The moderating role of utilitarian/hedonic user motivation on user behaviour towards web 2.0 applications

The paper presents and discusses the notion of service scenarios. A service is work done by a service executor in interaction with a service consumer. A service scenario is a model of a service system and the roles that are played by the actors that participate and interact during the execution of a service. The model represents the roles and the interactions between the participants. Service scenarios can be used to model specific services and the roles played by human beings and IT systems in the execution of services. The use of service scenarios is demonstrated by means of a case study in a public library. The case study indicates that service systems should be understood as socio-technical systems in which service executors and service consumers co-create value in mutual interaction with each other and with a set of shared resources

Classmates motivate childhood cancer patients to participate in physical activity during treatment: A qualitative study

Introduction Children with cancer experience reduced physical fitness and compromised social relationships during and following intensive treatment. This may negatively impact their quality of life. As part of the RESPECT study, we explored the motivations for participation in a physical activity programme during treatment. Methods Thirteen semi‐structured interviews were conducted with seven boys and six girls, diagnosed with paediatric cancer in 2013 and treated with chemotherapy (age 8–16 years; time from diagnosis to interview 6–16 months). Interviews were conducted in the children's homes. Results The qualitative analysis showed that children's motivations for engaging in the physical activity programme during intensive medical treatment were primarily influenced by (a) opportunity for physical activity with a classmate; (b) participation in group physical activity sessions; (c) support from significant others; and (d) improvement of physical well‐being. Main barriers included (a) poor physical well‐being; (b) compliance with medical procedures and being treated in protective isolation; and (c) limited physical activity facilities. Conclusion Despite barriers, it is possible to motivate and engage children with cancer in physical activity during intensive treatment in a paediatric oncology ward. Physical exercise and activity should be recommended and promoted from diagnosis throughout the treatment period and should include psychosocial and professional support

Comparing restrictive versus liberal oxygen strategies for trauma patients-the TRAUMOX2 trial:protocol for a randomised clinical trial

INTRODUCTION: Supplemental oxygen is commonly used in trauma patients, although it may lead to hyperoxaemia that has been associated with pulmonary complications and increased mortality. The primary objective of this trial, TRAUMOX2, is to compare a restrictive versus liberal oxygen strategy the first 8 hours following trauma. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: TRAUMOX2 is an investigator-initiated, international, parallel-grouped, superiority, outcome assessor-blinded and analyst-blinded, randomised, controlled, clinical trial. Adult patients with suspected major trauma are randomised to eight hours of a restrictive or liberal oxygen strategy. The restrictive group receives the lowest dosage of oxygen (>21%) that ensures an SpO(2) of 94%. The liberal group receives 12–15 L O(2)/min or FiO(2)=0.6–1.0. The primary outcome is a composite of 30-day mortality and/or development of major respiratory complications (pneumonia and/or acute respiratory distress syndrome). With 710 participants in each arm, we will be able to detect a 33% risk reduction with a restrictive oxygen strategy if the incidence of our primary outcome is 15% in the liberal group. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: TRAUMOX2 is carried out in accordance with the Helsinki II Declaration. It has been approved by the Danish Committee on Health Research Ethics for the Capital Region (H-21018062) and The Danish Medicines Agency, as well as the Dutch Medical Research Ethics Committee Erasmus MS (NL79921.078.21 and MEC-2021-0932). A website (www.traumox2.org) is available for updates and study results will be published in an international peer-reviewed scientific journal. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBERS: EudraCT 2021-000556-19; NCT05146700

Study protocol:rehabilitation including social and physical activity and education in children and teenagers with cancer (RESPECT)

BACKGROUND: During cancer treatment children have reduced contact with their social network of friends, and have limited participation in education, sports, and leisure activities. During and following cancer treatment, children describe school related problems, reduced physical fitness, and problems related to interaction with peers. METHODS/DESIGN: The RESPECT study is a nationwide population-based prospective, controlled, mixed-methods intervention study looking at children aged 6-18 years newly diagnosed with cancer in eastern Denmark (n = 120) and a matched control group in western Denmark (n = 120). RESPECT includes Danish-speaking children diagnosed with cancer and treated at pediatric oncology units in Denmark. Primary endpoints are the level of educational achievement one year after the cessation of first-line cancer therapy, and the value of VO(2max) one year after the cessation of first-line cancer therapy. Secondary endpoints are quality of life measured by validated questionnaires and interviews, and physical performance. RESPECT includes a multimodal intervention program, including ambassador-facilitated educational, physical, and social interventions. The educational intervention includes an educational program aimed at the child with cancer, the child’s schoolteachers and classmates, and the child’s parents. Children with cancer will each have two ambassadors assigned from their class. The ambassadors visit the child with cancer at the hospital at alternating 2-week intervals and participate in the intervention program. The physical and social intervention examines the effect of early, structured, individualized, and continuous physical activity from diagnosis throughout the treatment period. The patients are tested at diagnosis, at 3 and 6 months after diagnosis, and one year after the cessation of treatment. The study is powered to quantify the impact of the combined educational, physical, and social intervention programs. DISCUSSION: RESPECT is the first population-based study to examine the effect of early rehabilitation for children with cancer, and to use healthy classmates as ambassadors to facilitate the normalization of social life in the hospital. For children with cancer, RESPECT contributes to expanding knowledge on rehabilitation that can also facilitate rehabilitation of other children undergoing hospitalization for long-term illness. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinical Trials.gov: file. NCT01772849 and NCT0177286

Service scenarios - A socio-technical approach to business service modeling

It is still an open issue of designing and adapting (data-driven) decision support systems and data warehouses to determine relevant content and in particular (performance) measures. In fact, some classic approaches to information requirements determination such as Rockart’s critical success factors method help with structuring decision makers’ information requirements and identifying thematically appropriate measures. In many cases, however, it remains unclear which and how many measures should eventually be used. Therefore, an optimization model is presented that integrates informational and economic objectives. The model incorporates (statistic) interdependencies among measures – i. e. the information they provide about one another –, decision makers’ and reporting tools’ ability of coping with information complexity as well as negative economic effects due to measure selection and usage. We show that in general the selection policies of all-or-none or themore- the-better are not reasonable although they are often conducted in business practice. Finally, the model’s application is illustrated by the German business-to-business sales organization of a global electronics and electrical engineering company as example. In this position paper we discuss the importance of Green IT as a new research field that investigates all the environmental and energy issues related to IT and information systems in general. In particular we focus on the energy consumption of software applications, which is amplified by all the above IT layers in a data center and thus is worth a greater attention. By adopting a top-down approach, we address the problem from a logical perspective and try to identify the original cause that leads to energy consumption, i.e. the elaboration of information. We propose a research roadmap to identify a set of software complexity and quality metrics that can be used to estimate energy consumption and to compare specific software application

Designing Hearing Aid Technology to Support Benefits in Demanding Situations, Part 2

Most hearing aid manufacturers have chosen to implement the dynamic range of the In recent years, the main focus of the hearing aid industry has been on optimizing sound in normal, everyday situations. State-of-the-art wireless hearing aids typically offer a vast range of sophisticated features (eg, multichannel processing, adaptive directionality, feedback canceling, noise reduction, frequency shifting, multistage compression strategies, etc) that are very efficient in optimizing sound quality at normal input levels. However, there are still opportunities for improvements in other, less frequent environments, such as those with loud sound levels. This paper reports a recent trial that tested the efficacy of a new wireless hearing aid in a situation characterized by loud inputs. As discussed in Part 1 of this article in the March 2013 HR, 1 until now, even highly sophisticated wireless hearing aids have not been very adept at handling loud input levels. As a rule, sound levels exceeding 100 dB SPL are distorted because the analog-to-digital (A/D) converter in the hearing aid has an upper limit of about 100 dB SPL. If the input signal exceeds the A/D converter's input range (ie, its upper limit), the A/D converter is overloaded, resulting in highly perceptible distortion (clipping)-typically perceived as a "crackling" or "raspy" sound quality by hearing aid wearers. Once distortion is introduced into the signal, it is impossible to improve the sound quality at a later stage in the signal processing. An input range of approximately 100 dB SPL is sufficient if speech perception at normal levels is the only concern, since the loudest speech components are usually within 85-90 dB SPL, even at a shout. However, other types of input are much more intense. For instance, music played at a medium to loud volume level may easily exceed 100 dB SPL. 2,3 As an alternative to allowing clipping distortion, some hearing aid manufacturers employ a technique known as Automatic Gain Control, Input (AGCi) (also known as input compression). Basically, AGCi constantly compresses the input signal to make sure that it remains below the distortion limit of the A/D converter. However, a major drawback of this technique is that, while it eliminates clipping artifacts, it can also introduce dynamic artifacts. These include the smearing of intensity cues, "pumping," or a "dull" sound quality. While there is a solid body of literature describing the detrimental effect of peak clipping and automatic gain control (AGC) on speech perception and subjectively perceived sound quality, 4-8 the authors found no studies that directly compare the effect of artifacts introduced by peak clipping and AGCi at the A/D conversion stage. Even though it is difficult to decide which technique is superior based on the available literature, the fact remains that both techniques have been found in the literature to have a relatively strong detrimental effect on speech comprehension and perceived sound quality-suggesting that the best strategy is to avoid both, if at all possible

Determining a safe upper limit of oxygen supplementation for adult patients:A systematic review

Objective This systematic review aimed to describe the connection between the inspired oxygen fraction and pulmonary complications in adult patients, with the objective of determining a safe upper limit of oxygen supplementation.Methods MEDLINE and Embase were systematically searched in August 2019 (updated July 2020) for studies fulfilling the following criteria: intubated adult patients (Population); high fractions of oxygen (Intervention) versus low fractions of (Comparison); atelectasis, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), pneumonia and/or duration of mechanical ventilation (Outcome); original studies both observational and interventional (Studies). Screening, data extraction and risk of bias assessment was done by two independent reviewers.Results Out of 6120 records assessed for eligibility, 12 were included. Seven studies were conducted in the emergency setting, and five studies included patients undergoing elective surgery. Eight studies reported data on atelectasis, two on ARDS, four on pneumonia and two on duration of mechanical ventilation. There was a non-significant increased risk of atelectasis if an oxygen fraction of 0.8 or above was used, relative risk (RR): 1.37 (95% CI 0.95 to 1.96). One study showed an almost threefold higher risk of pneumonia in the high oxygen fraction group (RR: 2.83 (95% CI 2.25 to 3.56)). The two studies reporting ARDS and the two studies with data on mechanical ventilation showed no association with oxygen fraction. Four studies had a high risk of bias in one domain.Conclusions In this systematic review, we found inadequate evidence to identify a safe upper dosage of oxygen, but the identified studies suggest a benefit of keeping inspiratory oxygen fraction below 0.8 with regard to formation of atelectases.PROSPERO registration number CRD42020154242