<p>Many information technology artefacts can be found in today’s cars. The interaction with these artefacts is the driver’s secondary task while driving the car in a safe way is the primary task. When designing interfaces for in-vehicle usage, measures have to be taken in order to make the interaction with the artefact suit the in-vehicle environment. One of these measures is to have the appropriate screen density level, which is the amount of information present on the screen.</p><p>This thesis compares the usability of two integrated in-vehicle display prototypes, one with low screen density and one with high screen density. The usability comparison considers both safety and user preferences. Safety was measured by a Lane Change Test (LCT) which measures distraction of a primary task while performing a secondary task, and user preferences was measured with a questionnaire. Before the comparison was made, controls and a graphical user interface were designed.</p><p>Results showed no significant difference in driver distraction between performing tasks on the high screen density display and the low screen density display. However, a vast majority of the users preferred high screen density over low. Furthermore, the distraction levels for both the high and the low screen density displays were below the proposed 0.5 meter limit for allowed driver distraction. The results indicate that in-vehicle displays can have a high level of screen density without imposing a level of distraction on the driver that is unsuitable for driving.</p>

<p>Syftet med studien var att beskriva icke farmakologiska metoder för att reducera barns rädsla och smärta inför cancerrelaterade behandlingar och undersökningar. Studien genomfördes som en litteraturstudie med beskrivande design. 21 vetenskapliga artiklar inkluderades, analyserades och lades som grund för resultatet. Resultatet visade att distraktion var den vanligaste förekommande icke farmakologiska omvårdnadsåtgärden för att minska barns rädsla och smärta inför smärtsamma cancerrelaterade behandlingar och undersökningar. Distraktion i form av kommunikation, beröring och hjälpmedel distraherar, lugnar, ökar smärttoleransen, förbättrar vårdresultatet och ger positiva vårderfarenheter. Barn som själva fick välja distraktionsmedel visade mindre rädsla, smärta och obehag vid smärtsamma behandlingar och undersökningar. Som distraktion används kommunikation, beröring, elektroniska leksaker, såpbubblor, clowner, virtuell verklighet, filmer, musik och kalejdoskop. Kognitiv beteendeterapi (KBT) visade sig vara bra för att hjälpa barn att hantera rädslan inför provtagningar. Hypnos visade sig vara användbart till rädda och oroliga barn med tidigare vårderfarenhet för att inge trygghet och förebygga ångest. Slutsatsen är att kommunikation, åldersadekvata distraktionsmedel och mänsklig närvaro är ett billigt och effektivt komplement för sjuksköterskan att reducera barns smärta och rädsla under smärtsamma procedurer. Vidare forskning inom området behövs för att utvärdera sjuksköterskornas kunskaper om kommunikation och distraktion.</p> / <p>The aim with the study was to describe non pharmacologic methods in order to reduce children's dread and pain before cancer related treatments and surveys. The study was implemented as a literature study with descriptive design. In the study 21 scientific articles was analyzed for the result. The result showed that distraction was the most common non pharmacologic method in order to decrease children's dread and pain before painful cancer related treatments and surveys. Distraction in the form of communication, touch and accessibility distract, reassuring, increases pain tolerance, improve care results and provides positive care experience. Children who elect distracters funds showed less fear, pain and discomfort at painful treatments and surveys. As distraction was communication, contact, electronic toys, soft soap bubbles, clowns, virtual reality, films, musical and kaleidoscope used. Cognitive behavior therapy (KBT) was found to help children to handle the dread before treatments. Hypnos showed to be useful to cautious and anxious children with earlier care experience stem to submit safety and to prevent anxiety. The authors drew the conclusion that communication, age adequate distraction and human presence is a cheap and effective complements for the nurse to reduce children's pain and dread during painful procedures. Further research within the area is needed in order to evaluate the nurses' knowledge about communication and distraction.</p>

Seductive details (SDs) are interesting, but not necessarily relevant, information that may be included in text to capture students’ attention. Unfortunately, including such details often hinders learning. Schraw (1998) differentiated between context-independent (i.e., interesting without surrounding context) and context-dependent (i.e., interesting only in light of surrounding context) SDs. In the first study, 388 undergraduate students read six paragraphs describing Sigmund Freud’s psychosexual stages (i.e., target material). Participants in four groups also read one of two biographical paragraphs. The biographical paragraphs contained SDs about Freud that were either context-dependent or -independent to the target material and presented before (primacy) or after (recency) the target-material paragraphs or not at all (Control). After reading, students took a quiz. Quiz performance was not influenced by the type of SDs but rather its placement relative to the target text. Students in the primacy conditions performed worse than students in the recency and control conditions. Thus, both types of SDs reduced learning when they were presented at the beginning of the text. Study 2 examined a potential interaction between SDs and a graphic organizer (GO). GOs are designed to help learners make connections among ideas in the text by visually representing the concepts to be learned (Ausubel, 1960; Robinson & Kiewra, 1995). In Study 2, 207 undergraduate students read the same target material from Study 1. Depending on condition, the participants also read the context-dependent biographical paragraph (SD only), read a GO that linked the SDs to the target material (GO only), read both (GO + SD), or only read the target material (Control). After reading, students took a quiz. Participants in the GO only group and the Control group performed significantly better on the quiz items than participants in the SD only group. There was no significant difference between the Control group and the GO + SD group. Results from both studies suggest that the GO mitigated the seductive details effect but did not reverse it. There is evidence for both the diversion hypothesis (priming inappropriate schema) and the distraction hypothesis (focusing the reader’s attention on the SDs as opposed to the target material).

Many information technology artefacts can be found in today’s cars. The interaction with these artefacts is the driver’s secondary task while driving the car in a safe way is the primary task. When designing interfaces for in-vehicle usage, measures have to be taken in order to make the interaction with the artefact suit the in-vehicle environment. One of these measures is to have the appropriate screen density level, which is the amount of information present on the screen. This thesis compares the usability of two integrated in-vehicle display prototypes, one with low screen density and one with high screen density. The usability comparison considers both safety and user preferences. Safety was measured by a Lane Change Test (LCT) which measures distraction of a primary task while performing a secondary task, and user preferences was measured with a questionnaire. Before the comparison was made, controls and a graphical user interface were designed. Results showed no significant difference in driver distraction between performing tasks on the high screen density display and the low screen density display. However, a vast majority of the users preferred high screen density over low. Furthermore, the distraction levels for both the high and the low screen density displays were below the proposed 0.5 meter limit for allowed driver distraction. The results indicate that in-vehicle displays can have a high level of screen density without imposing a level of distraction on the driver that is unsuitable for driving.

Syftet med studien var att beskriva icke farmakologiska metoder för att reducera barns rädsla och smärta inför cancerrelaterade behandlingar och undersökningar. Studien genomfördes som en litteraturstudie med beskrivande design. 21 vetenskapliga artiklar inkluderades, analyserades och lades som grund för resultatet. Resultatet visade att distraktion var den vanligaste förekommande icke farmakologiska omvårdnadsåtgärden för att minska barns rädsla och smärta inför smärtsamma cancerrelaterade behandlingar och undersökningar. Distraktion i form av kommunikation, beröring och hjälpmedel distraherar, lugnar, ökar smärttoleransen, förbättrar vårdresultatet och ger positiva vårderfarenheter. Barn som själva fick välja distraktionsmedel visade mindre rädsla, smärta och obehag vid smärtsamma behandlingar och undersökningar. Som distraktion används kommunikation, beröring, elektroniska leksaker, såpbubblor, clowner, virtuell verklighet, filmer, musik och kalejdoskop. Kognitiv beteendeterapi (KBT) visade sig vara bra för att hjälpa barn att hantera rädslan inför provtagningar. Hypnos visade sig vara användbart till rädda och oroliga barn med tidigare vårderfarenhet för att inge trygghet och förebygga ångest. Slutsatsen är att kommunikation, åldersadekvata distraktionsmedel och mänsklig närvaro är ett billigt och effektivt komplement för sjuksköterskan att reducera barns smärta och rädsla under smärtsamma procedurer. Vidare forskning inom området behövs för att utvärdera sjuksköterskornas kunskaper om kommunikation och distraktion. / The aim with the study was to describe non pharmacologic methods in order to reduce children's dread and pain before cancer related treatments and surveys. The study was implemented as a literature study with descriptive design. In the study 21 scientific articles was analyzed for the result. The result showed that distraction was the most common non pharmacologic method in order to decrease children's dread and pain before painful cancer related treatments and surveys. Distraction in the form of communication, touch and accessibility distract, reassuring, increases pain tolerance, improve care results and provides positive care experience. Children who elect distracters funds showed less fear, pain and discomfort at painful treatments and surveys. As distraction was communication, contact, electronic toys, soft soap bubbles, clowns, virtual reality, films, musical and kaleidoscope used. Cognitive behavior therapy (KBT) was found to help children to handle the dread before treatments. Hypnos showed to be useful to cautious and anxious children with earlier care experience stem to submit safety and to prevent anxiety. The authors drew the conclusion that communication, age adequate distraction and human presence is a cheap and effective complements for the nurse to reduce children's pain and dread during painful procedures. Further research within the area is needed in order to evaluate the nurses' knowledge about communication and distraction.

This thesis investigates the associations between crash outcomes, the existence and type of driver distraction as well as driver’s age. The crash outcomes considered in this thesis consist of the type of crash as well as the injury severity sustained by occupants involved in the crash. An ordered logit model was built to predict the likelihood of severe injuries and a multinomial model was developed to predict the likelihood that a driver will be involved in one of three common crash types: singular, angular, and rearend. In these models, various factors (e.g., weather, driver’s gender, and speeding) have been statistically controlled for, but the main focus was on the interaction of driver’s age and distraction type. The findings of this thesis have implications for policy making and prioritizing capabilities of distraction-related safety systems.

This thesis investigates the associations between crash outcomes, the existence and type of driver distraction as well as driver’s age. The crash outcomes considered in this thesis consist of the type of crash as well as the injury severity sustained by occupants involved in the crash. An ordered logit model was built to predict the likelihood of severe injuries and a multinomial model was developed to predict the likelihood that a driver will be involved in one of three common crash types: singular, angular, and rearend. In these models, various factors (e.g., weather, driver’s gender, and speeding) have been statistically controlled for, but the main focus was on the interaction of driver’s age and distraction type. The findings of this thesis have implications for policy making and prioritizing capabilities of distraction-related safety systems.

Syfte: Syftet med föreliggande studie var att beskriva förberedelser och distraktionsmetoder som sjuksköterskor använder sig av i samband med smärtsamma omvårdnadsprocedurer för att hjälpa barn i åldern 4-6 år samt vilka fördelar detta hade. Metod: En deskriptiv design användes till den kvalitativa studien. Materialet inhämtades genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med nio sjuksköterskor som arbetade på barnkliniker. Det insamlade materialet analyserades genom kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Huvudresultat: Resultatet av berättelserna kunde kategoriseras i ”Sociala och praktiska förberedelser”, ”Ickefarmakologiska distraktionsmetoder”, ”Farmakologiska distraktionsmetoder” samt ”Distraktionen kan hjälpa barnet att främja dess självkänsla”. Att verbalt och praktiskt förbereda barn inför smärtsamma omvårdnadsprocedurer ansågs underlätta barnets besök på kliniken. Både farmakologiska och ickefarmakologiska distraktionsmetoder användes med gott resultat för att distrahera barnets uppmärksamhet från den smärtsamma omvårdnadsproceduren. Distraktionen ansågs även hindra utvecklingen av en långvarig stick- och sjukhusrädsla genom att barnet fick ett positivt minne och en stärkt självkänsla. Slutsats: Verbal och praktisk information till barn och föräldrar var viktiga aspekter i förberedelsen inför den smärtsamma omvårdnadsproceduren. Såväl farmakologiska som ickefarmakologiska distraktionsmetoder användes i stor utsträckning med gott resultat vilket kunde ha många fördelar på både kort och lång sikt. / Aim: The aim of this study was to describe preparations and distraction techniques that nurses use when dealing with painful care procedures to help children aged 4-6 years, and the benefits they have. Methods: A descriptive design was used for the qualitative study. The materials have been collected by semi-structured interviews with nine nurses working in paediatric clinics. The collected data was analyzed through a qualitative content analysis. Results: The results of the interviews were categorized in “Social and practical preparations”, “Non-pharmacological distraction techniques”, “Pharmacological distraction techniques” and “Distractions can help the child promote their self esteem”. To verbally and practically prepare the child for painful procedures was considered to facilitate the child’s visit to the clinic. Both pharmacological and non pharmacological distraction techniques were used successfully to distract the child’s attention from the painful procedure. Distraction could also prevent the development of a long term fear of hospitals and needle related procedures if the child received a positive memory and there by an enhanced self esteem. Conclusion: Verbal and practical information to children and parents were important aspects in the preparation for the painful procedure. Both pharmacological and non pharmacological distraction techniques were used extensively with good results, which could have many benefits, in both short and long term.

We investigated the concurrent effects of arousal and encoding specificity as related to background music on associative memory accuracy. Extant literature suggested these factors affect memory, but their combined effect in musical stimuli was not clear and may affect memory differentially for young and older adults. Specifically, we sought to determine if music can be used as a mnemonic device to overcome the associative memory deficits typically experienced by healthy older adults. We used a paired-associates memory task in which young and older adults listened to either highly or lowly arousing music or to silence while simultaneously studying same gender face-name pairs. Participants' memory was then tested for these pairs while listening to either the same or different music selections. We found that young adults' memory performance was not affected by any of the music listening conditions. Music listening, however, was detrimental for older adults. Specifically, their memory performance was worse for all music conditions, particularly if the music was highly arousing. Young adults' pattern of results was not reflected in their subjective ratings of helpfulness; they felt that all music was helpful to their performance yet there was no indication of this in the results. Older adults were more aware of the detriment of music on their performance, rating some highly arousing music as less helpful than silence. We discuss possible reasons for this pattern and conclude that these results are most consistent with the theory that older adults' failure to inhibit processing of distracting task-irrelevant information, in this case background music, contributes to their elevated memory failures.

Title from title page of PDF (University of Missouri--St. Louis, viewed February 23, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 53-60).