Design and Impact of Awareness Functions – A Study about Social Media in Virtual Teams

The usage of social media in leisure time settings has become a prominent research topic. However, less research has been done on the design of social media in collaboration settings. In this study, we investigate how social media can support asynchronous collaboration in virtual teams and specifically how they can increase activity awareness. On the basis of an open source social networking platform, we present two prototype designs: a standard platform with basic support for information processing, communication and process – as suggested by Zigurs and Buckland (1998) – and an advanced platform with additional support for activity awareness via specialfeed functions. We argue that the standard platform already conveys activity awareness to a certain extent, however, that this awareness can be increased even more by the feeds in the advanced platform. Both prototypes are tested in a field experiment and evaluated with respect to their impact on perceived activity awareness, coordination and satisfaction. We show that the advanced design increases coordination and satisfaction through increased perceived activity awareness.

Efficient team actions: Outline of a theory of teams in sport

So far, social psychology in sport has preliminary focused on team cohesion, and many studies and meta analyses tried to demonstrate a relation between cohesiveness of a team and it's performance. How a team really co-operates and how the individual actions are integrated towards a team action is a question that has received relatively little attention in research. This may, at least in part, be due to a lack of a theoretical framework for collective actions, a dearth that has only recently begun to challenge sport psychologists. In this presentation a framework for a comprehensive theory of teams in sport is outlined and its potential to integrate the following presentations is put up for discussion. Based on a model developed by von Cranach, Ochsenbein and Valach (1986), teams are information processing organisms, and team actions need to be investigated on two levels: the individual team member and the group as an entity. Elements to be considered are the task, the social structure, the information processing structure and the execution structure. Obviously, different task require different social structures, communication and co-ordination. From a cognitivist point of view, internal representations (or mental models) guide the behaviour mainly in situations requiring quick reactions and adaptations, were deliberate or contingency planning are difficult. In sport teams, the collective representation contains the elements of the team situation, that is team task and team members, and of the team processes, that is communication and co-operation. Different meta-perspectives may be distinguished and bear a potential to explain the actions of efficient teams. Cranach, M. von, Ochsenbein, G., & Valach, L. (1986).The group as a self-active system: Outline of a theory of group action. European Journal of Social Psychology, 16, 193-229.

Interdisciplinary Cardiovascular and Neurologic Outpatient Rehabilitation in Patients Surviving Transient Ischemic Attack or Stroke With Minor or No Residual Deficits

Objective To evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of a comprehensive outpatient rehabilitation program combining secondary prevention and neurorehabilitation to improve vascular risk factors, neurologic functions, and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in patients surviving a transient ischemic attack (TIA) or stroke with minor or no residual deficits. Design Prospective interventional single-center cohort study. Setting University hospital. Participants Consecutive consenting patients having sustained a TIA or stroke with 1 or more vascular risk factors (N=105) were included. Interventions Three-month hospital-based secondary prevention and neurorehabilitation outpatient program with therapeutic and educational sessions twice a week. Patients were evaluated at entry and program end. Main Outcome Measures Impact on vascular risk factors, neurological outcome, and HRQOL. Results A total of 105 patients entered the program and 95 patients completed it. Exercise capacity (P<.000), smoking status (P=.001), systolic (P=.001) and diastolic (P=.008) blood pressure, body mass index (P=.005), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (P=.03), and triglycerides (P=.001) improved significantly. Furthermore, the 9-Hole-Peg-Test (P<.000), Six-minute Walking Test (P<.000), and One Leg Stand Test (P<.011) values as well as HRQOL improved significantly. The program could be easily integrated into an existing cardiovascular prevention and rehabilitation center and was feasible and highly accepted by patients. Conclusions Comprehensive combined cardiovascular and neurologic outpatient rehabilitation is feasible and effective to improve vascular risk factors, neurologic functions, and HRQOL in patients surviving TIA or stroke with minor or no residual deficits.

Ecosystem services, biodiversity and environmental change in a tropical mountain ecosystem of south Ecuador

An interdisciplinary research unit consisting of 30 teams in the natural, economic and social sciences analyzed biodiversity and ecosystem services of a mountain rainforest ecosystem in the hotspot of the tropical Andes, with special reference to past, current and future environmental changes. The group assessed ecosystem services using data from ecological field and scenario-driven model experiments, and with the help of comparative field surveys of the natural forest and its anthropogenic replacement system for agriculture. The book offers insights into the impacts of environmental change on various service categories mentioned in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005): cultural, regulating, supporting and provisioning ecosystem services. Examples focus on biodiversity of plants and animals including trophic networks, and abiotic/biotic parameters such as soils, regional climate, water, nutrient and sediment cycles. The types of threats considered include land use and climate changes, as well as atmospheric fertilization. In terms of regulating and provisioning services, the emphasis is primarily on water regulation and supply as well as climate regulation and carbon sequestration. With regard to provisioning services, the synthesis of the book provides science-based recommendations for a sustainable land use portfolio including several options such as forestry, pasture management and the practices of indigenous peoples. In closing, the authors show how they integrated the local society by pursuing capacity building in compliance with the CBD-ABS (Convention on Biological Diversity - Access and Benefit Sharing), in the form of education and knowledge transfer for application.