130,434 research outputs found
Fostering participation and co-evolution in sentient multimedia systems
No full textUser diversity and co-evolution of users and systems are two important phenomena usually observed in the design and use of IT artifacts. In recent years, End-User Development (EUD) has been proposed to take into account these phenomena, by providing mechanisms that support people, who are not software professionals, to modify, adapt, and even create IT artifacts according to their specific evolving needs. This is particularly true in the case of sentient multimedia systems, in which the system is called on to interact with multiple sensors and multiple human actors. However, to motivate and sustain these people, a culture of participation is necessary, as well as proper metadesign activities that may promote and maintain it. To this aim, this article first proposes a model for describing interaction and co-evolution in sentient multimedia systems enhanced by EUD features. Then it presents four main roles involved in interaction and co-evolution, including that of maieuta designer, as the “social counterpart” of the metadesigner. Finally, it describes how the maieuta designer is in charge of carrying out all those activities that are necessary to cultivate a culture of participation, by means of proper ways that are briefly introduced in the article
“Each to His Own”: Distinguishing Activities, Roles and Artifacts in EUD Practices
No full textEnd-User Development (EUD) studies how to empower end users (among which, e.g., professionals and organizational workers) to modify, adapt and extend the software systems they daily use, thus coping with the evolving needs of work organizations and their shop-floor environment. This research area is becoming more and more important also for the cross fertilization of ideas and approaches coming from the fields of Information Systems and Human-Computer Interaction. However, if one considers the variety of research proposals stemming from this common ground, there is the risk of losing denotational precision of the key terms adopted in the common vocabulary of EUD. To counteract this natural semantic drift, this paper focuses on three important notions, namely activities, roles, and artifacts, in order to help researchers distinguish important phenomena regarding the “meta-design” of systems built to support EUD practices
Exploiting collective knowledge with three-way decision theory: Cases from the questionnaire-based research
No full textTwo methods are proposed for collective knowledge extraction from questionnaires with ordinal scales and dichotomous questions. Both methods are based on a three-way decision procedure and a statistical method aimed at attaining statistical significance of the above decision. One method is aimed at giving an (absolute) assessment of “objects” according to a given “criterion” and the other one at producing a relative ranking of the “objects”. A criterion can be related to one or more questionnaire items (usually questions or statements). In this latter case a method to compose ordinal items in aggregate scores is also given. The paper also presents two various case studies that illustrate the methods and give motivations for their application in different domains where the knowledge of a community or any distributed group of experts can be externalized (in terms of users' perceptions, attitudes, opinions, choices) with a structured closed-ended questionnaire
Mapping the knowledge artifact terrain: A quantitative resource for qualitative research
No full textIn this paper, we present a method by which to build a metaphorical map of a portion of the scholarly literature along conceptual dimensions that have been previously characterized in terms of positive, negative and neutral terms. The method allows to "locate" scholarly works in this space, according to multiple criteria, like the definitions that they contain; the relevant concepts that can be extracted by means of a content analysis; and relevant passages that researchers can extract in studying their content. The resulting maps are not representational, nor trying to extract any objective essence of a scientific contribution. Rather, they are resources for the qualitative research, review and interpretation of literature sources. As such, these maps are "knowledge artifacts" in themselves, as they visualize, so to say, the interpretation of a set of works by qualitative researchers, and allow to build a visual comprehension of topological and qualitative relationships between the considered literature contributions. We applied the method to the case of the "knowledge artifact" literature and report the main results in this paper
A comparative study on the effectiveness of two different devices in the management of developmental dysplasia of the hip in infants
No full textAIM:The aim of this paper was to compare the results of treatment of developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH) with two different devices.
METHODS:In 118 DDH, authors employed, in a blinded randomized study, Teuffel-Mignon (TF) and Coxa-Flex (CF) devices. In this study checked 51 hips type IIC; 43 type IID; 15 type IIIA; 9 type IIIB, by Graf classification.
RESULTS:Hips Graf's type C were recovered in median 60.09 days, with TM in 50, with CF in 63,45; hips type D in 100 days, with TM in 58,50, with CF in 89.00; hips type IIIA in 103.60 days, with TM in 122, with CF in 94.50; hips type IIIB in 108.66 days, with TM in 121, with CF in 102.50.
CONCLUSION:The linear multiple regression model shows a statistically significant associations between outcome and pathological type (P value<0.001), age at diagnosis (P<0.001) and device (P<0.02). The statistical model shows that on average for each day of delay in the diagnosis is needed more than half a day for the patient to recover. The model confirmed that patients with more serious pathologies need more time to recover. Authors think that importance of the treatment of DDH isn't only the type of device employed, but a precise and correct sonographic diagnosis. Very important is starting the treatment as soon as possible, when the infant's bone of hip is more plastic and easy to treat. The authors' opinion is that employing a device instead of another isn't important, fundamental is the choice of the right device derived to a long time clinical experienc
Analisi del flusso a valle di una schiera statorica di turbina a gas operante ad alti numeri di Mach
No full textRoutine blood tests as an active surveillance to monitor COVID-19 prevalence. A retrospective study
No full textBackground: In Italy, one of the country most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the first autoch-thonous case appeared in Lombardy on February 20th, 2020. One month later, the number of COVID-19 patients in Lombardy exceeded 17000 and about 3500 had died. Because of this rapid increase in infected people scientists wonder whether SARS-CoV-2 was already highly circulating in Lombardy before such date. Plasma levels of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) were shown to be highly increased in COVID-19 patients. Monitoring their levels in Emergency Room patients during the months preceding February 20th, 2020, might shade light on the prevalence of the disease in the pre-COVID-19 period. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the AST and LDH levels from more than 30.000 patients admitted to the San Raffaele Hospital Emergency Room (ER) between September 2019 and May 2020 as well as between September 2018 and May 2019. The number of patients diagnosed with respiratory tract diseases were also analyzed. Results: Data showed that the ER averaged AST and LDH levels are highly sensitive to the presence of COVID-19 patients. During, the months preceding February 20th, 2020, AST and LDH levels, as well as the number of patients diagnosed with respiratory tract diseases were similar to their 2019 counterparts. Conclusions: No significant evidence showing that a large number of COVID-19 patients were admitted to the San Raffaele Hospital ER before February 20th, 2020, was found. Thus, the virus was likely circulating, within the Hospital catchment area, either in low amounts or through asymptomatic individuals. Because of the high LDH and AST levels’ variations induced by COVID-19, routine blood tests might be exploited as a surveillance indicator for a possible second wave
“Made with knowledge”: Reporting a qualitative literature review on the concept of the it knowledge artifact
No full textKnowledge Artifact (KA) is an analytical construct denoting material objects that in organizations regard the creation, use, sharing and representation of knowledge. This paper aims to fill a gap in the existing literature by providing a conceptual framework for the interpretation of the heterogeneous scholar contributions proposed on this concept so far. After a comprehensive literature review we define one pole as “representational”, grounded on the idea that knowledge can be an “object per se”; and another pole as “socially situated”, where knowledge is seen as a social practice, that is a situated, context-dependent and performative interaction of human actors through and with “objects of knowing”. We propose a unifying view of the dimensions of knowledge, and, in so doing, we try to shed light on the multiple ways these can inform the “reification” of knowledge into specific IT artifacts, which we call IT Knowledge Artifact (ITKA). Our model can contribute to the design of computational artifacts supporting knowledge work in organizations
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