Zwroty grzecznościowe w korespondencji prywatnej na Śląsku Cieszyńskim końca XIX i pierwszej połowy XX wieku

The study presents the results of the analysis of verbal politeness in private letters. The persuasive aspect was taken into account. The paper concentrates on unpublished let­ters and greeting cards written by inhabitants of Teschen Silesia from the 1894–1952 period. The study shows a local model of politeness. Complying with the rules, the sender of private letters can affect the recipient more efficiently.

Life Skills in a Minute: Sending a Card

Most of us have received a greeting card at some point in our lives. Receiving a card in the mail is an experience: pulling it out of the mailbox, reading the outside of the envelope, breaking the seal, pulling out the card, reading the note from the sender, and then placing it somewhere special. This new 3-page publication of the UF/IFAS 4-H Youth Development program provides some guidelines to help with sending greeting cards. Written by Heather Janney.

A comparison of two mail-based strategies to recruit older cancer survivors into a randomized controlled trial of a lifestyle intervention

Purpose To compare response rates to business letter versus greeting card invitations used to recruit older cancer survivors to a randomized controlled clinical trial of a lifestyle intervention Methods Capitalizing upon recruitment efforts for a lifestyle intervention trial among older cancer survivors, we explored response rates to study invitations formatted as greeting cards versus standard business letters. Survivors were identified from cancer registries and medical records and randomly assigned with strata defined by gender and racial/ethnicity to one-of-the-two invitations. Both groups received telephone follow-up. Results Contact was verified among 708 survivors with an average age of 72 years with most being non-Hispanic White (NHW), urban dwelling, and female. Survivors assigned to the business letter (n = 360) as compared to the greeting card (n = 348) were significantly more likely to express interest in participation (OR 1.73, 95% CI 1.11–2.70). With the exception of racial/ethnic minorities (OR 0.73; 95% CI 0.26–2.11), all other subgroups favored the business letter with significance observed in females (OR 1.66, 95% CI 1.00–2.74), NHWs (OR 2.12; 95% CI 1.29–3.49), and rural dwellers (OR 3.61; 95% CI 1.49–8.76). Moreover, the business letter costs were substantially lower than the card. Conclusion Clinical trial recruitment is significantly more effective if solicitations are formatted as standard business letters as compared to greeting cards, though this may not generalize to racial/ethnic minorities where more research is warranted. Implications for Cancer Survivors These study findings are not only valuable to researchers but also have the potential to improve recruitment and engagement of older cancer survivors in clinical trials. Clinical Trial Registration Harvest for Health for in Older Cancer Survivors, ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02985411

What does engagement mean to participants in longitudinal cohort studies? A qualitative study

Background Engagement is important within cohort studies for a number of reasons. It is argued that engaging participants within the studies they are involved in may promote their recruitment and retention within the studies. Participant input can also improve study designs, make them more acceptable for uptake by participants and aid in contextualising research communication to participants. Ultimately it is also argued that engagement needs to provide an avenue for participants to feedback to the cohort study and that this is an ethical imperative. This study sought to explore the participants’ experiences and thoughts of their engagement with their birth cohort study. Methods Participants were recruited from the Children of the 90s (CO90s) study. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with 42 participants. The interviews were transcribed verbatim, and uploaded onto Nvivo software. They were then analysed via thematic analysis with a constant comparison technique. Results Participants’ experiences of their engagement with CO90s were broadly based on three aspects: communication they received from CO90s, experiences of ethical conduct from CO90s and receiving rewards from CO90s. The communication received from CO90s, ranged from newsletters explaining study findings and future studies, to more personal forms like annual greeting cards posted to each participant. Ethical conduct from CO90s mainly involved participants understanding that CO90s would keep their information confidential, that it was only involved in ‘good’ ethical research and their expectation that CO90s would always prioritise participant welfare. Some of the gifts participants said they received at CO90s included toys, shopping vouchers, results from clinical tests, and time off from school to attend data collection (Focus) days. Participants also described a temporality in their engagement with CO90s and the subsequent trust they had developed for the cohort study. Conclusion The experiences of engagement described by participants were theorized as being based on reciprocity which was sometimes overt and other times more nuanced. We further provide empirical evidence of participants’ expectation for a reciprocal interaction with their cohort study while highlighting the trust that such an interaction fosters. Our study therefore provides key insights for other cohort studies on what participants value in their interactions with their cohort studies.

Adding Reach and Ownership with Paper Airplane Circuits

University faculty members, librarians, and support staff developed hands-on, consumable, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) curricular materials that could be inexpensively provided to large audiences. Goals included fostering STEM interest, teaching STEM principles, and encouraging continued exploration in home and school settings. This case describes design processes to realize these goals through basic circuits with paper airplanes and simple origami. Following several design implementations, kits costing ~$0.33 each were created and distributed to learners. Within these kits, learners created a back-lit paper airplane as they explored concepts regarding circuit definitions; open, closed, series, and parallel circuits; shorts; polarity; and current. Additional activities included LED bracelets, cubes, and greeting cards. Within this paper, we document successive design decisions, failures, reflections, and iterations that moved goals to reality. We also describe new design challenges, including waste management, sustained exploration, and advanced concept introductions.

Augmented reality in greeting cards

The concept I have been exploring is a mobile app for greeting cards integrated with augmented reality. The idea is to create modernized forms of sharing messages to loved ones through personalized designs created by a variety of independent artists. The product will be greeting cards illustrated by young and/or independent artists that have a personalized AR element, activated through the app. The AR element, is linked to an animated component in relation to the original illustration, or it can be customized by a clip uploaded by the user for a more personal touch. The app is divided into two sections, activating a ready made card, or customizing and creating your own card and ordering a physical copy or sharing it on online platforms. The overall hope for the product is to offer a personalized form of interactivity within greeting cards which hasn’t existed previously or explored as thoroughly.

Augmented reality in greeting cards

The concept I have been exploring is a mobile app for greeting cards integrated with augmented reality. The idea is to create modernized forms of sharing messages to loved ones through personalized designs created by a variety of independent artists. The product will be greeting cards illustrated by young and/or independent artists that have a personalized AR element, activated through the app. The AR element, is linked to an animated component in relation to the original illustration, or it can be customized by a clip uploaded by the user for a more personal touch. The app is divided into two sections, activating a ready made card, or customizing and creating your own card and ordering a physical copy or sharing it on online platforms. The overall hope for the product is to offer a personalized form of interactivity within greeting cards which hasn’t existed previously or explored as thoroughly.

What does engagement mean to participants in longitudinal cohort studies? A qualitative study

Background Engagement is important within cohort studies for a number of reasons. It is argued that engaging participants within the studies their involved in may promote their recruitment and retention within the studies. It is also thought that participant input can improve study designs, make them more acceptable for uptake by participants and aid in contextualising research communication to participants. Ultimately it is also argued that engagement needs to provide an avenue for participants to feedback to the cohort study and that this is an ethical imperative. This study sought to explore the participants’ experiences and thoughts of their engagement with their birth cohort study. Methods Participants were recruited from the Children of the 90s (CO90s) study. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with 42 participants. The interviews were transcribed verbatim, and uploaded onto Nvivo software. They were then analysed via thematic analysis with a constant comparison technique. Results Participants’ experiences of their engagement with CO90s were broadly based on three aspects: communication they received from CO90s, experiences of ethical conduct from CO90s and receiving rewards from CO90s. The communication received from CO90s, ranged from newsletters explaining study findings and future studies, to more personal forms like annual greeting cards posted to each participant. Ethical conduct from CO90s mainly involved participants understanding that CO90s would keep their information confidential, that it was only involved in ‘good’ ethical research and their expectation that CO90s would always prioritise participant welfare. Some of the gifts participants said they received at CO90s included toys, shopping vouchers, results from clinical tests, and time off from school to attend data collection (Focus) days. Participants also described a temporality in their engagement with CO90s and the subsequent trust they had developed for the cohort study. Conclusions The experiences of engagement described by participants were theorized as being based on reciprocity which was sometimes overt -in receiving gifts from CO90s and other times more nuanced- for example through CO90s ethical conduct. This perceived reciprocity aligns well with Maussian conception of gifting and in this case espoused participants’ trust in the cohort resulting in a unique participant-cohort study relationship.