University of Saskatchewan

About: University of Saskatchewan is a education organization based out in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Health care. The organization has 25021 authors who have published 52579 publications receiving 1483049 citations. The organization is also known as: USask.

The Design of Replicated Studies

Abstract: Replication is little discussed in the statistical literature nor practiced widely by statistically minded researchers It is needed not merely to validate one's findings, but more importantly, to establish the increasing range of radically different conditions under which the findings hold, and the predictable exceptions This article describes how to design highly differentiated replications The irrelevance and/or impossibility of identical replications are also discussed Practical illustrations of the success and failure of replicated studies are given

Antimicrobial resistance in Neisseria gonorrhoeae: Global surveillance and a call for international collaborative action

Abstract: In a Policy Forum, Teodora Wi and colleagues discuss the challenges of antimicrobial resistance in gonococci.

A Systematic Review of Faces Scales for the Self-report of Pain Intensity in Children

Abstract: CONTEXT: Numerous faces scales have been developed for the measurement of pain intensity in children. It remains unclear whether any one of the faces scales is better for a particular purpose with regard to validity, reliability, feasibility, and preference. OBJECTIVES: To summarize and systematically review faces pain scales most commonly used to obtain self-report of pain intensity in children for evaluation of reliability and validity and to compare the scales for preference and utility. METHODS: Five major electronic databases were systematically searched for studies that used a faces scale for the self-report measurement of pain intensity in children. Fourteen faces pain scales were identified, of which 4 have undergone extensive psychometric testing: Faces Pain Scale (FPS) (scored 0–6); Faces Pain Scale–Revised (FPS-R) (0–10); Oucher pain scale (0–10); and Wong-Baker Faces Pain Rating Scale (WBFPRS) (0–10). These 4 scales were included in the review. Studies were classified by using psychometric criteria, including construct validity, reliability, and responsiveness, that were established a priori. RESULTS: From a total of 276 articles retrieved, 182 were screened for psychometric evaluation, and 127 were included. All 4 faces pain scales were found to be adequately supported by psychometric data. When given a choice between faces scales, children preferred the WBFPRS. Confounding of pain intensity with affect caused by use of smiling and crying anchor faces is a disadvantage of the WBFPRS. CONCLUSIONS: For clinical use, we found no grounds to switch from 1 faces scale to another when 1 of the scales is in use. For research use, the FPS-R has been recommended on the basis of utility and psychometric features. Data are sparse for children below the age of 5 years, and future research should focus on simplified measures, instructions, and anchors for these younger children.

Heuristic evaluation for games: usability principles for video game design

Abstract: Most video games require constant interaction, so game designers must pay careful attention to usability issues. However, there are few formal methods for evaluating the usability of game interfaces. In this paper, we introduce a new set of heuristics that can be used to carry out usability inspections of video games. The heuristics were developed to help identify usability problems in both early and functional game prototypes. We developed the heuristics by analyzing PC game reviews from a popular gaming website, and the review set covered 108 different games and included 18 from each of 6 major game genres. We analyzed the reviews and identified twelve common classes of usability problems seen in games. We developed ten usability heuristics based on the problem categories, and they describe how common game usability problems can be avoided. A preliminary evaluation of the heuristics suggests that they help identify game-specific usability problems that can easily be overlooked otherwise.

Positive polynomials and sums of squares

Abstract: Preliminaries Positive polynomials and sums of square Krivine's Positivstellensatz The moment problem Non-compact case Archimedean $T$-modules Schmudgen's Positivstellensatz Putinar's question Weak isotropy of quadratic forms Scheiderer's local-global principle Semidefinite programming and optimization Appendix 1: Tarski-Seidenberg theorem Appendix 2: Algebraic sets Bibiography