Applying persuasive design in a diabetes mellitus application

This paper describes persuasive design methods and compares this to an application currently under development for diabetes mellitus patients. Various elements of persuasion and a categorization of persuasion types are mentioned. Also discussed are principles of how successful persuasion should be designed, as well as the practical applications and ethics of persuasive design. This paper is not striving for completeness of theories on the topic, but uses the theories to compare it to an application intended for diabetes mellitus patients. The results of this comparison can be used for improvements of the application

Designing behavior change support systems in the context of knowledge documentation: development of theory and practical implementation

Although innovation and operating efficiently require creating, transferring, and applying knowledge, successful knowledge documentation remains a challenge for organizations. While knowledge management systems support knowledge management activities, the missing link to applying knowledge management relies on human actions and their behaviors. This dissertation extends prior design knowledge about designing Behavior Change Support Systems in the context of knowledge documentation by developing theory and showing practical implementation. Combining technical and psychological models within information systems frameworks based on the principles of abstraction, originality, justification, and benefit, this dissertation draws on design science to propose prescriptive knowledge, for example, in the form of design principles and a specific artifact

Proceedings of the International Workshop on EuroPLOT Persuasive Technology for Learning, Education and Teaching (IWEPLET 2013)

"This book contains the proceedings of the International Workshop on EuroPLOT Persuasive Technology for Learning, Education and Teaching (IWEPLET) 2013 which was held on 16.-17.September 2013 in Paphos (Cyprus) in conjunction with the EC-TEL conference. The workshop and hence the proceedings are divided in two parts: on Day 1 the EuroPLOT project and its results are introduced, with papers about the specific case studies and their evaluation. On Day 2, peer-reviewed papers are presented which address specific topics and issues going beyond the EuroPLOT scope. This workshop is one of the deliverables (D 2.6) of the EuroPLOT project, which has been funded from November 2010 – October 2013 by the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) of the European Commission through the Lifelong Learning Programme (LLL) by grant #511633. The purpose of this project was to develop and evaluate Persuasive Learning Objects and Technologies (PLOTS), based on ideas of BJ Fogg. The purpose of this workshop is to summarize the findings obtained during this project and disseminate them to an interested audience. Furthermore, it shall foster discussions about the future of persuasive technology and design in the context of learning, education and teaching. The international community working in this area of research is relatively small. Nevertheless, we have received a number of high-quality submissions which went through a peer-review process before being selected for presentation and publication. We hope that the information found in this book is useful to the reader and that more interest in this novel approach of persuasive design for teaching/education/learning is stimulated. We are very grateful to the organisers of EC-TEL 2013 for allowing to host IWEPLET 2013 within their organisational facilities which helped us a lot in preparing this event. I am also very grateful to everyone in the EuroPLOT team for collaborating so effectively in these three years towards creating excellent outputs, and for being such a nice group with a very positive spirit also beyond work. And finally I would like to thank the EACEA for providing the financial resources for the EuroPLOT project and for being very helpful when needed. This funding made it possible to organise the IWEPLET workshop without charging a fee from the participants.

A framework for co-designing product and production system to support resource-efficient manufacturing

This thesis reports on research undertaken to investigate how to advance the current practices of resource efficiency and sustainability consideration in manufacturing business through the simultaneous design of Product and Production System (P&PS). The primary objective of this research is the development of a framework and methods to support a manufacturer to transform the current independent design processes into a single design process facilitating designs of resource-efficient P&PS. [Continues.

INFLUENCE OF PERSUASIVE REMINDERS AND VIRTUAL REHEARSAL ON INFORMATION SYSTEMS FOR SLEEP DEPRIVATION

Appropriate amount and good quality of sleep are essential for mental and general well-being. Sleep deprivation and other chronic sleep disorders could lead to negative consequences for health, poor quality of life and reduced competence. An individual’s quality of life could be unsettled because of several reasons, sleep deprivation is one of them. Information systems (IS) and human-computer interaction (HCI) researchers have paid considerable attention to promote healthy behaviors however sleep deprivation as a problem domain has received relatively little attention. In this paper, we present qualitative findings from a field study that examined potential influence of persuasive reminders and virtual rehearsal on the effectiveness of a Behavior Change Support System (BCSS). Tyyne is a BCSS developed for people suffering from sleep deprivation. The content of virtual rehearsal modules were drawn from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. Participants were recruited through newspaper advertisements. After screening at the university clinic, eligible participants (n = 86) were randomized into an Intervention group and a Control (wait-list) group. For data collection, we employed pre and post study structured questionnaires. Upon completion of the study, 41 participants volunteered to complete post study questionnaires. The findings reveal that a moderate number of participants (60.5%) improved their sleeping habits, a significantly high number of participants (79.1%) approved the BCSS, a staggering high number (93.0%) of the participants agreed that learning new skills through web-based BCSS is a good idea, and a substantial number of participants (72.1%) believed that persuasive reminders help people in task completion and compliance. Even though only about one third of participants (37.2%) reported that after using the BCSS they could better manage their sleep disorders, we suggest that the findings are encouraging. Given that treating sleep deprivation requires much longer periods of time than the intervention’s duration (in our case it was 6 weeks), improvement with one third of the participants is nevertheless a promising result. On the whole, persuasive reminders and virtual rehearsal as software features have a significant potential to enhance overall effectiveness of information systems for chronic sleep disorders

Promoting Pediatric Healthcare through Persuasive Information Systems: A Qualitative Study

This paper presents qualitative findings from a Randomized Controlled Trial that focused on applying a Persuasive Information System to promote Pediatric Healthcare following the guidelines of Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses. The study was primarily designed to introduce Persuasive Information Systems for promoting pediatric healthcare in a relatively under-developed country. The study investigates potential impact of simple text-based reminders on improving parents’ knowledge and skills when dealing with a sick child at home before deciding to seek healthcare professionals. Reminders were selected for this study, as they are most commonly employed persuasive software features in the area of Persuasive Information Systems. For data collection, we conducted Focus Group Discussions with participants of both intervention groups. The qualitative findings indicate that the participants largely favored reminders although there were some skeptical remarks. The findings from presented study are expected to help system designers work in collaboration with parents and healthcare professionals to improve the content and delivery of reminders. The qualitative findings helped us identify five emerging themes that are expected to open research opportunities for improving child healthcare researchers

On Characterization and Optimization of Engineering Surfaces

Swedish manufacturing industry in collaboration with academia is exploring innovative ways to manufacture eco-efficient and resource efficient products. Consequently, improving manufacturing efficiency and quality has become the priority for the manufacturing sector to remain competitive in a sustainable way. To achieve this, control and optimization of manufacturing process and product’s performance are necessary. This has led to increase in demand for functional surfaces, which are engineering surfaces tailored to different applications. With new advancements in manufacturing and surface metrology, investigations are steadily progressing towards re-defining quality and meeting dynamic customer demands. In this thesis, surfaces produced by different manufacturing systems are investigated, and methods are proposed to improve specification and optimization.The definition and interpretation of surface roughness vary across the manufacturing industry and academia. It is well known that surface characterization helps to understand the manufacturing process and its influence on surface functional properties such as wear, friction, adhesivity, wettability, fluid retention and aesthetic properties such as gloss. Manufactured surfaces consist of features that are relevant and features that are not of interest. To be able to produce the intended function, it is important to identify and quantify the features of relevance. Use of surface texture parameters helps in quantifying these surface features with respect to type, region, spacing and distribution. Currently, surface parameters Ra or Sa that represent average roughness are widely used in the industry, but they may not provide adequate information on the surface. In this thesis, a general methodology, based on the standard surface parameters and statistical approach, is proposed to improve the specification for surface roughness and identify the combination of significant surface texture parameters that best describe the surface and extract valuable surface information.Surface topography generated by additive, subtractive and formative processes is investigated with the developed research approach. The roughness profile parameters and areal surface parameters defined in ISO, along with power spectral density and scale sensitive fractal analysis, are used for surface characterization and analysis. In this thesis, the application of regression statistics to identify the set of significant surface parameters that improve the specification for surface roughness is shown. These surface parameters are used to discriminate between the surfaces produced by multiple process variables at multiple levels. By analyzing the influence of process variables on the surface topography, the research methodology helps to understand the underlying physical phenomenon and enhance the domain-specific knowledge with respect to surface topography. Subsequently, it helps to interpret processing conditions for process and surface function optimization.The research methods employed in this study are valid and applicable for different manufacturing processes. This thesis can support the guidelines for manufacturing industry focusing on process and functional optimization through surface analysis. With increase in use of machine learning and artificial intelligence in automation, methodologies such as the one proposed in this thesis are vital in exploring and extracting new possibilities in functional surfaces