Adherence to Eye Drops Usage in Dry Eye Patients and Reasons for Non-Compliance: A Web-Based Survey

This study aimed to investigate the actual use of eye drops for dry eye disease (DED), the reasons for instillation behavior, and the relationship between instillation behavior and subjective symptoms. This web-based cross-sectional study collected data on instillation behavior, medication instruction, reasons for instillation behavior, and subjective symptoms. In total, 2645 participants were enrolled. The proportion of participants who instilled at the frequency specified in the package insert (the specified frequency) was 10.2%. The most common reason for not instilling at the prescribed frequency was as-needed instillation to alleviate subjective symptoms, and 61.3% of participants instilled when feeling symptoms. The improvement in the subjective symptoms score was significantly greater in the group that regularly instilled at the specified frequency than the other group (p = 0.0027), and patients in the other group were younger and had a higher rate of contact lens use and over-the-counter eye drops use. In conclusion, most participants did not instill the DED eye drops at the specified frequency to alleviate symptoms. In order to obtain the appropriate effect of eye drops, ophthalmologists need to impress upon patients the importance of regular instillation at the frequency specified in the package insert, while taking into account patient characteristics.

Suicide and coping: specific coping behaviours associated with suicidal ideation and differences between predicted and actual coping among help-seeking individuals

Suicide is a substantial contributor to global mortality, with suicidal ideation (SI) a significant predictor of suicide. Research has demonstrated relationships between dispositional coping styles and SI. This study aimed to advance this research by moving from the disposition coping level to examining the specific coping strategies people use when experiencing SI. Further, it aimed to examine whether prediction of the coping strategies individuals would use if they experienced SI differs from the actual coping strategies employed by people that have experienced SI. Seventy-seven help-seeking adults (Mage = 31.6, SD = 10.4) with (n = 49) or without (n = 28) history of SI completed measures of SI-related coping (modified Brief COPE) and current emotional distress (DASS-21) via online survey. ANCOVA revealed a significant association between SI history status and endorsement of Problem-Focused coping strategies, while controlling for current emotional distress levels. Participants without SI history reported greater predicted Problem-Focused coping use than actual use reported by participants with SI history. Subsequent facet-level ANCOVAs demonstrated that participants without SI history predicted they would use Active Coping, Use of Informational Support, and Planning strategies to a greater extent than was reported by people who did experience SI. The findings suggest individuals without SI history may overestimate their ability to use such adaptive coping strategies, and may represent an overestimation of overall ability to cope with potential SI. Future research may build on these preliminary findings and examine the factors explaining these differences to help inform programs related to SI and coping.

Participatory Design of a Medication Module in an Electronic Medical Record for Paediatric Palliative Care: A Think-Aloud Approach with Nurses and Physicians

Background: Electronic medical records (EMRs) play a key role in improving documentation and quality of care in paediatric palliative care (PPC). Inadequate EMR design can cause incorrect prescription and administration of medications. Due to the fact of complex diseases and the resulting high level of medical complexity, patients in PPC are vulnerable to medication errors. Consequently, involving users in the development process is important. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the acceptance of a medication module from the perspective of potential users in PPC and to involve them in the development process. Methods: A qualitative observational study was conducted with 10 nurses and four physicians using a concurrent think-aloud protocol and semi-structured qualitative interviews. A qualitative content analysis was applied based on a unified theory of acceptance and use of technology. Results: Requirements from the user’s perspective could be identified as possible influences on acceptance and actual use. Requirements were grouped into the categories “performance expectancies” and “effort expectancies”. Conclusions: The results serve as a basis for further development. Attention should be given to the reduction of display fragmentation, as it decreases cognitive load. Further approaches to evaluation should be taken.

IPC Prediction of Patent Documents Using Neural Network with Attention for Hierarchical Structure

International patent classifications (IPCs) are assigned to patent documents; however, since the procedure for assigning classifications is manually done by the patent examiner, it takes a lot of time and effort to select some IPCs from about 70,000 IPCs. Hence, some research has been conducted on patent classification with machine learning. However, patent documents are very voluminous, and learning with all the claims (the part describing the content of the patent) as input would run out of the necessary memory. Therefore, most of the existing methods learn by excluding some information, such as using only the first claim as input. In this study, we propose a model that considers the contents of all claims by extracting important information for input. We also propose a new decoder that considers the hierarchical structure of the IPC. Finally, we evaluate the model using an evaluation index that assumes the actual use of IPC selection for patent documents.

Exploring User Acceptance Determinants of COVID-19-Tracing Apps to Manage the Pandemic

Tracing infectious individuals and clusters is a major tactic for mitigating the pandemic. This paper explores the factors impacting the intentions and actual use of COVID-19 contact tracing apps based on a technology acceptance model. A partial least squares structural equation model has been applied to understand determinants for the usage of tracing apps based on a large sample (N = 2,398) from more than 30 countries (mainly from Germany and USA). Further, the paper presents a classification of COVID-19 apps and users. Through that, the study provides insights for technologists and designers of tracing apps as well as policy makers and practitioners to work toward enhancing user acceptance. Moreover, the results are abstracted to general social participation with apps in order to manage future strategies. The theoretical contribution of this work includes the results of our acceptance model and a classification of COVID-19 tracing and tracking apps.

Active Methodologies in Education for Sustainability and Development of Action Skills

This chapter revolves around the value and relevance of the use of active methodologies in education for sustainability, focusing especially on non-university levels of education. It begins with a conceptualization of active methodologies and exposes what are the most used, recognized, and best valued active methodological tools among teachers. It also reviews the origins of these methodological tools, their evolution, their potentialities and limitations, and the demands that arise in the educational context in view of the need to find a solution from the educational spheres to environmental problems. This chapter analyzes the actual use made of these methodologies in educational centers and finds a justification in the advances that neuroeducation and constructivism have contributed to the educational field in recent decades.

The Use of ICT in Tourist and Educational Literary Routes

This chapter focuses on the use of ICT in literary routes and explores how technologies can influence the tour guides. It begins with a reflection on the key concept of literary routes (from both an educational and tourist perspective) and then considers the antecedents and components that define the guide. Finally, a survey of professionals and teachers with experience in the design and execution of literary routes is carried out in order to explore aspects such as (1) the actual use of ICT on the routes, (2) the synergies between the guide's skills and the use of ICT, and (3) to what extent the use of ICT leads to a change in the role of the guide.

Evaluation of a Scenario-Based Socratic Style of Teaching and Learning Practice

This chapter presents the central features of a knowledge-based system, evaluation method, which is deeply rooted to the principle of the Socratic style learning in law school. Software system evaluation is placed in the context of a hybrid legal intelligent tutoring system, Guidance for Business Merger and Acquisition (GBMA) process. The legal knowledge for GBMA is presented in two forms, as rules and previously decided cases. Besides distinguishing the two different forms of knowledge representation, the chapter outlines the actual use of these forms in a computational framework designed to generate a plausible solution for a given case by using rule-based reasoning (RBR) and case-based reasoning (CBR) in an integrated environment. The nature of the suitability assessment of a solution has been considered as a multiple-criteria decision-making process in GBMA evaluation. The evaluation was performed by a combination of discussions and questionnaires with different user groups in a scenario-based teaching and learning practice.