A method to empirically investigate design manipulations

Marketplaces, similar to conventional e-commerce websites, rely on conversions asprimary source of income. Conversions are visitors turned into customers, anda condition for this to happen is that visitors stay on the marketplace and interactwith its content. A visitor that does not interact at all is considered a bouncedvisitor and is added to a metric called bounce rate. Plick requested a concretemethod for executing a design experiment on their website where multiple designmanipulations could be run in parallel and record data individually. During the thesis,said method was built and an experiment was executed with four uniquedesign manipulations that were developed by combining two factors, compactness andvendor credibility. These factors were found through a theoretical analysisbased on human visual functioning and emotional design. The experiment showedpotential for both the theory and the method, but no statistically significantdifferences between the implemented design manipulations were found. The furtheruse of this method is discussed as well as how to achieve a statisticallysignificant result

The Relationship Between Mindfulness and Work-Related Stress

Stress is both a health risk and an economic risk for our society. Employers search for ways to offer possible stress reducers for their employees. Mindfulness as a stress reducer is a fairly new research area but with a good amount of research papers suggesting that mindfulness programmes over several weeks are successful in reducing subjective perceived stress as well as physiological stress, such as blood pressure and cortisol levels. This study aims to examine whether mindfulness could show positive effects on stress at work, after only one mindfulness session, compared to being on an extended break. Measurements includes the Shirom-Melamed Burnout Questionnaire (SMBQ), blood pressure and pulse. The results show that engaging in one single mindfulness session does have an effect on lowering blood pressure as well as lowering perceived tension, which is one of four parts of the SMBQ.

Tro på dig själv! : Om kvinnliga chefers framgångsfaktorer

Chefsrollen förknippas främst med egenskaper som traditionellt sett anses vara av manlig karaktär, vilket medför att kvinnor uppfattas mindre lämpade som chefer. Kvinnor kan därmed ha svårare att se sig själva i en ledande position. Konsekvensen blir ett felaktigt fokus på kvinnors svårigheter att bli chefer snarare än att titta på deras möjligheter. Syftet med föreliggande studie var att definiera gemensamma faktorer hos framgångsrika kvinnliga chefer. Urvalet bestod av tio unga chefer som intervjuades med hjälp av fokuserade intervjuer. Data analyserades genom en tematisk analys där fyra teman framkom: självförtroende, yttre påverkan, flexibilitet och förhållningssätt till traditionella könsroller. En stor tilltro till sin egen förmåga, bekräftelse på denna från omgivningen, och en stor flexibilitet i både karriärmål och ledarskap i kombination med en distans till rigida könsroller, har gett framgång i arbetslivet. Studien visar att kvinnor innehar styrkor som de kan tillföra arbetslivet, om de vågar tro på sig själva

Response to splenectomy is durable after a certain point in time in adult patients with chronic immune thrombocytopenic purpura

Splenectomy may lead to a good response in 60-80% of adult patients with corticosteroid refractory idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) but, the long-term response to splenectomy still remains less well defined. We assessed the long-term efficacy and safety of splenectomy in adult patients with chronic ITP. A cohort of 59 splenectomised ITP patients (M/F = 25/34; median age 39 yr; range 14-75) were followed up for a median of 18 yr (range 2-32). No life-threatening surgical complications were observed. The overall response rate was 78% with 59% complete remission (CR) and 19% partial remission (PR). CR and PR patients were younger than non-responding patients at time of diagnosis (median age: 36 yr vs 48 yr, P = 0.03) and at splenectomy (median age: 38 yr vs 51 yr, P = 0.02). Among the 46 responding patients, eventually 17 had relapse. No disease progression occurred after 12.1 and 7.3 yr for patients in CR or PR, respectively. One case of fatal septicaemia was recorded. We conclude that splenectomy is an effective and safe treatment in adult patients with chronic ITP failing to respond to corticosteroid treatment and importantly, our findings support the view that response to splenectomy is durable after a certain point in time