Current users and current training methods.

A Collaborative Approach to Identifying Social Media Markers of Schizophrenia by Employing Machine Learning and Clinical Appraisals.

PubMed

Birnbaum, Michael L; Ernala, Sindhu Kiranmai; Rizvi, Asra F; De Choudhury, Munmun; Kane, John M

2017-08-14

Linguistic analysis of publicly available Twitter feeds have achieved success in differentiating individuals who self-disclose online as having schizophrenia from healthy controls. To date, limited efforts have included expert input to evaluate the authenticity of diagnostic self-disclosures. This study aims to move from noisy self-reports of schizophrenia on social media to more accurate identification of diagnoses by exploring a human-machine partnered approach, wherein computational linguistic analysis of shared content is combined with clinical appraisals. Twitter timeline data, extracted from 671 users with self-disclosed diagnoses of schizophrenia, was appraised for authenticity by expert clinicians. Data from disclosures deemed true were used to build a classifier aiming to distinguish users with schizophrenia from healthy controls. Results from the classifier were compared to expert appraisals on new, unseen Twitter users. Significant linguistic differences were identified in the schizophrenia group including greater use of interpersonal pronouns (P<.001), decreased emphasis on friendship (P<.001), and greater emphasis on biological processes (P<.001). The resulting classifier distinguished users with disclosures of schizophrenia deemed genuine from control users with a mean accuracy of 88% using linguistic data alone. Compared to clinicians on new, unseen users, the classifier's precision, recall, and accuracy measures were 0.27, 0.77, and 0.59, respectively. These data reinforce the need for ongoing collaborations integrating expertise from multiple fields to strengthen our ability to accurately identify and effectively engage individuals with mental illness online. These collaborations are crucial to overcome some of mental illnesses' biggest challenges by using digital technology. ©Michael L Birnbaum, Sindhu Kiranmai Ernala, Asra F Rizvi, Munmun De Choudhury, John M Kane. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http

A qualitative exploration of travel-related risk behaviours of injection drug users from two Slovene regions

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

This qualitative study of travel-related risk behaviours of Slovene injection drug users was based on interviews with individuals enrolled in drug addiction treatment programmes run by three regional centres for prevention and treatment of drug addiction. The primary objective of the study was to analyse behaviour patterns and practices of injection drug users during travel. Methods Travel-related problems of Slovene injection drug users were identified on the basis of data obtained by 25 in-depth interviews. A semi-structured questionnaire with 13 open-ended questions was developed after a preliminary study and review of the literature, and on the basis of experience with the treatment of drug addiction in Slovenia. Results The sample comprised 25 individuals, 18 men and seven women, aged 25 to 53 years. The interviews were 10 to 30 minutes long. The results obtained were presented as identified risk behaviours. Five categories were generated, providing information on the following topics: procurement of illicit drugs, criminal acts/environment, HIV and hepatitis B and C infections, storage and transport of substitution medication and pre-travel health protection. The first three categories comprise the injection drug users' risk behaviours that are most frequently explored in the literature. The other two categories - storage and transport of medication across the border and pre-travel health protection - reflect national specificities and the effectiveness of substitution treatment programmes. The majority of participants denied having shared needles and other injecting equipment when travelling. Participants who had no doctor's certificate had recourse to various forms of risk behaviour, finding a number of ways to hide the medication at the border. Conclusion This qualitative study provides insight into potential travel-related risk behaviour of injection drug users from two Slovene regions - central and coastal. The potential value of this qualitative study

Identifying Differences Between Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) and Non-OHV User Groups for Recreation Resource Planning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kil, Namyun; Holland, Stephen M.; Stein, Taylor V.

2012-09-01

Off-highway vehicle (OHV) riding is among the fastest growing recreational activities in the United States. However, little research exists about the central components of outcomes-focused management (OFM) as it relates to motorized recreation. Utilizing a two-activity dichotomy, OHV and non-OHV centric user groups were compared on several key concepts associated with OFM, including desired experiences, perceived and desired recreation opportunity spectrum-type settings, and intentional behaviors (i.e., place-protective behavior, spending-time intentions) toward potential changes in settings. Results indicated that the two groups were different in terms of intensity and relative rankings of their perceived experiences and settings. Although both groups preferred social bonding, stress relief, nostalgia and learning experiences, the OHV user group ranked using equipment and achieving physical fitness experiences as more important than the non-OHV group. The non-OHV user group preferred enjoying nature and solitude/tranquility experiences more strongly than the OHV user group. Further analysis found that both groups perceived settings that they recreated in to be pristine and preferred such conditions, and both groups preferred moderate levels of rules and regulations. Finally, the OHV user group was more reactive to rules and regulations, while the non-OHV user group expressed stronger intentions to protect the environmental quality of recreation areas. The results suggest that planners and managers who understand OHV user's perceptions and behaviors could provide enhanced recreation opportunities potentially providing additional beneficial outcomes for motorized and non-motorized groups in spatially different zones. Additional implications for planners and managers and future studies are discussed.

Hepatitis C Infection in Non-Treatment-Seeking Heroin Users: The Burden of Cocaine Injection

PubMed Central

Roux, P.; Fugon, L.; Jones, J.D.; Comer, S.D.

2014-01-01

Background and Objectives In heroin dependent individuals, the HIV epidemic has been controlled in countries where access to opioid maintenance treatment (OMT) and needle exchange programs (NEP) have been implemented. However, despite similar routes of contamination for both viruses, the prevalence of hepatitis C (HCV) infection remains high in drug users. The objective of this analysis was to identify the prevalence of HCV and the correlates of being HCV-positive in a sample of out-of-treatment heroin-dependent individuals. Methods Data were collected from five inpatient studies (n = 120 participants) conducted at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. A logistic regression was used to identify correlates of being HCV-positive at baseline. Results Among the 120 heroin-dependent volunteers, 42 were HCV-positive. Participants who had heavier alcohol use, a longer duration of heroin use, or who reported using heroin by injection were more likely to be HCV-positive. Interestingly, participants who had injected cocaine during the previous month had a ninefold greater risk of being HCV-positive compared to non-cocaine users and those who used cocaine by a non-injecting route. Conclusions and Scientific Significance These findings confirm the risk of being HCV-infected through intravenous drug use, especially with cocaine use. These results underscore the importance of rethinking interventions to prevent HCV infection with combined strategies using pharmacological approaches for cocaine dependence and tailored prevention for cocaine users. PMID:24131170

User experience of lower-limb orthosis.

PubMed

Yang, Bing-Shiang; Chen, Yen-Wan; Tong, Ji-Rou

2017-06-09

If an assistive device is not acceptable to the user, it will not achieve efficacy and would be resource-wasting. This study employed in-depth interviews to understand what users' individual activities of daily living, problems of using orthoses, and considerations for selecting orthoses are. We conducted qualitative interviews with 35 lower-limb orthosis users, and semi-structured interviews were applied in this study. We analyzed the interview data from transcripts, through coding and concepts, to theories based on grounded theory. The results showed that problems of using orthoses are mostly related to activities of daily living of the user and user's expectation. Therefore, in order to enhance its efficacy and use intention, the design and prescribing process of orthoses need to address the problems in the light of activities of daily living and user education.

Identifying individual- and population-level characteristics that influence rates of risky alcohol consumption in regional communities.

PubMed

Breen, Courtney; Shakeshaft, Anthony; Sanson-Fisher, Rob; D'Este, Catherine; Mattick, Richard P; Gilmour, Stuart

2014-02-01

To examine the extent to which individual- and community- level characteristics account for differences in risky alcohol consumption. A cross-sectional postal survey of 2,977 randomly selected individuals from 20 regional communities in NSW, Australia. Individuals drinking at harmful levels on the AUDIT and for risk of harm in the short term and long-term were identified. Multi-level modelling of the correlates of risky alcohol consumption at the individual and community level was conducted. There were differences between communities in alcohol consumption patterns. Being male, unmarried and reporting worse health were significant individual-level correlates for drinking at levels for risk of harm in the long term. The number of GPs (+) and police (-) were significant community characteristics. Being younger (≤25), unmarried, Australian born and with a larger income was associated with drinking at levels for risk of harm in the short term and harmful drinking on the AUDIT. The number of hotels and clubs was positively associated with drinking at levels for risk of harm in the short term. Rates of risky drinking vary significantly between communities and both individual and community characteristics are significantly associated with risky alcohol consumption. A combination of individual- and population-level interventions, tailored to the risk profile of individual communities, is most likely to be optimally effective. © 2014 The Authors. ANZJPH © 2014 Public Health Association of Australia.

Psychosocial functioning among regular cannabis users with and without cannabis use disorder.

PubMed

Foster, Katherine T; Arterberry, Brooke J; Iacono, William G; McGue, Matt; Hicks, Brian M

2017-11-27

In the United States, cannabis accessibility has continued to rise as the perception of its harmfulness has decreased. Only about 30% of regular cannabis users develop cannabis use disorder (CUD), but it is unclear if individuals who use cannabis regularly without ever developing CUD experience notable psychosocial impairment across the lifespan. Therefore, psychosocial functioning was compared across regular cannabis users with or without CUD and a non-user control group during adolescence (age 17; early risk) and young adulthood (ages 18-25; peak CUD prevalence). Weekly cannabis users with CUD (n = 311), weekly users without CUD (n = 111), and non-users (n = 996) were identified in the Minnesota Twin Family Study. Groups were compared on alcohol and illicit drug use, psychiatric problems, personality, and social functioning at age 17 and from ages 18 to 25. Self-reported cannabis use and problem use were independently verified using co-twin informant report. In both adolescence and young adulthood, non-CUD users reported significantly higher levels of substance use problems and externalizing behaviors than non-users, but lower levels than CUD users. High agreement between self- and co-twin informant reports confirmed the validity of self-reported cannabis use problems. Even in the absence of CUD, regular cannabis use was associated with psychosocial impairment in adolescence and young adulthood. However, regular users with CUD endorsed especially high psychiatric comorbidity and psychosocial impairment. The need for early prevention and intervention - regardless of CUD status - was highlighted by the presence of these patterns in adolescence.

Interactive Office user's manual

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Montgomery, Edward E.; Lowers, Benjamin; Nabors, Terri L.

1990-01-01

Given here is a user's manual for Interactive Office (IO), an executive office tool for organization and planning, written specifically for Macintosh. IO is a paperless management tool to automate a related group of individuals into one productive system.

The risk of re-identification versus the need to identify individuals in rare disease research.

PubMed

Hansson, Mats G; Lochmüller, Hanns; Riess, Olaf; Schaefer, Franz; Orth, Michael; Rubinstein, Yaffa; Molster, Caron; Dawkins, Hugh; Taruscio, Domenica; Posada, Manuel; Woods, Simon

2016-11-01

There is a growing concern in the ethics literature and among policy makers that de-identification or coding of personal data and biospecimens is not sufficient for protecting research subjects from privacy invasions and possible breaches of confidentiality due to the possibility of unauthorized re-identification. At the same time, there is a need in medical science to be able to identify individual patients. In particular for rare disease research there is a special and well-documented need for research collaboration so that data and biosamples from multiple independent studies can be shared across borders. In this article, we identify the needs and arguments related to de-identification and re-identification of patients and research subjects and suggest how the different needs may be balanced within a framework of using unique encrypted identifiers.

The risk of re-identification versus the need to identify individuals in rare disease research

PubMed Central

Hansson, Mats G; Lochmüller, Hanns; Riess, Olaf; Schaefer, Franz; Orth, Michael; Rubinstein, Yaffa; Molster, Caron; Dawkins, Hugh; Taruscio, Domenica; Posada, Manuel; Woods, Simon

2016-01-01

There is a growing concern in the ethics literature and among policy makers that de-identification or coding of personal data and biospecimens is not sufficient for protecting research subjects from privacy invasions and possible breaches of confidentiality due to the possibility of unauthorized re-identification. At the same time, there is a need in medical science to be able to identify individual patients. In particular for rare disease research there is a special and well-documented need for research collaboration so that data and biosamples from multiple independent studies can be shared across borders. In this article, we identify the needs and arguments related to de-identification and re-identification of patients and research subjects and suggest how the different needs may be balanced within a framework of using unique encrypted identifiers. PMID:27222291

Behavioral health services utilization among older adults identified within a state abuse hotline database.

PubMed

Schonfeld, Lawrence; Larsen, Rebecca G; Stiles, Paul G

2006-04-01

This study examined the extent to which older adults identified in a statewide abuse hotline registry utilized behavioral health services. This is important as mental health issues have been identified as a high priority for filling gaps in services for victims of mistreatment. We compared Medicaid and Medicare claims data for two groups of older adults: those using health services and identified within a statewide abuse hotline information system and those claimants not identified within the hotline database. Behavioral health service use was greater among those identified in the abuse hotline database. The penetration rate (percentage of service users out of all enrollees) for Medicaid behavioral health service claims was more than twice that of other service users, with costs of services about 30% greater. Analyses of Medicare data revealed that the penetration rate for those in the hotline data was almost 6 times greater at approximately twice the cost compared to other service users. The results provide evidence for previous assumptions that mistreated individuals experience a higher rate of behavioral health disorders. As mental health screening by adult protective services is rarely conducted, the results suggest the need to train investigators and other service providers to screen older adults for behavioral health and substance-abuse issues as well as physical signs of abuse. Further research on the relationship of abuse to behavioral health might focus on collection of additional data involving more specific victim-related characteristics and comparisons of cases of mistreatment versus self-neglect.

How to identify, assess and utilise mobile medical applications in clinical practice.

PubMed

Aungst, T D; Clauson, K A; Misra, S; Lewis, T L; Husain, I

2014-02-01

There are thousands of medical applications for mobile devices targeting use by healthcare professionals. However, several factors related to the structure of the existing market for medical applications create significant barriers preventing practitioners from effectively identifying mobile medical applications for individual professional use. To define existing market factors relevant to selection of medical applications and describe a framework to empower clinicians to identify, assess and utilise mobile medical applications in their own practice. Resources available on the Internet regarding mobile medical applications, guidelines and published research on mobile medical applications. Mobile application stores (e.g. iTunes, Google Play) are not effective means of identifying mobile medical applications. Users of mobile devices that desire to implement mobile medical applications into practice need to carefully assess individual applications prior to utilisation. Searching and identifying mobile medical applications requires clinicians to utilise multiple references to determine what application is best for their individual practice methods. This can be done with a cursory exploration of mobile application stores and then moving onto other available resources published in the literature or through Internet resources (e.g. blogs, medical websites, social media). Clinicians must also take steps to ensure that an identified mobile application can be integrated into practice after carefully reviewing it themselves. Clinicians seeking to identify mobile medical application for use in their individual practice should use a combination of app stores, published literature, web-based resources, and personal review to ensure safe and appropriate use. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

EPA User Personas

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Learn how EPA's three web user personas (Information Consumer, Information Intermediary, and Information Interpreter) can help you identify appropriate top audiences and top tasks for a topic or web area.

Studying Psychosocial Barriers to Drug Treatment Among Chinese Methamphetamine Users Using A 3-Step Latent Class Analysis.

PubMed

Wang, Jichuan; Kelly, Brian C; Liu, Tieqiao; Hao, Wei

2016-03-01

Given the growth in methamphetamine use in China during the 21st century, we assessed perceived psychosocial barriers to drug treatment among this population. Using a sample of 303 methamphetamine users recruited via Respondent Driven Sampling, we use Latent Class Analysis (LCA) to identify possible distinct latent groups among Chinese methamphetamine users on the basis of their perceptions of psychosocial barriers to drug treatment. After covariates were included to predict latent class membership, the 3-step modeling approach was applied. Our findings indicate that the Chinese methamphetamine using population was heterogeneous on perceptions of drug treatment barriers; four distinct latent classes (subpopulations) were identified--Unsupported Deniers, Deniers, Privacy Anxious, and Low Barriers--and individual characteristics shaped the probability of class membership. Efforts to link Chinese methamphetamine users to treatment may require a multi-faceted approach that attends to differing perceptions about impediments to drug treatment. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Significant junctures on the way towards becoming a user of assistive technology in Alzheimer's disease.

PubMed

Lindqvist, Eva; Nygård, Louise; Borell, Lena

2013-09-01

The aim of this study was to describe how persons in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease (AD) became users of assistive technology (AT), and what the use of AT came to mean to these users and, when relevant, their significant others. Persons with AD were provided with individually chosen AT during a six-month period. Semi-structured interviews were conducted during the intervention period. The data were analysed with a constant comparative approach. On the way towards becoming a user of AT, four junctures were identified, at which significant decisions were made by the participants. These decisions influenced whether to become a user or not and related to how the initial decision was made, how the routines to incorporate the AT were adjusted, whether the participant trusted the AT, and whether the participants felt an increased sense of capacity when using the AT. As users, the participants perceived how time and effort was saved, how worries and stress decreased, and how their sense of safety increased, which enabled them to perform valued activities, e.g. health-promoting and social activities, to a greater extent and in a more relaxed way than before. The findings support the view that AT can positively affect the activity performance of people with AD when the potential user can identify difficulties and needs and is motivated and able to make changes to overcome them, given that appropriate human support is available.

Older adults' perspectives on the process of becoming users of assistive technology: a qualitative systematic review and meta-synthesis.

PubMed

Larsen, Stina Meyer; Mortensen, Rikke Falgreen; Kristensen, Hanne Kaae; Hounsgaard, Lise

2018-04-22

To identify, synthesize, and evaluate existing literature concerning the process of becoming a user of assistive technology (AT). A systematic review and meta-synthesis were carried out. Five bibliographic databases (MEDLINE via PubMed, CINAHL, Web of Science, PsycINFO and SocINDEX) were systematically searched up to 13 th of March 2017, using two sets of search terms: (i) elderly and synonyms and (ii) assistive technology and similar words, and combined with a qualitative research filter. Articles were screened, read and critically assessed. The meta-synthesis was guided by Ricoeur's theory of interpretation. Seventeen out of 4645 articles were included. Five phases emerged relating to the process of becoming a user of AT: phase A: Evaluating need, phase B: Acknowledging need, phase C: Incorporating the AT into daily life, phase D: Using the AT, and phase E: Future use. Three transitions, describing factors essential to moving from one phase to the next, were identified; from phase A-B: Valued activities are threatened, from phase B-C: Obtaining the AT and from phase C-D: Trust in the AT. No transition was identified from phase D-E. The meta-synthesis led to a deeper understanding of the process of older adults becoming users of AT, by exploring findings across the included articles. The identified phases and transitions in the systematic review serve as an analytical framework for understanding the process from the older adult's perspective. This review advocates for using a client-centred approach throughout the entire delivery process. Implications for rehabilitation The process of the older adult becoming a user of AT involves an individualized time factor, and this supports the practice of individualized follow-up. The process of becoming a user of AT is closely related to self-image; healthcare professionals should support not only the use of AT but also the older adult's emotional adjustment to a new self-image. The process is highly influenced by the older

NASA scientific and technical program: User survey

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hunter, Judy F.; Shockley, Cynthia W.

1993-01-01

Results are presented of an intensive user requirements survey conducted by NASA's Scientific and Technical Information (STI) Program with the goal of improving the foundation for the user outreach program. The survey was carried out by interviewing 550 NASA scientists, engineers, and contractors and by analyzing 650 individual responses to a mailed out questionnaire. To analyze the user demographic data, a data base was built and used, and will be applied to ongoing analysis by the NASA STI Program.

User Evaluation of Neonatology Ward Design.

PubMed

Trujillo, Juan Luis Higuera; Aviñó, Antoni Montañana I; Millán, Carmen Llinares

2017-01-01

The object of this article is to identify the set of affective and emotional factors behind users' assessments of a space in a neonatology unit and to propose design guidelines based on these. The importance of the neonatology service and the variety of users place great demands on the space at all levels. Despite the repercussions, the emotional aspects of the environment have received less attention. To avoid incurring limitations in the user mental scheme, this study uses two complementary methodologies: focus group and semantic differential. The (qualitative) focus group methodology provides exploratory information and concepts. The (quantitative) semantic differential methodology then uses these concepts to extract the conceptual structures that users employ in their assessment of the space. Of the total 175 subjects, 31 took part in focus groups and 144 in semantic differential. Five independent concepts were identified: privacy, functionality and professional nature, spaciousness, lighting, and cleanliness. In relation to the importance of the overall positive assessment of the space, the perception of privacy and sensations of dominance and pleasure are fundamental. Six relevant design aspects were also identified: provide spacious surroundings, facilitate sufficient separation between the different posts or cots, use different colors from those usually found in health-care centers, as some aversion was found to white and especially green, design areas with childhood themes, use warm artificial light, and choose user-friendly equipment. Results provide design recommendations of interest and show the possibilities offered by combining both systems to analyze user response.

The Dietary Quality of Food Pantry Users: A Systematic Review of Existing Literature.

PubMed

Simmet, Anja; Depa, Julia; Tinnemann, Peter; Stroebele-Benschop, Nanette

2017-04-01

Users of food pantries often have a long history of food insecurity and may be vulnerable to nutritional deficiencies. The quality of their diets is not well researched. The purpose of this systematic review was to summarize the published evidence about the dietary quality of food pantry users. Systematic database searches of PubMed, PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, and Psychology Behavioral Sciences Collection, and hand searches of references were conducted to identify cross-sectional, cohort, and intervention studies reporting baseline data, conducted in high-income countries and published between 1980 and 2015, which reported on the nutritional adequacy of individuals who have used a food pantry at least once in the previous 12 months. All identified citations were screened and independently assessed for eligibility. Results for dietary quality were summarized for overall diet quality, energy, food groups, macro- and micronutrients separately. The risk of bias of included studies was evaluated by using criteria of an adapted Ottawa Scale. The systematic review was reported in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement. After applying predefined eligibility criteria, 16 articles were identified for inclusion. The diet quality among included food pantry users was low, as reflected by inadequate mean group intake of energy, fruits and vegetables, dairy products, and calcium. Even if the group mean intake was adequate, large percentages of study populations did not meet the recommendations for vitamins A, C, D, and B vitamins, or iron, magnesium, and zinc. The representativeness of the studies varied widely and none of them were nationally representative. The current evidence suggests that the dietary intake of most food pantry users does not meet recommendations. Future research should draw more representative samples and investigate the impact of food pantries on users' diet. Copyright © 2017 Academy of

Metal Matrix Laminate Tailoring (MMLT) code: User's manual

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Murthy, P. L. N.; Morel, M. R.; Saravanos, D. A.

1993-01-01

The User's Manual for the Metal Matrix Laminate Tailoring (MMLT) program is presented. The code is capable of tailoring the fabrication process, constituent characteristics, and laminate parameters (individually or concurrently) for a wide variety of metal matrix composite (MMC) materials, to improve the performance and identify trends or behavior of MMC's under different thermo-mechanical loading conditions. This document is meant to serve as a guide in the use of the MMLT code. Detailed explanations of the composite mechanics and tailoring analysis are beyond the scope of this document, and may be found in the references. MMLT was developed by the Structural Mechanics Branch at NASA Lewis Research Center (LeRC).

User Values in the Selection of Information Services. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hall, Homer J.

The value systems by which the users of purchased information services select which one to use or buy are found to differ sharply among different user populations, but the variable found to control them is a function of use, not of the user as an individual. Selection variables are summarized in a matrix of user values and interaction effects. The…

Re-conceiving building design quality: A review of building users in their social context.

PubMed

Watson, Kelly J; Evans, James; Karvonen, Andrew; Whitley, Tim

2016-05-01

Considerable overlap exists between post-occupancy research evaluating building design quality and the concept of 'social value', popularised by its recent application to issues of the public realm. To outline this potential research agenda, the paper reviews design quality research on buildings in relation to users and their social context where the term 'social context' refers to building user group dynamics, a combination of organisational cultures, management strategies, and social norms and practices. The review is conducted across five key building types, namely housing, workplaces, healthcare, education, and the retail/service sector. Research commonalities and gaps are identified in order to build a more comprehensive picture of the design quality literature and its handling of users in their social context. The key findings concerning each building type are presented visually. It is concluded that the design quality field comprises a patchwork of relatively isolated studies of various building types, with significant potential for theoretical and empirical development through interdisciplinary collaboration. Users tend to be conceived as anonymous and autonomous individuals with little analysis of user identity or interaction. Further, the contextual impact of user group dynamics on the relationship between building design and building user is rarely addressed in the literature. Producing a more nuanced understanding of users in situ is proposed as an important area for future design quality research.

Re-conceiving building design quality: A review of building users in their social context

PubMed Central

Evans, James; Karvonen, Andrew; Whitley, Tim

2014-01-01

Considerable overlap exists between post-occupancy research evaluating building design quality and the concept of ‘social value’, popularised by its recent application to issues of the public realm. To outline this potential research agenda, the paper reviews design quality research on buildings in relation to users and their social context where the term ‘social context’ refers to building user group dynamics, a combination of organisational cultures, management strategies, and social norms and practices. The review is conducted across five key building types, namely housing, workplaces, healthcare, education, and the retail/service sector. Research commonalities and gaps are identified in order to build a more comprehensive picture of the design quality literature and its handling of users in their social context. The key findings concerning each building type are presented visually. It is concluded that the design quality field comprises a patchwork of relatively isolated studies of various building types, with significant potential for theoretical and empirical development through interdisciplinary collaboration. Users tend to be conceived as anonymous and autonomous individuals with little analysis of user identity or interaction. Further, the contextual impact of user group dynamics on the relationship between building design and building user is rarely addressed in the literature. Producing a more nuanced understanding of users in situ is proposed as an important area for future design quality research. PMID:27110217

Analyzing injury severity factors at highway railway grade crossing accidents involving vulnerable road users: A comparative study.

PubMed

Ghomi, Haniyeh; Bagheri, Morteza; Fu, Liping; Miranda-Moreno, Luis F

2016-11-16

The main objective of this study is to identify the main factors associated with injury severity of vulnerable road users (VRUs) involved in accidents at highway railroad grade crossings (HRGCs) using data mining techniques. This article applies an ordered probit model, association rules, and classification and regression tree (CART) algorithms to the U.S. Federal Railroad Administration's (FRA) HRGC accident database for the period 2007-2013 to identify VRU injury severity factors at HRGCs. The results show that train speed is a key factor influencing injury severity. Further analysis illustrated that the presence of illumination does not reduce the severity of accidents for high-speed trains. In addition, there is a greater propensity toward fatal accidents for elderly road users compared to younger individuals. Interestingly, at night, injury accidents involving female road users are more severe compared to those involving males. The ordered probit model was the primary technique, and CART and association rules act as the supporter and identifier of interactions between variables. All 3 algorithms' results consistently show that the most influential accident factors are train speed, VRU age, and gender. The findings of this research could be applied for identifying high-risk hotspots and developing cost-effective countermeasures targeting VRUs at HRGCs.

Identifying individuals for primary cardiovascular disease prevention in UK general practice: priorities and resource implications

PubMed Central

Holt, Tim A; Thorogood, Margaret; Griffiths, Frances; Munday, Stephen; Stables, David

2008-01-01

Targeted cardiovascular disease prevention relies on risk-factor information held in primary care records. A risk algorithm, the ‘e-Nudge’, was applied to data from a population of ≥50-year-olds in 19 West Midlands practices, to identify those individuals at risk of cardiovascular disease. Altogether, 5.9% were identified aged 50–74 years at ≥20% 10-year risk based on existing data, and a further 26.4% were potentially at risk but had missing risk-factor information; 9.2% of patients aged over 50 years with established cardiovascular disease had at least one modifiable risk factor outside the audit target of the Quality and Outcomes Framework. Implications for resource allocation are discussed. PMID:18611316

Methods for Improving the User-Computer Interface. Technical Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCann, Patrick H.

This summary of methods for improving the user-computer interface is based on a review of the pertinent literature. Requirements of the personal computer user are identified and contrasted with computer designer perspectives towards the user. The user's psychological needs are described, so that the design of the user-computer interface may be…

CORE_TF: a user-friendly interface to identify evolutionary conserved transcription factor binding sites in sets of co-regulated genes

PubMed Central

Hestand, Matthew S; van Galen, Michiel; Villerius, Michel P; van Ommen, Gert-Jan B; den Dunnen, Johan T; 't Hoen, Peter AC

2008-01-01

Background The identification of transcription factor binding sites is difficult since they are only a small number of nucleotides in size, resulting in large numbers of false positives and false negatives in current approaches. Computational methods to reduce false positives are to look for over-representation of transcription factor binding sites in a set of similarly regulated promoters or to look for conservation in orthologous promoter alignments. Results We have developed a novel tool, "CORE_TF" (Conserved and Over-REpresented Transcription Factor binding sites) that identifies common transcription factor binding sites in promoters of co-regulated genes. To improve upon existing binding site predictions, the tool searches for position weight matrices from the TRANSFACR database that are over-represented in an experimental set compared to a random set of promoters and identifies cross-species conservation of the predicted transcription factor binding sites. The algorithm has been evaluated with expression and chromatin-immunoprecipitation on microarray data. We also implement and demonstrate the importance of matching the random set of promoters to the experimental promoters by GC content, which is a unique feature of our tool. Conclusion The program CORE_TF is accessible in a user friendly web interface at . It provides a table of over-represented transcription factor binding sites in the users input genes' promoters and a graphical view of evolutionary conserved transcription factor binding sites. In our test data sets it successfully predicts target transcription factors and their binding sites. PMID:19036135

Identifying Effective Methods for Teaching Sex Education to Individuals With Intellectual Disabilities: A Systematic Review

PubMed Central

Schaafsma, Dilana; Kok, Gerjo; Stoffelen, Joke M. T.; Curfs, Leopold M. G.

2015-01-01

Sex education for individuals with intellectual disabilities is important. However, our knowledge about effective methods for teaching sex education to this population is limited. We report the results of a systematic review identifying methods for sex education programs aimed at individuals with intellectual disabilities. In all, 20 articles were included that met the criteria set in terms of topic—the effectiveness of sex education programs—and population of interest—individuals with intellectual disabilities. In these articles, methods for increasing knowledge and for improving skills and attitudes were reported. However, the studies revealed that generalization of skills to real-life situations was often not achieved. There are indications that the maintenance of knowledge and skills still needs extra attention. Moreover, detailed descriptions of the program materials, program goals, and methods used in the programs were often lacking in the reports. Although there is some evidence for methods that may improve knowledge, attitudes, and skills with regard to sex education aimed at individuals with intellectual disabilities, due to the lack of detailed descriptions provided it is unclear under which conditions these methods work. We therefore suggest that authors provide additional detail about methods in future publications or in online supplements. PMID:25085114

User Requirements in Identifying Desired Works in a Large Library. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lipetz, Ben-Ami

Utilization of the card catalog in the main library (Sterling Memorial Library) of Yale University was studied over a period of more than a year. Traffic flow in the catalog was observed, and was used as the basis for scheduling interviews with a representative sample of catalog users at the moment of catalog use. More than 2000 interviews were…

Managing the Risks Associated with End-User Computing.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alavi, Maryam; Weiss, Ira R.

1986-01-01

Identifies organizational risks of end-user computing (EUC) associated with different stages of the end-user applications life cycle (analysis, design, implementation). Generic controls are identified that address each of the risks enumerated in a manner that allows EUC management to select those most appropriate to their EUC environment. (5…

The importance of content and face validity in instrument development: lessons learnt from service users when developing the Recovering Quality of Life measure (ReQoL).

PubMed

Connell, Janice; Carlton, Jill; Grundy, Andrew; Taylor Buck, Elizabeth; Keetharuth, Anju Devianee; Ricketts, Thomas; Barkham, Michael; Robotham, Dan; Rose, Diana; Brazier, John

2018-07-01

Service user involvement in instrument development is increasingly recognised as important, but is often not done and seldom reported. This has adverse implications for the content validity of a measure. The aim of this paper is to identify the types of items that service users felt were important to be included or excluded from a new Recovering Quality of Life measure for people with mental health difficulties. Potential items were presented to service users in face-to-face structured individual interviews and focus groups. The items were primarily taken or adapted from current measures and covered themes identified from earlier qualitative work as being important to quality of life. Content and thematic analysis was undertaken to identify the types of items which were either important or unacceptable to service users. We identified five key themes of the types of items that service users found acceptable or unacceptable; the items should be relevant and meaningful, unambiguous, easy to answer particularly when distressed, do not cause further upset, and be non-judgemental. Importantly, this was from the perspective of the service user. This research has underlined the importance of service users' views on the acceptability and validity of items for use in developing a new measure. Whether or not service users favoured an item was associated with their ability or intention to respond accurately and honestly to the item which will impact on the validity and sensitivity of the measure.

Canadian MSAT field trial program user requirements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pedersen, Allister

1990-01-01

A wide range of mobile satellite service offerings will be available in late 1993 with the launch of Canada's first satellite devoted almost exclusively to mobile and transportable services. During the last seven years, the Dept. of Communications has been meeting with potential MSAT users in government and the private sector as part of a $20M Communications Trials Program. User trials will be conducted using leased capacity as well as capacity on Canada's MSAT satellite. User requirements are discussed which were identified under the Communications Trials Program. Land, marine, aeronautical, and fixed applications are described from the perspective of the end users. Emphasis is placed on field trials being accomplished using leased capacity such as the marine data trial being implemented by Ultimateast Data Communications, trials using transportable briefcase terminals and additional field trials being considered for implementation with the TMI Mobile Data Service. The pre-MSAT trials that will be conducted using leased capacity are only a limited sample of the overall end user requirements that have been identified to date. Additional end user applications are discussed, along with a summary of user benefits.

Canadian MSAT field trial program user requirements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pedersen, Allister

A wide range of mobile satellite service offerings will be available in late 1993 with the launch of Canada's first satellite devoted almost exclusively to mobile and transportable services. During the last seven years, the Dept. of Communications has been meeting with potential MSAT users in government and the private sector as part of a $20M Communications Trials Program. User trials will be conducted using leased capacity as well as capacity on Canada's MSAT satellite. User requirements are discussed which were identified under the Communications Trials Program. Land, marine, aeronautical, and fixed applications are described from the perspective of the end users. Emphasis is placed on field trials being accomplished using leased capacity such as the marine data trial being implemented by Ultimateast Data Communications, trials using transportable briefcase terminals and additional field trials being considered for implementation with the TMI Mobile Data Service. The pre-MSAT trials that will be conducted using leased capacity are only a limited sample of the overall end user requirements that have been identified to date. Additional end user applications are discussed, along with a summary of user benefits.

Data latency and the user community

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Escobar, V. M.; Brown, M. E.; Carroll, M.

2013-12-01

The community using NASA Earth science observations in applications has grown significantly, with increasing sophistication to serve national interests. The National Research Council's Earth Science Decadal Survey report stated that the planning for applied and operational considerations in the missions should accompany the acquisition of new knowledge about Earth (NRC, 2007). This directive has made product applications at NASA an integral part of converting the data collected into actionable knowledge that can be used to inform policy. However, successfully bridging scientific research with operational decision making in different application areas requires looking into user data requirements and operational needs. This study was conducted to determine how users are incorporating NASA data into applications and operational processes. The approach included a review of published materials, direct interviews with mission representatives, and an online professional review, which was distributed to over 6000 individuals. We provide a complete description of the findings with definitions and explanations of what goes into measuring latency as well as how users and applications utilize NASA data products. We identified 3 classes of users: operational (need data in 3 hours or less), near real time (need data within a day of acquisition), and scientific users (need highest quality data, time independent). We also determined that most users with applications are interested in specific types of products that may come from multiple missions. These users will take the observations when they are available, however the observations may have additional applications value if they are available either by a certain time of day or within a period of time after acquisition. NASA has supported the need for access to low latency data on an ad-hoc basis and more substantively in stand-alone systems such as the MODIS Rapid Response system and more recently with LANCE. The increased level

Cost of health care utilization among homeless frequent emergency department users.

PubMed

Mitchell, Matthew S; León, Casey L K; Byrne, Thomas H; Lin, Wen-Chieh; Bharel, Monica

2017-05-01

Research demonstrates that homelessness is associated with frequent use of emergency department (ED) services, yet prior studies have not adequately examined the relationship between frequent ED use and utilization of non-ED health care services among those experiencing homelessness. There has also been little effort to assess heterogeneity among homeless individuals who make frequent use of ED services. To address these gaps, the present study used Medicaid claims data from 2010 to estimate the association between the number of ED visits and non-ED health care costs for a cohort of 6,338 Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program patients, and to identify distinct subgroups of persons in this cohort who made frequent use of ED services based on their clinical and demographic characteristics. A series of gamma regression models found more frequent ED use to be associated with higher non-ED costs, even after adjusting for demographic and clinical characteristics. Latent class analysis was used to examine heterogeneity among frequent ED users, and the results identified 6 characteristically distinct subgroups among these persons. The subgroup of persons with trimorbid illness had non-ED costs that far exceeded members of all 5 other subgroups. Study findings reinforce the connection between frequent ED use and high health care costs among homeless individuals and suggest that different groups of homeless frequent ED users may benefit from interventions that vary in terms of their composition and intensity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Evidence-based design in an intensive care unit: end-user perceptions.

PubMed

Ferri, Mauricio; Zygun, David A; Harrison, Alexandra; Stelfox, Henry T

2015-04-25

The objective of this study was to describe end-user impressions and experiences in a new intensive care unit built using evidence-based design. This qualitative study was comprised of early (2-3 months after opening) and late (12-15 months after opening) phase individual interviews with end-users (healthcare providers, support staff, and patient family members) of the newly constructed Foothills Medical Centre intensive care unit in Calgary, Canada. The study unit was the recipient of the Society of Critical Care Medicine Design Citation award in 2012. We conducted interviews with thirty-nine ICU end-users, twenty-four in the early phase and fifteen in the late phase. We identified four themes (eleven sub-themes): atmosphere (abundant natural light and low noise levels), physical spaces (single occupancy rooms, rooms clustered into clinical pods, medication rooms, and tradeoffs of larger spaces), family participation in care (family support areas and social networks), and equipment (usability, storage, and providers connectivity). Abundant natural light was the design feature most frequently associated with a pleasant atmosphere. Participants emphasized the tradeoffs of size and space, and reported that the benefits of additional space (e.g., fewer interruptions due to less noise) out-weighed the disadvantages (e.g., greater distances between patients, families and providers). End-users advised that local patient care policies (e.g., number of visitors allowed at a time) and staffing needed to be updated to reflect the characteristics of the new facility design. End-users identified design elements for creating a pleasant atmosphere, attention to the tradeoffs of space and size, designing family support areas to encourage family participation in care, and updating patient care policies and staffing to reflect the new physical space as important aspects to consider when building intensive care units. Evidence-based design may optimize ICU structure for patients

Topological Galleries: A High Level User Interface for Topology Controlled Volume Rendering

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

MacCarthy, Brian; Carr, Hamish; Weber, Gunther H.

2011-06-30

Existing topological interfaces to volume rendering are limited by their reliance on sophisticated knowledge of topology by the user. We extend previous work by describing topological galleries, an interface for novice users that is based on the design galleries approach. We report three contributions: an interface based on hierarchical thumbnail galleries to display the containment relationships between topologically identifiable features, the use of the pruning hierarchy instead of branch decomposition for contour tree simplification, and drag-and-drop transfer function assignment for individual components. Initial results suggest that this approach suffers from limitations due to rapid drop-off of feature size in themore » pruning hierarchy. We explore these limitations by providing statistics of feature size as function of depth in the pruning hierarchy of the contour tree.« less

Expert Users' Perceptions of Racing Wheelchair Design and Setup: The Knowns, Unknowns, and Next Steps.

PubMed

Bundon, Andrea; Mason, Barry S; Goosey-Tolfrey, Victoria L

2017-04-01

This paper demonstrates how a qualitative methodology can be used to gain novel insights into the demands of wheelchair racing and the impact of particular racing chair configurations on optimal sport performance via engagement with expert users (wheelchair racers, coaches, and manufacturers). We specifically explore how expert users understand how wheels, tires, and bearings impact sport performance and how they engage, implement, or reject evidence-based research pertaining to these components. We identify areas where participants perceive there to be an immediate need for more research especially pertaining to the ability to make individualized recommendations for athletes. The findings from this project speak to the value of a qualitative research design for capturing the embodied knowledge of expert users and also make suggestions for "next step" projects pertaining to wheels, tires, and bearings drawn directly from the comments of participants.

Does this range suit me? Range satisfaction of battery electric vehicle users.

PubMed

Franke, Thomas; Günther, Madlen; Trantow, Maria; Krems, Josef F

2017-11-01

User satisfaction is a vital design criterion for sustainable systems. The present research aimed to understand factors relating to individually perceived range satisfaction of battery electric vehicle (BEV) users. Data from a large-scale BEV field trial (N = 72) were analyzed. Apart from an initial drop in range satisfaction, increasing practical experience was related to increased range satisfaction. Classical indicators of users' mobility profiles (daily travel distances) were only weakly related to lower range satisfaction (not significant), after controlling for practical experience and preferred coverage of mobility needs. The regularity/predictability of users' mobility patterns, the percentage of journeys not coverable because of range issues, and users' individual comfortable range accounted for variance in range satisfaction. Finally, range satisfaction was related to key indicators of general BEV acceptance (e.g., purchase intentions). These results underline the complex dynamics involved in individual range satisfaction, as well as its central role for BEV acceptance. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Managing End User Computing in the Federal Government.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

General Services Administration, Washington, DC.

This report presents an initial approach developed by the General Services Administration for the management of end user computing in federal government agencies. Defined as technology used directly by individuals in need of information products, end user computing represents a new field encompassing such technologies as word processing, personal…

Urinary concentrations of PAH and VOC metabolites in marijuana users.

PubMed

Wei, Binnian; Alwis, K Udeni; Li, Zheng; Wang, Lanqing; Valentin-Blasini, Liza; Sosnoff, Connie S; Xia, Yang; Conway, Kevin P; Blount, Benjamin C

2016-03-01

Marijuana is seeing increased therapeutic use, and is the world's third most-popular recreational drug following alcohol and tobacco. This widening use poses increased exposure to potentially toxic combustion by-products from marijuana smoke and the potential for public health concerns. To compare urinary metabolites of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) among self-reported recent marijuana users and nonusers, while accounting for tobacco smoke exposure. Measurements of PAH and VOC metabolites in urine samples were combined with questionnaire data collected from participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) from 2005 to 2012 in order to categorize participants (≥18years) into exclusive recent marijuana users and nonusers. Adjusted geometric means (GMs) of urinary concentrations were computed for these groups using multiple regression analyses to adjust for potential confounders. Adjusted GMs of many individual monohydroxy PAHs (OH-PAHs) were significantly higher in recent marijuana users than in nonusers (p<0.05). Urinary thiocyanate (p<0.001) and urinary concentrations of many VOC metabolites, including metabolites of acrylonitrile (p<0.001) and acrylamide (p<0.001), were significantly higher in recent marijuana users than in nonusers. We found elevated levels of biomarkers for potentially harmful chemicals among self-identified, recent marijuana users compared with nonusers. These findings suggest that further studies are needed to evaluate the potential health risks to humans from the exposure to these agents when smoking marijuana. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Urinary concentrations of PAH and VOC metabolites in marijuana users

PubMed Central

Wei, Binnian; Alwis, K. Udeni; Li, Zheng; Wang, Lanqing; Valentin-Blasini, Liza; Sosnoff, Connie S.; Xia, Yang; Conway, Kevin P.; Blount, Benjamin C.

2016-01-01

Background Marijuana is seeing increased therapeutic use, and is the world’s third most-popular recreational drug following alcohol and tobacco. This widening use poses increased exposure to potentially toxic combustion by-products from marijuana smoke and the potential for public health concerns. Objectives To compare urinary metabolites of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) among self-reported recent marijuana users and nonusers, while accounting for tobacco smoke exposure. Methods Measurements of PAH and VOC metabolites in urine samples were combined with questionnaire data collected from participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) from 2005 to 2012 in order to categorize participants (≥18 years) into exclusive recent marijuana users and nonusers. Adjusted geometric means (GMs) of urinary concentrations were computed for these groups using multiple regression analyses to adjust for potential confounders. Results Adjusted GMs of many individual monohydroxy PAHs (OH-PAHs) were significantly higher in recent marijuana users than in nonusers (p < 0.05). Urinary thiocyanate (p < 0.001) and urinary concentrations of many VOC metabolites, including metabolites of acrylonitrile (p < 0.001) and acrylamide (p < 0.001), were significantly higher in recent marijuana users than in nonusers. Conclusions We found elevated levels of biomarkers for potentially harmful chemicals among self-identified, recent marijuana users compared with nonusers. These findings suggest that further studies are needed to evaluate the potential health risks to humans from the exposure to these agents when smoking marijuana. PMID:26690539

ChimericSeq: An open-source, user-friendly interface for analyzing NGS data to identify and characterize viral-host chimeric sequences.

PubMed

Shieh, Fwu-Shan; Jongeneel, Patrick; Steffen, Jamin D; Lin, Selena; Jain, Surbhi; Song, Wei; Su, Ying-Hsiu

2017-01-01

Identification of viral integration sites has been important in understanding the pathogenesis and progression of diseases associated with particular viral infections. The advent of next-generation sequencing (NGS) has enabled researchers to understand the impact that viral integration has on the host, such as tumorigenesis. Current computational methods to analyze NGS data of virus-host junction sites have been limited in terms of their accessibility to a broad user base. In this study, we developed a software application (named ChimericSeq), that is the first program of its kind to offer a graphical user interface, compatibility with both Windows and Mac operating systems, and optimized for effectively identifying and annotating virus-host chimeric reads within NGS data. In addition, ChimericSeq's pipeline implements custom filtering to remove artifacts and detect reads with quantitative analytical reporting to provide functional significance to discovered integration sites. The improved accessibility of ChimericSeq through a GUI interface in both Windows and Mac has potential to expand NGS analytical support to a broader spectrum of the scientific community.

ChimericSeq: An open-source, user-friendly interface for analyzing NGS data to identify and characterize viral-host chimeric sequences

PubMed Central

Shieh, Fwu-Shan; Jongeneel, Patrick; Steffen, Jamin D.; Lin, Selena; Jain, Surbhi; Song, Wei

2017-01-01

Identification of viral integration sites has been important in understanding the pathogenesis and progression of diseases associated with particular viral infections. The advent of next-generation sequencing (NGS) has enabled researchers to understand the impact that viral integration has on the host, such as tumorigenesis. Current computational methods to analyze NGS data of virus-host junction sites have been limited in terms of their accessibility to a broad user base. In this study, we developed a software application (named ChimericSeq), that is the first program of its kind to offer a graphical user interface, compatibility with both Windows and Mac operating systems, and optimized for effectively identifying and annotating virus-host chimeric reads within NGS data. In addition, ChimericSeq’s pipeline implements custom filtering to remove artifacts and detect reads with quantitative analytical reporting to provide functional significance to discovered integration sites. The improved accessibility of ChimericSeq through a GUI interface in both Windows and Mac has potential to expand NGS analytical support to a broader spectrum of the scientific community. PMID:28829778

ISBP: Understanding the Security Rule of Users' Information-Sharing Behaviors in Partnership.

PubMed

Wu, Hongchen; Wang, Xinjun

2016-01-01

The rapid growth of social network data has given rise to high security awareness among users, especially when they exchange and share their personal information. However, because users have different feelings about sharing their information, they are often puzzled about who their partners for exchanging information can be and what information they can share. Is it possible to assist users in forming a partnership network in which they can exchange and share information with little worry? We propose a modified information sharing behavior prediction (ISBP) model that can help in understanding the underlying rules by which users share their information with partners in light of three common aspects: what types of items users are likely to share, what characteristics of users make them likely to share information, and what features of users' sharing behavior are easy to predict. This model is applied with machine learning techniques in WEKA to predict users' decisions pertaining to information sharing behavior and form them into trustable partnership networks by learning their features. In the experiment section, by using two real-life datasets consisting of citizens' sharing behavior, we identify the effect of highly sensitive requests on sharing behavior adjacent to individual variables: the younger participants' partners are more difficult to predict than those of the older participants, whereas the partners of people who are not computer majors are easier to predict than those of people who are computer majors. Based on these findings, we believe that it is necessary and feasible to offer users personalized suggestions on information sharing decisions, and this is pioneering work that could benefit college researchers focusing on user-centric strategies and website owners who want to collect more user information without raising their privacy awareness or losing their trustworthiness.

Long Duration Exposure Facility Mini-Data Base User`s Guide: Macintosh version. (Diskette)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bohnhoff-Hlavacek, G.; Pippin, H.G.; Dursch, H.W.

1995-04-01

One of the objectives of the LDEF Special Investigation Group (SIG) was to develop a LDEF data base that identifies the experiment objectives and hardware flown, summarizes results and conclusions, and provides a system analysis overview, including spacecraft design guidelines and space environmental effects. Compiling the information into an easily accessible data base format, and making it available to the space community was a major task accomplished by the System and Materials SIG effort beginning in 1981. Included in this document is a short user`s manual for the LDEF Mini-Data Bases. The user`s manual contains pertinent examples from the datamore » base on specifically how to access and work with the LDEF information. Accompanying this document are the mini-data bases on disk.« less

Exploring powered wheelchair users and their caregivers' perspectives on potential intelligent power wheelchair use: a qualitative study.

PubMed

Kairy, Dahlia; Rushton, Paula W; Archambault, Philippe; Pituch, Evelina; Torkia, Caryne; El Fathi, Anas; Stone, Paula; Routhier, François; Forget, Robert; Demers, Louise; Pineau, Joelle; Gourdeau, Richard

2014-02-21

Power wheelchairs (PWCs) can have a positive impact on user well-being, self-esteem, pain, activity and participation. Newly developed intelligent power wheelchairs (IPWs), allowing autonomous or collaboratively-controlled navigation, could enhance mobility of individuals not able to use, or having difficulty using, standard PWCs. The objective of this study was to explore the perspectives of PWC users (PWUs) and their caregivers regarding if and how IPWs could impact on current challenges faced by PWUs, as well as inform current development of IPWs. A qualitative exploratory study using individual interviews was conducted with PWUs (n = 12) and caregivers (n = 4). A semi-structured interview guide and video were used to facilitate informed discussion regarding IPWs. Thematic analysis revealed three main themes: (1) "challenging situations that may be overcome by an IPW" described how the IPW features of obstacle avoidance, path following, and target following could alleviate PWUs' identified mobility difficulties; (2) "cautious optimism concerning IPW use revealed participants" addresses concerns regarding using an IPW as well as technological suggestions; (3) "defining the potential IPW user" revealed characteristics of PWUs that would benefit from IPW use. Findings indicate how IPW use may help overcome PWC difficulties and confirm the importance of user input in the ongoing development of IPWs.

Quantifying Ongoing HIV-1 Exposure in HIV-1–Serodiscordant Couples to Identify Individuals With Potential Host Resistance to HIV-1

PubMed Central

Mackelprang, Romel D.; Baeten, Jared M.; Donnell, Deborah; Celum, Connie; Farquhar, Carey; de Bruyn, Guy; Essex, Max; McElrath, M. Juliana; Nakku-Joloba, Edith; Lingappa, Jairam R.

2012-01-01

Background. Immunogenetic correlates of resistance to HIV-1 in HIV-1–exposed seronegative (HESN) individuals with consistently high exposure may inform HIV-1 prevention strategies. We developed a novel approach for quantifying HIV-1 exposure to identify individuals remaining HIV-1 uninfected despite persistent high exposure. Methods. We used longitudinal predictors of HIV-1 transmission in HIV-1 serodiscordant couples to score HIV-1 exposure and define HESN clusters with persistently high, low, and decreasing risk trajectories. The model was validated in an independent cohort of serodiscordant couples. We describe a statistical tool that can be applied to other HESN cohorts to identify individuals with high exposure to HIV-1. Results. HIV-1 exposure was best quantified by frequency of unprotected sex with, plasma HIV-1 RNA levels among, and presence of genital ulcer disease among HIV-1–infected partners and by age, pregnancy status, herpes simplex virus 2 serostatus, and male circumcision status among HESN participants. Overall, 14% of HESN individuals persistently had high HIV-1 exposure and exhibited a declining incidence of HIV-1 infection over time. Conclusions. A minority of HESN individuals from HIV-1–discordant couples had persistent high HIV-1 exposure over time. Decreasing incidence of infection in this group suggests these individuals were selected for resistance to HIV-1 and may be most appropriate for identifying biological correlates of natural host resistance to HIV-1 infection. PMID:22926009

Identifying providers of care to individuals with human immunodeficiency virus for a mail survey using a prescription tracking database.

PubMed

Bach, P B; Calhoun, E A; Bennett, C L

1999-02-01

Unlike cancer and other illnesses for which specialists provide the majority of care for affected individuals, care of those infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is provided by generalists and many different types of specialists. To assess the utility of a prescription tracking database in identifying low experience and high-experience providers of such care regardless of specialty, we mailed a survey to 1500 physicians identified as having written prescriptions for agents used in care of HIV-infected individuals in the year before the survey. We discovered that physicians who care for patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in the United States come from a broad range of specialties and practice in a variety of settings. Self-report of experience with AIDS care in the prior year was strongly associated with the number of HIV-related prescriptions identified in the tracking information. Response rates were consistent with those of other surveys published in medical journals. This study suggests that prescription tracking databases can be used to identify the breadth of physician/subjects who provide care for patients with HIV infection.

Identifying and describing patients' learning experiences towards self-management of bipolar disorders: a phenomenological study.

PubMed

Van den Heuvel, S C G H; Goossens, P J J; Terlouw, C; Van Achterberg, T; Schoonhoven, L

2015-12-01

-to-face, in-depth interviews, guided by a topic list, along service users with BD I or II (n = 16) in three specialised community care clinics across the Netherlands. Interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim prior to analysis in Atlas.ti 7. Unlike existing studies, which suggest that individual abilities of service users determine outcomes in self-management of BD, the current study found that self-management of BD is a learning process that takes place in a collaborative network. We identified five categories: acknowledgment of having BD, processing the information load, illness management, reflecting on living with BD, and self-management of BD. The success of self-management depends on the acknowledgment of individual limitations in learning to cope with BD and willingness to use a social network as a back-up instead. Especially, the dormant fear of a recurrent episode is a hampering factor in this learning process. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Tobacco may mask poorer episodic memory among young adult cannabis users.

PubMed

Schuster, Randi M; Crane, Natania A; Mermelstein, Robin; Gonzalez, Raul

2015-09-01

Co-occurring cannabis and tobacco use has become increasingly prevalent among young adults, but it is not clear how tobacco use may alter the neurocognitive profile typically observed among cannabis users. Although there is substantial evidence citing cannabis and tobacco's individual effect on episodic memory and related brain structures, few studies have examined the effect of combined cannabis and tobacco use on memory. This investigation examined relationships between amount of past year cannabis and tobacco use on 4 different indices of episodic memory among a sample of young adults who identified cannabis as their drug of choice. Results indicated that more cannabis use was linked with poorer initial acquisition, total learning, and delayed recall on the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised, but only among cannabis users who sporadically smoked cigarettes in the past year. Conversely, the amount of past year cannabis use was not associated with episodic memory performance among individuals who more consistently smoked cigarettes in the past year. These differences could not be explained by several relevant potential confounds. These findings provide important insight into a potential mechanism (i.e., attenuation of cognitive decrements) that might reinforce use of both substances and hamper cessation attempts among cannabis users who also smoke cigarettes. Ongoing and future research will help to better understand how co-use of cannabis and tobacco affects memory during acute intoxication and abstinence and the stability of these associations over time. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Identifying Nodes of Transmission in Disease Diffusion Through Social Media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lamb, David Sebastian

of transmission was collected from Twitter for the Los Angeles County, USA, area from October 2015 to February 2016. Automated text classification was used to identify messages where users self-reported an influenza-like-illness. Different groupings were created that combined both the syndrome and the symptoms of influenza, and applied to the automated classification. The use of Twitter for small-area health analysis was evaluated along with different text classification methodologies. A space-time hierarchical clustering technique was adapted to be applied towards the twitter data in both identifying nodes of transmission and identifying spatiotemporal contact networks. This clustering data was applied to the classified Twitter data to look at where interaction between the classified users were occurring. This pointed to six nodes that were typically densely populated areas that saw the merging of large groups of people in Los Angeles (e.g. Disneyland and Hollywood Boulevard).The movement of these individuals were also examined by using a edit distance to compare their visits to different clusters and nodes.

Enabling Accessibility Through Model-Based User Interface Development.

PubMed

Ziegler, Daniel; Peissner, Matthias

2017-01-01

Adaptive user interfaces (AUIs) can increase the accessibility of interactive systems. They provide personalized display and interaction modes to fit individual user needs. Most AUI approaches rely on model-based development, which is considered relatively demanding. This paper explores strategies to make model-based development more attractive for mainstream developers.

Investigation of user behavior on social networking sites

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Social networking sites (SNS) are used for social and professional interaction with people. SNS popularity has encouraged researchers to analyze the relationship of activities performed on SNS with user behavior. In doing so, the term “user behavior” is rather used ambiguously with different interpretations, which makes it difficult to identify studies on user behavior in relation to SNS. This phenomenon has encouraged this thorough research on the characteristics of user behavior being discussed in the literature. Therefore, in this study, we aim to identify, analyze, and classify the characteristics associated with user behavior to answer the research questions designed to conduct this research. A mapping study (also called scoping study), which is a type of systematic literature review, is employed to identify potential studies from digital databases through a developed protocol. Thematic analysis is carried out for the classification of user behavior. We identified 116 primary studies for full analysis. This study found seven characteristics associated with behavior that have direct influence on SNS use and nine factors that have an indirect effect. All studies were conducted largely under seven areas that set the context of these studies. Findings show that the research on SNS is still in its early stage. The range of topics covered in the analyzed studies is quite expansive, although the depth in terms of number of studies under each topic is quite limited. This study reports that activities performed on SNS are either associated with user behavior or reflect personality characteristics. The findings of this study could be used by practitioners to evaluate their SNS platforms and develop more user-centered applications. These studies can also help organizations to understand better the needs of their employees. PMID:28151963

Investigation of user behavior on social networking sites.

PubMed

Waheed, Hajra; Anjum, Maria; Rehman, Mariam; Khawaja, Amina

2017-01-01

Social networking sites (SNS) are used for social and professional interaction with people. SNS popularity has encouraged researchers to analyze the relationship of activities performed on SNS with user behavior. In doing so, the term "user behavior" is rather used ambiguously with different interpretations, which makes it difficult to identify studies on user behavior in relation to SNS. This phenomenon has encouraged this thorough research on the characteristics of user behavior being discussed in the literature. Therefore, in this study, we aim to identify, analyze, and classify the characteristics associated with user behavior to answer the research questions designed to conduct this research. A mapping study (also called scoping study), which is a type of systematic literature review, is employed to identify potential studies from digital databases through a developed protocol. Thematic analysis is carried out for the classification of user behavior. We identified 116 primary studies for full analysis. This study found seven characteristics associated with behavior that have direct influence on SNS use and nine factors that have an indirect effect. All studies were conducted largely under seven areas that set the context of these studies. Findings show that the research on SNS is still in its early stage. The range of topics covered in the analyzed studies is quite expansive, although the depth in terms of number of studies under each topic is quite limited. This study reports that activities performed on SNS are either associated with user behavior or reflect personality characteristics. The findings of this study could be used by practitioners to evaluate their SNS platforms and develop more user-centered applications. These studies can also help organizations to understand better the needs of their employees.

Volition-adaptive control for gait training using wearable exoskeleton: preliminary tests with incomplete spinal cord injury individuals.

PubMed

Rajasekaran, Vijaykumar; López-Larraz, Eduardo; Trincado-Alonso, Fernando; Aranda, Joan; Montesano, Luis; Del-Ama, Antonio J; Pons, Jose L

2018-01-03

Gait training for individuals with neurological disorders is challenging in providing the suitable assistance and more adaptive behaviour towards user needs. The user specific adaptation can be defined based on the user interaction with the orthosis and by monitoring the user intentions. In this paper, an adaptive control model, commanded by the user intention, is evaluated using a lower limb exoskeleton with incomplete spinal cord injury individuals (SCI). A user intention based adaptive control model has been developed and evaluated with 4 incomplete SCI individuals across 3 sessions of training per individual. The adaptive control model modifies the joint impedance properties of the exoskeleton as a function of the human-orthosis interaction torques and the joint trajectory evolution along the gait sequence, in real time. The volitional input of the user is identified by monitoring the neural signals, pertaining to the user's motor activity. These volitional inputs are used as a trigger to initiate the gait movement, allowing the user to control the initialization of the exoskeleton movement, independently. A Finite-state machine based control model is used in this set-up which helps in combining the volitional orders with the gait adaptation. The exoskeleton demonstrated an adaptive assistance depending on the patients' performance without guiding them to follow an imposed trajectory. The exoskeleton initiated the trajectory based on the user intention command received from the brain machine interface, demonstrating it as a reliable trigger. The exoskeleton maintained the equilibrium by providing suitable assistance throughout the experiments. A progressive change in the maximum flexion of the knee joint was observed at the end of each session which shows improvement in the patient performance. Results of the adaptive impedance were evaluated by comparing with the application of a constant impedance value. Participants reported that the movement of the

Syllable-constituent perception by hearing-aid users: Common factors in quiet and noise

PubMed Central

Miller, James D.; Watson, Charles S.; Leek, Marjorie R.; Dubno, Judy R.; Wark, David J.; Souza, Pamela E.; Gordon-Salant, Sandra; Ahlstrom, Jayne B.

2017-01-01

The abilities of 59 adult hearing-aid users to hear phonetic details were assessed by measuring their abilities to identify syllable constituents in quiet and in differing levels of noise (12-talker babble) while wearing their aids. The set of sounds consisted of 109 frequently occurring syllable constituents (45 onsets, 28 nuclei, and 36 codas) spoken in varied phonetic contexts by eight talkers. In nominal quiet, a speech-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 40 dB, scores of individual listeners ranged from about 23% to 85% correct. Averaged over the range of SNRs commonly encountered in noisy situations, scores of individual listeners ranged from about 10% to 71% correct. The scores in quiet and in noise were very strongly correlated, R = 0.96. This high correlation implies that common factors play primary roles in the perception of phonetic details in quiet and in noise. Otherwise said, hearing-aid users' problems perceiving phonetic details in noise appear to be tied to their problems perceiving phonetic details in quiet and vice versa. PMID:28464618

Dissociation between perceptual processing and priming in long-term lorazepam users.

PubMed

Giersch, Anne; Vidailhet, Pierre

2006-12-01

Acute effects of lorazepam on visual information processing, perceptual priming and explicit memory are well established. However, visual processing and perceptual priming have rarely been explored in long-term lorazepam users. By exploring these functions it was possible to test the hypothesis that difficulty in processing visual information may lead to deficiencies in perceptual priming. Using a simple blind procedure, we tested explicit memory, perceptual priming and visual perception in 15 long-term lorazepam users and 15 control subjects individually matched according to sex, age and education level. Explicit memory, perceptual priming, and the identification of fragmented pictures were found to be preserved in long-term lorazepam users, contrary to what is usually observed after an acute drug intake. The processing of visual contour, on the other hand, was still significantly impaired. These results suggest that the effects observed on low-level visual perception are independent of the acute deleterious effects of lorazepam on perceptual priming. A comparison of perceptual priming in subjects with low- vs. high-level identification of new fragmented pictures further suggests that the ability to identify fragmented pictures has no influence on priming. Despite the fact that they were treated with relatively low doses and far from peak plasma concentration, it is noteworthy that in long-term users memory was preserved.

Simulating Future Changes in Spatio-temporal Precipitation by Identifying and Characterizing Individual Rainstorm Events

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chang, W.; Stein, M.; Wang, J.; Kotamarthi, V. R.; Moyer, E. J.

2015-12-01

A growing body of literature suggests that human-induced climate change may cause significant changes in precipitation patterns, which could in turn influence future flood levels and frequencies and water supply and management practices. Although climate models produce full three-dimensional simulations of precipitation, analyses of model precipitation have focused either on time-averaged distributions or on individual timeseries with no spatial information. We describe here a new approach based on identifying and characterizing individual rainstorms in either data or model output. Our approach enables us to readily characterize important spatio-temporal aspects of rainstorms including initiation location, intensity (mean and patterns), spatial extent, duration, and trajectory. We apply this technique to high-resolution precipitation over the continental U.S. both from radar-based observations (NCEP Stage IV QPE product, 1-hourly, 4 km spatial resolution) and from model runs with dynamical downscaling (WRF regional climate model, 3-hourly, 12 km spatial resolution). In the model studies we investigate the changes in storm characteristics under a business-as-usual warming scenario to 2100 (RCP 8.5). We find that in these model runs, rainstorm intensity increases as expected with rising temperatures (approximately 7%/K, following increased atmospheric moisture content), while total precipitation increases by a lesser amount (3%/K), consistent with other studies. We identify for the first time the necessary compensating mechanism: in these model runs, individual precipitation events become smaller. Other aspects are approximately unchanged in the warmer climate. Because these spatio-temporal changes in rainfall patterns would impact regional hydrology, it is important that they be accurately incorporated into any impacts assessment. For this purpose we have developed a methodology for producing scenarios of future precipitation that combine observational data and

User clustering in smartphone applications.

PubMed

Schaefers, Klaus; Ribeiro, David

2012-01-01

In the context of mobile health applications usability is a crucial factor to achieve user acceptance. The successful user interface (UI) design requires a deep understanding of the needs and requirements of the targeted audience. This paper explores the application of the K-Means algorithm on smartphone usage data in order to offer Human Computer Interaction (HCI) specialists a better insight into their user group. Two different feature space representations are introduced and used to identify persona like stereotypes in a real world data set, which was obtained from a public available smartphone application.

Evaluation Studies of Robotic Rollators by the User Perspective: A Systematic Review.

PubMed

Werner, Christian; Ullrich, Phoebe; Geravand, Milad; Peer, Angelika; Hauer, Klaus

2016-01-01

Robotic rollators enhance the basic functions of established devices by technically advanced physical, cognitive, or sensory support to increase autonomy in persons with severe impairment. In the evaluation of such ambient assisted living solutions, both the technical and user perspectives are important to prove usability, effectiveness and safety, and to ensure adequate device application. The aim of this systematic review is to summarize the methodology of studies evaluating robotic rollators with focus on the user perspective and to give recommendations for future evaluation studies. A systematic literature search up to December 31, 2014, was conducted based on the Cochrane Review methodology using the electronic databases PubMed and IEEE Xplore. Articles were selected according to the following inclusion criteria: evaluation studies of robotic rollators documenting human-robot interaction, no case reports, published in English language. Twenty-eight studies were identified that met the predefined inclusion criteria. Large heterogeneity in the definitions of the target user group, study populations, study designs and assessment methods was found across the included studies. No generic methodology to evaluate robotic rollators could be identified. We found major methodological shortcomings related to insufficient sample descriptions and sample sizes, and lack of appropriate, standardized and validated assessment methods. Long-term use in habitual environment was also not evaluated. Apart from the heterogeneity, methodological deficits in most of the identified studies became apparent. Recommendations for future evaluation studies include: clear definition of target user group, adequate selection of subjects, inclusion of other assistive mobility devices for comparison, evaluation of the habitual use of advanced prototypes, adequate assessment strategy with established, standardized and validated methods, and statistical analysis of study results. Assessment

Identifying people from gait pattern with accelerometers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ailisto, Heikki J.; Lindholm, Mikko; Mantyjarvi, Jani; Vildjiounaite, Elena; Makela, Satu-Marja

2005-03-01

Protecting portable devices is becoming more important, not only because of the value of the devices themselves, but for the value of the data in them and their capability for transactions, including m-commerce and m-banking. An unobtrusive and natural method for identifying the carrier of portable devices is presented. The method uses acceleration signals produced by sensors embedded in the portable device. When the user carries the device, the acceleration signal is compared with the stored template signal. The method consists of finding individual steps, normalizing and averaging them, aligning them with the template and computing cross-correlation, which is used as a measure of similarity. Equal Error Rate of 6.4% is achieved in tentative experiments with 36 test subjects.

Measuring Website Quality: Asymmetric Effect of User Satisfaction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kincl, Tomas; Strach, Pavel

2012-01-01

Website quality measurement tools have been largely static and have struggled to determine relevant attributes of user satisfaction. This study compares and contrasts attributes of user satisfaction based on usability guidelines seeking to identify practical easy-to-administer measurement tools. The website users assessed business school homepages…

Learning about individuals' health from aggregate data.

PubMed

Colbaugh, Rich; Glass, Kristin

2017-07-01

There is growing awareness that user-generated social media content contains valuable health-related information and is more convenient to collect than typical health data. For example, Twitter has been employed to predict aggregate-level outcomes, such as regional rates of diabetes and child poverty, and to identify individual cases of depression and food poisoning. Models which make aggregate-level inferences can be induced from aggregate data, and consequently are straightforward to build. In contrast, learning models that produce individual-level (IL) predictions, which are more informative, usually requires a large number of difficult-to-acquire labeled IL examples. This paper presents a new machine learning method which achieves the best of both worlds, enabling IL models to be learned from aggregate labels. The algorithm makes predictions by combining unsupervised feature extraction, aggregate-based modeling, and optimal integration of aggregate-level and IL information. Two case studies illustrate how to learn health-relevant IL prediction models using only aggregate labels, and show that these models perform as well as state-of-the-art models trained on hundreds or thousands of labeled individuals.

Stigma towards Marijuana Users and Heroin Users.

PubMed

Brown, Seth A

2015-01-01

Despite high levels of stigmatizing attitudes and behaviors toward individuals with substance use problems, there is surprisingly limited research on understanding the contributors to such high levels. College students with no history of marijuana or heroin use (N=250) completed self-report measures to examine the level of substance use stigma towards individuals using two illicit substances (marijuana and heroin) and the contribution of three perceiver characteristics (sex, previous contact with substance users, and five beliefs about substance use) to three dimensions of stigma (social distance, negative emotions, and forcing treatment). Greater levels of internalized stigma were noted towards individuals who use heroin (versus marijuana). For marijuana use, those who had less previous contact and higher endorsement of certain beliefs (rarity, severity, and less controllability) were associated with greater stigmatizing attitudes. For heroin use, the associations were weak or non-existent. The findings strengthen the argument that substance use stigma needs to be examined and perhaps addressed substance by substance, rather than as a group. Further, contact interventions may be a particularly effective strategy for altering substance use stigma.

Professional perspectives on service user and carer involvement in mental health care planning: a qualitative study.

PubMed

Bee, Penny; Brooks, Helen; Fraser, Claire; Lovell, Karina

2015-12-01

Involving users/carers in mental health care-planning is central to international policy initiatives yet users frequently report feeling excluded from the care planning process. Rigorous explorations of mental health professionals' experiences of care planning are lacking, limiting our understanding of this important translational gap. To explore professional perceptions of delivering collaborative mental health care-planning and involving service users and carers in their care. Qualitative interviews and focus groups with data combined and subjected to framework analysis. UK secondary care mental health services. 51 multi-disciplinary professionals involved in care planning and recruited via study advertisements. Emergent themes identified care-planning as a meaningful platform for user/carer involvement but revealed philosophical tensions between user involvement and professional accountability. Professionals emphasised their individual, relational skills as a core facilitator of involvement, highlighting some important deficiencies in conventional staff training programmes. Although internationally accepted on philosophical grounds, user-involved care-planning is poorly defined and lacks effective implementation support. Its full realisation demands greater recognition of both the historical and contemporary contexts in which statutory mental healthcare occurs. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Multicentre evaluation of music perception in adult users of Advanced Bionics cochlear implants.

PubMed

Adams, Doris; Ajimsha, Khalid Mohamed; Barberá, Manuel Tomás; Gazibegovic, Dzemal; Gisbert, Javier; Gómez, Justo; Raveh, Eyal; Rocca, Christine; Romanet, Philipe; Seebens, Yvonne; Zarowski, Andrzej

2014-01-01

To document musical listening and enjoyment in recipients of Advanced Bionics cochlear implants (CIs) and to compare musical perception in those using early coding strategies with subjects using the newer HiRes and HiRes 120 strategies. A questionnaire was completed by 136 adult subjects, including questions on the ability to identify specific musical features. The subjects were in three groups: those using early coding strategies (n = 29), HiRes (n = 59), and HiRes 120 (n = 48), and results were compared with a group of 84 normally hearing (NH) subjects. Of the CI users, 79% reported listening to music. The NH group rated listening frequency and enjoyment higher than the CI users. Thirty-five users reported that they sang and this group had significantly higher overall performance. There were no significant differences in overall perception of specific musical features among the strategy groups, though some individual questions showed significantly higher performance in the HiRes 120 users. Users of current CI technology show a high level of musical appreciation, though still significantly less than NH subjects. Frequency of listening and enjoyment were significantly correlated and active participation in musical activities, specifically singing, resulted in significantly higher overall performance scores.

Electric-powered indoor/outdoor wheelchairs (EPIOCs): users' views of influence on family, friends and carers.

PubMed

Frank, Andrew; Neophytou, Claudius; Frank, Julia; de Souza, Lorraine

2010-01-01

This study explored the effects of electric-powered indoor/outdoor wheelchair (EPIOC) provision to users on their family and carers. EPIOC users receiving their chairs between February and November 2002 (N = 74) were invited to participate in a telephone questionnaire/interview, and 64 agreed. This study examined the responses to the question 'Has the use of your EPIOC affected your family or friends in any way?' and related comments. Interviews were analysed using a qualitative framework approach to identify emergent themes. In addition, the proportion of individuals raising issues related to each theme was determined. Participants were interviewed 10-19 (mean = 14.3) months after chair delivery. The following themes emerged: reduced physical burden on family/friends and increased independence and freedom. However, an EPIOC does not eliminate other practical problems particularly during transportation and negotiating kerbs and slopes. Users also reported anxiety/worry in relationship to EPIOC use, e.g., weather conditions, personal safety (muggings), use of ramps and kerbs. There are considerable benefits to families and carers associated with powered wheelchair use. A reduction in the physical demand for pushing and increased freedom were identified. These benefits appear to outweigh the residual practical difficulties and worries.

Between-User Reliability of Tier 1 Exposure Assessment Tools Used Under REACH.

PubMed

Lamb, Judith; Galea, Karen S; Miller, Brian G; Hesse, Susanne; Van Tongeren, Martie

2017-10-01

When applying simple screening (Tier 1) tools to estimate exposure to chemicals in a given exposure situation under the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and restriction of CHemicals Regulation 2006 (REACH), users must select from several possible input parameters. Previous studies have suggested that results from exposure assessments using expert judgement and from the use of modelling tools can vary considerably between assessors. This study aimed to investigate the between-user reliability of Tier 1 tools. A remote-completion exercise and in person workshop were used to identify and evaluate tool parameters and factors such as user demographics that may be potentially associated with between-user variability. Participants (N = 146) generated dermal and inhalation exposure estimates (N = 4066) from specified workplace descriptions ('exposure situations') and Tier 1 tool combinations (N = 20). Interactions between users, tools, and situations were investigated and described. Systematic variation associated with individual users was minor compared with random between-user variation. Although variation was observed between choices made for the majority of input parameters, differing choices of Process Category ('PROC') code/activity descriptor and dustiness level impacted most on the resultant exposure estimates. Exposure estimates ranging over several orders of magnitude were generated for the same exposure situation by different tool users. Such unpredictable between-user variation will reduce consistency within REACH processes and could result in under-estimation or overestimation of exposure, risking worker ill-health or the implementation of unnecessary risk controls, respectively. Implementation of additional support and quality control systems for all tool users is needed to reduce between-assessor variation and so ensure both the protection of worker health and avoidance of unnecessary business risk management expenditure. © The Author 2017. Published

Barriers and facilitators to implementing electronic prescription: a systematic review of user groups' perceptions.

PubMed

Gagnon, Marie-Pierre; Nsangou, Édith-Romy; Payne-Gagnon, Julie; Grenier, Sonya; Sicotte, Claude

2014-01-01

We conducted a systematic review identifying users groups' perceptions of barriers and facilitators to implementing electronic prescription (e-prescribing) in primary care. We included studies following these criteria: presence of an empirical design, focus on the users' experience of e-prescribing implementation, conducted in primary care, and providing data on barriers and facilitators to e-prescribing implementation. We used the Donabedian logical model of healthcare quality (adapted by Barber et al) to analyze our findings. We found 34 publications (related to 28 individual studies) eligible to be included in this review. These studies identified a total of 594 elements as barriers or facilitators to e-prescribing implementation. Most user groups perceived that e-prescribing was facilitated by design and technical concerns, interoperability, content appropriate for the users, attitude towards e-prescribing, productivity, and available resources. This review highlights the importance of technical and organizational support for the successful implementation of e-prescribing systems. It also shows that the same factor can be seen as a barrier or a facilitator depending on the project's own circumstances. Moreover, a factor can change in nature, from a barrier to a facilitator and vice versa, in the process of e-prescribing implementation. This review summarizes current knowledge on factors related to e-prescribing implementation in primary care that could support decision makers in their design of effective implementation strategies. Finally, future studies should emphasize on the perceptions of other user groups, such as pharmacists, managers, vendors, and patients, who remain neglected in the literature.

STS pilot user development program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mcdowell, J. R.

1977-01-01

Full exploitation of the STS capabilities will be not only dependent on the extensive use of the STS for known space applications and research, but also on new, innovative ideas of use originating with both current and new users. In recognition of this, NASA has been engaged in a User Development Program for the STS. The program began with four small studies. Each study addressed a separate sector of potential new users to identify techniques and methodologies for user development. The collective results established that a user development function was not only feasible, but necessary for NASA to realize the full potential of the STS. This final report begins with a description of the overall pilot program plan, which involved five specific tasks defined in the contract Statement of Work. Each task is then discussed separately; but two subjects, the development of principal investigators and space processing users, are discussed separately for improved continuity of thought. These discussions are followed by a summary of the primary results and conclusions of the Pilot User Development Program. Specific recommendations of the study are given.

Determining the optimal approach to identifying individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: The DOC study.

PubMed

Ronaldson, Sarah J; Dyson, Lisa; Clark, Laura; Hewitt, Catherine E; Torgerson, David J; Cooper, Brendan G; Kearney, Matt; Laughey, William; Raghunath, Raghu; Steele, Lisa; Rhodes, Rebecca; Adamson, Joy

2018-06-01

Early identification of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) results in patients receiving appropriate management for their condition at an earlier stage in their disease. The determining the optimal approach to identifying individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (DOC) study was a case-finding study to enhance early identification of COPD in primary care, which evaluated the diagnostic accuracy of a series of simple lung function tests and symptom-based case-finding questionnaires. Current smokers aged 35 or more were invited to undertake a series of case-finding tools, which comprised lung function tests (specifically, spirometry, microspirometry, peak flow meter, and WheezoMeter) and several case-finding questionnaires. The effectiveness of these tests, individually or in combination, to identify small airways obstruction was evaluated against the gold standard of spirometry, with the quality of spirometry tests assessed by independent overreaders. The study was conducted with general practices in the Yorkshire and Humberside area, in the UK. Six hundred eighty-one individuals met the inclusion criteria, with 444 participants completing their study appointments. A total of 216 (49%) with good-quality spirometry readings were included in the analysis. The most effective case-finding tools were found to be the peak flow meter alone, the peak flow meter plus WheezoMeter, and microspirometry alone. In addition to the main analysis, where the severity of airflow obstruction was based on fixed ratios and percent of predicted values, sensitivity analyses were conducted by using lower limit of normal values. This research informs the choice of test for COPD identification; case-finding by use of the peak flow meter or microspirometer could be used routinely in primary care for suspected COPD patients. Only those testing positive to these tests would move on to full spirometry, thereby reducing unnecessary spirometric testing. © 2018 John Wiley

Mortality among individuals with cannabis, cocaine, amphetamine, MDMA, and opioid use disorders: a nationwide follow-up study of Danish substance users in treatment.

PubMed

Arendt, Mikkel; Munk-Jørgensen, Povl; Sher, Leo; Jensen, Signe O W

2011-04-01

This is a register-based cohort study of 20,581 individuals in treatment for illicit substance use disorders in Denmark between 1996 and 2006. All in all, 1441 deaths were recorded during 111,445 person-years of follow-up. Standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) associated with different primary substance types were calculated and Cox-regression analyses were performed in order to establish hazard ratios (HR) associated with injection drug use and psychiatric comorbidity. SMRs for primary users of specific substances were: cannabis: 4.9 (95% confidence interval (CI): 4.2-5.8), cocaine: 6.4 (CI: 3.9-10.0), amphetamine: 6.0 (CI: 4.2-8.3), heroin: 9.1 (CI: 8.5-9.8), and other opioids 7.7 (CI: 6.6-8.9). For MDMA ('ecstasy') the crude mortality rate was 1.7/1000 person-years (CI: 0.4-7.0) and the SMR was not significantly elevated. Injection drug use was associated with significantly increased hazard ratios in users of opioids and cocaine/amphetamine. Overall, psychiatric comorbidity was not associated with increased mortality (HR: 1.1 [CI: 0.9-1.2], p=.28), but an association was found specifically among cocaine/amphetamine users (HR: 3.6 [CI: 2.1-6.4], p<.001). Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Assistive obstacle detection and navigation devices for vision-impaired users.

PubMed

Ong, S K; Zhang, J; Nee, A Y C

2013-09-01

Quality of life for the visually impaired is an urgent worldwide issue that needs to be addressed. Obstacle detection is one of the most important navigation tasks for the visually impaired. In this research, a novel range sensor placement scheme is proposed in this paper for the development of obstacle detection devices. Based on this scheme, two prototypes have been developed targeting at different user groups. This paper discusses the design issues, functional modules and the evaluation tests carried out for both prototypes. Implications for Rehabilitation Visual impairment problem is becoming more severe due to the worldwide ageing population. Individuals with visual impairment require assistance from assistive devices in daily navigation tasks. Traditional assistive devices that assist navigation may have certain drawbacks, such as the limited sensing range of a white cane. Obstacle detection devices applying the range sensor technology can identify road conditions with a higher sensing range to notify the users of potential dangers in advance.

Identifying the Correlates and Barriers of Future Planning Among Parents of Individuals With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.

PubMed

Burke, Meghan; Arnold, Catherine; Owen, Aleksa

2018-04-01

Although individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are living longer lives, fewer than half of parents of individuals with IDD conduct future planning. The correlates and barriers to future planning must be identified to develop targeted interventions to facilitate future planning. In this study, 388 parents of individuals with IDD responded to a national, web-based survey. Participants who were older, more educated, attended more parent training and support activities, and had children with fewer functional abilities, were more likely to engage in future planning. Reported barriers to future planning included: (a) lack of available services, (b) financial challenges, (c) reluctance of family members, (d) lack of time, (e) the emotional nature of future planning, (f) inertia, and (g) a lack of family members to be caregivers. Implications for policy, practice, and future research are discussed.

Media Selection for Information User Training. Technical Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Elias, A. W.

Undertaken to determine reasons for the lack of success experienced by suppliers of scientific and technical information (STI) services in the promotion of their services to users, this study has identified the attitudes, settings, functions, needs and perceptions of the user audiences. A user panel, selected to interact with the education and…

User Needs in the Development of a Health App Ecosystem for Self-Management of Cystic Fibrosis: User-Centered Development Approach.

PubMed

Floch, Jacqueline; Zettl, Annabel; Fricke, Lena; Weisser, Tina; Grut, Lisbet; Vilarinho, Thomas; Stav, Erlend; Ascolese, Antonio; Schauber, Cornelia

2018-05-08

relevant features for a self-management app ecosystem. Education, enzyme dosage calculation, nutrition management, treatment organization, health diary, treatment follow-up, practical guidelines for treatment, communication with doctors, and communication with peers are foreseen as useful features. The results indicate the readiness for self-management in the CF care even in countries that provide well-functioning health care services for CF care. The large diversity of user requirements identified reflects the crucial role user integration plays in developing apps for a chronic condition such as CF. The need for personalization stemming from the individuality of the patients and the need for communication with health care professionals support the idea of an app ecosystem for the self-management of CF. ©Jacqueline Floch, Annabel Zettl, Lena Fricke, Tina Weisser, Lisbet Grut, Thomas Vilarinho, Erlend Stav, Antonio Ascolese, Cornelia Schauber. Originally published in JMIR Mhealth and Uhealth (http://mhealth.jmir.org), 08.05.2018.

Identifying Topics for E-Cigarette User-Generated Contents: A Case Study From Multiple Social Media Platforms

PubMed Central

Zhan, Yongcheng; Liu, Ruoran; Li, Qiudan; Leischow, Scott James

2017-01-01

Background Electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) is an emerging product with a rapid-growth market in recent years. Social media has become an important platform for information seeking and sharing. We aim to mine hidden topics from e-cigarette datasets collected from different social media platforms. Objective This paper aims to gain a systematic understanding of the characteristics of various types of social media, which will provide deep insights into how consumers and policy makers effectively use social media to track e-cigarette-related content and adjust their decisions and policies. Methods We collected data from Reddit (27,638 e-cigarette flavor-related posts from January 1, 2011, to June 30, 2015), JuiceDB (14,433 e-juice reviews from June 26, 2013 to November 12, 2015), and Twitter (13,356 “e-cig ban”-related tweets from January, 1, 2010 to June 30, 2015). Latent Dirichlet Allocation, a generative model for topic modeling, was used to analyze the topics from these data. Results We found four types of topics across the platforms: (1) promotions, (2) flavor discussions, (3) experience sharing, and (4) regulation debates. Promotions included sales from vendors to users, as well as trades among users. A total of 10.72% (2,962/27,638) of the posts from Reddit were related to trading. Promotion links were found between social media platforms. Most of the links (87.30%) in JuiceDB were related to Reddit posts. JuiceDB and Reddit identified consistent flavor categories. E-cigarette vaping methods and features such as steeping, throat hit, and vapor production were broadly discussed both on Reddit and on JuiceDB. Reddit provided space for policy discussions and majority of the posts (60.7%) holding a negative attitude toward regulations, whereas Twitter was used to launch campaigns using certain hashtags. Our findings are based on data across different platforms. The topic distribution between Reddit and JuiceDB was significantly different (P<.001), which

User Identified Positive Outcome Expectancies of Electronic Cigarette Use: a Concept Mapping Study

PubMed Central

Soule, Eric K.; Maloney, Sarah F.; Guy, Mignonne C.; Eissenberg, Thomas; Fagan, Pebbles

2017-01-01

Electronic cigarette (ECIG) use is growing in popularity, however, little is known about the perceived positive outcomes of ECIG use. This study used concept mapping (CM) to examine positive ECIG outcome expectancies. Sixty-three past 30-day ECIG users (38.1% female) between the ages of 18 and 64 (M = 37.8, SD = 13.3) completed a CM module. In an online program, participants provided statements that completed a prompt: “A specific positive, enjoyable, or exciting effect (i.e., physical or psychological) that I have experienced WHILE USING or IMMEDIATELY AFTER USING an electronic cigarette/electronic vaping device is…”. Participants (n = 35) sorted 123 statements into “piles” of similar content and rated (n = 43) each statement on a 7-point scale (1-Definitely NOT a positive effect to 7-Definitely a positive effect). A cluster map was created using data from the sorting task and analysis indicated a seven cluster model of positive ECIG use outcome expectancies: Therapeutic/Affect Regulation, High/Euphoria, Sensation Enjoyment, Perceived Health Effects, Benefits of Decreased Cigarette Use, Convenience, and Social Impacts. The Perceived Health Effects cluster was rated highest, though all mean ratings were greater than 4.69. Mean cluster ratings were compared and females, younger adults, past 30-day cigarette smokers, users of more “advanced” ECIG devices, and non-lifetime (less than 100 lifetime cigarettes) participants rated certain clusters higher than comparison groups (ps < 0.05). ECIG users associate positive outcomes with ECIG use. ECIG outcome expectancies may affect product appeal and tobacco use behaviors and should be examined further to inform regulatory policies. PMID:28277706

User identified positive outcome expectancies of electronic cigarette use: A concept mapping study.

PubMed

Soule, Eric K; Maloney, Sarah F; Guy, Mignonne C; Eissenberg, Thomas; Fagan, Pebbles

2017-05-01

Electronic cigarette (ECIG) use is growing in popularity, but little is known about the perceived positive outcomes of ECIG use. This study used concept mapping (CM) to examine positive ECIG outcome expectancies. Sixty-three past 30-day ECIG users (38.1% female) between the ages of 18 and 64 (M = 37.8, SD = 13.3) completed a CM module. In an online program, participants provided statements that completed a prompt: "A specific positive, enjoyable, or exciting effect (i.e., physical or psychological) that I have experienced WHILE USING or IMMEDIATELY AFTER USING an electronic cigarette/electronic vaping device is. . . ." Participants (n = 35) sorted 123 statements into "piles" of similar content and rated (n = 43) each statement on a 7-point scale (1 = Definitely NOT a positive effect to 7 = Definitely a positive effect). A cluster map was created using data from the sorting task, and analysis indicated a 7 cluster model of positive ECIG use outcome expectancies: Therapeutic/Affect Regulation, High/Euphoria, Sensation Enjoyment, Perceived Health Effects, Benefits of Decreased Cigarette Use, Convenience, and Social Impacts. The Perceived Health Effects cluster was rated highest, although all mean ratings were greater than 4.69. Mean cluster ratings were compared, and females, younger adults, past 30-day cigarette smokers, users of more "advanced" ECIG devices, and nonlifetime (less than 100 lifetime cigarettes) participants rated certain clusters higher than comparison groups (ps < 0.05). ECIG users associate positive outcomes with ECIG use. ECIG outcome expectancies may affect product appeal and tobacco use behaviors and should be examined further to inform regulatory policies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Improved system identification using artificial neural networks and analysis of individual differences in responses of an identified neuron.

PubMed

Costalago Meruelo, Alicia; Simpson, David M; Veres, Sandor M; Newland, Philip L

2016-03-01

Mathematical modelling is used routinely to understand the coding properties and dynamics of responses of neurons and neural networks. Here we analyse the effectiveness of Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) as a modelling tool for motor neuron responses. We used ANNs to model the synaptic responses of an identified motor neuron, the fast extensor motor neuron, of the desert locust in response to displacement of a sensory organ, the femoral chordotonal organ, which monitors movements of the tibia relative to the femur of the leg. The aim of the study was threefold: first to determine the potential value of ANNs as tools to model and investigate neural networks, second to understand the generalisation properties of ANNs across individuals and to different input signals and third, to understand individual differences in responses of an identified neuron. A metaheuristic algorithm was developed to design the ANN architectures. The performance of the models generated by the ANNs was compared with those generated through previous mathematical models of the same neuron. The results suggest that ANNs are significantly better than LNL and Wiener models in predicting specific neural responses to Gaussian White Noise, but not significantly different when tested with sinusoidal inputs. They are also able to predict responses of the same neuron in different individuals irrespective of which animal was used to develop the model, although notable differences between some individuals were evident. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

ISBP: Understanding the Security Rule of Users' Information-Sharing Behaviors in Partnership

PubMed Central

Wu, Hongchen; Wang, Xinjun

2016-01-01

The rapid growth of social network data has given rise to high security awareness among users, especially when they exchange and share their personal information. However, because users have different feelings about sharing their information, they are often puzzled about who their partners for exchanging information can be and what information they can share. Is it possible to assist users in forming a partnership network in which they can exchange and share information with little worry? We propose a modified information sharing behavior prediction (ISBP) model that can help in understanding the underlying rules by which users share their information with partners in light of three common aspects: what types of items users are likely to share, what characteristics of users make them likely to share information, and what features of users’ sharing behavior are easy to predict. This model is applied with machine learning techniques in WEKA to predict users’ decisions pertaining to information sharing behavior and form them into trustable partnership networks by learning their features. In the experiment section, by using two real-life datasets consisting of citizens’ sharing behavior, we identify the effect of highly sensitive requests on sharing behavior adjacent to individual variables: the younger participants’ partners are more difficult to predict than those of the older participants, whereas the partners of people who are not computer majors are easier to predict than those of people who are computer majors. Based on these findings, we believe that it is necessary and feasible to offer users personalized suggestions on information sharing decisions, and this is pioneering work that could benefit college researchers focusing on user-centric strategies and website owners who want to collect more user information without raising their privacy awareness or losing their trustworthiness. PMID:26950064

The Chandra Source Catalog: User Interface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bonaventura, Nina; Evans, I. N.; Harbo, P. N.; Rots, A. H.; Tibbetts, M. S.; Van Stone, D. W.; Zografou, P.; Anderson, C. S.; Chen, J. C.; Davis, J. E.; Doe, S. M.; Evans, J. D.; Fabbiano, G.; Galle, E.; Gibbs, D. G.; Glotfelty, K. J.; Grier, J. D.; Hain, R.; Hall, D. M.; He, X.; Houck, J. C.; Karovska, M.; Lauer, J.; McCollough, M. L.; McDowell, J. C.; Miller, J. B.; Mitschang, A. W.; Morgan, D. L.; Nichols, J. S.; Nowak, M. A.; Plummer, D. A.; Primini, F. A.; Refsdal, B. L.; Siemiginowska, A. L.; Sundheim, B. A.; Winkelman, S. L.

2009-01-01

The Chandra Source Catalog (CSC) is the definitive catalog of all X-ray sources detected by Chandra. The CSC is presented to the user in two tables: the Master Chandra Source Table and the Table of Individual Source Observations. Each distinct X-ray source identified in the CSC is represented by a single master source entry and one or more individual source entries. If a source is unaffected by confusion and pile-up in multiple observations, the individual source observations are merged to produce a master source. In each table, a row represents a source, and each column a quantity that is officially part of the catalog. The CSC contains positions and multi-band fluxes for the sources, as well as derived spatial, spectral, and temporal source properties. The CSC also includes associated source region and full-field data products for each source, including images, photon event lists, light curves, and spectra. The master source properties represent the best estimates of the properties of a source, and are presented in the following categories: Position and Position Errors, Source Flags, Source Extent and Errors, Source Fluxes, Source Significance, Spectral Properties, and Source Variability. The CSC Data Access GUI provides direct access to the source properties and data products contained in the catalog. The user may query the catalog database via a web-style search or an SQL command-line query. Each query returns a table of source properties, along with the option to browse and download associated data products. The GUI is designed to run in a web browser with Java version 1.5 or higher, and may be accessed via a link on the CSC website homepage (http://cxc.harvard.edu/csc/). As an alternative to the GUI, the contents of the CSC may be accessed directly through a URL, using the command-line tool, cURL. Support: NASA contract NAS8-03060 (CXC).

Identifying cases of heroin toxicity where 6-acetylmorphine (6-AM) is not detected by toxicological analyses.

PubMed

Ellis, Ashley D; McGwin, Gerald; Davis, Gregory G; Dye, Daniel W

2016-09-01

Heroin has a half-life of 2-6 min and is metabolized too quickly to be detected in autopsy samples. The presence of 6-acetylmophine (6-AM) in urine, blood, or other samples is convincing evidence of heroin use by a decedent, but 6-AM itself has a half-life of 6-25 min before it is hydrolyzed to morphine, so 6-AM may not be present in sufficient concentration to detect in postmortem samples. Codeine is often present in heroin preparations as an impurity and is not a metabolite of heroin. Studies report that a ratio of morphine to codeine greater than one indicates heroin use. We hypothesize that the ratio of morphine to codeine in our decedents abusing drugs intravenously will be no different in individuals with 6-AM present than in individuals where no 6-AM is detected, and we report our study of this hypothesis. All accidental deaths investigated by the Jefferson County Coroner/Medical Examiner Office from 2010 to 2013 with morphine detected in blood samples collected at autopsy were reviewed. Five deaths where trauma caused or contributed to death were excluded from the review. The presence or absence of 6-AM and the concentrations of morphine and codeine were recorded for each case. The ratio of morphine to codeine was calculated for all decedents. Any individual in whom no morphine or codeine was detected in a postmortem sample was excluded from further study. Absence or presence of drug paraphernalia or evidence of intravascular (IV) drug use was documented in each case to identify IV drug users. The proportion of the IV drug users with and without 6-AM present in a postmortem sample was compared to the M/C ratio for the individuals. Of the 230 deaths included in the analysis, 103 IV drug users with quantifiable morphine and codeine in a postmortem sample were identified allowing for calculation of an M/C ratio. In these IV drug users, the M/C ratio was greater than 1 in 98 % of decedents. When controlling for the absence or presence of 6-AM there was no

Adaptive strategy for multi-user robotic rehabilitation games.

PubMed

Caurin, Glauco A P; Siqueira, Adriano A G; Andrade, Kleber O; Joaquim, Ricardo C; Krebs, Hermano I

2011-01-01

In this paper, we discuss a strategy for the adaptation of the "difficulty level" in games intended to include motor planning during robotic rehabilitation. We consider concurrently the motivation of the user and his/her performance in a Pong game. User motivation is classified in three levels (not motivated, well motivated and overloaded). User performance is measured as a combination of knowledge of results--achieved goals and score points in the game--and knowledge of performance--joint displacement, speed, aiming, user work, etc. Initial results of a pilot test with unimpaired healthy young volunteers are also presented showing a tendency for individualization of the parameter values.

A User-Centered Approach to Adaptive Hypertext Based on an Information Relevance Model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mathe, Nathalie; Chen, James

1994-01-01

Rapid and effective to information in large electronic documentation systems can be facilitated if information relevant in an individual user's content can be automatically supplied to this user. However most of this knowledge on contextual relevance is not found within the contents of documents, it is rather established incrementally by users during information access. We propose a new model for interactively learning contextual relevance during information retrieval, and incrementally adapting retrieved information to individual user profiles. The model, called a relevance network, records the relevance of references based on user feedback for specific queries and user profiles. It also generalizes such knowledge to later derive relevant references for similar queries and profiles. The relevance network lets users filter information by context of relevance. Compared to other approaches, it does not require any prior knowledge nor training. More importantly, our approach to adaptivity is user-centered. It facilitates acceptance and understanding by users by giving them shared control over the adaptation without disturbing their primary task. Users easily control when to adapt and when to use the adapted system. Lastly, the model is independent of the particular application used to access information, and supports sharing of adaptations among users.

Expert and crowd-sourced validation of an individualized sleep spindle detection method employing complex demodulation and individualized normalization

PubMed Central

Ray, Laura B.; Sockeel, Stéphane; Soon, Melissa; Bore, Arnaud; Myhr, Ayako; Stojanoski, Bobby; Cusack, Rhodri; Owen, Adrian M.; Doyon, Julien; Fogel, Stuart M.

2015-01-01

A spindle detection method was developed that: (1) extracts the signal of interest (i.e., spindle-related phasic changes in sigma) relative to ongoing “background” sigma activity using complex demodulation, (2) accounts for variations of spindle characteristics across the night, scalp derivations and between individuals, and (3) employs a minimum number of sometimes arbitrary, user-defined parameters. Complex demodulation was used to extract instantaneous power in the spindle band. To account for intra- and inter-individual differences, the signal was z-score transformed using a 60 s sliding window, per channel, over the course of the recording. Spindle events were detected with a z-score threshold corresponding to a low probability (e.g., 99th percentile). Spindle characteristics, such as amplitude, duration and oscillatory frequency, were derived for each individual spindle following detection, which permits spindles to be subsequently and flexibly categorized as slow or fast spindles from a single detection pass. Spindles were automatically detected in 15 young healthy subjects. Two experts manually identified spindles from C3 during Stage 2 sleep, from each recording; one employing conventional guidelines, and the other, identifying spindles with the aid of a sigma (11–16 Hz) filtered channel. These spindles were then compared between raters and to the automated detection to identify the presence of true positives, true negatives, false positives and false negatives. This method of automated spindle detection resolves or avoids many of the limitations that complicate automated spindle detection, and performs well compared to a group of non-experts, and importantly, has good external validity with respect to the extant literature in terms of the characteristics of automatically detected spindles. PMID:26441604

Concentrations of indoor pollutants database: User`s manual

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1992-05-01

This manual describes the computer-based database on indoor air pollutants. This comprehensive database alloys helps utility personnel perform rapid searches on literature related to indoor air pollutants. Besides general information, it provides guidance for finding specific information on concentrations of indoor air pollutants. The manual includes information on installing and using the database as well as a tutorial to assist the user in becoming familiar with the procedures involved in doing bibliographic and summary section searches. The manual demonstrates how to search for information by going through a series of questions that provide search parameters such as pollutants type, year,more » building type, keywords (from a specific list), country, geographic region, author`s last name, and title. As more and more parameters are specified, the list of references found in the data search becomes smaller and more specific to the user`s needs. Appendixes list types of information that can be input into the database when making a request. The CIP database allows individual utilities to obtain information on indoor air quality based on building types and other factors in their own service territory. This information is useful for utilities with concerns about indoor air quality and the control of indoor air pollutants. The CIP database itself is distributed by the Electric Power Software Center and runs on IBM PC-compatible computers.« less

Service User- and Carer-Reported Measures of Involvement in Mental Health Care Planning: Methodological Quality and Acceptability to Users

PubMed Central

Gibbons, Chris J.; Bee, Penny E.; Walker, Lauren; Price, Owen; Lovell, Karina

2014-01-01

Background: Increasing service user and carer involvement in mental health care planning is a key healthcare priority but one that is difficult to achieve in practice. To better understand and measure user and carer involvement, it is crucial to have measurement questionnaires that are both psychometrically robust and acceptable to the end user. Methods: We conducted a systematic review using the terms “care plan$,” “mental health,” “user perspective$,” and “user participation” and their linguistic variants as search terms. Databases were searched from inception to November 2012, with an update search at the end of September 2014. We included any articles that described the development, validation or use of a user and/or carer-reported outcome measures of involvement in mental health care planning. We assessed the psychometric quality of each instrument using the “Evaluating the Measurement of Patient-Reported Outcomes” (EMPRO) criteria. Acceptability of each instrument was assessed using novel criteria developed in consultation with a mental health service user and carer consultation group. Results: We identified eleven papers describing the use, development, and/or validation of nine user/carer-reported outcome measures. Psychometric properties were sparsely reported and the questionnaires met few service user/carer-nominated attributes for acceptability. Where reported, basic psychometric statistics were of good quality, indicating that some measures may perform well if subjected to more rigorous psychometric tests. The majority were deemed to be too long for use in practice. Discussion: Multiple instruments are available to measure user/carer involvement in mental health care planning but are either of poor quality or poorly described. Existing measures cannot be considered psychometrically robust by modern standards, and cannot currently be recommended for use. Our review has identified an important knowledge gap, and an urgent need to

[The father image in male substance users].

PubMed

Sánchez Huesca, R; Guisa Cruz, V M; Cedillo González, A; Pascual Blanco, Y

2002-01-01

Due to the fact that various research studies have shown that drug users usually have a father with negative characteristics, it is convenient to investigate this phenomenon and take it into consideration in addict treatment efforts. This is a qualitative study that explores the fatherly perception among male substance users. The sample included 25 users who asked for treatment at Youth Integration Center and 25 non-users. Both groups were subjected to projective tests. The father image among substance users emphasizes negative characteristics; in contrast, non-users present a basically positive father perception, considering him as the most valuable family member. These data show that substance users relate less with the fatherly figure than non-users. They perceive their father as a devaluated member that occupies a secondary place in the family and sometimes does not even have an affective role. The findings of this investigation can be applied in individual psychotherapy, facilitating the revaluation and reflection of the fatherly figure among substance users. It would be convenient to create the necessary conditions to restitute the father role in family therapy and counseling groups for relatives. The findings must consider the size of the sample and limitations of qualitative research methology.

Identifying the effects of education on the ability to cope with a disability among individuals with disabilities.

PubMed

Bengtsson, Steen; Datta Gupta, Nabanita

2017-01-01

The literature on disability has suggested that an educated individual with a disability is more likely to better cope with her/his disability than those without education. However, few published studies explore whether the relationship between education and ability to cope with a disability is anything more than an association. Using data on disability and accommodation from a large Danish survey from 2012-13 and exploiting a major Danish schooling reform as a natural experiment, we identified a potential causal effect of education on both economic (holding a job) as well as social (cultural activities, visiting clubs/associations, etc.) dimensions of coping among individuals with a disability, controlling for background factors, functioning, and disability characteristics. We found that endogeneity bias was only present in the case of economic participation and more educated individuals with a disability indeed had higher levels of both economic and social coping. To some extent, having more knowledge of public support systems and higher motivation explained the better coping among the group of individuals with disabilities who were educated. Our results indicated, however, that a large part of the effect of education on the ability to cope with a disability among individuals with disabilities was suggestive of a causal relationship.

Identifying the effects of education on the ability to cope with a disability among individuals with disabilities

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

The literature on disability has suggested that an educated individual with a disability is more likely to better cope with her/his disability than those without education. However, few published studies explore whether the relationship between education and ability to cope with a disability is anything more than an association. Using data on disability and accommodation from a large Danish survey from 2012–13 and exploiting a major Danish schooling reform as a natural experiment, we identified a potential causal effect of education on both economic (holding a job) as well as social (cultural activities, visiting clubs/associations, etc.) dimensions of coping among individuals with a disability, controlling for background factors, functioning, and disability characteristics. We found that endogeneity bias was only present in the case of economic participation and more educated individuals with a disability indeed had higher levels of both economic and social coping. To some extent, having more knowledge of public support systems and higher motivation explained the better coping among the group of individuals with disabilities who were educated. Our results indicated, however, that a large part of the effect of education on the ability to cope with a disability among individuals with disabilities was suggestive of a causal relationship. PMID:28355237

Python Executable Script for Estimating Two Effective Parameters to Individualize Brain-Computer Interfaces: Individual Alpha Frequency and Neurophysiological Predictor.

PubMed

Alonso-Valerdi, Luz María

2016-01-01

A brain-computer interface (BCI) aims to establish communication between the human brain and a computing system so as to enable the interaction between an individual and his environment without using the brain output pathways. Individuals control a BCI system by modulating their brain signals through mental tasks (e.g., motor imagery or mental calculation) or sensory stimulation (e.g., auditory, visual, or tactile). As users modulate their brain signals at different frequencies and at different levels, the appropriate characterization of those signals is necessary. The modulation of brain signals through mental tasks is furthermore a skill that requires training. Unfortunately, not all the users acquire such skill. A practical solution to this problem is to assess the user probability of controlling a BCI system. Another possible solution is to set the bandwidth of the brain oscillations, which is highly sensitive to the users' age, sex and anatomy. With this in mind, NeuroIndex, a Python executable script, estimates a neurophysiological prediction index and the individual alpha frequency (IAF) of the user in question. These two parameters are useful to characterize the user EEG signals, and decide how to go through the complex process of adapting the human brain and the computing system on the basis of previously proposed methods. NeuroIndeX is not only the implementation of those methods, but it also complements the methods each other and provides an alternative way to obtain the prediction parameter. However, an important limitation of this application is its dependency on the IAF value, and some results should be interpreted with caution. The script along with some electroencephalographic datasets are available on a GitHub repository in order to corroborate the functionality and usability of this application.

Python Executable Script for Estimating Two Effective Parameters to Individualize Brain-Computer Interfaces: Individual Alpha Frequency and Neurophysiological Predictor

PubMed Central

Alonso-Valerdi, Luz María

2016-01-01

A brain-computer interface (BCI) aims to establish communication between the human brain and a computing system so as to enable the interaction between an individual and his environment without using the brain output pathways. Individuals control a BCI system by modulating their brain signals through mental tasks (e.g., motor imagery or mental calculation) or sensory stimulation (e.g., auditory, visual, or tactile). As users modulate their brain signals at different frequencies and at different levels, the appropriate characterization of those signals is necessary. The modulation of brain signals through mental tasks is furthermore a skill that requires training. Unfortunately, not all the users acquire such skill. A practical solution to this problem is to assess the user probability of controlling a BCI system. Another possible solution is to set the bandwidth of the brain oscillations, which is highly sensitive to the users' age, sex and anatomy. With this in mind, NeuroIndex, a Python executable script, estimates a neurophysiological prediction index and the individual alpha frequency (IAF) of the user in question. These two parameters are useful to characterize the user EEG signals, and decide how to go through the complex process of adapting the human brain and the computing system on the basis of previously proposed methods. NeuroIndeX is not only the implementation of those methods, but it also complements the methods each other and provides an alternative way to obtain the prediction parameter. However, an important limitation of this application is its dependency on the IAF value, and some results should be interpreted with caution. The script along with some electroencephalographic datasets are available on a GitHub repository in order to corroborate the functionality and usability of this application. PMID:27445783

Barriers and facilitators to using NHS Direct: a qualitative study of 'users' and 'non-users'.

PubMed

Cook, Erica J; Randhawa, Gurch; Large, Shirley; Guppy, Andy; Chater, Angel M; Ali, Nasreen

2014-10-25

NHS Direct, introduced in 1998, has provided 24/7 telephone-based healthcare advice and information to the public in England and Wales. National studies have suggested variation in the uptake of this service amongst the UK's diverse population. This study provides the first exploration of the barriers and facilitators that impact upon the uptake of this service from the perspectives of both 'users' and 'non- users'. Focus groups were held with NHS Direct 'users' (N = 2) from Bedfordshire alongside 'non-users' from Manchester (N = 3) and Mendip, Somerset (N = 4). Each focus group had between five to eight participants. A total of eighty one people aged between 21 and 94 years old (M: 58.90, SD: 22.70) took part in this research. Each focus group discussion lasted approximately 90 minutes and was audiotape-recorded with participants' permission. The recordings were transcribed verbatim. A framework approach was used to analyse the transcripts. The findings from this research uncovered a range of barriers and facilitators that impact upon the uptake of NHS Direct. 'Non-users' were unaware of the range of services that NHS Direct provided. Furthermore, 'non-users' highlighted a preference for face-to face communication, identifying a lack of confidence in discussing healthcare over the telephone. This was particularly evident among older people with cognitive difficulties. The cost to telephone a '0845' number from a mobile was also viewed to be a barrier to access NHS Direct, expressed more often by 'non-users' from deprived communities. NHS Direct 'users' identified that awareness, ease of use and convenience were facilitators which influenced their decision to use the service. An understanding of the barriers and facilitators which impact on the access and uptake of telephone-based healthcare is essential to move patients towards the self-care model. This research has highlighted the need for telephone-based healthcare services to increase public awareness; through

Cannabis use and symptom severity in individuals at ultra high risk for psychosis: a meta-analysis.

PubMed

Carney, R; Cotter, J; Firth, J; Bradshaw, T; Yung, A R

2017-07-01

We aimed to assess whether individuals at ultra high risk (UHR) for psychosis have higher rates of cannabis use and cannabis use disorders (CUDs) than non-UHR individuals and determine whether UHR cannabis users have more severe psychotic experiences than non-users. We conducted a meta-analysis of studies reporting cannabis use in the UHR group and/or positive or negative symptoms among UHR cannabis users and non-users. Logit event rates were calculated for cannabis use, in addition to odds ratios to assess the difference between UHR and controls. Severity of clinical symptoms in UHR cannabis users and non-users was compared using Hedges' g. Thirty unique studies were included (UHR n = 4205, controls n = 667) containing data from cross-sectional and longitudinal studies, and randomised control trials. UHR individuals have high rates of current (26.7%) and lifetime (52.8%) cannabis use, and CUDs (12.8%). Lifetime use and CUDs were significantly higher than controls (lifetime OR: 2.09; CUD OR: 5.49). UHR cannabis users had higher rates of unusual thought content and suspiciousness than non-users. Ultra high risk individuals have high rates of cannabis use and CUDs, and cannabis users had more severe positive symptoms. Targeting substance use during the UHR phase may have significant benefits to an individual's long-term outcome. © 2017 The Authors Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

A 3-year study of high-cost users of health care.

PubMed

Wodchis, Walter P; Austin, Peter C; Henry, David A

2016-02-16

Characterizing high-cost users of health care resources is essential for the development of appropriate interventions to improve the management of these patients. We sought to determine the concentration of health care spending, characterize demographic characteristics and clinical diagnoses of high-cost users and examine the consistency of their health care consumption over time. We conducted a retrospective analysis of all residents of Ontario, Canada, who were eligible for publicly funded health care between 2009 and 2011. We estimated the total attributable government health care spending for every individual in all health care sectors. More than $30 billion in annual health expenditures, representing 75% of total government health care spending, was attributed to individual costs. One-third of high-cost users (individuals with the highest 5% of costs) in 2009 remained in this category in the subsequent 2 years. Most spending among high-cost users was for institutional care, in contrast to lower-cost users, among whom spending was predominantly for ambulatory care services. Costs were far more concentrated among children than among older adults. The most common reasons for hospital admissions among high-cost users were chronic diseases, infections, acute events and palliative care. Although high health care costs were concentrated in a small minority of the population, these related to a diverse set of patient health care needs and were incurred in a wide array of health care settings. Improving the sustainability of the health care system through better management of high-cost users will require different tactics for different high-cost populations. © 2016 Canadian Medical Association or its licensors.

University multi-user facility survey-2010.

PubMed

Riley, Melissa B

2011-12-01

Multi-user facilities serve as a resource for many universities. In 2010, a survey was conducted investigating possible changes and successful characteristics of multi-user facilities, as well as identifying problems in facilities. Over 300 surveys were e-mailed to persons identified from university websites as being involved with multi-user facilities. Complete responses were received from 36 facilities with an average of 20 years of operation. Facilities were associated with specific departments (22%), colleges (22%), and university research centers (8.3%) or were not affiliated with any department or college within the university (47%). The five most important factors to succeed as a multi-user facility were: 1) maintaining an experienced, professional staff in an open atmosphere; 2) university-level support providing partial funding; 3) broad client base; 4) instrument training programs; and 5) an effective leader and engaged strategic advisory group. The most significant problems were: 1) inadequate university financial support and commitment; 2) problems recovering full service costs from university subsidies and user fees; 3) availability of funds to repair and upgrade equipment; 4) inability to retain highly qualified staff; and 5) unqualified users dirtying/damaging equipment. Further information related to these issues and to fee structure was solicited. Overall, there appeared to be a decline in university support for facilities and more emphasis on securing income by serving clients outside of the institution and by obtaining grants from entities outside of the university.

Cannabis Users' Recommended Warnings for Packages of Legally Sold Cannabis: An Australia-Centered Study.

PubMed

Malouff, John M; Johnson, Caitlin E; Rooke, Sally E

2016-01-01

Introduction: Although cannabis use creates health risks, governments have recently been legalizing either medical use or leisure use. These governments can mandate health warnings on cannabis packages. Prior research examined recommended warnings of cannabis experts. The aim of this study was to obtain suggested cannabis health and safety warnings from cannabis users. Methods: We used a media release, Facebook postings, and announcements in university classes to seek individuals who had used cannabis at least once according to their own report. Using online data collection software that keeps participants anonymous, we asked the individuals to suggest a warning that governments could mandate on cannabis packages. Results: In total, 288 users suggested warnings. Categorizing the warnings into content categories led to six warning topics: (1) risk of harm to mental health and psychological functioning; (2) risk of operating machinery while under the influence; (3) short-term physical side effects; (4) responsible use; (5) long-term negative physical effects; and (6) dependence, addiction, or abuse. The user-suggested warnings overlapped with six expert-recommended warnings identified in prior survey research and included two content areas that did not feature in expert-recommended warnings: short-term physical side effects and the importance of responsible use. Conclusions: The results are consistent with prior findings that some youths perceive cannabis use as potentially harmful. The current findings provide possible new content for warnings on cannabis packages.

User Guide for VISION 3.4.7 (Verifiable Fuel Cycle Simulation) Model

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jacob J. Jacobson; Robert F. Jeffers; Gretchen E. Matthern

2011-07-01

The purpose of this document is to provide a guide for using the current version of the Verifiable Fuel Cycle Simulation (VISION) model. This is a complex model with many parameters and options; the user is strongly encouraged to read this user guide before attempting to run the model. This model is an R&D work in progress and may contain errors and omissions. It is based upon numerous assumptions. This model is intended to assist in evaluating 'what if' scenarios and in comparing fuel, reactor, and fuel processing alternatives at a systems level. The model is not intended as amore » tool for process flow and design modeling of specific facilities nor for tracking individual units of fuel or other material through the system. The model is intended to examine the interactions among the components of a fuel system as a function of time varying system parameters; this model represents a dynamic rather than steady-state approximation of the nuclear fuel system. VISION models the nuclear cycle at the system level, not individual facilities, e.g., 'reactor types' not individual reactors and 'separation types' not individual separation plants. Natural uranium can be enriched, which produces enriched uranium, which goes into fuel fabrication, and depleted uranium (DU), which goes into storage. Fuel is transformed (transmuted) in reactors and then goes into a storage buffer. Used fuel can be pulled from storage into either separation or disposal. If sent to separations, fuel is transformed (partitioned) into fuel products, recovered uranium, and various categories of waste. Recycled material is stored until used by its assigned reactor type. VISION is comprised of several Microsoft Excel input files, a Powersim Studio core, and several Microsoft Excel output files. All must be co-located in the same folder on a PC to function. You must use Powersim Studio 8 or better. We have tested VISION with the Studio 8 Expert, Executive, and Education versions. The Expert and

Power User Interface

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pfister, Robin; McMahon, Joe

2006-01-01

Power User Interface 5.0 (PUI) is a system of middleware, written for expert users in the Earth-science community, PUI enables expedited ordering of data granules on the basis of specific granule-identifying information that the users already know or can assemble. PUI also enables expert users to perform quick searches for orderablegranule information for use in preparing orders. PUI 5.0 is available in two versions (note: PUI 6.0 has command-line mode only): a Web-based application program and a UNIX command-line- mode client program. Both versions include modules that perform data-granule-ordering functions in conjunction with external systems. The Web-based version works with Earth Observing System Clearing House (ECHO) metadata catalog and order-entry services and with an open-source order-service broker server component, called the Mercury Shopping Cart, that is provided separately by Oak Ridge National Laboratory through the Department of Energy. The command-line version works with the ECHO metadata and order-entry process service. Both versions of PUI ultimately use ECHO to process an order to be sent to a data provider. Ordered data are provided through means outside the PUI software system.

Structural attributes of individual trees for identifying homogeneous patches in a tropical rainforest

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alexander, Cici; Korstjens, Amanda H.; Hill, Ross A.

2017-03-01

Mapping and monitoring tropical rainforests and quantifying their carbon stocks are important, both for devising strategies for their conservation and mitigating the effects of climate change. Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS) has advantages over other remote sensing techniques for describing the three-dimensional structure of forests. This study identifies forest patches using ALS-based structural attributes in a tropical rainforest in Sumatra, Indonesia. A method to group trees with similar attributes into forest patches based on Thiessen polygons and k-medoids clustering is developed, combining the advantages of both raster and individual tree-based methods. The structural composition of the patches could be an indicator of habitat type and quality. The patches could also be a basis for developing allometric models for more accurate estimation of carbon stock than is currently possible with generalised models.

Linking User Identities Across the DataONE Federation of Data Repositories

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jones, M. B.; Mecum, B.; Leinfelder, B.; Jones, C. S.; Walker, L.

2016-12-01

DataONE provides services for identifying, authenticating, and authorizing researchers to access and contribute data to repositories within the DataONE federation. In the earth sciences, thousands of institutional and disciplinary repositories have created their own user identity and authentication systems with their own user directory based on a database or web content management systems. Thus, researchers have many identities that are neither linked nor interoperable, making it difficult to reference the identity of these users across systems. Key user information is hidden, and only a non-disambiguated name is often available. From a sample of 160,000 data sets within DataONE, a super-majority of references to the data creators lack even an email address. In an attempt to disambiguate these people via the GeoLink project, we conservatively estimate they represent at least 57,000 unique identities, but without a clear user identifier, there could be as many as 223,000. Interoperability among repositories is critical to improving the scope of scientific synthesis and capabilities for research collaboration. While many have focused on the convenience of Single Sign-On (SSO), we have found that sharing user identifiers is far more useful for interoperability. With an unambiguous user identity in incoming metadata, DataONE has built user-profiles that present that user's data across repositories, that link users and their organizational affiliations, and that allow users to work collaboratively in private groups that span repository systems. DataONE's user identity solution leverages existing systems such as InCommon, CILogon, Google, and ORCID to not further proliferate user identities. DataONE provides a core service allowing users to link their multiple identities so that authenticating with one identity (e.g., ORCID) can authorize access to data protected via another identity (e.g., InCommon). Currently, DataONE is using ORCID identities to link and identify

Building a Relationship between Robot Characteristics and Teleoperation User Interfaces.

PubMed

Mortimer, Michael; Horan, Ben; Seyedmahmoudian, Mehdi

2017-03-14

The Robot Operating System (ROS) provides roboticists with a standardized and distributed framework for real-time communication between robotic systems using a microkernel environment. This paper looks at how ROS metadata, Unified Robot Description Format (URDF), Semantic Robot Description Format (SRDF), and its message description language, can be used to identify key robot characteristics to inform User Interface (UI) design for the teleoperation of heterogeneous robot teams. Logical relationships between UI components and robot characteristics are defined by a set of relationship rules created using relevant and available information including developer expertise and ROS metadata. This provides a significant opportunity to move towards a rule-driven approach for generating the designs of teleoperation UIs; in particular the reduction of the number of different UI configurations required to teleoperate each individual robot within a heterogeneous robot team. This approach is based on using an underlying rule set identifying robots that can be teleoperated using the same UI configuration due to having the same or similar robot characteristics. Aside from reducing the number of different UI configurations an operator needs to be familiar with, this approach also supports consistency in UI configurations when a teleoperator is periodically switching between different robots. To achieve this aim, a Matlab toolbox is developed providing users with the ability to define rules specifying the relationship between robot characteristics and UI components. Once rules are defined, selections that best describe the characteristics of the robot type within a particular heterogeneous robot team can be made. A main advantage of this approach is that rather than specifying discrete robots comprising the team, the user can specify characteristics of the team more generally allowing the system to deal with slight variations that may occur in the future. In fact, by using the

Building a Relationship between Robot Characteristics and Teleoperation User Interfaces

PubMed Central

Mortimer, Michael; Horan, Ben; Seyedmahmoudian, Mehdi

2017-01-01

The Robot Operating System (ROS) provides roboticists with a standardized and distributed framework for real-time communication between robotic systems using a microkernel environment. This paper looks at how ROS metadata, Unified Robot Description Format (URDF), Semantic Robot Description Format (SRDF), and its message description language, can be used to identify key robot characteristics to inform User Interface (UI) design for the teleoperation of heterogeneous robot teams. Logical relationships between UI components and robot characteristics are defined by a set of relationship rules created using relevant and available information including developer expertise and ROS metadata. This provides a significant opportunity to move towards a rule-driven approach for generating the designs of teleoperation UIs; in particular the reduction of the number of different UI configurations required to teleoperate each individual robot within a heterogeneous robot team. This approach is based on using an underlying rule set identifying robots that can be teleoperated using the same UI configuration due to having the same or similar robot characteristics. Aside from reducing the number of different UI configurations an operator needs to be familiar with, this approach also supports consistency in UI configurations when a teleoperator is periodically switching between different robots. To achieve this aim, a Matlab toolbox is developed providing users with the ability to define rules specifying the relationship between robot characteristics and UI components. Once rules are defined, selections that best describe the characteristics of the robot type within a particular heterogeneous robot team can be made. A main advantage of this approach is that rather than specifying discrete robots comprising the team, the user can specify characteristics of the team more generally allowing the system to deal with slight variations that may occur in the future. In fact, by using the

Persistent Identifiers Implementation in EOSDIS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ramapriyan, H. K. " Rama"

2016-01-01

This presentation provides the motivation for and status of implementation of persistent identifiers in NASA's Earth Observation System Data and Information System (EOSDIS). The motivation is provided from the point of view of long-term preservation of datasets such that a number of questions raised by current and future users can be answered easily and precisely. A number of artifacts need to be preserved along with datasets to make this possible, especially when the authors of datasets are no longer available to address users questions. The artifacts and datasets need to be uniquely and persistently identified and linked with each other for full traceability, understandability and scientific reproducibility. Current work in the Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS) Project and the Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs) in assigning Digital Object Identifiers (DOI) is discussed as well as challenges that remain to be addressed in the future.

ASSIST user manual

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, Sally C.; Boerschlein, David P.

1995-01-01

Semi-Markov models can be used to analyze the reliability of virtually any fault-tolerant system. However, the process of delineating all the states and transitions in a complex system model can be devastatingly tedious and error prone. The Abstract Semi-Markov Specification Interface to the SURE Tool (ASSIST) computer program allows the user to describe the semi-Markov model in a high-level language. Instead of listing the individual model states, the user specifies the rules governing the behavior of the system, and these are used to generate the model automatically. A few statements in the abstract language can describe a very large, complex model. Because no assumptions are made about the system being modeled, ASSIST can be used to generate models describing the behavior of any system. The ASSIST program and its input language are described and illustrated by examples.

7 CFR 612.4 - Eligible individuals or groups.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 6 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Eligible individuals or groups. 612.4 Section 612.4 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SERVICE... individuals or groups. (a) Any individual or group who is a significant water user and who would benefit from...

7 CFR 612.4 - Eligible individuals or groups.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 6 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Eligible individuals or groups. 612.4 Section 612.4 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SERVICE... individuals or groups. (a) Any individual or group who is a significant water user and who would benefit from...

7 CFR 612.4 - Eligible individuals or groups.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 6 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Eligible individuals or groups. 612.4 Section 612.4 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SERVICE... individuals or groups. (a) Any individual or group who is a significant water user and who would benefit from...

The Influence of Genetic and Environmental Factors among MDMA Users in Cognitive Performance

PubMed Central

Cuyàs, Elisabet; Verdejo-García, Antonio; Fagundo, Ana Beatriz; Khymenets, Olha; Rodríguez, Joan; Cuenca, Aida; de Sola Llopis, Susana; Langohr, Klaus; Peña-Casanova, Jordi; Torrens, Marta; Martín-Santos, Rocío; Farré, Magí; de la Torre, Rafael

2011-01-01

This study is aimed to clarify the association between MDMA cumulative use and cognitive dysfunction, and the potential role of candidate genetic polymorphisms in explaining individual differences in the cognitive effects of MDMA. Gene polymorphisms related to reduced serotonin function, poor competency of executive control and memory consolidation systems, and high enzymatic activity linked to bioactivation of MDMA to neurotoxic metabolites may contribute to explain variations in the cognitive impact of MDMA across regular users of this drug. Sixty ecstasy polydrug users, 110 cannabis users and 93 non-drug users were assessed using cognitive measures of Verbal Memory (California Verbal Learning Test, CVLT), Visual Memory (Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test, ROCFT), Semantic Fluency, and Perceptual Attention (Symbol Digit Modalities Test, SDMT). Participants were also genotyped for polymorphisms within the 5HTT, 5HTR2A, COMT, CYP2D6, BDNF, and GRIN2B genes using polymerase chain reaction and TaqMan polymerase assays. Lifetime cumulative MDMA use was significantly associated with poorer performance on visuospatial memory and perceptual attention. Heavy MDMA users (>100 tablets lifetime use) interacted with candidate gene polymorphisms in explaining individual differences in cognitive performance between MDMA users and controls. MDMA users carrying COMT val/val and SERT s/s had poorer performance than paired controls on visuospatial attention and memory, and MDMA users with CYP2D6 ultra-rapid metabolizers performed worse than controls on semantic fluency. Both MDMA lifetime use and gene-related individual differences influence cognitive dysfunction in ecstasy users. PMID:22110616

Identifying Topics for E-Cigarette User-Generated Contents: A Case Study From Multiple Social Media Platforms.

PubMed

Zhan, Yongcheng; Liu, Ruoran; Li, Qiudan; Leischow, Scott James; Zeng, Daniel Dajun

2017-01-20

Electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) is an emerging product with a rapid-growth market in recent years. Social media has become an important platform for information seeking and sharing. We aim to mine hidden topics from e-cigarette datasets collected from different social media platforms. This paper aims to gain a systematic understanding of the characteristics of various types of social media, which will provide deep insights into how consumers and policy makers effectively use social media to track e-cigarette-related content and adjust their decisions and policies. We collected data from Reddit (27,638 e-cigarette flavor-related posts from January 1, 2011, to June 30, 2015), JuiceDB (14,433 e-juice reviews from June 26, 2013 to November 12, 2015), and Twitter (13,356 "e-cig ban"-related tweets from January, 1, 2010 to June 30, 2015). Latent Dirichlet Allocation, a generative model for topic modeling, was used to analyze the topics from these data. We found four types of topics across the platforms: (1) promotions, (2) flavor discussions, (3) experience sharing, and (4) regulation debates. Promotions included sales from vendors to users, as well as trades among users. A total of 10.72% (2,962/27,638) of the posts from Reddit were related to trading. Promotion links were found between social media platforms. Most of the links (87.30%) in JuiceDB were related to Reddit posts. JuiceDB and Reddit identified consistent flavor categories. E-cigarette vaping methods and features such as steeping, throat hit, and vapor production were broadly discussed both on Reddit and on JuiceDB. Reddit provided space for policy discussions and majority of the posts (60.7%) holding a negative attitude toward regulations, whereas Twitter was used to launch campaigns using certain hashtags. Our findings are based on data across different platforms. The topic distribution between Reddit and JuiceDB was significantly different (P<.001), which indicated that the user discussions focused on

Friends and family: A software program for identification of unrelated individuals from molecular marker data.

PubMed

de Jager, Deon; Swarts, Petrus; Harper, Cindy; Bloomer, Paulette

2017-11-01

The identification of related and unrelated individuals from molecular marker data is often difficult, particularly when no pedigree information is available and the data set is large. High levels of relatedness or inbreeding can influence genotype frequencies and thus genetic marker evaluation, as well as the accurate inference of hidden genetic structure. Identification of related and unrelated individuals is also important in breeding programmes, to inform decisions about breeding pairs and translocations. We present Friends and Family, a Windows executable program with a graphical user interface that identifies unrelated individuals from a pairwise relatedness matrix or table generated in programs such as coancestry and genalex. Friends and Family outputs a list of samples that are all unrelated to each other, based on a user-defined relatedness cut-off value. This unrelated data set can be used in downstream analyses, such as marker evaluation or inference of genetic structure. The results can be compared to that of the full data set to determine the effect related individuals have on the analyses. We demonstrate one of the applications of the program: how the removal of related individuals altered the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium test outcome for microsatellite markers in an empirical data set. Friends and Family can be obtained from https://github.com/DeondeJager/Friends-and-Family. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Identifying individuals with antisocial personality disorder using resting-state FMRI.

PubMed

Tang, Yan; Jiang, Weixiong; Liao, Jian; Wang, Wei; Luo, Aijing

2013-01-01

Antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) is closely connected to criminal behavior. A better understanding of functional connectivity in the brains of ASPD patients will help to explain abnormal behavioral syndromes and to perform objective diagnoses of ASPD. In this study we designed an exploratory data-driven classifier based on machine learning to investigate changes in functional connectivity in the brains of patients with ASPD using resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data in 32 subjects with ASPD and 35 controls. The results showed that the classifier achieved satisfactory performance (86.57% accuracy, 77.14% sensitivity and 96.88% specificity) and could extract stabile information regarding functional connectivity that could be used to discriminate ASPD individuals from normal controls. More importantly, we found that the greatest change in the ASPD subjects was uncoupling between the default mode network and the attention network. Moreover, the precuneus, superior parietal gyrus and cerebellum exhibited high discriminative power in classification. A voxel-based morphometry analysis was performed and showed that the gray matter volumes in the parietal lobule and white matter volumes in the precuneus were abnormal in ASPD compared to controls. To our knowledge, this study was the first to use resting-state fMRI to identify abnormal functional connectivity in ASPD patients. These results not only demonstrated good performance of the proposed classifier, which can be used to improve the diagnosis of ASPD, but also elucidate the pathological mechanism of ASPD from a resting-state functional integration viewpoint.

Designing visual displays and system models for safe reactor operations based on the user`s perspective of the system

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Brown-VanHoozer, S.A.

Most designers are not schooled in the area of human-interaction psychology and therefore tend to rely on the traditional ergonomic aspects of human factors when designing complex human-interactive workstations related to reactor operations. They do not take into account the differences in user information processing behavior and how these behaviors may affect individual and team performance when accessing visual displays or utilizing system models in process and control room areas. Unfortunately, by ignoring the importance of the integration of the user interface at the information process level, the result can be sub-optimization and inherently error- and failure-prone systems. Therefore, tomore » minimize or eliminate failures in human-interactive systems, it is essential that the designers understand how each user`s processing characteristics affects how the user gathers information, and how the user communicates the information to the designer and other users. A different type of approach in achieving this understanding is Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP). The material presented in this paper is based on two studies involving the design of visual displays, NLP, and the user`s perspective model of a reactor system. The studies involve the methodology known as NLP, and its use in expanding design choices from the user`s ``model of the world,`` in the areas of virtual reality, workstation design, team structure, decision and learning style patterns, safety operations, pattern recognition, and much, much more.« less

Evaluation of Twitter Users Writings about Teachers in Turkey

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yavuz, Mustafa

2014-01-01

As a social sharing network whose number of users worldwide continues to rapidly increase, Twitter has become an active network for individuals to share their thoughts and feelings at any given time. The purpose of this work, then, is to evaluate Twitter users of Turkey in terms of how they write about their teachers on Twitter. In order to…

Protecting the patient by promoting end-user competence in health informatics systems-moves towards a generic health computer user "driving license".

PubMed

Rigby, Michael

2004-03-18

The effectiveness and quality of health informatics systems' support to healthcare delivery are largely determined by two factors-the suitability of the system installed, and the competence of the users. However, the profile of users of large-scale clinical health systems is significantly different from the profile of end-users in other enterprises such as the finance sector, insurance, travel or retail sales. Work with a mental health provider in Ireland, who was introducing a customized electronic patient record (EPR) system, identified the strong legal and ethical importance of adequately skills for the health professionals and others, who would be the system users. The experience identified the need for a clear and comprehensive generic user qualification at a basic but robust level. The European computer driving license (ECDL) has gained wide recognition as a basic generic qualification for users of computer systems. However, health systems and data have a series of characteristics that differentiate them from other data systems. The logical conclusion was the recognition of a need for an additional domain-specific qualification-an "ECDL Health Supplement". Development of this is now being progressed.

Identification of influential users by neighbors in online social networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sheikhahmadi, Amir; Nematbakhsh, Mohammad Ali; Zareie, Ahmad

2017-11-01

Identification and ranking of influential users in social networks for the sake of news spreading and advertising has recently become an attractive field of research. Given the large number of users in social networks and also the various relations that exist among them, providing an effective method to identify influential users has been gradually considered as an essential factor. In most of the already-provided methods, those users who are located in an appropriate structural position of the network are regarded as influential users. These methods do not usually pay attention to the interactions among users, and also consider those relations as being binary in nature. This paper, therefore, proposes a new method to identify influential users in a social network by considering those interactions that exist among the users. Since users tend to act within the frame of communities, the network is initially divided into different communities. Then the amount of interaction among users is used as a parameter to set the weight of relations existing within the network. Afterward, by determining the neighbors' role for each user, a two-level method is proposed for both detecting users' influence and also ranking them. Simulation and experimental results on twitter data shows that those users who are selected by the proposed method, comparing to other existing ones, are distributed in a more appropriate distance. Moreover, the proposed method outperforms the other ones in terms of both the influential speed and capacity of the users it selects.

User Experience of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Apps for Depression: An Analysis of App Functionality and User Reviews.

PubMed

Stawarz, Katarzyna; Preist, Chris; Tallon, Debbie; Wiles, Nicola; Coyle, David

2018-06-06

Hundreds of mental health apps are available to the general public. With increasing pressures on health care systems, they offer a potential way for people to support their mental health and well-being. However, although many are highly rated by users, few are evidence-based. Equally, our understanding of what makes apps engaging and valuable to users is limited. The aim of this paper was to analyze functionality and user opinions of mobile apps purporting to support cognitive behavioral therapy for depression and to explore key factors that have an impact on user experience and support engagement. We systematically identified apps described as being based on cognitive behavioral therapy for depression. We then conducted 2 studies. In the first, we analyzed the therapeutic functionality of apps. This corroborated existing work on apps' fidelity to cognitive behavioral therapy theory, but we also extended prior work by examining features designed to support user engagement. Engagement features found in cognitive behavioral therapy apps for depression were compared with those found in a larger group of apps that support mental well-being in a more general sense. Our second study involved a more detailed examination of user experience, through a thematic analysis of publicly available user reviews of cognitive behavioral therapy apps for depression. We identified 31 apps that purport to be based on cognitive behavioral therapy for depression. Functionality analysis (study 1) showed that they offered an eclectic mix of features, including many not based on cognitive behavioral therapy practice. Cognitive behavioral therapy apps used less varied engagement features compared with 253 other mental well-being apps. The analysis of 1287 user reviews of cognitive behavioral therapy apps for depression (study 2) showed that apps are used in a wide range of contexts, both replacing and augmenting therapy, and allowing users to play an active role in supporting their mental

User interface enhancement report

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Badler, N. I.; Gangel, J.; Shields, G.; Fala, G.

1985-01-01

The existing user interfaces to TEMPUS, Plaid, and other systems in the OSDS are fundamentally based on only two modes of communication: alphanumeric commands or data input and grapical interaction. The latter are especially suited to the types of interaction necessary for creating workstation objects with BUILD and with performing body positioning in TEMPUS. Looking toward the future application of TEMPUS, however, the long-term goals of OSDS will include the analysis of extensive tasks in space involving one or more individuals working in concert over a period of time. In this context, the TEMPUS body positioning capability, though extremely useful in creating and validating a small number of particular body positions, will become somewhat tedious to use. The macro facility helps somewhat, since frequently used positions may be easily applied by executing a stored macro. The difference between body positioning and task execution, though subtle, is important. In the case of task execution, the important information at the user's level is what actions are to be performed rather than how the actions are performed. Viewed slightly differently, the what is constant over a set of individuals though the how may vary.

User-Centered Design through Learner-Centered Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Altay, Burçak

2014-01-01

This article initially demonstrates the parallels between the learner-centered approach in education and the user-centered approach in design disciplines. Afterward, a course on human factors that applies learner-centered methods to teach user-centered design is introduced. The focus is on three tasks to identify the application of theoretical and…

A simple risk score identifies individuals at high risk of developing Type 2 diabetes: a prospective cohort study.

PubMed

Rahman, Mushtaqur; Simmons, Rebecca K; Harding, Anne-Helen; Wareham, Nicholas J; Griffin, Simon J

2008-06-01

Randomized trials have demonstrated that Type 2 diabetes is preventable among high-risk individuals. To date, such individuals have been identified through population screening using the oral glucose tolerance test. To assess whether a risk score comprising only routinely collected non-biochemical parameters was effective in identifying those at risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. Population-based prospective cohort (European Prospective Investigation of Cancer-Norfolk). Participants aged 40-79 recruited from UK general practices attended a health check between 1993 and 1998 (n = 25 639) and were followed for a mean of 5 years for diabetes incidence. The Cambridge Diabetes Risk Score was computed for 24 495 individuals with baseline data on age, sex, prescription of steroids and anti-hypertensive medication, family history of diabetes, body mass index and smoking status. We examined the incidence of diabetes across quintiles of the risk score and plotted a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve to assess discrimination. There were 323 new cases of diabetes, a cumulative incidence of 2.76/1000 person-years. Those in the top quintile of risk were 22 times more likely to develop diabetes than those in the bottom quintile (odds ratio 22.3; 95% CI: 11.0-45.4). In all, 54% of all clinically incident cases occurred in individuals in the top quintile of risk (risk score > 0.37). The area under the ROC was 74.5%. The risk score is a simple, effective tool for the identification of those at risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. Such methods may be more feasible than mass population screening with biochemical tests in defining target populations for prevention programmes.

User Education Resources: USER.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Condon, Patrick; Cook, Johanna

This report describes User Education Resources (USER), an Australian database containing both print and audiovisual materials related to library instruction. Intended to make a wide range of ideas readily available to librarians interested in educating library patrons, USER collects catalog guides, classification guides, evaluation forms, floor…

Protective Clothing for Pesticide Users.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC.

This brief, largely pictorial guide to protective clothing for pesticide users addresses moderately to highly toxic pesticides. The guide discusses the potential hazards of pesticides and the kinds of clothing and equipment that should be worn for personal protection. It also explains how the type of pesticide formulation affects an individual's…

Identification of User Facility Related Publications

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Patton, Robert M; Stahl, Christopher G; Wells, Jack C

2012-01-01

Scientific user facilities provide physical resources and technical support that enable scientists to conduct experiments or simulations pertinent to their respective research. One metric for evaluating the scientific value or impact of a facility is the number of publications by users as a direct result of using that facility. Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, capturing accurate values for this metric proves time consuming and error-prone. This work describes a new approach that leverages automated browser technology combined with text analytics to reduce the time and error involved in identifying publications related to user facilities. With this approach, scientific usermore » facilities gain more accurate measures of their impact as well as insight into policy revisions for user access.« less

Sexual and gender minority's social media user characteristics: Examining preferred health information.

PubMed

Park, Hyojung; Rodgers, Shelly; McElroy, Jane A; Everett, Kevin

2018-01-01

The authors examined the influence of social media involvement on health issues in sexual and gender minorities (SGMs). Demographic and technological characteristics of social media users and nonusers were identified, and the influence of social media involvement on these factors was assessed for its potential to influence health information needs and preferences. A survey of 2,274 SGM individuals revealed that age, sexual orientation, number of Internet access points, and use of smartphones predicted levels of social media involvement. Results suggest that a broader range of traditional and nontraditional communication channels is needed to meet a diversity of health information needs in SGMs.

A Feedback-Controlled Mandibular Positioner Identifies Individuals With Sleep Apnea Who Will Respond to Oral Appliance Therapy.

PubMed

Remmers, John E; Topor, Zbigniew; Grosse, Joshua; Vranjes, Nikola; Mosca, Erin V; Brant, Rollin; Bruehlmann, Sabina; Charkhandeh, Shouresh; Zareian Jahromi, Seyed Abdolali

2017-07-15

Mandibular protruding oral appliances represent a potentially important therapy for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). However, their clinical utility is limited by a less-than-ideal efficacy rate and uncertainty regarding an efficacious mandibular position, pointing to the need for a tool to assist in delivery of the therapy. The current study assesses the ability to prospectively identify therapeutic responders and determine an efficacious mandibular position. Individuals (n = 202) with OSA participated in a blinded, 2-part investigation. A system for identifying therapeutic responders was developed in part 1 (n = 149); the predictive accuracy of this system was prospectively evaluated on a new population in part 2 (n = 53). Each participant underwent a 2-night, in-home feedback-controlled mandibular positioner (FCMP) test, followed by treatment with a custom oral appliance and an outcome study with the oral appliance in place. A machine learning classification system was trained to predict therapeutic outcome on data obtained from FCMP studies on part 1 participants. The accuracy of this trained system was then evaluated on part 2 participants by examining the agreement between prospectively predicted outcome and observed outcome. A predicted efficacious mandibular position was derived from each FCMP study. Predictive accuracy was as follows: sensitivity 85%; specificity 93%; positive predictive value 97%; and negative predictive value 72%. Of participants correctly predicted to respond to therapy, the predicted mandibular protrusive position proved efficacious in 86% of cases. An unattended, in-home FCMP test prospectively identifies individuals with OSA who will respond to oral appliance therapy and provides an efficacious mandibular position. The trial that this study reports on is registered on www.clinicaltrials.gov, ID NCT03011762, study name: Feasibility and Predictive Accuracy of an In-Home Computer Controlled Mandibular Positioner in Identifying Favourable

Long Duration Exposure Facility mini-data base user`s guide: IBM-compatible PC computer version. (Diskette)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bohnhoff-Hlavacek, G.; Pippin, G.; Dursch, H.

1995-04-01

One of the objectives of the LDEF Special Investigation Group (SIG) was to develop a LDEF data base that identifies the experiment objectives and hardware flown, summarizes results and conclusions, and provides a system analysis overview which would include spacecraft design guidelines and space environmental effects. Compiling this information into an easily accessible data base format and making it available to the space community was a major task accomplished by the System and Materials SIG effort beginning in 1991. Included in this document is a short user`s manual for the LDEF Mini-Data Bases. The user`s manual contains pertinent examples frommore » the data base on specifically how to access and work with the LDEF information. Accompanying this document are the mini-data bases on disk.« less

Emergency Department Frequent Users for Acute Alcohol Intoxication.

PubMed

Klein, Lauren R; Martel, Marc L; Driver, Brian E; Reing, Mackenzie; Cole, Jon B

2018-03-01

A subset of frequent users of emergency services are those who use the emergency department (ED) for acute alcohol intoxication. This population and their ED encounters have not been previously described. This was a retrospective, observational, cohort study of patients presenting to the ED for acute alcohol intoxication between 2012 and 2016. We collected all data from the electronic medical record. Frequent users for alcohol intoxication were defined as those with greater than 20 visits for acute intoxication without additional medical chief complaints in the previous 12 months. We used descriptive statistics to evaluate characteristics of frequent users for alcohol intoxication, as well as their ED encounters. We identified 32,121 patient encounters. Of those, 325 patients were defined as frequent users for alcohol intoxication, comprising 11,370 of the encounters during the study period. The median maximum number of encounters per person for alcohol intoxication in a one-year period was 47 encounters (range 20 to 169). Frequent users were older (47 years vs. 39 years), and more commonly male (86% vs. 71%). Frequent users for alcohol intoxication had higher rates of medical and psychiatric comorbidities including liver disease, chronic kidney disease, ischemic vascular disease, dementia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, history of traumatic brain injury, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. In this study, we identified a group of ED frequent users who use the ED for acute alcohol intoxication. This population had higher rates of medical and psychiatric comorbidities compared to non-frequent users.

Cortical reorganization in postlingually deaf cochlear implant users: Intra-modal and cross-modal considerations.

PubMed

Stropahl, Maren; Chen, Ling-Chia; Debener, Stefan

2017-01-01

With the advances of cochlear implant (CI) technology, many deaf individuals can partially regain their hearing ability. However, there is a large variation in the level of recovery. Cortical changes induced by hearing deprivation and restoration with CIs have been thought to contribute to this variation. The current review aims to identify these cortical changes in postlingually deaf CI users and discusses their maladaptive or adaptive relationship to the CI outcome. Overall, intra-modal and cross-modal reorganization patterns have been identified in postlingually deaf CI users in visual and in auditory cortex. Even though cross-modal activation in auditory cortex is considered as maladaptive for speech recovery in CI users, a similar activation relates positively to lip reading skills. Furthermore, cross-modal activation of the visual cortex seems to be adaptive for speech recognition. Currently available evidence points to an involvement of further brain areas and suggests that a focus on the reversal of visual take-over of the auditory cortex may be too limited. Future investigations should consider expanded cortical as well as multi-sensory processing and capture different hierarchical processing steps. Furthermore, prospective longitudinal designs are needed to track the dynamics of cortical plasticity that takes place before and after implantation. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Developing written information on osteoarthritis for patients: facilitating user involvement by exposure to qualitative research

PubMed Central

Grime, Janet; Dudley, Brian

2011-01-01

Abstract Introduction  In developing a guidebook on osteoarthritis (OA), we collaborated with people who have chronic joint pain (users). But to advise, users need to be aware of and sensitive about their own state of knowledge and educationalists argue that adults sometimes lack such awareness. This paper will report on our experience of providing users with findings from qualitative research to increase awareness of their level of knowledge. Method  A summary of the results from qualitative research into people’s experiences of living with chronic pain was sent to individual members of two groups of users. It was then used to structure group meetings held to help identify information needed for the guidebook. Findings  Some users found the summary difficult to read and suggested how to simplify it. Nevertheless, it helped most users to become aware of the experiences and views of others who have OA and thus become more sensitive to their own level of knowledge. It also helped them recall experiences that stimulated practical suggestions for managing joint pain in everyday life and provided a way of gently challenging the views of users when they appeared to assume that their views were widely held. The discussions brought to light gaps in the research literature. Conclusion  We believe this way of involving users by exposing them to qualitative research findings about lay experiences of living with OA effectively facilitated the users’ contributions to the needs of those who have to live with OA, and we believe it has wider applications. PMID:22070445

A resettable and reprogrammable DNA-based security system to identify multiple users with hierarchy.

PubMed

Li, Hailong; Hong, Wei; Dong, Shaojun; Liu, Yaqing; Wang, Erkang

2014-03-25

Molecular-level security devices have raised ever-increasing interest in recent years to protect data and information from illegal invasion. Prior molecular keypad locks have an output signal dependent upon not only the appropriate combination but also the exact sequence of inputs, but it cannot be reset or reprogrammed. Here, a DNA-based security system with reset and never-reported reprogram function is successfully developed in proof-of-principle, with which one can change the password in case that the system is cracked. The previous password becomes invalid in the reprogrammed security system. Interestingly, more than one password is designed to permit multiple users to access. By harnessing the intrinsic merit of the different passwords, the system can distinguish different user who is endowed with prior authority. The intelligent device is addressed on solid support and facilitates electronic processes, avoiding chemical accumulation in the system by simple removal of the electrode from the input solution and indicating a main avenue for its further development.

Voice gender discrimination provides a measure of more than pitch-related perception in cochlear implant users.

PubMed

Li, Tianhao; Fu, Qian-Jie

2011-08-01

(1) To investigate whether voice gender discrimination (VGD) could be a useful indicator of the spectral and temporal processing abilities of individual cochlear implant (CI) users; (2) To examine the relationship between VGD and speech recognition with CI when comparable acoustic cues are used for both perception processes. VGD was measured using two talker sets with different inter-gender fundamental frequencies (F(0)), as well as different acoustic CI simulations. Vowel and consonant recognition in quiet and noise were also measured and compared with VGD performance. Eleven postlingually deaf CI users. The results showed that (1) mean VGD performance differed for different stimulus sets, (2) VGD and speech recognition performance varied among individual CI users, and (3) individual VGD performance was significantly correlated with speech recognition performance under certain conditions. VGD measured with selected stimulus sets might be useful for assessing not only pitch-related perception, but also spectral and temporal processing by individual CI users. In addition to improvements in spectral resolution and modulation detection, the improvement in higher modulation frequency discrimination might be particularly important for CI users in noisy environments.

Exploring Powered Wheelchair Users and Their Caregivers’ Perspectives on Potential Intelligent Power Wheelchair Use: A Qualitative Study

PubMed Central

Kairy, Dahlia; Rushton, Paula W.; Archambault, Philippe; Pituch, Evelina; Torkia, Caryne; El Fathi, Anas; Stone, Paula; Routhier, François; Forget, Robert; Demers, Louise; Pineau, Joelle; Gourdeau, Richard

2014-01-01

Power wheelchairs (PWCs) can have a positive impact on user well-being, self-esteem, pain, activity and participation. Newly developed intelligent power wheelchairs (IPWs), allowing autonomous or collaboratively-controlled navigation, could enhance mobility of individuals not able to use, or having difficulty using, standard PWCs. The objective of this study was to explore the perspectives of PWC users (PWUs) and their caregivers regarding if and how IPWs could impact on current challenges faced by PWUs, as well as inform current development of IPWs. A qualitative exploratory study using individual interviews was conducted with PWUs (n = 12) and caregivers (n = 4). A semi-structured interview guide and video were used to facilitate informed discussion regarding IPWs. Thematic analysis revealed three main themes: (1) “challenging situations that may be overcome by an IPW” described how the IPW features of obstacle avoidance, path following, and target following could alleviate PWUs’ identified mobility difficulties; (2) “cautious optimism concerning IPW use revealed participants” addresses concerns regarding using an IPW as well as technological suggestions; (3) “defining the potential IPW user” revealed characteristics of PWUs that would benefit from IPW use. Findings indicate how IPW use may help overcome PWC difficulties and confirm the importance of user input in the ongoing development of IPWs. PMID:24566051

The Graphical User Interface: Crisis, Danger, and Opportunity.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boyd, L. H.; And Others

1990-01-01

This article describes differences between the graphical user interface and traditional character-based interface systems, identifies potential problems posed by graphic computing environments for blind computer users, and describes some programs and strategies that are being developed to provide access to those environments. (Author/JDD)

Community-Based Study Recruitment of American Indian Cigarette Smokers and Electronic Cigarette Users.

PubMed

Carroll, Dana Mowls; Brame, Lacy S; Stephens, Lancer D; Wagener, Theodore L; Campbell, Janis E; Beebe, Laura A

2018-02-01

Data on the effectiveness of strategies for the recruitment of American Indians (AIs) into research is needed. This study describes and compares methods for identifying and recruiting AI tobacco users into a pilot study. Community-based strategies were used to recruit smokers (n = 35), e-cigarette users (n = 28), and dual users (n = 32) of AI descent. Recruitment was considered proactive if study staff contacted the individual at a pow wow, health fair, or vape shop and participation on-site or reactive if the individual contacted the study staff and participation occurred later. Screened, eligible, participated and costs and time spent were compared with Chi square tests. To understand AI descent, the relationship between number of AI grandparents and AI blood quantum was examined. Number of participants screened via the proactive strategy was similar to the reactive strategy (n = 84 vs. n = 82; p-value = 0.8766). A significantly greater proportion of individuals screened via the proactive than the reactive strategy were eligible (77 vs. 50%; p-value = 0.0002) and participated (75 vs. 39%; p-value = < 0.0001). Per participant cost and time estimated for the proactive strategy was $89 and 87 min compared to $79 and 56 min for the reactive strategy. Proportion at least half AI blood quantum was 32, 33, and 70% among those with 2, 3, and 4 AI grandparents, respectively (p = 0.0017). Proactive strategies resulted in two-thirds of the sample, but required more resources than reactive strategies. Overall, we found both strategies were feasible and resulted in the ability to reach sample goals. Lastly, number of AI biological grandparents may be a good, non-invasive indicator of AI blood quantum.

Factors affecting the diffusion of online end user literature searching.

PubMed

Ash, J S

1999-01-01

The aim of this study was to identify factors that affect diffusion of usage of online end user literature searching. Fifteen factors clustered into three attribute sets (innovation attributes, organizational attributes, and marketing attributes) were measured to study their effect on the diffusion of online searching within institutions. A random sample of sixty-seven academic health sciences centers was selected and then 1,335 library and informatics staff members at those institutions were surveyed by mail with electronic mail follow-up. Multiple regression analysis was performed. The survey yielded a 41% response rate with electronic mail follow-up being particularly effective. Two dependent variables, internal diffusion (spread of diffusion) and infusion (depth of diffusion), were measured. There was little correlation between them, indicating they measured different things. Fifteen independent variables clustered into three attribute sets were measured. The innovation attributes set was significant for both internal diffusion and infusion. Significant individual variables were visibility for internal diffusion and image enhancement effects (negative relation) as well as visibility for infusion (depth of diffusion). Organizational attributes were also significant predictors for both dependent variables. No individual variables were significant for internal diffusion. Communication, management support (negative relation), rewards, and existence of champions were significant for infusion. Marketing attributes were not significant predictors. Successful diffusion of online end user literature searching is dependent on the visibility of the systems, communication among, rewards to, and peers of possible users who promote use (champions). Personal image enhancement effects have a negative relation to infusion, possibly because the use of intermediaries is still seen as the more luxurious way to have searches done. Management support also has a negative relation to

Workshop AccessibleTV "Accessible User Interfaces for Future TV Applications"

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hahn, Volker; Hamisu, Pascal; Jung, Christopher; Heinrich, Gregor; Duarte, Carlos; Langdon, Pat

Approximately half of the elderly people over 55 suffer from some type of typically mild visual, auditory, motor or cognitive impairment. For them interaction, especially with PCs and other complex devices is sometimes challenging, although accessible ICT applications could make much of a difference for their living quality. Basically they have the potential to enable or simplify participation and inclusion in their surrounding private and professional communities. However, the availability of accessible user interfaces being capable to adapt to the specific needs and requirements of users with individual impairments is very limited. Although there are a number of APIs [1, 2, 3, 4] available for various platforms that allow developers to provide accessibility features within their applications, today none of them provides features for the automatic adaptation of multimodal interfaces being capable to automatically fit the individual requirements of users with different kinds of impairments. Moreover, the provision of accessible user interfaces is still expensive and risky for application developers, as they need special experience and effort for user tests. Today many implementations simply neglect the needs of elderly people, thus locking out a large portion of their potential users. The workshop is organized as part of the dissemination activity for the European-funded project GUIDE "Gentle user interfaces for elderly people", which aims to address this situation with a comprehensive approach for the realization of multimodal user interfaces being capable to adapt to the needs of users with different kinds of mild impairments. As application platform, GUIDE will mainly target TVs and Set-Top Boxes, such as the emerging Connected-TV or WebTV platforms, as they have the potential to address the needs of the elderly users with applications such as for home automation, communication or continuing education.

40 CFR 403.12 - Reporting requirements for POTW's and industrial users.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... Industrial Users subject to equivalent mass or concentration limits established by the Control Authority in... for the duration of the effective period of the Permit or other equivalent individual control... Industrial Users subject to equivalent mass or concentration limits established by the Control Authority in...

Tobacco users' perceptions of a brief tobacco cessation intervention in community pharmacies.

PubMed

Patwardhan, Pallavi D; Chewning, Betty A

2010-01-01

To explore factors affecting tobacco users' perceived appropriateness of a brief and proactive tobacco cessation counseling program, ask, advise, and refer (AAR), at community pharmacies. Inductive thematic analysis. Southern Wisconsin during fall 2008. 24 tobacco users who had recently received brief and proactive tobacco cessation counseling at a community pharmacy. Semistructured telephone interviews conducted by primary author. Perceptions of a brief and proactive tobacco cessation counseling program conducted at community pharmacies. In conducting the thematic analysis, eight distinct themes were identified. Display of information and resources at pharmacies for use by tobacco users as needed was identified as the most predominant theme and was found to be most helpful by many respondents. Other themes identified in decreasing order of prevalence were: tobacco users' perceptions of the role of pharmacists in health care, tobacco users' belief that smoking could interact with a current medication or health condition, tobacco users' sensitivity toward their tobacco use behavior or being told what to do, nonconfrontational and friendly approach of pharmacists, tobacco users' readiness to quit at the time of AAR counseling, tobacco user initiation of tobacco use discussion, and tobacco users' belief that tobacco use is bad. Overall, this qualitative investigation suggests that several factors might influence tobacco users' perceived appropriateness of AAR counseling at community pharmacies. AAR might be well received by tobacco users and pharmacy patrons as long as it is done in a professional and respectful manner.

Hostel User Study.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Allen, Phyllis

Findings from a study of living accommodations for young people are given in the first part. Features are identified that are regarded as important by management and residents. Suggestions are made as to how user response may be predicted and the responses of the residents to eight schemes are examined in detail. Also considered are--(1) the…

Becoming pure: identifying generational classes of admixed individuals within lesser and greater scaup populations.

PubMed

Lavretsky, Philip; Peters, Jeffrey L; Winker, Kevin; Bahn, Volker; Kulikova, Irina; Zhuravlev, Yuri N; Wilson, Robert E; Barger, Chris; Gurney, Kirsty; McCracken, Kevin G

2016-02-01

Estimating the frequency of hybridization is important to understand its evolutionary consequences and its effects on conservation efforts. In this study, we examined the extent of hybridization in two sister species of ducks that hybridize. We used mitochondrial control region sequences and 3589 double-digest restriction-associated DNA sequences (ddRADseq) to identify admixture between wild lesser scaup (Aythya affinis) and greater scaup (A. marila). Among 111 individuals, we found one introgressed mitochondrial DNA haplotype in lesser scaup and four in greater scaup. Likewise, based on the site-frequency spectrum from autosomal DNA, gene flow was asymmetrical, with higher rates from lesser into greater scaup. However, using ddRADseq nuclear DNA, all individuals were assigned to their respective species with >0.95 posterior assignment probability. To examine the power for detecting admixture, we simulated a breeding experiment in which empirical data were used to create F1 hybrids and nine generations (F2-F10) of backcrossing. F1 hybrids and F2, F3 and most F4 backcrosses were clearly distinguishable from pure individuals, but evidence of admixed histories was effectively lost after the fourth generation. Thus, we conclude that low interspecific assignment probabilities (0.011-0.043) for two lesser and nineteen greater scaup were consistent with admixed histories beyond the F3 generation. These results indicate that the propensity of these species to hybridize in the wild is low and largely asymmetric. When applied to species-specific cases, our approach offers powerful utility for examining concerns of hybridization in conservation efforts, especially for determining the generational time until admixed histories are effectively lost through backcrossing. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

User Requirements Gathering for 3d Geographic Information in the United Kingdom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wong, K.; Ellul, C.

2017-10-01

Despite significant developments, 3D technologies are still not fully exploited in practice due to the lack of awareness as well as the lack of understanding of who the users of 3D will be and what the user requirements are. From a National Mapping & Cadastral Agency and data acquisition perspective, each new 3D feature type and element within a feature added (such as doors, windows, chimneys, street lights) requires additional processing and cost to create. There is therefore a need to understand the importance of different 3D features and components for different applications. This will allow the direction of capture effort towards items that will be relevant to a wide range of users, as well as to understand the current status of, and interest in, 3D at a national level. This paper reports the results of an initial requirements gathering exercise for 3D geographic information in the United Kingdom (UK). It describes a user-centred design approach where usability and user needs are given extensive attention at each stage of the design process. Web-based questionnaires and semi-structured face-to-face interviews were used as complementary data collection methods to understand the user needs. The results from this initial study showed that while some applications lead the field with a high adoption of 3D, others are laggards, predominantly from organisational inertia. While individuals may be positive about the use of 3D, many struggle to justify the value and business case for 3D GI. Further work is required to identify the specific geometric and semantic requirements for different applications and to repeat the study with a larger sample.

Lead users' ideas on core features to support physical activity in rheumatoid arthritis: a first step in the development of an internet service using participatory design.

PubMed

Revenäs, Åsa; Opava, Christina H; Åsenlöf, Pernilla

2014-03-22

Despite the growing evidence of the benefits of physical activity (PA) in individuals with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), the majority is not physically active enough. An innovative strategy is to engage lead users in the development of PA interventions provided over the internet. The aim was to explore lead users' ideas and prioritization of core features in a future internet service targeting adoption and maintenance of healthy PA in people with RA. Six focus group interviews were performed with a purposively selected sample of 26 individuals with RA. Data were analyzed with qualitative content analysis and quantification of participants' prioritization of most important content. Six categories were identified as core features for a future internet service: up-to-date and evidence-based information and instructions, self-regulation tools, social interaction, personalized set-up, attractive design and content, and access to the internet service. The categories represented four themes, or core aspects, important to consider in the design of the future service: (1) content, (2) customized options, (3) user interface and (4) access and implementation. This is, to the best of our knowledge, the first study involving people with RA in the development of an internet service to support the adoption and maintenance of PA.Participants helped identifying core features and aspects important to consider and further explore during the next phase of development. We hypothesize that involvement of lead users will make transfer from theory to service more adequate and user-friendly and therefore will be an effective mean to facilitate PA behavior change.

SHARP User Manual

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yu, Y. Q.; Shemon, E. R.; Thomas, J. W.

SHARP is an advanced modeling and simulation toolkit for the analysis of nuclear reactors. It is comprised of several components including physical modeling tools, tools to integrate the physics codes for multi-physics analyses, and a set of tools to couple the codes within the MOAB framework. Physics modules currently include the neutronics code PROTEUS, the thermal-hydraulics code Nek5000, and the structural mechanics code Diablo. This manual focuses on performing multi-physics calculations with the SHARP ToolKit. Manuals for the three individual physics modules are available with the SHARP distribution to help the user to either carry out the primary multi-physics calculationmore » with basic knowledge or perform further advanced development with in-depth knowledge of these codes. This manual provides step-by-step instructions on employing SHARP, including how to download and install the code, how to build the drivers for a test case, how to perform a calculation and how to visualize the results. Since SHARP has some specific library and environment dependencies, it is highly recommended that the user read this manual prior to installing SHARP. Verification tests cases are included to check proper installation of each module. It is suggested that the new user should first follow the step-by-step instructions provided for a test problem in this manual to understand the basic procedure of using SHARP before using SHARP for his/her own analysis. Both reference output and scripts are provided along with the test cases in order to verify correct installation and execution of the SHARP package. At the end of this manual, detailed instructions are provided on how to create a new test case so that user can perform novel multi-physics calculations with SHARP. Frequently asked questions are listed at the end of this manual to help the user to troubleshoot issues.« less

Information Equality for Individuals with Disabilities: Does It Exist?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lewis, Jill

2013-01-01

Drawing on the author's experience as an information professional for individuals with disabilities, this article discusses the challenges faced by both library users and staff in obtaining and providing information to this community. It poses four questions: Where do individuals with disabilities fit into diversity studies? Do individuals with…

Gene-centric Meta-analysis in 87,736 Individuals of European Ancestry Identifies Multiple Blood-Pressure-Related Loci

PubMed Central

Tragante, Vinicius; Barnes, Michael R.; Ganesh, Santhi K.; Lanktree, Matthew B.; Guo, Wei; Franceschini, Nora; Smith, Erin N.; Johnson, Toby; Holmes, Michael V.; Padmanabhan, Sandosh; Karczewski, Konrad J.; Almoguera, Berta; Barnard, John; Baumert, Jens; Chang, Yen-Pei Christy; Elbers, Clara C.; Farrall, Martin; Fischer, Mary E.; Gaunt, Tom R.; Gho, Johannes M.I.H.; Gieger, Christian; Goel, Anuj; Gong, Yan; Isaacs, Aaron; Kleber, Marcus E.; Leach, Irene Mateo; McDonough, Caitrin W.; Meijs, Matthijs F.L.; Melander, Olle; Nelson, Christopher P.; Nolte, Ilja M.; Pankratz, Nathan; Price, Tom S.; Shaffer, Jonathan; Shah, Sonia; Tomaszewski, Maciej; van der Most, Peter J.; Van Iperen, Erik P.A.; Vonk, Judith M.; Witkowska, Kate; Wong, Caroline O.L.; Zhang, Li; Beitelshees, Amber L.; Berenson, Gerald S.; Bhatt, Deepak L.; Brown, Morris; Burt, Amber; Cooper-DeHoff, Rhonda M.; Connell, John M.; Cruickshanks, Karen J.; Curtis, Sean P.; Davey-Smith, George; Delles, Christian; Gansevoort, Ron T.; Guo, Xiuqing; Haiqing, Shen; Hastie, Claire E.; Hofker, Marten H.; Hovingh, G. Kees; Kim, Daniel S.; Kirkland, Susan A.; Klein, Barbara E.; Klein, Ronald; Li, Yun R.; Maiwald, Steffi; Newton-Cheh, Christopher; O’Brien, Eoin T.; Onland-Moret, N. Charlotte; Palmas, Walter; Parsa, Afshin; Penninx, Brenda W.; Pettinger, Mary; Vasan, Ramachandran S.; Ranchalis, Jane E.; M Ridker, Paul; Rose, Lynda M.; Sever, Peter; Shimbo, Daichi; Steele, Laura; Stolk, Ronald P.; Thorand, Barbara; Trip, Mieke D.; van Duijn, Cornelia M.; Verschuren, W. Monique; Wijmenga, Cisca; Wyatt, Sharon; Young, J. Hunter; Zwinderman, Aeilko H.; Bezzina, Connie R.; Boerwinkle, Eric; Casas, Juan P.; Caulfield, Mark J.; Chakravarti, Aravinda; Chasman, Daniel I.; Davidson, Karina W.; Doevendans, Pieter A.; Dominiczak, Anna F.; FitzGerald, Garret A.; Gums, John G.; Fornage, Myriam; Hakonarson, Hakon; Halder, Indrani; Hillege, Hans L.; Illig, Thomas; Jarvik, Gail P.; Johnson, Julie A.; Kastelein, John J.P.; Koenig, Wolfgang; Kumari, Meena; März, Winfried; Murray, Sarah S.; O’Connell, Jeffery R.; Oldehinkel, Albertine J.; Pankow, James S.; Rader, Daniel J.; Redline, Susan; Reilly, Muredach P.; Schadt, Eric E.; Kottke-Marchant, Kandice; Snieder, Harold; Snyder, Michael; Stanton, Alice V.; Tobin, Martin D.; Uitterlinden, André G.; van der Harst, Pim; van der Schouw, Yvonne T.; Samani, Nilesh J.; Watkins, Hugh; Johnson, Andrew D.; Reiner, Alex P.; Zhu, Xiaofeng; de Bakker, Paul I.W.; Levy, Daniel; Asselbergs, Folkert W.; Munroe, Patricia B.; Keating, Brendan J.

2014-01-01

Blood pressure (BP) is a heritable risk factor for cardiovascular disease. To investigate genetic associations with systolic BP (SBP), diastolic BP (DBP), mean arterial pressure (MAP), and pulse pressure (PP), we genotyped ∼50,000 SNPs in up to 87,736 individuals of European ancestry and combined these in a meta-analysis. We replicated findings in an independent set of 68,368 individuals of European ancestry. Our analyses identified 11 previously undescribed associations in independent loci containing 31 genes including PDE1A, HLA-DQB1, CDK6, PRKAG2, VCL, H19, NUCB2, RELA, HOXC@ complex, FBN1, and NFAT5 at the Bonferroni-corrected array-wide significance threshold (p < 6 × 10−7) and confirmed 27 previously reported associations. Bioinformatic analysis of the 11 loci provided support for a putative role in hypertension of several genes, such as CDK6 and NUCB2. Analysis of potential pharmacological targets in databases of small molecules showed that ten of the genes are predicted to be a target for small molecules. In summary, we identified previously unknown loci associated with BP. Our findings extend our understanding of genes involved in BP regulation, which may provide new targets for therapeutic intervention or drug response stratification. PMID:24560520

Identifying the causes of road crashes in Europe

PubMed Central

Thomas, Pete; Morris, Andrew; Talbot, Rachel; Fagerlind, Helen

2013-01-01

This research applies a recently developed model of accident causation, developed to investigate industrial accidents, to a specially gathered sample of 997 crashes investigated in-depth in 6 countries. Based on the work of Hollnagel the model considers a collision to be a consequence of a breakdown in the interaction between road users, vehicles and the organisation of the traffic environment. 54% of road users experienced interpretation errors while 44% made observation errors and 37% planning errors. In contrast to other studies only 11% of drivers were identified as distracted and 8% inattentive. There was remarkably little variation in these errors between the main road user types. The application of the model to future in-depth crash studies offers the opportunity to identify new measures to improve safety and to mitigate the social impact of collisions. Examples given include the potential value of co-driver advisory technologies to reduce observation errors and predictive technologies to avoid conflicting interactions between road users. PMID:24406942

A simplistic model for identifying prominent web users in directed multiplex social networks: a case study using Twitter networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Loucif, Hemza; Boubetra, Abdelhak; Akrouf, Samir

2016-10-01

This paper aims to describe a new simplistic model dedicated to gauge the online influence of Twitter users based on a mixture of structural and interactional features. The model is an additive mathematical formulation which involves two main parts. The first part serves to measure the influence of the Twitter user on just his neighbourhood covering his followers. However, the second part evaluates the potential influence of the Twitter user beyond the circle of his followers. Particularly, it measures the likelihood that the tweets of the Twitter user will spread further within the social graph through the retweeting process. The model is tested on a data set involving four kinds of real-world egocentric networks. The empirical results reveal that an active ordinary user is more prominent than a non-active celebrity one. A simple comparison is conducted between the proposed model and two existing simplistic approaches. The results show that our model generates the most realistic influence scores due to its dealing with both explicit (structural and interactional) and implicit features.

Translating research into practice through user-centered design: An application for osteoarthritis healthcare planning.

PubMed

Carr, Eloise Cj; Babione, Julie N; Marshall, Deborah

2017-08-01

To identify the needs and requirements of the end users, to inform the development of a user-interface to translate an existing evidence-based decision support tool into a practical and usable interface for health service planning for osteoarthritis (OA) care. We used a user-centered design (UCD) approach that emphasized the role of the end-users and is well-suited to knowledge translation (KT). The first phase used a needs assessment focus group (n=8) and interviews (n=5) with target users (health care planners) within a provincial health care organization. The second phase used a participatory design approach, with two small group sessions (n=6) to explore workflow, thought processes, and needs of intended users. The needs assessment identified five design recommendations: ensuring the user-interface supports the target user group, allowing for user-directed data explorations, input parameter flexibility, clear presentation, and provision of relevant definitions. The second phase identified workflow insights from a proposed scenario. Graphs, the need for a visual overview of the data, and interactivity were key considerations to aid in meaningful use of the model and knowledge translation. A UCD approach is well suited to identify health care planners' requirements when using a decision support tool to improve health service planning and management of OA. We believe this is one of the first applications to be used in planning for health service delivery. We identified specific design recommendations that will increase user acceptability and uptake of the user-interface and underlying decision support tool in practice. Our approach demonstrated how UCD can be used to enable knowledge translation. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Cannabis Users' Recommended Warnings for Packages of Legally Sold Cannabis: An Australia-Centered Study

PubMed Central

Malouff, John M.; Johnson, Caitlin E.; Rooke, Sally E.

2016-01-01

Abstract Introduction: Although cannabis use creates health risks, governments have recently been legalizing either medical use or leisure use. These governments can mandate health warnings on cannabis packages. Prior research examined recommended warnings of cannabis experts. The aim of this study was to obtain suggested cannabis health and safety warnings from cannabis users. Methods: We used a media release, Facebook postings, and announcements in university classes to seek individuals who had used cannabis at least once according to their own report. Using online data collection software that keeps participants anonymous, we asked the individuals to suggest a warning that governments could mandate on cannabis packages. Results: In total, 288 users suggested warnings. Categorizing the warnings into content categories led to six warning topics: (1) risk of harm to mental health and psychological functioning; (2) risk of operating machinery while under the influence; (3) short-term physical side effects; (4) responsible use; (5) long-term negative physical effects; and (6) dependence, addiction, or abuse. The user-suggested warnings overlapped with six expert-recommended warnings identified in prior survey research and included two content areas that did not feature in expert-recommended warnings: short-term physical side effects and the importance of responsible use. Conclusions: The results are consistent with prior findings that some youths perceive cannabis use as potentially harmful. The current findings provide possible new content for warnings on cannabis packages. PMID:28861495

Identifying Behavioral Measures of Stress in Individuals with Aphasia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Laures-Gore, Jacqueline S.; DuBay, Michaela F.; Duff, Melissa C.; Buchanan, Tony W.

2010-01-01

Purpose: To develop valid indicators of stress in individuals with aphasia (IWA) by examining the relationship between certain language variables (error frequency [EF] and word productivity [WP]) and cortisol reactivity. Method: Fourteen IWA and 10 controls participated in a speaking task. Salivary cortisol was collected pre- and posttask. WP and…

Macromolecule mass spectrometry: citation mining of user documents.

PubMed

Kostoff, Ronald N; Bedford, Clifford D; del Río, J Antonio; Cortes, Héctor D; Karypis, George

2004-03-01

Identifying research users, applications, and impact is important for research performers, managers, evaluators, and sponsors. Identification of the user audience and the research impact is complex and time consuming due to the many indirect pathways through which fundamental research can impact applications. This paper identified the literature pathways through which two highly-cited papers of 2002 Chemistry Nobel Laureates Fenn and Tanaka impacted research, technology development, and applications. Citation Mining, an integration of citation bibliometrics and text mining, was applied to the >1600 first generation Science Citation Index (SCI) citing papers to Fenn's 1989 Science paper on Electrospray Ionization for Mass Spectrometry, and to the >400 first generation SCI citing papers to Tanaka's 1988 Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry paper on Laser Ionization Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry. Bibliometrics was performed on the citing papers to profile the user characteristics. Text mining was performed on the citing papers to identify the technical areas impacted by the research, and the relationships among these technical areas.

Dopamine Beta Hydroxylase Genotype Identifies Individuals Less Susceptible to Bias in Computer-Assisted Decision Making

PubMed Central

Parasuraman, Raja; de Visser, Ewart; Lin, Ming-Kuan; Greenwood, Pamela M.

2012-01-01

Computerized aiding systems can assist human decision makers in complex tasks but can impair performance when they provide incorrect advice that humans erroneously follow, a phenomenon known as “automation bias.” The extent to which people exhibit automation bias varies significantly and may reflect inter-individual variation in the capacity of working memory and the efficiency of executive function, both of which are highly heritable and under dopaminergic and noradrenergic control in prefrontal cortex. The dopamine beta hydroxylase (DBH) gene is thought to regulate the differential availability of dopamine and norepinephrine in prefrontal cortex. We therefore examined decision-making performance under imperfect computer aiding in 100 participants performing a simulated command and control task. Based on two single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) of the DBH gene, −1041 C/T (rs1611115) and 444 G/A (rs1108580), participants were divided into groups of low and high DBH enzyme activity, where low enzyme activity is associated with greater dopamine relative to norepinephrine levels in cortex. Compared to those in the high DBH enzyme activity group, individuals in the low DBH enzyme activity group were more accurate and speedier in their decisions when incorrect advice was given and verified automation recommendations more frequently. These results indicate that a gene that regulates relative prefrontal cortex dopamine availability, DBH, can identify those individuals who are less susceptible to bias in using computerized decision-aiding systems. PMID:22761865

Application of DNA markers to identify the individual-specific hosts of tsetse feeding on cattle.

PubMed

Torr, S J; Wilson, P J; Schofield, S; Mangwiro, T N; Akber, S; White, B N

2001-03-01

Primer sets for five different ungulate loci were used to obtain individual microsatellite DNA profiles for 29 Mashona cattle from a herd in Zimbabwe. There were 3-13 alleles for each locus and, using the entire suite of five loci, each animal within the herd, including closely related individuals, could be unequivocally distinguished. Wild-caught Glossina pallidipes Austen (Diptera: Glossinidae) were fed on specific cattle and the bloodmeal was profiled 0.5-72 h after feeding. The individual specific sources of the bloodmeals, including mixe meals produced by allowing tsetse to feed on two different cattle, were reliabl identified up to 24 h after feeding. The technique was used in field studies of hos selection by G. pallidipes and G. morsitans morsitans Westwood (Diptera Glossinidae) attracted to pairs of cattle. When the pair comprised an adult and a calf, 100% of meals were from the adult. For some pairs of adult cattle, tsetse were biased significantly towards feeding on one animal, whereas for other pairs there was no such bias. In general, feeding was greater on the animal known to have lower rate of host defensive behaviour. Results suggest that relatively slight differences in the inherent defensive behaviour of cattle produce large difference in host-specific feeding rates when the hosts are adjacent. For flies attracted to pair of cattle, < 2% contained blood from both hosts. The DNA profiling technique will be useful in studying the epidemiology of vector-borne diseases of livestock.

HIV prevalence and sexual risk behaviour among non-injection drug users in Tijuana, Mexico.

PubMed

Deiss, Robert G; Lozada, Remedios M; Burgos, Jose Luis; Strathdee, Steffanie A; Gallardo, Manuel; Cuevas, Jazmine; Garfein, Richard S

2012-01-01

Prior studies estimate HIV prevalence of 4% among injection drug users (IDUs), compared with 0.8% in the general population of Tijuana, Mexico. However, data on HIV prevalence and correlates among non-injecting drug users (NIDUs) are sparse. Individuals were recruited through street outreach for HIV testing and behavioural risk assessment interviews to estimate HIV prevalence and identify associated sexual risk behaviours among NIDUs in Tijuana. Descriptive statistics were used to characterise 'low-risk' NIDUs (drug users who were not commercial sex workers or men who have sex with men). Results showed that HIV prevalence was 3.7% among low-risk NIDUs. During the prior six months, 52% of NIDUs reported having >1 casual partner; 35% reported always using condoms with a casual partner; and 13% and 15%, respectively, reported giving or receiving something in exchange for sex. Women were significantly more likely than men to have unprotected sex with an IDU (p<0.01). The finding that HIV prevalence among NIDUs was similar to that of IDUs suggests that HIV transmission has occurred outside of traditional core groups in Tijuana. Broad interventions including HIV testing, condom promotion and sexual risk reduction should be offered to all drug users in Tijuana.

Service user governors in mental health foundation trusts: accountability or business as usual?

PubMed

MacDonald, Dee; Barnes, Marian; Crawford, Mike; Omeni, Edward; Wilson, Aaron; Rose, Diana

2015-12-01

National Health Foundation Trusts present opportunities for individual mental health service users to be active in the governance of trusts. This is one of a range of mechanisms for patient and public involvement and one which promotes an individual rather than collective approach to involvement. Within the context of a broader study of the impact of service user involvement in mental health services, the objective of this article was to explore the experience of service user governors in foundation trusts and their capacity to hold boards to account. The Council of Governors in three foundation trusts were observed for a year. Focus groups with service user governors were undertaken in each trust. Service users had different expectations and understandings of the role and approached it in different ways. Key themes that emerged concerned: the role of a governor, conduct and content of meetings, agenda setting, relationships and representation. The experiences of mental health service user governors need to be understood within the complex environment of patient and public involvement in general and of mental health service user involvement in particular. The dislocation of the service user governor role from other forms of service user activity and involvement result in confusion about how notions of holding a trust to account and representation of other service users can be addressed within a boundaried institutional environment. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Low Striatal Dopamine D2-type Receptor Availability is Linked to Simulated Drug Choice in Methamphetamine Users.

PubMed

Moeller, Scott J; Okita, Kyoji; Robertson, Chelsea L; Ballard, Michael E; Konova, Anna B; Goldstein, Rita Z; Mandelkern, Mark A; London, Edythe D

2018-03-01

Individuals with drug use disorders seek drugs over other rewarding activities, and exhibit neurochemical deficits related to dopamine, which is involved in value-based learning and decision-making. Thus, a dopaminergic disturbance may underpin drug-biased choice in addiction. Classical drug-choice assessments, which offer drug-consumption opportunities, are inappropriate for addicted individuals seeking treatment or abstaining. Fifteen recently abstinent methamphetamine users and 15 healthy controls completed two laboratory paradigms of 'simulated' drug choice (choice for drug-related vs affectively pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral images), and underwent positron emission tomography measurements of dopamine D2-type receptor availability, indicated by binding potential (BP ND ) for [ 18 F]fallypride. Thirteen of the methamphetamine users and 10 controls also underwent [ 11 C]NNC112 PET scans to measure dopamine D1-type receptor availability. Group analyses showed that, compared with controls, methamphetamine users chose to view more methamphetamine-related images on one task, with a similar trend on the second task. Regression analyses showed that, on both tasks, the more methamphetamine users chose to view methamphetamine images, specifically vs pleasant images (the most frequently chosen images across all participants), the lower was their D2-type BP ND in the lateral orbitofrontal cortex, an important region in value-based choice. No associations were observed with D2-type BP ND in striatal regions, or with D1-type BP ND in any region. These results identify a neurochemical correlate for a laboratory drug-seeking paradigm that can be administered to treatment-seeking and abstaining drug-addicted individuals. More broadly, these results refine the central hypothesis that dopamine-system deficits contribute to drug-biased decision-making in addiction, here showing a role for the orbitofrontal cortex.

Identifying At-Risk Individuals for Insomnia Using the Ford Insomnia Response to Stress Test.

PubMed

Kalmbach, David A; Pillai, Vivek; Arnedt, J Todd; Drake, Christopher L

2016-02-01

A primary focus of the National Institute of Mental Health's current strategic plan is "predicting" who is at risk for disease. As such, the current investigation examined the utility of premorbid sleep reactivity in identifying a specific and manageable population at elevated risk for future insomnia. A community-based sample of adults (n = 2,892; 59.3% female; 47.9 ± 13.3 y old) with no lifetime history of insomnia or depression completed web-based surveys across three annual assessments. Participants reported parental history of insomnia, demographic characteristics, sleep reactivity on the Ford Insomnia in Response to Stress Test (FIRST), and insomnia symptoms. DSM-IV diagnostic criteria were used to determine insomnia classification. Baseline FIRST scores were used to predict incident insomnia at 1-y follow-up. Two clinically meaningful FIRST cutoff values were identified: FIRST ≥ 16 (sensitivity 77%; specificity 50%; odds ratio [OR] = 2.88, P < 0.001); and FIRST ≥ 18 (sensitivity 62%; specificity 67%; OR = 3.32, P < 0.001). Notably, both FIRST cut-points outperformed known maternal (OR = 1.49-1.59, P < 0.01) and paternal history (P = NS) in predicting insomnia onset, even after controlling for stress exposure and demographic characteristics. Of the incident cases, insomniacs with highly reactive sleep systems reported longer sleep onset latencies (FIRST ≥ 16: 65 min; FIRST ≥ 18: 68 min) than participants with nonreactive insomnia (FIRST < 16: 37 min; FIRST < 18: 44 min); these groups did not differ on any other sleep parameters. The current study established a cost- and time-effective strategy for identifying individuals at elevated risk for insomnia based on trait sleep reactivity. The FIRST accurately identifies a focused target population in which the psychobiological processes complicit in insomnia onset and progression can be better investigated, thus improving future preventive efforts. © 2016 Associated Professional Sleep Societies, LLC.

Users matter : multi-agent systems model of high performance computing cluster users.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

North, M. J.; Hood, C. S.; Decision and Information Sciences

2005-01-01

High performance computing clusters have been a critical resource for computational science for over a decade and have more recently become integral to large-scale industrial analysis. Despite their well-specified components, the aggregate behavior of clusters is poorly understood. The difficulties arise from complicated interactions between cluster components during operation. These interactions have been studied by many researchers, some of whom have identified the need for holistic multi-scale modeling that simultaneously includes network level, operating system level, process level, and user level behaviors. Each of these levels presents its own modeling challenges, but the user level is the most complex duemore » to the adaptability of human beings. In this vein, there are several major user modeling goals, namely descriptive modeling, predictive modeling and automated weakness discovery. This study shows how multi-agent techniques were used to simulate a large-scale computing cluster at each of these levels.« less

Understanding User Behavioral Patterns in Open Knowledge Communities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yang, Xianmin; Song, Shuqiang; Zhao, Xinshuo; Yu, Shengquan

2018-01-01

Open knowledge communities (OKCs) have become popular in the era of knowledge economy. This study aimed to explore how users collaboratively create and share knowledge in OKCs. In particular, this research identified the behavior distribution and behavioral patterns of users by conducting frequency distribution and lag sequential analyses. Some…

Experiencing mental health diagnosis: a systematic review of service user, clinician, and carer perspectives across clinical settings.

PubMed

Perkins, Amorette; Ridler, Joseph; Browes, Daniel; Peryer, Guy; Notley, Caitlin; Hackmann, Corinna

2018-04-18

Receiving a mental health diagnosis can be pivotal for service users, and it has been described in both positive and negative terms. What influences service-user experience of the diagnostic process is unclear; consequently, clinicians report uncertainty regarding best practice. This Review aims to understand and inform diagnostic practice through a comprehensive synthesis of qualitative data on views and experiences from key stakeholders (service users, clinicians, carers, and family). We searched five databases and identified 78 papers for inclusion, originating from 13 countries and including 2228 participants. Eligible papers were assessed for quality, and data were coded and then developed into themes, which generated a model representing factors to consider for clinicians conveying, and individuals receiving, mental health diagnoses. Themes included disclosure, information provision, collaboration, timing, stigma, and functional value of diagnosis for recovery. Variations between different stakeholders and clinical contexts are explored. Findings support an individualised, collaborative, and holistic approach to mental health diagnosis. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

CHAD User's Guide: Extracting Human Activity Information from CHAD on the PC

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

User manual that includes tutorials, what's inside the CHAD databases, background on individuals studies in CHAD, using data form individual studies, caveats, problems, notes, and database design and development.

Imagining value, imagining users: academic technology transfer for health innovation.

PubMed

Miller, Fiona Alice; Sanders, Carrie B; Lehoux, Pascale

2009-04-01

Governments have invested heavily in the clinical and economic promise of health innovation and express increasing concern with the efficacy and efficiency of the health innovation system. In considering strategies for 'better' health innovation, policy makers and researchers have taken a particular interest in the work of universities and related public research organizations: How do these organizations identify and transfer promising innovations to market, and do these efforts make best use of public sector investments? We conducted an ethnographic study of technology transfer offices (TTOs) in Ontario and British Columbia, Canada, to consider the place of health and health system imperatives in judgments of value in early-stage health innovation. Our analysis suggests that the valuation process is poorly specified as a set of task-specific judgments. Instead, we argue that technology transfer professionals are active participants in the construction of the innovation and assign value by 'imagining' the end product in its 'context of use'. Oriented as they are to the commercialization of health technology, TTOs understand users primarily as market players. The immediate users of TTOs' efforts are commercial partners (i.e., licensees, investors) who are capable of translating current discoveries into future commodities. The ultimate end users - patients, clinicians, health systems - are the future consumers of the products to be sold. Attention to these proximate and more distal users in the valuation process is a complex and constitutive feature of the work of health technology transfer. At the same time, judgements about individual technologies are made in relation to a broader imperative through which TTOs seek to imagine and construct sustainable innovation systems. Judgments of value are rendered sensible in relation to the logic of valuation for systems of innovation that, in turn, configure users of health innovation in systemic ways.

User evaluation of a GUI for controlling an autonomous persistent surveillance team

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scerri, Paul; Owens, Sean; Sycara, Katia; Lewis, Michael

2010-04-01

In future military missions, there will be many sensor assets collecting much important information about the environment. User control over surveillance assets is important to ensure that the specific data collected is appropriate for the current mission. Unfortunately, previous work has shown that individual users cannot effectively control more than about four assets, even if the assets have significant autonomy. In the ACCAST project, we hypothesized that by including autonomous teamwork between the assets and allowing users to interact by describing what the team as a whole and specific sub-teams should do, we could dramatically scale up the number of assets an individual user could effectively control. In this paper, we present the results of an experiment where users controlled up to 30 autonomous assets performing a complex mission. The assets autonomously worked together using sophisticated teamwork and the user could tell sub-teams to execute team oriented plans which described the steps required to achieve a team objective without describing exactly which asset performed which role and without having to specify how the team should handle routine information sharing, communications and failure circumstances. The users, soldiers from Fort Benning, were surprisingly good at managing the assets and were all able to complete the complex mission with extremely low friendly and civilian casualties.

XYFREZ.4 User’s Manual.

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-12-01

F T FILE I MEuSpecial Report 87-26 December 1987 US Army Corps of Engineers Cold Regions Research & Engineering Laboratory XYFREZ.4 User’s manual...Freeze/thaw User’s manual 19. ABSTRACT (Continue on reverse if necessary and identify by block number) - -- Using the program XYFREZ, version 4, one...may simulate two-dimensional conduction of heat, with or without phase change. The mathematical method employed uses finite elements in space and

Software Helps Retrieve Information Relevant to the User

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mathe, Natalie; Chen, James

2003-01-01

The Adaptive Indexing and Retrieval Agent (ARNIE) is a code library, designed to be used by an application program, that assists human users in retrieving desired information in a hypertext setting. Using ARNIE, the program implements a computational model for interactively learning what information each human user considers relevant in context. The model, called a "relevance network," incrementally adapts retrieved information to users individual profiles on the basis of feedback from the users regarding specific queries. The model also generalizes such knowledge for subsequent derivation of relevant references for similar queries and profiles, thereby, assisting users in filtering information by relevance. ARNIE thus enables users to categorize and share information of interest in various contexts. ARNIE encodes the relevance and structure of information in a neural network dynamically configured with a genetic algorithm. ARNIE maintains an internal database, wherein it saves associations, and from which it returns associated items in response to a query. A C++ compiler for a platform on which ARNIE will be utilized is necessary for creating the ARNIE library but is not necessary for the execution of the software.

Usability Issues in the User Interfaces of Privacy-Enhancing Technologies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

LaTouche, Lerone W.

2013-01-01

Privacy on the Internet has become one of the leading concerns for Internet users. These users are not wrong in their concerns if personally identifiable information is not protected and under their control. To minimize the collection of Internet users' personal information and help solve the problem of online privacy, a number of…

Education of MIS Users: One Hospital's Experience

PubMed Central

Jacobs, Patt

1982-01-01

Dr. Stanley Jacobs has identified at least five factors which impact the amount of effort required to implement a hospital based computer system. One of these factors is clearly the users of the system. This paper focuses upon the implementation process at St. Vincent Hospital and Medical Center (SVH&MC) highlighting the user education program developed by the hospital DP staff.

A Driving Behaviour Model of Electrical Wheelchair Users

PubMed Central

Hamam, Y.; Djouani, K.; Daachi, B.; Steyn, N.

2016-01-01

In spite of the presence of powered wheelchairs, some of the users still experience steering challenges and manoeuvring difficulties that limit their capacity of navigating effectively. For such users, steering support and assistive systems may be very necessary. To appreciate the assistance, there is need that the assistive control is adaptable to the user's steering behaviour. This paper contributes to wheelchair steering improvement by modelling the steering behaviour of powered wheelchair users, for integration into the control system. More precisely, the modelling is based on the improved Directed Potential Field (DPF) method for trajectory planning. The method has facilitated the formulation of a simple behaviour model that is also linear in parameters. To obtain the steering data for parameter identification, seven individuals participated in driving the wheelchair in different virtual worlds on the augmented platform. The obtained data facilitated the estimation of user parameters, using the ordinary least square method, with satisfactory regression analysis results. PMID:27148362

The Weatherization Assistant User's Manual (Version 8.9)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gettings, Michael B.; Malhotra, Mini; Ternes, Mark P.

The Weatherization Assistant is a Windows-based energy audit software tool that was developed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to help states and their local weatherization agencies implement the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Weatherization Assistance Program. The Weatherization Assistant is an umbrella program for two individual energy audits or measure selection programs: the National Energy Audit Tool (NEAT) for site-built single-family homes and the Manufactured Home Energy Audit (MHEA) for mobile homes. The Weatherization Assistant User's Manual documents the operation of the user interface for Version 8.9 of the software. This includes how to install and setup the software,more » navigate through the program, and initiate an energy audit. All of the user interface forms associated with the software and the data fields on these forms are described in detail. The manual is intended to be a training manual for new users of the Weatherization Assistant and as a reference manual for experienced users.« less

Why aren’t they happy? An analysis of end-user satisfaction with Electronic health records

PubMed Central

Unni, Prasad; Staes, Catherine; Weeks, Howard; Kramer, Heidi; Borbolla, Damion; Slager, Stacey; Taft, Teresa; Chidambaram, Valliammai; Weir, Charlene

2016-01-01

Introduction. Implementations of electronic health records (EHR) have been met with mixed outcome reviews. Complaints about these systems have led to many attempts to have useful measures of end-user satisfaction. However, most user satisfaction assessments do not focus on high-level reasoning, despite the complaints of many physicians. Our study attempts to identify some of these determinants. Method. We developed a user satisfaction survey instrument, based on pre-identified and important clinical and non-clinical clinician tasks. We surveyed a sample of in-patient physicians and focused on using exploratory factor analyses to identify underlying high-level cognitive tasks. We used the results to create unique, orthogonal variables representative of latent structure predictive of user satisfaction. Results. Our findings identified 3 latent high-level tasks that were associated with end-user satisfaction: a) High- level clinical reasoning b) Communicate/coordinate care and c) Follow the rules/compliance. Conclusion: We were able to successfully identify latent variables associated with satisfaction. Identification of communicability and high-level clinical reasoning as important factors determining user satisfaction can lead to development and design of more usable electronic health records with higher user satisfaction. PMID:28269962

Evaluation of the user requirements processes for NASA terrestrial applications programs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1982-01-01

To support the evolution of increasingly sound user requirements definition processes that would meet the broad range of NASA's terrestrial applications planning and management needs during the 1980's, the user requirements processes as they function in the real world at the senior and middle management levels were evaluated. Special attention was given to geologic mapping and domestic crop reporting to provide insight into problems associated with the development and management of user established conventional practices and data sources. An attempt was made to identify alternative NASA user interfaces that sustain strengths, alleviate weaknesses, maximize application to multiple problems, and simplify management cognizance. Some of the alternatives are outlined and evaluated. It is recommended that NASA have an identified organizational point of focus for consolidation and oversight of the user processes.

Thought-based row-column scanning communication board for individuals with cerebral palsy.

PubMed

Scherer, Reinhold; Billinger, Martin; Wagner, Johanna; Schwarz, Andreas; Hettich, Dirk Tassilo; Bolinger, Elaina; Lloria Garcia, Mariano; Navarro, Juan; Müller-Putz, Gernot

2015-02-01

Impairment of an individual's ability to communicate is a major hurdle for active participation in education and social life. A lot of individuals with cerebral palsy (CP) have normal intelligence, however, due to their inability to communicate, they fall behind. Non-invasive electroencephalogram (EEG) based brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) have been proposed as potential assistive devices for individuals with CP. BCIs translate brain signals directly into action. Motor activity is no longer required. However, translation of EEG signals may be unreliable and requires months of training. Moreover, individuals with CP may exhibit high levels of spontaneous and uncontrolled movement, which has a large impact on EEG signal quality and results in incorrect translations. We introduce a novel thought-based row-column scanning communication board that was developed following user-centered design principles. Key features include an automatic online artifact reduction method and an evidence accumulation procedure for decision making. The latter allows robust decision making with unreliable BCI input. Fourteen users with CP participated in a supporting online study and helped to evaluate the performance of the developed system. Users were asked to select target items with the row-column scanning communication board. The results suggest that seven among eleven remaining users performed better than chance and were consequently able to communicate by using the developed system. Three users were excluded because of insufficient EEG signal quality. These results are very encouraging and represent a good foundation for the development of real-world BCI-based communication devices for users with CP. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Pilot study on use of home telephoning to identify and recruit high-risk individuals for lung cancer screening.

PubMed

Veronesi, Giulia; Colombo, Paolo; Novellis, Pierluigi; Crepaldi, Alessandro; Lutman, Romano Fabio; Dieci, Elisa; Profili, Manuel; Siracusano, Licia; Alloisio, Marco

2017-03-01

Widespread lung cancer screening with low-dose computed tomography is urgently needed in Europe to identify lung cancers early and reduce lung cancer deaths. The most effective method of identifying high-risk individuals and recruiting them for screening has not been determined. In the present pilot study we investigated direct telephoning to families as a way of identifying high risk individuals and recruiting them to a screening/smoking cessation program, that avoided the selection bias of voluntary screening. Families in the province of Milan, Italy, were contacted by telephone at their homes and asked about family members over 50 years who were heavy smokers (30 or more pack-years). Persons meeting these criteria were contacted and asked to participate in the program. Those who agreed were given an appointment to undergo screening and receive smoking cessation counseling. Among the 1000 contacted families, involving 2300 persons, 44 (1.9%) were eligible for LDCT screening, and 12 (27%) of these participated in the program. The cost of this recruitment strategy pilot study was around 150 euro per screened subject. We obtained useful information on the proportion of the general population eligible for lung cancer screening and the proportion of those who responded. However the cost of home telephone calling is probably too high to be practicable as a method of recruiting high risk persons for screening. Alternative recruitment methods, possibly involving family physicians practitioners, need to be investigated. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

High School and Beyond: Twins and Siblings' File Users' Manual, User's Manual for Teacher Comment File, Friends File Users' Manual.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Center for Education Statistics (ED), Washington, DC.

These three users' manuals are for specific files of the High School and Beyond Study, a national longitudinal study of high school sophomores and seniors in 1980. The three files are computerized databases that are available on magnetic tape. As one component of base year data collection, information identifying twins, triplets, and some non-twin…

Voice gender discrimination provides a measure of more than pitch-related perception in cochlear implant users

PubMed Central

Li, Tianhao; Fu, Qian-Jie

2013-01-01

Objectives (1) To investigate whether voice gender discrimination (VGD) could be a useful indicator of the spectral and temporal processing abilities of individual cochlear implant (CI) users; (2) To examine the relationship between VGD and speech recognition with CI when comparable acoustic cues are used for both perception processes. Design VGD was measured using two talker sets with different inter-gender fundamental frequencies (F0), as well as different acoustic CI simulations. Vowel and consonant recognition in quiet and noise were also measured and compared with VGD performance. Study sample Eleven postlingually deaf CI users. Results The results showed that (1) mean VGD performance differed for different stimulus sets, (2) VGD and speech recognition performance varied among individual CI users, and (3) individual VGD performance was significantly correlated with speech recognition performance under certain conditions. Conclusions VGD measured with selected stimulus sets might be useful for assessing not only pitch-related perception, but also spectral and temporal processing by individual CI users. In addition to improvements in spectral resolution and modulation detection, the improvement in higher modulation frequency discrimination might be particularly important for CI users in noisy environments. PMID:21696330

Supporting Patient-Provider Collaboration to Identify Individual Triggers using Food and Symptom Journals

PubMed Central

Schroeder, Jessica; Hoffswell, Jane; Chung, Chia-Fang; Fogarty, James; Munson, Sean; Zia, Jasmine

2017-01-01

Patient-generated data can allow patients and providers to collaboratively develop accurate diagnoses and actionable treatment plans. Unfortunately, patients and providers often lack effective support to make use of such data. We examine patient-provider collaboration to interpret patient-generated data. We focus on irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a chronic illness in which particular foods can exacerbate symptoms. IBS management often requires patient-provider collaboration using a patient’s food and symptom journal to identify the patient’s triggers. We contribute interactive visualizations to support exploration of such journals, as well as an examination of patient-provider collaboration in interpreting the journals. Drawing upon individual and collaborative interviews with patients and providers, we find that collaborative review helps improve data comprehension and build mutual trust. We also find a desire to use tools like our interactive visualizations within and beyond clinic appointments. We discuss these findings and present guidance for the design of future tools. PMID:28516172

The roles of users in shaping transitions to new energy systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schot, Johan; Kanger, Laur; Verbong, Geert

2016-05-01

Current government information policies and market-based instruments aimed at influencing the energy choices of consumers often ignore the fact that consumer behaviour is not fully reducible to individuals making rational conscious decisions all the time. The decisions of consumers are largely configured by shared routines embedded in socio-technical systems. To achieve a transition towards a decarbonized and energy-efficient system, an approach that goes beyond individual consumer choice and puts shared routines and system change at its centre is needed. Here, adopting a transitions perspective, we argue that consumers should be reconceptualized as users who are important stakeholders in the innovation process shaping new routines and enacting system change. We review the role of users in shifts to new decarbonized and energy-efficient systems and provide a typology of user roles.

Design, Delivery and Evaluation of Teaching by Service Users and Carers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Benbow, Susan Mary; Taylor, Louise; Mustafa, Nageen; Morgan, Kathleen

2011-01-01

Education influences individual health and social care professionals and the systems in which they work. We describe a postgraduate educational program that did this through involving service users and carers in designing and facilitating teaching programs. A module of teaching was designed and delivered in partnership with users and carers from…

Factors that influence the performance of experienced speech recognition users.

PubMed

Koester, Heidi Horstmann

2006-01-01

Performance on automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems for users with physical disabilities varies widely between individuals. The goal of this study was to discover some key factors that account for that variation. Using data from 23 experienced ASR users with physical disabilities, the effect of 20 different independent variables on recognition accuracy and text entry rate with ASR was measured using bivariate and multivariate analyses. The results show that use of appropriate correction strategies had the strongest influence on user performance with ASR. The amount of time the user spent on his or her computer, the user's manual typing speed, and the speed with which the ASR system recognized speech were all positively associated with better performance. The amount or perceived adequacy of ASR training did not have a significant impact on performance for this user group.

Differences in the Limits of Stability Between Older Rolling Walker Users and Older Single-Tip-Cane Users - A Preliminary Study.

PubMed

Liu, Hao Howe; Quiben, Myles; Holmes, Clayton; Connors, Michael; Salem, Yasser

To identify the differences in the limits of stability (LOS) between older rolling walker and single-tip-cane users. This was a matched paired t-test design with repeated measure. Eighteen older subjects were matched based on age, gender, and functional level. The subjects were assessed using the multidirectional reach test initially and 5-month later in four directions: forward, backward, leftward, and rightward. Initially, there were no differences between cane users and rolling walker users in the LOS in all directions. However, 5-month later, the cane users who held their canes in their right hand had significantly better stability in forward and rightward reach than the walker users (p < .05). Further, the walker users demonstrated significantly decreased functional reach in forward reach (p < .05). Cane users might have better stability than walker users in the forward direction and in the direction toward the side holding the cane. This study may provide guide for clinicians including nurses for selecting appropriate rehabilitative interventions for older adults using walkers and canes.

Wearable wireless User Interface Cursor-Controller (UIC-C).

PubMed

Marjanovic, Nicholas; Kerr, Kevin; Aranda, Ricardo; Hickey, Richard; Esmailbeigi, Hananeh

2017-07-01

Controlling a computer or a smartphone's cursor allows the user to access a world full of information. For millions of people with limited upper extremities motor function, controlling the cursor becomes profoundly difficult. Our team has developed the User Interface Cursor-Controller (UIC-C) to assist the impaired individuals in regaining control over the cursor. The UIC-C is a hands-free device that utilizes the tongue muscle to control the cursor movements. The entire device is housed inside a subject specific retainer. The user maneuvers the cursor by manipulating a joystick imbedded inside the retainer via their tongue. The joystick movement commands are sent to an electronic device via a Bluetooth connection. The device is readily recognizable as a cursor controller by any Bluetooth enabled electronic device. The device testing results have shown that the time it takes the user to control the cursor accurately via the UIC-C is about three times longer than a standard computer mouse controlled via the hand. The device does not require any permanent modifications to the body; therefore, it could be used during the period of acute rehabilitation of the hands. With the development of modern smart homes, and enhancement electronics controlled by the computer, UIC-C could be integrated into a system that enables individuals with permanent impairment, the ability to control the cursor. In conclusion, the UIC-C device is designed with the goal of allowing the user to accurately control a cursor during the periods of either acute or permanent upper extremities impairment.

Measuring the operational efficiency of individual theme park attractions.

PubMed

Kim, Changhee; Kim, Soowook

2016-01-01

This study assesses the operation efficiency of theme park attractions using the data envelopment analysis, utilizing actual data on 15 attractions at Samsung Everland located in Yongin-si, Republic of Korea. In particular, this study identifies crowding and waiting time as one of the main causes of visitor's satisfaction, and analyzes the efficiency of individual attractions in terms of waiting time. The installation area, installation cost, and annual repair cost are set as input factors and the number of annual users and customer satisfaction as output factors. The results show that the roller coaster-type attractions were less efficient than other types of attractions while rotating-type attractions were relatively more efficient. However, an importance performance analysis on individual attraction's efficiency and satisfaction showed that operational efficiency should not be the sole consideration in attraction installation. In addition, the projection points for input factors for efficient use of attractions and the appropriate reference set for benchmarking are provided as guideline for attraction efficiency management.

Metaproteomics of saliva identifies human protein markers specific for individuals with periodontitis and dental caries compared to orally healthy controls.

PubMed

Belstrøm, Daniel; Jersie-Christensen, Rosa R; Lyon, David; Damgaard, Christian; Jensen, Lars J; Holmstrup, Palle; Olsen, Jesper V

2016-01-01

The composition of the salivary microbiota has been reported to differentiate between patients with periodontitis, dental caries and orally healthy individuals. To identify characteristics of diseased and healthy saliva we thus wanted to compare saliva metaproteomes from patients with periodontitis and dental caries to healthy individuals. Stimulated saliva samples were collected from 10 patients with periodontitis, 10 patients with dental caries and 10 orally healthy individuals. The proteins in the saliva samples were subjected to denaturing buffer and digested enzymatically with LysC and trypsin. The resulting peptide mixtures were cleaned up by solid-phase extraction and separated online with 2 h gradients by nano-scale C18 reversed-phase chromatography connected to a mass spectrometer through an electrospray source. The eluting peptides were analyzed on a tandem mass spectrometer operated in data-dependent acquisition mode. We identified a total of 35,664 unique peptides from 4,161 different proteins, of which 1,946 and 2,090 were of bacterial and human origin, respectively. The human protein profiles displayed significant overexpression of the complement system and inflammatory markers in periodontitis and dental caries compared to healthy controls. Bacterial proteome profiles and functional annotation were very similar in health and disease. Overexpression of proteins related to the complement system and inflammation seems to correlate with oral disease status. Similar bacterial proteomes in healthy and diseased individuals suggests that the salivary microbiota predominantly thrives in a planktonic state expressing no disease-associated characteristics of metabolic activity.

Understanding fatal older road user crash circumstances and risk factors.

PubMed

Koppel, Sjaan; Bugeja, Lyndal; Smith, Daisy; Lamb, Ashne; Dwyer, Jeremy; Fitzharris, Michael; Newstead, Stuart; D'Elia, Angelo; Charlton, Judith

2018-02-28

This study used medicolegal data to investigate fatal older road user (ORU) crash circumstances and risk factors relating to four key components of the Safe System approach (e.g., roads and roadsides, vehicles, road users, and speeds) to identify areas of priority for targeted prevention activity. The Coroners Court of Victoria's Surveillance Database was searched to identify coronial records with at least one deceased ORU in the state of Victoria, Australia, for 2013-2014. Information relating to the ORU, crash characteristics and circumstances, and risk factors was extracted and analyzed. The average rate of fatal ORU crashes per 100,000 population was 8.1 (95% confidence interval [CI] 6.0-10.2), which was more than double the average rate of fatal middle-aged road user crashes (3.6, 95% CI 2.5-4.6). There was a significant relationship between age group and deceased road user type (χ 2 (15, N = 226) = 3.56, p < 0.001). The proportion of deceased drivers decreased with age, whereas the proportion of deceased pedestrians increased with age. The majority of fatal ORU crashes involved a counterpart (another vehicle: 59.4%; fixed/stationary object: 25.4%), and occurred "on road" (87.0%), on roads that were paved (94.2%), dry (74.2%), and had light traffic volume (38.3%). Road user error was identified by the police and/or coroner for the majority of fatal ORU crashes (57.9%), with a significant proportion of deceased ORU deemed to have "misjudged" (40.9%) or "failed to yield" (37.9%). Road user error was the most significant risk factor identified in fatal ORU crashes, which suggests that there is a limited capacity of the Victorian road system to fully accommodate road user errors. Initiatives related to safer roads and roadsides, vehicles, and speed zones, as well as behavioral approaches, are key areas of priority for targeted activity to prevent fatal older road user crashes in the future.

Minority Language Standardisation and the Role of Users

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lane, Pia

2015-01-01

Developing a standard for a minority language is not a neutral process; this has consequences for the status of the language and how the language users relate to the new standard. A potential inherent problem with standardisation is whether the language users themselves will accept and identify with the standard. When standardising minority…

Awareness of Malicious Social Engineering among Facebook Users

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Slonka, Kevin J.

2014-01-01

With the rapid growth of Facebook, the social networking website is becoming a lucrative target for malicious activity. Users of Facebook therefore should be aware of various malicious attacks and know how to identify them. This research analyzed Facebook users' level of understanding in the domain of malicious social engineering on Facebook. The…

A qualitative exploration of emergency contraception users' willingness to select the copper IUD.

PubMed

Wright, Rachel L; Frost, Caren J; Turok, David K

2012-01-01

The copper T intrauterine device (IUD) is an effective but underutilized method of emergency contraception (EC). This study investigates the factors influencing a woman's decision around which method of EC to select. In-depth interviews with 14 IUD and 14 oral EC users aged 18-30 years accessing public health clinics. Emergency contraception users associated long-term methods of contraception with long-term sexual relationships. Women were not aware of the possibility of using the copper IUD for EC. Cost was identified as a major barrier to accessing IUDs. Perceived side effects and impact on future pregnancies further influenced the EC method a participant selected. Women think about contraception in the context of each separate relationship and not as a long-term individual plan. Most women were unaware of the copper IUD for EC. Furthermore, there is little discussion between women and their health-care providers around EC. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Gene-centric meta-analysis in 87,736 individuals of European ancestry identifies multiple blood-pressure-related loci.

PubMed

Tragante, Vinicius; Barnes, Michael R; Ganesh, Santhi K; Lanktree, Matthew B; Guo, Wei; Franceschini, Nora; Smith, Erin N; Johnson, Toby; Holmes, Michael V; Padmanabhan, Sandosh; Karczewski, Konrad J; Almoguera, Berta; Barnard, John; Baumert, Jens; Chang, Yen-Pei Christy; Elbers, Clara C; Farrall, Martin; Fischer, Mary E; Gaunt, Tom R; Gho, Johannes M I H; Gieger, Christian; Goel, Anuj; Gong, Yan; Isaacs, Aaron; Kleber, Marcus E; Mateo Leach, Irene; McDonough, Caitrin W; Meijs, Matthijs F L; Melander, Olle; Nelson, Christopher P; Nolte, Ilja M; Pankratz, Nathan; Price, Tom S; Shaffer, Jonathan; Shah, Sonia; Tomaszewski, Maciej; van der Most, Peter J; Van Iperen, Erik P A; Vonk, Judith M; Witkowska, Kate; Wong, Caroline O L; Zhang, Li; Beitelshees, Amber L; Berenson, Gerald S; Bhatt, Deepak L; Brown, Morris; Burt, Amber; Cooper-DeHoff, Rhonda M; Connell, John M; Cruickshanks, Karen J; Curtis, Sean P; Davey-Smith, George; Delles, Christian; Gansevoort, Ron T; Guo, Xiuqing; Haiqing, Shen; Hastie, Claire E; Hofker, Marten H; Hovingh, G Kees; Kim, Daniel S; Kirkland, Susan A; Klein, Barbara E; Klein, Ronald; Li, Yun R; Maiwald, Steffi; Newton-Cheh, Christopher; O'Brien, Eoin T; Onland-Moret, N Charlotte; Palmas, Walter; Parsa, Afshin; Penninx, Brenda W; Pettinger, Mary; Vasan, Ramachandran S; Ranchalis, Jane E; M Ridker, Paul; Rose, Lynda M; Sever, Peter; Shimbo, Daichi; Steele, Laura; Stolk, Ronald P; Thorand, Barbara; Trip, Mieke D; van Duijn, Cornelia M; Verschuren, W Monique; Wijmenga, Cisca; Wyatt, Sharon; Young, J Hunter; Zwinderman, Aeilko H; Bezzina, Connie R; Boerwinkle, Eric; Casas, Juan P; Caulfield, Mark J; Chakravarti, Aravinda; Chasman, Daniel I; Davidson, Karina W; Doevendans, Pieter A; Dominiczak, Anna F; FitzGerald, Garret A; Gums, John G; Fornage, Myriam; Hakonarson, Hakon; Halder, Indrani; Hillege, Hans L; Illig, Thomas; Jarvik, Gail P; Johnson, Julie A; Kastelein, John J P; Koenig, Wolfgang; Kumari, Meena; März, Winfried; Murray, Sarah S; O'Connell, Jeffery R; Oldehinkel, Albertine J; Pankow, James S; Rader, Daniel J; Redline, Susan; Reilly, Muredach P; Schadt, Eric E; Kottke-Marchant, Kandice; Snieder, Harold; Snyder, Michael; Stanton, Alice V; Tobin, Martin D; Uitterlinden, André G; van der Harst, Pim; van der Schouw, Yvonne T; Samani, Nilesh J; Watkins, Hugh; Johnson, Andrew D; Reiner, Alex P; Zhu, Xiaofeng; de Bakker, Paul I W; Levy, Daniel; Asselbergs, Folkert W; Munroe, Patricia B; Keating, Brendan J

2014-03-06

Blood pressure (BP) is a heritable risk factor for cardiovascular disease. To investigate genetic associations with systolic BP (SBP), diastolic BP (DBP), mean arterial pressure (MAP), and pulse pressure (PP), we genotyped ~50,000 SNPs in up to 87,736 individuals of European ancestry and combined these in a meta-analysis. We replicated findings in an independent set of 68,368 individuals of European ancestry. Our analyses identified 11 previously undescribed associations in independent loci containing 31 genes including PDE1A, HLA-DQB1, CDK6, PRKAG2, VCL, H19, NUCB2, RELA, HOXC@ complex, FBN1, and NFAT5 at the Bonferroni-corrected array-wide significance threshold (p < 6 × 10(-7)) and confirmed 27 previously reported associations. Bioinformatic analysis of the 11 loci provided support for a putative role in hypertension of several genes, such as CDK6 and NUCB2. Analysis of potential pharmacological targets in databases of small molecules showed that ten of the genes are predicted to be a target for small molecules. In summary, we identified previously unknown loci associated with BP. Our findings extend our understanding of genes involved in BP regulation, which may provide new targets for therapeutic intervention or drug response stratification. Copyright © 2014 The American Society of Human Genetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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