A HUMAN-CENTERED APPROACH TO IMPROVING THE USER EXPERIENCE OF SOFTWARE UPDATES

Software updates are critical to the security of software systems and devices. Yet users often do not install them in a timely manner, leaving their devices open to security exploits. This research explored a re-design of automatic software updates on desktop and mobile devices to improve the uptake of updates through three studies. First using interviews, we studied users’ updating patterns and behaviors on desktop machines in a formative study. Second, we distilled these findings into the design of a low-fi prototype for desktops, and evaluated its efficacy for automating updates by means of a think-aloud study. Third, we investigated individual differences in update automation on Android devices using a large scale survey, and interviews. In this thesis, I present the findings of all three studies and provide evidence for how automatic updates can be better appropriated to fit users on both desktops and mobile devices. Additionally, I provide user interface design suggestions for software updates and outline recommendations for future work to improve the user experience of software updates.

Biobanks: Experience of the School of Medicine and the “Dr. José Eleuterio González” University Hospital of the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León

Medical research has greatly beneited from molecular biology and increasingly relies on tools from the “omics” disciplines (mainly genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics). The availability of biological samples preserved with high quality standards is a sine qua non condition for such studies and their repositories are referred to as biobanks. Biobanks support the transportation, storage, preservation, and initial pathological and analytical examinations of biospecimens, as well as the protection of relevant information and the comparison of clinical and laboratory findings. A biobank facility is one of the most valuable tools the academic medicine organizations can offer to their researchers to improve the competitiveness of their current and future medical research. it acts as an essential bridge and an effective catalyst for research synergies between basic and clinical sciences, and it can be potentiated with efforts to raise funds for acquiring and maintaining cutting-edge analytical infrastructure to better serve its clinical, pharmaceutical and biotech clients.

Experience of a Single Center in NTBC Use in Management of Hereditary Tyrosinemia Type I in Libya

Background: Hereditary Tyrosinemia type I (HTI) is a metabolic disease caused by deficiency of fumarylacetoacetate hydrolase enzyme. Objectives: This study reports beside its clinical and biochemical presentation, the outcome of NTBC [2- (2-nitro-4-trifloro-methylbenzoyl)-1, 3-cyclohexanedion] treatment of the disease and evaluates its biochemical markers in 16 pediatric Libyan patients. Patients and Methods: The diagnosis was based on presence of high tyrosine levels in blood and succinylacetone in urine. Results: The consanguinity rate was 81.2%, the median age at onset, at diagnosis and at starting treatment were 4.5, 8, and 9.5 months respectively. At presentation hepatomegaly, jaundice, rickets and high gamma glutamyl transferase (GGT) were observed in 87.5% of patients. All patients had extremely high alpha fetoprotein (AFP) and high alkaline phosphatase (ALP) levels. Fifteen patients were treated with NTBC, normalization of PT (Prothrombine time) was achieved in average in 14 days. The other biochemical parameters of liver function (transaminases, GGT, ALP, bilirubin and albumin) took longer to improve and several months to be normalized. Survival rate with NTBC was 86.6%. Patients who started treatment in a median of 3 months post onset observed a fast drop of AFP in 90.6% of patients (P = 0.003). Abnormal liver function and rickets were the common presentations, GGT was an early cholestatic sensitive test. ALP was constantly high even in asymptomatic patients. Conclusions: In HT1 a faster dropping of AFP is a marker of good prognosis.

"I’ll call you when we are ready" (One family’s experience of critical care and end of life decision making)

The purpose of this paper is to explore through narrative accounts one family's expérience of critical care, after the admission of a family member to an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and their subséquent death five weeks later. Numerous studies support the need for effective communication and clear information to be given to the family. In this instance it was évident from their stories that there were numerous barriers to communication, including language and a lack of insight into the needs of the family. Many families do not understand the complexities of nursing care in an ICU so lack of communication by nursing staff was identified as uncaring behavior and encounters. Facilitating a family's proximity to a dying patient and encouraging them to participate in care helps to maintain some sensé of personal control. Despite a commitment to involving family members in care, which was enshrined in the Unit Philosophy, relatives were banished to the waiting room for hours. They experienced feelings of powerlessness and helplessness as they waited with other relatives for news following investigations or until 'the doctor had completed his rounds'. Explanations of "we must make 'the patient' comfortable" was no consolation for those who wished to be involved in care. The words "I'il call you when we are ready" became a mantra to the forgotten families who waited patiently for those with power to admit them to the ICU. Implications are this family felt they were left alone to cope with the traumatic expériences leading up to and surrounding the death. They felt mainly supported by the priest, who not only administered the last rites but provided spiritual support to the family and dealt sensitively with many issues. Paternalism in décision making when there is a moral obligation to ensure that discussions on end of life dilemmas are an inclusive process with families, doctors, nurses was not understood, therefore it caused conflict within the family over EOL décision making. The family felt that the opportunity to share expériences through telling and retelling their stories would enable them to reconfigure the past and create purpose in the future.

Teaching Through Technology – the Experience of Bulgarian Teachers

Report published in the Proceedings of the National Conference on "Education and Research in the Information Society", Plovdiv, May, 2016

Gaining Insight into Teaching: A Phenomenological Exploration of the Lived Experience of the Teachers of the Year

What qualities, skills, and knowledge produce quality teachers? Many stake-holders in education argue that teacher quality should be measured by student achievement. This qualitative study shows that good teachers are multi-dimensional; their effectiveness cannot be represented by students’ test scores alone. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to gain a deeper understanding of quality in teaching by examining the lived experiences of 10 winners or finalists of the Teacher of the Year (ToY) Award. Phenomenology describes individuals’ daily experiences of phenomena, examines how these experiences are structured, and focuses analysis on the perspectives of the persons having the experience (Moustakas, 1994). This inquiry asked two questions: (a) How is teaching experienced by recognized as outstanding Teachers of the Year? and (b) How do ToYs feelings and perceptions about being good teachers provide insight, if any, about concepts such as pedagogical tact, teacher selfhood, and professional dispositions? Ten participants formed the purposive sample; the major data collection tool was semi-structured interviews (Patton, 1990; Seidman, 2006). Sixty to 90-minute interviews were conducted with each participant. Data also included the participants’ ToY application essays. Data analysis included a three-phase process: description, reduction, interpretation. Findings revealed that the ToYs are dedicated, hard-working individuals. They exhibit behaviors, such as working beyond the school day, engaging in lifelong learning, and assisting colleagues to improve their practice. Working as teachers is their life’s compass, guiding and wrapping them into meaningful and purposeful lives. Pedagogical tact, teacher selfhood, and professional dispositions were shown to be relevant, offering important insights into good teaching. Results indicate that for these ToYs, good teaching is experienced by getting through to students using effective and moral means; they are emotionally open, have a sense of the sacred, and they operate from a sense of intentionality. The essence of the ToYs teaching experience was their being properly engaged in their craft, embodying logical, psychological, and moral realms. Findings challenge current teacher effectiveness process-product orthodoxy which makes a causal connection between effective teaching and student test scores, and which assumes that effective teaching arises solely from and because of the actions of the teacher.

Long-term efficacy of orthokeratology contact lens wear in controlling the progression of childhood myopia

Purpose: The primary outcome of this study is to compare the axial length growth of white European myopic children wearing orthokeratology contact lenses (OK) to a control group (CT) over a 7-year period. Methods: Subjects 6–12 years of age with myopia −0.75 to −4.00DS and astigmatism ≤1.00DC were prospectively allocated OK or distance single-vision spectacles (SV) correction. Measurements of axial length (Zeiss IOLMaster), corneal topography, and cycloplegic refraction were taken at 6-month intervals over a 2-year period. Subjects were invited to return to the clinic approximately 5 years later (i.e., 7 years after the beginning of the study) for assessment of their ocular refractive and biometric components. The CT consisted of 4 SV and 12 subjects who switched from SV to soft contact lens wear after the initial 2 years of SV lens wear. Changes in axial length relative to baseline over a 7-year period were compared between groups. Results: Fourteen and 16 subjects from the OK and CT groups, respectively, were examined 6.7 ± 0.5 years after the beginning of the study. Statistically significant changes in the axial length were found over time and between groups (both p <0.001), but not for the time*group interaction (p = 0.125). The change in the axial length for the OK group was 22% (p = 0.328), 42% (p = 0.007), 40% (p = 0.020), 41% (p = 0.013), and 33% (p = 0.062) lower than the CT group following 6, 12, 18, 24, and 84 months of lens wear, respectively. Conclusion: A trend toward a reduction in the rate of axial elongation of the order of 33% was found in the OK group in comparison to the CT group following 7 years of lens wear.

Exploring the Experience of Teachers Working with Exceptional Learners

Regular classroom teachers, who often report that they lack adequate training and resources, increasingly find themselves supporting students with special education needs (Connelly & Graham, 2009). Teachers working in challenging environments can thrive in their role and continue to experience professional growth and passion about their work with students with exceptionalities (Perry, Brenner, Collie, & Hofer, 2015). Thriving is one framework of psychological wellness that can provide insight into the experiences of teachers working with exceptional learners (Spreitzer & Porath, 2014). Chronic stress from occupational demands such as heavy workload and insufficient resources can negatively affect the wellbeing of teachers and lead to poor mental health (Desrumaux et al., 2015). Burnout and compassion fatigue are two constructs of poor mental health that can inform our understanding of teachers’ social and emotional experiences. The purpose of this study was to explore the social and emotional experiences of teachers working with exceptional learners in regular classrooms. The objective of this study was to describe the elements within teachers’ professional roles that they report contribute to their social and emotional experiences understood through the lenses of thriving, burnout, and compassion fatigue. Interviews were conducted with five teachers: one full-time in-service teacher and four teachers who are pursuing graduate studies in education. The theme of thriving emerged as a significant component of the interview with all five participants. All five participants described experiences of vitality and learning as essential to their workplace satisfaction and overall thriving. Although the data from this study did not suggest that participants were experiencing burnout or compassion fatigue, elements of the two constructs did emerge as relevant to the social-emotional experiences of the teachers.

The Experience of Adult Literacy as a Learning Process in the Formation of Future Educators

Learning is constructed when it is significant, therefore, promoting experiences that can make sense and joy, which constitutes a challenge in the formation of future educators. In this article, we share the considerations emanated from an investigation that gathers the experience of alphabetizing adults, carried out by college students as part of their formation. As a result, this creates a learning process that favors the respect to diversity and the value of reading and writing as the liberation of mankind. The work displays the learnings constructed, the ways of respecting diversity that emerge from the alphabetizing experience, and the value that the students give to reading and writing as a liberating way of expression.

Contact zone dynamics and the evolution of reproductive isolation in a North American treefrog, the spring peeper (Pseudacris crucifer)

Despite over seven decades of speciation research and 25 years of phylogeographic studies, a comprehensive understanding of mechanisms that generate biological species remains elusive. In temperate zones, the pervasiveness of range fragmentation and subsequent range expansions suggests that secondary contact between diverging lineages may be important in the evolution of species. Thus, such contact zones provide compelling opportunities to investigate evolutionary processes, particularly the roles of geographical isolation in initiating, and indirect selection against hybrids in completing (reinforcement), the evolution of reproductive isolation and speciation. The spring peeper (Pseudacris crucifer) has six well-supported mitochondrial lineages many of which are now in secondary contact. Here I investigate the evolutionary consequences of secondary contact of two such lineages (Eastern and Interior) in Southwestern Ontario using genetic, morphological, acoustical, experimental, and behavioural evidence to show accentuated divergence of the mate recognition system in sympatry. Mitochondrial and microsatellite data distinguish these two lineages but also show ongoing hybridization. Bayesian assignment tests and cline analysis imply asymmetrical introgression of Eastern lineage nuclear markers into Interior populations. Male calls are divergent between Eastern and Interior allopatric populations and show asymmetrical reproductive character displacement in sympatry. Female preference of pure lineage individuals is also exaggerated in sympatry, with hybrids showing intermediate traits and preference. I suggest that these patterns are most consistent with secondary reinforcement. I assessed levels of post-zygotic isolation between the Eastern and Interior lineages using a laboratory hybridization experiment. Hybrid tadpoles showed equal to or greater fitness than their pure lineage counterparts, but this may be countered through competition. More deformities and developmental anomalies in hybrid tadpoles further suggest post-zygotic isolation. Despite evidence for pre-mating isolation between the two lineages, isolation appears incomplete (i.e. hybridization is ongoing). I hypothesize that potentially less attractive hybrids may circumvent female choice by adopting satellite behaviour. Although mating tactics are related to body size, genetic status may play a role. I show that pure Eastern males almost always engage in calling, while hybrids adopt a satellite tactic. An absence of assortative mating, despite evidence of female preference, suggests successful satellite interception possibly facilitating introgression.

Low Yield of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Screening in Hemodialysis Patients: 10 Years' Experience

OBJECTIVE To determine the prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) nasal colonization in hemodialysis patients and to analyze the cost-effectiveness of our screening approach compared with an alternative strategy. DESIGN Screening study and cost-effectiveness analysis. METHODS Analysis of twice-yearly MRSA prevalence studies conducted in the hemodialysis unit of a 950-bed tertiary care hospital from January 1, 2004, through December 31, 2013. For this purpose, nasal swab samples were cultured on MRSA screening agar (mannitol-oxacillin biplate). RESULTS There were 20 mass screenings during the 10-year study period. We identified 415 patients participating in at least 1 screening, with an average of 4.5 screenings per patient. Of 415 screened patients, 15 (3.6%) were found to be MRSA carriers. The first mass screening in 2004 yielded the highest percentage of MRSA (6/101 [6%]). Only 7 subsequent screenings revealed new MRSA carriers, whereas 4 screenings confirmed previously known carriers, and 8 remained negative. None of the carriers developed MRSA bacteremia during the study period. The total cost of our screening approach, that is, screening and isolation costs, was US $93,930. The total cost of an alternative strategy (ie, no mass screening administered) would be equivalent to costs of isolation of index cases and contact tracing was estimated to be US $5,382 (difference, US $88,548). CONCLUSIONS In an area of low MRSA endemicity (<5%), regular nasal screenings of a high-risk population yielded a low rate of MRSA carriers. Twice-yearly MRSA screening of dialysis patients is unlikely to be cost-effective if MRSA prevalence is low. Infect. Control Hosp. Epidemiol. 2015;00(0):1-4.

The impact of presbyopic spectacles and contact lenses on driving performance

Presbyopia affects individuals from the age of 45 years onwards, resulting in difficulty in accurately focusing on near objects. There are many optical corrections available including spectacles or contact lenses that are designed to enable presbyopes to see clearly at both far and near distances. However, presbyopic vision corrections also disturb aspects of visual function under certain circumstances. The impact of these changes on activities of daily living such as driving are, however, poorly understood. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine which aspects of driving performance might be affected by wearing different types of presbyopic vision corrections. In order to achieve this aim, three experiments were undertaken. The first experiment involved administration of a questionnaire to compare the subjective driving difficulties experienced when wearing a range of common presbyopic contact lens and spectacle corrections. The questionnaire was developed and piloted, and included a series of items regarding difficulties experienced while driving under day and night-time conditions. Two hundred and fifty five presbyopic patients responded to the questionnaire and were categorised into five groups, including those wearing no vision correction for driving (n = 50), bifocal spectacles (BIF, n = 54), progressive addition lenses spectacles (PAL, n = 50), monovision (MV, n = 53) and multifocal contact lenses (MTF CL, n = 48). Overall, ratings of satisfaction during daytime driving were relatively high for all correction types. However, MV and MTF CL wearers were significantly less satisfied with aspects of their vision during night-time than daytime driving, particularly with regard to disturbances from glare and haloes. Progressive addition lens wearers noticed more distortion of peripheral vision, while BIF wearers reported more difficulties with tasks requiring changes in focus and those who wore no vision correction for driving reported problems with intermediate and near tasks. Overall, the mean level of satisfaction for daytime driving was quite high for all of the groups (over 80%), with the BIF wearers being the least satisfied with their vision for driving. Conversely, at night, MTF CL wearers expressed the least satisfaction. Research into eye and head movements has become increasingly of interest in driving research as it provides a means of understanding how the driver responds to visual stimuli in traffic. Previous studies have found that wearing PAL can affect eye and head movement performance resulting in slower eye movement velocities and longer times to stabilize the gaze for fixation. These changes in eye and head movement patterns may have implications for driving safety, given that the visual tasks for driving include a range of dynamic search tasks. Therefore, the second study was designed to investigate the influence of different presbyopic corrections on driving-related eye and head movements under standardized laboratory-based conditions. Twenty presbyopes (mean age: 56.1 ± 5.7 years) who had no experience of wearing presbyopic vision corrections, apart from single vision reading spectacles, were recruited. Each participant wore five different types of vision correction: single vision distance lenses (SV), PAL, BIF, MV and MTF CL. For each visual condition, participants were required to view videotape recordings of traffic scenes, track a reference vehicle and identify a series of peripherally presented targets while their eye and head movements were recorded using the faceLAB® eye and head tracking system. Digital numerical display panels were also included as near visual stimuli (simulating the visual displays of a vehicle speedometer and radio). The results demonstrated that the path length of eye movements while viewing and responding to driving-related traffic scenes was significantly longer when wearing BIF and PAL than MV and MTF CL. The path length of head movements was greater with SV, BIF and PAL than MV and MTF CL. Target recognition was less accurate when the near stimulus was located at eccentricities inferiorly and to the left, rather than directly below the primary position of gaze, regardless of vision correction type. The third experiment aimed to investigate the real world driving performance of presbyopes while wearing different vision corrections measured on a closed-road circuit at night-time. Eye movements were recorded using the ASL Mobile Eye, eye tracking system (as the faceLAB® system proved to be impractical for use outside of the laboratory). Eleven participants (mean age: 57.25 ± 5.78 years) were fitted with four types of prescribed vision corrections (SV, PAL, MV and MTF CL). The measures of driving performance on the closed-road circuit included distance to sign recognition, near target recognition, peripheral light-emitting-diode (LED) recognition, low contrast road hazards recognition and avoidance, recognition of all the road signs, time to complete the course, and driving behaviours such as braking, accelerating, and cornering. The results demonstrated that driving performance at night was most affected by MTF CL compared to PAL, resulting in shorter distances to read signs, slower driving speeds, and longer times spent fixating road signs. Monovision resulted in worse performance in the task of distance to read a signs compared to SV and PAL. The SV condition resulted in significantly more errors made in interpreting information from in-vehicle devices, despite spending longer time fixating on these devices. Progressive addition lenses were ranked as the most preferred vision correction, while MTF CL were the least preferred vision correction for night-time driving. This thesis addressed the research question of how presbyopic vision corrections affect driving performance and the results of the three experiments demonstrated that the different types of presbyopic vision corrections (e.g. BIF, PAL, MV and MTF CL) can affect driving performance in different ways. Distance-related driving tasks showed reduced performance with MV and MTF CL, while tasks which involved viewing in-vehicle devices were significantly hampered by wearing SV corrections. Wearing spectacles such as SV, BIF and PAL induced greater eye and head movements in the simulated driving condition, however this did not directly translate to impaired performance on the closed- road circuit tasks. These findings are important for understanding the influence of presbyopic vision corrections on vision under real world driving conditions. They will also assist the eye care practitioner to understand and convey to patients the potential driving difficulties associated with wearing certain types of presbyopic vision corrections and accordingly to support them in the process of matching patients to optical corrections which meet their visual needs.

In pursuit of becoming a senior coach: The learning culture for Australian Football League coaches

- Background and Purpose Given the turbulent and highly contested environment in which professional coaches work, a prime concern to coach developers is how coaches learn their craft. Understanding the learning and development of senior coaches (SCs) and assistant coaches (ACs) in the Australian Football League (AFL – the peak organisation for Australian Rules Football) is important to better develop the next generation of performance coaches. Hence the focus of this research was to examine the learning of SC and AC in the AFL. Fundamental to this research was an understanding that the AFL and each club within the league be regarded as learning organisations and workplaces with their own learning cultures where learning takes place. The purpose of this paper was to examine the learning culture for AFL coaches. - Method Five SCs, 6 ACs, and 5 administrators (4 of whom were former coaches) at 11 of the 16 AFL clubs were recruited for the research project. First, demographic data were collected for each participant (e.g. age, playing and coaching experience, development and coach development activities). Second, all participants were involved in one semi-structured interview of between 45 and 90 minutes duration. An interpretative (hierarchical content) analysis of the interview data was conducted to identify key emergent themes. - Results Learning was central to AFL coaches becoming a SC. Nevertheless, coaches reported a sense of isolation and a lack of support in developing their craft within their particular learning culture. These coaches developed a unique dynamic social network (DSN) that involved episodic contact with a number of respected confidantes often from diverse fields (used here in the Bourdieuian sense) in developing their coaching craft. Although there were some opportunities in their workplace, much of their learning was unmediated by others, underscoring the importance of their agentic engagement in limited workplace affordances. - Conclusion The variety of people accessed for the purposes of learning (often beyond the immediate workplace) and the long time taken to establish networks of supporters meant that a new way of describing the social networks of AFL coaches was needed; DSN. However, despite the acknowledged utility of learning from others, all coaches reported some sense of isolation in their learning. The sense of isolation brought about by professional volatility in high-performance Australian Football offers an alternative view on Hodkinson, Biesta and James' attempt in overcoming dualisms in learning.

Liminal Belonging: West African male asylum seekers’ narratives of the asylum experience whilst in Finland

The dominant discourses on the issue of asylum have placed it on a uniquely higher level of scrutiny as a politically very sensitive area for social research. Today, member states within the EU have implemented stricter policies to control new arrivals, whilst instituting statutory procedures to manage the existing asylum claims. In 2010, the number of applicants for asylum in Finland totalled 5988, out of which 1784 were given positive decisions. This thesis endeavour to highlight asylum seekers in the discourses about them by adding their voices to the discussions of them in contemporary Finland. Studies, which has concentrated on asylum seekers in Finland, uses the living conditions within asylum reception centres to assess the impacts of structural barriers on asylum seekers’ efforts to deal with the asylum process. By highlighting the impacts of the entire asylum process, which I believe starts from the country of origin; I focus on examining narratives of dealing with the experience of liminality whilst waiting for asylum, and then explore areas of possible participation within informal social networks for West African asylum seekers in Finland. The overall aim is to place the current research within the broader sociological discussion of ‘belonging’ for asylum seekers who are yet to be recognized as refugees, and who exist in a state of limbo. Methodologically, oral interviews, self-written autobiographical narratives, and ethnographic field work are qualitatively combined as data in this thesis for an empirical study of West African male asylum seekers in Finland. Narrative analysis is employed to analyze the data for this thesis. The ethnographic research data for the study began in May 2009 and ended in August of 2010. Altogether, ten interviews and four self-written narratives were collected as data. In total seven hours of audio recording were made, along eleven pages of hand-written autobiographical narratives. Field observation notes are employed in the study to provide contexts to the active interactional processes of interpretation throughout the analysis. Findings from the study suggest that within the experience of liminality, which surrounds the entire asylum process, participations within informal social networks are found to be important to the process of re-making place and the sense of belonging. My study shows that this is necessary to countering the experience of boredom, stress and social isolation, which permeate all aspects of life for West African asylum seekers, whilst they wait for asylum decisions in Finland.

Open Adoption: Adoptive Parents' Experiences of Birth Family Contact and Talking to Their Child about Adoption

The trend towards more open adoption presents adopters with unique parenting challenges associated with satisfying the child’s curiosity about their origins, and maintaining relationships with birth family through contact. This paper focuses on the experiences of 20 sets of adoptive parents who were interviewed as part of the Northern Ireland Care Pathways and Outcomes Study. Interviews were analysed following the principles of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). It explores adoptive parents’ experience of talking to their child about adoption, and of post-adoption contact with members of the birth family. Adopters discussed adoption sensitively with their child, but were concerned that difficult and complex family histories would present a risk to the child’s self-esteem and emotional well-being. All forms of contact proved emotionally and practically burdensome, however adopters were committed to making it work for the child’s benefit, and were open to increased contact should the child wish it in the future. There was little relationship with birth family outside of formal contact. The study reveals a need for a mechanism to facilitate communication with birth family if adopters are to be able to respond to the child’s changing need for contact and information.