Background: Using telemedicine to provide health services for seafarers represents a special case of intersectoral co-operation.Since 2006, several North Sea drilling platforms and internationally operating Norwegian merchant ships have usedonboard telemedicine equipment continuously. Experience gained through this new technology has improvedintersectoral co-operation regarding seafarers’ health care. Aim: This study aimed to analyze the need for intersectoral co-operation and networking in maritime medicine by usingtelemedicine equipment at sea. Various Norwegian maritime organizations and institutions participated in the study. Methods: I conducted a qualitative descriptive survey using a Web-organized interactive interview technique, a new mode ofinteraction based on a semi-structured interview guide for data collection. After conducting exploratory personalinterviews in October 2006, I developed a Web-based questionnaire comprising 53 questions. Participants receivedan e-mail invitation containing an online link to an Internet-based questionnaire. Individuals unable to use the Webbasedlink could return the completed questionnaire as an e-mail attachment. I collected data between April and June2007 and evaluated some questions according to the principles of content analysis and others with simple quantitative analysis, e.g., frequency and distribution. Results: Among 33 persons contacted, 31 (94%) agreed to participate in the study. Respondents represented 11 variousmaritime organizations and companies. Fourteen worked as maritime officers, nine as maritime managers, and eightas medical professionals. Importantly, fourteen respondents (45%) had demonstrated practical working experiencewith telemedicine at sea. According to content analysis, the following categories were developed: communicationandevidence-based telemedicine; maritime e-health standardization and knowledge management; improvingtelemedicine quality management; organizational, technical, and medical competences and intersectoral approach;technical standardization and networking; and communication and information. Four main categories illuminated theparticipants’ demands, i.e., information, communication, standardization, and centralization, and led to thedevelopment of national e-health policy and strategy to support the Norwegian maritime e-health society vianetworking and intersectoral co-operation. Conclusions: Intersectoral co-operation in maritime telemedicine requires interorganizational networking in order to introduceeffective and compatible international maritime e-health standards for seafarers’ healthcare. The Norwegian Centrefor Maritime Medicine (NCMM), a Centre of Excellence in maritime medical research, will participate importantlyin this process. The study also showed that a Web-based survey in maritime research offers an easily managedresearch tool that quickly yields a very good overview of a special situation. / <p>ISBN 978-91-85721-50-4</p>

Research regarding use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) among all populations in America is needed to understand what seems to be an increasing trend. Education has been shown to be a significant determinant of CAM use, therefore, college students are likely to be CAM users. Little research has addressed the prevalence and predictors of CAM use among this population, so the purpose of this study was to: (1) measure the prevalence and type of CAM use among a sample of college undergraduates; and (2) test the significance of select social-cognitive constructs and demographics as predictors of CAM use. A random sample of undergraduate students within the Texas A&M University System was solicited via email to complete a web-based survey. Findings show high rates of CAM use. Gender, attitude toward CAM, outcome expectancies regarding the health care encounter, and social network use of CAM were shown to be significant predictors of CAM use. Results can inform health care and health education professionals interested in improving health care processes and addressing positive and negative issues related to CAM use.

Unique characteristics of cluster randomized trials (CRTs) complicate the interpretation of standard research ethics guidelines. Variable interpretation by research ethics committees may further complicate review and conduct. An international web-based survey was administered to corresponding authors of 300 randomly sampled CRT publications. We investigated ethics review and consent practices, investigator experiences with ethics review, and the perceived need for CRT-specific ethics guidelines. The response rate was 64%. Ethics review and consent were under-reported in publications. Ethics approval was obtained in 91%, and consent from individual and cluster level participants in 79% and 82% of trials. Consent varied by level of experimental intervention, data collection, and cluster size. Respondents cited variability among ethics committees (46%), and negative impacts of ethics review on their studies (38%). The majority perceived a need for ethics guidelines (73%), and guidance for ethics committees (70%). CRT-specific ethics guidelines are required to ensure practices meet ethical standards.

Research regarding use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) among all populations in America is needed to understand what seems to be an increasing trend. Education has been shown to be a significant determinant of CAM use, therefore, college students are likely to be CAM users. Little research has addressed the prevalence and predictors of CAM use among this population, so the purpose of this study was to: (1) measure the prevalence and type of CAM use among a sample of college undergraduates; and (2) test the significance of select social-cognitive constructs and demographics as predictors of CAM use. A random sample of undergraduate students within the Texas A&M University System was solicited via email to complete a web-based survey. Findings show high rates of CAM use. Gender, attitude toward CAM, outcome expectancies regarding the health care encounter, and social network use of CAM were shown to be significant predictors of CAM use. Results can inform health care and health education professionals interested in improving health care processes and addressing positive and negative issues related to CAM use.

Unique characteristics of cluster randomized trials (CRTs) complicate the interpretation of standard research ethics guidelines. Variable interpretation by research ethics committees may further complicate review and conduct. An international web-based survey was administered to corresponding authors of 300 randomly sampled CRT publications. We investigated ethics review and consent practices, investigator experiences with ethics review, and the perceived need for CRT-specific ethics guidelines. The response rate was 64%. Ethics review and consent were under-reported in publications. Ethics approval was obtained in 91%, and consent from individual and cluster level participants in 79% and 82% of trials. Consent varied by level of experimental intervention, data collection, and cluster size. Respondents cited variability among ethics committees (46%), and negative impacts of ethics review on their studies (38%). The majority perceived a need for ethics guidelines (73%), and guidance for ethics committees (70%). CRT-specific ethics guidelines are required to ensure practices meet ethical standards.

In this thesis, the diffusion of free and open source software (FOSS) on desktop PCs at Middle East Technical University in Ankara (METU) is investigated within the framework of the diffusion of innovation theory. This thesis aims to propose some policies for the migration to FOSS on desktop PCs at METU. The research is conducted through two similar web-based surveys. The first survey was held during 27-28 September 2003 after the examination of exemption for the IS100 course. The second survey was held between 23 March and 24 May 2004 in the whole of the METU campus. This survey was open to all students and academic and non-academic staff with a METU network account. There were 402 participants in the first survey and 1224 in the second. As expected, Microsoft OS rules the desktop PCs within the METU campus. According to the surveys, there is a rather large PC user base which could potentially migrate to GNU/Linux system. In addition to a large amount of data, it has been found out that a migration to FOSS is welcomed greatly by the users if the process is explained on the basis of public economic gains. However personal migration is still difficult if the user is left alone to install any new OS. Activities which will eventually increase the awareness for FOSS at METU, change in the curriculum of the IS100 course, collaboration among METU FOSS users and creation of a software catalog with possible FOSS equivalent for METU courses are some of the propositions which will eventually help the migration process. Furthermore, different innovation-decision models are discussed based on the research findings.

Unique characteristics of cluster randomized trials (CRTs) complicate the interpretation of standard research ethics guidelines. Variable interpretation by research ethics committees may further complicate review and conduct. An international web-based survey was administered to corresponding authors of 300 randomly sampled CRT publications. We investigated ethics review and consent practices, investigator experiences with ethics review, and the perceived need for CRT-specific ethics guidelines. The response rate was 64%. Ethics review and consent were under-reported in publications. Ethics approval was obtained in 91%, and consent from individual and cluster level participants in 79% and 82% of trials. Consent varied by level of experimental intervention, data collection, and cluster size. Respondents cited variability among ethics committees (46%), and negative impacts of ethics review on their studies (38%). The majority perceived a need for ethics guidelines (73%), and guidance for ethics committees (70%). CRT-specific ethics guidelines are required to ensure practices meet ethical standards.

How important is conservation planning to society today? It impacts the quality of our most precious natural resources: water, air, soil, wildlife, and plant material as well as every aspect of one of the largest industries in the United States: agriculture. In order to gain a better understanding of the conservation planning process, as well as the elements involved in creating an effective conservation plan, a Web-based survey was administered to one of the leaders in the advancement of conservation planning and planning technology, the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). The purpose of this study is to identify the trends and needs within the Mississippi NRCS, as well as to identify the characteristics of a potential end user of a conservation planning tool. The purpose of the survey was to identify the agents’ comfort levels with the conservation planning process, conservation practice design and implementation, numerous incentive programs, water quality testing, and most importantly digital technology.

No description available.

As researchers increasingly use web-based surveys, the ease of dropping out in the online setting is a growing issue in ensuring data quality. One theory is that dropout or attrition occurs in phases that can be generalized to phases of high dropout and phases of stable use. In order to detect these phases, several methods are explored. First, existing methods and user-specified thresholds are applied to survey data where significant changes in the dropout rate between two questions is interpreted as the start or end of a high dropout phase. Next, survey dropout is considered as a time-to-event outcome and tests within change-point hazard models are introduced. Performance of these change-point hazard models is compared. Finally, all methods are applied to survey data on patient cancer screening preferences, testing the null hypothesis of no phases of attrition (no change-points) against the alternative hypothesis that distinct attrition phases exist (at least one change-point).