Non-medical prescription drug and illicit street drug use among young Swiss men and associated mental health issues.

Non-medical use of prescription drugs (NMUPD) is increasing among the general population, particularly among teenagers and young adults. Although prescription drugs are considered safer than illicit street drugs, NMUPD can lead to detrimental consequences. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between drug use (NMUPD on the one side, illicit street drugs on the other side) with mental health issues and then compare these associations. A representative sample of 5719 young Swiss men aged around 20 years filled in a questionnaire as part of the ongoing baseline Cohort Study on Substance Use Risk Factors (C-SURF). Drug use (16 illicit street drugs and 5 NMUPDs, including sleeping pills, sedatives, pain killers, antidepressants, stimulants) and mental health issues (depression, SF12) were assessed. Simple and multiple linear regressions were employed. In simple regressions, all illicit and prescription drugs were associated with poorer mental health. In multiple regressions, most of the NMUPDs, except for stimulants, were significantly associated with poorer mental health and with depression. On the contrary, the only associations that remained significant between illicit street drugs and mental health involved cannabis. NMUPD is of growing concern not only because of its increasing occurrence, but also because of its association with depression and mental health problems, which is stronger than the association observed between these problems and illicit street drug use, excepted for cannabis. Therefore, NMUPD must be considered in screening for substance use prevention purposes.

Usabilitat web orientada a l'intercanvi

Aquest treball pretén donar una visió el més clara possible de com hauria de ser una pàgina web dedicada a l'intercanvi d'objectes materials, coneixements, serveis, etc. Per aconseguir-ho s'ha seguit la metodologia de la interacció humana amb ordinadors (IHO) i el disseny centrat en l'usuari (DCU), avaluant al mateix temps la usabilitat i accessibilitat.

Prevención de la transmisión sexual del VIH en adolescentes

En una muestra de 119 estudiantes de cuarto de Educación Secundaria Obligatoria (ESO) y primerode Bachillerato (52,6% mujeres) se analizan los conocimientos sobre la prevención de latransmisión sexual del virus del sida, las expectativas de resultados y de autoeficacia respecto a losmétodos preventivos y el tipo de prevención utilizada durante la última relación sexual. Para evitarlas respuestas inducidas respecto a los comportamientos preventivos se emplea un formato de preguntaabierta. Los resultados muestran que sólo el 23,5% de los estudiantes han dado dos respuestastotalmente correctas sobre estrategias consideradas eficaces en la prevención sexual del VIH:uso del preservativo y abstinencia (por este orden). El 70,5% valoran totalmente o muy eficaz elpreservativo para evitar la transmisión sexual del VIH y el 95% de los que dan la segunda respuestajuzgan totalmente eficaz la práctica de la abstinencia con la misma finalidad. En el caso del preservativose sienten totalmente o muy capaces de usarlo el 64,3%, mientras que cuando se trata de laabstinencia sólo se perciben con esa competencia el 20%. Por lo que se refiere al uso autoinformadode métodos preventivos en la última relación, por parte de los 29 estudiantes que tuvieronactividad sexual durante el mes anterior, se observa que 21 de ellos emplearon el preservativo, dosla píldora anticonceptiva, otros dos no precisan el tipo de precaución y el resto no tomó ninguna.Tanto el reducido nivel de conocimientos sobre prevención, como la baja percepción de autoeficaciapara mantenerse abstinentes, nos alertan sobre la necesidad de hacer un mayor esfuerzo de informaciónpara eliminar creencias equivocadas, como por ejemplo: sobre la pretendida eficacia protectorade tener relaciones sexuales con una pareja estable o conocida. Así mismo, conviene insistiren el uso del preservativo como anticonceptivo de elección entre los adolescentes

Els mites en les altes capacitats

Davant la diversitat de teories que acompanyen les altes capacitats, la intel·ligència,la sobredotació, el talent, etc., a continuació es presenta el treball que he desenvolupat en el centre privat Sales Jové S.L.P. de Lleida, enfocat a detectar i avaluar infants i adolescents amb altes capacitats. Gràcies a les dades obtingudes he pogut verificar o rebutjar alguns dels mites, creences i tòpics existents sobre les altes capacitats.

La implicació de les famílies immigrades en els processos educatius dels seus fills/es: estratègies davant l'èxit i el fracàs escolar

En el present projecte hem analitzat els determinants de les trajectòries educatives dels i les adolescents d'origen immigrant, centrant I'atenció en el paper de les seves famílies davant de I ‘èxit o fracàs escolar del seu fillla. Amb aquest objectiu, I'estudi combina tècniques quantitatives i qualitatives. Per una banda hem analitzat les dades longitudinals del Panel de Famílies i lnfancia, que ens permeten fer un seguiment de les trajectòries educatives i personals de 248 alumnes d'origen immigrant que al 2006 estudiaven I'ESO al llarg de la seva adolescència, i identificar els factors socials responsables de la seva diversificació. Els resultats indiquen que malgrat presentar actituds bastant favorables als estudis i I'assoliment educatiu, concentren diverses situacions de vulnerabilitat a la llar (dificultats socioeconòmiques, estructures familiars atípiques, i erosió de capital social), que incideixen negativament sobre els seus rendiments acadèmics. Per altra, hem realitzat 59 entrevistes semi-estructurades per a complementar i facilitar la interpretació dels resultats obtinguts a la recerca quantitativa i copsar les narratives dels propis protagonistes. Aquestes entrevistes s'han realitzat a: una submostra de les famílies d'aquests alumnes, seleccionades en funció de perfils d’èxit o fracàs educatiu de la trajectòria del menor (46), una submostra d'estudiants resilients (a), i una sèrie d'agents educatius i socials, que inclou membres d'equips directius de centres escolars, AMPA i entitats dedicades a I'atenció a la infància i les famílies (5). El projecte que presentem té una clara vocació de servei públic. L'objectiu és incrementar el coneixement de factors "extraescolars" que poden condicionar I ‘èxit escolar dels estudiants d'origen immigrant. Aquest coneixement constitueix la base per al disseny i orientació de programes d'acompanyament a les famílies dels infants en situació de risc. La nostra voluntat (que reflecteix el principal objectiu de I'lnstitut d’infància i Món Urbà, instituci6 que impulsa el projecte) és contribuir a la transferència de coneixement que pugui ser d'utilitat pels agents que treballen directament sobre les qüestions que estudiem.

Propuesta para incorporar evaluación y pruebas de usabilidad dentro de un proceso de desarrollo de software

Usability is critical to consider an interactive software system successful. Usability testing and evaluation during product development have gained wide acceptance as a strategy to improve product quality. Early introduction of usability perspectives in a product is very important in order to provide a clear visibility of the quality aspects not only for the developers, but also for the testing users as well. However, usability evaluation and testing are not commonly taken into consideration as an essential element of the software development process. Then, this paper exposes a proposal to introduce usability evaluation and testing within a software development through reuse of software artifacts. Additionally, it suggests the introduction of an auditor within the classification of actors for usability tests. It also proposes an improvement of checklists used for heuristics evaluation, adding quantitative and qualitative aspects to them

Developing and evaluating a pictogram-based Instant Messaging service for individuals with cognitive disabilities

Information and communication technologies pose accessibility problems to people with disabilities because its design fails to take into account their communication and usability requirements. The impossibility to access the services provided by these technologies creates a situation of exclusion that reduces the self-suficiency of disabled individuals and causes social isolation, which in turn diminishes their overall quality of life. Considering the importance of these technologies and services in our society, we have developed a pictogram-based Instant Messaging service for individuals with cognitive disabilities who have reading and writing problems. Along the paper we introduce and discuss the User Centred Design methodology that we have used to develop and evaluate the pictogram-based Instant Messaging service and client with individuals with cognitive disabilities taking into account their communication and usability requirements. From the results obtained in the evaluation process we can state that individuals with cognitive disabilities have been able to use the pictogram-based Instant Messaging service and client to communicate with their relatives and acquaintances, thus serving as a tool to help reducing their social and digital exclusion situation.

Estudi del valor socioeducatiu de l’amistat en el procés d’integració social dels adolescents immigrants a Catalunya

L'escola és avui dia un espai de cohabitació on els adolescents immigrants construeixen i consoliden la seva identitat. En aquest context les relacions d'amistat determinen en bona mesura el grau d'aprenentatge de la cultura del país d'acolliment així com la vinculació simbòlica amb la societat que els acull. Aquesta investigació explora les característiques de les relacions d'amistat dels adolescents immigrants en el context de l'escola. La mostra va estar integrada per 682 estudiants dels últims cursos de Secundària Bàsica Obligatòria (15-16 anys), de sis instituts de Catalunya. Els resultats revelen que els adolescents immigrants en bona mesura nominen com a amics a altres adolescents de la seva mateixa cultura i a altres pertanyents a altres cultures però amb els quals comparteix la condició d'immigrant. En canvi, els amics dels adolescents autòctons pertanyen, majoritàriament, a la seva pròpia cultura. Finalment, s'aprecien algunes diferències respecte al suport que ofereixen els amics dels diferents grups, sent lleugerament inferior el suport que perceben els adolescents d'origen estranger. Aquests resultats confirmen les conclusions d'estudis precedents i alerten sobre la necessitat d'aprofundir en les seves causes per evitar els negatius efectes que pot generar per als adolescents immigrats les deficiències del procés de socialització a l'entorn de l'escola.

Knowledge management for systems biology a general and visually driven framework applied to translational medicine

Background: To enhance our understanding of complex biological systems like diseases we need to put all of the available data into context and use this to detect relations, pattern and rules which allow predictive hypotheses to be defined. Life science has become a data rich science with information about the behaviour of millions of entities like genes, chemical compounds, diseases, cell types and organs, which are organised in many different databases and/or spread throughout the literature. Existing knowledge such as genotype - phenotype relations or signal transduction pathways must be semantically integrated and dynamically organised into structured networks that are connected with clinical and experimental data. Different approaches to this challenge exist but so far none has proven entirely satisfactory. Results: To address this challenge we previously developed a generic knowledge management framework, BioXM™, which allows the dynamic, graphic generation of domain specific knowledge representation models based on specific objects and their relations supporting annotations and ontologies. Here we demonstrate the utility of BioXM for knowledge management in systems biology as part of the EU FP6 BioBridge project on translational approaches to chronic diseases. From clinical and experimental data, text-mining results and public databases we generate a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) knowledge base and demonstrate its use by mining specific molecular networks together with integrated clinical and experimental data. Conclusions: We generate the first semantically integrated COPD specific public knowledge base and find that for the integration of clinical and experimental data with pre-existing knowledge the configuration based set-up enabled by BioXM reduced implementation time and effort for the knowledge base compared to similar systems implemented as classical software development projects. The knowledgebase enables the retrieval of sub-networks including protein-protein interaction, pathway, gene - disease and gene - compound data which are used for subsequent data analysis, modelling and simulation. Pre-structured queries and reports enhance usability; establishing their use in everyday clinical settings requires further simplification with a browser based interface which is currently under development.

Self-reported social class in adolescents: validity and relationship with gradients in self-reported health

Background: Analyzing social differences in the health of adolescents is a challenge. The accuracy of adolescent's report on familial socio-economic position is unknown. The aims of the study were to examine the validity of measuring occupational social class and family level of education reported by adolescents aged 12 to 18, and the relationship between social position and self-reported health.Methods: A sample of 1453 Spanish adolescents 12 to 18 years old from urban and rural areas completed a self-administered questionnaire including the Child Health and Illness Profile-Adolescent Edition (CHIP-AE), and data on parental occupational social class (OSC) and level of education (LE). The responsible person for a sub-sample of teenagers (n = 91) were interviewed by phone. Kappa coefficients were estimated to analyze agreement between adolescents and proxy-respondents, and logistic regression models were adjusted to analyze factors associated with missing answers and disagreements. Effect size (ES) was calculated to analyze the relationship between OSC, LE and the CHIP-AE domain scores.Results: Missing answers were higher for father's (24.2%) and mother's (45.7%) occupational status than for parental education (8.4%, and 8.1% respectively), and belonging to a non-standard family was associated with more incomplete reporting of social position (OR = 4,98; 95%CI = 1,3–18,8) as was agreement between a parent and the adolescent. There were significant social class gradients, most notably for aspects of health related to resilience to threats to illness.ConclusionAdolescents can acceptably self-report on family occupation and level of education. Social class gradients are present in important aspects of health in adolescents.

Web-based Implementation of Winter Maintenance Decision Support System Using GIS and Remote Sensing, May 2005

Winter maintenance, particularly snow removal and the stress of snow removal materials on public structures, is an enormous budgetary burden on municipalities and nongovernmental maintenance organizations in cold climates. Lately, geospatial technologies such as remote sensing, geographic information systems (GIS), and decision support tools are roviding a valuable tool for planning snow removal operations. A few researchers recently used geospatial technologies to develop winter maintenance tools. However, most of these winter maintenance tools, while having the potential to address some of these information needs, are not typically placed in the hands of planners and other interested stakeholders. Most tools are not constructed with a nontechnical user in mind and lack an easyto-use, easily understood interface. A major goal of this project was to implement a web-based Winter Maintenance Decision Support System (WMDSS) that enhances the capacity of stakeholders (city/county planners, resource managers, transportation personnel, citizens, and policy makers) to evaluate different procedures for managing snow removal assets optimally. This was accomplished by integrating geospatial analytical techniques (GIS and remote sensing), the existing snow removal asset management system, and webbased spatial decision support systems. The web-based system was implemented using the ESRI ArcIMS ActiveX Connector and related web technologies, such as Active Server Pages, JavaScript, HTML, and XML. The expert knowledge on snow removal procedures is gathered and integrated into the system in the form of encoded business rules using Visual Rule Studio. The system developed not only manages the resources but also provides expert advice to assist complex decision making, such as routing, optimal resource allocation, and monitoring live weather information. This system was developed in collaboration with Black Hawk County, IA, the city of Columbia, MO, and the Iowa Department of transportation. This product was also demonstrated for these agencies to improve the usability and applicability of the system.

A multicase study for the evaluation of a pattern-based visual design process for collaborative learning

Collage is a pattern-based visual design authoring tool for the creation of collaborative learning scripts computationally modelled with IMS Learning Design (LD). The pattern-based visual approach aims to provide teachers with design ideas that are based on broadly accepted practices. Besides, it seeks hiding the LD notation so that teachers can easily create their own designs. The use of visual representations supports both the understanding of the design ideas and the usability of the authoring tool. This paper presents a multicase study comprising three different cases that evaluate the approach from different perspectives. The first case includes workshops where teachers use Collage. A second case implies the design of a scenario proposed by a third-party using related approaches. The third case analyzes a situation where students follow a design created with Collage. The cross-case analysis provides a global understanding of the possibilities and limitations of the pattern-based visual design approach.

Towards a User-Friendly Platform for Building Language Resources based on Web Services

This paper presents the platform developed in the PANACEA project, a distributed factory that automates the stages involved in the acquisition, production, updating and maintenance of Language Resources required by Machine Translation and other Language Technologies. We adopt a set of tools that have been successfully used in the Bioinformatics field, they are adapted to the needs of our field and used to deploy web services, which can be combined to build more complex processing chains (workflows). This paper describes the platform and its different components (web services, registry, workflows, social network and interoperability). We demonstrate the scalability of the platform by carrying out a set of massive data experiments. Finally, a validation of the platform across a set of required criteria proves its usability for different types of users (non-technical users and providers).

Testaus käytettävyyden tutkimisessa : tapaus Mesta-portaali

Opinnäytetyömme koostuu Helsingin ammattikorkeakoulu Stadian Mesta-portaalille vuoden 2006 aikana tehdyn käytettävyystutkimuksen raportista sekä sen toteuttamista ja tuloksia esittelevästä kirjallisesta osasta. Sekä käytettävyystestaus että opinnäytetyö on toteutettu parityönä. Mesta on Stadian verkkopalvelujen portaali, joka lanseerattiin joulukuussa 2006 Stadian opettajien, opiskelijoiden ja henkilökunnan käyttöön. Mesta sisältää Stadian tärkeimmät tietojärjestelmät ja verkkopalvelut, kuten sähköpostin ja tilanvarausjärjestelmän, sekä tarjoaa uusia palveluja. Näitä ovat esimerkiksi työtilat ja keskustelualueet. Käytettävyys on tuotteen ominaisuus, joka määrittelee sen, kuinka sujuvaa, tehokasta ja opittavaa sen käyttö on. Käytettävyystutkimuksilla voidaan selvittää, kuinka hyvin käytettävyyden tavoitteissa on onnistuttu. Käytettävyydellä on yhä suurempi merkitys verkkopalveluissa ja erilaisissa laitteissa, sillä ne ovat tulleet erittäin laajaan käyttöön ja niiltä osataan odottaa käyttömukavuutta. Vaikeasti käytettävä tuote menettää merkittävän kilpailuedun. Mestalle päätettiin tehdä käytettävyystestaukset, sillä käytettävyydeltään onnistuneen portaalin ajateltiin houkuttelevan käyttäjiä. Testauksen tavoitteena oli antaa järjestelmän kehittäjille informaatiota, jonka avulla he voisivat parantaa portaalin käytettävyyttä. Haasteena oli portaalin laaja käyttäjäkunta, jolla on hyvin erilaista osaamista tietokoneiden ja verkkopalvelujen käyttämisestä. Tästä huolimatta portaalin tuli palvella heitä tasapuolisesti. Testaukset toteutettiin seitsemällä testihenkilöllä siten, että he suorittivat palvelussa heille annettuja tehtäviä samalla kun testitilannetta tarkkailtiin sekä paikan päällä että videoiden. Tehtävien avulla etsittiin portaalin käyttöliittymän ongelmakohtia ja löydetyt ongelmat kirjoitettiin testausraportiin kehitysehdotuksiksi. Näitä ehdotuksia syntyi 55 kappaletta ja niistä suurin osa otettiin käyttöön Mesta-portaalissa.

Käyttäjäystävällisen mobiilipalvelun suunnittelu : WAP-sivuston rakentaminen visuaalisen ja käyttöliittymäsuunnittelun keinoin

Opinnäytteeni käsittelee mobiilipalveluiden sekä visuaalista että käyttöliittymäsuunnittelua. Lähden liikkeelle siitä olettamuksesta, että näiden osa-alueiden suunnitteluun kannattaa panostaa. Totean myös, että näin ei kuitenkaan vielä nykyään tehdä. Käsittelen mobiilipalveluja yleisemmällä tasolla, mutta keskityn erityisesti WAP-pohjaisiin palveluihin. Samat periaatteet ja vinkit soveltuvat kuitenkin myös muilla alustoilla toimivien palveluiden suunnitteluun, ja koska minulla on kokemusta myös näistä, olen tuonut tätäkin puolta esiin. Työssäni puhutaan visuaalisesta suunnittelusta ja käytettävyydestä yleisellä tasolla, mutta se toimii samalla eräänlaisena ohjekirjana suunnittelijalle. Uskon, että vielä toistaiseksi yritykset siirtyvät WAPiin pitkälti samalla sisällöllä ja rakenteella kuin web-palvelussaan, ja esittelen työssäni syitä sille, miksi tämä menetelmä on huono. Työhöni kokoamani pikamanuaali kokoaa tärkeimmät käytännön vinkit, joiden avulla voidaan tarvittaessa nopeallakin aikataululla suunnitella käyttäjäystävällinen WAP-palvelu. Kiinnostus aiheeseen nousi omista kokemuksistani työelämässä, ja kirjatiedon lisäksi tärkeänä lähteenä on toiminut oma kokemusmaailmani ja yrityksen ja erehdyksen kautta opitut taidot. Uskon että myös nämä tuovat hyvän lisän oppaaseen. Käsittelen ensin matkaviestinalan yleistä kehitystä ja esittelen syitä sille, miksi mobiilipalveluiden suunnitteluun kannattaa panostaa. Käyn sitten läpi sellaisia mobiililaitteiden erityisominaisuuksia, jotka asettavat työlle omat rajoituksensa. Lopuksi listaan tärkeimmät huomioitavat seikat ja annan käytännön vinkkejä suunnitteluprosessiin.