Abstract

One thousand liver transplantations have been performed at the only liver transplant center in Hong Kong over a period of 22 years, which covered the formative period of living donor liver transplantation. These 1000 transplantations, which marked the journey of liver transplantation from development to maturation at the center, should be educational. This research was to study the experience and to reflect on the importance of technical innovations and case selection. The first 1000 liver transplantations were studied. Key technical innovations and surgical therapeutics were described. Recipient survival including hospital mortality was analyzed. Recipient survival comparison was made for deceased donor liver transplantation and living donor liver transplantation indicated by hepatocellular carcinoma and other diseases. Among the 1000 transplantations, 418 used deceased donor grafts and 582 used living donor grafts. With the accumulation of experience, hospital mortality improved to < 2% in the past 2 years. In the treatment of diseases other than hepatocellular carcinoma, living donor liver transplantation was superior to deceased donor liver transplantation, with a 10-year recipient survival around 90%. Transplant outcomes have been improving consistently over the series, with a very low hospital mortality and a predictably high long-term survival.

Abstract

Over the past few years we have been witnessing a rapid development of communication technology. The aim of this article is to find a technical solution for increasing the existent optical cable capacities. The purpose is not to replace the existing cables but to use advanced technology and to improve the economy, safety and reliability of all kinds of communications that use an optical transmission medium. Komunikacije so v zadnjih letih dosegle nesluten razvoj, tako v sociološkem kot tehničnem pogledu. Danes hoče praktično vsak komunicirati z vsakim ob vsakem času. Vsi se trudijo, da pri tern ne bi bilo ovir. Generator teh sprememb je v največji meri industrija, ki skrbi za razvoj komunikacij. Uporabniki pa se hitrim in pogostim spremembam v veliki večini izogibajo. Ko zadostijo osnovne komunikacijske potrebe, jih le stežka prepričamo v kaj novega. Od tu dalje pa tehnika ne igra več najpomembnejše vloge. Na vrsti je marketing, trgovanje, ponudbe in obljube. Članek obravnava problematiko povečanja kapacitet že izgrajene optične infrastrukture in to z uporabo inovativnih tehničnih rešitev. Uporabno vrednost tega lahko apliciramo povsod tam, kjer so kapacitete za prenos informacij že zasedene, uporabniki pa potrebujejo vedno nove storitve. Prednosti takšnega pristopa niso le ekonomske, temveč povečujejo obstoječe kapacitete, izboljšujejo varnost in zanesljivost vseh vrst komunikacij, kjer uporabljamo optične prenosne medije.

Abstract

Today, we live in a world where mobility is a part of the everyday life. At the same time, there is a global need for cities to be smart and sustainable. People spend increasing amounts of time traveling, and thus the development of public transportation services is central for advancing these goals. Transportation services include associated digital services – such as navigation and scheduling services, and various infotainment services. In order to make public transportation services desirable for wide audience, all aspects of the services need to be designed with a focus on the passengers’ and their needs and experiences. While there is a considerable amount of research conducted in the public transportation field, there is a lack of qualitative studies that contribute to the understanding of the travel experience of intra-city bus transportation from the User Experience (UX) point of view. This thesis contributes to the field of human-computer interaction (HCI), with a more specific focus on User Experience (UX) and Human-Centered Design (HCD). In addition, the practical aspects of this research contribute to the field of service design. This thesis also provides a theoretical contribution to the travel experience and transportation field, viewing the topic from human-centered design perspective. This research was conducted over the period of three years between 2016-2019, as a part of the research project Living Lab Bus (LLB). LLB collaboration project with industrial partners. The research on user experience perspective of bus passengers resulted in five publications which form the basis of this compound thesis. This dissertation presents a series of qualitative studies conducted with Research for design approach to gain understanding of intra-city bus passengers’ travel experience. These studies involved a total of 68 bus passengers representing different age groups and backgrounds from two city regions in Finland: Tampere and Helsinki. The preliminary interview study involved 10 international students, a total of 24 international students participated in the idea generation workshops, and representatives of three different user groups: high school students, parents of young children, and pensioners took part to in-depth ideation workshops. A total of 20 people of different ages and backgrounds participated in the bus travel experience study. This study utilised the diary method to collect contextual data of bus passengers’ experience over a three-week period. The goal of this research is two-fold: first, to gain insights of bus passengers’ needs and expectations for intra-city bus related services and to create holistic understanding of the intra-city bus travel experience. This forms the theoretical contribution of the thesis. The second aim of the thesis work was to transform these insights into practical and visual format. This part of the research resulted in a set of design tools, enabling the findings of this research to be utilized by different stakeholders when developing and designing services for the public transportation context. This practical contribution is presented in the form of Travel Experience Toolkit (T-rEX), including four design tools that support the service development in different stages of the design process: 1. Bus Travel Experience Model for understanding the context, 2. Context Cards for diversifying ideation, 3. Passenger Journey Map for exploring service touchpoints, and 4. Experience Personas for getting to know the passengers. These tools bring Human-Centered Design knowhow to different stakeholders working in the transportation context, with the aim to enable the design and development of services that fulfill the needs and expectations of bus passengers. As a final study, we conducted a multi-stakeholder evaluation of T-rEX toolkit with four public transportation stakeholders, to gain understanding of how the toolkit serves different stakeholders in their public transportation service development. The theoretical and practical contributions advance the research and design of future digital services for passengers and can help make public transportation more attractive.

Abstract

The main objective of the paper is to show how love in society can be connected to certain sociological problems like social bonding. When love is analyzed through its connections to disciplinary problems, some differences appear in relation to society and sociology itself. The paper ends with some reflections on these differences and an agenda for future research.

Abstract

La mística es una experiencia que muy pocas personas consiguen tener, y aun para esas personas es difícil expresar lo que significó y continúa significando en su vida. Relatos de místicos antiguos y contemporáneos se encuentran dispersos por todo el mundo y no se atienen a una sola religión. Así pues, es posible encontrar relatos de experiencias místicas de practicantes de diversas religiones como el islamismo, el judaismo o el catolicismo. Juan Gelman, poeta, ensayista y periodista argentino, es una de las figuras más importantes de la literatura de América Latina contemporánea. Con sus textos periodísticos y poemas, pudo denunciar las injusticias de la política de su país, y además fue una personalidad que relató descarnadamente uno de los procesos más cruentos ocurridos en Argentina: la dictadura militar. Gelman también se acercó al fenómeno de la experiencia mística. Ya fuese por un sentimiento de identificación (al sentirse extranjero) o por la búsqueda de ‘lo místico’ (aquello que lo trasciende como ser humano), Gelman es un autor latinoamericano cuya etapa de poesía mística es fundamental para comprender este fenómeno por medio de la literatura. En este ensayo se propone explorar la veta de Juan Gelman como buscador de la experiencia mística y relator de ella. Se rastreará esto a partir del material de esta índole que el autor dejó plasmado en sus obras Citas y Comentarios, Com/posiciones y dibaxu, además de la revisión que él mismo hizo de los místicos de tradición judía.

Abstract

The experience of using an elearning platform for the Theories of Culture course of the journalism programme at the Universidade da Beira Interior, Portugal, is described. The results were very positive: the students participated more; the number of students who attended class increased; if a student could not attend a class, he could partially recover the lesson from home; the bibliography can be given in full text; communication between teacher and students improved. Nevertheless, some institutions have the problem that the elearning platform or intranet is installed but no training is offered to staff.

Abstract

Driver mental underload is an important concern in the operational safety of automated driving. In this study, workload was evaluated subjectively (NASA RTLX) and objectively (auditory detection-response task) on Dutch public highways (~150km) in a Tesla Model S comparing manual and supervised automated driving with moderators automation experience and traffic complexity. Participants (N=16) were either automationinexperienced drivers or automation-experienced Tesla owners. Complexity ranged from an engaging environment with a road geometry stimulating continuous traffic interaction, and a monotonic environment with lower traffic density and a simple road geometry. Perceived and objective workload increased with traffic complexity. Automation use reduced perceived workload in both environments for automation-experienced drivers, but not for inexperienced drivers. However, the DRT did not reveal a reduced attentional demand with automation. This suggests that attentive monitoring requires a similar attentional demand as manual driving. The findings highlight the relevance of using system-experienced participants and the relevance of on-road testing for behavioral validity.

Abstract

News media organizations have been experimenting with immersive journalism formats in recent years. The search for new ways to tell stories is driven by technology and has given rise to new –and not so new– forms of expression. The initial enthusiasm has dissipated over the years, so the uncertainty of the future of immersive journalism justifies the study of the most potential ways of using this technology in journalism. This research was carried out in Finland and Spain, and it is based on a textual narrative analysis and a reception study comparing the online article and 360º video versions of the report Fukushima: Contaminated Lives from El país. The results identify the affordances of both formats and confirm that immersive journalism has the capacity to generate a greater emotional effect based on a greater perception of presence, realism and involvement, also having a positive impact on increasing interest and changing opinions on related topics. The narration of online article seems to work better only if there is large amount of information that has to be understood and contextualized. However, authors claim that, instead of an essential break, there are similarities between both formats, which are situated on the same continuum of emotionality and rationality. These findings also indicate that immersive storytelling can be an important part of the emotional or affective turn in contemporary journalism. The sensation of presence and empathy towards distant and complex realities emerge as the main distinguishing values of the kind of immersive journalism that Fukushima: Contaminated lives represents.