The MPEG-21 Media Contract Ontology (MCO), a part of the standard ISO/IEC 21000, is an ontology to represent contracts dealing with rights on multimedia assets and intellectual property protected content in general. A core model provides the elements to describe the permissions, obligations and prohibitions exchanged in the clauses of a contract. Specific vocabulary is defined in a model extens...

BACKGROUND During the 2009/A/H1N1 pandemic, the main burden of the patient management fell on primary care physicians (PCPs), and they were the principal implementers of pandemic policies. Broad involvement of PCPs in the pandemic response offered an excellent opportunity to investigate the challenges that they encountered. OBJECTIVE To examine challenges faced by PCPs as they implemented pan...

QCA and fsQCA methods were devised to offer a qualitative approach to research that allows for the handling of multiple cases and multiple causation. Non-specialists reviewing papers written using QCA or fsQCA techniques often encounter considerable difficulties in interpreting the results. A key problem is that those not trained in these approaches may try to make sense of findings by analogy ...

BACKGROUND Smoking cessation plays a crucial role in reducing preventable morbidity and mortality and is a recognized public-health-policy issue in many countries. Two of the most important factors that affect the efficacy of quitting smoking are motivation and the ability to cope with situations causing relapse. AIM The objective of the study reported here was to investigate former and curre...

STUDY DESIGN Qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews. OBJECTIVES To describe the beliefs and opinions of runners about risk factors associated with running injuries. BACKGROUND Despite the health benefits of running, a high prevalence of injury has been reported in runners. Preventive strategies for running injuries may be more successful with a better knowledge of runners' be...

AIM The aim of this study was to provide evidence of the impact of mobile technologies among healthcare professionals in education and practice settings. DESIGN Integrative literature review. METHODS Electronic databases including MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, EMBASE, ERIC and Web of Science were searched for papers published between 2002-2012. Quantitative studies were critically evaluated ba...

BACKGROUND The interaction between workers and safety representatives (SRs), a factor that determines SRs' effectiveness, is an unexplored issue within occupational health research. METHODS We undertook a qualitative exploratory interpretative-descriptive study by means of semi-structured interviews with SRs from Barcelona (Spain) to analyze the SRs' perspective on the interaction with worker...

BACKGROUND There is a growing recognition of the value of synthesising qualitative research in the evidence base in order to facilitate effective and appropriate health care. In response to this, methods for undertaking these syntheses are currently being developed. Thematic analysis is a method that is often used to analyse data in primary qualitative research. This paper reports on the use of...

This study has two objectives: 1) to carry out a comparative exploration of empathy and a set of socio-emotional variables in childhood and adolescence, analyzing gender differences; and 2) to analyze the relationship of empathy with social behaviour, sociometric choice of prosocial classmate, self-concept and capacity for analyzing negative emotions in children and in adolescents. The sample i...

A fundamental aim of all qualitative studies is to take the perspective of others and therewith to experience meanings, situations and actions through the eyes of others. This demands data from relatively small strategically selected study groups, in addition to empathy, openness and sensitivity in the researchers. Most qualitative researchers strive to come further than just pure descriptions ...