Inclusive Design in IS: Why Diversity Matters

After decades of research and ambitious political programs, we still observe imbalances in the treatment of people on the basis of gender, age, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, disability, and social background. Such an issue raises questions about the degree to which information systems can help to overcome such imbalance; for instance, if design principles can be formalized to reshape information systems’ design into a different, more-inclusive direction. We contend that IS falls short in tackling this issue. We took the theme of ICIS 2013 (“reshaping society through information systems”) as an opportunity to reflect on the multiple aspects of social inclusion in the design and the resulting shape of information systems via a panel discussion. The fruitful discussion during the panel delivered more in-depth results than merely advocating a stance for more diversity in the IS workforce. Building on the principles of design science, we believe that our field can help reshape the digital economy. As a key takeaway, the panel and additional points added in this paper in the light of discussion at ICIS 2013 provide guidance on the impact of gender in IS theorizing as a demonstration example and reflect on the trend towards social design in the IS research community

The Effect of Two Sock Fabrics on Perception and Physiological Parameters Associated with Blister Incidence: A Field Study

The goal of the present study was to investigate differences in perception and skin hydration at the foot of two sock fabrics with distinct moisture properties in a realistic military setting. Thirty-seven military recruits wore two different socks (PP: 99.6% polypropylene and 0.4% elastane, and BLEND: 50% Merino-wool, 33% polypropylene, and 17% polyamide), one on each foot. Measurements were carried out after a daily 6.5-km march on 4 days. Each participant rated temperature, dampness, friction, and comfort for each foot. On a daily selection of participants, skin hydration was measured on three sites of both feet using a corneometer, and moisture content of the socks was determined. BLEND was rated to be cooler, less damp, and more comfortable (P < 0.05). Two out of three skin sites were drier for BLEND than PP (P < 0.05). Moreover, BLEND stored 2.9 ± 0.3 times more moisture compared to PP. Thus, under the present conditions, socks such as BLEND are to be preferred over polypropylene sock

Rotating kinky braneworlds

Cylindrical braneworlds have been used in the literature as a convenient way to resolve co-dimension-two branes. They are prevented from collapsing by a massless worldvolume field with non-trivial winding, but here we discuss another way of preventing collapse, which is to rotate the brane. We use a simple microscopic field theory model of a domain wall with a condensate for which rotation is a necessity, not just a nice added extra. This is due to a splitting instability, whereby the effective potential trapping the condensate is not strong enough to hold it on the defect in the presence of winding without charge. We use analytic defect solutions in the field theory (kinky vortons) to construct a thin-wall braneworld model by including gravitational dynamics, and we allow for the rotation required by the microscopic theory. We then discuss the impact rotation has on the bulk and brane geometry, thereby providing an anchor for further cosmological investigations. Our setup naturally leads to worldvolume fields living at slightly different radii, and we speculate on the consequences of this in regard to the fermion mass-hierarchy

The perspective of people with axial spondyloarthritis regarding physiotherapy : room for the implementation of a more active approach

Objectives. Physiotherapy is recommended in the management of people with axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA), with new insights into its preferred content and dosage evolving. The aim of this study was to describe the use and preferences regarding individual and group physiotherapy among people with axSpA. Methods. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among people with axSpA living in The Netherlands (NL) and Switzerland (CH). Results. Seven hundred and thirteen people with axSpA participated (56.7% male, median age 55 years, median Assessment of Spondyloarthritis International Society Health Index score 4.2). Response rates were 45% (n¼206) in NL and 29% in CH (n¼507). Of these participants, 83.3% were using or had been using physiotherapy. Individual therapy only was used or had been used by 36.7%, a combination of individual plus land- and water-based group therapy by 29.1% and group therapy by only 5.3%. Fewer than half of the participants attending individual therapy reported active therapy (such as aerobic, muscle strength and flexibility exercises). Although the majority (75.9%) were not aware of the increased cardiovascular risk, participants showed an interest in cardiovascular training, either individually or in a supervised setting. If supervised, a majority, in CH (75.0%) more than in NL (55.7%), preferred supervision by a specialized physiotherapist. Conclusion. The majority of people with axSpA use or have used physiotherapy, more often in an individual setting than in a group setting. The content of individual therapy should be more active; in both therapy settings, aerobic exercises should be promoted. In particular, enabling people with axSpA to perform exercises independently would meet their needs and might enhance their daily physical activity

Higher order clockwork gravity

We present a higher order generalisation of the clockwork mechanism starting from an underlying non-linear multigravity theory with a single scale and nearest neighbour ghost-free interactions. Without introducing any hierarchies in the underlying potential, this admits a family of Minkowski vacua around which massless graviton fluctuations couple to matter exponentially more weakly than the heavy modes. Although multi-diffeomorphisms are broken to the diagonal subgroup in our theory, an asymmetric distribution of conformal factors in the background vacua translates this diagonal symmetry into an asymmetric shift of the graviton gears. In particular we present a TeV scale multigravity model with (10) sites that contains a massless mode whose coupling to matter is Planckian, and a tower of massive modes starting at a TeV mass range and with TeV strength couplings. This suggests a possible application to the hierarchy problem as well as a candidate for dark matter

Effectiveness of individualized ressource-oriented joint protection education in people with rheumatoid arthritis : a randomized controlled trial

Objective: The modern joint protection (JP) concept for people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an active coping strategy to improve daily tasks and role performance by changing working methods and using assistive devices. Effective group JP education includes psycho-educational interventions. The Pictorial Representation of Illness and Self Measure (PRISM) is an interactive hands-on-tool, assessing (a) the individual's perceived burden of illness and (b) relevant individual resources. Both issues are important for intrinsic motivation to take action and change behaviour. This study compared individual conventional JP education (C-JP) with PRISM-based JP education (PRISM-JP). Methods: An assessor-blinded multicentre randomized controlled trial, including four JP education sessions over 3 weeks, with assessments at baseline and 3 months. Results: In total 53 RA patients participated. At 3 months, the PRISM-JP (n = 26) participants did significantly better compared to the C-JP participants (n = 27) in JP behaviour (p = 0.02 and p = 0.008 when corrected for baseline values), Arthritis Self-efficacy (ASES, p = 0.015) and JP self-efficacy (JP-SES, p = 0.047). Within-group analysis also showed less hand pain (p < 0.001) in PRISM-JP group. Conclusion: PRISM-JP more effectively supported learning of JP methods, with meaningful occupations, resource activation and self-efficacy acting as important mediators. Practice implications: PRISM improved patient–clinician communication and is feasible for occupational therapy

Deconstructing higher order clockwork gravity

We consider the higher order clockwork theory of gravitational interactions, whereby a number of gravitons are coupled together with TeV strength, but nevertheless generate a Planck scale coupling to matter without the need for a dilaton. It is shown that the framework naturally lends itself to a five-dimensional geometry, and we find the 5D continuum version of such deconstructed 4D gravitational clockwork models. Moreover, the clockwork picture has matter coupled to particular gravitons, which in the 5D framework looks like a braneworld model, with the Randall-Sundrum model being a special case. More generally, the gravitational clockwork leads to a family of scalar-tensor braneworld models, where the scalar is not a dilaton

Psychometric and cross-cultural validity of the measure of activity performance of the hand (map-hand) across three European countries (Switzerland, Turkey and the UK)

Background: The MAP-Hand scale comprises 18 patient-generated items which assess hand activity among people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). All items are scored on a 0–3 scale and are summed into a total score (0 to 54).Objectives: The MAP-Hand is already fully validated within a UK population [1], and this study aims to assess the validity, stability and comparability across German-speaking Swiss and Turkish RA samples.Methods: The MAP-Hand was assessed using Rasch model psychometric assessment methodology. Within the original UK validation, all items were assessed individually, then combined into four testlets (super-items) in order to account for observed local dependency among the items. This analytic strategywas replicated, where the psychometric properties of the scale items were assessed separately within each country-specific samples, and then across a merged sample of all three countries. A differential item function (DIF) analysis was used to assess scale stability across countries.Results: When the countries are considered separately, although slight differences are apparent, the operation of the instrument appears to be very similar across Switzerland, Turkey, and the UK. Although there is a degree of scale misfit in all countries, the scale-sample targeting and the scale reliability are both excellent(Person Separation Index = 0.93-0.95; Cronbach’s Alpha = 0.96-0.97), and the response categories function well across all items. However, there is a large degree of inter-item dependency present, and the MAP-Hand displays apparent multidimensionality within all three countries. Additionally, some individual items display Rasch model misfit to some extent, although these items are variableacross the three countries. When the items were re-configured into four testlets, this accounted for the inter-item dependency, also improving the model fit and unidimensionality of the scale within all three countries separately, as well as when the data is merged into a single dataset. Some significant country-DIF was observedon the ‘Dressing’ testlet (comprised of items 1-3), but this was found to have no significant effect on total person score estimates. Despite the testlet re-structuring creating a narrower scale range, the scale-sample targeting and scale reliability remain high (Person Separation Index = 0.86-0.91; Cronbach’s Alpha = 0.93).Conclusion: It is recommended that the four-testlet structure is implemented across all three countries, as this offers a pragmatic approach to the utility and comparative scoring of the MAPHAND across the UK, Switzerland and Turkey. Although the re-structuring creates a narrower scale range and apparent reduction in the reliability, this is indicative of the initial dependency that is present, and suggests that the original reliability values are over-inflated.REFERENCE:[1] Prior, Y., Tennant, A., Tyson, S. et al. Measure of activity performance of the hand (MAP-Hand) questionnaire: linguistic validation, cultural adaptation and psychometric testing in people with rheumatoid arthritis in the UK. BMC Musculoskelet Disord 19, 275 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12891-018-2177-