Hauerwas and the Law: Framing a Productive Conversation

Background: Meal-Q and its shorter version, MiniMeal-Q, are 2 new Web-based food frequency questionnaires. Their meal-based and interactive format was designed to promote ease of use and to minimize answering time, desirable improvements in large epidemiological studies. Objective: We evaluated the validity of energy and macronutrient intake assessed with Meal-Q and MiniMeal-Q as well as the reproducibility of Meal-Q. Methods: Healthy volunteers aged 20-63 years recruited from Stockholm County filled out the 174-item Meal-Q. The questionnaire was compared to 7-day weighed food records (WFR; n=163), for energy and macronutrient intake, and to doubly labeled water (DLW; n=39), for total energy expenditure. In addition, the 126-item MiniMeal-Q was evaluated in a simulated validation using truncated Meal-Q data. We also assessed the answering time and ease of use of both questionnaires. Results: Bland-Altman plots showed a varying bias within the intake range for all validity comparisons. Cross-classification of quartiles placed 70%-86% in the same/adjacent quartile with WFR and 77% with DLW. Deattenuated and energy-adjusted Pearson correlation coefficients with the WFR ranged from r=0.33-0.74 for macronutrients and was r=0.18 for energy. Correlations with DLW were r=0.42 for Meal-Q and r=0.38 for MiniMeal-Q. Intraclass correlations for Meal-Q ranged from r=0.57-0.90. Median answering time was 17 minutes for Meal-Q and 7 minutes for MiniMeal-Q, and participants rated both questionnaires as easy to use. Conclusions: Meal-Q and MiniMeal-Q are easy to use and have short answering times. The ranking agreement is good for most of the nutrients for both questionnaires and Meal-Q shows fair reproducibility.QC 20130709</p

Electronic mail in a working context

Electronic mail, email, is one of the most widespread computer applications today.While email in general is very popular among its users, there are also drawbacks withemail usage: an increasing amount of messages that overwhelm users, systems that aretoo complex for naive users and at the same time do not support the needs of experiencedusers.In order to answer the main research question “Which design solutions couldimprove the situation of individual email users in a working context when it comes tocommunication and handling large numbers of incoming and stored email messages?”three studies conducted in email users’ working environment are described. The studiedorganisations are one academic research laboratory, one technical company, andone primary medical service organisation. The studies are focused on email usage,organisation of email messages, novice versus experienced users’ needs, managers’email usage, and information and communication overflow.The results indicate that the different strategies used to handle email are a matter ofa balance between advantages and disadvantages of these strategies. The choicebetween them is depending on the users’ total work situation and cannot be understoodby investigating the email communication alone.One advantage of email is the cognitive comfort it brings to its users by liberatingthem from thinking about tasks that can be solved by sending an email message, butthis advantage disappears when the sender cannot trust that the receiver will act uponthe message.Users develop their handling of email with experience and work position. Themedia that managers use to handle the increased communication that follows with ahigher position are email and meetings. One habit that do not change with position isto allow incoming messages to interrupt other work tasks, despite the asynchronousnature of email. This is particularly remarkable for managers who often complain thatthey need more uninterrupted time. The interruptions may partly be attributed to thelack of functionality in email systems to adapt the interfaces to the users’ work habits.In this case incoming messages result in a signal regardless the importance of them.Email is a part of an information and communication flow. Some users have problemshandling this flow. Overflow problems could be diminished by making senders ofmessages more aware of the receivers’ communicative situation. Email systems couldprovide feedback to senders of messages based on the receivers’ perception of his/hersituation.One of the studies indicates that it may be even more complicated to replace an oldemail system than introducing an email system for the first time in an organisation.The investment experienced users have made in the old system may be substantial.A model of time usage for organisation of email messages is also presented in orderto compare different strategies.Several design solutions are suggested with respect to folder usage, sorting emailmessages into folders, reducing the number of stored messages, and tailoring the emailsystem to the user’s work habits.QC 2010052

Electronic mail in a working context

Electronic mail, email, is one of the most widespread computer applications today.While email in general is very popular among its users, there are also drawbacks withemail usage: an increasing amount of messages that overwhelm users, systems that aretoo complex for naive users and at the same time do not support the needs of experiencedusers.In order to answer the main research question “Which design solutions couldimprove the situation of individual email users in a working context when it comes tocommunication and handling large numbers of incoming and stored email messages?”three studies conducted in email users’ working environment are described. The studiedorganisations are one academic research laboratory, one technical company, andone primary medical service organisation. The studies are focused on email usage,organisation of email messages, novice versus experienced users’ needs, managers’email usage, and information and communication overflow.The results indicate that the different strategies used to handle email are a matter ofa balance between advantages and disadvantages of these strategies. The choicebetween them is depending on the users’ total work situation and cannot be understoodby investigating the email communication alone.One advantage of email is the cognitive comfort it brings to its users by liberatingthem from thinking about tasks that can be solved by sending an email message, butthis advantage disappears when the sender cannot trust that the receiver will act uponthe message.Users develop their handling of email with experience and work position. Themedia that managers use to handle the increased communication that follows with ahigher position are email and meetings. One habit that do not change with position isto allow incoming messages to interrupt other work tasks, despite the asynchronousnature of email. This is particularly remarkable for managers who often complain thatthey need more uninterrupted time. The interruptions may partly be attributed to thelack of functionality in email systems to adapt the interfaces to the users’ work habits.In this case incoming messages result in a signal regardless the importance of them.Email is a part of an information and communication flow. Some users have problemshandling this flow. Overflow problems could be diminished by making senders ofmessages more aware of the receivers’ communicative situation. Email systems couldprovide feedback to senders of messages based on the receivers’ perception of his/hersituation.One of the studies indicates that it may be even more complicated to replace an oldemail system than introducing an email system for the first time in an organisation.The investment experienced users have made in the old system may be substantial.A model of time usage for organisation of email messages is also presented in orderto compare different strategies.Several design solutions are suggested with respect to folder usage, sorting emailmessages into folders, reducing the number of stored messages, and tailoring the emailsystem to the user’s work habits.QC 2010052

Diagnostic Web-based Monitoring in CS1

Students that fall behind during a course are a concern in any teaching situation. Falling behind has negative effects both for students, teachers and the university. Close monitoring of the learning and development can be effective, but is in general timeconsuming and expensive. The use of a web-based diagnostic system that can generate a large (infinite) number of questions could make monitoring both time and cost effective.QC 20110822</p

Payment cards and its market analysis and development in Latvia

Bakalaura darbs ir izstrādāts ar mērķi izpētīt maksājumu kartes pasaulē un Latvijā, kā arī izanalizēt šī brīža maksājumu karšu tirgus stāvokli un sagaidāmās attīstības iespējas Latvijā. Autors secina, ka Latvijas maksājumu sistēma ir augsti attīstīta un stabila, kas nozīme, ka Latvija ir gatava jaunu maksājumu karšu produktu ieviešanai tirgū, turpretī Latvijas iedzīvotāji ir skeptiski noskaņoti par sagaidāmajām pārmaiņām. Darbā apskatīti un izvērtēti maksājumu karšu pirmsākumi un uzbūve, maksājumu karšu veidi un asociācijas, jaunākā statistika par maksājumu kartēm Latvijā, bezkontakta maksājumu karšu attīstības iespējas Latvijā, kā arī aptaujas rezultāti. Bakalaura darba izstrādei izmantota bakalaura darba tēmai atbilstoša zinātniskā literatūra, statistika, periodika un interneta resursi. Bakalaura darbs izklāstīts 67 lapās, tas ietver arī 7 tabulas, 15 attēlus un 1 pielikumu. Izmantotās literatūras un avotu saraksts- 30 vienības.The bachelor thesis is designed to explore the payment cards in the world and in Latvia, as well as to analyze the current state of the payment card market and expected development opportunities in Latvia. The author concludes that the Latvian payment system is highly developed and stable, which means that Latvia is ready for a launch of new payment card products to the market, while Latvian residents are sceptical about the expected changes. The Payment Card origins and structure of payment card types and associations, the most recent statistics on the Latvian payment cards, contactless payment cards development opportunities in Latvia, as well as the results of the survey are explored in this work. Appropriate scientific literature, statistical data, periodicals and the Internet databases have been used to work out the bachelor thesis. Thesis outlined in 67 pages, it includes 7 tables, 15 pictures and 1 attachment. Literature and list of sources - 30 units

Feedback in web-based questionnaires as incentive to increase compliance in studies on lifestyle factors

Objective: We explored the use of feedback in interactive web-based questionnaires for collecting data on lifestyle factors in epidemiological studies. Design: Here we report from a cohort study on lifestyle factors and upper respiratory tract infections among 1805 men and women. We introduced interactivity in the form of personalized feedback and feedback on a group level regarding dietary intake, physical activity and incidence of infections in web- based questionnaires as incentives for the respondents to continue answering questions and stay in the study. Setting: The study was performed in Sweden. Subjects: All participants were randomly selected from the population registry. Results: Personalized feedback was offered in the baseline questionnaire and feedback on a group level in the five follow-up questionnaires. In total, 88 % of the participants actively chose to get personalized feedback at least once in the baseline questionnaire. The follow-up questionnaires were sent by email and the overall compliance at each follow-up was 83–84 %, despite only one reminder. In total, 74 % completed all five follow-ups. However, the compliance was higher among those who chose feedback in the baseline questionnaire compared with those who did not choose feedback. Conclusions: The results show that it is possible to use feedback in web ques- tionnaires and that it has the potential to increase compliance. The majority of the participants actively chose to take part in the personalized feedback in the baseline questionnaire and future research should focus on improving the design of the feedback, which may ultimately result in even higher compliance in research studies.QC 20120702</p