Psychometric analysis of the UK Health and Safety Executive's Management Standards work-related stress Indicator Tool

In the UK the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) Management Standards (MS) work-related stress Indicator Tool is the standard measure that organizations use to assess workplace stress. However, no in-depth analysis has been performed to test the psychometric properties of this scale. The current study is the first to examine the factor structure of the HSE MS Indicator Tool using organizational-level data. Data collected from 39 organizations (N = 26,382) was used to perform a first-order Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) on the original 35-item seven-factor measurement scale. The results showed an acceptable fit to the data for the instrument. A second-order CFA was also performed to test if the Indicator Tool contains a higher order uni-dimensional measure of work-related stress. These findings also revealed an acceptable fit to the data, suggesting that it may be possible to derive a single measure of work-related stress

Cost-of-illness of rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis

OBJECTIVES:\ud To assess, quantify and summarise the cost of illness of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and ankylosing spondylitis (AS) from the societal perspective.\ud \ud METHODS:\ud Original studies reporting costs of RA or AS were searched systematically. Both cost-of-illness studies and economic evaluations of therapies were included. Studies were appraised for patient and study characteristics, type of costs and actual costs. Reported costs were aggregated by cost categories and overall mean costs were summarised by cost domain (healthcare, patient and family, and productivity costs).\ud \ud RESULTS:\ud Overall mean costs of RA (€14,906 per year) were above that of AS (€9,374 per year), while the relative distribution of costs over cost domains was approximately similar. For both diseases, productivity costs based on the human cost approach were 3 to 10 times higher than the friction costs and accounted for more than half the total costs of both diseases.\ud \ud CONCLUSIONS:\ud Productivity costs constitute the largest part of the total cost-off-illness of RA and AS reflecting the high burden of the disease on work participation. Although total and direct costs of illness in RA were higher than in AS, the average age of AS patients was 10 years lower and therefore, lifetime costs associated with AS may actually be equal or higher

User Experience Evaluation in BCI: Filling the Gap

Brain-computer interface (BCI) systems can improve the user experience (UX) when used in entertainment technologies. Improved UX can enhance user acceptance, improve quality of life and also increase the system performance of a BCI system. Therefore, the evaluation of UX is essential in BCI research. However, BCI systems are generally evaluated according to the system aspect only so there is no methodology to evaluate UX in BCI systems. This paper gives an overview of such methods from the human-computer interaction field and discusses their possible uses in BCI research

How much control is enough? Optimizing fun with unreliable input

Brain-computer interfaces (BCI) provide a valuable new input modality within human- computer interaction systems, but like other body-based inputs, the system recognition of input commands is far from perfect. This raises important questions, such as: What level of control should such an interface be able to provide? What is the relationship between actual and perceived control? And in the case of applications for entertainment in which fun is an important part of user experience, should we even aim for perfect control, or is the optimum elsewhere? In this experiment the user plays a simple game in which a hamster has to be guided to the exit of a maze, in which the amount of control the user has over the hamster is varied. The variation of control through confusion matrices makes it possible to simulate the experience of using a BCI, while using the traditional keyboard for input. After each session the user �lled out a short questionnaire on fun and perceived control. Analysis of the data showed that the perceived control of the user could largely be explained by the amount of control in the respective session. As expected, user frustration decreases with increasing control. Moreover, the results indicate that the relation between fun and control is not linear. Although in the beginning fun does increase with improved control, the level of fun drops again just before perfect control is reached. This poses new insights for developers of games wanting to incorporate some form of BCI in their game: for creating a fun game, unreliable input can be used to create a challenge for the user

Nutrition-sensitive education and social protection policies have implications for food-based dietary guidelines for Ghana

Ghana continues to address persistent malnutrition through political action and programme development. Government-led efforts have included  the formulation of multi-sectoral policies and programmes to improve the diet and nutritional status of various at-risk population groups. Globally,  an important tool for promoting healthy diets are Food-Based Dietary Guidelines (FDBGs). To achieve and sustain the desired goal of promoting  healthy eating habits and lifestyles, FBDGs require, among many factors, supportive national policies and programmes. When coherently  incorporated in relevant nutrition-related policies and programmes, FBDGs enhance their impact on shaping and sustaining healthier dietary habits.  In this context, it is essential to understand the national policy and programme environment and its potential contribution during the  formulation of FBDGs. The present review aimed to identify existing nutrition-related education and social protection policies and programmes in  Ghana and their relevance to the development and implementation of FBDGs. Previously conducted scoping reviews, gap analyses, and a  benchmarking report of Ghana’s public health nutrition policies were used as information sources to identify relevant policies and programmes.  Additionally, websites of relevant government ministries, departments and agencies were searched to retrieve applicable policies or actions that  were not included in previous reviews. Nutrition-related education policies that were identified primarily support school health services, whereas  social protection policies broadly target social assistance, social welfare, social equity and insurancebased policies and programmes. Specific ways  these policies and programmes could support the development and implementation of Ghana’s dietary guidelines include embedding FBDGs in the  school nutrition curriculum to motivate healthier food choices by schoolchildren and using FBDGs to plan meals provided as part of the country’s  school feeding programme. Regarding social protection, existing instruments such as food transfers, social pensions and conditional cash transfers  could be aligned with FBDGs to ensure vulnerable households can access foods and follow recommended guidelines. Although some nutrition  actions are incorporated in existing policies and programmes, there are opportunities to improve their nutrition sensitivity.&nbsp

Nutrition-sensitive education and social protection policies have implications for food-based dietary guidelines for Ghana

Ghana continues to address persistent malnutrition through political action and programme development. Government-led efforts have included the formulation of multi-sectoral policies and programmes to improve the diet and nutritional status of various at-risk population groups. Globally, an important tool for promoting healthy diets are Food-Based Dietary Guidelines (FDBGs). To achieve and sustain the desired goal of promoting healthy eating habits and lifestyles, FBDGs require, among many factors, supportive national policies and programmes. When coherently incorporated in relevant nutrition-related policies and programmes, FBDGs enhance their impact on shaping and sustaining healthier dietary habits. In this context, it is essential to understand the national policy and programme environment and its potential contribution during the formulation of FBDGs. The present review aimed to identify existing nutrition-related education and social protection policies and programmes in Ghana and their relevance to the development and implementation of FBDGs. Previously conducted scoping reviews, gap analyses, and a benchmarking report of Ghana’s public health nutrition policies were used as information sources to identify relevant policies and programmes. Additionally, websites of relevant government ministries, departments and agencies were searched to retrieve applicable policies or actions that were not included in previous reviews. Nutrition-related education policies that were identified primarily support school health services, whereas social protection policies broadly target social assistance, social welfare, social equity and insurancebased policies and programmes. Specific ways these policies and programmes could support the development and implementation of Ghana’s dietary guidelines include embedding FBDGs in the school nutrition curriculum to motivate healthier food choices by schoolchildren and using FBDGs to plan meals provided as part of the country’s school feeding programme. Regarding social protection, existing instruments such as food transfers, social pensions and conditional cash transfers could be aligned with FBDGs to ensure vulnerable households can access foods and follow recommended guidelines. Although some nutrition actions are incorporated in existing policies and programmes, there are opportunities to improve their nutrition sensitivity.&nbsp

Corporate Identity: The Case of the University for Development Studies

The new competitive environment within the higher education sector is propelling most Universities to continuously embark on some thoughtful strategic and consistent marketization and planned effort to project their corporate image and reputation. Established a little over two decades ago, the University for Development Studies (UDS) as a higher educational institution is gradually moving from its growth stage to a matured staged. This requires the university to move from a comprehensive institution to a more focused entity. It is therefore extremely crucial to examine what makes the UDS unique and how the community perceive the University as an institution and finally, in what ways key stakeholders or actors can do to improve its corporate identity and reputation. The paper argues that the corporate identity and reputation of the University lie in its Community Development embedded programmes and the blended community-based teaching and learning model. The paper found that 69.84% of the respondents agree that the current corporate reputation of UDS was good. The paper also found several approaches to enhancing the corporate image of the university. These include a well-design marketing strategy; designing market-oriented academic programmes, establish more lecture series, and support quality research publications. Other recommendations for improving the corporate identity of the University are discussed. Keywords: corporate identity, University, corporate reputation, survey, Ghan

Multiple usage of the CD PLUS/UNIX system: performance in practice

In August 1994, the CD PLUS/Ovid literature retrieval system based on UNIX was activated for the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of Erasmus University in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. There were up to 1,200 potential users. Tests were carried out to determine the extent to which searching for literature was affected by other end users of the system. In the tests, search times and download times were measured in relation to a varying number of continuously active workstations. Results indicated a linear relationship between search times and the number of active workstations. In the "worst case" situation with sixteen active workstations, the time required for record retrieval increased by a factor of sixteen and downloading time by a factor of sixteen over the "best case" of no other active stations. However, because the worst case seldom, if ever, happens in real life, these results are considered acceptable

Patient education and disease activity: A study among rheumatoid arthritis patients

Objective: To determine whether patients experiencing high disease activity derive more benefit from patient education than those experiencing low disease activity. - \ud Methods: Data from a randomized study on the effects of a program of patient education were analyzed retrospectively. Four subgroups were studied: the high disease activity subgroup of patients who had participated in the educational program, the complementary low disease activity subgroup, the high disease activity subgroup of controls, and its low disease activity complement. Patients with erythrocyte sedimentation rate >28 mm/first hour were classified as having high disease activity. Effects on frequency of physical exercises, endurance exercises, and relaxation exercises and effects on health status (Modified Health Assessment Questionnaire, Dutch Arthritis Impact Measurement Scales [AIMS]) were measured. - \ud Results: There were no significant differences between the adherence parameters of the various pairs of groups. Four months after the educational program began, anxiety and depression scores on the Dutch-AIMS had increased among participating patients who were experiencing high disease activity and decreased among those who were experiencing low disease activity. - \ud Conclusions: Patients experiencing high disease activity did not derive more benefit from patient education than those experiencing low disease activity. On the contrary, an increase of anxiety and depression is found in these patients. Further study is needed to confirm our findings

Nutrition and health-related information disclosure on pre-packaged food products from local retail shops in Accra

The prevalence of obesity and diet related non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are rapidly increasing in Africa. Consumption of pre-packaged foods  is one of the main drivers of these NCDs. Pre-packaged foods tend to contain high levels of energy, fat, sugar, and salt, which are known risk factors  for NCDs. Food labels can guide consumers to make informed healthy food choices. Therefore, it is important to analyze how healthrelated  information is communicated on food labels. In Ghana, there is paucity of evidence on what health-related information is available to consumers of  pre-packaged foods. This study describes health-related information on labelled pre-packaged foods sold in local retail shops in Accra. A cross-  sectional survey and quantitative content analysis of food label information were employed in this study. Pre-packaged food labels photograph data  were sourced from shops and content analyzed to describe their healthrelated information. Nutrition and health-related information were  classified using the International Network for Food and Obesity/Non-Communicable Diseases Research, Monitoring and Action Support (INFORMAS)  system. Three hundred and fifty-one (N=351) pre-packaged foods and non-alcoholic beverages were sampled, out of which 2.3%  products were unlabelled. Out of 343 labelled products, 92% disclosed ingredient list information and 68.8% had nutrition declaration. Between the  two nutrition labelling formats: Back-of-Pack (BOP) and Front of Pack (FOP), BOP was the dominant (87.3%) format. Various types of FOPs were  identified however, Guidelines Daily Allowance (GDA) was the most common format. The study found that 18% of labelled pre-packaged foods  carried nutrition claim and about 7% had a health claim. Most of the claims were written and the others were a combination of words, numbers, and  pictures/symbols. This study has shown a high disclosure of health-related label information on pre-packaged food but information  presentations on labels were not consistent. The insight gained from this study shows that the presentation of health-related label information does  not meet the current recommendations of Codex and the benchmarks set out by INFORMAS in promoting a healthy food environment. &nbsp