Telemedicine for patient education

Abstract

A telemedicine project was conducted to explore the delivery of childbirth preparation classes originating at a large regional hospital to a remote site at a small rural hospital. Over six months, three series of classes were included in the project, with twenty‐four participants at the originating site and twenty participants at the remote site. A two‐way, audio/video teleconferencing system with multiple cameras and monitors was employed for instruction. A registered nurse taught the class and a site facilitator assisted at the remote site. Evaluation of the project was done through surveys, interviews, and observations. The classes were well received by project participants at both sites. Principal advantages cited were increased availability of the programs, improved attendance, and convenience to rural participants. The principal disadvantages cited focused on technical problems, particularly audio quality.     

How Violent Video Games Communicate Violence: A Literature Review and Content Analysis of Moral Disengagement Factors

Mechanisms of moral disengagement in violent video game play have recently received considerable attention among communication scholars. To date, however, no study has analyzed the prevalence of moral disengagement factors in violent video games. To fill this research gap, the present approach includes both a systematic literature review and a content analysis of moral disengagement cues embedded in the narratives and actual game play of 17 top-ranked first-person shooters (PC). Findings suggest that moral disengagement factors are frequently embedded in first-person shooters, but their prevalence varies considerably. Most violent video games include justifications of the portrayed violence, a distorted portrayal of consequences, and dehumanization of opponents. Implications of the findings for research on violent games are discussed.     

What Makes Characters’ Bad Behaviors Acceptable? The Effects of Character Motivation and Outcome on Perceptions,Character Liking,and Moral Disengagement

Many characters in entertainment content behave in morally questionable ways at least some of the time. However, the negative effects of those behaviors on individuals’ judgments of the character may be diminished in some instances. This study examined the effects of character motivation and outcome in a written narrative on character perceptions and moral disengagement. The findings of a 2 (motivation: altruistic, selfish) × 2 (outcome: positive, negative) experiment (N = 123) revealed that both motivation and outcome affect perceptions of the character's positive and negative attributes, character liking, and moral disengagement. Specifically, altruistic motivations and positive outcomes led to more favorable perceptions of a character's attributes, greater character liking, and more justification of the character's actions. Furthermore, moral disengagement mediated the effects of motivation and outcome on perceptions of characters' positive and negative attributes, and in turn positive attributes mediated the effect of moral disengagement on character liking. Implications for future entertainment research are discussed.     

Managing Professional Competency Enhancement Among Polish Library Staff

In this article the author presents the concept of professional competencies. She describes the development of the notion of competencies in Polish librarians’ jobs in recent years and the possibility of competency management, both by the employer and the library worker. She also discusses recent laws, regulations, and standards related to qualifications for librarians’ jobs.     

Student perception of Moodle learning management system: a satisfaction and significance analysis

This research study addresses differences in student perception of the significance of Moodle learning management system (LMS) quality characteristics and differences in student satisfaction in regard to such characteristics. Therein, it has been proven in this study that male and female students are equally satisfied with Moodle LMS quality characteristics and that there is a difference in the significance that students give to these characteristics. When students were observed in regard to their age and year of study, it was found that these groups assigned different significance levels to quality characteristics and were not equally satisfied with them. It was also found that there is a substantial statistical difference in the significance students gave to quality characteristics and in student satisfaction itself, according to how much time they spent using the Moodle application, which is also noted as one of the most important aspects of the research conducted. A further analysis of the variables demonstrated that the following components of quality characteristics were more important to female students: average waiting time for a response, feedback quality, material thoroughness, material clarity, website user-friendliness, cooperation diversity, and material quantity.     

The Bologna reform at the department of library and information science and book studies, university of Ljubljana

Relevance of the new Bologna study programme at the Department of Library and Information Science and Book Studies at University of Ljubljana is demonstrated from different aspects. The example of IS&R themes and topics which are recognized as one of LIS core areas is used to show the differences from the previous study programme in terms of content, together with coverage of Web 2.0 related themes. In regard to teaching and learning methods it is shown how e-learning is used to support the educational process. At the end a few insights into employability of future graduates are added.     

Redundant networks and minimum distance

Networks in which each node is directly linked to its nearest neighbors exhibit high reliability and message handling capability. The construction of such networks guaranteeing minimal length, for a given degree of redundancy, is formulated in zero-one integer linear programming terms. Initial feasible solutions to the programs are presented, but connectedness is not guaranteed. In the latter case further zero-one integer programs are proposed assuring connectedness, with given initial feasible solutions. The inefficiency of zero-one programs for large networks leads to consideration of alternate redundant connected networks, without guaranteed minimal length. These networks are based on “nearest- neighbor edge sets”, and are simple to construct. Various theorems on the properties of such networks are presented with applications to one-way communicability.     

Analysis of users' searches of CD-ROM databases in the national and university library in Zagreb

This study investigates the behavior of two groups with different degree of independence in the search of CD-ROM databases (PsyLit and BIOSIS, SPIRS software). In the group A were users who needed only some technical assistance in communication with a computer/database, while the members of the group B searched CD-ROM databases completely independently. Data were collected by means of questionnaires and transaction logs of search strategies. Statistical data support the hypothesis that the two groups differ both in their experience and frequency in using computer. However, by the analysis of variables used in search strategies/tactics i.e. a) variables relating to the knowledge of search systems and syntax, b) variables defining the search strategies (number of words, concepts, steps, and cycles), c) variables regarding the qualitative indicators (clarity, specificity and complexity of determined strategies in relation to search topic title, and errors) and search results variables (number of retrieved references, number of relevant references, search precision, and results with zero hits) we did not obtain statistically significant difference in the user behavior. Both groups used facilities for a more comprehensive and successful search they were offered onscreen to a low degree. Results obtained by this research show that end-user education is necessary for CD-ROM database searching, although CD-ROM is primarily designed for end-users.