Privatization and PPPS in transportation infrastructure: Network effects of increasing user fees

PPPS: Problem: Public-private-partnerships in transport infrastructure characteristically increase user-fees. Purpose: We aim to identify the network effects of the use of PPPs and increased user tolls in road infrastructure. Methods: We study the increases in user tolls on motorways due to the use of PPPs in the US. Results and conclusions: Among other things, the monetization of motorways is associated with an increase in toll levels that has consequences for their users, and also for the rest of the sections of the network.

Subtypes of adolescents with substance use disorders and psychiatric comorbidity using cluster and discriminant analysis of MMPI-A profiles

The main aim of this study was to replicate and extend previous results on subtypes of adolescents with substance use disorders (SUD), according to their Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory for adolescents (MMPI-A) profiles. Sixty patients with SUD and psychiatric comorbidity (41.7% male, mean age = 15.9 years old) completed the MMPI-A, the Teen Addiction Severity Index (T-ASI), the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL), and were interviewed in order to determine DSMIV diagnoses and level of substance use. Mean MMPI-A personality profile showed moderate peaks in Psychopathic Deviate, Depression and Hysteria scales. Hierarchical cluster analysis revealed four profiles (acting-out, 35% of the sample; disorganized-conflictive, 15%; normative-impulsive, 15%; and deceptive-concealed, 35%). External correlates were found between cluster 1, CBCL externalizing symptoms at a clinical level and conduct disorders, and between cluster 2 and mixed CBCL internalized/externalized symptoms at a clinical level. Discriminant analysis showed that Depression, Psychopathic Deviate and Psychasthenia MMPI-A scales correctly classified 90% of the patients into the clusters obtained.

Disease profiles of detainees in the Canton of Vaud in Switzerland: gender and age differences in substance abuse, mental health and chronic health conditions.

BACKGROUND: Literature on the disease profile of prisoners that differentiates by age and gender remains sparse. This study aimed to describe the health of correctional inmates in terms of substance abuse problems and mental and somatic health conditions, and compare it by gender and age. METHODS: This study examined cross-sectional data from the Canton of Vaud in Switzerland on the health conditions of detainees who were in prison on January 1, 2011 or entered prison in 2011. Health conditions validated by physician examination were reported using the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) version 10. The analyses were descriptive by groups of prisoners: the entire sample (All), Men, Older adults and Women. RESULTS: A total of 1,664 individuals were included in the analysis. Men comprised 91.5 % of the sample and had a mean age of 33 years. The other 8.5 % were women and had an average age of 39. Older adults (i.e., age 50 and older) represented 7 % of the total sample. Overall, 80 % of inmates were non-Swiss citizens, but the proportion of Swiss prisoners was higher among the older adults (51 %) and women (29 %). Overall, 41 % of inmates self-reported substance abuse problems. Of those, 27 % were being treated by psychiatrists for behavioral disorders related to substance abuse. Chronic infectious diseases were found in 9 % of the prison population. In addition, 27 % of detainees suffered from serious mental health conditions. Gender and age had an influence on the disease profile of this sample: compared to the entire prison population, the older inmates were less likely to misuse illegal drugs and to suffer from communicable infections but exhibited more problems with alcohol and a higher burden of chronic health conditions. Female prisoners were more disposed to mental health problems (including drug abuse) and infectious diseases. In terms of chronic diseases, women suffered from the same conditions as men, but the diseases were more prevalent in women. CONCLUSION: It is important to understand the different disease profiles of prisoners by gender and age, as it helps identify the needs of different groups and tailor age-and gender-specific interventions.

Towards personalization in digital libraries through ontologies

In this paper we describe a browsing and searching personalization system for digitallibraries based on the use of ontologies for describing the relationships between all theelements which take part in a digital library scenario of use. The main goal of thisproject is to help the users of a digital library to improve their experience of use bymeans of two complementary strategies: first, by maintaining a complete history recordof his or her browsing and searching activities, which is part of a navigational userprofile which includes preferences and all the aspects related to community involvement; and second, by reusing all the knowledge which has been extracted from previous usage from other users with similar profiles. This can be accomplished in terms of narrowing and focusing the search results and browsing options through the use of a recommendation system which organizes such results in the most appropriatemanner, using ontologies and concepts drawn from the semantic web field. The complete integration of the experience of use of a digital library in the learning process is also pursued. Both the usage and information organization can be also exploited to extract useful knowledge from the way users interact with a digital library, knowledge that can be used to improve several design aspects of the library, ranging from internal organization aspects to human factors and user interfaces. Although this project is still on an early development stage, it is possible to identify all the desired functionalities and requirements that are necessary to fully integrate the use of a digital library in an e-learning environment.

User-Centered Design Gymkhana

The User-centered design (UCD) Gymkhana is a tool for human-computer interaction practitioners to demonstrate through a game the key user-centered design methods and how they interrelate in the design process.The target audiences are other organizational departments unfamiliar with UCD but whose work is related to the definition, cretaion, and update of a product service.

User Centered Desing in E-Learning Environments : from Usability to Learner Experience

The advent of the Internet had a great impact on distance education and rapidly e-learning has become a killer application. Education institutions worldwide are taking advantage of the available technology in order to facilitate education to a growing audience. Everyday, more and more people use e-learning systems, environments and contents for both training and learning. E-learning promotes educationamong people that due to different reasons could not have access to education: people who could nottravel, people with very little free time, or withdisabilities, etc. As e-learning systems grow and more people are accessing them, it is necessary to consider when designing virtual environments the diverse needs and characteristics that different users have. This allows building systems that people can use easily, efficiently and effectively, where the learning process leads to a good user experience and becomes a good learning experience.

Capturing user behavior in e-learning environments

Peer-reviewed

A Three-Level Approach for Analyzing User Behavior in Ongoing Relationships

Peer-reviewed

Diseño de una aplicación web para la gestión de una revista científica

Este proyecto tiene como finalidad el análisis, diseño y desarrollo de una aplicación web en base a una revista científica. La mecánica de la revista consiste en la propia revisión y edición de los artículos por parte de los usuarios dados de alta en el aplicativo. Los usuarios que componen la web, puede tener diferentes perfiles: autor, editor, revisor, técnico editor y administrador. Cada usuario tiene unas tareas específicas en el flujo de revisión y edición. El proyecto se ha desarrollado sobre la plataforma ASP.NET y SQL para el diseño de la base de datos.

Personal Liberty in Psychiatric Care - Towards Service User Involvement

This study explores personal liberty in psychiatric care from a service user involvement perspective. The data were collected in four phases during the period 2000-2006 in psychiatric settings in Finland. Firstly, patient satisfaction and factors associated with user involvement were studied (n = 313). Secondly, patients’ experiences of deprivation of their liberty were explored (n = 51). Thirdly, an overview on patients’ options for lodging complaints was conducted, and all complaints (n = 4645) lodged in Finland from 2000 to 2004 were examined. Fourthly, the effects of different patient education methods on inpatients’ experiences of deprivation of liberty were tested (n = 311). It emerged that patients were quite satisfied, but reported dissatisfaction in restrictions, compulsory care and information dissemination. Patients experienced restrictions on leaving the ward and on communication, confiscation of property and coercive measures as deprivation of liberty. Patients’ experienced these interventions to be negative. In Finland, the patient complaint process is complicated and not easily accessible. In general, patient complaints increased considerably in Finland during the study period. In psychiatric care the number of complaints was quite stable and complaints led more seldom to consequences. An Internet-based patient education system was equivalent with traditional education and treatment as usual in supporting personal liberty during hospital care. This dissertation provides new information about the realization of patients' rights in psychiatric care. In order to improve patients' involvement, systematic methods to increase personal liberty during care need to be developed, the procedures for patients lodging complaints should be simplified, and patients' access to information needs to be ensured using multiple methods.

Profiles of Second Language Learners in Bilingual Education: A Comparative Study of the Characteristics of Finnish and American Students

The purpose of this comparative study is to profile second language learners by exploring the factors which have an impact on their learning. The subjects come from two different countries: one group comes from Milwaukee, US, and the other from Turku, Finland. The subjects have attended bilingual classes from elementary school to senior high school in their respective countries. In the United States, the subjects (N = 57) started in one elementary school from where they moved on to two high schools in the district. The Finnish subjects (N = 39) attended the same school from elementary to high school. The longitudinal study was conducted during 1994-2004 and combines both qualitative and quantitative research methods. A Pilot Study carried out in 1990-1991 preceded the two subsequent studies that form the core material of this research. The theoretical part of the study focuses first on language policies in the United States and Finland: special emphasis is given to the history, development and current state of bilingual education, and the factors that have affected policy-making in the provision of language instruction. Current language learning theories and models form the theoretical foundation of the research, and underpin the empirical studies. Cognitively-labeled theories are at the forefront, but sociocultural theory and the ecological approach are also accounted for. The research methods consist of questionnaires, compositions and interviews. A combination of statistical methods as well as content analysis were used in the analysis. The attitude of the bilingual learners toward L1 and L2 was generally positive: the subjects enjoyed learning through two languages and were motivated to learn both. The knowledge of L1 and parental support, along with early literacy in L1, facilitated the learning of L2. This was particularly evident in the American subject group. The American subjects’ L2 learning was affected by the attitudes of the learners to the L1 culture and its speakers. Furthermore, the negative attitudes taken by L1 speakers toward L2 speakers and the lack of opportunities to engage in activities in the L1 culture affected the American subjects’ learning of L2, English. The research showed that many American L2 learners were isolated from the L1 culture and were even afraid to use English in everyday communication situations. In light of the research results, a politically neutral linguistic environment, which the Finnish subjects inhabited, was seen to be more favorable for learning. The Finnish subjects were learning L2, English, in a neutral zone where their own attitudes and motivation dictated their learning. The role of L2 as a means of international communication in Finland, as opposed to a means of exercising linguistic power, provided a neutral atmosphere for learning English. In both the American and Finnish groups, the learning of other languages was facilitated when the learner had a good foundation in their L1, and the learning of L1 and L2 were in balance. Learning was also fostered when the learners drew positive experiences from their surroundings and were provided with opportunities to engage in activities where L2 was used.

Informed recommender: basing recommendations on consumer product reviews

Recommender systems attempt to predict items in which a user might be interested, given some information about the user's and items' profiles. Most existing recommender systems use content-based or collaborative filtering methods or hybrid methods that combine both techniques (see the sidebar for more details). We created Informed Recommender to address the problem of using consumer opinion about products, expressed online in free-form text, to generate product recommendations. Informed recommender uses prioritized consumer product reviews to make recommendations. Using text-mining techniques, it maps each piece of each review comment automatically into an ontology

Evaluating End-User Training Effectiveness in ERP System Implementation

Today’s business world demands more and more internal and external integration and transparency among companies at all fields. Integrated ERP (enterprise resource planning) systems offer a possibility to improve business practices and procedures by providing a unified view on the business including all functions and departments. Due to the obvious benefits, the popularity of integrated ERP systems keeps growing. The implementation of ERP systems has however proven risky. The implementation projects tend to be long, extensive, and costly – and often they end up in a failure. Due to the significant task and role changes ERP implementation brings to almost everybody in the company, training has been identified as one of the most critical success factors of an ERP implementation. To ensure that the training is conducted in the most effective and successful manner, the training outcomes should be evaluated. So far, training evaluation has however gained only limited attention at most companies investing in different training programs. Uponor corporation has initiated a large ERP implementation and process harmonization program in 2004. Thousands of end-users have been trained during this project so far, and the work still continues until the project is completed in 2010. In this thesis, the evaluation of end-user training in Uponor’s ERP program is brought further from the current state of performing the basic participant satisfaction survey in the end of each class. The results show that in order to reach reliable training effectiveness evaluation results, not only the reaction towards training but also transfer of skills and attitudes and the final results of the training program should be evaluated.

In vitro radical-scavenging activity, toxicity against A. salina, and nmr profiles of extracts of lichens collected from Brazil and Antarctica

Extracts of six lichen species collected from Brazil and Antarctica were investigated for their potential toxicity and radical-scavenging properties. The composition of the extracts was investigated using TLC and NMR, leading to identification of atranorin (1), along with salazinic (2), barbatic (3), α-alectoronic (4), α-collatolic (5), cryptochlorophaeic (6), caperatic (7), lobaric (8), and protolichesterinic (9) acids. All acetone extracts were evaluated for their 2,2'-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging ability and subjected to Artemia salina bioassay. The free-radical-scavenging activities of each extract (100 µg) ranged from 8.9 ± 0.1% to 38.7 ± 2.5% and the EC50 values ranged from 0.24 ± 2.10 to 3.54 ± 0.28 mg mL-1, while the toxicity of the extracts against A. salina were low (151.0 to >600 µg mL-1).