Study Design for a Case Control Investigation of Cellular Telephones and Other Risk Factors for Brain Tumors in Adults

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Inskip, P.D.; Hatch, E.E.; Stewart, P.A.; Heineman, E.F.; Ziegler, R.G.; Dosemeci, M.; Parry, D.; Rothman, N.; Boice, J.D. Jr.; Wilcosky, T.C.; Watson, D.J.; Shapiro, W.R.; Selker, R.G.; Fine, H.A.; Black, P. McL.; Loeffler, J.S.; Linet, M.S.

1999-01-01

The aetiology of brain tumours is poorly understood. Due, in part, to public concern about a postulated relationship between the use of cellular telephones or other increasingly prevalent environmental exposures and the incidence of brain cancer in adults, the National Cancer Institute is collaborating with three US hospitals in a comprehensive case control study of malignant and benign brain tumours. Factors under consideration include use of cellular phones and other wireless communication devices, workplace exposures to chemical agents and electromagnetic fields, dietary factors, family history of tumours, genetic determinants of susceptibility, home appliance use, reproductive history and hormonal exposures, viruses, medical and dental exposure to ionising radiation, and other aspects of medical history. Approximately 800 newly diagnosed brain tumour cases and 800 controls were enrolled at hospitals in Boston, Phoenix and Pittsburgh from 1994 to 1998. Cases include all adults (age ≥ 18 y) newly diagnosed with a histologically confirmed intracranial glioma, histologically confirmed intracranial meningioma or acoustic neuroma. Controls are patients admitted to the same hospitals as the cases, and treated for any of a variety of non-malignant conditions. Key features of the study include its large size, the emphasis on rapid ascertainment of incident cases and interview of study subjects rather than surrogate respondents, the use of detailed, job-specific questions developed by industrial hygienists to ascertain occupational exposures, and the storage of blood samples for future evaluation of inherited susceptibility, biomarkers of exposure and gene environment interactions. (author)

Brain cancer incidence trends in relation to cellular telephone use in the United States.

Science.gov (United States)

Inskip, Peter D; Hoover, Robert N; Devesa, Susan S

2010-11-01

The use of cellular telephones has grown explosively during the past two decades, and there are now more than 279 million wireless subscribers in the United States. If cellular phone use causes brain cancer, as some suggest, the potential public health implications could be considerable. One might expect the effects of such a prevalent exposure to be reflected in general population incidence rates, unless the induction period is very long or confined to very long-term users. To address this issue, we examined temporal trends in brain cancer incidence rates in the United States, using data collected by the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program. Log-linear models were used to estimate the annual percent change in rates among whites. With the exception of the 20-29-year age group, the trends for 1992-2006 were downward or flat. Among those aged 20-29 years, there was a statistically significant increasing trend between 1992 and 2006 among females but not among males. The recent trend in 20-29-year-old women was driven by a rising incidence of frontal lobe cancers. No increases were apparent for temporal or parietal lobe cancers, or cancers of the cerebellum, which involve the parts of the brain that would be more highly exposed to radiofrequency radiation from cellular phones. Frontal lobe cancer rates also rose among 20-29-year-old males, but the increase began earlier than among females and before cell phone use was highly prevalent. Overall, these incidence data do not provide support to the view that cellular phone use causes brain cancer.

Validation of self-reported cellular phone use

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Samkange-Zeeb, Florence; Berg, Gabriele; Blettner, Maria

2004-01-01

BACKGROUND: In recent years, concern has been raised over possible adverse health effects of cellular telephone use. In epidemiological studies of cancer risk associated with the use of cellular telephones, the validity of self-reported cellular phone use has been problematic. Up to now there is ......BACKGROUND: In recent years, concern has been raised over possible adverse health effects of cellular telephone use. In epidemiological studies of cancer risk associated with the use of cellular telephones, the validity of self-reported cellular phone use has been problematic. Up to now...... there is very little information published on this subject. METHODS: We conducted a study to validate the questionnaire used in an ongoing international case-control study on cellular phone use, the "Interphone study". Self-reported cellular phone use from 68 of 104 participants who took part in our study...... was compared with information derived from the network providers over a period of 3 months (taken as the gold standard). RESULTS: Using Spearman's rank correlation, the correlation between self-reported phone use and information from the network providers for cellular phone use in terms of the number of calls...

Maintenance of the telephone exchange in building 40

CERN Multimedia

2006-01-01

In order to secure the power supply of the telephone exchange in Building 40, maintenance work will be done on 18th December from 7.30 am to 8 am. During this intervention, the fixed telephone services in Building 39 and 40 will be interrupted. The fixed telephone services in other CERN buildings will not be affected by this maintenance. The mobile telephone services (GSM) will not be affected. For more details, please send your questions to Standard.Telephone@cern.ch Telecom Services IT/CS

Towards effective telephone-based delivery of government services

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Barnard, E

2003-09-01

Full Text Available Government regulations have combined with a tremendous growth in prepaid cellular telephony to bring telephone connectivity to an unprecedented number of South African citizens – thus creating an ideal platform for delivering services to a wide...

Cellular-based sea level gauge

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Desai, R.G.P.; Joseph, A.

treaties with greater transparency. Among the various communication technologies used for real-time transmission of sea-level data are the wired telephone connection, VHF/UHF transceivers, satellite transmit terminals and cellular connectivity. Wired... telephone connections are severely susceptible to loss of connectivity during natural disasters such as storm surges, primarily because of telephone line breakage. Communication via VHF/UHF transceivers is limited by line-of-sight distance between...

[Danger of cellular telephones and their relay stations].

Science.gov (United States)

Santini, R; Seigne, M; Bonhomme-Faivre, L

2000-07-01

Cellular phones and their base stations emit pulsed microwaves in the environment. Cellular phone users are exposed in the near field and, under this condition, a large part of the electromagnetic energy is absorbed by the head, leading to an increased brain temperature. The general population is exposed under far field conditions to an electromagnetic intensity depending on the distance from the base station, passive re-emitters, the number of communications maintained by the base station and their position in relation to antennae (in front of the antenna or behind). Biological effects have been reported, such as radiofrequency sickness, electroencephalographic and blood pressure changes and also cancer risks in humans and animals exposed to microwave irradiation. Some European countries (Italy, France, Belgium, etc.) have taken measures to protect their populations.

Cordless telephone use: implications for mobile phone research.

Science.gov (United States)

Redmayne, Mary; Inyang, Imo; Dimitriadis, Christina; Benke, Geza; Abramson, Michael J

2010-04-01

Cordless and mobile (cellular) telephone use has increased substantially in recent years causing concerns about possible health effects. This has led to much epidemiological research, but the usual focus is on mobile telephone radiofrequency (RF) exposure only despite cordless RF being very similar. Access to and use of cordless phones were included in the Mobile Radiofrequency Phone Exposed Users Study (MoRPhEUS) of 317 Year 7 students recruited from Melbourne, Australia. Participants completed an exposure questionnaire-87% had a cordless phone at home and 77% owned a mobile phone. There was a statistically significant positive relationship (r = 0.38, p < 0.01) between cordless and mobile phone use. Taken together, this increases total RF exposure and its ratio in high-to-low mobile users. Therefore, the design and analysis of future epidemiological telecommunication studies need to assess cordless phone exposure to accurately evaluate total RF telephone exposure effects.

Cellular telephone-based radiation detection instrument

Science.gov (United States)

Craig, William W [Pittsburg, CA; Labov, Simon E [Berkeley, CA

2011-06-14

A network of radiation detection instruments, each having a small solid state radiation sensor module integrated into a cellular phone for providing radiation detection data and analysis directly to a user. The sensor module includes a solid-state crystal bonded to an ASIC readout providing a low cost, low power, light weight compact instrument to detect and measure radiation energies in the local ambient radiation field. In particular, the photon energy, time of event, and location of the detection instrument at the time of detection is recorded for real time transmission to a central data collection/analysis system. The collected data from the entire network of radiation detection instruments are combined by intelligent correlation/analysis algorithms which map the background radiation and detect, identify and track radiation anomalies in the region.

Maintenance of the telephone exchange in building 40

CERN Multimedia

2006-01-01

In order to secure the power supply of the telephone exchange in building 40, a maintenance will be done on the 18th of December from 7.30 am to 8 am. During this intervention, the fixed telephony services in building 39 and 40 will be interrupted. The fixed telephony services in other CERN buildings won't be affected by this maintenance. The mobile telephony services (GSM) won't be affected. For more details, please send your questions to Standard.Telephone@cern.ch Telecom Services IT/CS

Effects of high frequency electromagnetic fields emitted from digital cellular telephones on electronic pocket dosimeters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Deji, Shizuhiko; Nishizawa, Kunihide

2003-01-01

Electric field strength distribution around the digital cellular telephone (cell phone) transmitting 1.5GHz band was analyzed by using an isotropic probe. Five types of electronic pocket dosimeters (EPDs) were exposed to the fields for 50sec under four kinds of configurations relative to the cell phone. The field distribution expanded around the antenna and had a maximum strength level of 36.5±0.3V/m. The cell phone caused abnormally high values (wrong dosages) to four EPDs out of five due to electromagnetic interference. Three out of the four EPDs exceeded the upper limits of dose range depending on the configurations, and the maximum value of wrong dosage among the EPDs was 1,283 μSv. The minimum distance preventing electromagnetic interference (protection distance) differed with each EPD and ranged from 2.0cm to 21.0cm. The electromagnetic immunity levels of EPD-1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 were 13.3, ≥35, ≥32, 9.2 and ≥35 V/m, respectively. Although the immunity levels were either equal to or greater than the IEC-standard level, those of the EPDs should be enhanced greater than the IEC-standard from the standpoint of radiation protection. (author)

Telephone versus face-to-face interviewing for household drug use surveys.

Science.gov (United States)

Aquilino, W S

1992-01-01

This research investigated the use of telephone versus face-to-face interviewing to gather data on the use of tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drugs. Telephone and personal drug use surveys of the 18-34 year-old household population were conducted in the state of New Jersey in 1986-1987. Survey modes were compared in terms of unit and item nonresponse rates, sample coverage, and levels of self-reported drug use. Results showed that the telephone survey achieved response rates lower than the personal survey, but comparable to telephone surveys of less threatening topics. Item nonresponse to sensitive drug questions was lower by phone than with the self-administered answer sheets in the personal mode. The exclusion of households without telephones in the telephone survey is a potential source of bias, and may lead to underestimation of alcohol and drug use for minority populations. After controlling for telephone status, the telephone survey furnished significantly lower drug use estimates on several indicators than the personal survey, with the largest mode differences found for Blacks.

The telephone effect: Overcoming initiation deficits in two settings.

Science.gov (United States)

Vickers, Kayci L; Keesler, Michael E; Williams, Kelli S; Charles, Jeremy Y; Hamilton, Roy H

2018-04-19

Disorders of motivation substantially impair an individual's ability to communicate with their families, therapists, and doctors. One method of overcoming initiation deficits is by utilizing the telephone effect, which is the ability for individuals with severe motivation deficits to communicate more readily when speaking on a telephone. However, little is available in the extant literature on how this effect works or how best to integrate this into patient care. This article aims to provide the first report of a proposed mechanism underlying the telephone effect and the first published procedures for eliciting this effect. This is largely a review article that also contains descriptions of clinical procedures for eliciting the telephone effect with 2 patient populations: acute inpatients following brain injury and dementia residents. A case vignette is also provided. We propose that the telephone effect is the result of an interaction between the patient and environment, and occurs because of Gibson's (1979) law of affordances. The use of this theory provides an explanation of the behaviors often observed when attempting to elicit this effect (i.e., disruption of the effect when using a cellular phone). Moreover, we argue that this can, and does, apply to social interactions as well. The telephone effect is an understudied phenomenon that provides a means of improving care for individuals with disorders of motivation. Future directions include systematic research into the telephone effect and further investigation of the mechanism underlying this effect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Question-answer sequences in survey interviews

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dijkstra, W.; Ongena, Y.P.

2006-01-01

Interaction analysis was used to analyze a total of 14,265 question-answer sequences of (Q-A Sequences) 80 questions that originated from two face-to-face and three telephone surveys. The analysis was directed towards the causes and effects of particular interactional problems. Our results showed

Effects of high frequency electromagnetic field emitted from digital cellular telephones on electronic pocket dosimeters

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shizuhiko, Deji; Kunihide, Nishizawa [Nagoya Univ., Nagoya (Japan)

2002-07-01

High frequency electromagnetic fields emitted from digital cellular telephones (cell phones) occasionally cause abnormally high values (wrong dosages) on electronic pocket dosimeters (EPD). Electric field strength distribution around the cell phone transmitting 1.5GHz band with a maximum power of 0.8 W was analyzed by using an isotropic probe with tri-axial dipole antennas. Five kinds of EPDs were exposed to the fields for 50s under four kinds of configurations relative to the cell phone. The electric field distribution expanded around the antenna and had a maximum strength level of 36.5 {+-} 0.30 V/m. The cell phone gave rise to a wrong dosage of four EPDs out of five. The electromagnetic susceptibility of the EPD was higher in the section where the semiconductor detector or electric circuit boards were implanted. The maximum value of wrong dosage was 1283{mu} Sv. The distance preventing electromagnetic interference differed in each EPD and ranged from 2.0cm to 21.0cm. The electromagnetic immunity levels of the EPDs were distributed from 9.2V/m to a value greater than 35V/m. The EPDs displayed wrong dosage during exposure, while they recovered their normal performance after the cell phone ceased transmitting. The electromagnetic immunity levels of the EPDs were either equal to or greater than the IEC-standard. The immunity levels should be enhanced greater than the IEC-standard from the standpoint of radiation protection.

Effects of high frequency electromagnetic field emitted from digital cellular telephones on electronic pocket dosimeters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shizuhiko, Deji; Kunihide, Nishizawa

2002-01-01

High frequency electromagnetic fields emitted from digital cellular telephones (cell phones) occasionally cause abnormally high values (wrong dosages) on electronic pocket dosimeters (EPD). Electric field strength distribution around the cell phone transmitting 1.5GHz band with a maximum power of 0.8 W was analyzed by using an isotropic probe with tri-axial dipole antennas. Five kinds of EPDs were exposed to the fields for 50s under four kinds of configurations relative to the cell phone. The electric field distribution expanded around the antenna and had a maximum strength level of 36.5 ± 0.30 V/m. The cell phone gave rise to a wrong dosage of four EPDs out of five. The electromagnetic susceptibility of the EPD was higher in the section where the semiconductor detector or electric circuit boards were implanted. The maximum value of wrong dosage was 1283μ Sv. The distance preventing electromagnetic interference differed in each EPD and ranged from 2.0cm to 21.0cm. The electromagnetic immunity levels of the EPDs were distributed from 9.2V/m to a value greater than 35V/m. The EPDs displayed wrong dosage during exposure, while they recovered their normal performance after the cell phone ceased transmitting. The electromagnetic immunity levels of the EPDs were either equal to or greater than the IEC-standard. The immunity levels should be enhanced greater than the IEC-standard from the standpoint of radiation protection

Telephone Exchange Maintenance

CERN Multimedia

2005-01-01

Urgent maintenance work on CERN telephone exchanges will be performed on 24 March from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. Telephone services may be disrupted or even interrupted during this time. For more details, please contact us by email at Standard.Telephone@cern.ch.

Total Telephone Tips.

Science.gov (United States)

Corder, Lloyd E.; And Others

This manual of telephone behavior tips for business and sales professionals offers ways to handle the disgruntled caller and makes suggestions on topics relevant to the telephone. The manual is divided into the following sections and subsections: (1) Common Courtesy (staff tips, answering the telephone, screening calls, transferring calls, taking…

Telephone Service

CERN Multimedia

2005-01-01

As part of the upgrade of telephone services, the CERN exchange switches will be updated on Thursday 2 June between 7.00 p.m. and midnight. Telephone services may be affected and possibly even disrupted during this operation. 

Sociodemographic differences in dietary habits described by food frequency questions - results from Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dynesen, Anja Weirsøe; Haraldsdóttir, J.; Holm, Karen Lotte

2003-01-01

OBJECTIVES: To investigate whether a modest number of food frequency questions are sufficient to describe sociodemographic differences in dietary habits, and to identify sociodemographic characteristics of subjects adhering to food-based dietary guidelines operationalised in a "healthy-diet index......". DESIGN: Cross-sectional population survey. SUBJECTS: A total of 480 men, 515 women, aged 15-90 y. Random sample of private telephone numbers drawn from regional telephone records, geographically stratified. Participation rate 62%. METHODS: Computer-assisted telephone interviews, including six food...... frequency questions, a question on type of fat spreads used on bread, questions on seven sociodemographic variables. RESULTS: The summary of the healthy-diet index showed that the subjects who adhered to food-based dietary guidelines (top quintile) compared to those who did not (bottom quintile) were most...

76 FR 46313 - Notice of Issuance of Final Determination Concerning Iridium Satellite Telephones

Science.gov (United States)

2011-08-02

... modulates them into radio streams that communicate with the Iridium gateway network infrastructure using a... (DSP) cores, made in China, and two radio frequency (RF) backend chips, made in Taiwan. The bill of... marking of a cellular phone. CBP found that a digital mobile telephone was substantially transformed in...

Telephoning in English

CERN Document Server

Naterop, B Jean

1994-01-01

Many people have to use English on the telephone in the course of their work, either at the level of taking a simple message or involving more complex tasks such as requesting information. Telephoning in English provides an up-to-date and relevant context in which students from lower-intermediate level upwards can develop practical telephone skills. The course principally develops spoken interactive skills, but also includes reading material on telephone systems and techniques. As the material is not restricted to particular job functions, it is suitable for students in a wide range of business and administration fields.

Cellular telephone-based wide-area radiation detection network

Science.gov (United States)

Craig, William W [Pittsburg, CA; Labov, Simon E [Berkeley, CA

2009-06-09

A network of radiation detection instruments, each having a small solid state radiation sensor module integrated into a cellular phone for providing radiation detection data and analysis directly to a user. The sensor module includes a solid-state crystal bonded to an ASIC readout providing a low cost, low power, light weight compact instrument to detect and measure radiation energies in the local ambient radiation field. In particular, the photon energy, time of event, and location of the detection instrument at the time of detection is recorded for real time transmission to a central data collection/analysis system. The collected data from the entire network of radiation detection instruments are combined by intelligent correlation/analysis algorithms which map the background radiation and detect, identify and track radiation anomalies in the region.

Mobile phone text messaging and Telephone follow-up in type 2 diabetic patients for 3 months: a comparative study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zolfaghari Mirta

2012-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background To investigate and to compare the effectiveness of a nurse short message service (SMS by cellular phone and telephone follow-up by nurse on Glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c levels in people with type 2 diabetes. Methods Semi experimental study consisted of 77 patients with type 2 diabetes that randomly assigned to two groups: telephone follow-up (n = 39 and short message service (n = 38. Telephone interventions were applied by researcher for 3 months. SMS group that received message daily for 12 weeks. Data gathering instrument include data sheet to record HbA1c and questionnaire that consisted of demographic characteristics. Data gathering was performed at two points: initial the study and after 12 weeks. Data analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics methods with SPSS version 11.5. Results Demographic variables were compared and all of them were homogenous. Results of this study showed that both interventions had significant mean changes in HbA1c; for the telephone group (p = 0.001, with a mean change of −0.93% and for the SMS group (p = 0.001, with a mean change of −1.01%. Conclusion Finding of this research showed that intervention using SMS via cellular phone and nurse-led-telephone follow up improved HbA1c for three months in type 2 diabetic patients and it can consider as alternative methods for diabetes control.

Evaluating telephone follow-up of a mail survey of community pharmacies.

Science.gov (United States)

Westrick, Salisa C; Mount, Jeanine K

2007-06-01

Mail and telephone are commonly used modes of survey with pharmacists. Research conducted using general population surveys consistently describes mail surveys as being less expensive but yielding lower response rates than telephone surveys. However, findings obtained from the general population may not be generalizable to pharmacist surveys. This study evaluates the effectiveness of telephone follow-up of mail survey nonrespondents by comparing the 2 survey modes on response rates, cooperation rates, cost per sample unit, and cost per usable response and evaluating potential nonresponse bias in the context of immunization activities. A census mail survey of 1,143 Washington State community pharmacies and a follow-up telephone survey of 262 randomly selected mail survey nonrespondents were compared. Both surveys included the same 15 yes/no-type questions to ask respondents about their pharmacy's involvement in immunization activities. The mail survey yielded a response rate 1 of 26.7% and a cooperation rate 1 of 26.7%, compared with 83.6% and 87.8%, respectively, for the follow-up telephone survey. With respect to cost per sample unit, the mail survey was the least expensive option ($1.20). However, when comparing cost per usable response, the mail survey was the most expensive ($4.37), and the follow-up telephone survey without an advance notification was the least expensive ($1.99). Furthermore, results suggest the presence of nonresponse bias: compared with pharmacies participating in the follow-up telephone survey, pharmacies participating in the mail survey were more likely to be involved in in-house immunization services but less likely to be involved in outsourced services. The telephone survey achieved higher outcome rates with reduced cost per usable response. A telephone survey is a viable mode that holds promise in pharmacy practice research. Maximizing response rates and assessing potential nonresponse bias should be a standard practice among pharmacy

Role of telephone triage in obstetrics.

Science.gov (United States)

Manning, Nirvana Afsordeh; Magann, Everett F; Rhoads, Sarah J; Ivey, Tesa L; Williams, Donna J

2012-12-01

The telephone has become an indispensable method of communication in the practice of obstetrics. The telephone is one of the primary methods by which the patient makes her appointments and contacts her health care provider for advice, reassurance, and referrals. Current methods of telephone triage include personal at the physicians' office, telephone answering services, labor and delivery nurses, and a dedicated telephone triage system using algorithms. Limitations of telephone triage include the inability of the provider to see the patient and receive visual clues from the interaction and the challenges of obtaining a complete history over the telephone. In addition, there are potential safety and legal issues with telephone triage. To date, there is insufficient evidence to either validate or refute the use of a dedicated telephone triage system compared with a traditional system using an answering service or nurses on labor and delivery. Obstetricians and gynecologists, family physicians. After completing this CME activity, physicians should be better able to analyze the scope of variation in telephone triage across health care providers and categorize the components that go into a successful triage system, assess the current scope of research in telephone triage in obstetrics, evaluate potential safety and legal issues with telephone triage in obstetrics, and identify issues that should be addressed in any institution that is using or implementing a system of telephone triage in obstetrics.

Psychotherapeutic intervention by telephone

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Erika Mozer

2008-06-01

Full Text Available Erika Mozer1,2, Bethany Franklin1,3, Jon Rose11Department of Veterans Affairs, Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, CA, USA; 2PGSP Stanford PsyD Consortium Palo Alto, CA, USA; 3Pacific Graduate School of Psychology Palo Alto, California, USAAbstract: Psychotherapy conducted over the telephone has received increasing amounts of empirical attention given practical advantages that side-step treatment barriers encountered in traditional office-based care. The utility and efficacy of telephone therapy appears generalizable across diverse clinical populations seeking care in community-based hospital settings. Treatment barriers common to older adults suggest that telephone therapy may be an efficient and effective mental health resource for this population. This paper describes empirical studies of telehealth interventions and case examples with psychotherapy conducted via telephone on the Spinal Cord Injury Unit of the Palo Alto Veterans’ Administration. Telephone therapy as appears to be a viable intervention with the aging population.Keywords: telehealth, rural mental health, psychotherapy, healthcare delivery, telecare

1What do first-time mothers worry about? A study of usage patterns and content of calls made to a postpartum support telephone hotline

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Naassan Georges

2010-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Telephone hotlines designed to address common concerns in the early postpartum could be a useful resource for parents. Our aim was to test the feasibility of using a telephone as an intervention in a randomized controlled trial. We also aimed to test to use of algorithms to address parental concerns through a telephone hotline. Methods Healthy first-time mothers were recruited from postpartum wards of hospitals throughout Lebanon. Participants were given the number of a 24-hour telephone hotline that they could access for the first four months after delivery. Calls were answered by a midwife using algorithms developed by the study team whenever possible. Callers with medical complaints were referred to their physicians. Call patterns and content were recorded and analyzed. Results Eighty-four of the 353 women enrolled (24% used the hotline. Sixty percent of the women who used the service called more than once, and all callers reported they were satisfied with the service. The midwife received an average of three calls per day and most calls occurred during the first four weeks postpartum. Our algorithms were used to answer questions in 62.8% of calls and 18.6% of calls required referral to a physician. Of the questions related to mothers, 66% were about breastfeeding. Sixty percent of questions related to the infant were about routine care and 23% were about excessive crying. Conclusions Utilization of a telephone hotline service for postpartum support is highest in the first four weeks postpartum. Most questions are related to breastfeeding, routine newborn care, and management of a fussy infant. It is feasible to test a telephone hotline as an intervention in a randomized controlled trial. Algorithms can be developed to provide standardized answers to the most common questions.

Comparison between data obtained through real-time data capture by SMS and a retrospective telephone interview

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Johansen, Bendt; Wedderkopp, Niels

2010-01-01

BACKGROUND: The aims of the current study were: a) to quantitatively compare data obtained by Short Message Service (SMS) with data from a telephone interview, b) to investigate whether the respondents had found it acceptable to answer the weekly two SMS questions, c) to explore whether....... Bland-Altman limits of agreement were calculated. The two quantitative questions were reported as percentages. Actual costs for the SMS-Track-Questionnaire (SMS-T-Q) were compared with estimated costs for paper version surveys. RESULTS: There was high agreement between telephone interview and SMS...... an additional weekly third SMS question would have been acceptable, and d) to calculate the total cost of using the SMS technology. METHODS: SMS technology was used each week for 53 weeks to monitor 260 patients with low back pain (LBP) in a clinical study. Each week, these patients were asked the same two...

Improving Posthospital Discharge Telephone Reach Rates Through Prehospital Discharge Face-to-Face Meetings.

Science.gov (United States)

Vergara, Franz H; Sheridan, Daniel J; Sullivan, Nancy J; Budhathoki, Chakra

The purpose of this study was to determine whether a face-to-face meeting with patients by a telephonic case manager prehospital discharge would result in increased telephone follow-up (TFU) reach rates posthospital discharge. Acute care adult medicine inpatient units. A quasiexperimental design was utilized. Two adult inpatient medicine units were selected as the intervention and comparison groups. The framework of the study is the transitions theory. A convenience sampling technique was used, whereby 88 eligible patients on the intervention unit received face-to-face meetings prehospital discharge whereas 123 patients on the comparison unit received standard care (no face-to-face meetings). Cross-tabulation and chi-square tests were employed to examine the association of face-to-face meeting intervention and TFU reach rates. Implementing brief (face-to-face meetings by a telephonic case manager prehospital discharge resulted in a TFU reach rate of 87% on the intervention unit, whereas the comparison unit only had a 58% TFU reach rate (p communication with more patients posthospital discharge. A brief prehospital discharge face-to-face meeting with patients assisted them to understand the reasons for a posthospital discharge telephone call, identified the best times to call using accurate telephone numbers, and taught patients how best to prepare for the call. In addition, by meeting patients face-to-face, the telephonic case manager was no longer an unknown person on the telephone asking them questions about their medical condition. These factors combined may have significantly helped to increase TFU reach rates.

Learning how to learn using simulation: Unpacking disguised feedback using a qualitative analysis of doctors' telephone talk.

Science.gov (United States)

Eppich, Walter J; Rethans, Jan-Joost; Dornan, Timothy; Teunissen, Pim W

2018-05-04

Telephone talk between clinicians represents a substantial workplace activity in postgraduate clinical education, yet junior doctors receive little training in goal-directed, professional telephone communication. To assess educational needs for telephone talk and develop a simulation-based educational intervention. Thematic analysis of 17 semi-structured interviews with doctors-in-training from various training levels and specialties. We identified essential elements to incorporate into simulation-based telephone talk, including common challenging situations for junior doctors as well as explicit and informal aspects that promote learning. These elements have implications for both junior doctors and clinical supervisors, including: (a) explicit teaching and feedback practices and (b) informal conversational interruptions and questions. The latter serve as "disguised" feedback, which aligns with recent conceptualizations of feedback as "performance relevant information". In addition to preparing clinical supervisors to support learning through telephone talk, we propose several potential educational strategies: (a) embedding telephone communication skills throughout simulation activities and (b) developing stand-alone curricular elements to sensitize junior doctors to "disguised" feedback during telephone talk as a mechanism to augment future workplace learning, i.e. 'learning how to learn' through simulation.

Telephone consultations on exposure to nuclear disaster radiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yashima, Sachiko; Chida, Koichi

2014-01-01

The Fukushima nuclear disaster occurred on March 11, 2011. For about six weeks, I worked as a counselor for phone consultations regarding radiation risk. I analyzed the number of consultations, consultations by telephone, and their changing patterns with elapse of time, to assist with consultations about risk in the future. There were a large number of questions regarding the effects of radiation, particularly with regard to children. We believe that counseling and risk communication are the key to effectively informing the public about radiation risks. (author)

Telephone calls by individuals with cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Flannery, Marie; McAndrews, Leanne; Stein, Karen F

2013-09-01

To describe symptom type and reporting patterns found in spontaneously initiated telephone calls placed to an ambulatory cancer center practice. Retrospective, descriptive. Adult hematology oncology cancer center. 563 individuals with a wide range of oncology diagnoses who initiated 1,229 telephone calls to report symptoms. Raw data were extracted from telephone forms using a data collection sheet with 23 variables obtained for each phone call, using pre-established coding criteria. A literature-based, investigator-developed instrument was used for the coding criteria and selection of which variables to extract. Symptom reporting, telephone calls, pain, and symptoms. A total of 2,378 symptoms were reported by telephone during the four months. At least 10% of the sample reported pain (38%), fatigue (16%), nausea (16%), swelling (12%), diarrhea (12%), dyspnea (10%), and anorexia (10%). The modal response was to call only one time and to report only one symptom (55%). Pain emerged as the symptom that most often prompted an individual to pick up the telephone and call. Although variation was seen in symptom reporting, an interesting pattern emerged with an individual reporting on a solitary symptom in a single telephone call. The emergence of pain as the primary symptom reported by telephone prompted educational efforts for both in-person clinic visit management of pain and prioritizing nursing education and protocol management of pain reported by telephone. Report of symptoms by telephone can provide nurses unique insight into patient-centered needs. Although pain has been an important focus of education and research for decades, it remains a priority for individuals with cancer. A wide range in symptom reporting by telephone was evident.

Comparison between data obtained through real-time data capture by SMS and a retrospective telephone interview.

Science.gov (United States)

Johansen, Bendt; Wedderkopp, Niels

2010-05-26

The aims of the current study were: a) to quantitatively compare data obtained by Short Message Service (SMS) with data from a telephone interview, b) to investigate whether the respondents had found it acceptable to answer the weekly two SMS questions, c) to explore whether an additional weekly third SMS question would have been acceptable, and d) to calculate the total cost of using the SMS technology. SMS technology was used each week for 53 weeks to monitor 260 patients with low back pain (LBP) in a clinical study. Each week, these patients were asked the same two questions: "How many days in the past week have you had problems due to LBP?" and "How many days in the past week have you been off work due to LBP problems?" The last 31 patients were also contacted by telephone 53 weeks after recruitment and asked to recall the number of days with LBP problems and days off work for the a) past week, b) past month, and c) past year. The two sets of answers to the same questions for these patients were compared. Patients were also asked whether a third SMS question would have been acceptable. The test-retest reliability was compared for 1-week, 1-month, and 1-year. Bland-Altman limits of agreement were calculated. The two quantitative questions were reported as percentages. Actual costs for the SMS-Track-Questionnaire (SMS-T-Q) were compared with estimated costs for paper version surveys. There was high agreement between telephone interview and SMS-T-Q responses for the 1-week and 1-month recall. In contrast, the 1-year recall showed very low agreement. A third SMS question would have been acceptable. The SMS system was considerably less costly than a paper-based survey, beyond a certain threshold number of questionnaires. SMS-T-Q appears to be a cheaper and better method to collect reliable LBP data than paper-based surveys.

Assessment of radiofrequency exposure from cellular telephone daily use in an epidemiological study: German Validation study of the international case-control study of cancers of the brain--INTERPHONE-Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Berg, Gabriele; Schüz, Joachim; Samkange-Zeeb, Florence; Blettner, Maria

2005-05-01

The objective of the study is to validate self-reported cellular phone use information by comparing it with the cumulative emitted power and duration of calls measured by software-modified cellular phones (SMP). The information was obtained using a questionnaire developed for the international case-control study on the risk of the use of mobile phones in tumours of the brain or salivary gland (INTERPHONE-study). The study was conducted in Bielefeld, Germany. Volunteers were asked to use SMPs instead of their own cellular phones for a period of 1 month. The SMP recorded the power emitted by the mobile phone handset during each base station contact. Information on cellular phone use for the same time period from traffic records of the network providers and from face-to-face interviews with the participants 3 months after the SMP use was assessed. Pearson's correlation coefficients and linear regression models were used to analyse the association between information from the interview and from the SMP. In total, 1757 personal mobile phone calls were recorded for 45 persons by SMP and traffic records. The correlation between the self-reported information about the number and the duration of calls with the cumulative power of calls was 0.50 (P<0.01) and 0.48 (P<0.01), respectively. Almost 23% of the variance of the cumulative power was explained by either the number or the cumulative duration of calls. After inclusion of possible confounding factors in the regression model, the variance increased to 26%. Minor confounding factors were "network provider", "contract form", and "cellular phone model". The number of calls alone is a sufficient parameter to estimate the cumulative power emitted by the handset of a cellular telephone. The cumulative power emitted by these phones is only associated with number of calls but not with possible confounding factors. Using the mobile phone while driving, mainly in cities, or mainly in rural areas is not associated with the recorded

Do Interviewers' Health Beliefs and Habits Modify Responses to Sensitive Questions? A study using Data Collected from Pregnant women by Means of Computer-assisted Telephone Interviews

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Anne-Marie Nybo; Olsen, Jørn

2002-01-01

If interviewers' personal habits or attitudes influence respondents' answers to given questions, this may lead to bias, which should be taken into consideration when analyzing data. The authors examined a potential interviewer effect in a study of pregnant women in which exposure data were obtained...... through computer-assisted telephone interviews. The authors compared interviewer characteristics for 34 interviewers with the responses they obtained in 12,910 interviews carried out for the Danish National Birth Cohort Study. Response data on smoking and alcohol consumption in the first trimester...... of pregnancy were collected during the time period October 1, 1997-February 1, 1999. Overall, the authors found little evidence to suggest that interviewers' personal habits or attitudes toward smoking and alcohol consumption during pregnancy had consequences for the responses they obtained; neither did...

Update of telephone exchange

CERN Multimedia

2006-01-01

As part of the upgrade of telephone services, the CERN switching centre will be updated on Wednesday 14 June between 8.00 p.m. and midnight. Telephone services may be disrupted and possibly even interrupted during this operation. We apologise in advance for any inconvenience this may cause. CERN TELECOM Service

A telephone questionnaire in order to assess functional outcome after post-traumatic limb salvage surgery: Development and preliminary validation.

Science.gov (United States)

Wulterkens, Leonie; Aurégan, Jean-Charles; Letellier, Thomas; Mebtouche, Nasser; Levante, Stéphane; Cottin, Philippe; Bégué, Thierry

2015-12-01

Post-traumatic limb salvage surgery is challenging and evaluation of the results remains arduous. No questionnaire specifically assessing functional outcome after post-traumatic limb salvage surgery of the lower extremity exists. Due to regionalization of specialized care, the patients' travel time to the hospital increases. To overcome a higher patients' travel burden, patients' follow up by telephone is an option. We aimed to develop a telephone questionnaire in order to assess functional outcome after post-traumatic limb salvage surgery of the lower extremity. From a review of scores of functional assessment of the lower limb surgery, we have developed a telephone questionnaire. A prospective study was performed to validate this telephone questionnaire. Twenty patients were included. The participants were called to complete the telephone questionnaire twice with an interval of a week. The Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) was completed during the second telephone call. The internal consistency was analyzed by the Cronbach's alpha (α). With the outcome scores of both completions, the test-retest reliability was analyzed by the interclass correlation coefficient (ICC) 2,k with a 95% confidence interval (95% CI). The outcome scores of the second telephone questionnaire and the WOMAC questionnaire were used for the construct validity analysis by the Spearman's rank correlation coefficient (r(s)) with a 95% CI. The internal consistency analysis revealed a α=0.62 which improved to α=0.92 after removing one question from the telephone questionnaire. The final version of the telephone questionnaire comprises 32 questions, divided in 3 subscales: function, daily life and psychology. The total score varies between 0 and 86 points. The test-retest reliability was ICC 2,k=0.93 (95% CI: 0.82-0.97) and the construct validity was r(s)=0.92 (95% CI: 0.81-0.97). We present a specific telephone questionnaire in order to assess functional

Update of telephone exchange

CERN Multimedia

2006-01-01

As part of the upgrade of telephone services, the CERN switching centre will be updated on Monday 3 July between 8.00 p.m. and 3.00 a.m. Telephone services may be disrupted and possibly even interrupted during this operation.We apologise in advance for any inconvenience this may cause. CERN TELECOM Service

Update of telephone exchange

CERN Multimedia

2006-01-01

As part of the upgrade of telephone services, the CERN switching centre will be updated on Monday 3 July between 8.00 p.m. and 3.00 a.m. Telephone services may be disrupted and possibly even interrupted during this operation. We apologise in advance for any inconvenience this may cause. CERN TELECOM Service

Maintenance of the CERN telephone exchanges

CERN Multimedia

2007-01-01

Maintenance work will be carried out on the CERN telephone exchanges between 8 p.m. and midnight on 20 November. Fixed-line telephone and audioconference services may be disrupted while the work is being carried out. However, the CCC and the fire brigade will be contactable at any time. Mobile telephony services (GSM) will not be affected by the maintenance work. For further details about the maintenance work, please contact the telephone switchboard on 76111 or by email to standard.telephone@cern.ch. Telecom Section IT/CS

Update of telephone exchange

CERN Multimedia

2006-01-01

As part of the upgrade of telephone services, the CERN switching centre will be updated on between Monday 23 October 8.00 p.m. and Tuesday 24 October 2.00 a.m. Telephone services may be disrupted and possibly even interrupted during this operation. We apologise in advance for any inconvenience this may cause. CERN TELECOM Service

Upgrade of telephone exchange

CERN Multimedia

2006-01-01

As part of the upgrade of telephone services, work will be carried out on the CERN switching centre between Monday 23 October 8.00 p.m. and Tuesday 24 October 2.00 a.m. Telephone services may be disrupted and possibly even interrupted during this operation. We apologise in advance for any inconvenience this may cause. CERN TELECOM Service

Systems configured to distribute a telephone call, communication systems, communication methods and methods of routing a telephone call to a service representative

Science.gov (United States)

Harris, Scott H.; Johnson, Joel A.; Neiswanger, Jeffery R.; Twitchell, Kevin E.

2004-03-09

The present invention includes systems configured to distribute a telephone call, communication systems, communication methods and methods of routing a telephone call to a customer service representative. In one embodiment of the invention, a system configured to distribute a telephone call within a network includes a distributor adapted to connect with a telephone system, the distributor being configured to connect a telephone call using the telephone system and output the telephone call and associated data of the telephone call; and a plurality of customer service representative terminals connected with the distributor and a selected customer service representative terminal being configured to receive the telephone call and the associated data, the distributor and the selected customer service representative terminal being configured to synchronize, application of the telephone call and associated data from the distributor to the selected customer service representative terminal.

Maintenance of the CERN telephone exchanges

CERN Multimedia

TS Department

2008-01-01

Maintenance work will be carried out on the CERN telephone exchanges between 8 p.m. and midnight on 3 December. During this time, the fixed-line telephone and audio-conference services may be disrupted. However, the CCC and the Fire Brigade will be reachable at all times. Mobile telephone services (GSM) will not be affected by this work. For further details please contact mailto:Netops@cern.ch.

Maintenance of the CERN telephone exchanges

CERN Multimedia

TS Department

2008-01-01

Maintenance work will be carried out on the CERN telephone exchanges between 8 p.m. and midnight on 3 December. During this time, the fixed-line telephone and audio-conference services may be disrupted. However, the CCC and the Fire Brigade will be reachable at all times. Mobile telephone services (GSM) will not be affected by this work. For further details please contact Netops@cern.ch.

Assessment of mental health and illness by telephone survey: experience with an Alberta mental health survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Patten, Scott B; Adair, Carol E; Williams, Jeanne Va; Brant, Rollin; Wang, Jian Li; Casebeer, Ann; Beauséjour, Pierre

2006-01-01

Mental health is an emerging priority for health surveillance. It has not been determined that the existing data sources can adequately meet surveillance needs. The objective of this project was to explore the use of telephone surveys as a means of collecting supplementary surveillance information. A computer-assisted telephone interview was administered to 5,400 subjects in Alberta. The interview included a set of brief, validated measures for evaluating mental disorder prevalence and related variables. The individual subject response rate was 78 percent, but a substantial number of refusals occurred at the initial household contact. The age and sex distribution of the study sample differed from that of the provincial population prior to weighting. Prevalence proportions did not vary substantially across administrative health regions. There is a potential role for telephone data collection in mental health surveillance, but these results highlight some associated methodological challenges. They also draw into question the importance of regional variation in mental disorder prevalence--which might otherwise have been a key advantage of telephone survey methodologies.

Elder abuse telephone screen reliability and validity.

Science.gov (United States)

Buri, Hilary M; Daly, Jeanette M; Jogerst, Gerald J

2009-01-01

(a) To identify reliable and valid questions that identify elder abuse, (b) to assess the reliability and validity of extant self-reported elder abuse screens in a high-risk elderly population, and (c) to describe difficulties of completing and interpreting screens in a high-need elderly population. All elders referred to research-trained social workers in a community service agency were asked to participate. Of the 70 elders asked, 49 participated, 44 completed the first questionnaire, and 32 completed the duplicate second questionnaire. A research assistant administered the telephone questionnaires. Twenty-nine (42%) persons were judged abused, 12 (17%) had abuse reported, and 4 (6%) had abuse substantiated. The elder abuse screen instruments were not found to be predictive of assessed abuse or as predictors of reported abuse; the measures tended toward being inversely predictive. Two questions regarding harm and taking of belongings were significantly different for the assessed abused group. In this small group of high-need community-dwelling elders, the screens were not effective in discriminating between abused and nonabused groups. Better instruments are needed to assess for elder abuse.

The influence of cellular phone "speak" on isiXhosa rules of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Cellular telephones have revolutionised the art of communication across all societies, and. South Africa is no exception. Access to this form of communication has made personal contact easier, in both rural and urban contexts. Globally this form of communication has been readily embraced. However, cultural rules that ...

Sociodemographic differences in dietary habits described by food frequency questions--results from Denmark.

Science.gov (United States)

Dynesen, A W; Haraldsdóttir, J; Holm, L; Astrup, A

2003-12-01

To investigate whether a modest number of food frequency questions are sufficient to describe sociodemographic differences in dietary habits, and to identify sociodemographic characteristics of subjects adhering to food-based dietary guidelines operationalised in a "healthy-diet index". Cross-sectional population survey. A total of 480 men, 515 women, aged 15-90 y. Random sample of private telephone numbers drawn from regional telephone records, geographically stratified. Participation rate 62%. Computer-assisted telephone interviews, including six food frequency questions, a question on type of fat spreads used on bread, questions on seven sociodemographic variables. The summary of the healthy-diet index showed that the subjects who adhered to food-based dietary guidelines (top quintile) compared to those who did not (bottom quintile) were most often women (odds ratio (OR)=6.07; confidence interval (CI): 3.91-9.43, women vs men), of older age (OR=9.72; CI: 3.02-31.31, old age vs young), highly educated (OR=3.69; CI: 1.53-8.92, high education vs low) and living in multiperson households including children (OR=4.66; CI: 2.47-8.80, multiperson household vs single household). The results also showed that gender difference in dietary habits is associated with other sociodemographic variables. The selected food frequency questions proved sufficient to describe sociodemographic differences in dietary habits, and this method may be a valuable supplement to traditional quantitative dietary surveys in monitoring sociodemographic changes in eating patterns. The results also underline the influence of sociodemographic status on dietary habits. The Danish Nutrition Council funded the study.

Maintenance of the CERN telephone exchanges

CERN Multimedia

2007-01-01

Maintenance work on the CERN telephone exchanges will be performed on 10 July from 8 p.m. to midnight. During this intervention, the fixed telephone services, audioconference services and GSM calls made via the 333 prefix may be disrupted. However, the CCC and the fire brigade will be reachable at all times. For more details about this maintenance work, please call the telephone switchboard on 76111 or send an e-mail. Telecom SectionIT/CS

Maintenance of the CERN telephone exchanges

CERN Multimedia

2007-01-01

A maintenance of the CERN telephone exchanges will be performed on the 10th of July from 8 p.m. to midnight. During this intervention, the fixed telephone services, audioconference services, and GSM calls made via the 333 prefix may be disrupted. However, the CCC and the fire brigade will be reachable at any time. For more details about this maintenance, please contact the telephone switchboard at 76111 or by email. Telecom Section IT/CS

Doctor-patient communication on the telephone.

Science.gov (United States)

Curtis, P; Evens, S

1989-01-01

Since its invention, the telephone has been an important tool in medical practice, particularly for primary care physicians. Approximately half the calls made to a physician's office during regular consulting hours are for clinical problems and most are handled effectively over the phone without an immediate office visit. Telephone encounters are generally very brief, and managing such calls requires a pragmatic approach that is often quite different from the approach taken in the office visit. The telephone encounter should be recognized and recorded as a specific medical interaction in the medical chart for both clinical and legal reasons. Effective telephone encounters depend on good communication skills; decision making regarding disposition is a major goal. The physician's perception of a medical problem may be different from the patient's; patients are frequently seeking advice and reassurance rather than diagnosis and treatment, and may call because of anxiety and psychological stress. For physicians and their families who are not prepared for after-hours telephone encounters, calls that interrupt more "legitimate" activities may result in anger or frustration for the physician and dissatisfaction for the patient.

7 CFR 1737.60 - Telephone loan budget.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 11 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Telephone loan budget. 1737.60 Section 1737.60... Cost Estimation Procedures § 1737.60 Telephone loan budget. (a) RUS shall prepare a “Telephone Loan Budget” (RUS Form 493) showing all costs for the proposed project and the amount of loan and nonloan...

Maintenance of the CERN telephone exchanges

CERN Multimedia

2007-01-01

Maintenance work will be carried out on the CERN telephone exchanges between 8 p.m. and midnight on 20 November. Fixed-line telephone and audioconference services may be disrupted while the work is being carried out. However, the CCC and the fire brigade will be reachable at any time. Mobile telephony services (GSM) will not be affected by the maintenance work. For further details about the maintenance work, please contact the telephone switchboard on 76111 or by email. Telecom Section - IT/CS

Comparison between data obtained through real-time data capture by SMS and a retrospective telephone interview

OpenAIRE

Johansen, Bendt; Wedderkopp, Niels

2010-01-01

Abstract Background The aims of the current study were: a) to quantitatively compare data obtained by Short Message Service (SMS) with data from a telephone interview, b) to investigate whether the respondents had found it acceptable to answer the weekly two SMS questions, c) to explore whether an additional weekly third SMS question would have been acceptable, and d) to calculate the total cost of using the SMS technology. Methods SMS technology was used each week for 53 weeks to monitor 260...

24 CFR 3285.704 - Telephone and cable TV.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 5 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Telephone and cable TV. 3285.704....704 Telephone and cable TV. Refer to § 3285.906 for considerations pertinent to installation of telephone and cable TV. ...

Identifying the core competencies of mental health telephone triage.

Science.gov (United States)

Sands, Natisha; Elsom, Stephen; Gerdtz, Marie; Henderson, Kathryn; Keppich-Arnold, Sandra; Droste, Nicolas; Prematunga, Roshani K; Wereta, Zewdu W

2013-11-01

The primary aim of this study was to identify the core competencies of mental health telephone triage, including key role tasks, skills, knowledge and responsibilities, in which clinicians are required to be competent to perform safe and effective triage. Recent global trends indicate an increased reliance on telephone-based health services to facilitate access to health care across large populations. The trend towards telephone-based health services has also extended to mental health settings, evidenced by the growing number of mental health telephone triage services providing 24-hour access to specialist mental health assessment and treatment. Mental health telephone triage services are critical to the early identification of mental health problems and the provision of timely, appropriate interventions. In spite of the rapid growth in mental health telephone triage and the important role these services play in the assessment and management of mental illness and related risks, there has been very little research investigating this area of practice. An observational design was employed to address the research aims. Structured observations (using dual wireless headphones) were undertaken on 197 occasions of mental health telephone triage over a three-month period from January to March 2011. The research identified seven core areas of mental health telephone triage practice in which clinicians are required to be competent in to perform effective mental health telephone triage, including opening the call; performing mental status examination; risk assessment; planning and action; termination of call; referral and reporting; and documentation. The findings of this research contribute to the evidence base for mental health telephone triage by articulating the core competencies for practice. The mental health telephone triage competencies identified in this research may be used to define an evidence-based framework for mental health telephone triage practice that aims to

Ethical Decision Making, Therapeutic Boundaries, and Communicating Using Online Technology and Cellular Phones

Science.gov (United States)

Yonan, Jesay; Bardick, Angela D.; Willment, Jo-Anne H.

2011-01-01

Cellular telephones and social networking sites pose new challenges to the maintenance of therapeutic boundaries. One such difficulty is the possible development of dual relationships between clients and counselling professionals as a result of communicating by these means. Most regulatory bodies advise professional counsellors and psychologists…

Microwave components for cellular portable radiotelephone

Science.gov (United States)

Muraguchi, Masahiro; Aikawa, Masayoshi

1995-09-01

Mobile and personal communication systems are expected to represent a huge market for microwave components in the coming years. A number of components in silicon bipolar, silicon Bi-CMOS, GaAs MESFET, HBT and HEMT are now becoming available for system application. There are tradeoffs among the competing technologies with regard to performance, cost, reliability and time-to-market. This paper describes process selection and requirements of cost and r.f. performances to microwave semiconductor components for digital cellular and cordless telephones. Furthermore, new circuit techniques which were developed by NTT are presented.

Network of mobile telephone communication: necessarily of 3. Millennium

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dejana, V.; Dragan, M.; Nebojsa, V.; Simo, S.

2002-01-01

Mobile telephones have transformed the telecommunications industry. These devices can be used to make telephone calls from almost anywhere. There are two types, one has the antenna mounted on the handset and the other has the antenna mounted on a separate transmitter or, if the telephone is installed in a vehicle, mounted on the roof or rear window. Communication between a mobile telephone and the nearest base station is achieved by the microwave emissions from the antenna. Concerns have been raised about the type of mobile telephone that has the antenna in the handset. In this case, the antenna is very close to the user's head during normal use of the telephone and there is concern about the level of microwave emissions to which the brain is being exposed. Those telephones that have the antenna mounted elsewhere are of no concern, since exposure levels decrease rapidly with increasing distance from the antenna. Cordless telephones, which need to be operated within about 20 metres of a base unit that is connected directly to the telephone system, do not have any health concerns associated with their use because exposure levels are very low

Impact of the telephone assistive device (TAD) on stuttering severity while speaking on the telephone.

Science.gov (United States)

Chambers, Nola

2009-01-01

There is extensive experimental evidence that altered auditory feedback (AAF) can have a clinically significant effect on the severity of speech symptoms in people who stutter. However, there is less evidence regarding whether these experimental effects can be observed in naturalistic everyday settings particularly when using the telephone. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of the Telephone Assistive Device (TAD), which is designed to provide AAF on the telephone to people who stutter, on reducing stuttering severity. Nine adults participated in a quasi-experimental study. Stuttering severity was measured first without and then with the device in participants' naturalistic settings while making and receiving telephone calls (immediate benefit). Participants were then allowed a week of repeated use of the device following which all measurements were repeated (delayed benefit). Overall, results revealed significant immediate benefits from the TAD in all call conditions. Delayed benefits in received and total calls were also significant. There was substantial individual variability in response to the TAD but none of the demographic or speech-related factors measured in the study were found to significantly impact the benefit (immediate or delayed) derived from the TAD. Results have implications for clinical decision making for adults who stutter.

Pricing of miniature vehicles made from telephone card waste

Science.gov (United States)

Puspitasari, N. B.; Pujotomo, D.; Muhardiansyah, H.

2017-12-01

The number of electronic devices in Indonesia in the last 10 years has been increasing quite drastically which contributes to more electronic waste. E-waste or electronic waste have different characteristics from other kinds of waste. Components of electronic waste often poisonous, consisting dangerous chemicals. The telephone card wasted is also an electronic waste. One alternative to handle and manage telephone card waste is to recycle it into collectible miniature vehicles. But the price of these miniatures is quite high, causing low interest in buying them. A research on the price of miniature vehicles in relation to consumers’ Ability to Pay (ATP) and Willingness to Pay (WTP) needs to be done. Segmentation analysis data, target, product positioning and product marketing mix are needed before commencing the research. Data collection is done through a survey by spreading questionnaire to 100 miniature vehicle collectors in Semarang, questioning their ability and willingness to pay recycled miniature vehicles. Calculations showed average ATP of Rp.112.520, 24 and average WTP of Rp.76.870. The last result showed the estimate pricing according to ATP and WTP which is Rp.66.000 with 58% of the respondents claiming to be willing and able to pay that price.

7 CFR 1744.63 - The telephone loan budget.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 11 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false The telephone loan budget. 1744.63 Section 1744.63... Disbursement of Funds § 1744.63 The telephone loan budget. When the loan is made, RUS provides the borrower a Telephone Loan Budget, RUS Form 493. This budget divides the loan into budget accounts such as “Engineering...

Upgrade of the CERN telephone exchange

CERN Multimedia

2006-01-01

As part of the upgrade of telephone services, maintenance work will be carried out on the CERN switching centre between 8.00 p.m. and 10.00 p.m. on Monday 9 October. Telephone services may be disrupted and possibly even interrupted during this time. We apologise in advance for any inconvenience this may cause. CERN TELECOM Service

The disinfection of flexible fibre-optic nasendoscopes out-of-hours: confidential telephone survey of ENT units in England

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kanagalingam, J.; Zainal, A.; Georgalas, C.; Paun, S.; Tolley, N. S.

2002-01-01

We present the results of a confidential telephone survey of ENT units in England on the disinfection of flexible fibre-optic nasendoscopes out-of-hours. The on-call residents of 124 units were contacted and questioned. In 35.1 per cent of units surveyed, the on-call resident was primarily

Evaluating the privacy properties of telephone metadata

Science.gov (United States)

Mayer, Jonathan; Mutchler, Patrick; Mitchell, John C.

2016-01-01

Since 2013, a stream of disclosures has prompted reconsideration of surveillance law and policy. One of the most controversial principles, both in the United States and abroad, is that communications metadata receives substantially less protection than communications content. Several nations currently collect telephone metadata in bulk, including on their own citizens. In this paper, we attempt to shed light on the privacy properties of telephone metadata. Using a crowdsourcing methodology, we demonstrate that telephone metadata is densely interconnected, can trivially be reidentified, and can be used to draw sensitive inferences. PMID:27185922

Maintenance of the CERN telephone exchanges

CERN Multimedia

IT/CS

2014-01-01

Maintenance work will be carried out on the CERN telephone exchanges between 8 p.m. and 2 a.m. on 26 August.   Fixed-line telephone and audio-conference services may be disrupted during this intervention. Nevertheless, the CCC and the Fire Brigade will be reachable at any time. Mobile telephony services (GSM) will not be affected by the maintenance work.

Maintenance of the CERN telephone exchanges

CERN Multimedia

IT Department

2011-01-01

Maintenance work will be carried out on the CERN telephone exchanges between 20h00 and 2h00 on the 16 November. Fixed-line telephone and audio-conference services may be disrupted during this intervention. Nevertheless, the CCC and the fire brigade will be reachable at any time. Mobile telephony services (GSM) will not be affected by the maintenance work. IT/CS

Telephone-Based Coaching.

Science.gov (United States)

Boccio, Mindy; Sanna, Rashel S; Adams, Sara R; Goler, Nancy C; Brown, Susan D; Neugebauer, Romain S; Ferrara, Assiamira; Wiley, Deanne M; Bellamy, David J; Schmittdiel, Julie A

2017-03-01

Many Americans continue to smoke, increasing their risk of disease and premature death. Both telephone-based counseling and in-person tobacco cessation classes may improve access for smokers seeking convenient support to quit. Little research has assessed whether such programs are effective in real-world clinical populations. Retrospective cohort study comparing wellness coaching participants with two groups of controls. Kaiser Permanente Northern California, a large integrated health care delivery system. Two hundred forty-one patients who participated in telephonic tobacco cessation coaching from January 1, 2011, to March 31, 2012, and two control groups: propensity-score-matched controls, and controls who participated in a tobacco cessation class during the same period. Wellness coaching participants received an average of two motivational interviewing-based coaching sessions that engaged the patient, evoked their reason to consider quitting, and helped them establish a quit plan. Self-reported quitting of tobacco and fills of tobacco cessation medications within 12 months of follow-up. Logistic regressions adjusting for age, gender, race/ethnicity, and primary language. After adjusting for confounders, tobacco quit rates were higher among coaching participants vs. matched controls (31% vs. 23%, p Coaching participants and class attendees filled tobacco-cessation prescriptions at a higher rate (47% for both) than matched controls (6%, p coaching was as effective as in-person classes and was associated with higher rates of quitting compared to no treatment. The telephonic modality may increase convenience and scalability for health care systems looking to reduce tobacco use and improve health.

Participants' views of telephone interviews within a grounded theory study.

Science.gov (United States)

Ward, Kim; Gott, Merryn; Hoare, Karen

2015-12-01

To offer a unique contribution to the evolving debate around the use of the telephone during semistructured interview by drawing on interviewees' reflections on telephone interview during a grounded theory study. The accepted norm for qualitative interviews is to conduct them face-to-face. It is typical to consider collecting qualitative data via telephone only when face-to-face interview is not possible. During a grounded theory study, exploring users' experiences with overnight mask ventilation for sleep apnoea, the authors selected the telephone to conduct interviews. This article reports participants' views on semistructured interview by telephone. An inductive thematic analysis was conducted on data pertaining to the use of the telephone interview in a grounded theory study. The data were collected during 4 months of 2011 and 6 months in 2014. The article presents an inductive thematic analysis of sixteen participants' opinions about telephone interviewing and discusses these in relation to existing literature reporting the use of telephone interviews in grounded theory studies. Overall, participants reported a positive experience of telephone interviewing. From each participants reports we identified four themes from the data: being 'phone savvy; concentrating on voice instead of your face; easy rapport; and not being judged or feeling inhibited. By drawing on these data, we argue that the telephone as a data collection tool in grounded theory research and other qualitative methodologies need not be relegated to second best status. Rather, researchers can consider telephone interview a valuable first choice option. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Telephone: The Old Technology that is Never Old

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Olubunmi Philip Aborisade

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Telephone technology is a technology that stands the test of time. Since it was invented in 1876 by Alexander Graham Belle, it remains the technology of all time. This article reports the major finding of a recent research, how technology transforms citizen journalism business in Nigeria. According to the research, Telephone technology has over the years emerged the major tool with which ordinary citizens in Nigeria without journalism and media background or affiliation participate in the process of news gathering, reporting and distribution. Guided by the recent use of telephone around the world by ordinary citizens to report themselves during protests through different social media outlets-Facebook, Tweeter, Youtube, the article illuminates the evergreen nature of the telephone. The article therefore concluded that the telephone technology invented in 1876 has survived the test of time. Instead of being obsolete, it blends with emerging communications technology to improve on its performance.

[Potential selection bias in telephone surveys: landline and mobile phones].

Science.gov (United States)

Garcia-Continente, Xavier; Pérez-Giménez, Anna; López, María José; Nebot, Manel

2014-01-01

The increasing use of mobile phones in the last decade has decreased landline telephone coverage in Spanish households. This study aimed to analyze sociodemographic characteristics and health indicators by type of telephone service (mobile phone vs. landline or landline and mobile phone). Two telephone surveys were conducted in Spanish samples (February 2010 and February 2011). Multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to analyze differences in the main sociodemographic characteristics and health indicators according to the type of telephone service available in Spanish households. We obtained 2027 valid responses (1627 landline telephones and 400 mobile phones). Persons contacted through a mobile phone were more likely to be a foreigner, to belong to the manual social class, to have a lower educational level, and to be a smoker than those contacted through a landline telephone. The profile of the population that has only a mobile phone differs from that with a landline telephone. Therefore, telephone surveys that exclude mobile phones could show a selection bias. Copyright © 2013 SESPAS. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

Maintenance of the CERN telephone exchanges

CERN Multimedia

IT Department

2009-01-01

Maintenance work will be carried out on the CERN telephone exchanges between 8h30 and 17h30 on Saturday 9 May. Fixed-line telephone and audio-conference services may be disrupted during this intervention. Nevertheless, the CCC and the fire brigade will be reachable at any time. Mobile telephony services (GSM) will not be affected by the maintenance work. IT/CS/CS

Assessment of radiofrequency exposure from cellular telephone daily use in an epidemiological study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Berg, Gabriele; Schüz, Joachim; Samkange-Zeeb, Florence

2005-01-01

emitted by the mobile phone handset during each base station contact. Information on cellular phone use for the same time period from traffic records of the network providers and from face-to-face interviews with the participants 3 months after the SMP use was assessed. Pearson's correlation coefficients...... and linear regression models were used to analyse the association between information from the interview and from the SMP. RESULTS: In total, 1757 personal mobile phone calls were recorded for 45 persons by SMP and traffic records. The correlation between the self-reported information about the number...

Improvement of Metroliner Telephone Channel Capacity and Modeling of Telephone Channel Demands

Science.gov (United States)

1972-03-01

The channel capacity of the present Metroliner telephone system is analyzed and methods are proposed to increase that capacity without increasing the overall bandwidth. To determine the number of channels required, calculations have been carried out ...

Large Pelagics Telephone Survey

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Large Pelagics Telephone Survey (LPTS) collects fishing effort information directly from captains holding Highly Migratory Species (HMS) permits (required by...

Microwave radiation safety assessment around mobile telephone base station (MTBS) in Peninsular Malaysia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mohd Yusof Mohd Ali; Rozaimah Abd Rahim; Roha Tukimin; Mohd Anuar Abd Majid; Mohamad Amirul Nizam Mohamad Thari; Ahmad Fazli Ahmad Sanusi; Roslan Md Dan; Sahirudden Mohd Nor

2006-01-01

Mobile telephone is one of the fastest popular consumer product introduced in the market. Since more people are using mobile telephone, the number of mobile telephone base station (MTBS) in Malaysia had also increased in order to provide a better coverage services to consumer. The antennas that are required for the mobile (or cellular) telephone network are located at MTBS. This antenna emits radio frequency (RF) and microwave (MW) radiation. Due to the concerns that has been raised by the people that are living or working nearby to MTBS about the possibility of adverse health effects that might occur due to the exposure of this radiation, a project of microwave radiation safety assessment around MTBS by MINT was carried out (September 2003 - January 2006). It was involved with 128 MTBS from three biggest service providers in Malaysia. This assessment is required to establish a baseline data in term of pattern and trend of the radiation emission from the facilities as well as to develop a public confident. In this paper, it will describe the fact that radiation is critical to the MTBS system and without the radiation, the MTBS system is functionless. It will also highlight the result of the assessment's work that has been carried out by MINT around MTBS mounted on the rooftops and towers. The average reading varies between the detection limit of the instrument 2 ( 2 (7.204 V/m). The highest average reading corresponds to about 2.0% of the Suruhanjaya Komunikasi dan Multimedia Malaysia (MCMC) exposure limit for public. The finding of this measurement confirms that the presence of RF and MW radiation in public accessible area around the base station was very low and comparable to the radiation levels in other places away from MTBS. There is also no evidence, from any laboratory or epidemiology studies that the exposure to RF energy levels recommended limits has any health significance for humans. (Author)

Maintenance of the CERN telephone exchanges

CERN Multimedia

IT Department

2011-01-01

Maintenance work will be carried out on the CERN telephone exchanges between 20h00 and midnight on the 21st of February in order to apply the latest software patches. Fixed-line telephone and audio-conference services may be disrupted during this intervention. Nevertheless, the CCC and the fire brigade will be reachable at any time. Mobile telephony services (GSM) will not be affected by the maintenance work. CS Group

ENERGY STAR Certified Telephones

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — Certified models meet all ENERGY STAR requirements as listed in the Version 3.0 ENERGY STAR Program Requirements for Telephony (cordless telephones and VoIP...

Maintenance of the CERN telephone exchanges

CERN Multimedia

IT Department

2009-01-01

Maintenance work will be carried out on the CERN telephone exchanges between 20h00 and midnight on the 29th of July in order to apply the latest software patches. Fixed-line telephone and audio-conference services may be disrupted during this intervention. Nevertheless, the CCC and the fire brigade will be reachable at any time. Mobile telephony services (GSM) will not be affected by the maintenance work. IT/CS/CS

The telephone in family practice | Furman | South African Medical ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

In a time-and-motion study in family practice it was found that 35,8% of all patient contact was per telephone. The study further revealed that 12,3% of total practice time was spent on the telephone, stressing its importance as a useful tool. in family practice. The study supports others which suggest that 'telephone medicine' ...

Cytogenetic studies in human blood lymphocytes exposed in vitro to radiofrequency radiation at a cellular telephone frequency (835.62 MHz, FDMA).

Science.gov (United States)

Vijayalaxmi; Leal, B Z; Meltz, M L; Pickard, W F; Bisht, K S; Roti Roti JL; Straube, W L; Moros, E G

2001-01-01

Freshly collected peripheral blood samples from four healthy human volunteers were diluted with RPMI 1640 tissue culture medium and exposed in sterile T-75 tissue culture flasks in vitro for 24 h to 835.62 MHz radiofrequency (RF) radiation, a frequency employed for customer-to-base station transmission of cellular telephone communications. An analog signal was used, and the access technology was frequency division multiple access (FDMA, continuous wave). A nominal net forward power of 68 W was used, and the nominal power density at the center of the exposure flask was 860 W/m(2). The mean specific absorption rate in the exposure flask was 4.4 or 5.0 W/kg. Aliquots of diluted blood that were sham-exposed or exposed in vitro to an acute dose of 1.50 Gy of gamma radiation were used as negative or positive controls. Immediately after the exposures, the lymphocytes were stimulated with a mitogen, phytohemagglutinin, and cultured for 48 or 72 h to determine the extent of genetic damage, as assessed from the frequencies of chromosomal aberrations and micronuclei. The extent of alteration in the kinetics of cell proliferation was determined from the mitotic indices in 48-h cultures and from the incidence of binucleate cells in 72-h cultures. The data indicated no significant differences between RF-radiation- and sham-exposed lymphocytes with respect to mitotic indices, incidence of exchange aberrations, excess fragments, binucleate cells, and micronuclei. In contrast, the response of the lymphocytes exposed to gamma radiation was significantly different from both RF-radiation- and sham-exposed cells for all of these indices. Thus, under the experimental conditions tested, there is no evidence for the induction of chromosomal aberrations and micronuclei in human blood lymphocytes exposed in vitro for 24 h to 835.62 MHz RF radiation at SARs of 4.4 or 5.0 W/kg.

Cellular phones, cordless phones, and the risks of glioma and meningioma (Interphone Study Group, Germany)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schüz, Joachim; Böhler, Eva; Berg, Gabriele

2006-01-01

The widespread use of cellular telephones has generated concern about possible adverse health effects, particularly brain tumors. In this population-based case-control study carried out in three regions of Germany, all incident cases of glioma and meningioma among patients aged 30-69 years were...... ascertained during 2000-2003. Controls matched on age, gender, and region were randomly drawn from population registries. In total, 366 glioma cases, 381 meningioma cases, and 1,494 controls were interviewed. Overall use of a cellular phone was not associated with brain tumor risk; the respective odds ratios...

A Sandia telephone database system

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nelson, S.D.; Tolendino, L.F.

1991-08-01

Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, may soon have more responsibility for the operation of its own telephone system. The processes that constitute providing telephone service can all be improved through the use of a central data information system. We studied these processes, determined the requirements for a database system, then designed the first stages of a system that meets our needs for work order handling, trouble reporting, and ISDN hardware assignments. The design was based on an extensive set of applications that have been used for five years to manage the Sandia secure data network. The system utilizes an Ingres database management system and is programmed using the Application-By-Forms tools.

Telecommunications Policy Research Conference. Subsidies in Telephone Pricing Section. Papers.

Science.gov (United States)

Telecommunications Policy Research Conference, Inc., Washington, DC.

Three papers consider the provision of telephone service to rural and/or low income customers. The first paper, "An Analysis of Telephone Penetration" (Alexander Belinfante), analyzes the relationship between telephone penetration (the proportion of households with phone service) and prices, household income, and other factors. This…

Choosing a New Telephone System for Your Medical Practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Metherell, Brian

2016-01-01

E-mail may rule the world in other types of businesses, but for medical practices, the telephone remains the primary mode of communication with patients, specialists, and pharmacies. From making appointments to calling in prescriptions, telephones are essential to patient care. With technology changing very quickly and new capabilities coming into the medical practice, such as telemedicine and Skype, you need to know your options when choosing a new telephone system. The possibilities include on-site, cloud, and hybrid networked solutions. A wide variety of features and capabilities are available, from dozens of vendors. Of course, no matter what telephone solution you choose, you must meet regulatory compliance, particularly HIPAA, and Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard if you take credit cards. And it has to be affordable, reliable, and long lasting. This article explores what medical practices need to know when choosing a new business telephone system in order to find the right solutions for their businesses.

Intervention among Suicidal Men: Future Directions for Telephone Crisis Support Research.

Science.gov (United States)

Hunt, Tara; Wilson, Coralie J; Woodward, Alan; Caputi, Peter; Wilson, Ian

2018-01-01

Telephone crisis support is a confidential, accessible, and immediate service that is uniquely set up to reduce male suicide deaths through crisis intervention. However, research focusing on telephone crisis support with suicidal men is currently limited. To highlight the need to address service delivery for men experiencing suicidal crisis, this perspective article identifies key challenges facing current telephone crisis support research and proposes that understanding of the role of telephone crisis helplines in supporting suicidal men may be strengthened by careful examination of the context of telephone crisis support, together with the impact this has on help-provision for male suicidal callers. In particular, the impact of the time- and information-poor context of telephone crisis support on crisis-line staff's identification of, and response to, male callers with thoughts of suicide is examined. Future directions for research in the provision of telephone crisis support for suicidal men are discussed.

24 CFR 3285.906 - Telephone and cable TV.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... URBAN DEVELOPMENT MODEL MANUFACTURED HOME INSTALLATION STANDARDS Optional Information for Manufacturer's Installation Instructions § 3285.906 Telephone and cable TV. It is recommended that the installation instructions explain that telephone and cable TV wiring should be installed in accordance with requirements of...

Structured telephone support or non-invasive telemonitoring for patients with heart failure.

Science.gov (United States)

Inglis, Sally C; Clark, Robyn A; Dierckx, Riet; Prieto-Merino, David; Cleland, John G F

2015-10-31

Specialised disease management programmes for heart failure aim to improve care, clinical outcomes and/or reduce healthcare utilisation. Since the last version of this review in 2010, several new trials of structured telephone support and non-invasive home telemonitoring have been published which have raised questions about their effectiveness. To review randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of structured telephone support or non-invasive home telemonitoring compared to standard practice for people with heart failure, in order to quantify the effects of these interventions over and above usual care. We updated the searches of the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE), Health Technology AsseFssment Database (HTA) on the Cochrane Library; MEDLINE (OVID), EMBASE (OVID), CINAHL (EBSCO), Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Conference Proceedings Citation Index- Science (CPCI-S) on Web of Science (Thomson Reuters), AMED, Proquest Theses and Dissertations, IEEE Xplore and TROVE in January 2015. We handsearched bibliographies of relevant studies and systematic reviews and abstract conference proceedings. We applied no language limits. We included only peer-reviewed, published RCTs comparing structured telephone support or non-invasive home telemonitoring to usual care of people with chronic heart failure. The intervention or usual care could not include protocol-driven home visits or more intensive than usual (typically four to six weeks) clinic follow-up. We present data as risk ratios (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Primary outcomes included all-cause mortality, all-cause and heart failure-related hospitalisations, which we analysed using a fixed-effect model. Other outcomes included length of stay, health-related quality of life, heart failure knowledge and self care, acceptability and cost; we described and tabulated these. We performed meta-regression to assess homogeneity (the

AIDS and condoms in Brasilia: a telephone survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Chequer, P; VanOss Marín, B; Paiva, L; Hudes, E S; Piazza, T; Rodrigues, L; Hearst, N

1997-10-01

A telephone survey was conducted to measure AIDS knowledge, media usage and condom attitudes and behaviors among 500 adults aged 18 to 49 in Brasilia, as well as to evaluate the feasibility of the telephone survey method in a developing country. The response rate was 91.6%. Respondents had good knowledge about correct modes of HIV transmission and prevention but also believed HIV was transmitted through blood donation, public toilets, swimming pools, and mosquito bites. TV and newspapers were the most important sources of information on health matters and AIDS, though health workers were considered the most credible sources of such information. Only 19% of sexual encounters in the 4 weeks prior to the survey included condoms. Single and younger respondents and those with more positive attitudes used condoms more frequently. More work is needed to identify appropriate messages to motivate people to use condoms. Telephone surveys regarding AIDS and sexual attitudes and behaviors are feasible in Brasilia, a planned community with universal telephone coverage.

Radiations FR of telephone antennas and Public health: the state of the art

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ubeda Maeso, A.; Trillo Ruiz, M. A.

1999-01-01

Today, mobile telephone is envisioned as one of the most significant innovations in communication. The growing development of this system asks for increasing amounts of antennas, installed in base transceiver stations (BTS) connection mobile stations (MS, hand held phones) to each other and to the conventional telephone network. Depending on the area, antennas are generally mounted in BTS located either on the top of buildings (in urban areas) or in towers (in rural or less populated areas). In both of the cases, the visual impact of BTS is significant for people living or working close to them. This visual evidence, together with some information, usually inconsistent or incomplete, released in media other than the scientific literature, have generated increasing feelings of phobia to alleged detrimental consequences of the uncontrolled exposure to radio waves emitted by the antennas. Such feelings, identified previously in countries where mobile telephony has been used for years in a regular basis, are now significantly growing in Spain and motivate many of the questions asked to information services of public agencies and institutions. The aim of the present article is to address some of the most frequently asked questions on the topic and to review the state of the art of our knowledge on the putative effects of the exposure to the electromagnetic radiation emitted by the aerials. Also, elementary notions are provided on the functioning of mobile telephony that may help the reader to better understand some technical aspects concerning the topic. (Author) 54 refs

THE EFFECTS OF MOBILE TELEPHONING ON DRIVING PERFORMANCE

NARCIS (Netherlands)

BROOKHUIS, KA; DEVRIES, G; DEWAARD, D

The effects of telephoning while driving were studied in three different traffic conditions, i.e. in light traffic on a quiet motorway, in heavy traffic on a four-lane ring-road, and in city traffic. Twelve subjects, unfamiliar with mobile telephones, drove an instrumented vehicle for one hour each

Interviewer Effects on a Network-Size Filter Question

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Josten Michael

2016-06-01

Full Text Available There is evidence that survey interviewers may be tempted to manipulate answers to filter questions in a way that minimizes the number of follow-up questions. This becomes relevant when ego-centered network data are collected. The reported network size has a huge impact on interview duration if multiple questions on each alter are triggered. We analyze interviewer effects on a network-size question in the mixed-mode survey “Panel Study ‘Labour Market and Social Security’” (PASS, where interviewers could skip up to 15 follow-up questions by generating small networks. Applying multilevel models, we find almost no interviewer effects in CATI mode, where interviewers are paid by the hour and frequently supervised. In CAPI, however, where interviewers are paid by case and no close supervision is possible, we find strong interviewer effects on network size. As the area-specific network size is known from telephone mode, where allocation to interviewers is random, interviewer and area effects can be separated. Furthermore, a difference-in-difference analysis reveals the negative effect of introducing the follow-up questions in Wave 3 on CAPI network size. Attempting to explain interviewer effects we neither find significant main effects of experience within a wave, nor significantly different slopes between interviewers.

Validation of a structured interview for telephone assessment of the modified Rankin Scale in Brazilian stroke patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Baggio, Jussara A O; Santos-Pontelli, Taiza E G; Cougo-Pinto, Pedro T; Camilo, Millene; Silva, Nathalia F; Antunes, Paula; Machado, Laura; Leite, João P; Pontes-Neto, Octavio M

2014-01-01

The modified Rankin Scale (mRS) is a commonly used scale to assess the functional outcome after stroke. Several studies on mRS showed good reliability, feasibility, and interrater agreement of this scale using a face-to-face assessment. However, telephone assessment is a more time-efficient way to obtain an mRS grade than a face-to-face interview. The aim of this study was to validate the telephone assessment of mRS among the Portuguese using a structured interview in a sample of Brazilian stroke patients. We evaluated 50 stroke outpatients twice. The first interview was face-to-face and the second was made by telephone and the time between the two assessments ranged between 7 and 14 days. Four certified raters evaluated the patients using a structured interview based on a questionnaire previously published in the literature. Raters were blinded for the Rankin score given by the other rater. For both assessments, the rater could also interview a caregiver if necessary. The patients' mean age was 62.8 ± 14.7, mean number of years of study 5.2 ± 3.4, 52% were males, 55.2% of patients needed a caregiver's help to answer the questions. The majority of caregivers were female (85%), mean age 49.1 ± 15, and mean number of years of study 8.3 ± 3.4. Perfect agreement between the telephone and face-to-face assessments was obtained for 27 (54%) patients, corresponding to an unweighted Kappa of 0.44 (95% CI 0.27-0.61) and a weighted Kappa of 0.89. The median of telephone assessment mRS was 3.5 (interquartile range = 2-4) and of face-to-face assessment was 4 (interquartile range = 2-5). There was no difference between the two assessments (Wilcoxon test, p = 0.35). Despite the low education level of our sample, the telephone assessment of functional impairment of stroke patients using a translated and culturally adapted Brazilian Portuguese version of the mRS showed good validity and reliability. Therefore, the telephone assessment of mRS can be used in clinical practice and

Can smartphones enhance telephone-based cognitive assessment (TBCA)?

Science.gov (United States)

Kwan, Rick Yiu-Cho; Lai, Claudia Kam-Yuk

2013-12-12

TBCA has emerged to solve the limitations of administering cognitive assessments face-to-face. The recent development of telephones and knowledge advances in the area of cognitive impairment may affect the development of TBCA. The purpose of this paper is to discuss how smartphones can be used to enhance the applicability of TBCA, which has previously been administered by conventional telephone. This paper will first review, describe and critique the existing TBCA instruments. It will then discuss the recent developments in tele-technology, the popularity of tele-technology among the elderly, potential benefits and challenges in using smartphones for cognitive assessment, and possible future developments in this technology. In the systematic review, eighteen TBCA instruments were identified. They were found to be valid in differentiating between people with and without dementia. TBCA was previously found to be launched on a conventional telephone platform. The advances in understanding of cognitive impairment may demand that telephones be equipped with more advanced features. Recently, the development and penetration of smartphones among the elderly has been rapid. This may allow the smartphone to enhance its TBCA applicability by overcoming the limitations of the conventional telephone, rendering the TBCA more efficient in addressing the increasing demand and complexity of cognitive assessments in the future. However, more research and technology developments are needed before smartphones can become a valid platform for TBCA.

Can Smartphones Enhance Telephone-Based Cognitive Assessment (TBCA?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rick Yiu-Cho Kwan

2013-12-01

Full Text Available TBCA has emerged to solve the limitations of administering cognitive assessments face-to-face. The recent development of telephones and knowledge advances in the area of cognitive impairment may affect the development of TBCA. The purpose of this paper is to discuss how smartphones can be used to enhance the applicability of TBCA, which has previously been administered by conventional telephone. This paper will first review, describe and critique the existing TBCA instruments. It will then discuss the recent developments in tele-technology, the popularity of tele-technology among the elderly, potential benefits and challenges in using smartphones for cognitive assessment, and possible future developments in this technology. In the systematic review, eighteen TBCA instruments were identified. They were found to be valid in differentiating between people with and without dementia. TBCA was previously found to be launched on a conventional telephone platform. The advances in understanding of cognitive impairment may demand that telephones be equipped with more advanced features. Recently, the development and penetration of smartphones among the elderly has been rapid. This may allow the smartphone to enhance its TBCA applicability by overcoming the limitations of the conventional telephone, rendering the TBCA more efficient in addressing the increasing demand and complexity of cognitive assessments in the future. However, more research and technology developments are needed before smartphones can become a valid platform for TBCA.

Telephone Crisis Support Workers' Psychological Distress and Impairment.

Science.gov (United States)

Kitchingman, Taneile A; Wilson, Coralie J; Caputi, Peter; Wilson, Ian; Woodward, Alan

2018-01-01

In order to respond to crises with appropriate intervention, crisis workers are required to manage their own needs as well as the needs of those they respond to. A systematic review of the literature was conducted to examine whether telephone crisis support workers experience elevated symptoms of psychological distress and are impaired by elevated symptoms. Studies were identified in April 2015 by searching three databases, conducting a gray literature search, and forward and backward citation chaining. Of 113 identified studies, seven were included in the review. Results suggest that that telephone crisis support workers experience symptoms of vicarious traumatization, stress, burnout, and psychiatric disorders, and that they may not respond optimally to callers when experiencing elevated symptoms of distress. However, definitive conclusions cannot be drawn due to the paucity and methodological limitations of available data. While the most comprehensive search strategy possible was adopted, resource constraints meant that conference abstracts were not searched and authors were not contacted for additional unpublished information. There is an urgent need to identify the impact of telephone crisis support workers' role on their well-being, the determinants of worker well-being in the telephone crisis support context, and the extent to which well-being impacts their performance and caller outcomes. This will help inform strategies to optimize telephone crisis support workers' well-being and their delivery of support to callers.

26 CFR 49.4251-4 - Prepaid telephone cards.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

...; adding value. (i) After using the card described in Example 2, P arranges with A by telephone to have 30... EXCISE TAXES FACILITIES AND SERVICES EXCISE TAXES Communications § 49.4251-4 Prepaid telephone cards. (a... section provides rules for the application of the section 4251 tax to PTCs. (b) Definitions. The following...

[Two simple questions to diagnose post-stroke depression].

Science.gov (United States)

Nolte, C H; Müller-Nordhorn, J; Jungehülsing, G J; Rossnagel, K; Reich, A; Roll, S; Laumeier, I; Beerfelde, D; Willich, S N; Villringer, A

2006-05-01

Many patients develop a depression after having suffered a stroke. Such a Post-Stroke Depression (PSD) impairs rehabilitation and quality of life. PSD is underdiagnosed in spite of available treatment. Several questionnaires have been created to diagnose a PSD. But questionnaires have been considered cumbersome and time-consuming. The aim of this study was to find out whether two simple, standardised questions will identify those stroke patients, who have developed a PSD. The two case-finding questions and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) were sent to patients of the Berlin Acute Stroke Study (BASS) four years after their stroke. Incomplete questionnaires were complemented via mail or telephone. Severity of depression was assessed by means of BDI. Out of 211 patients, 199 responded to the questionnaire (94 %). 193 questionnaires were complete (97 %). Forty-two patients affirmed both case-finding questions (22 %). Compared to patients, who did not affirm both questions, these patients had a higher BDI score (19 +/- 8 vs. 7 +/- 5; p two questions were 89 % and 90 %, respectively. The positive and negative predictive value were 60 % and 98 % respectively. The number of confirmed questions (0, 1, 2) correlated well with the BDI score (r (2) = 0.67, p Two standardized questions can identify patients with PSD for further diagnostic evaluation and therapy. Diagnosis of PSD might be facilitated by using them as screening instrument.

Spreading the cult body on YouTube: A case study of "Telephone" derivative videos

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Agnese Vellar

2012-03-01

Full Text Available This case study of spreadability analyzes the Lady Gaga music video "Telephone," which has been appropriated and reworked by YouTube users sharing derivative works online. What properties of the music video stimulate user appropriation? What hybrid audiovisual forms are emerging from its reworking by users? In order to answer these questions, between January and August 2010, I conducted participant observation on Lady Gaga's official social network profiles and collected 70 "Telephone" derivative videos on YouTube. I identified three main categories of video creativity: (1 music (which includes covers, "me singing" videos, music mashups, and choreography; (2 parody (in which YouTube users and comedians humorously imitate Gaga, creating spoofs; and (3 fashion (in which makeup artists and amateurs appropriate the star's image to create makeup and hair tutorials. "Telephone" has become spreadable because it integrates dance music and choreography, costume changes, cinematic references, and product placements that work as textual hooks meaningful to different target markets: live music, dance, chick, and postmodern cinematic cultures. In particular, Gaga is a cult body that explicitly incorporates previous cinematic and pop music icons. Users are stimulated to reenact Gaga's cult body online. On YouTube, spreadability is thus strictly related to the appropriation of cult bodies. Fans, comedians, independent musicians, fashionistas, and pop stars construct their own cult bodies by deliberately borrowing characteristics from previous media icons and reenacting them in online videos in order to fulfill their expressive and professional needs.

The effect of changes to question order on the prevalence of 'sufficient' physical activity in an Australian population survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Hanley, Christine; Duncan, Mitch J; Mummery, W Kerry

2013-03-01

Population surveys are frequently used to assess prevalence, correlates and health benefits of physical activity. However, nonsampling errors, such as question order effects, in surveys may lead to imprecision in self reported physical activity. This study examined the impact of modified question order in a commonly used physical activity questionnaire on the prevalence of sufficient physical activity. Data were obtained from a telephone survey of adults living in Queensland, Australia. A total of 1243 adults participated in the computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI) survey conducted in July 2008 which included the Active Australia Questionnaire (AAQ) presented in traditional or modified order. Binary logistic regression analyses was used to examine relationships between question order and physical activity outcomes. Significant relationships were found between question order and sufficient activity, recreational walking, moderate activity, vigorous activity, and total activity. Respondents who received the AAQ in modified order were more likely to be categorized as sufficiently active (OR = 1.28, 95% CI 1.01-1.60). This study highlights the importance of question order on estimates of self reported physical activity. This study has shown that changes in question order can lead to an increase in the proportion of participants classified as sufficiently active.

Nurse-led telephone follow-up after total knee arthroplasty

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Szöts, Kirsten; Konradsen, Hanne; Solgaard, Søren

2015-01-01

AIM AND OBJECTIVES: To generate information on how telephone follow-up consultations, structured by nursing status according to the VIPS-model, functioned after total knee arthroplasty. The objectives were to unfold the content of the telephone follow-ups according to the structure for nursing...... status and to explore the patients' views of the telephone follow-ups. BACKGROUND: The length of stay in hospital following total knee arthroplasty has fallen markedly, and patients now have to be responsible for their recovery from a very early stage. After discharge, patients may experience a variety...... Telephone follow-up was valued by total knee arthroplasties patients as representing a holistic approach and providing adequate information, counselling and support after discharge to home. Three categories were identified with regard to the patients' views: 'A means for reflection and provision of adequate...

Potential Hazards of Cellular Phone Radiation: Responses to Fear and Uncertainty

OpenAIRE

Wisz, Jamie T.

2002-01-01

In recent years, the public has become concerned that the electromagnetic radio-frequency radiation (“RF radiationâ€) emitted by cellular telephones may pose serious health risks, including the risk of cancer. There are over 110 million cell phone users in the United States and many of them may not know that cell phones actually send electromagnetic waves into the user’s brain. Depending on how close the cell phone antenna is to oneâ&euro...

Methodological developments in qualitative longitudinal research: the advantages and challenges of regular telephone contact with participants in a qualitative longitudinal interview study.

Science.gov (United States)

Carduff, Emma; Murray, Scott A; Kendall, Marilyn

2015-04-11

Qualitative longitudinal research is an evolving methodology, particularly within health care research. It facilitates a nuanced understanding of how phenomena change over time and is ripe for innovative approaches. However, methodological reflections which are tailored to health care research are scarce. This article provides a synthesised and practical account of the advantages and challenges of maintaining regular telephone contact between interviews with participants in a qualitative longitudinal study. Participants with metastatic colorectal cancer were interviewed at 3 time points over the course of a year. Half the group also received monthly telephone calls to explore the added value and the feasibility of capturing change as close to when it was occurring as possible. The data gathered from the telephone calls added context to the participants' overall narrative and informed subsequent interviews. The telephone calls meant we were able to capture change close to when it happened and there was a more evolved, and involved, relationship between the researcher and the participants who were called on a monthly basis. However, ethical challenges were amplified, boundaries of the participant/researcher relationship questioned, and there was the added analytical burden. The telephone calls facilitated a more nuanced understanding of the illness experience to emerge, when compared with the interview only group. The findings suggest that intensive telephone contact may be justified if retention is an issue, when the phenomena being studied is unpredictable and when participants feel disempowered or lack control. These are potential issues for research involving participants with long-term illness.

Development and interrater reliability testing of a telephone interview training programme for Australian nurse interviewers.

Science.gov (United States)

Ahern, Tracey; Gardner, Anne; Gardner, Glenn; Middleton, Sandy; Della, Phillip

2013-05-01

The final phase of a three phase study analysing the implementation and impact of the nurse practitioner role in Australia (the Australian Nurse Practitioner Project or AUSPRAC) was undertaken in 2009, requiring nurse telephone interviewers to gather information about health outcomes directly from patients and their treating nurse practitioners. A team of several registered nurses was recruited and trained as telephone interviewers. The aim of this paper is to report on development and evaluation of the training process for telephone interviewers. The training process involved planning the content and methods to be used in the training session; delivering the session; testing skills and understanding of interviewers post-training; collecting and analysing data to determine the degree to which the training process was successful in meeting objectives and post-training follow-up. All aspects of the training process were informed by established educational principles. Interrater reliability between interviewers was high for well-validated sections of the survey instrument resulting in 100% agreement between interviewers. Other sections with unvalidated questions showed lower agreement (between 75% and 90%). Overall the agreement between interviewers was 92%. Each interviewer was also measured against a specifically developed master script or gold standard and for this each interviewer achieved a percentage of correct answers of 94.7% or better. This equated to a Kappa value of 0.92 or better. The telephone interviewer training process was very effective and achieved high interrater reliability. We argue that the high reliability was due to the use of well validated instruments and the carefully planned programme based on established educational principles. There is limited published literature on how to successfully operationalise educational principles and tailor them for specific research studies; this report addresses this knowledge gap. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier

[Psychometric validation of the telephone memory test].

Science.gov (United States)

Ortiz, T; Fernández, A; Martínez-Castillo, E; Maestú, F; Martínez-Arias, R; López-Ibor, J J

1999-01-01

Several pathologies (i.e. Alzheimer's disease) that courses with memory alterations, appears in a context of impaired cognitive status and mobility. In recent years, several investigations were carried out in order to design short batteries that detect those subjects under risk of dementia. Some of this batteries were also design to be administrated over the telephone, trying to overcome the accessibility limitations of this patients. In this paper we present a battery (called Autotest de Memoria) essentially composed by episodic and semantic memory tests, administered both over the telephone and face to face. This battery was employed in the cognitive assessment of healthy controls and subjects diagnosed as probable Alzheimer's disease patients. Results show the capability of this battery in order to discriminate patients and healthy controls, a great sensibility and specificity, and a nearly absolute parallelism of telephone and face to face administrations. These data led us to claim the usefulness and practicality of our so called Memoria>.

47 CFR 42.6 - Retention of telephone toll records.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... whether it is billing its own toll service customers for toll calls or billing customers for another... Section 42.6 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) COMMON CARRIER SERVICES... telephone toll records. Each carrier that offers or bills toll telephone service shall retain for a period...

Brain tumour risk in relation to mobile telephone use

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Johansen, Christoffer

2010-01-01

The rapid increase in mobile telephone use has generated concern about possible health risks related to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields from this technology.......The rapid increase in mobile telephone use has generated concern about possible health risks related to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields from this technology....

Interactive water monitoring system accessible by cordless telephone

Science.gov (United States)

Volpicelli, Richard; Andeweg, Pierre; Hagar, William G.

1985-12-01

A battery-operated, microcomputer-controlled monitoring device linked with a cordless telephone has been developed for remote measurements. This environmental sensor is self-contained and collects and processes data according to the information sent to its on-board computer system. An RCA model 1805 microprocessor forms the basic controller with a program encoded in memory for data acquisition and analysis. Signals from analog sensing devices used to monitor the environment are converted into digital signals and stored in random access memory of the microcomputer. This remote sensing system is linked to the laboratory by means of a cordless telephone whose base unit is connected to regular telephone lines. This offshore sensing system is simply accessed by a phone call originating from a computer terminal in the laboratory. Data acquisition is initiated upon request: Information continues to be processed and stored until the computer is reprogrammed by another phone call request. Information obtained may be recalled by a phone call after the desired environmental measurements are finished or while they are in progress. Data sampling parameters may be reset at any time, including in the middle of a measurement cycle. The range of the system is limited only by existing telephone grid systems and by the transmission characteristics of the cordless phone used as a communications link. This use of a cordless telephone, coupled with the on-board computer system, may be applied to other field studies requiring data transfer between an on-site analytical system and the laboratory.

A Telephone Communication Skills Exercise for Veterinary Students: Experiences, Challenges, and Opportunities.

Science.gov (United States)

Grevemeyer, Bernard; Betance, Larry; Artemiou, Elpida

2016-01-01

Evidence from human medicine shows a rise in telephone communication in support of after-hours services and in providing medical advice, follow-up information, etc. While specific training programs are continuously being developed for human medical education, limited publications are available on training veterinary students in telephone communication. Presented is our method of introducing a telephone communication skills exercise to third-year veterinary students. The exercise progressed over three phases and currently follows the principles of the Calgary-Cambridge Guide. Challenges and improvements on implementing a telephone communication exercise are discussed. Within veterinary communication curricula, attention should be given to the specific communication skills required for successful telephone consultations. In the absence of visual nonverbal cues and prompts during a telephone interaction, communication skills must be applied with greater intent and attention to achieve an effective consultation outcome.

One-Year Weight Loss with a Telephone-Based Lifestyle Program

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christina Holzapfel

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Objective: Telephone-based weight loss programs are offered as an alternative to face-to-face obesity treatments, but data on the effectiveness regarding weight loss are limited. Therefore, we evaluated a telephone-based lifestyle program in a real-world setting. Methods: The telephone-based intervention consists of regular phone calls providing individualized lifestyle recommendations, and delivery of printed materials. Anthropometric and metabolic data are collected by general practitioners or are self-reported. Results: Baseline data were available from 398 participants (61% men; weight 103.12 ± 14.21 kg; BMI 33.38 ± 2.83 kg/m2 and 1-year data from 258 (65% participants. In the completers, mean weight change was -4.25 ± 5.18 kg (p Conclusions: The telephone-based lifestyle program results in a moderate weight loss after 12 months, which may be comparable to face-to-face interventions. Telephone-based weight loss support is independent of time and location and represents a tool which is also accepted by men.

49 CFR 195.52 - Telephonic notice of certain accidents.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 49 Transportation 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Telephonic notice of certain accidents. 195.52... TRANSPORTATION OF HAZARDOUS LIQUIDS BY PIPELINE Annual, Accident, and Safety-Related Condition Reporting § 195.52 Telephonic notice of certain accidents. (a) At the earliest practicable moment following discovery of a...

Maintaining clinical governance when giving telephone advice.

Science.gov (United States)

Alazawi, William; Agarwal, Kosh; Suddle, Abid; Aluvihare, Varuna; Heneghan, Michael A

2013-10-01

Delivering excellent healthcare depends on accurate communication between professionals who may be in different locations. Frequently, the first point of contact with the liver unit at King's College Hospital (KCH) is through a telephone call to a specialist registrar or liver fellow, for whom no case notes are available in which to record information. The aim of this study was to improve the clinical governance of telephone referrals and to generate contemporaneous records that could be easily retrieved and audited. An electronic database for telephone referrals and advice was designed and made securely available to registrars in our unit. Service development in a tertiary liver centre that receives referrals from across the UK and Europe. Demographic and clinical data were recorded prospectively and analysed retrospectively. Data from 350 calls were entered during 5 months. The information included the nature and origin of the call (200 from 75 different institutions), disease burden and severity of disease among the patients discussed with KCH, and outcome of the call. The majority of cases were discussed with consultants or arrangements were made for formal review at KCH. A telephone referrals and advice database provides clinical governance, serves as a quality indicator and forms a contemporaneous record at the referral centre. Activity data and knowledge of disease burden help to tailor services to the needs of referrers and commissioners. We recommend implementation of similar models in other centres that give extramural verbal advice.

Automatic Smoker Detection from Telephone Speech Signals

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Poorjam, Amir Hossein; Hesaraki, Soheila; Safavi, Saeid

2017-01-01

This paper proposes an automatic smoking habit detection from spontaneous telephone speech signals. In this method, each utterance is modeled using i-vector and non-negative factor analysis (NFA) frameworks, which yield low-dimensional representation of utterances by applying factor analysis...... method is evaluated on telephone speech signals of speakers whose smoking habits are known drawn from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 2008 and 2010 Speaker Recognition Evaluation databases. Experimental results over 1194 utterances show the effectiveness of the proposed approach...... for the automatic smoking habit detection task....

20 CFR 638.516 - Laundry, mail, and telephone service.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 20 Employees' Benefits 3 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Laundry, mail, and telephone service. 638.516... PROGRAM UNDER TITLE IV-B OF THE JOB TRAINING PARTNERSHIP ACT Center Operations § 638.516 Laundry, mail, and telephone service. (a) The center operator shall provide adequate laundry services and supplies at...

Is there a bias against telephone interviews in qualitative research?

Science.gov (United States)

Novick, Gina

2008-08-01

Telephone interviews are largely neglected in the qualitative research literature and, when discussed, they are often depicted as a less attractive alternative to face-to-face interviewing. The absence of visual cues via telephone is thought to result in loss of contextual and nonverbal data and to compromise rapport, probing, and interpretation of responses. Yet, telephones may allow respondents to feel relaxed and able to disclose sensitive information, and evidence is lacking that they produce lower quality data. This apparent bias against telephone interviews contrasts with a growing interest in electronic qualitative interviews. Research is needed comparing these modalities, and examining their impact on data quality and their use for studying varying topics and populations. Such studies could contribute evidence-based guidelines for optimizing interview data. 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc

Acceptability of the use of cellular telephone and computer pictures/video for "pill counts" in buprenorphine maintenance treatment.

Science.gov (United States)

Welsh, Christopher

2016-01-01

As part of a comprehensive plan to attempt to minimize the diversion of prescribed controlled substances, many professional organization and licensing boards are recommending the use of "pill counts." This study sought to evaluate acceptability of the use of cellular phone and computer pictures/video for "pill counts" by patients in buprenorphine maintenance treatment. Patients prescribed buprenorphine/naloxone were asked a series of questions related to the type(s) of electronic communication to which they had access as well as their willingness to use these for the purpose of performing a "pill/film count." Of the 80 patients, 4 (5 percent) did not have a phone at all. Only 28 (35 percent) had a "smart phone" with some sort of data plan and Internet access. Forty (50 percent) of the patients had a phone with no camera and 10 (12.5 percent) had a phone with a camera but no video capability. All patients said that they would be willing to periodically use the video or camera on their phone or computer to have buprenorphine/naloxone pills or film counted as long as the communication was protected from electronic tampering. With the advent of applications for smart phones that allow for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996-compliant picture/video communication, a number of things can now be done that can enhance patient care as well as reduce the chances of misuse/diversion of prescribed medications. This could be used in settings where a larger proportion of controlled substances are prescribed including medication assisted therapy for opioid use disorders and pain management programs.

Bandwidth Extension of Telephone Speech Aided by Data Embedding

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sagi Ariel

2007-01-01

Full Text Available A system for bandwidth extension of telephone speech, aided by data embedding, is presented. The proposed system uses the transmitted analog narrowband speech signal as a carrier of the side information needed to carry out the bandwidth extension. The upper band of the wideband speech is reconstructed at the receiving end from two components: a synthetic wideband excitation signal, generated from the narrowband telephone speech and a wideband spectral envelope, parametrically represented and transmitted as embedded data in the telephone speech. We propose a novel data embedding scheme, in which the scalar Costa scheme is combined with an auditory masking model allowing high rate transparent embedding, while maintaining a low bit error rate. The signal is transformed to the frequency domain via the discrete Hartley transform (DHT and is partitioned into subbands. Data is embedded in an adaptively chosen subset of subbands by modifying the DHT coefficients. In our simulations, high quality wideband speech was obtained from speech transmitted over a telephone line (characterized by spectral magnitude distortion, dispersion, and noise, in which side information data is transparently embedded at the rate of 600 information bits/second and with a bit error rate of approximately . In a listening test, the reconstructed wideband speech was preferred (at different degrees over conventional telephone speech in of the test utterances.

Bandwidth Extension of Telephone Speech Aided by Data Embedding

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Malah

2007-01-01

Full Text Available A system for bandwidth extension of telephone speech, aided by data embedding, is presented. The proposed system uses the transmitted analog narrowband speech signal as a carrier of the side information needed to carry out the bandwidth extension. The upper band of the wideband speech is reconstructed at the receiving end from two components: a synthetic wideband excitation signal, generated from the narrowband telephone speech and a wideband spectral envelope, parametrically represented and transmitted as embedded data in the telephone speech. We propose a novel data embedding scheme, in which the scalar Costa scheme is combined with an auditory masking model allowing high rate transparent embedding, while maintaining a low bit error rate. The signal is transformed to the frequency domain via the discrete Hartley transform (DHT and is partitioned into subbands. Data is embedded in an adaptively chosen subset of subbands by modifying the DHT coefficients. In our simulations, high quality wideband speech was obtained from speech transmitted over a telephone line (characterized by spectral magnitude distortion, dispersion, and noise, in which side information data is transparently embedded at the rate of 600 information bits/second and with a bit error rate of approximately 3⋅10−4. In a listening test, the reconstructed wideband speech was preferred (at different degrees over conventional telephone speech in 92.5% of the test utterances.

39 CFR 6.4 - Attendance by conference telephone call.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 39 Postal Service 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Attendance by conference telephone call. 6.4 Section 6.4 Postal Service UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE U.S. POSTAL SERVICE MEETINGS (ARTICLE VI) § 6.4 Attendance by conference telephone call. For regularly scheduled meetings of...

Willingness to pay for rural telephone services: Implications for rural ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

WTP) for rural telephone services and the implications on poverty reduction in Southeast Nigeria. The key research problem was the inability of the telephone providers or regulatory agencies to estimate the amount the people were willing to pay ...

Call Us: Development of a Library Telephone Enquiry Service

Science.gov (United States)

Burke, Liz; Beranek, Lea

2006-01-01

The authors detail the trial and piloting of a telephone enquiry service (TES) at the Bundoora Campus Library at La Trobe University in order to attempt to resolve the balance between telephone and face-to-face enquiries at the library service desk. They investigated various options throughout 2001 and 2002 and settled on a centralised service…

75 FR 21979 - NRC Region II Address and Main Telephone Number Changes

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-27

... Region II Address and Main Telephone Number Changes AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ACTION: Final... address for its Region II office and to update the main telephone number. The Region II office move and... update the NRC Region II office street address and office main telephone number. The physical location of...

Can Smartphones Enhance Telephone-Based Cognitive Assessment (TBCA)?

OpenAIRE

Rick Yiu-Cho Kwan; Claudia Kam-Yuk Lai

2013-01-01

TBCA has emerged to solve the limitations of administering cognitive assessments face-to-face. The recent development of telephones and knowledge advances in the area of cognitive impairment may affect the development of TBCA. The purpose of this paper is to discuss how smartphones can be used to enhance the applicability of TBCA, which has previously been administered by conventional telephone. This paper will first review, describe and critique the existing TBCA instruments. It will then di...

Telephone-Directory Program

Science.gov (United States)

Vlahos, William

2005-01-01

eDirectory is a computer program that makes it possible to view entries in the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) telephone directory by use of PalmPilot(TradeMark) (or equivalent) personal digital assistants. When one uses eDirectory, a single click causes the downloading of a current copy of the directory (which is updated nightly) from a server. The downloaded directory data can be sorted and searched. The program can append a "JPL" category and save directory information in a file that can be imported into the Palm Desktop(TradeMark) software.

Lifesavers and Samaritans: emergency use of cellular (mobile) phones in Australia.

Science.gov (United States)

Chapman, S; Schofield, W N

1998-11-01

There has been highly publicised concern about possible radiation health effects from mobile phones and towers, but scant attention has been paid to the use of mobile phones in reducing notification times in emergencies. National random telephone survey of Australian mobile phone users (n = 720) and extrapolation to national user population (n = 5.1 million). Using a cellular phone, 1 in 8 users have reported a traffic accident; 1 in 4 a dangerous situation; 1 in 16 a non-road medical emergency; 1 in 20 a crime; and 1 in 45 being lost in the bush or being in difficulty at sea. Any debate about the net health impact of mobile phone proliferation must balance possible negative effects (cancer, driving incidents) with the benefits from what appears to be their widespread use in rapidly reporting emergencies and in numerous acts of often health-relevant 'cellular Samaritanism'.

[Screening for dementia using telephone interviews. An evaluation and reliability study of the Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (TICS) in its modified German version].

Science.gov (United States)

Matrisch, M; Trampisch, U; Klaassen-Mielke, R; Pientka, L; Trampisch, H J; Thiem, U

2012-04-01

To assess cognitive impairment or dementia in epidemiologic studies using telephone interviews for data acquisition, valid, reliable and short instruments suitable for telephone administration are required. For the Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (TICS) in its modified German version, the only instrument used in Germany so far, more data on reliability and practicability are needed. Participants were recruited in the offices of nine primary care physicians. Data from 197 participants (115 females, mean age 78.5±4.1 years) who were tested by telephone and in the office by means of the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) were used for the evaluation. For assessing reliability, a group of 91 participants (55 females, mean age 78.1±4.1 years) was contacted twice during 30 days to be tested during a telephone interview by means of the TICS in its modified German version. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), a measure of reliability, was 0.67 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.53; 0.77]. The Bland-Altman plot did not reveal any relationship between the variability of the difference between repeated measures and the total amount of the measure. For the overall TICS score, no differences were found between repeated measurements. However, the tasks recall of the word list and counting backwards showed some improvement in the repeated tests. TICS and MMSE showed only moderate correlation, with a correlation coefficient of 0.48 (95% CI: 0.36; 0.58). TICS values were dependent on age and educational level of the person tested. The TICS in its modified German version appears to be of acceptable reliability for the assessment of cognitive impairment during a telephone interview. TICS values depend on age and educational level of the person tested. TICS and MMSE correlate only moderately.

Openings and Closings in Telephone Conversations between Native Spanish Speakers.

Science.gov (United States)

Coronel-Molina, Serafin M.

1998-01-01

A study analyzed the opening and closing sequences of 11 dyads of native Spanish-speakers in natural telephone conversations conducted in Spanish. The objective was to determine how closely Hispanic cultural patterns of conduct for telephone conversations follow the sequences outlined in previous research. It is concluded that Spanish…

Maintenance of CERN telephone exchanges

CERN Multimedia

2005-01-01

A maintenance of CERN telephone exchanges will be performed on 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24th of September from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Disturbances or even interruptions of telephony services may occur during this lapse of time. We apology in advance for any inconveniences that this may cause.

Telephone based weight loss intervention: Relevance for developing countries.

Science.gov (United States)

Ayisi Addo, Sandra; Steiner-Asiedu, Matilda

2018-02-08

Obesity is a major public health challenge not only for developed but developing countries as well. The World Health Organization recommends the immediate use of effective, efficient and widely accessible weight loss interventions. Telephone based weight loss intervention could provide a cheaper and wider reach of obese participants. Previous systematic reviews on telephone based weight loss interventions either excluded studies that had obese participants with co-morbidities or were silent on their inclusion. Obese/overweight individuals with co-morbidities constitute an important population in any weight loss intervention study due to the strong association of obesity with major chronic health conditions. This paper, reviews the efficacy of telephone based weight loss intervention solely in overweight/obese individuals with obesity related diseases and discusses its relevance for developing countries.

The human intestinal IgA response; burning questions.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jo eSpencer

2012-05-01

Full Text Available Understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms that generate the human intestinal IgA response is fundamentally important if effective mucosal vaccination is to be successful and broadly applied. There have been several major advances in this field recently that have allowed us to feel optimistic that this will be achieved. However, there are still many unanswered questions. These questions have been used as a scaffold for this review that considers findings at the current leading edge alongside the many uncertainties in this field.

Testing a Model of Functional Impairment in Telephone Crisis Support Workers.

Science.gov (United States)

Kitchingman, Taneile A; Wilson, Coralie J; Caputi, Peter; Wilson, Ian; Woodward, Alan

2017-11-01

It is well known that helping professionals experience functional impairment related to elevated symptoms of psychological distress as a result of frequent empathic engagement with distressed others. Whether telephone crisis support workers are impacted in a similar way is not currently reported in the literature. The purpose of this study was to test a hypothesized model of factors contributing to functional impairment in telephone crisis support workers. A national sample of 210 telephone crisis support workers completed an online survey including measures of emotion regulation, symptoms of general psychological distress and suicidal ideation, intentions to seek help for symptoms, and functional impairment. Structural equation modeling was used to test the fit of the data to the hypothesized model. Goodness-of-fit indices were adequate and supported the interactive effects of emotion regulation, general psychological distress, suicidal ideation, and intentions to seek help for ideation on functional impairment. These results warrant the deliberate management of telephone crisis support workers' impairment through service selection, training, supervision, and professional development strategies. Future research replicating and extending this model will further inform the modification and/or development of strategies to optimize telephone crisis support workers' well-being and delivery of support to callers.

Emergency telephone consultations: a new course for medical students.

Science.gov (United States)

Schaufelberger, Mireille; Harris, Michael; Frey, Peter

2012-12-01

Using the telephone for consultations is now common practice. Although there is a clear need for specific training for telephone consultations, it is uncommon for it to be taught in medical school. A practical course on emergency telephone consultations (ECTs) was designed for the medical degree course at the University of Bern Medical School. During the module, each of the volunteer fifth-year medical students had to perform two simulated telephone consultations. Medical students in their first year of medical school acted as simulated patients (SPs), and they gave immediate feedback to the participants. Nineteen per cent of fifth-year students voluntarily undertook the ETC course. The course was rated 'very informative' by 68 per cent of the participants, and 'informative' by 32 per cent. Ninety-four per cent of the attendees recorded a personal learning gain, and 68 per cent suggested that the course should be obligatory. All the participants thought that the SPs played their roles realistically. In their rating of the ETC, the fifth-year students gave it a mean mark of 5.5 (out of a maximum of 6), suggesting that they thought it had been very successful. Students became aware of their need for ETC training through the course itself, and they recommended that it should be obligatory. The ETC pilot received a highly positive response from lead clinicians who anticipated a rising number of telephone consultations, and who have to deal with trainees who have not been taught about how to deal with ETCs. As a result, the Faculty of Medicine decided to make the course obligatory. © Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2012.

Telephone Care Management of Fall Risk:: A Feasibility Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Phelan, Elizabeth A; Pence, Maureen; Williams, Barbara; MacCornack, Frederick A

2017-03-01

Care management has been found to be more effective than usual care for some chronic conditions, but few studies have tested care management for prevention of elder falls. This study aimed to assess the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of telephone care management of older adults presenting for medical attention due to a fall. The setting was an independent practice association in western Washington serving 1,300 Medicare Advantage-insured patients. Patients aged ≥65 years treated for a fall in an emergency department or their primary care provider's office were contacted via telephone by a care manager within 48 hours of their fall-related visit and invited to participate in a telephone-administered interview to identify modifiable fall risk factors and receive recommendations and follow-up to address identified risk factors. Data from care manager records, patient medical records, and healthcare claims for the first 6 months (November 2009-April 2010) of program implementation were analyzed in 2011. The feasibility of screening and management of fall risk factors over the telephone and the effect on medically attended falls were assessed. Twenty-two patients eligible for fall care management were reached and administered the protocol. Administration took 15-20 minutes and integrated easily with the care manager's other responsibilities. Follow-through on recommendations varied, from 45% for those for whom exercise participation was recommended to 100% for other recommendations. No medically attended falls occurred over 6 months of follow-up. Telephone care management of fall risk appears feasible and may reduce falls requiring medical attention. Copyright © 2016 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

GYNOTEL: telephone advice to gynaecological surgical patients after discharge.

Science.gov (United States)

Caljouw, Monique A A; Hogendorf-Burgers, Marja E H J

2010-12-01

To investigate in surgical gynaecological patients the types of health problems arising or persisting up to six weeks after discharge and the effectiveness of telephone advice. The decreasing length of hospital stay has increased the need for specific instructions about the postdischarge period. Telephone advice could be a valuable tool to address this problem. To our knowledge, postdischarge health problems and the value of telephone advice have not been investigated among gynaecological patients. Randomised controlled trial. Gynaecological patients expected to stay in the ward longer than 24 hour were invited to participate. A pilot study showed that wound healing, pain, mobility, urination, defecation and vaginal bleeding were the most common health problems postdischarge. Based on that information, guidelines were formulated that were used by trained nurses to give telephone advice to the intervention group (n=235), in addition to the usual care. The control group of gynaecological patients (n=233) received usual care only. Of all 468 participants, about 50% were operated for general gynaecology. At discharge, wound pain (56%), mobility problems (54%) and constipation (27%) were the most frequently mentioned problems in both groups. Participants who completely followed the advice with regard to wound healing (p=0.02), pain (p=0.01), vaginal bleeding (p=0.03) and mobility (p=0.04) experienced greater improvement than participants who did not follow, or only partly followed, the advice. The telephone advice appears to make a significant contribution to help gynaecological surgical patients to solve or reduce their postdischarge health problems. The positive effect of such advice can be interpreted as an improvement in the quality of life of the postoperative gynaecological patient. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Low-Income Demand for Local Telephone Service: Effects of Lifeline and Linkup

OpenAIRE

Daniel Ackerberg; Michael Riordan; Gregory Rosston; Bradley Wimmer

2008-01-01

A comprehensive data set on local telephone service prices is used to evaluate the effect of Lifeline and Linkup programs on the telephone penetration rates of low-income households in the United States. Lifeline and Linkup programs respectively subsidize the monthly subscription and initial installation charges of eligible low-income households. Telephone penetration rates are explained by an estimated nonlinear function of local service characteristics (including subsidized prices) and the ...

Strategies for Suicide Intervention by Telephone.

Science.gov (United States)

Hinson, Jennifer

1982-01-01

Describes techniques helpful for telephone counselors dealing with suicide intervention, including reinstating control, reducing anxiety through problem clarification, and providing hope by active listening and tolerance of dispositions. The use of time-outs and detective work is also discussed. (JAC)

Survey on the Use of Mobile Telephone for Micro and Small ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

Survey on the Use of Mobile Telephone for Micro and Small Business ... In Ghana, as in other developing countries, mobile telephones are pervasive, and used ... to announce that the first call for applications for the new Early Career Women.

Gesturing on the Telephone: Independent Effects of Dialogue and Visibility

Science.gov (United States)

Bavelas, Janet; Gerwing, Jennifer; Sutton, Chantelle; Prevost, Danielle

2008-01-01

Speakers often gesture in telephone conversations, even though they are not visible to their addressees. To test whether this effect is due to being in a dialogue, we separated visibility and dialogue with three conditions: face-to-face dialogue (10 dyads), telephone dialogue (10 dyads), and monologue to a tape recorder (10 individuals). For the…

Telephone switchboard closure | 19 December

CERN Multimedia

2014-01-01

Exceptionally, the telephone switchboard will close at 4 p.m. on Friday, 19 December, instead of the usual time of 6 p.m., to allow time for closing all systems properly before the annual closure. Therefore, switchboard operator assistance to transfer calls from/to external lines will stop. All other phone services will run as usual.

Speech perception and communication ability over the telephone by Mandarin-speaking children with cochlear implants.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Che-Ming; Liu, Tien-Chen; Wang, Nan-Mai; Chao, Wei-Chieh

2013-08-01

(1) To understand speech perception and communication ability through real telephone calls by Mandarin-speaking children with cochlear implants and compare them to live-voice perception, (2) to report the general condition of telephone use of this population, and (3) to investigate the factors that correlate with telephone speech perception performance. Fifty-six children with over 4 years of implant use (aged 6.8-13.6 years, mean duration 8.0 years) took three speech perception tests administered using telephone and live voice to examine sentence, monosyllabic-word and Mandarin tone perception. The children also filled out a questionnaire survey investigating everyday telephone use. Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to compare the scores between live-voice and telephone tests, and Pearson's test to examine the correlation between them. The mean scores were 86.4%, 69.8% and 70.5% respectively for sentence, word and tone recognition over the telephone. The corresponding live-voice mean scores were 94.3%, 84.0% and 70.8%. Wilcoxon signed-rank test showed the sentence and word scores were significantly different between telephone and live voice test, while the tone recognition scores were not, indicating tone perception was less worsened by telephone transmission than words and sentences. Spearman's test showed that chronological age and duration of implant use were weakly correlated with the perception test scores. The questionnaire survey showed 78% of the children could initiate phone calls and 59% could use the telephone 2 years after implantation. Implanted children are potentially capable of using the telephone 2 years after implantation, and communication ability over the telephone becomes satisfactory 4 years after implantation. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effects of Using Licensed Practical Nurses to Assist with Telephone Consultation Management

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Wiley, Jennifer L

2006-01-01

.... The study compared means of pre- and post-implementation provider overall job satisfaction, provider satisfaction with the telephone consult process, average daily hours providers spent on telephone...

75 FR 13471 - Telephone Consumer Protection

Science.gov (United States)

2010-03-22

... Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) that would harmonize those rules with the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC's... Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) that would harmonize those rules with the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC's...] Telephone Consumer Protection AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission. ACTION: Proposed rule. SUMMARY: In...

Electromagnetic fields from base stations for cellular mobile telephones. Measurements around base stations in the Oslo area

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hannevik, Merete

2000-01-01

Measurements of radio frequent radiation from base station antennas for cellular mobile telephony have been performed. Measurements were performed inside the buildings in the area just behind or below antennas mounted on the wall or rooftop on buildings and on the ground below tower-mounted antennas. Except from the area 2-3 meters just in front of the antennas the electrical field levels were well below the international guidelines. (Author)

Telephonic screening and brief intervention for alcohol misuse among workers contacting the employee assistance program: A feasibility study.

Science.gov (United States)

McPherson, Tracy L; Goplerud, Eric; Derr, Dennis; Mickenberg, Judy; Courtemanche, Sherry

2010-11-01

Substantial empirical support exists for alcohol screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) in medical, but not non-medical settings such as the workplace. Workplace settings remain underutilised for delivering evidenced-based health services. This research aims to translate medical research into behavioural health-care practice in a telephonic call centre acting as a point of entry into an Employee Assistance Program (EAP). The goal of the study is to examine the feasibility of implementing routine telephonic alcohol SBIRT in an EAP call centre and assess whether routine SBIRT results in increased identification of workers who misuse alcohol. The design was pretest-posttest, one-group, pre-experimental. An alcohol SBIRT program developed based on World Health Organization recommendations was implemented in one EAP call centre serving one large employer. Workers were offered screening using the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) during intake, brief counselling using motivational interviewing, referral to counselling, and follow-up. At 5 months, 93% of workers contacting the EAP completed the AUDIT-C: 40% prescreened positive and 52% went on to screen at moderate or high risk for an alcohol problem. Overall identification rate (18%) approached general US population estimates. Most agreed to follow-up and three-quarters set an appointment for face-to-face counselling. Integration of routine alcohol SBIRT into EAP practice is feasible in telephonic delivery systems and increases identification and opportunity for brief motivational counselling. When SBIRT is seamlessly integrated workers are willing to answer questions about alcohol and participate in follow-up.[McPherson TL, Goplerud E, Derr D, Mickenberg J, Courtemanche S. Telephonic screening and brief intervention for alcohol misuse among workers contacting the employee assistance program: A feasibility study. © 2010 Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs.

Recruiting to Clinical Trials on the Telephone - a randomized controlled trial

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Foss, Kim Thestrup; Kjærgaard, Jesper; Stensballe, Lone Graff

2016-01-01

BACKGROUND: Informed consent is an essential element of clinical research. Obtaining consent, however, may be challenging. The use of the telephone for giving information and obtaining consent may be practical but little formal research has been done. METHODS: We examined the use of the telephone...

Evaluation of a wireless audio streaming accessory to improve mobile telephone performance of cochlear implant users.

Science.gov (United States)

Wolfe, Jace; Morais Duke, Mila; Schafer, Erin; Cire, George; Menapace, Christine; O'Neill, Lori

2016-01-01

The objective of this study was to evaluate the potential improvement in word recognition in quiet and in noise obtained with use of a Bluetooth-compatible wireless hearing assistance technology (HAT) relative to the acoustic mobile telephone condition (e.g. the mobile telephone receiver held to the microphone of the sound processor). A two-way repeated measures design was used to evaluate differences in telephone word recognition obtained in quiet and in competing noise in the acoustic mobile telephone condition compared to performance obtained with use of the CI sound processor and a telephone HAT. Sixteen adult users of Nucleus cochlear implants and the Nucleus 6 sound processor were included in this study. Word recognition over the mobile telephone in quiet and in noise was significantly better with use of the wireless HAT compared to performance in the acoustic mobile telephone condition. Word recognition over the mobile telephone was better in quiet when compared to performance in noise. The results of this study indicate that use of a wireless HAT improves word recognition over the mobile telephone in quiet and in noise relative to performance in the acoustic mobile telephone condition for a group of adult cochlear implant recipients.

75 FR 78269 - Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request; Telephone...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-12-15

... for OMB Review; Comment Request; Telephone Point of Purchase Survey ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: The... information collection request (ICR) titled, ``Telephone Point of Purchase Survey,'' to the Office [email protected] . SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The purpose of the Telephone Point of Purchase Survey is to...

CONFUSION WITH TELEPHONE NUMBERS

CERN Multimedia

Telecom Service

2002-01-01

he area code is now required for all telephone calls within Switzerland. Unfortunately this is causing some confusion. CERN has received complaints that incoming calls intended for CERN mobile phones are being directed to private subscribers. This is caused by mistakenly dialing the WRONG code (e.g. 022) in front of the mobile number. In order to avoid these problems, please inform your correspondents that the correct numbers are: 079 201 XXXX from Switzerland; 0041 79 201 XXXX from other countries. Telecom Service

Assessment of real exposure to GSM mobile telephones using the SYRPOM

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Picard, D.; Fouquet, L.; Chauvin, S.

2013-01-01

A mobile telephone user's exposure to the radio-frequency electromagnetic field depends heavily on the power their telephone radiates, which can vary widely according to requests from the base station. This study presents the design and development of a system called System for Radiated Power Measurement (SYRPOM), which measures the power radiated by a mobile telephone. This study also describes the tests carried out on the system itself and gives the results of two measuring campaigns it has been possible to perform in this way. The first such campaign consisted of assessing the mean power received by a typical mobile telephone user carrying out various activities. The second campaign was aimed at (1) comparing the mean radiated power when stationary and when moving and (2) assessing and contrasting different models of handsets in terms of the mean radiated power. The SYRPOM has proved to be a flexible, easy-to-use high-performance and innovative tool for carrying out this kind of studies. (authors)

The usefulness of the Basic Question Procedure for determining non-response bias in substantive variables - A test of four telephone questionnaires

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Goor, H.; van Goor, A.

2007-01-01

The Basic Question Procedure (BQP) is a method for determining non-response bias. The BQP involves asking one basic question - that is, the question relating to the central substantive variable of the study - of those persons who refuse to participate in the survey. We studied the usefulness of this

78 FR 78389 - Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request; Telephone...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-12-26

... for OMB Review; Comment Request; Telephone Point of Purchase Survey ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: The... request (ICR) revision titled, ``Telephone Point of Purchase Survey,'' to the Office of Management and... seeks to make minor modifications to the Telephone Point of Purchase Survey (TPOPS) and extend its PRA...

Validation of a telephone screening test for Alzheimer's disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Camozzato, Ana Luiza; Kochhann, Renata; Godinho, Claudia; Costa, Amanda; Chaves, Marcia L

2011-03-01

Financial constraints, mobility issues, medical conditions, crime in local areas can make cognitive assessment difficult for elders and telephone interviews can be a good alternative. This study was carried out to evaluate the reliability, validity and clinical utility of a Brazilian telephone version of the Mini Mental State Examination (Braztel-MMSE) in a community sample of healthy elderly participants and AD patients. The MMSE and the Braztel-MMSE were applied to 66 AD patients and 67 healthy elderly participants. The test-retest reliability was strong and significant (r = .92, p = .01), and the correlation between the Braztel-MMSE and the MMSE were significant (p = .01) and strong (r = .92). The general screening ability of the Braztel-MMSE was high (AUC = 0.982; CI95% = 0.964-1.001). This telephone version can therefore be used as a screening measure for dementia in older adults that need neuropsychological screening and cannot present for an evaluation.

Post-operative telephone review is cost-effective and acceptable to patients.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Gray, R T

2012-02-01

INTRODUCTION: Patients undergoing selective minor emergency and elective procedures are followed up by a nurse-led structured telephone review six weeks post-operatively in our hospital. Our study objectives were to review patients\\' satisfaction, assess cost-effectiveness and compare our practice with other surgical units in Northern Ireland (NI). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Completed telephone follow-up forms were reviewed retrospectively for a three-year period and cost savings calculated. Fifty patients were contacted prospectively by telephone using a questionnaire to assess satisfaction of this follow-up. A postal questionnaire was sent to 68 general and vascular surgeons in NI, assessing individual preferences for patient follow-up. RESULTS: A total of 1378 patients received a telephone review from September 2005 to September 2008. One thousand one hundred and seventy-seven (85.4%) were successfully contacted, while 201 (14.6%) did not respond despite multiple attempts. One hundred and forty-seven respondents (10.7%) required further outpatient follow-up, thereby saving 1231 outpatient reviews, equivalent to pound41,509 per annum. Thirty-nine (78%) patients expected post-operative follow-up, with 29 (58%) expecting this in the outpatient department. However, all patients were satisfied with the nurse-led telephone review. Fifty-three (78%) consultants responded. Those who always, or occasionally, review patients post-operatively varies according to the operation performed, ranging from 2.2% appendicectomy patients to 40.0% for varicose vein surgery. CONCLUSION: Current practice in NI varies, but a significant proportion of patients are not routinely reviewed. This study confirmed that patients expect post-operative follow-up. A nurse-led telephone review service is acceptable to patients, cost-effective and reduces the number of unnecessary outpatient reviews.

CONFUSION WITH TELEPHONE NUMBERS

CERN Multimedia

Telecom Service

2002-01-01

The area code is now required for all telephone calls within Switzerland. Unfortunately this is causing some confusion. CERN has received complaints that incoming calls intended for CERN mobile phones are being directed to private subscribers. This is caused by mistakenly dialing the WRONG code (e.g. 022) in front of the mobile number. In order to avoid these problems, please inform your correspondents that the correct numbers are: 079 201 XXXX from Switzerland; 0041 79 201 XXXX from other countries. Telecom Service  

Effects of a Mail and Telephone Intervention on Breast Health Behaviors

Science.gov (United States)

Bowen, Deborah J.; Powers, Diane

2010-01-01

This study evaluated a mail and telephone intervention to improve breast health behaviors while maintaining quality of life. Women recruited from the general public were randomized to a stepped-intensity intervention consisting of mailings, telephone calls, and counseling (if requested or appropriate given a woman's genetic risk for breast cancer)…

Bundling the value of discharge telephone calls and leader rounding.

Science.gov (United States)

Setia, Nina; Meade, Christine

2009-03-01

Discharge telephone calls made by hospital staff provide invaluable opportunities to prevent adverse events, improve quality of care, and increase patient satisfaction. Similarly, the effect of rounding on patients can improve clinical quality and improve both patient and staff satisfaction. The author discusses how the combination of implementing both nurse leader rounding and discharge telephone calls simultaneously produced powerful positive outcomes in satisfaction and patient quality of care.

Weighting Strategies for Combining Data from Dual-Frame Telephone Surveys: Emerging Evidence from Australia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Baffour Bernard

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Until quite recently, telephone surveys have typically relied on landline telephone numbers. However, with the increasing popularity and affordability of mobile phones, there has been a surge in households that do not have landline connections. Additionally, there has been a decline in the response rates and population coverage of landline telephone surveys, creating a challenge to collecting representative social data. Dual-frame telephone surveys that use both landline and mobile phone sampling frames can overcome the incompleteness of landline-only telephone sampling. However, surveying mobile phone users introduces new complexities in sampling, nonresponse measurement and statistical weighting. This article examines these issues and illustrates the consequences of failing to include mobile-phone-only users in telephone surveys using data from Australia. Results show that there are significant differences in estimates of populations’ characteristics when using information solely from the landline or mobile telephone sample. These biases in the population estimates are significantly reduced when data from the mobile and landline samples are combined and appropriate dual-frame survey estimators are used. The optimal choice of a dual-frame estimation strategy depends on the availability of good-quality information that can account for the differential patterns of nonresponse by frame.

Cellular Clocks : Coupled Circadian Dispatch and Cell Division Cycles

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Merrow, Martha; Roenneberg, Till

2004-01-01

Gating of cell division by the circadian clock is well known, yet its mechanism is little understood. Genetically tractable model systems have led to new hypotheses and questions concerning the coupling of these two cellular cycles.

Efficacy and experiences of telephone counselling for informal carers of people with dementia.

Science.gov (United States)

Lins, Sabine; Hayder-Beichel, Daniela; Rücker, Gerta; Motschall, Edith; Antes, Gerd; Meyer, Gabriele; Langer, Gero

2014-09-01

Informal carers of people with dementia can suffer from depressive symptoms, emotional distress and other physiological, social and financial consequences. This review focuses on three main objectives:To:1) produce a quantitative review of the efficacy of telephone counselling for informal carers of people with dementia;2) synthesize qualitative studies to explore carers' experiences of receiving telephone counselling and counsellors' experiences of conducting telephone counselling; and3) integrate 1) and 2) to identify aspects of the intervention that are valued and work well, and those interventional components that should be improved or redesigned. The Cochrane Dementia and Cognitive Improvement Group's Specialized Register, The Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, MEDLINE in Process, EMBASE, CINAHL, PSYNDEX, PsycINFO, Web of Science, DIMDI databases, Springer database, Science direct and trial registers were searched on 3 May 2011 and updated on 25 February 2013. A Forward Citation search was conducted for included studies in Web of Science and Google Scholar. We used the Related Articles service of PubMed for included studies, contacted experts and hand-searched abstracts of five congresses. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) or cross-over trials that compared telephone counselling for informal carers of people with dementia against no treatment, usual care or friendly calls for chatting were included evaluation of efficacy. Qualitative studies with qualitative methods of data collection and analysis were also included to address experiences with telephone counselling. Two authors independently screened articles for inclusion criteria, extracted data and assessed the quantitative trials with the Cochrane 'Risk of bias' tool and the qualitative studies with the Critical Appraisal Skills Program (CASP) tool. The authors conducted meta-analyses, but reported some results in narrative form due to clinical heterogeneity. The authors synthesised the qualitative data and

Work on the CERN telephone exchanges

CERN Multimedia

2006-01-01

Corrective maintenance work on the CERN telephone exchanges will be carried out on 13th March 2006, resulting in service interruptions across the west area of the Meyrin site between 9.00 p.m. and 11.00 p.m. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. CERN TELECOM Service Tel.: 76111 GSM: 160101

Maintenance of CERN telephone exchanges - erratum

CERN Document Server

2005-01-01

The next maintenance of CERN telephone exchanges will be performed on 19th, 20th, 21st, and 22nd of September from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Disturbances or even interruptions of telephony services may occur during this lapse of time. We apology in advance for any inconveniences that this may cause.

47 CFR 36.331 - Information origination/termination expenses-Account 6310 (Class B telephone companies); Accounts...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... telephone companies). (a) The expenses in this account are classified as follows: (1) Other Information... 47 Telecommunication 2 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Information origination/termination expenses-Account 6310 (Class B telephone companies); Accounts 6311, 6341, 6351, and 6362 (Class A telephone...

Towards adoptive cellular therapy of chronic autoimmune arthritis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Flierman, Roelof

2008-01-01

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a relatively common disease that is characterized by chronic inflammation of joints. The research as described in this thesis focused on the question of whether adoptive cellular therapy is effective in a mouse model of RA. The most generally known type of adoptive

Telephone Crisis Support Workers' Intentions to Use Recommended Skills While Experiencing Functional Impairment.

Science.gov (United States)

Kitchingman, Taneile A; Wilson, Coralie J; Woodward, Alan; Caputi, Peter; Wilson, Ian

2018-05-01

Empathic engagement with distressed others can lead to elevated symptoms of psychological distress and functional impairment, which preclude helping professionals' delivery of optimal patient care. Whether telephone crisis support workers are impacted in a similar way is not currently reported in the literature. This study examined the relationship between functional impairment and intentions to use recommended support skills in a representative national sample of 210 telephone crisis support workers. Participants completed an online survey including measures of functional impairment and intentions to use recommended telephone crisis support skills with callers reporting suicidal ideation, symptoms of depression, and anxiety. As a group, participants who experienced greater functional impairment during the past month reported significantly lower intentions to use recommended support skills with callers than those who reported lower functional impairment. Future research is needed to clarify the extent to which results generalize to telephone crisis support workers from other organizations. Results warrant further research to (a) identify determinants of telephone crisis support workers' functional impairment, and (b) for the deliberate management of telephone crisis support workers' functional impairment through developing and/or modifying existing service strategies to optimize workers' psychological well-being and delivery of support to callers.

Mobile and cordless telephones, serum transthyretin and the blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier: a cross-sectional study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carlberg Michael

2009-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Whether low-intensity radiofrequency radiation damages the blood-brain barrier has long been debated, but little or no consideration has been given to the blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier. In this cross-sectional study we tested whether long-term and/or short-term use of wireless telephones was associated with changes in the serum transthyretin level, indicating altered transthyretin concentration in the cerebrospinal fluid, possibly reflecting an effect of radiation. Methods One thousand subjects, 500 of each sex aged 18–65 years, were randomly recruited using the population registry. Data on wireless telephone use were assessed by a postal questionnaire and blood samples were analyzed for serum transthyretin concentrations determined by standard immunonephelometric techniques on a BN Prospec® instrument. Results The response rate was 31.4%. Logistic regression of dichotomized TTR serum levels with a cut-point of 0.31 g/l on wireless telephone use yielded increased odds ratios that were statistically not significant. Linear regression of time since first use overall and on the day that blood was withdrawn gave different results for males and females: for men significantly higher serum concentrations of TTR were seen the longer an analogue telephone or a mobile and cordless desktop telephone combined had been used, and in contrast, significantly lower serum levels were seen the longer an UMTS telephone had been used. Adjustment for fractions of use of the different telephone types did not modify the effect for cumulative use or years since first use for mobile telephone and DECT, combined. For women, linear regression gave a significant association for short-term use of mobile and cordless telephones combined, indicating that the sooner blood was withdrawn after the most recent telephone call, the higher the expected transthyretin concentration. Conclusion In this hypothesis-generating descriptive study time since first

30 CFR 56.12069 - Lightning protection for telephone wires and ungrounded conductors.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Lightning protection for telephone wires and... NONMETAL MINES Electricity § 56.12069 Lightning protection for telephone wires and ungrounded conductors... lightning shall be equipped with suitable lightning arrestors of approved type within 100 feet of the point...

30 CFR 57.12069 - Lightning protection for telephone wires and ungrounded conductors.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Lightning protection for telephone wires and... AND NONMETAL MINES Electricity Surface Only § 57.12069 Lightning protection for telephone wires and... exposed to lightning shall be equipped with suitable lightning arrestors of approved type within 100 feet...

Telephone reminders reduced the non-attendance rate in a gastroenterology outpatient clinic.

Science.gov (United States)

Jeppesen, Maja Haunstrup; Ainsworth, Mark Andrew

2015-06-01

Non-attendance is a global health-care problem. The aim of the present study was 1) to investigate if a telephone reminder could reduce the non-attendance rate, 2) to study reasons for non-attendance and 3) to evaluate if a permanent implementation would be economically advantageous in a gastroenterology outpatient clinic like ours. This was a comparative intervention study with a historical control group in a gastroenterology outpatient clinic. The study lasted six months. Patients with a scheduled appointment in the first three-month period received no reminder (control group, n = 2,705). Patients in the following three-month period were reminded by telephone one weekday in advance of their appointment, when possible (intervention group, n = 2,479). Non-attending patients in the intervention group received a questionnaire. Based on the results, a financial cost-benefit analysis was made. In the intervention group, 1,577 (64%) patients answered the reminder telephone call. The non-attendance rate was significantly lower in the intervention group (6.1%) than in the control group (10.5%) (p < 0.00001). Only 1.3% of the patients who answered the reminder turned out to be non-attendees. The most common explanation for non-attendance in the intervention group was forgetfulness (39%). The reminder telephone call was cost-effective. In this outpatient clinic, telephone reminders were cost-effective and significantly reduced the non-attendance rate by 43%.

Modeling Auditory-Haptic Interface Cues from an Analog Multi-line Telephone

Science.gov (United States)

Begault, Durand R.; Anderson, Mark R.; Bittner, Rachael M.

2012-01-01

The Western Electric Company produced a multi-line telephone during the 1940s-1970s using a six-button interface design that provided robust tactile, haptic and auditory cues regarding the "state" of the communication system. This multi-line telephone was used as a model for a trade study comparison of two interfaces: a touchscreen interface (iPad)) versus a pressure-sensitive strain gauge button interface (Phidget USB interface controllers). The experiment and its results are detailed in the authors' AES 133rd convention paper " Multimodal Information Management: Evaluation of Auditory and Haptic Cues for NextGen Communication Dispays". This Engineering Brief describes how the interface logic, visual indications, and auditory cues of the original telephone were synthesized using MAX/MSP, including the logic for line selection, line hold, and priority line activation.

75 FR 8112 - In the Matter of Certain Mobile Telephones and Wireless Communication Devices Featuring Digital...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-02-23

... importation of certain mobile telephones and wireless communication devices featuring digital cameras, and... importation of certain mobile telephones or wireless communication devices featuring digital cameras, or... INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMMISSION [Inv. No. 337-TA-703] In the Matter of Certain Mobile Telephones...

Video clip transfer of radiological images using a mobile telephone in emergency neurosurgical consultations (3G Multi-Media Messaging Service).

Science.gov (United States)

Waran, Vicknes; Bahuri, Nor Faizal Ahmad; Narayanan, Vairavan; Ganesan, Dharmendra; Kadir, Khairul Azmi Abdul

2012-04-01

The purpose of this study was to validate and assess the accuracy and usefulness of sending short video clips in 3gp file format of an entire scan series of patients, using mobile telephones running on 3G-MMS technology, to enable consultation between junior doctors in a neurosurgical unit and the consultants on-call after office hours. A total of 56 consecutive patients with acute neurosurgical problems requiring urgent after-hours consultation during a 6-month period, prospectively had their images recorded and transmitted using the above method. The response to the diagnosis and the management plan by two neurosurgeons (who were not on site) based on the images viewed on a mobile telephone were reviewed by an independent observer and scored. In addition to this, a radiologist reviewed the original images directly on the hospital's Patients Archiving and Communication System (PACS) and this was compared with the neurosurgeons' response. Both neurosurgeons involved in this study were in complete agreement with their diagnosis. The radiologist disagreed with the diagnosis in only one patient, giving a kappa coefficient of 0.88, indicating an almost perfect agreement. The use of mobile telephones to transmit MPEG video clips of radiological images is very advantageous for carrying out emergency consultations in neurosurgery. The images accurately reflect the pathology in question, thereby reducing the incidence of medical errors from incorrect diagnosis, which otherwise may just depend on a verbal description.

Emotion Analysis of Telephone Complaints from Customer Based on Affective Computing

OpenAIRE

Gong, Shuangping; Dai, Yonghui; Ji, Jun; Wang, Jinzhao; Sun, Hai

2015-01-01

Customer complaint has been the important feedback for modern enterprises to improve their product and service quality as well as the customer's loyalty. As one of the commonly used manners in customer complaint, telephone communication carries rich emotional information of speeches, which provides valuable resources for perceiving the customer's satisfaction and studying the complaint handling skills. This paper studies the characteristics of telephone complaint speeches and proposes an anal...

Intermittent pacemaker dysfunction caused by digital mobile telephones.

Science.gov (United States)

Naegeli, B; Osswald, S; Deola, M; Burkart, F

1996-05-01

This study was designed to evaluate possible interactions between digital mobile telephones and implanted pacemakers. Electromagnetic fields may interfere with normal pacemaker function. Development of bipolar sensing leads and modern noise filtering techniques have lessened this problem. However, it remains unclear whether these features also protect from high frequency noise arising from digital cellular phones. In 39 patients with an implanted pacemaker (14 dual-chamber [DDD], 8 atrial-synchronized ventricular-inhibited [VDD(R)] and 17 ventricular-inhibited [VVI(R)] pacemakers), four mobile phones with different levels of power output (2 and 8 W) were tested in the standby, dialing and operating mode. During continuous electrocardiographic monitoring, 672 tests were performed in each mode with the phones positioned over the pulse generator, the atrial and the ventricular electrode tip. The tests were carried out at different sensitivity settings and, where possible, in the unipolar and bipolar pacing modes as well. In 7 (18%) of 39 patients, a reproducible interference was induced during 26 (3.9%) of 672 tests with the operating phones in close proximity (phone and at maximal sensitivity of the pacemakers (maximal vs. nominal sensitivity, 6% vs. 1.8% positive test results, p = 0.009). When the bipolar and unipolar pacing modes were compared in the same patients, ventricular inhibition was induced only in the unipolar mode (12.5% positive test results, p = 0.0003). Digital mobile phones in close proximity to implanted pacemakers may cause intermittent pacemaker dysfunction with inappropriate ventricular tracking and potentially dangerous pacemaker inhibition.

Mums 4 Mums: structured telephone peer-support for women experiencing postnatal depression. Pilot and exploratory RCT of its clinical and cost effectiveness

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

McKenzie-McHarg Kirstie

2011-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Postnatal depression (PND can be experienced by 13% of women who give birth, and such women often exhibit disabling symptoms, which can have a negative effect on the mother and infant relationship, with significant consequences in terms of the child's later capacity for affect regulation. Research has shown that providing support to mothers experiencing PND can help reduce their depressive symptoms and improve their coping strategies. The Mums4Mums study aims to evaluate the impact of telephone peer-support for women experiencing PND. Methods/Design The study design adopts the MRC framework for the development and evaluation of complex interventions. Health visitors in Warwickshire and Coventry Primary Care Trusts are screening potential participants at the 8-week postnatal check using either the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS > = 10 or the three Whooley questions recommended by NICE (http://guidance.nice.org.uk/CG45. The Mums4Mums telephone support intervention is being delivered by trained peer-supporters over a period of four months. The primary outcome is depressive symptomatology as measured by the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. Secondary outcomes include mother-child interaction, dyadic adjustment, parenting sense of competence scale, and self-efficacy. Maternal perceptions of the telephone peer-support are being assessed using semi-structured interviews following the completion of the intervention. Discussion The proposed study will develop current innovative work in peer-led support interventions and telecare by applying existing expertise to a new domain (i.e. PND, testing the feasibility of a peer-led telephone intervention for mothers living with PND, and developing the relationship between the lay and clinical communities. The intervention will potentially benefit a significant number of patients and support a future application for a larger study to undertake a full evaluation of the clinical

Internet-based CBT for depression with and without telephone tracking in a national helpline: randomised controlled trial.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Louise Farrer

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Telephone helplines are frequently and repeatedly used by individuals with chronic mental health problems and web interventions may be an effective tool for reducing depression in this population. AIM: To evaluate the effectiveness of a 6 week, web-based cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT intervention with and without proactive weekly telephone tracking in the reduction of depression in callers to a helpline service. METHOD: 155 callers to a national helpline service with moderate to high psychological distress were recruited and randomised to receive either Internet CBT plus weekly telephone follow-up; Internet CBT only; weekly telephone follow-up only; or treatment as usual. RESULTS: Depression was lower in participants in the web intervention conditions both with and without telephone tracking compared to the treatment as usual condition both at post intervention and at 6 month follow-up. Telephone tracking provided by a lay telephone counsellor did not confer any additional advantage in terms of symptom reduction or adherence. CONCLUSIONS: A web-based CBT program is effective both with and without telephone tracking for reducing depression in callers to a national helpline. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Controlled-Trials.comISRCTN93903959.

The effect of telephone-based interpersonal psychotherapy for the treatment of postpartum depression: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dennis Cindy-Lee

2012-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Substantial data indicate potential health consequences of untreated postpartum depression (PPD on the mother, infant, and family. Studies have evaluated interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT as treatment for PPD; however, the results are questionable due to methodological limitations. A comprehensive review of maternal treatment preferences suggests that mothers favor ‘talking therapy’ as a form of PPD treatment. Unfortunately, IPT is not widely available, especially in rural and remote areas. To improve access to care, telepsychiatry has been introduced, including the provision of therapy via the telephone. Methods/Design The purpose of this randomized controlled trial is to evaluate the effect of telephone-based IPT on the treatment of PPD. Stratification is based on self-reported history of depression and province. The target sample is 240 women. Currently, women from across Canada between 2 and 24 weeks postpartum are able to either self-identify as depressed and refer themselves to the trial or they may be referred by a health professional based on a score >12 on the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS. Following contact by the trial coordinator, a detailed study explanation is provided. Women who fulfill the eligibility criteria (including a positive diagnostic assessment for major depression and consent to participate are randomized to either the control group (standard postpartum care or intervention group (standard postpartum care plus 12 telephone-based IPT sessions within 12 to 16 weeks, provided by trained nurses. Blinded research nurses telephone participants at 12, 24, and 36 weeks post-randomization to assess for PPD and other outcomes including depressive symptomatology, anxiety, couple adjustment, attachment, and health service utilization. Results from this ongoing trial will: (1 develop the body of knowledge concerning the effect of telephone-based IPT as a treatment option for PPD; (2 advance our

Telephone delivered interventions for reducing morbidity and mortality in people with HIV infection.

Science.gov (United States)

Gentry, Sarah; van-Velthoven, Michelle H M M T; Tudor Car, Lorainne; Car, Josip

2013-05-31

This is one of three Cochrane reviews examining the role of the telephone in HIV/AIDS services. Telephone interventions, delivered either by landline or mobile phone, may be useful in the management of people living with HIV (PLHIV) in many situations. Telephone delivered interventions have the potential to reduce costs, save time and facilitate more support for PLHIV. To assess the effectiveness of voice landline and mobile telephone delivered interventions for reducing morbidity and mortality in people with HIV infection. We searched The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, MEDLINE, PubMed Central, EMBASE, PsycINFO, ISI Web of Science, Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health, World Health Organisation's The Global Health Library and Current Controlled Trials from 1980 to June 2011. We searched the following grey literature sources: Dissertation Abstracts International, Centre for Agriculture Bioscience International Direct Global Health database, The System for Information on Grey Literature Europe, The Healthcare Management Information Consortium database, Google Scholar, Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, International AIDS Society, AIDS Educational Global Information System and reference lists of articles. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs), quasi-randomised controlled trials, controlled before and after studies, and interrupted time series studies comparing the effectiveness of telephone delivered interventions for reducing morbidity and mortality in persons with HIV infection versus in-person interventions or usual care, regardless of demographic characteristics and in all settings. Both mobile and landline telephone interventions were included, but mobile phone messaging interventions were excluded. Two reviewers independently searched, screened, assessed study quality and extracted data. Primary outcomes were change in behaviour, healthcare uptake or clinical outcomes. Secondary outcomes were appropriateness of the

An assessesment of telephone assistance systems for caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Garzón-Maldonado, F J; Gutiérrez-Bedmar, M; Serrano-Castro, V; Requena-Toro, M V; Padilla-Romero, L; García-Casares, N

Telephone assistance is a common practice in neurology, although there are only a few studies about this type of healthcare. We have evaluated a Telephone Assistance System (TAS) for caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) from 2 points of view: financially and according to the level of satisfaction of the caregiver. 97 patients with a diagnosis of AD according to NINCDS-ADRDA criteria and their 97 informal caregivers were selected. We studied cost differences between on-site assistance and telephone assistance (TAS) for 12 months. We used a self-administered questionnaire to assess the level of satisfaction of caregivers at the end of the study period. TAS savings amounted to 80.05 ± 27.07 euros per user. 73.6% of the caregivers consider TAS a better or much better system than on-site assistance, while only 2.6% of the caregivers considered TAS a worse or much worse system than on-site assistance. Telephone assistance systems are an efficient healthcare resource for monitoring patients with AD in neurology departments. Furthermore, the level of user satisfaction was high. We therefore consider that telephone assistance service should be offered by healthcare services. Copyright © 2016 Sociedad Española de Neurología. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Telephone Encounters Predict Future High Financial Expenditures in Inflammatory Bowel Disease Patients: A 3-Year Prospective Observational Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Click, Benjamin; Anderson, Alyce M; Ramos Rivers, Claudia; Koutroubakis, Ioannis E; Hashash, Jana G; Dunn, Michael A; Schwartz, Marc; Swoger, Jason; Barrie, Arthur; Szigethy, Eva; Regueiro, Miguel; Schoen, Robert E; Binion, David G

2018-04-01

Telephone activity is essential in management of complex chronic diseases including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Telephone encounters logged in the electronic medical record have recently been proposed as a surrogate marker of disease activity and impending health care utilization; however, the association between telephone calls and financial expenditures has not been evaluated. We performed a 3-year prospective observational study of telephone encounters logged at a tertiary referral IBD center. We analyzed patient demographics, disease characteristics, comorbidities, clinical activity, and health care financial charges by telephone encounter frequency. Eight hundred one patients met inclusion criteria (52.3% female; mean age, 44.1 y), accounted for 12,669 telephone encounters, and accrued $70,513,449 in charges over 3 years. High telephone encounter frequency was associated with female gender (P=0.003), anxiety/depression (Pfinancial charges the following year after controlling for demographic, utilization, and medication covariates. Increased telephone encounters are associated with significantly higher health care utilization and financial expenditures. Increased call frequency is predictive of future health care spending. Telephone encounters are a useful tool to identify patients at risk of clinical deterioration and large financial expense.

Effects of enterostomal nurse telephone follow-up on postoperative adjustment of discharged colostomy patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Jun-e; Wong, Frances Kam Yuet; You, Li-ming; Zheng, Mei-chun; Li, Qiong; Zhang, Bing-yan; Huang, Man-rong; Ye, Xin-Mei; Liang, Ming-juan; Liu, Jin-ling

2013-01-01

People with a new colostomy encounter many difficulties as they struggle to adjust to their ostomies. Nurse telephone follow-up is a convenient way to ensure continuity of care. There is a paucity of studies testing if nurse telephone follow-up can enhance adjustment of postdischarged colostomy patients. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of enterostomal nurse telephone follow-up on the adjustment levels of discharged colostomy patients. This was a randomized controlled trial. Participants (n = 103) who had undergone colostomy operations in China were recruited and randomly assigned to the study or control group. Both the study and control groups received routine discharge care, whereas the study group received 2-3 nurse telephone calls in the follow-up period. The outcome measures included Ostomy Adjustment Scale, Stoma Self-efficacy Scale, satisfaction with care, and stoma complications. Results of this study indicated that participants in the study group had significantly better ostomy adjustment, higher stoma self-efficacy, higher satisfaction with care, and less stoma complications compared with those in the control group. This study provided evidence to support that enterostomal nurse telephone follow-up can improve patient ostomy adjustment level and other related outcomes. Nurse telephone follow-up is an effective intervention to support the adjustment of stoma patients after hospital discharge.

Influenza like illness monitoring in adults of the State Capitals and Federal District in Brazil by telephone survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Reis, Priscilleyne Ouverney; Iser, Betine Pinto Moehlecke; Souza, Líbia Roberta de Oliveira; Yokota, Renata Tiene de Carvalho; de Almeida, Walquiria Aparecida Ferreira; Bernal, Regina Tomie Ivata; Malta, Deborah Carvalho; de Oliveira, Wanderson Kleber; Penna, Gerson Oliveira

2011-09-01

In order to estimate the prevalence of influenza like illness (ILI) in adults from all state capitals and geographic regions in Brazil, a periodical monitoring of ILI cases by the national telephone survey (VIGITEL) was carried out in 2010. A cross-sectional study with 47,876 telephone interviews in the state capitals and Federal District, a probabilistic sample of adult population (>18 years-old) with landline telephone. Questions concerning the results of ILI cases and pandemic influenza (H1N1) 2009, from January 10 to November 30, were analyzed. The proportion of cases stratified by sociodemographic characteristics and Brazilian geographic region was weighted with data from the National Survey with Household Sampling (PNAD) 2008. The prevalence of ILI cases in the last 30 days before interview was 31.2% (95%CI 30.2-32.2%) for all state capitals and the Federal District. This prevalence was higher among women, young adults (18 to 29 years-old) and individuals with 9 to 11 years of schooling. According to the geographic region analysis, Northern Brazil presented the highest prevalence of ILI cases. A tendency to increase with further decrease was observed among the geographic regions, except the Northeast. Need for health care assistance was reported by 26.8% (95%CI 25.1-28.5) from ILI cases. Among ILI cases that sought health care assistance, 2.6% (95%CI 1.8-3.4) reported pandemic influenza (H1N1) 2009 medical suspicion. The results of this survey supported influenza surveillance as it provided timeliness and useful surveillance information, which were not captured by the traditional surveillance system, as the occurrence of ILI and need of health care assistance.

Effects of radiofrequency radiation emitted by cellular telephones on the cognitive functions of humans.

Science.gov (United States)

Eliyahu, Ilan; Luria, Roy; Hareuveny, Ronen; Margaliot, Menachem; Meiran, Nachshon; Shani, Gad

2006-02-01

The present study examined the effects of exposure to Electromagnetic Radiation emitted by a standard GSM phone at 890 MHz on human cognitive functions. This study attempted to establish a connection between the exposure of a specific area of the brain and the cognitive functions associated with that area. A total of 36 healthy right-handed male subjects performed four distinct cognitive tasks: spatial item recognition, verbal item recognition, and two spatial compatibility tasks. Tasks were chosen according to the brain side they are assumed to activate. All subjects performed the tasks under three exposure conditions: right side, left side, and sham exposure. The phones were controlled by a base station simulator and operated at their full power. We have recorded the reaction times (RTs) and accuracy of the responses. The experiments consisted of two sections, of 1 h each, with a 5 min break in between. The tasks and the exposure regimes were counterbalanced. The results indicated that the exposure of the left side of the brain slows down the left-hand response time, in the second-later-part of the experiment. This effect was apparent in three of the four tasks, and was highly significant in only one of the tests. The exposure intensity and its duration exceeded the common exposure of cellular phone users.

Muscle biopsies off-set normal cellular signaling in surrounding musculature

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Krag, Thomas O; Hauerslev, Simon; Dahlqvist, Julia R

2013-01-01

muscle tissue for at least 3 weeks after the biopsy was performed and magnetic resonance imaging suggests that an effect of a biopsy may persist for at least 5 months. Cellular signaling after a biopsy resembles what is seen in severe limb-girdle muscular dystrophy type 2I with respect to protein......Studies of muscle physiology and muscular disorders often require muscle biopsies to answer questions about muscle biology. In this context, we have often wondered if muscle biopsies, especially if performed repeatedly, would affect interpretation of muscle morphology and cellular signaling. We...... hypothesized that muscle morphology and cellular signaling involved in myogenesis/regeneration and protein turnover can be changed by a previous muscle biopsy in close proximity to the area under investigation. Here we report a case where a past biopsy or biopsies affect cellular signaling of the surrounding...

When may doctors give nurses telephonic treatment instructions?

African Journals Online (AJOL)

When is it legal for doctors to give nurses telephonic treatment instructions? ... telemedicine? Telemedicine is defined as 'the practice of medicine, from a distance, ... [6] Therefore, if in such circumstances the doctors cannot reach the patients in ...

Telephone information-memory-concentration test used in evaluating cognitive function of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma after radiotherapy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Qin Ling; Yang Xiaoye; Li Ling; Deng Zhuoxia

2009-01-01

Objective: To investigate the telephone information-memory-concentration test (TIMCT) in evaluating the cognitive function of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) after radiotherapy. Methods: The cognitive function were evaluated by TIMCT and mini mental state examination (MMSE) in 2 weeks for 30 normal persons and 90 NPC patients. And the 90 NPC patients were divided into the 3 months, 2 years and 5 years after radiotherapy groups. All patients were carried out firstly face to face interview and telephone interview 1 time after 2 weeks. Results: The correlation coefficient of all groups between TIMCT(telephone) and TIMCT (face to face) were bigger (R=0.850) when MMSE wasn't control variable. And the correlation coefficients between TIMCT (telephone) and TIMCT (face to face) were lower (R=0.366) when MMSE was control variable. As for examining time was classification factor, TIMCT (telephone) and TIMCT (face to face) were analyzed by partial correlation analysis. Only normal group was correlated with group of 3 months after radiotherapy and group of 2 years after radiotherapy wasn't correlated with group of 5 years after radiotherapy (R=0.447,0.970,0.200 and 0.062). In addition, the difference plot of TIMCT(telephone) and TIMCT (face to face) indicated that telephone was consistent with face to face interview (MMSE≥28). Both telephone and face to face interview reflected the cognitive function downtrend of research objects. Conclusions: TIMCT (telephone), TIMCT(face to face) and MMSE (face to face) can reflect cognitive function downterend of patients with NPC after radiotherapy. But TIMCT(telephone) used in clinical screening cognitive function impairment of patients with NPC after radiotherapy should be improved further. (authors)

Work on the CERN telephone exchanges

CERN Multimedia

2004-01-01

Corrective maintenance work on the CERN telephone exchanges will be carried out on 23 September 2004, resulting in interruptions of service across the whole CERN site between 6:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. and from 7:00 p.m. onwards. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. CERN TELECOM Service Tel.: 76111 GSM: 160026- 163610 Calls between GSM mobile phones will not be affected.

Patient-Provider Communication: Does Electronic Messaging Reduce Incoming Telephone Calls?

Science.gov (United States)

Dexter, Eve N; Fields, Scott; Rdesinski, Rebecca E; Sachdeva, Bhavaya; Yamashita, Daisuke; Marino, Miguel

2016-01-01

Internet-based patient portals are increasingly being implemented throughout health care organizations to enhance health and optimize communication between patients and health professionals. The decision to adopt a patient portal requires careful examination of the advantages and disadvantages of implementation. This study aims to investigate 1 proposed advantage of implementation: alleviating some of the clinical workload faced by employees. A retrospective time-series analysis of the correlation between the rate of electronic patient-to-provider messages-a common attribute of Internet-based patient portals-and incoming telephone calls. The rate of electronic messages and incoming telephone calls were monitored from February 2009 to June 2014 at 4 economically diverse clinics (a federally qualified health center, a rural health clinic, a community-based clinic, and a university-based clinic) related to 1 university hospital. All 4 clinics showed an increase in the rate of portal use as measured by electronic patient-to-provider messaging during the study period. Electronic patient-to-provider messaging was significantly positively correlated with incoming telephone calls at 2 of the clinics (r = 0.546, P electronic patient-to-provider messaging was associated with increased use of telephone calls in 2 of the study clinics. While practices are increasingly making the decision of whether to implement a patient portal as part of their system of care, it is important that the motivation behind such a change not be based on the idea that it will alleviate clinical workload. © Copyright 2016 by the American Board of Family Medicine.

The effectiveness of telephone counselling and internet- and text-message-based support for smoking cessation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Skov-Ettrup, Lise S; Dalum, Peter; Bech, Mickael

2016-01-01

counselling group compared with the booklet group (7.3% vs. 3.6%, OR=2.2 (95% CI 1.2-4.0)), There was no clear evidence of a difference in prolonged abstinence between the reactive telephone counselling group or the internet-based smoking cessation program and the booklet group: 1.8% vs. 3.6%, OR=0.8 (95% CI...... 0.6-1.2) and 5.3% vs. 3.6%, OR=1.6 (95% CI 0.8-3.0) respectively. In the proactive telephone counselling group, the cost per additional 12-month quitter compared with the booklet group was £644. CONCLUSIONS: Proactive telephone counselling was more effective than a self-help booklet in achieving......AIM: To compare the effectiveness of proactive telephone counselling, reactive telephone counselling and an internet- and text messages-based intervention with a self-help booklet for smoking cessation. DESIGN: A randomised controlled trial with equal allocation to four conditions: 1) Proactive...

Supporting Family Carers Through Telephone-Mediated Group Programs: Opportunities For Gerontological Social Workers.

Science.gov (United States)

Shanley, Chris

2008-01-01

Telephone-mediated group programs are an important but under-utilized medium for reaching frail or disabled older persons' family carers who are in need of support. The primary purpose and style of group programs can range across a broad spectrum–encompassing educational, supportive and therapeutic types. Gerontological social workers are the members of the multidisciplinary care team whose training, experience and supervision makes them most suitable for facilitating this broad range of group types. Drawing on the experience of training a number of group facilitators, this article provides suggestions for social workers contemplating the use of telephone-mediated groups and highlights groupwork skills peculiar to conducting group programs via the telephone.

Emotional first aid for a suicide crisis: comparison between Telephonic hotline and internet.

Science.gov (United States)

Gilat, Itzhak; Shahar, Golan

2007-01-01

The telephone and the internet have become popular sources of psychological help in various types of distress, including a suicide crisis. To gain more insight into the unique features of these media, we compared characteristics of calls to three technologically mediated sources of help that are part of the volunteer-based Israeli Association for Emotional First Aid (ERAN): Telephonic hotline (n = 4426), personal chat (n = 373) and an asynchronous online support group (n = 954). Threats of suicide were much more frequent among participants in the asynchronous support group than the telephone and personal chat. These findings encourage further research into suicide-related interpersonal exchanges in asynchronous online support groups.

The impact of using computer decision-support software in primary care nurse-led telephone triage: interactional dilemmas and conversational consequences.

Science.gov (United States)

Murdoch, Jamie; Barnes, Rebecca; Pooler, Jillian; Lattimer, Valerie; Fletcher, Emily; Campbell, John L

2015-02-01

Telephone triage represents one strategy to manage demand for face-to-face GP appointments in primary care. Although computer decision-support software (CDSS) is increasingly used by nurses to triage patients, little is understood about how interaction is organized in this setting. Specifically any interactional dilemmas this computer-mediated setting invokes; and how these may be consequential for communication with patients. Using conversation analytic methods we undertook a multi-modal analysis of 22 audio-recorded telephone triage nurse-caller interactions from one GP practice in England, including 10 video-recordings of nurses' use of CDSS during triage. We draw on Goffman's theoretical notion of participation frameworks to make sense of these interactions, presenting 'telling cases' of interactional dilemmas nurses faced in meeting patient's needs and accurately documenting the patient's condition within the CDSS. Our findings highlight troubles in the 'interactional workability' of telephone triage exposing difficulties faced in aligning the proximal and wider distal context that structures CDSS-mediated interactions. Patients present with diverse symptoms, understanding of triage consultations, and communication skills which nurses need to negotiate turn-by-turn with CDSS requirements. Nurses therefore need to have sophisticated communication, technological and clinical skills to ensure patients' presenting problems are accurately captured within the CDSS to determine safe triage outcomes. Dilemmas around how nurses manage and record information, and the issues of professional accountability that may ensue, raise questions about the impact of CDSS and its use in supporting nurses to deliver safe and effective patient care. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Telephone reminders reduced the non-attendance rate in a gastroenterology outpatient clinic

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jeppesen, Maja Haunstrup; Ainsworth, Mark Andrew

2015-01-01

in a gastroenterology outpatient clinic like ours. METHODS: This was a comparative intervention study with a historical control group in a gastroenterology outpatient clinic. The study lasted six months. Patients with a scheduled appointment in the first three-month period received no reminder (control group, n = 2......,705). Patients in the following three-month period were reminded by telephone one weekday in advance of their appointment, when possible (intervention group, n = 2,479). Non-attending patients in the intervention group received a questionnaire. Based on the results, a financial cost-benefit analysis was made......-attendees. The most common explanation for non-attendance in the intervention group was forgetfulness (39%). The reminder telephone call was cost-effective. CONCLUSION: In this outpatient clinic, telephone reminders were cost-effective and significantly reduced the non-attendance rate by 43%....

Exploring Culture from a Distance: The Utility of Telephone Interviews in Qualitative Research

Science.gov (United States)

Lechuga, Vicente M.

2012-01-01

Qualitative studies that utilize telephone interviews, as a primary data collection mode, often are not discussed in the qualitative research literature. Data excerpts from a study that sought to understand the culture of for-profit universities are used to illustrate the types of data that can be garnered through telephone interviews. In…

Gender and the Telephone: Voice and Emotions Shaping and Gendering Space

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mona Livholts

2013-01-01

Full Text Available In the field of communication studies, the topic of telephony and the gendering of space via voice and emotions has received limited attention. The focus of this article is how telephone conversations are mediated by voice and emotions, which in turn shape and gender social space. The methodology is a collaborative autoethnographic design based on diary notes and memory work. Two central themes emerge from the findings that explain how space becomes gendered when using the telephone: (a the voice and relations of power, and (b the interstices between work, caring, and the telephone. Our findings reveal the central role of work and caring and how these spaces constantly are being traversed and transformed as the mobile phone becomes an important appendage for sensory perceptions of hearing/listening/voice. We argue that these themes point toward the crucial impact of emotions in the construction of multiple and gendered spatialities of telephony.

77 FR 43858 - Certain Mobile Telephones and Wireless Communication Devices Featuring Digital Cameras, and...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-07-26

... INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMMISSION [Investigation No. 337-TA-703] Certain Mobile Telephones and Wireless Communication Devices Featuring Digital Cameras, and Components Thereof; Determination To Review... importation, and the sale within the United States after importation of certain mobile telephones and wireless...

Universal Intelligent Small Cell (UnISCell for next generation cellular networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohammad Patwary

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Exploring innovative cellular architectures to achieve enhanced system capacity and good coverage has become a critical issue towards realizing the next generation of wireless communications. In this context, this paper proposes a novel concept of Universal Intelligent Small Cell (UnISCell for enabling the densification of the next generation of cellular networks. The proposed novel concept envisions an integrated platform of providing a strong linkage between different stakeholders such as street lighting networks, landline telephone networks and future wireless networks, and is universal in nature being independent of the operating frequency bands and traffic types. The main motivating factors for the proposed small cell concept are the need of public infrastructure re-engineering, and the recent advances in several enabling technologies. First, we highlight the main concepts of the proposed UnISCell platform. Subsequently, we present two deployment scenarios for the proposed UnISCell concept considering infrastructure sharing and service sharing as important aspects. We then describe the key future technologies for enabling the proposed UnISCell concept and present a use case example with the help of numerical results. Finally, we conclude this article by providing some interesting future recommendations.

'Putting Life in Years' (PLINY) telephone friendship groups research study: pilot randomised controlled trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Mountain, Gail A; Hind, Daniel; Gossage-Worrall, Rebecca; Walters, Stephen J; Duncan, Rosie; Newbould, Louise; Rex, Saleema; Jones, Carys; Bowling, Ann; Cattan, Mima; Cairns, Angela; Cooper, Cindy; Edwards, Rhiannon Tudor; Goyder, Elizabeth C

2014-04-24

Loneliness in older people is associated with poor health-related quality of life (HRQoL). We undertook a parallel-group randomised controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of telephone befriending for the maintenance of HRQoL in older people. An internal pilot tested the feasibility of the trial and intervention. Participants aged >74 years, with good cognitive function, living independently in one UK city were recruited through general practices and other sources, then randomised to: (1) 6 weeks of short one-to-one telephone calls, followed by 12 weeks of group telephone calls with up to six participants, led by a trained volunteer facilitator; or (2) a control group. The main trial required the recruitment of 248 participants in a 1-year accrual window, of whom 124 were to receive telephone befriending. The pilot specified three success criteria which had to be met in order to progress the main trial to completion: recruitment of 68 participants in 95 days; retention of 80% participants at 6 months; successful delivery of telephone befriending by local franchise of national charity. The primary clinical outcome was the Short Form (36) Health Instrument (SF-36) Mental Health (MH) dimension score collected by telephone 6 months following randomisation. We informed 9,579 older people about the study. Seventy consenting participants were randomised to the pilot in 95 days, with 56 (80%) providing valid primary outcome data (26 intervention, 30 control). Twenty-four participants randomly allocated to the research arm actually received telephone befriending due to poor recruitment and retention of volunteer facilitators. The trial was closed early as a result. The mean 6-month SF-36 MH scores were 78 (SD 18) and 71 (SD 21) for the intervention and control groups, respectively (mean difference, 7; 95% CI, -3 to 16). Recruitment and retention of participants to a definitive trial with a recruitment window of 1 year is feasible. For

Questioning the Questions

Science.gov (United States)

Tienken, Christopher H.; Goldberg, Stephanie; DiRocco, Dominic

2010-01-01

Historical accounts of questioning used in the education process trace back to Socrates. One of the best examples of his use of questioning is found in Plato's "The Republic." Socrates used a series of strategic questions to help his student Glaucon come to understand the concept of justice. Socrates purposefully posed a series of…

Using Your VOICE(S: Adding Telephonic Communication to Pharmacy Education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lorin B Grieve

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Pharmacists utilize a myriad of communication methods to deliver patient care. One of the most prevalent communication methods is the telephone. The University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy created a novel instructional and assessment technique to enhance student pharmacist training experiences in telephonic communication within the PharmD curriculum. Conflict of Interest We declare no conflicts of interest or financial interests that the authors or members of their immediate families have in any product or service discussed in the manuscript, including grants (pending or received, employment, gifts, stock holdings or options, honoraria, consultancies, expert testimony, patents and royalties   Type: Note

Telephone based cognitive-behavioral screening for frontotemporal changes in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Science.gov (United States)

Christodoulou, Georgia; Gennings, Chris; Hupf, Jonathan; Factor-Litvak, Pam; Murphy, Jennifer; Goetz, Raymond R; Mitsumoto, Hiroshi

Our objective was to establish a valid and reliable battery of measures to evaluate frontotemporal dementia (FTD) in patients with ALS over the telephone. Thirty-one subjects were administered either in-person or by telephone-based screening followed by the opposite mode of testing two weeks later, using a modified version of the UCSF Cognitive Screening Battery. Equivalence testing was performed for in-person and telephone based tests. The standard ALS Cognitive Behavioral Screen (ALS-CBS) showed statistical equivalence at the 5% significance level compared to a revised phone version of the ALS-CBS. In addition, the Controlled Oral Word Association Test (COWAT) and Center for Neurologic Study-Lability Scale (CNS-LS) were also found to be equivalent at the 5% and 10% significance level, respectively. Similarly, the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the well-established Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (TICS) were also statistically equivalent. Equivalence could not be claimed for the ALS-Frontal Behavioral Inventory (ALS-FBI) caregiver interview and the Written Verbal Fluency Index (WVFI). In conclusion, our study suggests that telephone-based versions of the ALS-CBS, COWAT, and CNS-LS may offer clinicians valid tools to detect frontotemporal changes in the ALS population. Development of telephone based cognitive testing for ALS could become an integral resource for population based research in the future.

[COOP/WONCA: Reliability and validity of the test administered by telephone].

Science.gov (United States)

Pedrero-Pérez, Eduardo J; Díaz-Olalla, José Manuel

2016-01-01

The COOP/WONCA test was initially proposed as a self-report in which the answers were supported by drawings illustrating the state investigated. Subsequent studies have confirmed its usefulness as a mere verbal self-report face-to-face administered. No data have been found about its useful when administered by telephone interview. The aim of this study was to determine the psychometric properties of the COOP / WONCA test to measure Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) administered by telephone and compare them with those obtained in other forms of prior administration. Cross-sectional study on a random. City of Madrid. Random sample of 802 adult subjects, representative of the adult population in Madrid, obtained by stratification from the population census. Questionnaire COOP/WONCA with 9 ítems included in a broader battery, administered by telephone interview. The unrestricted factor analysis points to the unifactoriality of the scale, which measures a single latent construct (HRQOL), showing high internal consistency, not significantly different from those found by face-to-face administration, ruling out the existence of biases in the phone modality. The COOP/WONCA test appears as a reliable and valid measure of HRQOL and telephonic administration allows to assume no changes in the results, which can reduce costs in population studies, increasing efficiency without loss of quality in the information collected. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Call Centre- Computer Telephone Integration

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dražen Kovačević

2012-10-01

Full Text Available Call centre largely came into being as a result of consumerneeds converging with enabling technology- and by the companiesrecognising the revenue opportunities generated by meetingthose needs thereby increasing customer satisfaction. Regardlessof the specific application or activity of a Call centre, customersatisfaction with the interaction is critical to the revenuegenerated or protected by the Call centre. Physical(v, Call centreset up is a place that includes computer, telephone and supervisorstation. Call centre can be available 24 hours a day - whenthe customer wants to make a purchase, needs information, orsimply wishes to register a complaint.

Biotechnologies as a Context for Enhancing Junior High-School Students' Ability to Ask Meaningful Questions about Abstract Biological Processes.

Science.gov (United States)

Olsher, G.; Dreyfus, A.

1999-01-01

Suggests a new approach to teaching about biochemical cellular processes by stimulating student interest in those biochemical processes that allowed for the outcomes of modern biotechnologies. Discusses the development of students' ability to ask meaningful questions about intra-cellular processes, and the resulting meaningful learning of relevant…

Telephone counselling by nurses in Norwegian primary care out-of-hours services: a cross-sectional study.

Science.gov (United States)

Midtbø, Vivian; Raknes, Guttorm; Hunskaar, Steinar

2017-09-06

The primary care out-of-hours (OOH) services in Norway are characterized by high contact rates by telephone. The telephone contacts are handled by local emergency medical communication centres (LEMCs), mainly staffed by registered nurses. When assessment by a medical doctor is not required, the nurse often handles the contact solely by nurse telephone counselling. Little is known about this group of contacts. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate characteristics of encounters with the OOH services that are handled solely by nurse telephone counselling. Nurses recorded ICPC-2 reason for encounter (RFE) codes and patient characteristics of all patients who contacted six primary care OOH services in Norway during 2014. Descriptive statistics and frequency analyses were applied. Of all telephone contacts (n = 61,441), 23% were handled solely by nurse counselling. Fever was the RFE most frequently handled (7.3% of all nurse advice), followed by abdominal pain, cough, ear pain and general symptoms. Among the youngest patients, 32% of the total telephone contacts were resolved by nurse advice compared with 17% in the oldest age group. At night, 31% of the total telephone contacts were resolved solely by nurse advice compared with 21% during the day shift and 23% in the evening. The share of nurse advice was higher on weekdays compared to weekends (mean share 25% versus 20% respectively). This study shows that nurses make a significant contribution to patient management in the Norwegian OOH services. The findings indicate which conditions nurses should be able to handle by telephone, which has implications for training and routines in the LEMCs. There is the potential for more nurse involvement in several of the RFEs with a currently low share of nurse counselling.

78 FR 53684 - Misuse of Internet Protocol (IP) Captioned Telephone Service; Telecommunications Relay Services...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-08-30

..., and during regular business hours at the FCC Reference Information Center, Portals II, 445 12th Street... and persons using end user telephone equipment, such as a standard phone, smartphone, or computer. 2... displayed on a captioned telephone device, a computer, or a smartphone. The service also provides captions...

Telephone screening for mild cognitive impairment in hispanics using the Alzheimer's questionnaire.

Science.gov (United States)

Salazar, Ricardo; Velez, Carlos E; Royall, Donald R

2014-01-01

BACKGROUND/STUDY CONTEXT: There is a need for a simple and reliable screening test to detect individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The authors analyzed the relationship between performance of the Alzheimer's Questionnaire (AQ), an informant-rated measure of dementia-related behaviors, relative to the Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status-modified (TICS-m), Memory Impairment Scale-telephone version (MIS-t), and the Telephone Executive Assessment (TEXAS) as predictors of MCI. Comparative cross-sectional design, with data collected from participants in the Texas Alzheimer's Research and Care Consortium's (TARCC) San Antonio site. One-hundred percent of our sample was Hispanic. The San Antonio subset of TARCC sample is highly enriched with Mexican Americans (MAs). Fifty-five percent of the interviews were conducted in Spanish. Of the 184 persons enrolled, 124 were normal controls (NCs), and 60 participants had MCI. MCI status and Clinical Dementia Rating Scale Sum of Boxes (CDR-SOB) were determined through clinical consensus and performed blind to telephone assessments. Controlling for age, gender, education, and language of interview, the association between telephone measures and CDR-SOB was evaluated by multivariate regression. AQ scores were not affected by education, gender, and language of interview, but subject's age did show a positive correlation with informant AQ ratings. The AQ predicted CDR-SOB independently of the cognitive measures, adding variance above and beyond demographics. The TICS-m and the TEXAS appear to have additive value in improving the detection of cognitively impaired patients. The MIS-t failed to contribute significantly to CDR-SOB, independent of the other measures. The AQ may have utility as a culture-fair telephone screening for MCI. The AQ was able to modestly distinguish MCI from NCs. The TEXAS adds variance to a model of dementia severity independent of the AQ, suggesting that the latter may weakly assess that

Validation of a brief telephone battery for neurocognitive assessment of patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Palevsky Harold I

2005-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The effects of pulmonary arterial hypertension on brain function are not understood, despite patients' frequent complaints of cognitive difficulties. Using clinical instruments normally administered during standard in-person assessment of neurocognitive function in adults, we assembled a battery of tests designed for administration over the telephone. The purpose was to improve patient participation, facilitate repeated test administration, and reduce the cost of research on the neuropsychological consequences of acute and chronic cardiorespiratory diseases. We undertook this study to validate telephone administration of the tests. Methods 23 adults with pulmonary arterial hypertension underwent neurocognitive assessment using both standard in-person and telephone test administration, and the results of the two methods compared using interclass correlations. Results For most of the tests in the battery, scores from the telephone assessment correlated strongly with those obtained by in-person administration of the same tests. Interclass correlations between 0.5 and 0.8 were observed for tests that assessed attention, memory, concentration/working memory, reasoning, and language/crystallized intelligence (p ≤ 0.05 for each. Interclass correlations for the Hayling Sentence Completion test of executive function approached significance (p = 0.09. All telephone tests were completed within one hour. Conclusion Administration of this neurocognitive test battery by telephone should facilitate assessment of neuropsychological deficits among patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension living across broad geographical areas, and may be useful for monitoring changes in neurocognitive function in response to PAH-specific therapy or disease progression.

The effect of telephone-based cognitive-behavioural therapy on parenting stress: A randomised controlled trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Ngai, Fei Wan; Wong, Paul Wai-Ching; Chung, Ka Fai; Leung, Kwok Yin

2016-07-01

Objective Stress related to parenting has detrimental effects on the well-being of children, parents and the family system as a whole. There are limited studies about the efficacy of cognitive-behavioural therapy delivered by telephone in reducing parenting stress. The present study investigates the effect of telephone-based cognitive-behavioural therapy on parenting stress at six weeks and six months postpartum. This is a multi-site randomised controlled trial. A total of 397 Chinese mothers at risk of postnatal depression were randomly assigned to receive either telephone-based cognitive-behavioural therapy or routine postpartum care. Parental stress was assessed by the Parenting Stress Index Short Form at six weeks and six months postpartum. The findings revealed that mothers who had received telephone-based cognitive-behavioural therapy showed significantly lower levels of parenting stress than women only receiving routine postpartum care at six weeks (mean difference=9.42, 95% confidence interval 5.85-12.99, pparenting and reducing stress during the transition period. Integration of telephone-based cognitive-behavioural therapy into routine postpartum care might facilitate positive adaptation in particular for mothers at risk of postnatal depression. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Disclosure of Sexual Intercourse by Teenagers: Agreement Between Telephone Survey Responses and Annual Visit Disclosures

Science.gov (United States)

Alexander, Stewart C.; Fortenberry, J. Dennis; Pollak, Kathryn I.; Østbye, Truls; Bravender, Terrill; Tulsky, James A.; Dolor, Rowena; Shields, Cleveland G.

2015-01-01

Background Physicians can help guide teenagers in their emerging sexuality; however, teens rarely inform physicians about their sexual activity. Methods We audio-recorded annual visits between 365 teenagers and 49 physicians. sexual intercourse. Recordings were coded for teenage disclosures about previous sexual intercourse. We measured agreement between telephone survey responses and annual visit disclosures, and examined factors associated with agreement between the two. Results Fifty-six teenagers (15%) reported previous sexual intercourse in either the telephone survey or to their physician. Among those who reported sexual intercourse, 57% shared this information to both the telephone survey and their physician (κ = .72, confidence interval = 0.63–0.82). Conclusions Although a slight majority of teenagers disclosed their sexual activity to both the telephone survey and their doctor, a significant number disclosed to just one source. PMID:25857726

Assisting the visually impaired to deal with telephone interview jobs using information and commutation technology.

Science.gov (United States)

Yeh, Fung-Huei; Yang, Chung-Chieh

2014-12-01

This study proposed a new information and commutation technology assisted blind telephone interview (ICT-ABTI) system to help visually impaired people to do telephone interview jobs as normal sighted people and create more diverse employment opportunities for them. The study also used an ABAB design to assess the system with seven visually impaired people. As the results, they can accomplish 3070 effective telephone interviews per month independently. The results also show that working performance of the visually impaired can be improved effectively with appropriate design of operation working flow and accessible software. The visually impaired become productive, lucrative, and self-sufficient by using ICT-ABTI system to do telephone interview jobs. The results were also shared through the APEC Digital Opportunity Center platform to help visually impaired in Philippines, Malaysia and China. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Gas data transmission system by satellite telephone; Systeme de transmission de donnees sur le gaz utilisant le telephone par satellite

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ogasawara, S.; Tanji, A. [Dengineer Co., Ltd (Japan); Akiyama, S. [Buyo Gas Company (Japan)

2000-07-01

Dengineer Co., Ltd. and Buyo Gas Co., Ltd. had been developing and using the data and alarm transmission system by public telephone since 1984, that was first practical use in Japan. It is very important for business management that adjusts the production value of gas by measuring gas pressures in each governor. Also, it is indispensable to know the accident of gas leakage or abnormal gas pressure quickly. But this convenient system is not spread yet in Japanese market cause of the following reasons. - Take time and cost for installation of terminal station. - Terminal station is apt to damage by thunder. - Big disaster must stop working this system. In order to solve those problems, we have developed and tested the system organized of the satellite telephone system and solar cells for power. This system will be very useful for wide place, not only Japanese market but also the area, which has no electricity and phone. Also, it will be convenient for international rescue as is able to access it from the foreign countries. (authors)

Patterns of Signs That Telephone Crisis Support Workers Associate with Suicide Risk in Telephone Crisis Line Callers.

Science.gov (United States)

Hunt, Tara; Wilson, Coralie; Caputi, Peter; Wilson, Ian; Woodward, Alan

2018-01-30

Signs of suicide are commonly used in suicide intervention training to assist the identification of those at imminent risk for suicide. Signs of suicide may be particularly important to telephone crisis-line workers (TCWs), who have little background information to identify the presence of suicidality if the caller is unable or unwilling to express suicidal intent. Although signs of suicide are argued to be only meaningful as a pattern, there is a paucity of research that has examined whether TCWs use patterns of signs to decide whether a caller might be suicidal, and whether these are influenced by caller characteristics such as gender. The current study explored both possibilities. Data were collected using an online self-report survey in a Australian sample of 137 TCWs. Exploratory factor analysis uncovered three patterns of suicide signs that TCWs may use to identify if a caller might be at risk for suicide (mood, hopelessness, and anger), which were qualitatively different for male and female callers. These findings suggest that TCWs may recognise specific patterns of signs to identify suicide risk, which appear to be influenced to some extent by the callers' inferred gender. Implications for the training of telephone crisis workers and others including mental-health and medical professionals, as well as and future research in suicide prevention are discussed.

Computing aggregate properties of preimages for 2D cellular automata.

Science.gov (United States)

Beer, Randall D

2017-11-01

Computing properties of the set of precursors of a given configuration is a common problem underlying many important questions about cellular automata. Unfortunately, such computations quickly become intractable in dimension greater than one. This paper presents an algorithm-incremental aggregation-that can compute aggregate properties of the set of precursors exponentially faster than naïve approaches. The incremental aggregation algorithm is demonstrated on two problems from the two-dimensional binary Game of Life cellular automaton: precursor count distributions and higher-order mean field theory coefficients. In both cases, incremental aggregation allows us to obtain new results that were previously beyond reach.

Gender portrayals in telephone books for gay community versus Pacific-Bell Yellow Pages.

Science.gov (United States)

Waugh, I M; Rienzi, B M

1998-12-01

Photographic images (N = 2,700) from three 1997 Pacific-Bell Yellow Pages (n = 1,976) and from three 1996-97 gay, lesbian, and bisexual community telephone books (n = 724) were classified into three groups by visible features (definite male, definite female, and gender nonspecific). The latter were excluded. The proportion of male photographic images was larger in gay community books than in Pacific-Bell telephone books.

A two-question tool to assess the risk of repeated falls in the elderly.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alejandro Rodríguez-Molinero

Full Text Available Older adults' perception of their own risk of fall has never been included into screening tools. The goal of this study was to evaluate the predictive validity of questions on subjects' self-perception of their own risk of fall.This prospective study was conducted on a probabilistic sample of 772 Spanish community-dwelling older adults, who were followed-up for a one year period. At a baseline visit, subjects were asked about their recent history of falls (question 1: "Have you fallen in the last 6 months?", as well as on their perception of their own risk of fall by using two questions (question 2: "Do you think you may fall in the next few months?" possible answers: yes/no; question 3: "What is the probability that you fall in the next few months?" possible answers: low/intermediate/high. The follow-up consisted of quarterly telephone calls, where the number of falls occurred in that period was recorded.A short questionnaire built with questions 1 and 3 showed 70% sensitivity (95% CI: 56%-84%, 72% specificity (95% CI: 68%-76% and 0.74 area under the ROC curve (95% CI: 0.66-0.82 for prediction of repeated falls in the subsequent year.The estimation of one's own risk of fall has predictive validity for the occurrence of repeated falls in older adults. A short questionnaire including a question on perception of one's own risk of fall and a question on the recent history of falls had good predictive validity.

A two-question tool to assess the risk of repeated falls in the elderly.

Science.gov (United States)

Rodríguez-Molinero, Alejandro; Gálvez-Barrón, César; Narvaiza, Leire; Miñarro, Antonio; Ruiz, Jorge; Valldosera, Esther; Gonzalo, Natalia; Ng, Thalia; Sanguino, María Jesús; Yuste, Antonio

2017-01-01

Older adults' perception of their own risk of fall has never been included into screening tools. The goal of this study was to evaluate the predictive validity of questions on subjects' self-perception of their own risk of fall. This prospective study was conducted on a probabilistic sample of 772 Spanish community-dwelling older adults, who were followed-up for a one year period. At a baseline visit, subjects were asked about their recent history of falls (question 1: "Have you fallen in the last 6 months?"), as well as on their perception of their own risk of fall by using two questions (question 2: "Do you think you may fall in the next few months?" possible answers: yes/no; question 3: "What is the probability that you fall in the next few months?" possible answers: low/intermediate/high). The follow-up consisted of quarterly telephone calls, where the number of falls occurred in that period was recorded. A short questionnaire built with questions 1 and 3 showed 70% sensitivity (95% CI: 56%-84%), 72% specificity (95% CI: 68%-76%) and 0.74 area under the ROC curve (95% CI: 0.66-0.82) for prediction of repeated falls in the subsequent year. The estimation of one's own risk of fall has predictive validity for the occurrence of repeated falls in older adults. A short questionnaire including a question on perception of one's own risk of fall and a question on the recent history of falls had good predictive validity.

Persons with Alzheimer's Disease Make Phone Calls Independently Using a Computer-Aided Telephone System

Science.gov (United States)

Perilli, Viviana; Lancioni, Giulio E.; Singh, Nirbhay N.; O'Reilly, Mark F.; Sigafoos, Jeff; Cassano, Germana; Cordiano, Noemi; Pinto, Katia; Minervini, Mauro G.; Oliva, Doretta

2012-01-01

This study assessed whether four patients with a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease could make independent phone calls via a computer-aided telephone system. The study was carried out according to a non-concurrent multiple baseline design across participants. All participants started with baseline during which the telephone system was not available,…

Adding Motivational Elements to an Instruction Manual for Seniors: Effects on Usability and Motivation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Loorbach, N.R.; Karreman, Joyce; Steehouder, M.F.

2007-01-01

We designed three versions of an instruction manual for a cellular telephone, using strategies that aim to increase the cellular telephone's usability and senior's motivation to use this telephone. The strategies focused on 1) gaining and maintaining users' attention, 2) increasing their sense of

‘Putting Life in Years’ (PLINY) telephone friendship groups research study: pilot randomised controlled trial

Science.gov (United States)

2014-01-01

Background Loneliness in older people is associated with poor health-related quality of life (HRQoL). We undertook a parallel-group randomised controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of telephone befriending for the maintenance of HRQoL in older people. An internal pilot tested the feasibility of the trial and intervention. Methods Participants aged >74 years, with good cognitive function, living independently in one UK city were recruited through general practices and other sources, then randomised to: (1) 6 weeks of short one-to-one telephone calls, followed by 12 weeks of group telephone calls with up to six participants, led by a trained volunteer facilitator; or (2) a control group. The main trial required the recruitment of 248 participants in a 1-year accrual window, of whom 124 were to receive telephone befriending. The pilot specified three success criteria which had to be met in order to progress the main trial to completion: recruitment of 68 participants in 95 days; retention of 80% participants at 6 months; successful delivery of telephone befriending by local franchise of national charity. The primary clinical outcome was the Short Form (36) Health Instrument (SF-36) Mental Health (MH) dimension score collected by telephone 6 months following randomisation. Results We informed 9,579 older people about the study. Seventy consenting participants were randomised to the pilot in 95 days, with 56 (80%) providing valid primary outcome data (26 intervention, 30 control). Twenty-four participants randomly allocated to the research arm actually received telephone befriending due to poor recruitment and retention of volunteer facilitators. The trial was closed early as a result. The mean 6-month SF-36 MH scores were 78 (SD 18) and 71 (SD 21) for the intervention and control groups, respectively (mean difference, 7; 95% CI, -3 to 16). Conclusions Recruitment and retention of participants to a definitive trial with a

Implementing telephone triage in general practice: a process evaluation of a cluster randomised controlled trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Murdoch, Jamie; Varley, Anna; Fletcher, Emily; Britten, Nicky; Price, Linnie; Calitri, Raff; Green, Colin; Lattimer, Valerie; Richards, Suzanne H; Richards, David A; Salisbury, Chris; Taylor, Rod S; Campbell, John L

2015-04-10

Telephone triage represents one strategy to manage demand for face-to-face GP appointments in primary care. However, limited evidence exists of the challenges GP practices face in implementing telephone triage. We conducted a qualitative process evaluation alongside a UK-based cluster randomised trial (ESTEEM) which compared the impact of GP-led and nurse-led telephone triage with usual care on primary care workload, cost, patient experience, and safety for patients requesting a same-day GP consultation. The aim of the process study was to provide insights into the observed effects of the ESTEEM trial from the perspectives of staff and patients, and to specify the circumstances under which triage is likely to be successfully implemented. Here we report perspectives of staff. The intervention comprised implementation of either GP-led or nurse-led telephone triage for a period of 2-3 months. A qualitative evaluation was conducted using staff interviews recruited from eight general practices (4 GP triage, 4 Nurse triage) in the UK, implementing triage as part of the ESTEEM trial. Qualitative interviews were undertaken with 44 staff members in GP triage and nurse triage practices (16 GPs, 8 nurses, 7 practice managers, 13 administrative staff). Staff reported diverse experiences and perceptions regarding the implementation of telephone triage, its effects on workload, and on the benefits of triage. Such diversity were explained by the different ways triage was organised, the staffing models used to support triage, how the introduction of triage was communicated across practice staff, and by how staff roles were reconfigured as a result of implementing triage. The findings from the process evaluation offer insight into the range of ways GP practices participating in ESTEEM implemented telephone triage, and the circumstances under which telephone triage can be successfully implemented beyond the context of a clinical trial. Staff experiences and perceptions of telephone

A profile of communication in primary care physician telephone consultations: application of the Roter Interaction Analysis System.

Science.gov (United States)

Innes, Michael; Skelton, John; Greenfield, Sheila

2006-05-01

Telephone consultations are a part of everyday practice, there is surprisingly little research on the subject. To describe the variation of consulting skills within a body of telephone consultations in primary care, highlighting the performance of one method of assessing the process of the consultation-- the Roter Interaction Analysis System-- with telephone consultations. Cross sectional study of 43 recordings of telephone consultations with GPs. One rural county in the Midlands. Recordings were made of 8 GPs, purposively selected for maximum variance in one region of the UK. Forty-three consultations were coded using the Roter Interaction Analysis System. From the descriptive categories, six composite categories were compiled reflecting a number of domains of interaction in a consultation: rapport, data gathering, patient education and counselling, partnership building, doctor dominance and patient-centredness. Analysis of variance was undertaken to explain variations between consultations for the different domains. Comparison was made to findings from similar work for face-to-face consultations. These telephone consultations feature more biomedical information exchange than psychosocial or affective communication. Length of interaction accounts for much of the variation seen between consultations in the domains of rapport, data gathering, patient education and counselling and partnership. Male doctors are more patient centred in this study. There is the suggestion of more doctor dominance and a less patient-centred approach when comparisons are made with previous work on face-to-face consultations. Although the telephone is increasingly being used to provide care, this study highlights the fact that telephone consultations cannot be taken as equivalent to those conducted face to face. More work needs to be done to delineate the features of telephone consultations.

Disparities in the Use of Internet and Telephone Medication Refills among Linguistically Diverse Patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Moreno, Gerardo; Lin, Elizabeth H; Chang, Eva; Johnson, Ron L; Berthoud, Heidi; Solomon, Cam C; Morales, Leo S

2016-03-01

Health systems are increasingly implementing remote telephone and Internet refill systems to enhance patient access to medication refills. Remote refill systems may provide an effective approach for improving medication non-adherence, but more research is needed among patients with limited English proficiency with poor access to remote refill systems. To compare the use of remote medication refill systems among limited-English-proficiency (LEP) and English-proficient (EP) patients with chronic conditions. Cross-sectional survey in six languages/dialects (English, Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean, Vietnamese, and Spanish) of 509 adults with diabetes, hypertension, or hyperlipidemia. Primary study outcomes were self-reported use of 1) Internet refills, 2) telephone refills, and 3) any remote refill system. LEP was measured by patient self-identification of a primary language other than English and a claims record of use of an interpreter. Other measures were age, gender, education, years in the U.S., insurance, health status, chronic conditions, and number of prescribed medications. Analyses included multivariable logistic regression weighted for survey non-response. Overall, 33.1 % of patients refilled their medications by telephone and 31.6 % by Internet. Among LEP patients (n = 328), 31.5 % refilled by telephone and 21.2 % by Internet, compared with 36.7 % by telephone and 52.7 % by Internet among EP patients (n = 181). Internet refill by language groups were as follows: English (52.7 %), Cantonese (34.9 %), Mandarin (17.4 %), Korean (16.7 %), Vietnamese (24.4 %), and Spanish (12.6 %). Compared to EP patients, LEP patients had lower use of any remote refill system (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 0.18; p use any remote medication refill system. Increased reliance on current systems for remote medication refills may increase disparities in health outcomes affecting LEP patients with poor access to telephone and Internet medication refills.

Cellular therapies: Day by day, all the way.

Science.gov (United States)

Atilla, Erden; Kilic, Pelin; Gurman, Gunhan

2018-04-18

Tremendous effort and knowledge have elucidated a new era of 'cellular therapy,' also called "live" or "living" drugs. There are currently thousands of active clinical trials that are ongoing, seeking hope for incurable conditions thanks to the increased accessibility and reliability of gene editing and cellular reprogramming. Accomplishments in various adoptive T cell immunotherapies and chimeric antigen receptor (CART) T cell therapies oriented researchers to the field. Cellular therapies are believed to be the next generation of curative therapeutics in many ways, the classification and nomenclature for these applications have not yet reached a consensus. Trends in recent years are moving towards making tissues and cell processes only in centers with production permits. It is quite promising that competent authorities have increased licensing activities of tissue and cell establishments in their countries, under good practice (GxP) rules, and preclinical and clinical trials involving cell-based therapies have led to significant investments. Despite the initiatives undertaken and the large budgets that have been allocated, only limited success has been achieved in cellular therapy compared to conventional drug development. Cost, and cost effectiveness, are important issues for these novel therapies to meet unmet clinical needs, and there are still many scientific, translational, commercializational, and ethical questions that do not have answers. The main objectives of this review is to underline the current position of cellular therapies in research, highlight the timely topic of immunotherapy and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell treatment, and compile information related to regulations and marketing of cellular therapeutic approaches worldwide. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Comparing online and telephone survey results in the context of a skin cancer prevention campaign evaluation.

Science.gov (United States)

Hollier, L P; Pettigrew, S; Slevin, T; Strickland, M; Minto, C

2017-03-01

A large proportion of health promotion campaign evaluation research has historically been conducted via telephone surveys. However, there are concerns about the continued viability of this form of surveying in providing relevant and representative data. Online surveys are an increasingly popular alternative, and as such there is a need to assess the comparability between data collected using the two different methods to determine the implications for longitudinal comparisons. The present study compared these survey modes in the context of health promotion evaluation research. Data were collected via computer-assisted telephone interviewing and an online panel. In total, 688 and 606 respondents aged between 14 and 45 years completed the online and telephone surveys, respectively. Online respondents demonstrated higher awareness of the advertisement, rated the advertisement as more personally relevant and had better behavioural outcomes compared with the telephone respondents. The results indicate significant differences between the telephone and online surveys on most measures used to assess the effectiveness of a health promotion advertising campaign. Health promotion practitioners could consider the combination of both methods to overcome the deterioration in telephone survey response rates and the likely differences in respondent outcomes. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Faculty of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Employees' views on home-based, after-hours telephone triage by Dutch GP cooperatives.

Science.gov (United States)

Backhaus, Ramona; van Exel, Job; de Bont, Antoinette

2013-11-04

Dutch out-of-hours (OOH) centers find it difficult to attract sufficient triage staff. They regard home-based triage as an option that might attract employees. Specially trained nurses are supposed to conduct triage by telephone from home for after-hours medical care. The central aim of this research is to investigate the views of employees of OOH centers in The Netherlands on home-based telephone triage in after-hours care. The study is a Q methodology study. Triage nurses, general practitioners (GPs) and managers of OOH centers ranked 36 opinion statements on home-based triage. We interviewed 10 participants to help develop and validate the statements for the Q sort, and 77 participants did the Q sort. We identified four views on home-based telephone triage. Two generally favor home-based triage, one highlights some concerns and conditions, and one opposes it out of concern for quality. The four views perceive different sources of credibility for nurse triagists working from home. Home-based telephone triage is a controversial issue among triage nurses, GPs and managers of OOH centers. By identifying consensus and dissension among GPs, triagists, managers and regulators, this study generates four perspectives on home-based triage. In addition, it reveals the conditions considered important for home-based triage.

Short assessment of the Big Five: robust across survey methods except telephone interviewing.

Science.gov (United States)

Lang, Frieder R; John, Dennis; Lüdtke, Oliver; Schupp, Jürgen; Wagner, Gert G

2011-06-01

We examined measurement invariance and age-related robustness of a short 15-item Big Five Inventory (BFI-S) of personality dimensions, which is well suited for applications in large-scale multidisciplinary surveys. The BFI-S was assessed in three different interviewing conditions: computer-assisted or paper-assisted face-to-face interviewing, computer-assisted telephone interviewing, and a self-administered questionnaire. Randomized probability samples from a large-scale German panel survey and a related probability telephone study were used in order to test method effects on self-report measures of personality characteristics across early, middle, and late adulthood. Exploratory structural equation modeling was used in order to test for measurement invariance of the five-factor model of personality trait domains across different assessment methods. For the short inventory, findings suggest strong robustness of self-report measures of personality dimensions among young and middle-aged adults. In old age, telephone interviewing was associated with greater distortions in reliable personality assessment. It is concluded that the greater mental workload of telephone interviewing limits the reliability of self-report personality assessment. Face-to-face surveys and self-administrated questionnaire completion are clearly better suited than phone surveys when personality traits in age-heterogeneous samples are assessed.

28 CFR 540.103 - Inmate telephone calls to attorneys.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... attorneys when the inmate demonstrates that communication with attorneys by correspondence, visiting, or... 28 Judicial Administration 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Inmate telephone calls to attorneys. 540.103 Section 540.103 Judicial Administration BUREAU OF PRISONS, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE INSTITUTIONAL...

[Adaptation and convergent validity of a telephone-based Mini-Mental State Examination].

Science.gov (United States)

Garre-Olmo, Josep; Lax-Pericall, Carme; Turro-Garriga, Oriol; Soler-Cors, Olga; Monserrat-Vila, Sílvia; Vilalta-Franch, Joan; Taylor, Joy L; López-Pousa, Secundino

2008-06-21

To adapt to Spanish and to determine the convergent validity of a Telephone Mini-Mental State Examination (t-MMSE) in order to assess the cognitive functions in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients. Prospective and observational study of a clinical sample consisting of patients with dementia from a memory clinic. Consecutive sampling of participants was used and convergent validity of the t-MMSE and MMSE scores was determined using several statistics measures. Patients were randomly assigned depending on the administration of the in-person/telephone test (MMSE and t-MMSE) or telephone/in-person (t-MMSE and MMSE) test within a 1- to 7-day interval. The effect of the confusion variables (age, gender, years of education, dementia severity, presence or absence of hearing impairment and administration order) on the concordance between the in-person and telephone MMSE versions was analysed. After translating and retranslating the t-MMSE, of 141 participants, 77.47% subjects completed the protocol of the study. For the total score, the statistics for the convergent validity suggested a high consistency, independently of the order of test administration (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.87, Spearman's rho = 0.77); for the all subscores, it suggested moderate and good correlations. The difference between subscores did not range more than 1 point in any case. Confusion variables did not affect the variability of the performance scores between t-MMSE and MMSE. The t-MMSE can be used as a good tool to estimate the MMSE score of patients with dementia.

Randomized Controlled Trial of Telephone-Delivered Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Chronic Insomnia

Science.gov (United States)

Arnedt, J. Todd; Cuddihy, Leisha; Swanson, Leslie M.; Pickett, Scott; Aikens, James; Chervin, Ronald D.

2013-01-01

Study Objectives: To compare the efficacy of telephone-delivered cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia to an information pamphlet control on sleep and daytime functioning at pretreatment, posttreatment, and 12-wk follow-up. Design: Randomized controlled parallel trial. Setting: N/A. Participants: Thirty individuals with chronic insomnia (27 women, age 39.1 ± 14.4 years, insomnia duration 8.7 ± 10.7 years). Interventions: Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBTI) delivered in up to eight weekly telephone sessions (CBTI-Phone, n = 15) versus an information pamphlet control (IPC, n = 15). Measurements and Results: Sleep/wake diary, sleep-related questionnaires (Insomnia Severity Index, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, 16-item Dysfunctional Beliefs and Attitudes about Sleep), and daytime symptom assessments (fatigue, depression, anxiety, and quality of life) were completed at pretreatment, posttreatment, and 12-wk follow-up. Linear mixed models indicated that sleep/wake diary sleep efficiency and total sleep time improved significantly at posttreatment in both groups and remained stable at 12-wk follow-up. More CBTI-Phone than IPC patients showed posttreatment improvements in unhelpful sleep-related cognitions (P insomnia at follow-up (P insomnia. Future larger-scale studies with more diverse samples are warranted. Some individuals with insomnia may also benefit from pamphlet-delivered CBTI with brief telephone support. Citation: Arnedt JT; Cuddihy L; Swanson LM; Pickett S; Aikens J; Chervin RD. Randomized controlled trial of telephone-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy for chronic insomnia. SLEEP 2013;36(3):353-362. PMID:23450712

Telephone interventions for adherence to colpocytological examination

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thais Marques Lima

Full Text Available ABSTRACT Objective: to test the effects of behavioral and educational intervention by telephone on adherence of women with inappropriate periodicity to colpocytological examination. Method: quasi-experimental study with a sample of 524 women, selected with the following inclusion criteria: be aged between 25 and 64 years, have initiated sexual activity, have inappropriate periodicity of examination and have mobile or landline phone. The women were divided into two groups for application of behavioral and educational intervention by telephone. It was used an intervention script according to the principles of Motivational Interviewing. Results: on comparing the results before and after the behavioral and educational interventions, it was found that there was a statistically significant change (p = 0.0283 with increase of knowledge of women who participated in the educational intervention. There was no change in the attitude of women of any of the groups and there was an increase of adherence to colpocytological examination in both groups (p < 0.0001, with greater adherence of women participating in the behavioral group (66.8%. Conclusion: the behavioral and educational interventions by phone were effective in the adherence of women to colpocytological examination, representing important strategies for permanent health education and promotion of care for the prevention of cervical cancer.

Telephone reminders reduced the non-attendance rate in a gastroenterology outpatient clinic

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jeppesen, Maja Haunstrup; Ainsworth, Mark Andrew

2015-01-01

INTRODUCTION: Non-attendance is a global health-care problem. The aim of the present study was 1) to investigate if a telephone reminder could reduce the non-attendance rate, 2) to study reasons for non-attendance and 3) to evaluate if a permanent implementation would be economically advantageous......,705). Patients in the following three-month period were reminded by telephone one weekday in advance of their appointment, when possible (intervention group, n = 2,479). Non-attending patients in the intervention group received a questionnaire. Based on the results, a financial cost-benefit analysis was made...

77 FR 66935 - Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991

Science.gov (United States)

2012-11-08

... FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION 47 CFR Part 64 [CG Docket No. 02-278; FCC 12-21] Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission. ACTION: Final rule; correction...: Karen Johnson, Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, Consumer Policy Division, at (202) 418- 7706 or...

Willingness to Pay for Rural Telephone Services: Implications for ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Global Approaches to Extension Practice: A Journal of Agricultural Extension ... This study assessed Willingness to Pay (WTP) for rural telephone services and the implications for agricultural technology transfer in Southeast Nigeria. ... The sample was made up of 240 agro-based entrepreneurs and 60 extension staff.

Applicability of structured telephone monitoring to follow up heart ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Pilly Chillo

Keywords: heart failure, structured telephone, home monitoring, Tanzania ... in a parallel increase in HF admissions and a major impact on health care systems. ... was entered in Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20 software for analysis. ..... Failure (DIAL): study design and preliminary observations.

Diffusion and Advertising: The German Telephone Campaign

OpenAIRE

Hermann Simon; Karl-Heinz Sebastian

1987-01-01

The goal of the present paper is to investigate the influence of advertising on the diffusion of new telephones in West Germany. Several alternative ways of integrating advertising into the well-known Bass-diffusion-model are suggested and empirically tested. The econometric investigation yields results which are consistent with the behavioral assumption. A model which assumes that advertising mainly influenced the demand of imitators is accepted as the most valid representation of reality. T...

Video medical interpretation over 3G cellular networks: a feasibility study.

Science.gov (United States)

Locatis, Craig; Williamson, Deborah; Sterrett, James; Detzler, Isabel; Ackerman, Michael

2011-12-01

To test the feasibility of using cell phone technology to provide video medical interpretation services at a distance. Alternative cell phone services were researched and videoconferencing technologies were tried out to identify video products and telecommunication services needed to meet video medical interpretation requirements. The video and telecommunication technologies were tried out in a pharmacy setting and compared with use of the telephone. Outcomes were similar to findings in previous research involving video medical interpretation with higher bandwidth and video quality. Patients appreciated the interpretation service no matter how it is provided, while health providers and interpreters preferred video. It is possible to provide video medical interpretation services via cellular communication using lower bandwidth videoconferencing technology that provides sufficient quality, at least in pharmacy settings. However, a number of issues need to be addressed to ensure quality of service.

Fuel cells for telephone networks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wells, J.D.; Scott, D.S.

1993-01-01

Critical telephone network systems are currently protected from electric utility power failures by a backup system consisting of lead-acid batteries and an engine-alternator. It is considered here an alternate power system where less expensive off-peak commercial electricity electrolyses water, while fuel cells draw continuously on the stored gas products to provide direct current for the protected equipment. The lead acid batteries are eliminated. The benefits and costs of the existing and alternate systems in scenarios with various system efficiencies, capital costs, and electric utility rates and incentives, are compared. In today's conditions, the alternate system is not economical; however, cost and performance feasibility domains are identified. 2 figs., 4 tabs., 12 refs

75 FR 6704 - In the Matter of Certain Mobile Telephones and Wireless Communication Devices Featuring Digital...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-02-10

... States after importation of certain mobile telephones and wireless communication devices featuring... INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMMISSION [Investigation No. 337-TA-663] In the Matter of Certain Mobile Telephones and Wireless Communication Devices Featuring Digital Cameras, and Components Thereof; Notice of...

75 FR 65654 - In the Matter of: Certain Mobile Telephones and Wireless Communication Devices Featuring Digital...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-26

... States after importation of certain mobile telephones and wireless communication devices featuring... INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMMISSION [Investigation No. 337-TA-703] In the Matter of: Certain Mobile Telephones and Wireless Communication Devices Featuring Digital Cameras, and Components Thereof;Notice of...

Teaching adolescents with severe disabilities to use the public telephone.

Science.gov (United States)

Test, D W; Spooner, F; Keul, P K; Grossi, T

1990-04-01

Two adolescents with severe disabilities served as participants in a study conducted to train in the use of the public telephone to call home. Participants were trained to complete a 17-step task analysis using a training package which consisted of total task presentation in conjunction with a four-level prompting procedure (i.e., independent, verbal, verbal + gesture, verbal + guidance). All instruction took place in a public setting (e.g., a shopping mall) with generalization probes taken in two alternative settings (e.g., a movie theater and a convenience store). A multiple probe across individuals design demonstrated the training package was successful in teaching participants to use the telephone to call home. In addition, newly acquired skills generalized to the two untrained settings. Implications for community-based training are discussed.

An inquiry into chiropractors' intention to treat adolescent idiopathic scoliosis: a telephone survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Feise, R J

2001-01-01

The primary aim of this study was to (1) determine the clinical management approach of practicing chiropractors with regard to patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis and (2) measure the response rate of a telephone survey. A survey instrument was developed and pretested, and a case-specific clinical vignette was generated for a hypothetical typical 12-year-old girl with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. The instrument addressed 3 domains: the specific management of idiopathic scoliosis, elements guiding the general selection of treatment recommendations, and demographics of respondents. The sample frame consisted of 62,000 US chiropractors, of whom 165 were randomly selected for the survey sample. Interviews were conducted by telephone through use of the tested survey instrument. The response rate was 69% (114/165). Of the 51 nonrespondents, 15 did not have a listed business telephone number and 24 were not in active practice. The response rate of those who met the inclusion criteria (practicing chiropractor with a listed telephone number) was 90% (114/126). The gender, chiropractic college, and years in practice of respondents in this survey were similar to those of respondents in 3 other national surveys. In general, the respondents would provide 6 months of "intensive" chiropractic therapy, then follow the patient for 4 years (near skeletal maturity). Eighty-two percent of respondents named diversified technique as their primary adjustive treatment, 87% would use exercise, and 30% would use electric muscle stimulation as an adjunct to manual therapy. Most surveyed chiropractors would use similar methods (frequency and length of treatment, manipulation technique, and exercise) in the treatment of patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. A high response rate to a national survey can be achieved through use of telephone contact.

VQABQ: Visual Question Answering by Basic Questions

KAUST Repository

Huang, Jia-Hong

2017-03-19

Taking an image and question as the input of our method, it can output the text-based answer of the query question about the given image, so called Visual Question Answering (VQA). There are two main modules in our algorithm. Given a natural language question about an image, the first module takes the question as input and then outputs the basic questions of the main given question. The second module takes the main question, image and these basic questions as input and then outputs the text-based answer of the main question. We formulate the basic questions generation problem as a LASSO optimization problem, and also propose a criterion about how to exploit these basic questions to help answer main question. Our method is evaluated on the challenging VQA dataset and yields state-of-the-art accuracy, 60.34% in open-ended task.

VQABQ: Visual Question Answering by Basic Questions

KAUST Repository

Huang, Jia-Hong; Alfadly, Modar; Ghanem, Bernard

2017-01-01

Taking an image and question as the input of our method, it can output the text-based answer of the query question about the given image, so called Visual Question Answering (VQA). There are two main modules in our algorithm. Given a natural language question about an image, the first module takes the question as input and then outputs the basic questions of the main given question. The second module takes the main question, image and these basic questions as input and then outputs the text-based answer of the main question. We formulate the basic questions generation problem as a LASSO optimization problem, and also propose a criterion about how to exploit these basic questions to help answer main question. Our method is evaluated on the challenging VQA dataset and yields state-of-the-art accuracy, 60.34% in open-ended task.

Telephone-Based Cognitive-Behavioral Screening for Frontotemporal Changes in Patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)

Science.gov (United States)

Christodoulou, Georgia; Gennings, Chris; Hupf, Jonathan; Factor-Litvak, Pam; Murphy, Jennifer; Goetz, Raymond R.; Mitsumoto, Hiroshi

2017-01-01

Objective To establish a valid and reliable battery of measures to evaluate frontotemporal dementia (FTD) in patients with ALS over the phone. Methods Thirty-one subjects were administered either in-person or telephone-based screening followed by the opposite mode of testing two weeks later, using a modified version of the UCSF Cognitive Screening Battery. Results Equivalence testing was performed for in-person and telephone-based tests. The standard ALS Cognitive Behavioral Screen (ALS-CBS) showed statistical equivalence at the 5% significance level when compared to a revised phone-version of the ALS-CBS. In addition, the Controlled Oral Word Association Test (COWAT) and Center for Neurologic Study-Lability Scale (CNS-LS) were also found to be equivalent at the 5% and 10% significance level respectively. Similarly, the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the well-established Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (TICS) were also statistically equivalent. Equivalence could not be claimed for the ALS-Frontal Behavioral Inventory (ALS-FBI) caregiver interview and the Written Verbal Fluency Index (WVFI). Conclusions Our study suggests that telephone-based versions of the ALS-CBS, COWAT, and CNS-LS may offer clinicians valid tools to detect frontotemporal changes in the ALS population. Development of telephone-based cognitive testing for ALS could become an integral resource for population-based research in the future. PMID:27121545

47 CFR 64.1505 - Restrictions on collect telephone calls.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... SERVICES (CONTINUED) MISCELLANEOUS RULES RELATING TO COMMON CARRIERS Interstate Pay-Per-Call and Other Information Services § 64.1505 Restrictions on collect telephone calls. (a) No common carrier shall provide interstate transmission or billing and collection services to an entity offering any service within the scope...

Applicability of structured telephone monitoring to follow up heart ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Over 90% of the contacted patients gave valuable information regarding their clinical status. Conclusion: Majority of HF patients can be contacted and provide valuable clinical information through mobile phones within a month post discharge from the national hospital in Tanzania. Structured telephone monitoring could be ...

Best Reference Practices are Not Observed in Telephone Ready Reference Services. A review of: Agosto, Denise A. and Holly Anderton. “Whatever Happened to ‘Always Cite the Source?’” Reference & User Services Quarterly 47.1 (2007: 44-54.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Julie McKenna

2008-06-01

Full Text Available Objective – To study source citing practice in telephone reference service in large public libraries in the United States and Canada. Design – Field simulation (unobtrusive testing.Setting – Large public libraries in the United States and Canada.Subjects – Telephone reference staff of the 25 largest public libraries in the United States and Canada.Methods – The 2005 World Book Almanac was used to select the 25 largest (in terms of population served public libraries in Canada and the United States. Each system’s Web site was checked to locate the telephone number for reference service. For some systems it was necessary to call the general telephone number for the main library or the first branch listed on the Web site. Five ready reference test questions were developed from a list of questions that students in a graduate library and information science course had previously asked of public library telephone reference services. The selected questions in the order that they were asked were: 1. Can you tell me when Valentine’s Day is?2. Who is the current governor/premier (of the state/province where the library is located?3. What is the population of Montana?4. In which state is the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC located?5. What is the French word for “chiropractor”?The authors called each of the 25 libraries during five consecutive weeks at different times of the business day. Each week, one question was asked; once an answer was received, no clarification was requested and the call was ended. The study reports the results of 125 reference transactions. For this study, the following definitions were used to assess complete citation for each type of information resource:• For a Web site – the complete URL (title and sponsor of the site not required.• For a digital database – the database title and the title and year of the specific item (author, publisher, page number not required.• For a print resource – the title

Sexual activity, fertility and contraceptive use in middle-aged and older men: Men in Australia, Telephone Survey (MATeS).

Science.gov (United States)

Holden, C A; McLachlan, R I; Cumming, R; Wittert, G; Handelsman, D J; de Kretser, D M; Pitts, M

2005-12-01

With limited information regarding fertility and sexual activity in the older population, men's behaviour, attitudes and concerns were explored in a representative population of middle-aged and older men using the Men in Australia, Telephone Survey (MATeS). A stratified random national sample of 5990 men participated in a standardized computer-assisted telephone interview. Equal numbers in the age strata 40-49, 50-59, 60-69 and >or=70 years were surveyed with findings census-standardized to the national population. Broad aspects of men's health and well-being, including reproductive health, were explored. The majority of men were sexually active in the last 12 months (age-standardized proportion, 78.3%) with approximately 37% of men aged >or=70 years still continuing sexual activity. Overall, 12.2% of men had never fathered children, of whom most (7.7%) had chosen not to have children. Questioning on failed attempts to produce a pregnancy suggested an involuntary infertility rate of 7.6%. The age-standardized vasectomy rate was 25.1%, with 5.6% of vasectomized men having no children. Although 9.2% of vasectomized men regretted sterilization, only 1.4% had undergone vasectomy reversal. Continuing sexual activity, fertility and contraception needs in middle-aged and older men suggests that education and service delivery must be more appropriately directed to an ageing population.

Pitfalls when implementing nurse-led annual telephone calls to replace outpatient visits for Inflammatory Bowel Disease patients

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jakobsen, Dorrit; Bager, Palle; Hentze, Runa

Background: In Denmark, patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) and disease in remission are mainly seen on a regularly basis in outpatient clinics, by gastroenterologists. Replacing the regular visits with annual telephone calls performed by IBD nurses seems beneficial, both for the patie......Background: In Denmark, patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) and disease in remission are mainly seen on a regularly basis in outpatient clinics, by gastroenterologists. Replacing the regular visits with annual telephone calls performed by IBD nurses seems beneficial, both...... for the patients and for the outpatient clinic. The purpose of this study was to identify potential barriers and pitfalls in the planning and implementation phase of a nurse-led telephone service. Methods: Preparations prior to introducing the annual telephone calls were done in 2010. From January 2011 all...... eligible IBD patients were shifted from regularly visits to annual telephone calls performed by an IBD nurse. As the intervention contained of several sub-elements and the elements were subject to adjustment during implementation, the intervention was regarded as a Complex Intervention. All the elements...

76 FR 17965 - In the Matter of Certain Mobile Telephones and Wireless Communication Devices Featuring Digital...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-03-31

... INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMMISSION [Investigation No. 337-TA-703] In the Matter of Certain Mobile Telephones and Wireless Communication Devices Featuring Digital Cameras, and Components Thereof Notice of... for importation, and the sale within the United States after importation of certain mobile telephones...

75 FR 44282 - In the Matter of Certain Mobile Telephones and Wireless Communication Devices Featuring Digital...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-28

... INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMMISSION [Investigation No. 337-TA-703] In the Matter of Certain Mobile Telephones and Wireless Communication Devices Featuring Digital Cameras, and Components Thereof; Notice of... for importation, and the sale within the United States after importation of certain mobile telephones...

Fundamental questions in the combined use of radiation and chemicals in the treatment of cancer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Elkind, M.M.

1979-01-01

The author gives answers in regard to combined chemotherapy/radiotherapy basic questions. A discussion of cell properties, dosimetry, treatment-induced cellular changes, cell killing enhancement, and general properties of antineoplastic drugs is given with experimental data being cited for reference material

Telephone versus usual care in management of acute whiplash ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Whiplash associated disorder (WAD) is a common and costly condition, and recommended management includes advice to “act as usual” and exercise. Providing this treatment through a telephonic intervention may help to improve access to care, and reduce costs. This pilot study assessed: (1) the effectiveness of a ...

Telephone-administered psychotherapy in combination with antidepressant medication for the acute treatment of major depressive disorder.

Science.gov (United States)

Corruble, Emmanuelle; Swartz, Holly A; Bottai, Thierry; Vaiva, Guillaume; Bayle, Frank; Llorca, Pierre-Michel; Courtet, Philippe; Frank, Ellen; Gorwood, Philip

2016-01-15

Telephone-administered psychotherapies (T-P) provided as an adjunct to antidepressant medication may improve response rates in major depressive disorder (MDD). The goal of this study was to compare telephone-administered social rhythm therapy (T-SRT) and telephone-administered intensive clinical management (T-ICM) as adjuncts to antidepressant medication for MDD. A secondary goal was to compare T-P with Treatment as Usual (TAU) as adjunctive treatment to medication for MDD. 221 adult out-patients with MDD, currently depressed, were randomly assigned to 8 sessions of weekly T-SRT (n=110) or T-ICM (n=111), administered as an adjunct to agomelatine. Both psychotherapies were administered entirely by telephone, by trained psychologists who were blind to other aspects of treatment. The 221 patients were a posteriori matched with 221 depressed outpatients receiving TAU (controls). The primary outcome measure was the percentage of responders at 8 weeks post-treatment. No significant differences were found between T-SRT and T-ICM. But T-P was associated with higher response rates (65.4% vs 54.8%, p=0.02) and a trend toward higher remission rates (33.2% vs 25.1%; p=0.06) compared to TAU. Short term study. This study is the first assessing the short-term effects of an add-on, brief, telephone-administered psychotherapy in depressed patients treated with antidepressant medication. Eight sessions of weekly telephone-delivered psychotherapy as an adjunct to antidepressant medication resulted in improved response rates relative to medication alone. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Telephone consultation for improving health of people living with or at risk of HIV: a systematic review.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michelle H M M T van Velthoven

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Low cost, effective interventions are needed to deal with the major global burden of HIV/AIDS. Telephone consultation offers the potential to improve health of people living with HIV/AIDS cost-effectively and to reduce the burden on affected people and health systems. The aim of this systematic review was to assess the effectiveness of telephone consultation for HIV/AIDS care. METHODS: We undertook a comprehensive search of peer-reviewed and grey literature. Two authors independently screened citations, extracted data and assessed the quality of randomized controlled trials which compared telephone interventions with control groups for HIV/AIDS care. Telephone interventions were voice calls with landlines or mobile phones. We present a narrative overview of the results as the obtained trials were highly heterogeneous in design and therefore the data could not be pooled for statistical analysis. RESULTS: The search yielded 3321 citations. Of these, nine studies involving 1162 participants met the inclusion criteria. The telephone was used for giving HIV test results (one trial and for delivering behavioural interventions aimed at improving mental health (four trials, reducing sexual transmission risk (one trial, improving medication adherence (two trials and smoking cessation (one trial. Limited effectiveness of the intervention was found in the trial giving HIV test results, in one trial supporting medication adherence and in one trial for smoking cessation by telephone. CONCLUSIONS: We found some evidence of the benefits of interventions delivered by telephone for the health of people living with HIV or at risk of HIV. However, only limited conclusions can be drawn as we only found nine studies for five different interventions and they mainly took place in the United States. Nevertheless, given the high penetration of low-cost mobile phones in countries with high HIV endemicity, more evidence is needed on how telephone consultation

The Role of the Team in Managing Telephone Consultation in Dialectical Behavior Therapy: Three Case Examples

Science.gov (United States)

Koons, Cedar R.

2011-01-01

Standard, outpatient Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) includes the provision of intersession telephone contact between the therapist and the client to reduce suicidal crisis behaviors, enhance skills generalization, and reduce alienation and conflict in the therapeutic relationship. Therapists providing telephone consultation need the help of…

Do interviewers health beliefs and habits modify responses to sensitive questions?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Anne-Marie Nybo; Olsen, J.

2002-01-01

If interviewers' personal habits or attitudes influence respondents' answers to given questions, this may lead to bias, which should be taken into consideration when analyzing data. The authors examined a potential interviewer effect in a study of pregnant women in which exposure data were obtained...... through computer-assisted telephone interviews. The authors compared interviewer characteristics for 34 interviewers with the responses they obtained in 12,910 interviews carried out for the Danish National Birth Cohort Study. Response data on smoking and alcohol consumption in the first trimester...... of pregnancy were collected during the time period October 1, 1997-February 1, 1999. Overall, the authors found little evidence to suggest that interviewers' personal habits or attitudes toward smoking and alcohol consumption during pregnancy had consequences for the responses they obtained; neither did...

Assessment of a Standardized Pre-Operative Telephone Checklist Designed to Avoid Late Cancellation of Ambulatory Surgery: The AMBUPROG Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sonia Gaucher

Full Text Available To assess the impact of a standardized pre-operative telephone checklist on the rate of late cancellations of ambulatory surgery (AMBUPROG trial.Multicenter, two-arm, parallel-group, open-label randomized controlled trial.11 university hospital ambulatory surgery units in Paris, France.Patients scheduled for ambulatory surgery and able to be reached by telephone.A 7-item checklist designed to prevent late cancellation, available in five languages and two versions (for children and adults, was administered between 7 and 3 days before the planned date of surgery, by an automated phone system or a research assistant. The control group received standard management alone.Rate of cancellation on the day of surgery or the day before.The study population comprised 3900 patients enrolled between November 2012 and September 2013: 1950 patients were randomized to the checklist arm and 1950 patients to the control arm. The checklist was administered to 68.8% of patients in the intervention arm, 1002 by the automated phone system and 340 by a research assistant. The rate of late cancellation did not differ significantly between the checklist and control arms (109 (5.6% vs. 113 (5.8%, adjusted odds ratio [95% confidence interval] = 0.91 [0.65-1.29], (p = 0.57. Checklist administration revealed that 355 patients (28.0% had not undergone tests ordered by the surgeon or anesthetist, and that 254 patients (20.0% still had questions concerning the fasting state.A standardized pre-operative telephone checklist did not avoid late cancellations of ambulatory surgery but enabled us to identify several frequent causes.ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01732159.

77 FR 34233 - Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991

Science.gov (United States)

2012-06-11

... initiator of the message, to be a nuisance and an invasion of privacy; and (3) individuals' privacy rights... are made by the consumer's loan servicer, because the primary motivation of the calling party is to... challenged as TCPA violations because the primary motivation appears to be sending a telephone solicitation...

Computer tablet or telephone? A randomised controlled trial exploring two methods of collecting data from drug and alcohol outpatients.

Science.gov (United States)

Hobden, Breanne; Bryant, Jamie; Carey, Mariko; Sanson-Fisher, Rob; Oldmeadow, Christopher

2017-08-01

Both computerised and telephone surveys have potential advantages for research data collection. The current study aimed to determine the: (i) feasibility, (ii) acceptability, and (iii) cost per completed survey of computer tablet versus telephone data collection for clients attending an outpatient drug and alcohol treatment clinic. Two-arm randomised controlled trial. Clients attending a drug and alcohol outpatient clinic in New South Wales, Australia, were randomised to complete a baseline survey via computer tablet in the clinic or via telephone interview within two weeks of their appointment. All participants completed a three-month follow-up survey via telephone. Consent and completion rates for the baseline survey were significantly higher in the computer tablet condition. The time taken to complete the computer tablet survey was lower (11min) than the telephone condition (17min). There were no differences in the proportion of consenters or completed follow-up surveys between the two conditions at the 3-month follow-up. Acceptability was high across both modes of data collection. The cost of the computer tablet condition was $67.52 greater per completed survey than the telephone condition. There is a trade-off between computer tablet and telephone data collection. While both data collection methods were acceptable to participants, the computer tablet condition resulted in higher consent and completion rates at baseline, therefore yielding greater external validity, and was quicker for participants to complete. Telephone data collection was however, more cost-effective. Researchers should carefully consider the mode of data collection that suits individual study needs. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Voice-band Modem: A Device to Transmit Data over Telephone ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

over Telephone Networks. 2. Advanced Ideas ... transmitted signal power and No is the noise power spec- ... power distribution over all frequencies, and the samples of noise .... Figure 3, dmin=2fl, and average signal energy, assum- ing that ...

An enquiry into the prospects of mobile telephone for agricultural ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

LPhidza

KEYWORDS: Mobile phones, agricultural information, global system for mobile ... rural services (i.e. agricultural extension) more efficient and cost-effective. 2. ... adoption of mobile telephones, evaluation research has however .... Distribution of respondents by religion. Religion. Frequencies Percentages. Christian. Islam.

Telephone counseling for the public after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Horiguchi, T.; Kojima, K.; Itoh, T.

2011-01-01

After the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident, Kinki University Atomic Energy Research Institute provided telephone counseling services in order to respond the public's growing concerns about radiation and nuclear energy. Three telephone lines were newly installed for the counseling and the number of consultation marked 705 between March 24 and April 2. In this report, by summarizing the contents of the counseling, we will show what the public concerned about shortly after the accident and report how we responded to the concerns. (author)

Pre-surgery evaluations by telephone decrease travel and cost for families of children with cerebral palsy.

Science.gov (United States)

Robinson, John D; Prochaska, John D; Yngve, David A

2017-01-01

Children with cerebral palsy need highly specialized care. This can be very burdensome for families, particularly in large rural states, due to the need for long-distance travel to appointments. In this study, children undergoing the selective percutaneous myofascial lengthening surgery utilized a telephone-based telemedicine evaluation to assess for surgical eligibility. The goal was to avoid a separate preoperative clinic visit weeks before the surgery. If possible, eligibility was determined by telephone, and then, the patient could be scheduled for a clinic visit and possible surgery the next day, saving the family a trip. The purposes of the study were to calculate estimated reductions in miles traveled, in travel expenses, and in carbon emissions and to determine whether the telephone assessment was accurate and effective in determining eligibility for surgery. From 2010 to 2012, 279 patients were retrospectively reviewed, and of those, 161 mailed four-page questionnaire and anteroposterior pelvis X-ray followed by a telephone conference. Geographic information system methods were used to geocode patients by location. Savings in mileage and travel costs were calculated. From 2014 to 2015, 195 patients were additionally studied to determine accuracy and effectiveness. The telephone prescreening method saved 106,070 miles in transportation over 3 years, a 38% reduction with US$55,326 in savings. Each family saved an average of 658 (standard deviation = 340) miles of travel and US$343.64 (standard deviation = US$178) in travel expenses. For each increase of 10 miles in distance from the health center, the odds of a patient utilizing telephone screening increased by 10% (odds ratio: 1.101, 95% confidence interval: 1.073-1.129, p < 0.001). After the telephone prescreening, 86% were determined to be likely candidates for the procedure. For 14%, a clinic visit only was scheduled, and they were not scheduled for surgery. Families seeking specialized

Comparing a telephone- and a group-delivered diabetes prevention program

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

S, Lim; Dunbar, James; Versace, Vin

2017-01-01

Aims To explore the acceptability of a telephone- or a group-delivered diabetes prevention program for women with previous gestational diabetes and to compare the characteristics associated with program engagement. Methods Postpartum women participated in a lifestyle modification program delivere...

Questioning Questions: Elementary Teachers' Adaptations of Investigation Questions Across the Inquiry Continuum

Science.gov (United States)

Biggers, Mandy

2018-02-01

Questioning is a central practice in science classrooms. However, not every question translates into a "good" science investigation. Questions that drive science investigations can be provided by many sources including the teacher, the curriculum, or the student. The variations in the source of investigation questions were explored in this study. A dataset of 120 elementary science classroom videos and associated lesson plans from 40 elementary teachers (K-5) across 21 elementary school campuses were scored on an instrument measuring the amount of teacher-direction or student-direction of the lessons' investigation questions. Results indicated that the investigation questions were overwhelmingly teacher directed in nature, with no opportunities for students to develop their own questions for investigation. This study has implications for researchers and practitioners alike, calling attention to the teacher-directed nature of investigation questions in existing science curriculum materials, and the need for teacher training in instructional strategies to adapt their existing curriculum materials across the continuum of teacher-directed and student-directed investigation questions. Teachers need strategies for adapting the teacher-directed questions provided in their existing curriculum materials in order to allow students the opportunity to engage in this essential scientific practice.

Cellular studies and interaction mechanisms of extremely low frequency fields

Science.gov (United States)

Liburdy, Robert P.

1995-01-01

Worldwide interest in the biological effects of ELF (extremely low frequency, level is to identify cellular responses to ELF fields, to develop a dose threshold for such interactions, and with such information to formulate and test appropriate interaction mechanisms. This review is selective and will discuss the most recent cellular studies directed at these goals which relate to power line, sinusoidal ELF fields. In these studies an interaction site at the cell membrane is by consensus a likely candidate, since changes in ion transport, ligand-receptor events such as antibody binding, and G protein activation have been reported. These changes strongly indicate that signal transduction (ST) can be influenced. Also, ELF fields are reported to influence enzyme activation, gene expression, protein synthesis, and cell proliferation, which are triggered by earlier ST events at the cell membrane. The concept of ELF fields altering early cell membrane events and thereby influencing intracellular cell function via the ST cascade is perhaps the most plausible biological framework currently being investigated for understanding ELF effects on cells. For example, the consequence of an increase due to ELF fields in mitogenesis, the final endpoint of the ST cascade, is an overall increase in the probability of mutagenesis and consequently cancer, according to the Ames epigenetic model of carcinogenesis. Consistent with this epigenetic mechanism and the ST pathway to carcinogenesis is recent evidence that ELF fields can alter breast cancer cell proliferation and can act as a copromoter in vitro. The most important dosimetric question being addressed currently is whether the electric (E) or the magnetic (B) field, or if combinations of static B and time-varying B fields represent an exposure metric for the cell. This question relates directly to understanding fundamental interaction mechanisms and to the development of a rationale for ELF dose threshold guidelines. The weight of

Sub-cellular distribution and translocation of TRP channels.

Science.gov (United States)

Toro, Carlos A; Arias, Luis A; Brauchi, Sebastian

2011-01-01

Cellular electrical activity is the result of a highly complex processes that involve the activation of ion channel proteins. Ion channels make pores on cell membranes that rapidly transit between conductive and non-conductive states, allowing different ions to flow down their electrochemical gradients across cell membranes. In the case of neuronal cells, ion channel activity orchestrates action potentials traveling through axons, enabling electrical communication between cells in distant parts of the body. Somatic sensation -our ability to feel touch, temperature and noxious stimuli- require ion channels able to sense and respond to our peripheral environment. Sensory integration involves the summing of various environmental cues and their conversion into electrical signals. Members of the Transient Receptor Potential (TRP) family of ion channels have emerged as important mediators of both cellular sensing and sensory integration. The regulation of the spatial and temporal distribution of membrane receptors is recognized as an important mechanism for controlling the magnitude of the cellular response and the time scale on which cellular signaling occurs. Several studies have shown that this mechanism is also used by TRP channels to modulate cellular response and ultimately fulfill their physiological function as sensors. However, the inner-working of this mode of control for TRP channels remains poorly understood. The question of whether TRPs intrinsically regulate their own vesicular trafficking or weather the dynamic regulation of TRP channel residence on the cell surface is caused by extrinsic changes in the rates of vesicle insertion or retrieval remain open. This review will examine the evidence that sub-cellular redistribution of TRP channels plays an important role in regulating their activity and explore the mechanisms that control the trafficking of vesicles containing TRP channels.

Non-Chemical Distant Cellular Interactions as a potential confounder of Cell Biology Experiments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ashkan eFarhadi

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Distant cells can communicate with each other through a variety of methods. Two such methods involve electrical and/or chemical mechanisms. Non-chemical, distant cellular interactions may be another method of communication that cells can use to modify the behavior of other cells that are mechanically separated. Moreover, non-chemical, distant cellular interactions may explain some cases of confounding effects in Cell Biology experiments. In this article, we review non-chemical, distant cellular interactions studies to try to shed light on the mechanisms in this highly unconventional field of cell biology. Despite the existence of several theories that try to explain the mechanism of non-chemical, distant cellular interactions, this phenomenon is still speculative. Among candidate mechanisms, electromagnetic waves appear to have the most experimental support. In this brief article, we try to answer a few key questions that may further clarify this mechanism.

For whom bell toils: medical imaging by telephone.

Science.gov (United States)

Kuhfeld, A W

1991-01-01

The use of the induction balance, which was invented by Alexander Graham Bell to cancel out line interference on his telephone, to determine the location of bullets inside the human body is discussed. Experiments conducted to locate a bullet in the body of US President Garfield, who had been shot by an assassin in 1881, are described. The trials on Garfield were unsuccessful, but the approach was later perfected by Bell.

Cellular phones and risk of brain tumors.

Science.gov (United States)

Frumkin, H; Jacobson, A; Gansler, T; Thun, M J

2001-01-01

As cellular telephones are a relatively new technology, we do not yet have long-term follow-up on their possible biological effects. However, the lack of ionizing radiation and the low energy level emitted from cell phones and absorbed by human tissues make it unlikely that these devices cause cancer. Moreover, several well-designed epidemiologic studies find no consistent association between cell phone use and brain cancer. It is impossible to prove that any product or exposure is absolutely safe, especially in the absence of very long-term follow-up. Accordingly, the following summary from the Food and Drug Administration Center for Devices and Radiological Health offers advice to people concerned about their risk: If there is a risk from these products--and at this point we do not know that there is--it is probably very small. But if people are concerned about avoiding even potential risks, there are simple steps they can take to do so. People who must conduct extended conversations in their cars every day could switch to a type of mobile phone that places more distance between their bodies and the source of the RF, since the exposure level drops off dramatically with distance. For example, they could switch to: a mobile phone in which the antenna is located outside the vehicle, a hand-held phone with a built-in antenna connected to a different antenna mounted on the outside of the car or built into a separate package, or a headset with a remote antenna to a mobile phone carried at the waist. Again the scientific data do not demonstrate that mobile phones are harmful. But if people are concerned about the radiofrequency energy from these products, taking the simple precautions outlined above can reduce any possible risk. In addition, people who are concerned might choose digital rather than analog telephones, since the former use lower RF levels.

Applying technology to the treatment of cannabis use disorder: comparing telephone versus Internet delivery using data from two completed trials.

Science.gov (United States)

Rooke, Sally E; Gates, Peter J; Norberg, Melissa M; Copeland, Jan

2014-01-01

Technology-based interventions such as those delivered by telephone or online may assist in removing significant barriers to treatment seeking for cannabis use disorder. Little research, however, has addressed differing technology-based treatments regarding their comparative effectiveness, and how user profiles may affect compliance and treatment satisfaction. This study addressed this issue by examining these factors in online (N=225) versus telephone (N=160) delivered interventions for cannabis use, using data obtained from two previously published randomized controlled trials conducted by the current authors. Several differences emerged including stronger treatment effects (medium to large effect sizes in the telephone study versus small effect sizes in the Web study) and lower dropout in the telephone intervention (38% vs. 46%). Additionally, around half of the telephone study participants sought concurrent treatment, compared with 2% of participants in the Web study. Demographics and predictors of treatment engagement, retention and satisfaction also varied between the studies. Findings indicate that both telephone and Web-based treatments can be effective in assisting cannabis users to quit or reduce their use; however, participant characteristics may have important implications for treatment preference and outcome, with those who elect telephone-based treatment experiencing stronger outcomes. Thus, participant preference may shape study populations, adherence, and outcome. © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

After Mobile Phones Surpassing Telephones%当手机蹿至老大时

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

马斌; 张英

2004-01-01

According to the statistic of MII, the number of phone user in the whole country of China has reached 0.512 billion in 2003, with 91.85 million new users added between January and October. The newly-added users include 40.917 million telephone users and 50.933 million mobile phone users. And the total number of telephone users has reached 0.2551 billion, mobile phone users 0.2569 billion. Up to now the number of mobile phone users has surpassed that of telephone users. The surpassing is a new landmark in the development of China telecom industry. At the same time the surpassing is not just a common event, but it will bring great influence to the development pattern of our telecom industry, regulation of government in the future, mobile communications and fixed network carriers. And so in this issue "New Telecom Salon" focuses on what the surpassing will bring to telecom industry in all aspects. The specialists in the industry are invited to discuss all related things about this subject.

Physical Therapists, Telephone Coaches, and Patients With Knee Osteoarthritis: Qualitative Study About Working Together to Promote Exercise Adherence.

Science.gov (United States)

Hinman, Rana S; Delany, Clare M; Campbell, Penelope K; Gale, Janette; Bennell, Kim L

2016-04-01

Integrated models of care are recommended for people with knee osteoarthritis (OA). Exercise is integral to management, yet exercise adherence is problematic. Telephone-based health coaching is an attractive adjunct to physical therapist-prescribed exercise that may improve adherence. Little is known about the perceptions and interpretations of physical therapists, telephone coaches, and patients engaged in this model of care. The purpose of this study was to explore how stakeholders (physical therapists, telephone coaches, and patients) experienced, and made sense of, being involved in an integrated program of physical therapist-supervised exercise and telephone coaching for people with knee OA. A cross-sectional qualitative design drawing from symbolic interactionism was used. Semistructured interviews with 10 physical therapists, 4 telephone coaches, and 6 patients with painful knee OA. Interviews were audiorecorded, transcribed, and analyzed using thematic analysis informed by grounded theory. Four themes emerged: (1) genuine interest and collaboration, (2) information and accountability, (3) program structure, and (4) roles and communication in teamwork. Patients reported they appreciated personalized, genuine interest from therapists and coaches and were aware of their complementary roles. A collaborative approach, with defined roles and communication strategies, was identified as important for effectiveness. All participants highlighted the importance of sharing information, monitoring, and being accountable to others. Coaches found the lack of face-to-face contact with patients hampered relationship building. Therapists and coaches referred to the importance of teamwork in delivering the intervention. The small number of physical therapists and telephone coaches who delivered the intervention may have been biased toward favorable experiences with the intervention and may not be representative of their respective professions. Integrated physical therapy and

Under-triage in telephone consultation is related to non-normative symptom description and interpersonal communication

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gamst-Jensen, Hejdi; Lippert, Freddy K; Egerod, Ingrid

2017-01-01

BACKGROUND: Telephone consultation and triage are used to limit the workload on emergency departments. Lack of visual cues and clinical tests put telephone consultations to a disadvantage compared to face-to-face consultations increasing the risk of under-triage. Under-triage occurs in telephone...... triage; however why under-triage happens is not explored yet. The aim of the study was to describe situations of under-triage in context, to assess the quality of under-triaged calls, and to identify communication patterns contributing to under-triage in a regional OOH service in the capital region...... (19%), respiratory (15%) and all others (42%). Thematic analysis of the voice logs suggested that inadequate communication and non-normative symptom description contributed to under-triage. DISCUSSION: The incidence of potentially under-triage is low (0.04%). However, the over...

A middle class image of society: a study of undercoverage and nonresponse bias in a telephone survey

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Goor, van H.; Rispens, S.

2004-01-01

We studied undercoverage and nonresponse in a telephone survey among the population of the City ofGroningen, the Netherlands. The original sample, drawn from the municipal population register,contained 7000 individuals. For 37 percent of them, the telephone company was unable to produce a

A middle class image of society : A study of undercoverage and nonresponse bias in a telephone survey

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Goor, Henk; Rispens, S

We studied undercoverage and nonresponse in a telephone survey among the population of the City of Groningen, the Netherlands. The original sample, drawn from the municipal population register, contained 7000 individuals. For 37 percent of them, the telephone company was unable to produce a valid

Lunar phases and crisis center telephone calls.

Science.gov (United States)

Wilson, J E; Tobacyk, J J

1990-02-01

The lunar hypothesis, that is, the notion that lunar phases can directly affect human behavior, was tested by time-series analysis of 4,575 crisis center telephone calls (all calls recorded for a 6-month interval). As expected, the lunar hypothesis was not supported. The 28-day lunar cycle accounted for less than 1% of the variance of the frequency of crisis center calls. Also, as hypothesized from an attribution theory framework, crisis center workers reported significantly greater belief in lunar effects than a non-crisis-center-worker comparison group.

Voice-band Modems: A Device to Transmit Data Over Telephone ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Voice-band Modems: A Device to Transmit Data. Over Telephone Networks. 1. Basic Principles of Data Trans.mission v U Reddy is with the. Electrical Communica- tion Engineering. Department, Indian. Institute of Science. His research areas are adaptive signal process- ing, multirate filtering and wavelets, and multi-.

Short Term Group Counseling of Visually Impaired People by Telephone.

Science.gov (United States)

Jaureguy, Beth M.; Evans, Ron L.

1983-01-01

Short term group counseling via the telephone resulted in marked increases in activities of daily living among 12 legally blind veterans. Many subjects' personal coping goals were met as well, and social involvement also increased. No significant changes in levels of depression or agitation were noted. (CL)

Telephone Coaching in Dialectical Behavior Therapy: A Decision-Tree Model for Managing Inter-Session Contact with Clients

Science.gov (United States)

Ben-Porath, Denise D.; Koons, Cedar R.

2005-01-01

Several studies have indicated that telephone coaching can play an important role in psychological intervention (Beebe, 2001; Burgess & Chalder, 2001; Meyersberg, 1985). Less well understood, however, is the role of telephone coaching with severe, complex, multiproblem clients, such as those diagnosed with borderline personality disorder.…

A Telephone-based Physiotherapy Intervention for Patients with Osteoarthritis of the Knee

Science.gov (United States)

Odole, Adesola C.; Ojo, Oluwatobi D.

2013-01-01

This study assessed the effects of a 6-week telephone based intervention on the pain intensity and physical function of patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA), and compared the results to physiotherapy conducted in the clinic. Fifty randomly selected patients with knee OA were assigned to one of two treatment groups: a clinic group (CG) and a tele-physiotherapy group (TG). The CG received thrice-weekly physiotherapist administered osteoarthritis-specific exercises in the clinic for six weeks. The TG received structured telephone calls thrice-weekly at home, to monitor self-administered osteoarthritis-specific exercises. Participants’ pain intensity and physical function were assessed at baseline, two, four, and six weeks, in the clinic environment. Within group comparison showed significant improvements across baseline, and at weeks two, four, and six for both TG and CG’s pain intensity and physical function. Between-group comparison of CG and TG’s pain intensity and physical function at baseline and weeks two, four, and six showed no significant differences. This study demonstrated that a six-week course of structured telephone calls thrice-weekly to patients at their home, to monitor self-administered osteoarthritis-specific exercises for patients with knee OA (i.e., tele-physiotherapy) achieved comparable results to physiotherapy conducted in the clinic. PMID:25945214

Cost effectiveness of a telephone intervention to promote dilated fundus examination in adults with diabetes mellitus

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Clyde B Schechter

2008-05-01

Full Text Available Clyde B Schechter1, Charles E Basch2, Arlene Caban3, Elizabeth A Walker41Departments of Family and Social Medicine and Epidemiology and Population Health, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York, USA; 2Department of Health Behavior Studies, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA; 3Department of Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA; 4Departments of Medicine and Epidemiology and Population Health, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York, USAAbstract: In a clinical trial, we have previously shown that a telephone intervention can significantly increase participation in dilated fundus examination (DFE screening among low-income adults with diabetes. Here the costs and cost-effectiveness ratio of this intervention are calculated. Intervention effectiveness was estimated as the difference in DFE utilization between the telephone intervention and print groups from the clinical trial multiplied by the size of the telephone intervention group. A micro-costing approach was used. Personnel time was aggregated from logs kept during the clinical trial of the intervention. Wage rates were taken from a commercial compensation database. Telephone charges were estimated based on prevailing fees. The cost-effectiveness ratio was calculated as the ratio of total costs of the intervention to the number of DFEs gained by the intervention. A sensitivity analysis estimated the cost-effectiveness of a more limited telephone intervention. A probabilistic sensitivity analysis using bootstrap samples from the clinical trial results quantified the uncertainties in resource utilization and intervention effectiveness. Net intervention costs were US$18,676.06, with an associated gain of 43.7 DFEs and 16.4 new diagnoses of diabetic retinopathy. The cost-effectiveness ratio is US$427.37 per DFE gained. A restricted intervention limiting the number of calls to 5, as opposed to 7, would achieve the same results

An Intervention to Improve the Comfort And Satisfaction of Nurses in the Telephone Triage of Child Maltreatment Calls.

Science.gov (United States)

Hunter, Julie

2015-01-01

Nurses are mandated reporters of actual or suspected child maltreatment or the threat thereof. The purpose of this quality improvement project was to determine the knowledge and comfort of nurses in telephone triage in pediatric clinics when dealing with suspected or actual child abuse calls. Nurses (N = 17) from three pediatric primary care clinics and one specialty care orthopedic clinic were surveyed. Based on results of the survey showing a lack of knowledge and adequate referral resources perceived by the nursing staff, resources and staff education were developed, along with a script for guiding maltreatment calls toward standardization of care. Following the intervention, nurses reported an increased comfort level when doing telephone triage for child maltreatment calls, an increase in knowledge of risk factors for county resources. Further, they reported a substantial shift in opinion about the need for a standardized script when responding to child maltreatment telephone calls. Nurses undertaking telephone triage of high-risk child maltreatment calls can improve their comfort and knowledge through a survey of their needs and directed education and resource development for the management of child maltreatment telephone triage.

Cellular signaling identifiability analysis: a case study.

Science.gov (United States)

Roper, Ryan T; Pia Saccomani, Maria; Vicini, Paolo

2010-05-21

Two primary purposes for mathematical modeling in cell biology are (1) simulation for making predictions of experimental outcomes and (2) parameter estimation for drawing inferences from experimental data about unobserved aspects of biological systems. While the former purpose has become common in the biological sciences, the latter is less common, particularly when studying cellular and subcellular phenomena such as signaling-the focus of the current study. Data are difficult to obtain at this level. Therefore, even models of only modest complexity can contain parameters for which the available data are insufficient for estimation. In the present study, we use a set of published cellular signaling models to address issues related to global parameter identifiability. That is, we address the following question: assuming known time courses for some model variables, which parameters is it theoretically impossible to estimate, even with continuous, noise-free data? Following an introduction to this problem and its relevance, we perform a full identifiability analysis on a set of cellular signaling models using DAISY (Differential Algebra for the Identifiability of SYstems). We use our analysis to bring to light important issues related to parameter identifiability in ordinary differential equation (ODE) models. We contend that this is, as of yet, an under-appreciated issue in biological modeling and, more particularly, cell biology. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Questioning Questions: Elementary Teachers' Adaptations of Investigation Questions across the Inquiry Continuum

Science.gov (United States)

Biggers, Mandy

2018-01-01

Questioning is a central practice in science classrooms. However, not every question translates into a "good" science investigation. Questions that drive science investigations can be provided by many sources including the teacher, the curriculum, or the student. The variations in the source of investigation questions were explored in…

DBT Telephone Skills Coaching with Eating Disordered Clients: Who Calls, for What Reasons, and for How Long?

Science.gov (United States)

Limbrunner, Heidi M.; Ben-Porath, Denise D.; Wisniewski, Lucene

2011-01-01

The goal of this paper is to report on the typology, frequency, and duration of intersession calls placed by outpatient eating disorder clients to their therapists. Participants were 17 women, offered DBT after-hours telephone coaching adapted for individuals with eating disorders. Results indicated that clients used telephone coaching primarily…

Usage of removable partial dentures in Saudi male patients after 1 year telephone interview

Science.gov (United States)

Akeel, Riyadh

2010-01-01

Objective The success of removable partial dentures (RPDs) is partly dependent on patients’ acceptance and compliance in using them. The purpose of this study was to describe the usage of removable partial dentures (RPDs) by patients 1 year after insertion and to evaluate the factors that influence their denture usage. Methods Forty-seven patients who received 75 new RPDs at the undergraduate clinic of College of Dentistry, King Saud University, were contacted by telephone 1 year later for an interview. The questions covered denture usage, patient’s satisfaction and reasons for non-use. Results Results showed that 36% of patients discarded or occasionally used their RPDs. There was no significant association between denture usage and RPD experience, location or Kennedy classification. A significantly more RPD rejection was found when it was opposed by natural teeth or complete denture. The most quoted reason for RPD rejection was pain and discomfort. Conclusion Despite the short follow-up period, RPDs were poorly accepted by patients treated by undergraduate students. PMID:23960487

Validation of a telephone screening tool for spasmodic dysphonia and vocal fold tremor.

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, David M; Hapner, Edie R; Klein, Adam M; Pethan, Madeleine; Johns, Michael M

2014-11-01

The objective of this study was to ascertain whether clinicians can reliably distinguish between spasmodic dysphonia (SD)/vocal tremor and other voice disorders by telephone, despite this modality's limited frequency response. Randomized, single-blinded, and prospective study. Voice-disordered patients with (n = 22) and without (n = 17) SD and/or vocal tremor recorded standardized utterances via landline telephone. A laryngologist and two speech-language pathologists blinded to the diagnoses rated each recording as "yes" or "no" to "SD or tremor present?," and if "yes" categorized into adductor, abductor, tremor only, or adductor with tremor subtypes. Twenty-one recordings were presented twice at random so intrarater reliability could be assessed. All ratings were compared with gold standard diagnosis by a second laryngologist who performed a full examination, including videostroboscopy, on each patient. For the comparison "SD or tremor" yes versus no, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value are 90%, 95%, 96%, and 89%, respectively. Interrater reliability (Cohen kappa) compared with the gold standard ranged from 0.70 to 0.93 (substantial to almost perfect agreement). Cronbach alpha among three raters was 0.90 for this comparison. Intrarater reliability (number matched/number inspected) was very high, ranging from 0.97 to 1.0. Comparing gold standard and telephone rating of SD/tremor subtypes, kappa ranged from 0.48 to 0.60 (moderate agreement). Cronbach alpha among three raters was 0.88 for this comparison. Intrarater reliability ranged from 0.84 to 0.97. SD and tremor can be reliably distinguished from other voice disorders over the telephone. Copyright © 2014 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The quality, safety and governance of telephone triage and advice services - an overview of evidence from systematic reviews.

Science.gov (United States)

Lake, Rebecca; Georgiou, Andrew; Li, Julie; Li, Ling; Byrne, Mary; Robinson, Maureen; Westbrook, Johanna I

2017-08-30

Telephone triage and advice services (TTAS) are increasingly being implemented around the world. These services allow people to speak to a nurse or general practitioner over the telephone and receive assessment and healthcare advice. There is an existing body of research on the topic of TTAS, however the diffuseness of the evidence base makes it difficult to identify key lessons that are consistent across the literature. Systematic reviews represent the highest level of evidence synthesis. We aimed to undertake an overview of such reviews to determine the scope, consistency and generalisability of findings in relation to the governance, safety and quality of TTAS. We searched PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, Web of Science and the Cochrane Library for English language systematic reviews focused on key governance, quality and safety findings related to telephone based triage and advice services, published since 1990. The search was undertaken by three researchers who reached consensus on all included systematic reviews. An appraisal of the methodological quality of the systematic reviews was independently undertaken by two researchers using A Measurement Tool to Assess Systematic Reviews. Ten systematic reviews from a potential 291 results were selected for inclusion. TTAS was examined either alone, or as part of a primary care service model or intervention designed to improve primary care. Evidence of TTAS performance was reported across nine key indicators - access, appropriateness, compliance, patient satisfaction, cost, safety, health service utilisation, physician workload and clinical outcomes. Patient satisfaction with TTAS was generally high and there is some consistency of evidence of the ability of TTAS to reduce clinical workload. Measures of the safety of TTAS tended to show that there is no major difference between TTAS and traditional care. Taken as a whole, current evidence does not provide definitive answers to questions about the quality of care

Rhetorical questions or rhetorical uses of questions?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Špago Džemal

2016-12-01

Full Text Available This paper aims to explore whether some rhetorical questions contain certain linguistic elements or forms which would differentiate them from answer-eliciting and action-eliciting questions, and thereby hint at their rhetorical nature even outside the context. Namely, despite the fact that the same questions can be rhetorical in one context, and answer-eliciting in another, some of them are more likely to be associated with rhetorical or non-rhetorical use. The analysis is based on extensive data (over 1200 examples of rhetorical questions taken from 30 plays by two British and two American writers, and the results are expected to give an insight into whether we can talk about rhetorical questions or just a rhetorical use of questions.

PhysioDirect: Supporting physiotherapists to deliver telephone assessment and advice services within the context of a randomised trial

Science.gov (United States)

Bishop, Annette; Gamlin, Jill; Hall, Jeanette; Hopper, Cherida; Foster, Nadine E.

2013-01-01

Physiotherapy-led telephone assessment and advice services for patients with musculoskeletal problems have been developed in many services in the UK, but high quality trial data on clinical and cost effectiveness has been lacking. In order to address this ‘The PhysioDirect trial’ (ISRCTN55666618), was a pragmatic randomised trial of a PhysioDirect telephone assessment and advice service. This paper describes the PhysioDirect system used in the trial and how physiotherapists were trained and supported to use the system and deliver the PhysioDirect service. The PhysioDirect system used in the trial was developed in Huntingdon and now serves a population of 350,000 people. When initiating or providing physiotherapy-led telephone assessment and advice services training and support for physiotherapists delivering care in this way is essential. An enhanced skill set is required for telephone assessment and advice particularly in listening and communication skills. In addition to an initial training programme, even experienced physiotherapists benefit from a period of skill consolidation to become proficient and confident in assessing patients and delivering care using the telephone. A computer-based system assists the delivery of a physiotherapy-led musculoskeletal assessment and advice service. Clinical Trials Registration Number (ISRCTN55666618). PMID:23219629

Reliability and validity of using telephone calls for post-discharge surveillance of surgical site infection following caesarean section at a tertiary hospital in Tanzania

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Boniface Nguhuni

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Surgical site infection (SSI is a common post-operative complication causing significant morbidity and mortality. Many SSI occur after discharge from hospital. Post-discharge SSI surveillance in low and middle income countries needs to be improved. Methodology We conducted an observational cohort study in Dodoma, Tanzania to examine the sensitivity and specificity of telephone calls to detect SSI after discharge from hospital in comparison to a gold standard of clinician review. Women undergoing caesarean section were enrolled and followed up for 30 days. Women providing a telephone number were interviewed using a structured questionnaire at approximately days 5, 12 and 28 post-surgery. Women were then invited for out-patient review by a clinician blinded to the findings of telephone interview. Results A total of 374 women were enrolled and an overall SSI rate of 12% (n = 45 was observed. Three hundred and sixteen (84% women provided a telephone number, of which 202 had at least one telephone interview followed by a clinical review within 48 h, generating a total of 484 paired observations. From the clinical reviews, 25 SSI were diagnosed, of which telephone interview had correctly identified 18 infections; telephone calls did not incorrectly identify SSI in any patients. The overall sensitivity and specificity of telephone interviews as compared to clinician evaluation was 72 and 100%, respectively. Conclusion The use of telephone interview as a diagnostic tool for post-discharge surveillance of SSI had moderate sensitivity and high specificity in Tanzania. Telephone-based detection may be a useful method for SSI surveillance in low-income settings with high penetration of mobile telephones.

A Telephone-based Physiotherapy Intervention for Patients with Osteoarthritis of the Knee

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adesola C Odole

2013-12-01

Full Text Available This study assessed the effects of a 6-week telephone based intervention on the pain intensity and physical function of patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA, and compared the results to physiotherapy conducted in the clinic. Fifty randomly selected patients with knee OA were assigned to one of two treatment groups: a clinic group (CG and a tele-physiotherapy group (TG. The CG received thrice-weekly physiotherapist administered osteoarthritis-specific exercises in the clinic for six weeks. The TG received structured telephone calls thrice-weekly at home, to monitor self-administered osteoarthritis-specific exercises. Participants’ pain intensity and physical function were assessed at baseline, two, four, and six weeks, in the clinic environment. Within group comparison showed significant improvements across baseline, and at weeks two, four, and six for both TG and CG’s pain intensity and physical function. Between-group comparison of CG and TG’s pain intensity and physical function at baseline and weeks two, four, and six showed no significant differences. This study demonstrated that a six-week course of structured telephone calls thrice-weekly to patients at their home, to monitor self-administered osteoarthritis-specific exercises for patients with knee OA (i.e., tele-physiotherapy achieved comparable results to physiotherapy conducted in the clinic.   12.00 Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE

Emotion Analysis of Telephone Complaints from Customer Based on Affective Computing.

Science.gov (United States)

Gong, Shuangping; Dai, Yonghui; Ji, Jun; Wang, Jinzhao; Sun, Hai

2015-01-01

Customer complaint has been the important feedback for modern enterprises to improve their product and service quality as well as the customer's loyalty. As one of the commonly used manners in customer complaint, telephone communication carries rich emotional information of speeches, which provides valuable resources for perceiving the customer's satisfaction and studying the complaint handling skills. This paper studies the characteristics of telephone complaint speeches and proposes an analysis method based on affective computing technology, which can recognize the dynamic changes of customer emotions from the conversations between the service staff and the customer. The recognition process includes speaker recognition, emotional feature parameter extraction, and dynamic emotion recognition. Experimental results show that this method is effective and can reach high recognition rates of happy and angry states. It has been successfully applied to the operation quality and service administration in telecom and Internet service company.

Emotion Analysis of Telephone Complaints from Customer Based on Affective Computing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shuangping Gong

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Customer complaint has been the important feedback for modern enterprises to improve their product and service quality as well as the customer’s loyalty. As one of the commonly used manners in customer complaint, telephone communication carries rich emotional information of speeches, which provides valuable resources for perceiving the customer’s satisfaction and studying the complaint handling skills. This paper studies the characteristics of telephone complaint speeches and proposes an analysis method based on affective computing technology, which can recognize the dynamic changes of customer emotions from the conversations between the service staff and the customer. The recognition process includes speaker recognition, emotional feature parameter extraction, and dynamic emotion recognition. Experimental results show that this method is effective and can reach high recognition rates of happy and angry states. It has been successfully applied to the operation quality and service administration in telecom and Internet service company.

[Telephone support for breastfeeding by primary care: a randomised multicentre trial].

Science.gov (United States)

Balaguer Martínez, Josep Vicent; Valcarce Pérez, Inmaculada; Esquivel Ojeda, Jessica Noelia; Hernández Gil, Alicia; Martín Jiménez, María Del Pilar; Bernad Albareda, Mercè

2018-03-22

To evaluate a telephone support programme for mothers who breastfeed for the first 6 months. A randomised unmasked clinical trial was conducted in 5 urban Primary Care centres that included mothers with healthy newborns who were breastfeeding exclusively (EBF) or partially (PBF). The control group received the usual care. The intervention group also received telephone support for breastfeeding on a weekly basis for the first 2months and then every 2weeks until the sixth month. The type of breastfeeding was recorded in the usual check-up visit (1, 2, 4 and 6 months). The study included 193 patients in the intervention group, and 187 in a control group. The greatest increase in the percentage of EBF was observed at 6 months: 21.4% in the control group compared to 30.1% in the intervention group. However, in the adjusted odds ratios analysis, confidence intervals did not show statistical significance. The odds ratio at 1 month, 2 months, 4 months, and 6 months for EBF were 1.45 (0.91-2.31), 1.35 (0.87-2.08), 1.21 (0.80-1.81), and 1.58 (0.99-2.53), respectively. The odds ratio in the same age groups for any type of breastfeeding (EBF + PBF) were 1.65 (0.39-7.00), 2.08 (0.94-4.61), 1.37 (0.79-2.38), and 1.60 (0.98-2.61), respectively. Telephone intervention was not effective enough to generalise it. Copyright © 2018. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U.

The emergency telephone conversation in the context of the older person in suicidal crisis: a qualitative study.

Science.gov (United States)

Deuter, Kate; Procter, Nicholas; Rogers, John

2013-01-01

Suicide in older people is a significant public health issue with a predicted future increase. Contemporary research directs considerable attention toward physical, mental, and social risk factors that contribute to suicidality in older people; still, little is understood about the fundamental meanings that older people in suicidal crisis attribute to these factors. The aim of this qualitative study was to describe, analyze, and compare counselors' and older peoples' perceptions of the suicidal crisis during an emergency telephone conversation. Data collection consisted of individual interviews with telephone counselors (N = 7) working within an emergency mental health triage service, and listening to telephone calls (N = 14) received by the service responding to people aged 65 years and over in suicidal crisis. Triangulation of the two data sets resulted in the emergence of three key themes. We found (1) congruence in the way risk factors were perceived by counselors and communicated during telephone conversations, (2) dissension between counselors' perceptions of end-of-life issues and older people's feelings of ambivalence about wanting to die and not knowing what to do and (3) the need for working side-by-side with the older person, exploring acute changes and immediate capacity for change. An explicit focus on risk factors alone may preclude counselors from gaining a deeper understanding of suicidal crisis in an older person's life. This research has begun to capture and illuminate how telephone counselors can deliver effective crisis intervention as older people struggle and make meaning through their suffering.

Organizational Contexts and Texts: The Redesign of the Midwest Bell Telephone Bill.

Science.gov (United States)

Keller-Cohen, Deborah

1987-01-01

Offers a retrospective view of organizational factors affecting the redesign of the Midwest Bell Telephone Bill. Shows how financial considerations, organizational time frame, and employee training and experience influenced the bill's development process. (MM)

Results from the Dutch speech-in-noise screening test by telephone

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Smits, C.H.M.; Houtgast, T.

2005-01-01

OBJECTIVE: The objective of the study was to implement a previously developed automatic speech-in-noise screening test by telephone (Smits, Kapteyn, & Houtgast, 2004), introduce it nationwide as a self-test, and analyze the results. DESIGN: The test was implemented on an interactive voice response

Using History to Teach Invention and Design: The Case of the Telephone

Science.gov (United States)

Gorman, Michael E.; Robinson, J. Kirby

This paper shows how a historical case, the invention of the telephone, can be used to teach invention and design in a way that combines engineering, social sciences, and humanities. The historical problem of transmitting speech was turned into an active learning module, in which students sought to improve patents obtained by early telephone inventors like Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray, using equipment similar to what was available at the time. The result was a collaborative learning environment in which students from a wide range of majors worked in teams, eventually producing a patent application. As part of the project, they were allowed to search historical materials like the Bell notebooks, which were made available on line. This experience gave them a better understanding of the invention and design process.

Traffic Tech : National Telephone Survey on Distracted Driving Attitudes and Behaviors - 2015

Science.gov (United States)

2018-03-01

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) conducted its third national telephone survey of distracted driving to monitor the public's attitudes, knowledge, and self-reported behavior about cell phone use and texting while driving, an...

Consequences of insecurity in emergency telephone consultations: an experimental study in medical students.

Science.gov (United States)

Barth, J; Ahrens, R; Schaufelberger, M

2014-01-01

Handling emergency telephone consultations (ETCs) is a challenging and very important task for doctors. The aims of the study were to document insecurity in medical students during ETCs and to identify the reasons for that insecurity. We hypothesised that insecurity is associated with advising more urgent action (e.g. advice to call for an ambulance) in ETCs. We used ETCs with simulated patients (SPs), with each student randomly allocated two of four possible cases. After the training, 137 students reported on any insecurity that they had in the various ETC phases. We analysed the reasons for insecurity using descriptive statistics. The association between the students' advice that urgent action was needed and their insecurity was analysed with Spearman rank correlation. Overall, 95% of the students felt insecure in at least one phase of their ETC. History taking was the phase in which students felt most insecure (63.1%), followed by the phase of analysing the information given by the patient (44.9%). Perceived insecurity was associated with more urgent advice in one case scenario (abdominal pain; correlation r = 0.46; p ETC decision-making. ETC training in medical schools, with a focus on structured history taking and formulating discriminating questions, might help decrease insecurity in ETCs. Medical education should also teach management of insecurity.

The effect of telephone support on depressive symptoms among HIV-infected pregnant women in Thailand: an embedded mixed methods study.

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Ross, Ratchneewan; Sawatphanit, Wilaiphan; Suwansujarid, Tatirat; Stidham, Andrea W; Drew, Barbara L; Creswell, John W

2013-01-01

Depressive symptoms negatively impact the lives of HIV-infected individuals and are correlated with faster progression to AIDS. Our embedded mixed methods study examined and described the effects of telephone support on depressive symptoms in a sample of HIV-infected pregnant Thai women. HIV-infected pregnant Thai women (n = 40) were randomly assigned to either the control or the intervention group. A registered nurse provided telephone support to the intervention group. Depressive symptoms were measured at three points in both groups. In-depth interviews were conducted at Time 2 and Time 3. Results show that depressive symptoms in the intervention group decreased over time. Qualitative results describe how telephone support can work, but also reveal that telephone support did not work for everyone. We recommend that a larger mixed methods study be conducted to examine the effects of telephone support on depressive symptoms among HIV-infected women, including the costs and benefits of such support. Copyright © 2013 Association of Nurses in AIDS Care. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Sleep information by Telephone: Callers Indicate Positive Effects on Sleep Problems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Verbeek, I.; Declerck, G.; Knuistingh Neven, A.; Coenen, A.M.L.

2002-01-01

There is a need to develop effective interventions for insomnia that are readily accessible and not too expensive. For the reason that earlier studies have already shown that direct contact with a sleep therapist is not always needed, telephone service may be useful to give insomnia patients

Responses to language barriers in consultations with refugees and asylum seekers: a telephone survey of Irish general practitioners.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

MacFarlane, Anne

2008-01-01

BACKGROUND: Refugees and asylum seekers experience language barriers in general practice. Qualitative studies have found that responses to language barriers in general practice are ad hoc with use of both professional interpreters and informal interpreters (patients\\' relatives or friends). However, the scale of the issues involved is unknown. This study quantifies the need for language assistance in general practice consultations and examines the experience of, and satisfaction with, methods of language assistance utilized. METHODS: Data were collected by telephone survey with general practitioners in a regional health authority in Ireland between July-August 2004. Each respondent was asked a series of questions about consulting with refugees and asylum seekers, the need for language assistance and the kind of language assistance used. RESULTS: There was a 70% (n = 56\\/80) response rate to the telephone survey. The majority of respondents (77%) said that they had experienced consultations with refugees and asylum seekers in which language assistance was required. Despite this, general practitioners in the majority of cases managed without an interpreter or used informal methods of interpretation. In fact, when given a choice general practitioners would more often choose informal over professional methods of interpretation despite the fact that confidentiality was a significant concern. CONCLUSION: The need for language assistance in consultations with refugees and asylum seekers in Irish general practice is high. General practitioners rely on informal responses. It is necessary to improve knowledge about the organisational contexts that shape general practitioners responses. We also recommend dialogue between general practitioners, patients and interpreters about the relative merits of informal and professional methods of interpretation so that general practitioners\\' choices are responsive to the needs of patients with limited English.

Can we share questions? Performance of questions from different question banks in a single medical school.

Science.gov (United States)

Freeman, Adrian; Nicholls, Anthony; Ricketts, Chris; Coombes, Lee

2010-01-01

To use progress testing, a large bank of questions is required, particularly when planning to deliver tests over a long period of time. The questions need not only to be of good quality but also balanced in subject coverage across the curriculum to allow appropriate sampling. Hence as well as creating its own questions, an institution could share questions. Both methods allow ownership and structuring of the test appropriate to the educational requirements of the institution. Peninsula Medical School (PMS) has developed a mechanism to validate questions written in house. That mechanism can be adapted to utilise questions from an International question bank International Digital Electronic Access Library (IDEAL) and another UK-based question bank Universities Medical Assessment Partnership (UMAP). These questions have been used in our progress tests and analysed for relative performance. Data are presented to show that questions from differing sources can have comparable performance in a progress testing format. There are difficulties in transferring questions from one institution to another. These include problems of curricula and cultural differences. Whilst many of these difficulties exist, our experience suggests that it only requires a relatively small amount of work to adapt questions from external question banks for effective use. The longitudinal aspect of progress testing (albeit summatively) may allow more flexibility in question usage than single high stakes exams.

Supplemental Analysis Survey of C&P Telephone Inside Wiring.

Science.gov (United States)

1986-10-01

telephone company facilities in 1984. In 1985, among other actions favorable to deregulation and detariffing of inside wiring, the FCC proposed to detariff ...installation of inside wiring, detariff the maintenance of all inside wiring, treat all inside wiring as customer premise equipment and pass ownership...85-148, 50 Fed. let. 13991 (April 9, 1985), pToposing to detariff the installation of simple inside wiring and also to detariff the maintenance of all

Attacks on public telephone networks: technologies and challenges

Science.gov (United States)

Kosloff, T.; Moore, Tyler; Keller, J.; Manes, Gavin W.; Shenoi, Sujeet

2003-09-01

Signaling System 7 (SS7) is vital to signaling and control in America's public telephone networks. This paper describes a class of attacks on SS7 networks involving the insertion of malicious signaling messages via compromised SS7 network components. Three attacks are discussed in detail: IAM flood attacks, redirection attacks and point code spoofing attacks. Depending on their scale of execution, these attacks can produce effects ranging from network congestion to service disruption. Methods for detecting these denial-of-service attacks and mitigating their effects are also presented.

Telephone referral education, and evidence of retention and transfer after six-months

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marshall Stuart D

2012-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Effective communication between clinicians is essential for safe, efficient healthcare. We undertook a study to determine the longer-term effectiveness of an education session employing a structured method to teach referral-making skills to medical students. Methods All final year medical students received a forty-five minute education intervention consisting: discussion of effective telephone referrals; video viewing and critique; explanation, demonstration and practice using ISBAR; provision of a memory aid for use in their clinical work. Audio recordings were taken during a subsequent standardised simulation scenario and blindly assessed using a validated scoring system. Recordings were taken immediately before (control, several hours after (intervention, and at approximately six months after the education. Retention of the acronym and self-reports of transfer to the clinical environment were measured with a questionnaire at eight months. Results Referral clarity at six months was significantly improved from pre-intervention, and referral content showed a trend towards improvement. Both measures were lower than the immediate post-education test. The ISBAR acronym was remembered by 59.4% (n = 95/160 and used by the vast majority of the respondents who had made a clinical telephone referral (n = 135/143; 94.4%. Conclusions A brief education session improved telephone communication in a simulated environment above baseline for over six months, achieved functional retention of the acronym over a seven to eight month period and resulted in self reports of transfer of the learning into practice.

Trained student pharmacists’ telephonic collection of patient medication information: Evaluation of a structured interview tool

Science.gov (United States)

Margolis, Amanda R.; Martin, Beth A.; Mott, David A.

2016-01-01

Objective To determine the feasibility and fidelity of student pharmacists collecting patient medication list information using a structured interview tool and the accuracy of documenting the information. The medication lists were used by a community pharmacist to provide a targeted medication therapy management (MTM) intervention. Design Descriptive analysis of patient medication lists collected via telephone interviews. Participants 10 trained student pharmacists collected the medication lists. Intervention Trained student pharmacists conducted audio-recorded telephone interviews with 80 English-speaking community dwelling older adults using a structured interview tool to collect and document medication lists. Main outcome measures Feasibility was measured using the number of completed interviews, the time student pharmacists took to collect the information, and pharmacist feedback. Fidelity to the interview tool was measured by assessing student pharmacists’ adherence to asking all scripted questions and probes. Accuracy was measured by comparing the audio recorded interviews to the medication list information documented in an electronic medical record. Results On average it took student pharmacists 26.7 minutes to collect the medication lists. The community pharmacist said the medication lists were complete and that having the medication lists saved time and allowed him to focus on assessment, recommendations, and education during the targeted MTM session. Fidelity was high with an overall proportion of asked scripted probes of 83.75% (95%CI: 80.62–86.88%). Accuracy was also high for both prescription (95.1%, 95%CI: 94.3–95.8%) and non-prescription (90.5%, 95%CI: 89.4–91.4%) medications. Conclusion Trained student pharmacists were able to use an interview tool to collect and document medication lists with a high degree of fidelity and accuracy. This study suggests that student pharmacists or trained technicians may be able to collect patient medication

Trained student pharmacists' telephonic collection of patient medication information: Evaluation of a structured interview tool.

Science.gov (United States)

Margolis, Amanda R; Martin, Beth A; Mott, David A

2016-01-01

To determine the feasibility and fidelity of student pharmacists collecting patient medication list information using a structured interview tool and the accuracy of documenting the information. The medication lists were used by a community pharmacist to provide a targeted medication therapy management (MTM) intervention. Descriptive analysis of patient medication lists collected with telephone interviews. Ten trained student pharmacists collected the medication lists. Trained student pharmacists conducted audio-recorded telephone interviews with 80 English-speaking, community-dwelling older adults using a structured interview tool to collect and document medication lists. Feasibility was measured using the number of completed interviews, the time student pharmacists took to collect the information, and pharmacist feedback. Fidelity to the interview tool was measured by assessing student pharmacists' adherence to asking all scripted questions and probes. Accuracy was measured by comparing the audio-recorded interviews to the medication list information documented in an electronic medical record. On average, it took student pharmacists 26.7 minutes to collect the medication lists. The community pharmacist said the medication lists were complete and that having the medication lists saved time and allowed him to focus on assessment, recommendations, and education during the targeted MTM session. Fidelity was high, with an overall proportion of asked scripted probes of 83.75% (95% confidence interval [CI], 80.62-86.88%). Accuracy was also high for both prescription (95.1%; 95% CI, 94.3-95.8%) and nonprescription (90.5%; 95% CI, 89.4-91.4%) medications. Trained student pharmacists were able to use an interview tool to collect and document medication lists with a high degree of fidelity and accuracy. This study suggests that student pharmacists or trained technicians may be able to collect patient medication lists to facilitate MTM sessions in the community pharmacy

Validation of the Telephone Interview of Cognitive Status and Telephone Montreal Cognitive Assessment Against Detailed Cognitive Testing and Clinical Diagnosis of Mild Cognitive Impairment After Stroke.

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Zietemann, Vera; Kopczak, Anna; Müller, Claudia; Wollenweber, Frank Arne; Dichgans, Martin

2017-11-01

Assessment of cognitive status poststroke is recommended by guidelines but follow-up can often not be done in person. The Telephone Interview of Cognitive Status (TICS) and the Telephone Montreal Cognitive Assessment (T-MoCA) are considered useful screening instruments. Yet, evidence to define optimal cut-offs for mild cognitive impairment (MCI) after stroke is limited. We studied 105 patients enrolled in the prospective DEDEMAS study (Determinants of Dementia After Stroke; NCT01334749). Follow-up visits at 6, 12, 36, and 60 months included comprehensive neuropsychological testing and the Clinical Dementia Rating scale, both of which served as reference standards. The original TICS and T-MoCA were obtained in 2 separate telephone interviews each separated from the personal visits by 1 week (1 before and 1 after the visit) with the order of interviews (TICS versus T-MoCA) alternating between subjects. Area under the receiver-operating characteristic curves was determined. Ninety-six patients completed both the face-to-face visits and the 2 interviews. Area under the receiver-operating characteristic curves ranged between 0.76 and 0.83 for TICS and between 0.73 and 0.94 for T-MoCA depending on MCI definition. For multidomain MCI defined by multiple-tests definition derived from comprehensive neuropsychological testing optimal sensitivities and specificities were achieved at cut-offs <36 (TICS) and <18 (T-MoCA). Validity was lower using single-test definition, and cut-offs were higher compared with multiple-test definitions. Using Clinical Dementia Rating as the reference, optimal cut-offs for MCI were <36 (TICS) and approximately 19 (T-MoCA). Both the TICS and T-MoCA are valid screening tools poststroke, particularly for multidomain MCI using multiple-test definition. © 2017 American Heart Association, Inc.

Respondent Cooperation in Telephone Surveys: The Effects of Using Volunteer Interviewers.

Science.gov (United States)

Braverman, Marc T.

1988-01-01

The effects of using volunteer interviewers on respondent cooperation in telephone surveys were studied, using data on 241 interviews, 99 refusals, and 251 non-contacts. A random, national survey on public knowledge of and attitudes toward a county 4-H youth services program indicated respondent cooperation for professional program staff and…

Co-Constructing Family Identities through Young Children's Telephone-Mediated Narrative Exchanges

Science.gov (United States)

Cameron, Catherine Ann; Gillen, Julia

2013-01-01

This article explores telephone interactions between young children and adult family members as contributing insights to the co-construction of identities within both the nuclear and the extended family. The authors deploy methods of linguistic ethnography to enrich the scope of interpreting the data beyond textual analysis. The study's premise…

Rheumatology telephone advice line - experience of a Portuguese department.

Science.gov (United States)

Ferreira, R; Marques, A; Mendes, A; da Silva, J A

2015-01-01

Telephone helplines for patients are tool for information and advice. They can contribute to patient's satisfaction with care and to the effectiveness and safety of treatments. In order to achieve this, they need to be adequately adapted to the target populations, as to incorporate their abilities and expectations. a) Evaluate the adherence of patients to a telephone helpline managed by nurses in a Portuguese Rheumatology Department, b) Analyse the profile of users and their major needs, c) Analyse the management of calls by the nurses. The target population of this phone service are the patients treated at Day Care Hospital and Early Arthritis Clinic of our department. Nurses answered phone calls immediately between 8am and 4pm of working days. In the remaining hours messages were recorded on voice mail and answered as soon as possible. Details of the calls were registered in a dedicated sheet and patients were requested permission to use data to improve the service, with respect for their rights of confidentiality, anonymity and freedom of decision. In 18 months 173 calls were made by 79 patients, with a mean age of 47.9 years (sd=9.13). Considering the proportions of men and women in the target population, it was found that men called more frequently (M= 32.7% vs F= 20.4%, p=.016). The reasons for these calls can be divided into three categories: instrumental help, such as the request for results of complementary tests or rescheduling appointments (43.9% of calls); counselling on side effects or worsening of the disease/pain (31.2 %); counselling on therapy management (24.9%). Neither sex nor patient age were significantly related to these reasons for calling. Nurses resolved autonomously half (50.3%) of the calls and in 79.8% of the cases there was no need for patient referral to other health services. About a quarter of patients adhered to the telephone helpline.. Patients called to obtain support in the management of disease and therapy or to report side

Environmental reduction of mobile telephone base station produced radiation exposures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vermiglio, G.; Tripepi, M.G.; Testagrossa, B.; Sansotta, C.

2006-01-01

In this work the authors discuss about their own proposal about a model to modify how the Wireless Telephone Base Stations (W.T.B.S.) works. The proposal, which was made having in mind the GSM technology, can be applied to all other kind of similar technologies and was pointed out as a different way of working of the W.T.B.S. without any modifications on their distribution over the territory. After a short review of the state of the art about the technology and the basis of wireless telephone base stations, the baselines and the principles of the proposed model are discussed, facing out the most significant parameters obtained from the way W.T.B.S. are working at present towards the proposed one. Then the authors illustrate the possible advantages o f the proposed model in terms of environmental, socials and energy savings aspects. It is the authors opinion that such model can be a simple and no -cost solution to apply to the existing infrastructures; more over it can be of interest either for mobile phone companies or for environmental and/or customers associations. (authors)

Effects of telephone follow-up on blood glucose levels and postpartum screening in mothers with Gestational Diabetes Mellitus.

Science.gov (United States)

Khorshidi Roozbahani, Rezvan; Geranmayeh, Mehrnaz; Hantoushzadeh, Sedigheh; Mehran, Abbas

2015-01-01

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a form of diabetes that occurs in pregnancy. GDM, defined as glucose intolerance, first diagnosed or initiated during pregnancy affects 1-14% of pregnancies based on various studies. Screening and early diagnosis and appropriate glycemic control can improve prenatal outcomes. Telephone follow-up seems to be a reasonable way for pregnant women follow-up. The present study evaluated the effects of telephone follow-up on blood glucose level during pregnancy and postpartum screening. Eighty mothers with GDM were enrolled in this clinical trial and randomly divided into intervention and control groups. All mothers were asked to check their blood sugar levels fivetimes daily. In intervention group, telephone intervention was performed for 10 weeks. In each follow-up, individuals were followed for insulin injections, diet, clinical tests and reminding the next visit. In control group, three times of telephone call was established to record blood sugar levels. Another telephone call was established at 6 weeks of postpartum in both study groups to evaluate the performance of the screening test for blood sugar. The mean age of mothers was 30.9±5 years in the control and 30.7±5.1 years in the intervention groups In intervention group, mean level of blood glucose, 2 hours after lunch at 28 weeks of pregnancy was significantly lower than the control group (Pmothers with gestational diabetes and also increased the rate of postpartum screening test.

When is a research question not a research question?

Science.gov (United States)

Mayo, Nancy E; Asano, Miho; Barbic, Skye Pamela

2013-06-01

Research is undertaken to answer important questions yet often the question is poorly expressed and lacks information on the population, the exposure or intervention, the comparison, and the outcome. An optimal research question sets out what the investigator wants to know, not what the investigator might do, nor what the results of the study might ultimately contribute. The purpose of this paper is to estimate the extent to which rehabilitation scientists optimally define their research questions. A cross-sectional survey of the rehabilitation research articles published during 2008. Two raters independently rated each question according to pre-specified criteria; a third rater adjudicated all discrepant ratings. The proportion of the 258 articles with a question formulated as methods or expected contribution and not as what knowledge was being sought was 65%; 30% of questions required reworking. The designs which most often had poorly formulated research questions were randomized trials, cross-sectional and measurement studies. Formulating the research question is not purely a semantic concern. When the question is poorly formulated, the design, analysis, sample size calculations, and presentation of results may not be optimal. The gap between research and clinical practice could be bridged by a clear, complete, and informative research question.

Is Telephone Review Feasible and Potentially Effective in Low Vision Services?

Science.gov (United States)

Parkes, Claire; Lennon, Julie; Harper, Robert

2013-01-01

Purpose: Demographic transformations within the UK population combine to contribute to a substantial increase in demand for low vision (LV) services, creating a pressing need to reconsider the appropriate methods for service provision. In this study, we evaluate the feasibility of using telephone triage to assess the need for, and timing of, LV…

Implementing a computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI) system to increase colorectal cancer screening: a process evaluation.

Science.gov (United States)

White, Mary Jo; Stark, Jennifer R; Luckmann, Roger; Rosal, Milagros C; Clemow, Lynn; Costanza, Mary E

2006-06-01

Computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) systems used by telephone counselors (TCs) may be efficient mechanisms to counsel patients on cancer and recommended preventive screening tests in order to extend a primary care provider's reach to his/her patients. The implementation process of such a system for promoting colorectal (CRC) cancer screening using a computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI) system is reported in this paper. The process evaluation assessed three components of the intervention: message production, program implementation and audience reception. Of 1181 potentially eligible patients, 1025 (87%) patients were reached by the TCs and 725 of those patients (71%) were eligible to receive counseling. Five hundred eighty-two (80%) patients agreed to counseling. It is feasible to design and use CATI systems for prevention counseling of patients in primary care practices. CATI systems have the potential of being used as a referral service by primary care providers and health care organizations for patient education.

Questions and Questioning Techniques: A View of Indonesian Students’ Preferences

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Debora Tri Ragawanti

2009-01-01

Full Text Available This study investigated students’ preference on teacher’s questions and questionings techniques and more importantly on how they could facilitate or impede their learning. The results on teacher’s questioning techniques showed that random nomination was more preferred than pre-arranged format nomination. In addition, techniques of nominating volunteering students and of giving wait-time were disliked by most student-respondents. As for types of question, the yes/no question was favored by most of the respondents. Different from the yes/no question, the number of respondents leaning forward to the analysis question, questions about fact of life, and questions to state opinion did not show a significant difference from the number of those leaning against the same questions.

Impact of telephone nursing education program for equity in healthcare.

Science.gov (United States)

Höglund, Anna T; Carlsson, Marianne; Holmström, Inger K; Kaminsky, Elenor

2016-09-21

The Swedish Healthcare Act prescribes that healthcare should be provided according to needs and with respect for each person's human dignity. The goal is equity in health for the whole population. In spite of this, studies have revealed that Swedish healthcare is not always provided equally. This has also been observed in telephone nursing. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate if and how an educational intervention can improve awareness of equity in healthcare among telephone nurses. The study had a quasi-experimental design, with one intervention group and one control group. A base-line measurement was performed before an educational intervention and a follow-up measurement was made afterwards in both groups, using a study specific questionnaire in which fictive persons of different age, gender and ethnicity were assessed concerning, e.g., power over one's own life, quality of life and experience of discrimination. The educational intervention consisted of a web-based lecture, literature and a seminar, covering aspects of inequality in healthcare related to gender, age and ethnicity, and gender and intersectionality theories as explaining models for these conditions. The results showed few significant differences before and after the intervention in the intervention group. Also in the control group few significant differences were found in the second measurement, although no intervention was performed in that group. The reason might be that the instrument used was not sensitive enough to pick up an expected raised awareness of equity in healthcare, or that solely the act of filling out the questionnaire can create a sort of intervention effect. Fictive persons born in Sweden and of young age were assessed to have a higher Good life-index than the fictive persons born outside Europe and of higher age in all assessments. The results are an imperative that equity in healthcare still needs to be educated and discussed in different healthcare

Brief telephone interventions for problem gambling: a randomized controlled trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Abbott, Max; Hodgins, David C; Bellringer, Maria; Vandal, Alain C; Palmer Du Preez, Katie; Landon, Jason; Sullivan, Sean; Rodda, Simone; Feigin, Valery

2018-05-01

Problem gambling is a significant public health issue world-wide. There is substantial investment in publicly funded intervention services, but limited evaluation of effectiveness. This study investigated three brief telephone interventions to determine whether they were more effective than standard helpline treatment in helping people to reduce gambling. Randomized clinical trial. National gambling helpline in New Zealand. A total of 462 adults with problem gambling. INTERVENTIONS AND COMPARATOR: (1) Single motivational interview (MI), (2) single motivational interview plus cognitive-behavioural self-help workbook (MI + W) and (3) single motivational interview plus workbook plus four booster follow-up telephone interviews (MI + W + B). Comparator was helpline standard care [treatment as usual (TAU)]. Blinded follow-up was at 3, 6 and 12 months. Primary outcomes were days gambled, dollars lost per day and treatment goal success. There were no differences across treatment arms, although participants showed large reductions in gambling during the 12-month follow-up period [mean reduction of 5.5 days, confidence interval (CI) = 4.8, 6.2; NZ$38 lost ($32, $44; 80.6%), improved (77.2%, 84.0%)]. Subgroup analysis revealed improved days gambled and dollars lost for MI + W + B over MI or MI + W for a goal of reduction of gambling (versus quitting) and improvement in dollars lost by ethnicity, gambling severity and psychological distress (all P gambling severity than TAU or MI at 12 months and also better for those with higher psychological distress and lower self-efficacy to MI (all P gambling in New Zealand, brief telephone interventions are associated with changes in days gambling and dollars lost similar to more intensive interventions, suggesting that more treatment is not necessarily better than less. Some client subgroups, in particular those with greater problem severity and greater distress, achieve better outcomes when they receive more

Alternative Measured-Service Rate Structures for Local Telephone Service,

Science.gov (United States)

1980-06-01

contracts or grants . Views expressed in a Papet are the author’s own, and are not necessarily shared by Rand or its research sponsors. The Rand Corporation...by National Science Foundation, grant DAR 77-16286 to The Rand Corporation. Measuring costs depend strongly on the technology of the telephone network...a Budget Constraint. The Case of the Two-Part Tariff," Review of Economic Studies, July 1974, Vol. 41, pp. 337-345. -28- Oi, W. Y., "A Disneyland

A comparison of nonresponse in mail, telephone, and face-to-face surveys

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hox, J.J.; Leeuw, E.D. de

1994-01-01

This article reports a meta-analysis of 45 studies that explicitly compare the response obtained using a mail, telephone or face-to-face survey. The data analysis uses a generalized hierarchical linear model. Sampling procedure (e.g., local convenience sample, random general sample), saliency of

Sub-cellular mRNA localization modulates the regulation of gene expression by small RNAs in bacteria

Science.gov (United States)

Teimouri, Hamid; Korkmazhan, Elgin; Stavans, Joel; Levine, Erel

2017-10-01

Small non-coding RNAs can exert significant regulatory activity on gene expression in bacteria. In recent years, substantial progress has been made in understanding bacterial gene expression by sRNAs. However, recent findings that demonstrate that families of mRNAs show non-trivial sub-cellular distributions raise the question of how localization may affect the regulatory activity of sRNAs. Here we address this question within a simple mathematical model. We show that the non-uniform spatial distributions of mRNA can alter the threshold-linear response that characterizes sRNAs that act stoichiometrically, and modulate the hierarchy among targets co-regulated by the same sRNA. We also identify conditions where the sub-cellular organization of cofactors in the sRNA pathway can induce spatial heterogeneity on sRNA targets. Our results suggest that under certain conditions, interpretation and modeling of natural and synthetic gene regulatory circuits need to take into account the spatial organization of the transcripts of participating genes.

Telephone-administered cognitive-behavioral therapy for clients with depressive symptoms in an employee assistance program: a pilot study.

Science.gov (United States)

Lam, Raymond W; Lutz, Kevin; Preece, Melady; Cayley, Paula M; Bowen Walker, Anne

2011-02-01

To assess the clinical and work productivity effects of a brief intervention using telephone-administered cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for clients with depressive symptoms attending an employee assistance program (EAP). Self-referred clients attending the PPC Canada EAP with clinically relevant depressive symptoms at initial assessment were offered an 8-session telephone-administered CBT program. Outcomes before and after intervention were assessed with the 9-item Personal Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF), and clinician ratings of work absence and performance impairment. Fifty clients were referred to the pilot program; 39 participated and 31 completed the telephone CBT program. Among program participants, there was significant improvement in PHQ-9 and GAF scores. There was also a significant reduction in performance impairment but not work absence. Anecdotal reports indicated high satisfaction ratings among participants. The results of this pilot study, although limited by the absence of a comparison or control group, suggest that a brief telephone-administered CBT program can improve depressive symptomatology, work productivity, and general function in depressed clients attending an EAP. Further controlled studies are needed to confirm these preliminary findings.

Cellular gravity

NARCIS (Netherlands)

F.C. Gruau; J.T. Tromp (John)

1999-01-01

textabstractWe consider the problem of establishing gravity in cellular automata. In particular, when cellular automata states can be partitioned into empty, particle, and wall types, with the latter enclosing rectangular areas, we desire rules that will make the particles fall down and pile up on

The use of the Modified Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (TICS-M) in the detection of amnestic mild cognitive impairment.

Science.gov (United States)

Cook, Sarah E; Marsiske, Michael; McCoy, Karin J M

2009-06-01

Many screening tools for detecting cognitive decline require in-person assessment, which is often not cost-effective or feasible for those with physical limitations. The Modified Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status has been used for screening dementia, but little is known about its usefulness in detecting amnestic mild cognitive impairment. Community-dwelling participants (mean age=74.9, mean education = 16.1 years) were administered the Modified Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status during initial screening and subsequently given a multidomain neuropsychological battery. Participants were classified by consensus panel as cognitively normal older adult (noMCI, N=54) or amnestic mild cognitive impairment (N=17) based on neuropsychological performance and Clinical Dementia Rating Scale interview, but independent of Modified Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status score. There was a significant difference between groups in Modified Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status score (t=8.04, PTICS-M alone correctly classified 85.9% of participants into their respective diagnostic classification (sensitivity=82.4%, specificity=87.0%). Receiver operating characteristics analysis resulted in cutoff score of 34 that optimized sensitivity and specificity of amnestic mild cognitive impairment classification. The Modified Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status is a brief, cost-effective screening measure for identifying those with and without amnestic mild cognitive impairment.

Is Telephone Screening Feasible? Accuracy and Cost-Effectiveness of Identifying People Medically Eligible for Home- And Community-Based Services.

Science.gov (United States)

Fries, Brant E.; James, Mary; Hammer, Susan S.; Shugarman, Lisa R.; Morris, John N.

2004-01-01

Purpose: To determine the accuracy of a telephone-screening system to identify persons eligible for home- and community-based long-term care. Design and Methods: Data from Michigan telephone screens were compared to data from in-person assessments using the Minimum Data Set for Home Care (MDS-HC). Weighted kappa statistics measured the level of…

Demographic corrections for the modified Telephone Screening for Cognitive Status

OpenAIRE

Dennett, Kathryn; Tometich, Danielle; Duff, Kevin

2013-01-01

Despite the growing use of the modified Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (mTICS) as a cognitive screening instrument, it does not yet have demographic corrections. Demographic data, mTICS, and a neuropsychological battery were collected from 274 community dwelling older adults with intact cognition or mild cognitive impairments. Age, education, premorbid intellect, and depression were correlated with mTICS scores. Using regression equations, age and education significantly predicted m...

Effectiveness of proactive telephone counselling for smoking cessation in parents: Study protocol of a randomized controlled trial

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bricker Jonathan B

2011-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Smoking is the world's fourth most common risk factor for disease, the leading preventable cause of death, and it is associated with tremendous social costs. In the Netherlands, the smoking prevalence rate is high. A total of 27.7% of the population over age 15 years smokes. In addition to the direct advantages of smoking cessation for the smoker, parents who quit smoking may also decrease their children's risk of smoking initiation. Methods/Design A randomized controlled trial will be conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of proactive telephone counselling to increase smoking cessation rates among smoking parents. A total of 512 smoking parents will be proactively recruited through their children's primary schools and randomly assigned to either proactive telephone counselling or a control condition. Proactive telephone counselling will consist of up to seven counsellor-initiated telephone calls (based on cognitive-behavioural skill building and Motivational Interviewing, distributed over a period of three months. Three supplementary brochures will also be provided. In the control condition, parents will receive a standard brochure to aid smoking cessation. Assessments will take place at baseline, three months after start of the intervention (post-measurement, and twelve months after start of the intervention (follow-up measurement. Primary outcome measures will include sustained abstinence between post-measurement and follow-up measurement and 7-day point prevalence abstinence and 24-hours point prevalence abstinence at both post- and follow-up measurement. Several secondary outcome measures will also be included (e.g., smoking intensity, smoking policies at home. In addition, we will evaluate smoking-related cognitions (e.g., attitudes towards smoking, social norms, self-efficacy, intention to smoke in 9-12 year old children of smoking parents. Discussion This study protocol describes the design of a randomized

The thorny path linking cellular senescence to organismalaging

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Patil, Christopher K.; Mian, Saira; Campisi, Judith

2005-08-09

Half a century is fast approaching since Hayflick and colleagues formally described the limited ability of normal human cells to proliferate in culture (Hayflick and Moorhead, 1961). This finding--that normal somatic cells, in contrast to cancer cells, cannot divide indefinitely--challenged the prevailing idea that cells from mortal multicellular organisms were intrinsically ''immortal'' (Carrell, 1912). It also spawned two hypotheses, essential elements of which persist today. The first held that the restricted proliferation of normal cells, now termed cellular senescence, suppresses cancer (Hayflick, 1965; Sager, 1991; Campisi, 2001). The second hypothesis, as explained in the article by Lorenzini et al., suggested that the limited proliferation of cells in culture recapitulated aspects of organismal aging (Hayflick, 1965; Martin, 1993). How well have these hypotheses weathered the ensuing decades? Before answering this question, we first consider current insights into the causes and consequences of cellular senescence. Like Lorenzini et al., we limit our discussion to mammals. We also focus on fibroblasts, the cell type studied by Lorenzini et al., but consider other types as well. We suggest that replicative capacity in culture is not a straightforward assessment, and that it correlates poorly with both longevity and body mass. We speculate this is due to the malleable and variable nature of replicative capacity, which renders it an indirect metric of qualitative and quantitative differences among cells to undergo senescence, a response that directly alters cellular phenotype and might indirectly alter tissue structure and function.

Is the Short Version of the Big Five Inventory (BFI-S Applicable for Use in Telephone Surveys?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Brust Oliver A.

2016-09-01

Full Text Available The inclusion of psychological indicators in survey research has become more common because they offer the possibility of explaining much of the variance in sociological variables. The Big Five personality dimensions in particular are often used to explain opinions, attitudes, and behavior. However, the short versions of the Big Five Inventory (BFI-S were developed for face-to-face surveys. Studies have shown distortions in the identification of the Big Five factor structure in subsamples of older respondents in landline telephone surveys. We applied the same BFI-S but with a shorter rating scale in a telephone survey with two subsamples (landline and mobile phone. Using exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM, we identified the Big Five structure in the subsamples and the age groups. This finding leads us to conclude that the BFI-S is a powerful means of including personality characteristics in telephone surveys.

Question popularity analysis and prediction in community question answering services.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Ting; Zhang, Wei-Nan; Cao, Liujuan; Zhang, Yu

2014-01-01

With the blooming of online social media applications, Community Question Answering (CQA) services have become one of the most important online resources for information and knowledge seekers. A large number of high quality question and answer pairs have been accumulated, which allow users to not only share their knowledge with others, but also interact with each other. Accordingly, volumes of efforts have been taken to explore the questions and answers retrieval in CQA services so as to help users to finding the similar questions or the right answers. However, to our knowledge, less attention has been paid so far to question popularity in CQA. Question popularity can reflect the attention and interest of users. Hence, predicting question popularity can better capture the users' interest so as to improve the users' experience. Meanwhile, it can also promote the development of the community. In this paper, we investigate the problem of predicting question popularity in CQA. We first explore the factors that have impact on question popularity by employing statistical analysis. We then propose a supervised machine learning approach to model these factors for question popularity prediction. The experimental results show that our proposed approach can effectively distinguish the popular questions from unpopular ones in the Yahoo! Answers question and answer repository.

Enhancement of medication recall using medication pictures and lists in telephone interviews.

Science.gov (United States)

Kimmel, Stephen E; Lewis, James D; Jaskowiak, Jane; Kishel, Lori; Hennessy, Sean

2003-01-01

To determine the effect of reading medication lists and providing medication pictures on recall of non-aspirin non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NANSAIDs) during telephone interviews in a case-control study. After a series of indication-specific questions, a list of all available NANSAIDs was read to study participants and a series of pictures was reviewed when available. Recall was defined as enhanced if a participant recalled NANSAID use only after the memory aids. Among the 1484 participants who reported NANSAID use, 94 (6.3%) recalled their NANSAID use only after the memory aids. Several groups demonstrated enhanced recall following the memory aids: men (odds ratio (OR): 1.73; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.11, 2.69), users of non-prescription versus prescription NANSAIDs (OR 2.28; 95% CI: 1.21, 4.30), those using > 2 other medications (OR 1.69; 95% CI: 1.06, 2.69), those who did not have all of their medication containers available during the interview (OR 1.58; 95% CI: 1.03, 2.42) and cases versus controls (OR 1.90; 95% CI: 1.11, 3.28). The reading of medication names with the availability of medication photographs enhanced recall by approximately 6%. The use of this type of memory aid may reduce recall bias in case-control studies that rely on medication recall, depending on the overall prevalence of medication use and the effect size of the drug on the outcome.

Can You Hear Me Now? Assessing Students’ Classroom Communication Preferences via a Telephone Conference Activity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sharon G. Heilmann

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Telephone conference presentation delivery was compared to face-to-face classroom delivery in an undergraduate business course setting to assess whether concern over presenting in front of the class and/or gender impacted presentation mode preference. After completing a classroom exercise, students (n=102 were surveyed and asked to compare delivery methods from two courses, one requiring a telephone conference and the other requiring a face-to-face classroom presentation, in terms of perceived effectiveness, feedback, teamwork, instructor cues, preparation time, and overall comfort. Independent sample t-test results indicated respondents who worried about presenting in front of the class believed the telephone conference format required more attention to verbal presentation quality, and they also worried more about presenting in the telephone conference format than respondents who did not worry about presenting in front of the class. In terms of gender, female respondents indicated more attention to visual aid was required during the teleconference format, believed the teleconference presentation format allowed for the same opportunity for feedback from the instructor as the formal presentation, were more likely to indicate they were concerned about speaking in front of the classroom during formal presentations, and were also more concerned about speaking during the teleconference than male respondents. Overall, results indicated the teleconference activity was perceived to be a practical alternative to the traditional face-to-face delivery method; however, females’ perceptions of discomfort across both delivery formats warrant further study. The views expressed in this paper are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the United States Air Force, Department of Defense, or the United States Government.

Robustness Analysis of Visual Question Answering Models by Basic Questions

KAUST Repository

Huang, Jia-Hong

2017-11-01

Visual Question Answering (VQA) models should have both high robustness and accuracy. Unfortunately, most of the current VQA research only focuses on accuracy because there is a lack of proper methods to measure the robustness of VQA models. There are two main modules in our algorithm. Given a natural language question about an image, the first module takes the question as input and then outputs the ranked basic questions, with similarity scores, of the main given question. The second module takes the main question, image and these basic questions as input and then outputs the text-based answer of the main question about the given image. We claim that a robust VQA model is one, whose performance is not changed much when related basic questions as also made available to it as input. We formulate the basic questions generation problem as a LASSO optimization, and also propose a large scale Basic Question Dataset (BQD) and Rscore (novel robustness measure), for analyzing the robustness of VQA models. We hope our BQD will be used as a benchmark for to evaluate the robustness of VQA models, so as to help the community build more robust and accurate VQA models.

Robustness Analysis of Visual Question Answering Models by Basic Questions

KAUST Repository

Huang, Jia-Hong

2017-01-01

Visual Question Answering (VQA) models should have both high robustness and accuracy. Unfortunately, most of the current VQA research only focuses on accuracy because there is a lack of proper methods to measure the robustness of VQA models. There are two main modules in our algorithm. Given a natural language question about an image, the first module takes the question as input and then outputs the ranked basic questions, with similarity scores, of the main given question. The second module takes the main question, image and these basic questions as input and then outputs the text-based answer of the main question about the given image. We claim that a robust VQA model is one, whose performance is not changed much when related basic questions as also made available to it as input. We formulate the basic questions generation problem as a LASSO optimization, and also propose a large scale Basic Question Dataset (BQD) and Rscore (novel robustness measure), for analyzing the robustness of VQA models. We hope our BQD will be used as a benchmark for to evaluate the robustness of VQA models, so as to help the community build more robust and accurate VQA models.

Two-Year-Old Children Differentiate Test Questions from Genuine Questions

Science.gov (United States)

Grosse, Gerlind; Tomasello, Michael

2012-01-01

Children are frequently confronted with so-called "test questions". While genuine questions are requests for missing information, test questions ask for information obviously already known to the questioner. In this study we explored whether two-year-old children respond differentially to one and the same question used as either a genuine question…

Telephone triage by GPs in out-of-hours primary care in Denmark: a prospective observational study of efficiency and relevance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Huibers, L.; Moth, G.; Carlsen, A.H.; Christensen, M.B.; Vedsted, P.

2016-01-01

BACKGROUND: In the UK, telephone triage in out-of-hours primary care is mostly managed by nurses, whereas GPs perform triage in Denmark. AIM: To describe telephone contacts triaged to face-to-face contacts, GP-assessed relevance, and factors associated with triage to face-to-face contact. DESIGN AND

Demographics and Professional Practices of School Psychologists: A Comparison of NASP Members and Non-NASP School Psychologists by Telephone Survey

Science.gov (United States)

Lewis, Michael F.; Truscott, Stephen D.; Volker, Martin A.

2008-01-01

A national telephone survey was conducted to examine potential differences between National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) members and non-NASP member school psychologists. Identified schools were contacted by telephone and the researchers asked to speak with the school psychologist. A sample of 124 practicing school psychologists was…

Nuclear questions; Le nucleaire en questions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Berg, Eugene

2012-02-15

Civilian and military nuclear questions fill a multitude of publications these days, especially after the Japanese tsunami and the Fukushima disaster. The author analyses some of them and highlights the links between civil and military nuclear industries, the realities of the nuclear cycle and related industrial questions before concluding on the controversial issue of weapons and their proliferation potential

Evaluation of Noise in Hearing Instruments Caused by GSM and DECT Mobile Telephones

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Mie Østergaard; Poulsen, Torben

1996-01-01

The annoyance of noise in hearing instruments caused by electromagnetic interference from Global systems for Mobile Communication (GSM) and Digital European Cordless Telecommunication (DECT) mobile telephones has been subjectively evaluated by test subjects. The influence on speech recognition from...... the GSM and the DECT noises was also determined. The measurements involved seventeen hearing-imparied subjects. The annoyance was tested with GSM and DECT noise, each one mixed with continuous speech, a mall environment noise, or an office environment noise. Speech recognition was tested with the DANTALE...... word material mixed with GSM and DECT noise. The listening tests showed that if the noise level is acceptable so also is speech recognition. The results agree well with an investigation carried out on normal-hearing subjects. If a hearing instrument user is able to use a telephone without annoyance...

Long-term potentiation in the amygdala: a cellular mechanism of fear learning and memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Sigurdsson, Torfi; Doyère, Valérie; Cain, Christopher K; LeDoux, Joseph E

2007-01-01

Much of the research on long-term potentiation (LTP) is motivated by the question of whether changes in synaptic strength similar to LTP underlie learning and memory. Here we discuss findings from studies on fear conditioning, a form of associative learning whose neural circuitry is relatively well understood, that may be particularly suited for addressing this question. We first review the evidence suggesting that fear conditioning is mediated by changes in synaptic strength at sensory inputs to the lateral nucleus of the amygdala. We then discuss several outstanding questions that will be important for future research on the role of synaptic plasticity in fear learning. The results gained from these studies may shed light not only on fear conditioning, but may also help unravel more general cellular mechanisms of learning and memory.

Radiation safety assessment of mobile telephone base stations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mohd Yusof Mohd Ali; Mohd Anuar Majid; Mohd Amirul Nizam

2002-01-01

Mobile telephone is fast getting popular among users and in fact it has become one of the fastest selling electronic products in the world. More base stations are expected to be built to meet such high demands and this has caused great concerned among members of the public, especially those living close to the stations, about the potential harmful health effects of radiofrequency (RF) radiation produced by such facilities. A project was initiated by MINT in early 2000 with aims to assess the radiation levels present in the areas around the base stations and to establish baseline data on the pattern and trend of the radiation emission from each different set up of the facilities. This paper highlights some basics facts about mobile telephones and preliminary findings of the project. The assessment has been carried out at 16 base station sites and the results indicate that the radiation levels present around these sites are very low. Their broadband readings vary between below the detection limit of 0.3μWatts/cm 2 to 11 μWatts/cm 2 and they are comparable to normal background radiation present in places away from any base stations. The highest level observed was 1.5% of the exposure limit recommended for members of the public. However, locations at close distance in front of the the antenna can be very serious in term of radiation exposure since the radiation level here can easily exceed the permissible exposure limit for public. Safety precaution needs to be taken when entering these areas and they should be out of bound for members of the public. (Author)

Virtual Acoustic Displays for Teleconferencing: Intelligibility Advantage for "Telephone Grade" Audio

Science.gov (United States)

Begault, Durand R.; Null, Cynthia H. (Technical Monitor)

1994-01-01

Speech intelligibility was evaluated using a virtual acoustic ("3-D audio") display using the method specified by ANSI. Ten subjects were evaluated with stimuli either unfiltered or low-pass filtered at 4 kHz. Results show virtual acoustic techniques are advantageous for both full-bandwidth (44.1 kHz srate) and low (8 kHz srate) bandwidth "telephone-grade" teleconferencing systems.

Cellular MR Imaging

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michel Modo

2005-07-01

Full Text Available Cellular MR imaging is a young field that aims to visualize targeted cells in living organisms. In order to provide a different signal intensity of the targeted cell, they are either labeled with MR contrast agents in vivo or prelabeled in vitro. Either (ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxide [(USPIO] particles or (polymeric paramagnetic chelates can be used for this purpose. For in vivo cellular labeling, Gd3+- and Mn2+- chelates have mainly been used for targeted hepatobiliary imaging, and (USPIO-based cellular imaging has been focused on imaging of macrophage activity. Several of these magneto-pharmaceuticals have been FDA-approved or are in late-phase clinical trials. As for prelabeling of cells in vitro, a challenge has been to induce a sufficient uptake of contrast agents into nonphagocytic cells, without affecting normal cellular function. It appears that this issue has now largely been resolved, leading to an active research on monitoring the cellular biodistribution in vivo following transplantation or transfusion of these cells, including cell migration and trafficking. New applications of cellular MR imaging will be directed, for instance, towards our understanding of hematopoietic (immune cell trafficking and of novel guided (stem cell-based therapies aimed to be translated to the clinic in the future.

The optimal density of cellular solids in axial tension.

Science.gov (United States)

Mihai, L Angela; Alayyash, Khulud; Wyatt, Hayley

2017-05-01

For cellular bodies with uniform cell size, wall thickness, and shape, an important question is whether the same volume of material has the same effect when arranged as many small cells or as fewer large cells. To answer this question, for finite element models of periodic structures of Mooney-type material with different structural geometry and subject to large strain deformations, we identify a nonlinear elastic modulus as the ratio between the mean effective stress and the mean effective strain in the solid cell walls, and show that this modulus increases when the thickness of the walls increases, as well as when the number of cells increases while the volume of solid material remains fixed. Since, under the specified conditions, this nonlinear elastic modulus increases also as the corresponding mean stress increases, either the mean modulus or the mean stress can be employed as indicator when the optimum wall thickness or number of cells is sought.

Counselor competence for telephone Motivation Interviewing addressing lifestyle change among Dutch older adults

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mesters, I.; Keulen, H.M. van; Vries, H. de; Brug, J.

2017-01-01

Counselor competence in telephone Motivation Interviewing (MI) to change lifestyle behaviors in a primary care population was assessed using the Motivational Interviewing Treatment Integrity (MITI) rating system. Counselor behavior was evaluated by trained raters. Twenty minutes of a random sample

Investigating the validity and usability of an interactive computer programme for assessing competence in telephone-based mental health triage.

Science.gov (United States)

Sands, Natisha; Elsom, Stephen; Keppich-Arnold, Sandra; Henderson, Kathryn; King, Peter; Bourke-Finn, Karen; Brunning, Debra

2016-02-01

Telephone-based mental health triage services are frontline health-care providers that operate 24/7 to facilitate access to psychiatric assessment and intervention for people requiring assistance with a mental health problem. The mental health triage clinical role is complex, and the populations triage serves are typically high risk; yet to date, no evidence-based methods have been available to assess clinician competence to practice telephone-based mental health triage. The present study reports the findings of a study that investigated the validity and usability of the Mental Health Triage Competency Assessment Tool, an evidence-based, interactive computer programme designed to assist clinicians in developing and assessing competence to practice telephone-based mental health triage. © 2015 Australian College of Mental Health Nurses Inc.

Programmable cellular arrays. Faults testing and correcting in cellular arrays

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cercel, L.

1978-03-01

A review of some recent researches about programmable cellular arrays in computing and digital processing of information systems is presented, and includes both combinational and sequential arrays, with full arbitrary behaviour, or which can realize better implementations of specialized blocks as: arithmetic units, counters, comparators, control systems, memory blocks, etc. Also, the paper presents applications of cellular arrays in microprogramming, in implementing of a specialized computer for matrix operations, in modeling of universal computing systems. The last section deals with problems of fault testing and correcting in cellular arrays. (author)

Telephone screening tests for functionally impaired hearing: current use in seven countries and development of a US version.

Science.gov (United States)

Watson, Charles S; Kidd, Gary R; Miller, James D; Smits, Cas; Humes, Larry E

2012-01-01

An estimated 36 million US citizens have impaired hearing, but nearly half of them have never had a hearing test. As noted by a recent National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIH/NIDCD) Working Group, "In the United States (in contrast to many other nations) there are no readily accessible low cost hearing screening programs…" (Donahue et al, 2010, p. 2). Since 2004, telephone administered screening tests utilizing three-digit sequences presented in noise have been developed, validated, and implemented in seven countries. Each of these tests has been based on a test protocol conceived by Smits and colleagues in The Netherlands. Investigators from Communication Disorders Technology, Inc., Indiana University, and VU University Medical Center of Amsterdam agreed to collaborate in the development and validation of a screening test for hearing impairment suitable for delivery over the telephone, for use in the United States. This test, utilizing spoken three-digit sequences (triplets), was to be based on the design of Smits and his colleagues. A version of the digits-in-noise test was developed utilizing digit triplets spoken in Middle American dialect. The stimuli were individually adjusted to speech-to-noise ratio (SNR) values yielding 50% correct identification, on the basis of data collected from a group of 10 young adult listeners with normal hearing. A final set of 64 homogeneous stimuli were selected from an original 160 recorded triplets. Each test consisted of a series of 40 triplets drawn at random, presented in a noise background. The SNR threshold for 50% correct identification of the triplets was determined by a one-down, one-up adaptive procedure. The test was implemented by telephone, and administered to listeners with varying levels of hearing impairment. The listeners were then evaluated with pure-tone tests and other audiometric measures as clinically appropriate. Ninety participants included 72

Remote Capture of Human Voice Acoustical Data by Telephone: A Methods Study

Science.gov (United States)

Cannizzaro, Michael S.; Reilly, Nicole; Mundt, James C.; Snyder, Peter J.

2005-01-01

In this pilot study we sought to determine the reliability and validity of collecting speech and voice acoustical data via telephone transmission for possible future use in large clinical trials. Simultaneous recordings of each participant's speech and voice were made at the point of participation, the local recording (LR), and over a telephone…

Rehabilitation after THR: Telephone interview and individual support versus visits in outpatient clinic

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hørdam, Britta

2011-01-01

. Participating patients were allocated to a control group or an intervention group after discharge. The intervention group had telephone-interviews and individual counseling 2 and 8 months after THR, and the control group had conventional visit in outpatient clinic 3 months after THR. Outcome: Patients......Results from a RCT carried out from 2006 to 2007 including 180 patients aged 65 years and over based on patients´ self-rated health and by using telephone interviews and individual counseling as intervention 2 and 10 weeks after discharge had a significant improvement in patients´ self-rated health...... by using SF-36 scores within 3 months after surgery, whereas the control group had improvement after 9 months. Both groups had SF-36 filled out preoperatively and 3, 6 and 9 months after THR. In a new study a sub group was identified by having a reduction in general health during 12 months postoperatively...

Can multiple-choice questions simulate free-response questions?

OpenAIRE

Lin, Shih-Yin; Singh, Chandralekha

2016-01-01

We discuss a study to evaluate the extent to which free-response questions could be approximated by multiple-choice equivalents. Two carefully designed research-based multiple-choice questions were transformed into a free-response format and administered on the final exam in a calculus-based introductory physics course. The original multiple-choice questions were administered in another similar introductory physics course on final exam. Findings suggest that carefully designed multiple-choice...

Impact of telephone nursing education program for equity in healthcare

OpenAIRE

H?glund, Anna T.; Carlsson, Marianne; Holmstr?m, Inger K.; Kaminsky, Elenor

2016-01-01

Background The Swedish Healthcare Act prescribes that healthcare should be provided according to needs and with respect for each person?s human dignity. The goal is equity in health for the whole population. In spite of this, studies have revealed that Swedish healthcare is not always provided equally. This has also been observed in telephone nursing. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate if and how an educational intervention can improve awareness of equity in healthcare...

47 CFR 22.970 - Unacceptable interference to part 90 non-cellular 800 MHz licensees from cellular radiotelephone...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

...-cellular 800 MHz licensees from cellular radiotelephone or part 90-800 MHz cellular systems. 22.970 Section... MOBILE SERVICES Cellular Radiotelephone Service § 22.970 Unacceptable interference to part 90 non-cellular 800 MHz licensees from cellular radiotelephone or part 90-800 MHz cellular systems. (a) Definition...

情報化社会と教育II : 電話というメディアとメッセージ

OpenAIRE

鬢櫛, 久美子; Kumiko, Bingushi; 名古屋柳城短期大学; Nagoya Ryujo (St. Mary's) College

2003-01-01

This paper surveyed the development and spread of telephone as personal media, examined a specific characteristic of communication using telephone and its influence on the user's communication. When Alexander Graham Bell invented telephone 1876, he didn't consider the telephone only as a toll to communicate with person to person. But the telephone developed as a personal communication toll, today the personal media evolved from telephone to cellular phone. It is suggested that we desire to co...

Heterogeneous cellular networks

CERN Document Server

Hu, Rose Qingyang

2013-01-01

A timely publication providing coverage of radio resource management, mobility management and standardization in heterogeneous cellular networks The topic of heterogeneous cellular networks has gained momentum in industry and the research community, attracting the attention of standardization bodies such as 3GPP LTE and IEEE 802.16j, whose objectives are looking into increasing the capacity and coverage of the cellular networks. This book focuses on recent progresses,  covering the related topics including scenarios of heterogeneous network deployment, interference management i

Validity of Telephone versus Face-to-Face Interviews in the Assessment of Bread Consumption Pattern

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Morteza Abdollahi

2015-02-01

Full Text Available Background and Objective: There are different methods to assess dietary intake in the community. Accurate and appropriate methods, rather than costly and time-consuming ones, are good alternatives to assess dietary intake. The aim of this study was to analyze the validity of telephone and face-to-face interviews, in determination of bread-consumption pattern. Material and Methods: A randomized and stratified multi-stage sampling method was used to select 2312 participating households within the Tehran metropolitan area. The study (research was carried out in two individual and household levels, using 24 hours recall and purchase frequency questionnaire. The same 24 hour recall and purchase frequency questionnaires were used at both individual and household level.Results: At household and individual level, the correlation coefficients between the two methods were 0.64 and 0.60, respectively (p<0.001. Mean difference of intake of bread between the methods at individual level was 16-21 g/day and at household level was 3-4 g/person/day, statistically not significant.Conclusion: Our findings suggest that a telephone survey can provide a reliable estimation of actual bread intake at both individual and household level. This method is important considering its cost and needed time.Keywords: face to face interview, telephone interview, bread consumption pattern

Predicting Outcome of Face-to-Face and Telephone Counselling for Occupational Stress

Science.gov (United States)

Karatzias, Thanos; Chouliara, Zoe; Power, Kevin; Kilfedder, Catherine

2011-01-01

The aim of the present study was to investigate predictors of outcome of counselling, using mean change scores of three outcome measures, at treatment completion and at 4-months follow-up, in a randomised trial of face-to-face (n = 30) versus telephone counselling (n = 30) for occupational stress. Factors associated with treatment outcome were…

Four Questions

Science.gov (United States)

Hark-Weber, Amara G., Ed.

2013-01-01

The author is pleased to introduce a new section in "TAJ," Four Questions. The structure is simple: four questions are asked to teaching artists working in various media and locations. The questions are always the same, but because each teaching artist's approach is unique, their answers will provide an insight into particular methodologies that…

Nursing intervention by telephone interviews of patients aged over 65 years after total hip replacement improves health status: a randomised clinical trial Nursing intervention by telephone interviews of patients aged over 65 years after total hip replacement improves health status: a randomised

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hørdam, Britta

2010-01-01

and over by using telephone support and counselling 2 and 10 weeks after surgery compared with a control group receiving conventional care and treatment. Design: A randomised clinical trial focusing on patients' health status by using short-form 36 at 4 weeks preoperatively and 3 and 9 months...... postoperatively was carried out. Sample: 180 patients aged 65 years and over were randomised 4 weeks preoperatively to either control or intervention groups. Measurements: both groups received conventional surgical treatment, but the intervention group was interviewed by telephone 2 and 10 weeks after surgery......Nursing intervention by telephone interviews of patients aged over 65 years after total hip replacement improves health status: a randomised clinical trial Objective: We hypothesised that all areas of health status after total hip replacement could be improved in patients aged over 65 years...

47 CFR 22.909 - Cellular markets.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 2 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Cellular markets. 22.909 Section 22.909... Cellular Radiotelephone Service § 22.909 Cellular markets. Cellular markets are standard geographic areas used by the FCC for administrative convenience in the licensing of cellular systems. Cellular markets...

Base Station Ordering for Emergency Call Localization in Ultra-dense Cellular Networks

KAUST Repository

Elsawy, Hesham

2017-10-04

This paper proposes the base station ordering localization technique (BoLT) for emergency call localization in cellular networks. Exploiting the foreseen ultra-densification of the next-generation (5G and beyond) cellular networks, we utilize higher-order Voronoi tessellations to provide ubiquitous localization services that are in compliance to the public safety standards in cellular networks. The proposed localization algorithm runs at the base stations (BSs) and requires minimal operation from agents (i.e., mobile users). Particularly, BoLT requires each agent to feedback a neighbor cell list (NCL) that contains the order of neighboring BSs based on the received signal power in the pilots sent from these BSs. Moreover, this paper utilizes stochastic geometry to develop a tractable mathematical model to assess the performance of BoLT in a general network setting. The goal of this paper is to answer the following two fundamental questions: i) how many BSs should be ordered and reported by the agent to achieve a desirable localization accuracy? and ii) what is the localization error probability given that the pilot signals are subject to shadowing? Assuming that the BSs are deployed according to a Poisson point process (PPP), we answer these two questions via characterizing the tradeoff between the area of location region (ALR) and the localization error probability in terms of the number of BSs ordered by the agent. The results show that reporting the order of six neighboring BSs is sufficient to localize the agent within 10% of the cell area. Increasing the number of reported BSs to ten confines the location region to 1% of the cell area. This would translate to the range of a few meters to decimeters in the foreseen ultra-dense 5G networks.

Base Station Ordering for Emergency Call Localization in Ultra-dense Cellular Networks

KAUST Repository

Elsawy, Hesham; Dai, Wenhan; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim; Win, Moe Z.

2017-01-01

This paper proposes the base station ordering localization technique (BoLT) for emergency call localization in cellular networks. Exploiting the foreseen ultra-densification of the next-generation (5G and beyond) cellular networks, we utilize higher-order Voronoi tessellations to provide ubiquitous localization services that are in compliance to the public safety standards in cellular networks. The proposed localization algorithm runs at the base stations (BSs) and requires minimal operation from agents (i.e., mobile users). Particularly, BoLT requires each agent to feedback a neighbor cell list (NCL) that contains the order of neighboring BSs based on the received signal power in the pilots sent from these BSs. Moreover, this paper utilizes stochastic geometry to develop a tractable mathematical model to assess the performance of BoLT in a general network setting. The goal of this paper is to answer the following two fundamental questions: i) how many BSs should be ordered and reported by the agent to achieve a desirable localization accuracy? and ii) what is the localization error probability given that the pilot signals are subject to shadowing? Assuming that the BSs are deployed according to a Poisson point process (PPP), we answer these two questions via characterizing the tradeoff between the area of location region (ALR) and the localization error probability in terms of the number of BSs ordered by the agent. The results show that reporting the order of six neighboring BSs is sufficient to localize the agent within 10% of the cell area. Increasing the number of reported BSs to ten confines the location region to 1% of the cell area. This would translate to the range of a few meters to decimeters in the foreseen ultra-dense 5G networks.

Telefoneren in de auto en verkeersveiligheid : literatuurstudie. In opdracht van het Directoraat-Generaal Rijkswaterstaat, Adviesdienst Verkeer en Vervoer AVV.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Oei, H.-l.

1998-01-01

This report discusses the existing literature concerning the effect of telephoning while driving on road safety. Telephone use in the car has increased dramatically in the Netherlands in recent years. The telecom industry expects that by the end of the year 2000, four million cellular telephones

Initial fieldwork for LWAZI: a telephone-based spoken dialog system for rural South Africa

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Gumede, T

2009-03-01

Full Text Available government information and services. Our interviews, focus group discussions and surveys revealed that Lwazi, a telephone-based spoken dialog system, could greatly support current South African government efforts to effectively connect citizens to available...

Closure of the telephone switchboard at 5 p.m. on 20 December

CERN Multimedia

Communications Support Section

2013-01-01

Exceptionally, the telephone switchboard will close at 5 p.m. on Friday 20 December, instead of 6 p.m. (usual time), to allow time for all systems to be properly closed before the annual closure.   Therefore, switchboard operator assistance to transfer calls from/to external lines will cease. All other phone services will run as usual.

Towards a 21st century telephone exchange at CERN

CERN Document Server

AUTHOR|(SzGeCERN)745509; Hesnaux, Anthony Gerard; Sierra, Rodrigo; Chapron, Frederic; CERN. Geneva. IT Department

2015-01-01

The advent of mobile telephony and Voice over IP (VoIP) has significantly impacted the traditional telephone exchange industry—to such an extent that private branch exchanges are likely to disappear completely in the near future. For large organisations, such as CERN, it is important to be able to smooth this transition by implementing new multimedia platforms that can protect past investments and the flexibility needed to securely interconnect emerging VoIP solutions and forthcoming developments such as Voice over LTE (VoLTE). We present the results of ongoing studies and tests at CERN of the latest technologies in this area.

Phrasal Paraphrase Based Question Reformulation for Archived Question Retrieval.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yu Zhang

Full Text Available Lexical gap in cQA search, resulted by the variability of languages, has been recognized as an important and widespread phenomenon. To address the problem, this paper presents a question reformulation scheme to enhance the question retrieval model by fully exploring the intelligence of paraphrase in phrase-level. It compensates for the existing paraphrasing research in a suitable granularity, which either falls into fine-grained lexical-level or coarse-grained sentence-level. Given a question in natural language, our scheme first detects the involved key-phrases by jointly integrating the corpus-dependent knowledge and question-aware cues. Next, it automatically extracts the paraphrases for each identified key-phrase utilizing multiple online translation engines, and then selects the most relevant reformulations from a large group of question rewrites, which is formed by full permutation and combination of the generated paraphrases. Extensive evaluations on a real world data set demonstrate that our model is able to characterize the complex questions and achieves promising performance as compared to the state-of-the-art methods.

78 FR 14701 - Misuse of Internet Protocol (IP) Captioned Telephone Service; Telecommunications Relay Services...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-03-07

...] Misuse of Internet Protocol (IP) Captioned Telephone Service; Telecommunications Relay Services and..., the information collection associated with the Commission's Misuse of Internet Protocol (IP) Captioned...- 2235075, or email [email protected] . SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This document announces that, on...

The communications industry's requirements and interests. [thunderstorm and lightning data useful to telephone operating companies

Science.gov (United States)

Wanaselja, O.

1979-01-01

Of interest to the communications industry are the amplitude, waveshape, duration and frequency of lightning-originated voltage surges and transients on the communications network, including the distribution system and AC power supply circuits. The cloud-to-ground lightning discharge and its characteristics are thought to be most meaningful. Of specific interest are peak current, waveshape, number of flashes, strokes per flash, and zone of influence. Accurate and meaningful lightning data at the local level (telephone district office) is necessary for a decision on the appropriate protection level. In addition to lightning, the protection engineer must consider other factors such as: AC induction, switching surges, ground potential rise, soil resistivity, bonding and grounding techniques, shielding and isolation, and exposure of the telephone loop.

Opinion evolution based on cellular automata rules in small world networks

Science.gov (United States)

Shi, Xiao-Ming; Shi, Lun; Zhang, Jie-Fang

2010-03-01

In this paper, we apply cellular automata rules, which can be given by a truth table, to human memory. We design each memory as a tracking survey mode that keeps the most recent three opinions. Each cellular automata rule, as a personal mechanism, gives the final ruling in one time period based on the data stored in one's memory. The key focus of the paper is to research the evolution of people's attitudes to the same question. Based on a great deal of empirical observations from computer simulations, all the rules can be classified into 20 groups. We highlight the fact that the phenomenon shown by some rules belonging to the same group will be altered within several steps by other rules in different groups. It is truly amazing that, compared with the last hundreds of presidential voting in America, the eras of important events in America's history coincide with the simulation results obtained by our model.

Governing Practices of Cable Television and Its Relationship to the Telephone Common Carriers.

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, David Martin

This dissertation examines the legislative, economic, political, and technological influences that have governed cable television (CATV) during the years of its existence. Separate chapters deal with the beginnings of CATV, the economics of CATV, the problems incurred in CATV franchising, and the relationship of CATV to the telephone common…

Biomechanics of cellular solids.

Science.gov (United States)

Gibson, Lorna J

2005-03-01

Materials with a cellular structure are widespread in nature and include wood, cork, plant parenchyma and trabecular bone. Natural cellular materials are often mechanically efficient: the honeycomb-like microstructure of wood, for instance, gives it an exceptionally high performance index for resisting bending and buckling. Here we review the mechanics of a wide range of natural cellular materials and examine their role in lightweight natural sandwich structures (e.g. iris leaves) and natural tubular structures (e.g. plant stems or animal quills). We also describe two examples of engineered biomaterials with a cellular structure, designed to replace or regenerate tissue in the body.

Telephone-based physical activity counseling for major depression in people with multiple sclerosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Bombardier, Charles H; Ehde, Dawn M; Gibbons, Laura E; Wadhwani, Roini; Sullivan, Mark D; Rosenberg, Dori E; Kraft, George H

2013-02-01

Physical activity represents a promising treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD) in people with multiple sclerosis (MS). We conducted a single-blind, two-arm randomized controlled trial comparing a 12-week physical activity counseling intervention delivered primarily by telephone (n = 44) to a wait-list control group (N = 48). Ninety-two adults with MS and MDD or dysthymia (M(age) = 48 years; 86% female, 92% White) completed an in-person baseline assessment and were randomized to wait-list control or an intervention involving motivational-interviewing-based promotion of physical activity. The treatment group received an initial in-person session; 7 telephone counseling sessions (Weeks 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, and 10), and an in-person session at Week 12. The primary outcome, treatment response, was defined as those with 50% or greater reduction in the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D) score. Our primary hypothesis, that the proportion of responders in the treatment group would be significantly greater than in the control group, was not confirmed. However, compared with the control group, those in the treatment group evidenced significantly lower depression severity on the HAM-D, on self-reported depression, and on a measure of potential side effects and at 12 weeks were less likely to meet the criteria for MDD as set forth in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.). Physical activity increased significantly more in the treatment condition, though it did not mediate improvement in depression severity. Telephone-based physical activity promotion represents a promising approach to treating MDD in MS. Further research is warranted on ways to bolster the impact of the intervention and on mediators of the treatment effect.

The Determinants of the Global Mobile Telephone Deployment: An Empirical Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sheikh Taher ABU

2010-01-01

Full Text Available This study aims to analyze the global mobile phones by examining the instruments stimulating the diffusion pattern. A rigorous demand model is estimated using global mobile telecommu-nications panel dataset comprised with 51 countries classified in order to World Bank income categories from 1990-2007. In particular, the paper examines what factors contribute the most to the deployment of global mobile telephones. To construct an econometric model, the number of subscribers to mobile phone per 100 inhabitants is taken as dependent variable, while the following groups of variables (1 GDP per capita income and charges, (2 competition policies (3 telecom infrastructure (4 technological innovations (5 others are selected as independent variables. Estimation results report the presence of substantial disparity among groups. Additionally GDP per capita income and own-price elasticity comprised with call rate, subscription charges, are reported. The analysis of impulse responses for price, competition policies, and technological innovations such as digitalization of mobile network, mobile network coverage indicates that substantial mobile telephone growth is yet to be realized especially in developing countries. A new and important empirical finding is that there are still many opportunities available for mobile phone development in the world pro-poor nations by providing better telecom infrastructure.

78 FR 8032 - Misuse of Internet Protocol (IP) Captioned Telephone Service; Telecommunications Relay Services...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-02-05

... providers to ensure that equipment and software used in conjunction with their service have a default...] Misuse of Internet Protocol (IP) Captioned Telephone Service; Telecommunications Relay Services and Speech-to-Speech Services for Individuals With Hearing and Speech Disabilities AGENCY: Federal...

Cellular Reflectarray Antenna

Science.gov (United States)

Romanofsky, Robert R.

2010-01-01

The cellular reflectarray antenna is intended to replace conventional parabolic reflectors that must be physically aligned with a particular satellite in geostationary orbit. These arrays are designed for specified geographical locations, defined by latitude and longitude, each called a "cell." A particular cell occupies nominally 1,500 square miles (3,885 sq. km), but this varies according to latitude and longitude. The cellular reflectarray antenna designed for a particular cell is simply positioned to align with magnetic North, and the antenna surface is level (parallel to the ground). A given cellular reflectarray antenna will not operate in any other cell.

A telephonic intervention for promoting occupational re-integration in work-disabled individuals with musculoskeletal pain.

Science.gov (United States)

Sullivan, Michael J L; Simon, Gregory

2012-06-01

The purpose of the present research was to examine the feasibility of a telephonic occupational rehabilitation program. A sample of 23 individuals with chronic musculoskeletal pain was enrolled in the telephonic version of the Progressive Goal Attainment Program (PGAP-Tel). The PGAP-Tel is a risk-targeted intervention designed to reduce pain-related disability consequent to musculoskeletal injury. Treatment outcomes of PGAP-Tel were compared to a group of individuals with chronic musculoskeletal pain, who participated in the face-to-face format of the PGAP. Results showed that PGAP-Tel was acceptable to the majority of participants (76%) to whom it was offered. There were indications that engagement and adherence issues were more problematic in PGAP-Tel than in the face-to-face intervention. Both groups showed comparable reductions in pain, depression, fear of symptom exacerbation, and self-reported disability. Participants in the face-to-face intervention showed greater reduction in catastrophic thinking than participants in PGAP-Tel. Finally, 26% of participants in PGAP-Tel had resumed some form of employment at treatment termination compared to 56% of the participants in the face-to-face intervention. Given the low cost of the PGAP-Tel intervention and the accessibility advantages of a telephonic delivery, this type of intervention might be an important resource for targeting occupational disability in rural or remote communities when face-to-face services are not available.

Telephone-Based Physical Activity Counseling for Major Depression in People with Multiple Sclerosis

Science.gov (United States)

Bombardier, Charles H.; Ehde, Dawn M.; Gibbons, Laura E.; Wadhwani, Roini; Sullivan, Mark D.; Rosenberg, Dori E.; Kraft, George H.

2013-01-01

Objective: Physical activity represents a promising treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD) in people with multiple sclerosis (MS). We conducted a single-blind, two-arm randomized controlled trial comparing a 12-week physical activity counseling intervention delivered primarily by telephone (n = 44) to a wait-list control group (N = 48).…

The Impact of Computer and Communications Technology on Recruiter Productivity and Quality of Life

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Blackstone, Tanja

2003-01-01

... connections, cellular telephones, and second telephone lines into their residences. A control group within a similar recruiting environment, without these tools, would provide a basis for comparison against the test group...

Linearizable cellular automata

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nobe, Atsushi; Yura, Fumitaka

2007-01-01

The initial value problem for a class of reversible elementary cellular automata with periodic boundaries is reduced to an initial-boundary value problem for a class of linear systems on a finite commutative ring Z 2 . Moreover, a family of such linearizable cellular automata is given

Electromagnetic cellular interactions.

Science.gov (United States)

Cifra, Michal; Fields, Jeremy Z; Farhadi, Ashkan

2011-05-01

Chemical and electrical interaction within and between cells is well established. Just the opposite is true about cellular interactions via other physical fields. The most probable candidate for an other form of cellular interaction is the electromagnetic field. We review theories and experiments on how cells can generate and detect electromagnetic fields generally, and if the cell-generated electromagnetic field can mediate cellular interactions. We do not limit here ourselves to specialized electro-excitable cells. Rather we describe physical processes that are of a more general nature and probably present in almost every type of living cell. The spectral range included is broad; from kHz to the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum. We show that there is a rather large number of theories on how cells can generate and detect electromagnetic fields and discuss experimental evidence on electromagnetic cellular interactions in the modern scientific literature. Although small, it is continuously accumulating. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Justice on the line? A comparison of telephone and face-to-face \\ud advice in social welfare legal aid

OpenAIRE

Burton, Marie

2018-01-01

This paper investigates the impact on legal advice of the major shift to telephone-only services in social welfare legal aid, which took place in April 2013. An empirical study comparing telephone and face-to-face advice reveals that face-to-face contact has considerable advantages in the advice interview. Based on interviews and observations with housing law clients, their lawyers and advisers, the findings of this qualitative study demonstrate that clients and lawyers often find it easier t...

The Impact of Specialized Telephonic Guides on Employee Engagement in Corporate Well-Being Programs.

Science.gov (United States)

Boerger, Nicholas L; Barleen, Nathan A; Marzec, Mary L; Moloney, Daniel P; Dobro, Jeff

2018-02-01

Employer-sponsored well-being programs have been growing in popularity as a means to control rising health care costs and increase workplace productivity. Engagement by employees is necessary for these programs to achieve their desired effects. Extrinsic motivators in the form of incentives and surcharges are commonly introduced by employer program sponsors to promote meaningful engagement. Although these may be successful in achieving a degree of engagement, individuals benefit by being intrinsically motivated as they modify behaviors and improve short- and long-term well-being. Telephonic guides equipped with motivational interviewing and other behavioral strategies to improve engagement may bridge the gap between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. The objectives of this study are to determine characteristics associated with employee utilization of these guides when offered and to compare subsequent program engagement rates between utilizers to a propensity score matched group of employees who were not offered the service. The data were retrieved from a well-being program provider's database. The study examined 166,258 employees across 35 employers. It found utilizers were older, proportionally more female, in the manufacturing industry, incented to use the guide service, offered a larger incentive for program participation, had healthier self-reported behaviors, and had a higher perception of their employer's focus on well-being. The study found that guide utilizers were significantly more likely to engage in telephonic coaching, digital coaching, and activity tracking up to 6 months. The study's findings suggest telephonic guides using a range of behavioral techniques are an effective strategy to drive well-being program engagement.

Telephone audit for monitoring stroke unit facilities: a post hoc analysis from PROSIT study.

Science.gov (United States)

Candelise, Livia; Gattinoni, Monica; Bersano, Anna

2015-01-01

Although several valid approaches exist to measure the number and the quality of acute stroke units, only few studies tested their reliability. This study is aimed at establishing whether the telephone administration of the PROject of Stroke unIt ITaly (PROSIT) audit questionnaire is reliable compared with direct face-to-face interview. Forty-three medical leaders in charge of in-hospital stroke services were interviewed twice using the same PROSIT questionnaire with 2 different modalities. First, the interviewers approached the medical leaders by telephone. Thereafter, they went to the hospital site and performed a direct face-to-face interview. Six independent couples of trained researchers conducted the audit interviews. The degree of intermodality agreement was measured with kappa statistic. We found a perfect agreement for stroke units identification between the 2 different audit modalities (K = 1.00; standard error [SE], 1.525). The agreement was also very good for stroke dedicated beds (K = 1.00; SE, 1.525) and dedicated personnel (K = 1.00; SE, 1.525), which are the 2 components of stroke unit definition. The agreement was lower for declared in use process of care and availability of diagnostic investigations. The telephone audit can be used for monitoring stroke unit structures. It is more rapid, less expensive, and can repeatedly be used at appropriate intervals. However, a reliable description of the process of care and diagnostic investigations indicators should be obtained by either local site audit visit or prospective stroke register based on individual patient data. Copyright © 2015 National Stroke Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Risk and protection factors for chronic non communicable diseases by telephone survey--VIGITEL-2009.

Science.gov (United States)

Iser, Betine Pinto Moehlecke; Claro, Rafael Moreira; de Moura, Erly Catarina; Malta, Deborah Carvalho; Morais Neto, Otaliba Libânio

2011-09-01

To describe the risk and protection factors for non communicable diseases with data from Telephone-based Surveillance of Risk and Protective Factors for Chronic Diseases (VIGITEL) in 2009. The prevalence of main risk and protective factors was estimated in adults (>18 years old), by telephone surveys in a probabilistic sample of the population covered by landline telephones in Brazilian state capitals and the Federal District, stratified by gender, age and schooling. Data from 54,367 adults were collected. Smokers and former smokers represented 15.5 and 22% of Brazilian adults, respectively. Excess weight affected 46.6% of adults; 33% reported the consumption of meat with visible fat and reported 18.9% alcohol abuse. These factors were more prevalent among men and, in general, young adults and people with low schooling. The prevalence of physical activity in leisure was 18.8% (95%CI 17.4-20.1) among men and 11.3% (95%CI 10.6-12.0) among women. Physical inactivity affected 15.6% of population and increased with age. Consumption of fruits and vegetables and physical activity in leisure time were more prevalent in men and women with 12 years of schooling or more. Hypertension diagnosis was reported by 21.1% (95%CI 19.6-22.5) of men, and 27.2% (95%CI 25.8-28.5) of women. Prevalence of diabetes was 5.8%. The results point to different health behavior according to gender, age and schooling of the population and reinforce the decreasing smoking trend and increasing overweight trend in Brazil.

30 CFR 77.508 - Lightning arresters, ungrounded and exposed power conductors and telephone wires.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Lightning arresters, ungrounded and exposed... AND SURFACE WORK AREAS OF UNDERGROUND COAL MINES Electrical Equipment-General § 77.508 Lightning... conductors and telephone wires shall be equipped with suitable lightning arresters which are adequately...

78 FR 8090 - Misuse of Internet Protocol (IP) Captioned Telephone Service; Telecommunications Relay Services...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-02-05

... equipment and software used in conjunction with their service have captions turned off as the default... equipment and software used in conjunction with their service have a default setting of captions off, so...] Misuse of Internet Protocol (IP) Captioned Telephone Service; Telecommunications Relay Services and...

Effect of Nurse-Led Telephone Follow ups (Tele-Nursing) on Depression, Anxiety and Stress in Hemodialysis Patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Kargar Jahromi, Marzieh; Javadpour, Shohreh; Taheri, Leila; Poorgholami, Farzad

2015-07-26

Depressive and anxious patients on hemodialysis have a higher risk of death and hospitalizations. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of nurse-led telephone follow ups (tele-nursing) on depression, anxiety and stress in hemodialysis patients. The subjects of the study who were selected based on double blind randomized clinical trial consisted of 60 patients with advanced chronic renal disease treated with hemodialysis. The patients were placed in two groups of 30 individuals. Before the intervention, a questionnaire was completed by patients.  There was no telephone follow up in the control group and the patients received only routine care in the hospital. The participants allocated to the intervention group received telephone follow-up 30 days after dialysis shift, in addition to conventional treatment. Every session lasted 30 minutes, as possible. Then the DASS scale was filled out by the patients after completion of study by two groups. Significant differences were observed between the two groups in the posttest regarding the dimensions scores of DASS scale. The result of this trial is expected to provide new knowledge to support the effective follow-up for hemodialysis patient in order to improve their emotional and health status.

Telephone Consultation as a Substitute for Routine Out-patient Face-to-face Consultation for Children With Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Randomised Controlled Trial and Economic Evaluation

OpenAIRE

Akobeng, Anthony K.; O'Leary, Neil; Vail, Andy; Brown, Nailah; Widiatmoko, Dono; Fagbemi, Andrew; Thomas, Adrian G.

2015-01-01

Background: Evidence for the use of telephone consultation in childhood inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is lacking. We aimed to assess the effectiveness and cost consequences of telephone consultation compared with the usual out-patient face-to-face consultation for young people with IBD. Methods: We conducted a randomised-controlled trial in Manchester, UK, between July 12, 2010 and June 30, 2013. Young people (aged 8–16 years) with IBD were randomized to receive telephone consultation o...

Comparing a telephone- and a group-delivered diabetes prevention program: Characteristics of engaged and non-engaged postpartum mothers with a history of gestational diabetes.

Science.gov (United States)

Lim, Siew; Dunbar, James A; Versace, Vincent L; Janus, Edward; Wildey, Carol; Skinner, Timothy; O'Reilly, Sharleen

2017-04-01

To explore the acceptability of a telephone- or a group-delivered diabetes prevention program for women with previous gestational diabetes and to compare the characteristics associated with program engagement. Postpartum women participated in a lifestyle modification program delivered by telephone (n=33) or group format (n=284). Semi-structured interviews on barriers and enablers to program engagement (defined as completing≥80% sessions) were conducted before (Group) and after (Group and Telephone) interventions. The Health Action Process Approach theory was used as the framework for inquiry. Psychological measures were compared between engagement subgroups before and after group-delivered intervention. In the telephone-delivered program 82% participants met the engagement criteria compared with 38% for the group-delivered program. Engaged participants (Group) had significantly higher risk perception, outcome expectancy, and activity self-efficacy at baseline (P<0.05). There was a greater decrease in body weight (-1.45±3.9 vs -0.26±3.5, P=0.024) and waist circumference (-3.56±5.1 vs -1.24±5.3, P=0.002) for engaged vs non-engaged participants following group program completion. Telephone delivery was associated with greater engagement in postpartum women. Engagement was associated with greater reduction in weight and waist circumference. Further studies are required to confirm the effectiveness of telephone-delivered program for diabetes prevention in postpartum women. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Electromagnetic fields in the vicinity of DECT cordless telephones and mobile phones

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paweł Mamrot

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Background: Mobile telephones belong to the most frequently used personal devices. In their surroundings they produce the electromagnetic field (EMF, in which exposure range there are not only users but also nearby bystanders. The aim of the investigations and EMF measurements in the vicinity of phones was to identify the electric field levels with regard to various working modes. Material and methods: Twelve sets of DECT (digital enhanced cordless telecommunications cordless phones (12 base units and 15 handsets, 21 mobile telephones produced by different manufactures, and 16 smartphones in various applications, (including multimedia in the conditions of daily use in living rooms were measured. Measurements were taken using the point method in predetermined distances of 0.05–1 m from the devices without the presence of users. Results: In the vicinity of DECT cordless phone handsets, electric field strength ranged from 0.26 to 2.30 V/m in the distance of 0.05 m – 0.18–0.26 V/m (1 m. In surroundings of DECT cordless telephones base units the values of EMF were from 1.78–5.44 V/m (0.05 m to 0.19– 0.41 V/m (1 m. In the vicinity of mobile phones working in GSM mode with voice transmission, the electric field strength ranged from 2.34–9.14 V/m (0.05 m to 0.18–0.47 V/m (1 m while in the vicinity of mobile phones working in WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access mode the electric field strength ranged from 0.22–1.83 V/m (0.05 m to 0.18–0.20 V/m (1 m. Conclusions: The mean values of the electric field strength for each group of devices, mobile phones and DECT wireless phones sets do not exceed the reference value of 7 V/m, adopted as the limit for general public exposure. Med Pr 2015;66(6:803–814

[Electromagnetic fields in the vicinity of DECT cordless telephones and mobile phones].

Science.gov (United States)

Mamrot, Paweł; Mariańska, Magda; Aniołczyk, Halina; Politański, Piotr

2015-01-01

Mobile telephones belong to the most frequently used personal devices. In their surroundings they produce the electromagnetic field (EMF), in which exposure range there are not only users but also nearby bystanders. The aim of the investigations and EMF measurements in the vicinity of phones was to identify the electric field levels with regard to various working modes. Twelve sets of DECT (digital enhanced cordless telecommunications) cordless phones (12 base units and 15 handsets), 21 mobile telephones produced by different manufactures, and 16 smartphones in various applications, (including multimedia) in the conditions of daily use in living rooms were measured. Measurements were taken using the point method in predetermined distances of 0.05-1 m from the devices without the presence of users. In the vicinity of DECT cordless phone handsets, electric field strength ranged from 0.26 to 2.30 V/m in the distance of 0.05 m - 0.18-0.26 V/m (1 m). In surroundings of DECT cordless telephones base units the values of EMF were from 1.78-5.44 V/m (0.05 m) to 0.19- 0.41 V/m (1 m). In the vicinity of mobile phones working in GSM mode with voice transmission, the electric field strength ranged from 2.34-9.14 V/m (0.05 m) to 0.18-0.47 V/m (1 m) while in the vicinity of mobile phones working in WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) mode the electric field strength ranged from 0.22-1.83 V/m (0.05 m) to 0.18-0.20 V/m (1 m). The mean values of the electric field strength for each group of devices, mobile phones and DECT wireless phones sets do not exceed the reference value of 7 V/m, adopted as the limit for general public exposure. This work is available in Open Access model and licensed under a CC BY-NC 3.0 PL license.

Stress in telephone helpline nurses is associated with failures of concentration, attention and memory, and with more conservative referral decisions.

Science.gov (United States)

Allan, Julia L; Farquharson, Barbara; Johnston, Derek W; Jones, Martyn C; Choudhary, Carolyn J; Johnston, Marie

2014-05-01

Nurses working for telephone-based medical helplines must maintain attentional focus while quickly and accurately processing information given by callers to make safe and appropriate treatment decisions. In this study, both higher levels of general occupational stress and elevated stress levels on particular shifts were associated with more frequent failures of attention, memory, and concentration in telephone nurses. Exposure to a stressful shift was also associated with a measurable increase in objectively assessed information-processing errors. Nurses who experienced more frequent cognitive failures at work made more conservative decisions, tending to refer patients on to other health professionals more often than other nurses. As stress is associated with cognitive performance decrements in telephone nursing, stress-reduction interventions could improve the quality and safety of care that callers to medical helplines receive. © 2013 The British Psychological Society.

Tracking cellular telephones as an input for developing transport models

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Cooper, Antony K

2010-08-01

Full Text Available in the Cape Town area. We discuss the technologies used to track participants and construct their travel routes, problems with recruiting participants, the ethical issues, and the results of the project...

Massage therapy services for healthcare: a telephone focus group study of drivers for clients' continued use of services.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Joanna M; Sullivan, S John; Baxter, G David

2009-01-01

To explore opinions of why clients use, value and continue to seek massage therapy as a healthcare option. Telephone focus group methodology was used. Current and repeat users (n = 19) of either relaxation, remedial or sports massage therapy services participated in three telephone focus groups. Audiotaped semi-structured interviews were conducted. Telephone focus group with massage clients from provincial and urban localities in New Zealand. Summary of reported themes of the massage experience and suggested drivers for return to, or continuing with massage therapy. Data were transcribed, categorised (NVivo7) and thematically analysed using the general inductive approach. Key drivers for return to, or continuing with, massage therapy were: positive outcomes, expectations of goals being met, a regular appointment and the massage therapy culture. Massage therapy is perceived and valued as a personalised, holistic and hands-on approach to health management, which focuses on enhancing relaxation in conjunction with effective touch, within a positive client-therapist relationship and a pleasant non-rushed environment. Massage therapy as a health service is result and client driven but is reinforced by the culture of the experience.

Telephone-administered psychotherapy for depression in MS patients: moderating role of social support.

Science.gov (United States)

Beckner, Victoria; Howard, Isa; Vella, Lea; Mohr, David C

2010-02-01

Depression is common in individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS). While psychotherapy is an effective treatment for depression, not all individuals benefit. We examined whether baseline social support might differentially affect treatment outcome in 127 participants with MS and depression randomized to either Telephone-administered Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (T-CBT) or Telephone-administered Emotion-Focused Therapy (T-EFT). We predicted that those with low social support would improve more in T-EFT, since this approach emphasizes the therapeutic relationship, while participants with strong social networks and presumably more emotional resources might fare better in the more structured and demanding T-CBT. We found that both level of received support and satisfaction with that support at baseline did moderate treatment outcome. Individuals with high social support showed a greater reduction in depressive symptoms in the T-CBT as predicted, but participants with low social support showed a similar reduction in both treatments. This suggests that for participants with high social support, CBT may be a more beneficial treatment for depression compared with EFT.

Cellular Particle Dynamics simulation of biomechanical relaxation processes of multi-cellular systems

Science.gov (United States)

McCune, Matthew; Kosztin, Ioan

2013-03-01

Cellular Particle Dynamics (CPD) is a theoretical-computational-experimental framework for describing and predicting the time evolution of biomechanical relaxation processes of multi-cellular systems, such as fusion, sorting and compression. In CPD, cells are modeled as an ensemble of cellular particles (CPs) that interact via short range contact interactions, characterized by an attractive (adhesive interaction) and a repulsive (excluded volume interaction) component. The time evolution of the spatial conformation of the multicellular system is determined by following the trajectories of all CPs through numerical integration of their equations of motion. Here we present CPD simulation results for the fusion of both spherical and cylindrical multi-cellular aggregates. First, we calibrate the relevant CPD model parameters for a given cell type by comparing the CPD simulation results for the fusion of two spherical aggregates to the corresponding experimental results. Next, CPD simulations are used to predict the time evolution of the fusion of cylindrical aggregates. The latter is relevant for the formation of tubular multi-cellular structures (i.e., primitive blood vessels) created by the novel bioprinting technology. Work supported by NSF [PHY-0957914]. Computer time provided by the University of Missouri Bioinformatics Consortium.

Evaluation of a telephone advice nurse in a nursing faculty managed pediatric community clinic.

Science.gov (United States)

Beaulieu, Richard; Humphreys, Janice

2008-01-01

Nurse-managed health centers face increasing obstacles to financial viability. Efficient use of clinic resources and timely and appropriate patient care are necessary for sustainability. A registered nurse with adequate education and support can provide high-quality triage and advice in community-based practice sites. The purpose of this program evaluation was to examine the effect of a telephone advice nurse service on parent/caregiver satisfaction and access to care. A quasi-experimental separate pre-post sample design study investigated parent/caregiver satisfaction with a telephone advice nurse in an urban pediatric nurse-managed health center. The clinic medical information system was used to retrieve client visit data prior to the service and in the first year of the program. Statistically significant differences were found on two items from the satisfaction with the advice nurse survey: the reason for calling (P decision making (P nurse may increase both parent/caregiver and provider satisfaction and access to care.

Addition of telephone coaching to a physiotherapist-delivered physical activity program in people with knee osteoarthritis: A randomised controlled trial protocol

Science.gov (United States)

2012-01-01

Background Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is one of the most common and costly chronic musculoskeletal conditions world-wide and is associated with substantial pain and disability. Many people with knee OA also experience co-morbidities that further add to the OA burden. Uptake of and adherence to physical activity recommendations is suboptimal in this patient population, leading to poorer OA outcomes and greater impact of associated co-morbidities. This pragmatic randomised controlled trial will investigate the clinical- and cost-effectiveness of adding telephone coaching to a physiotherapist-delivered physical activity intervention for people with knee OA. Methods/Design 168 people with clinically diagnosed knee OA will be recruited from the community in metropolitan and regional areas and randomly allocated to physiotherapy only, or physiotherapy plus nurse-delivered telephone coaching. Physiotherapy involves five treatment sessions over 6 months, incorporating a home exercise program of 4–6 exercises (targeting knee extensor and hip abductor strength) and advice to increase daily physical activity. Telephone coaching comprises 6–12 telephone calls over 6 months by health practitioners trained in applying the Health Change Australia (HCA) Model of Health Change to provide behaviour change support. The telephone coaching intervention aims to maximise adherence to the physiotherapy program, as well as facilitate increased levels of participation in general physical activity. The primary outcomes are pain measured by an 11-point numeric rating scale and self-reported physical function measured by the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index subscale after 6 months. Secondary outcomes include physical activity levels, quality-of-life, and potential moderators and mediators of outcomes including self-efficacy, pain coping and depression. Relative cost-effectiveness will be determined from health service usage and outcome data. Follow

Addition of telephone coaching to a physiotherapist-delivered physical activity program in people with knee osteoarthritis: A randomised controlled trial protocol

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bennell Kim L

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Knee osteoarthritis (OA is one of the most common and costly chronic musculoskeletal conditions world-wide and is associated with substantial pain and disability. Many people with knee OA also experience co-morbidities that further add to the OA burden. Uptake of and adherence to physical activity recommendations is suboptimal in this patient population, leading to poorer OA outcomes and greater impact of associated co-morbidities. This pragmatic randomised controlled trial will investigate the clinical- and cost-effectiveness of adding telephone coaching to a physiotherapist-delivered physical activity intervention for people with knee OA. Methods/Design 168 people with clinically diagnosed knee OA will be recruited from the community in metropolitan and regional areas and randomly allocated to physiotherapy only, or physiotherapy plus nurse-delivered telephone coaching. Physiotherapy involves five treatment sessions over 6 months, incorporating a home exercise program of 4–6 exercises (targeting knee extensor and hip abductor strength and advice to increase daily physical activity. Telephone coaching comprises 6–12 telephone calls over 6 months by health practitioners trained in applying the Health Change Australia (HCA Model of Health Change to provide behaviour change support. The telephone coaching intervention aims to maximise adherence to the physiotherapy program, as well as facilitate increased levels of participation in general physical activity. The primary outcomes are pain measured by an 11-point numeric rating scale and self-reported physical function measured by the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index subscale after 6 months. Secondary outcomes include physical activity levels, quality-of-life, and potential moderators and mediators of outcomes including self-efficacy, pain coping and depression. Relative cost-effectiveness will be determined from health service usage and outcome

Communication of urgent public health messages to urban populations: lessons from the Massachusetts water main break.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, C Jason; Little, Alison A; Holliman, Jaime Bruce; Ng, Chun Y; Barrero-Castillero, Alejandra; Fu, Chong Min; Zuckerman, Barry; Bauchner, Howard

2011-10-01

To study when and how an urgent public health message about a boil-water order reached an urban population after the Massachusetts water main break. In-person surveys were conducted in waiting areas of clinics and emergency departments at a large urban safety net hospital within 1 week of the event. Of 533 respondents, 97% were aware of the order; 34% of those who lived in affected cities or towns were potentially exposed to contaminated water. Among those who were aware, 98% took action. Respondents first received the message through word of mouth (33%), television (25%), cellular telephone calls (20%), landline calls (10%), and other modes of communication (12%). In multivariate analyses, foreign-born respondents and those who lived outside the city of Boston had a higher risk of exposure to contaminated water. New modes (eg, cellular telephones) were used more commonly by females and younger individuals (ages 18 to 34). Individuals who did not speak English at home were more likely to receive the message through their personal networks. Given the increasing prevalence of cellular telephone use, public officials should encourage residents to register landline and cellular telephone for emergency alerts and must develop creative ways to reach immigrants and non-English-speaking groups quickly via personal networks.

The Probability of Detection in the Telephone Line of Device of the Unauthorized Removal of Information

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I. V. Svintsov

2011-06-01

Full Text Available The article discusses the theory of quantitative description of the possible presence in the telephone line devices unauthorized removal of information, investigated with the help of probability theory.

Dynamic behavior of cellular materials and cellular structures: Experiments and modeling

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Ziyang

Cellular solids, including cellular materials and cellular structures (CMS), have attracted people's great interests because of their low densities and novel physical, mechanical, thermal, electrical and acoustic properties. They offer potential for lightweight structures, energy absorption, thermal management, etc. Therefore, the studies of cellular solids have become one of the hottest research fields nowadays. From energy absorption point of view, any plastically deformed structures can be divided into two types (called type I and type II), and the basic cells of the CMS may take the configurations of these two types of structures. Accordingly, separated discussions are presented in this thesis. First, a modified 1-D model is proposed and numerically solved for a typical type II structure. Good agreement is achieved with the previous experimental data, hence is used to simulate the dynamic behavior of a type II chain. Resulted from different load speeds, interesting collapse modes are observed, and the parameters which govern the cell's post-collapse behavior are identified through a comprehensive non-dimensional analysis on general cellular chains. Secondly, the MHS specimens are chosen as an example of type I foam materials because of their good uniformity of the cell geometry. An extensive experimental study was carried out, where more attention was paid to their responses to dynamic loadings. Great enhancement of the stress-strain curve was observed in dynamic cases, and the energy absorption capacity is found to be several times higher than that of the commercial metal foams. Based on the experimental study, finite elemental simulations and theoretical modeling are also conducted, achieving good agreements and demonstrating the validities of those models. It is believed that the experimental, numerical and analytical results obtained in the present study will certainly deepen the understanding of the unsolved fundamental issues on the mechanical behavior of

Statistical mechanics of cellular automata

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wolfram, S.

1983-01-01

Cellular automata are used as simple mathematical models to investigate self-organization in statistical mechanics. A detailed analysis is given of ''elementary'' cellular automata consisting of a sequence of sites with values 0 or 1 on a line, with each site evolving deterministically in discrete time steps according to p definite rules involving the values of its nearest neighbors. With simple initial configurations, the cellular automata either tend to homogeneous states, or generate self-similar patterns with fractal dimensions approx. =1.59 or approx. =1.69. With ''random'' initial configurations, the irreversible character of the cellular automaton evolution leads to several self-organization phenomena. Statistical properties of the structures generated are found to lie in two universality classes, independent of the details of the initial state or the cellular automaton rules. More complicated cellular automata are briefly considered, and connections with dynamical systems theory and the formal theory of computation are discussed

Comparing Costs of Telephone versus Face-to-Face Extended Care Programs for the Management of Obesity in Rural Settings

Science.gov (United States)

Radcliff, Tiffany A.; Bobroff, Linda B.; Lutes, Lesley D.; Durning, Patricia E.; Daniels, Michael J.; Limacher, Marian C.; Janicke, David M.; Martin, A. Daniel; Perri, Michael G.

2012-01-01

Background A major challenge following successful weight loss is continuing the behaviors required for long-term weight maintenance. This challenge may be exacerbated in rural areas with limited local support resources. Objective This study describes and compares program costs and cost-effectiveness for 12-month extended care lifestyle maintenance programs following an initial 6-month weight loss program. Design A 1-year prospective controlled randomized clinical trial. Participants/Setting The study included 215 female participants age 50 or older from rural areas who completed an initial 6-month lifestyle program for weight loss. The study was conducted from June 1, 2003, to May 31, 2007. Intervention The intervention was delivered through local Cooperative Extension Service offices in rural Florida. Participants were randomly-assigned to a 12-month extended care program using either individual telephone counseling (n=67), group face-to-face counseling (n=74), or a mail/control group (n=74). Main Outcome Measures Program delivery costs, weight loss, and self-reported health status were directly assessed through questionnaires and program activity logs. Costs were estimated across a range of enrollment sizes to allow inferences beyond the study sample. Statistical Analyses Performed Non-parametric and parametric tests of differences across groups for program outcomes were combined with direct program cost estimates and expected value calculations to determine which scales of operation favored alternative formats for lifestyle maintenance. Results Median weight regain during the intervention year was 1.7 kg for participants in the face-to-face format, 2.1 kg for the telephone format, and 3.1 kg for the mail/control format. For a typical group size of 13 participants, the face-to-face format had higher fixed costs, which translated into higher overall program costs ($420 per participant) when compared to individual telephone counseling ($268 per participant) and

Polling on a Budget: Implementing Telephone Surveys in Introductory and Advanced American Politics Courses

Science.gov (United States)

Williamson, Jonathan

2011-01-01

Research suggests that student learning is enhanced when students are engaged through active learning strategies. In studying public opinion and polling, challenges include the provision of meaningful active learning environments when resources are limited. In this article, I discuss the design and implementation of telephone surveys as a teaching…

Wireless Cellular Mobile Communications

OpenAIRE

Zalud, V.

2002-01-01

In this article is briefly reviewed the history of wireless cellular mobile communications, examined the progress in current second generation (2G) cellular standards and discussed their migration to the third generation (3G). The European 2G cellular standard GSM and its evolution phases GPRS and EDGE are described somewhat in detail. The third generation standard UMTS taking up on GSM/GPRS core network and equipped with a new advanced access network on the basis of code division multiple ac...

MSAT and cellular hybrid networking

Science.gov (United States)

Baranowsky, Patrick W., II

Westinghouse Electric Corporation is developing both the Communications Ground Segment and the Series 1000 Mobile Phone for American Mobile Satellite Corporation's (AMSC's) Mobile Satellite (MSAT) system. The success of the voice services portion of this system depends, to some extent, upon the interoperability of the cellular network and the satellite communication circuit switched communication channels. This paper will describe the set of user-selectable cellular interoperable modes (cellular first/satellite second, etc.) provided by the Mobile Phone and described how they are implemented with the ground segment. Topics including roaming registration and cellular-to-satellite 'seamless' call handoff will be discussed, along with the relevant Interim Standard IS-41 Revision B Cellular Radiotelecommunications Intersystem Operations and IOS-553 Mobile Station - Land Station Compatibility Specification.

Cellular Interrogation: Exploiting Cell-to-Cell Variability to Discriminate Regulatory Mechanisms in Oscillatory Signalling.

Science.gov (United States)

Estrada, Javier; Andrew, Natalie; Gibson, Daniel; Chang, Frederick; Gnad, Florian; Gunawardena, Jeremy

2016-07-01

The molecular complexity within a cell may be seen as an evolutionary response to the external complexity of the cell's environment. This suggests that the external environment may be harnessed to interrogate the cell's internal molecular architecture. Cells, however, are not only nonlinear and non-stationary, but also exhibit heterogeneous responses within a clonal, isogenic population. In effect, each cell undertakes its own experiment. Here, we develop a method of cellular interrogation using programmable microfluidic devices which exploits the additional information present in cell-to-cell variation, without requiring model parameters to be fitted to data. We focussed on Ca2+ signalling in response to hormone stimulation, which exhibits oscillatory spiking in many cell types and chose eight models of Ca2+ signalling networks which exhibit similar behaviour in simulation. We developed a nonlinear frequency analysis for non-stationary responses, which could classify models into groups under parameter variation, but found that this question alone was unable to distinguish critical feedback loops. We further developed a nonlinear amplitude analysis and found that the combination of both questions ruled out six of the models as inconsistent with the experimentally-observed dynamics and heterogeneity. The two models that survived the double interrogation were mathematically different but schematically identical and yielded the same unexpected predictions that we confirmed experimentally. Further analysis showed that subtle mathematical details can markedly influence non-stationary responses under parameter variation, emphasising the difficulty of finding a "correct" model. By developing questions for the pathway being studied, and designing more versatile microfluidics, cellular interrogation holds promise as a systematic strategy that can complement direct intervention by genetics or pharmacology.

Socratic Questioning-Guided Discovery

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Hakan Türkçapar

2012-04-01

Full Text Available “Socratic Method” is a way of teaching philosophical thinking and knowledge by asking questions which was used by antique period greek philosopher Socrates. Socrates was teaching knowledge to his followers by asking questions and the conversation between them was named “Socratic Dialogues”. In this meaning, no novel knowledge is taught to the individual but only what is formerly known is reminded and rediscovered. The form of socratic questioning which is used during the process of cognitive behavioral therapy is known as Guided Discovery. In this method it is aimed to make the client notice the piece of knowledge which he could notice but is not aware with a series of questions. Socratic method or guided discovery consists of several steps which are: Identifying the problem by listening to the client and making reflections, finding alternatives by examining and evaluating, reidentification by using the newly found information and questioning the old distorted belief and reaching to a conclusion and applying it. Question types used during these procedures are, questions for gaining information, questions revealing the meanings, questions revealing the beliefs, questions about behaviours during the similar past experiences, analyse questions and analytic synthesis questions. In order to make the patient feel understood it is important to be empathetic and summarising the problem during the interview. In this text, steps of Socratic Questioning-Guided Discovery will be reviewed with sample dialogues after eachstep. [JCBPR 2012; 1(1.000: 15-20

Top-down cellular pyramids

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wu, A Y; Rosenfeld, A

1983-10-01

A cellular pyramid is an exponentially tapering stack of arrays of processors (cells), where each cell is connected to its neighbors (siblings) on its own level, to a parent on the level above, and to its children on the level below. It is shown that in some situations, if information flows top-down only, from fathers to sons, then a cellular pyramid may be no faster than a one-level cellular array; but it may be possible to use simpler cells in the pyramid case. 23 references.

Cellular decomposition in vikalloys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Belyatskaya, I.S.; Vintajkin, E.Z.; Georgieva, I.Ya.; Golikov, V.A.; Udovenko, V.A.

1981-01-01

Austenite decomposition in Fe-Co-V and Fe-Co-V-Ni alloys at 475-600 deg C is investigated. The cellular decomposition in ternary alloys results in the formation of bcc (ordered) and fcc structures, and in quaternary alloys - bcc (ordered) and 12R structures. The cellular 12R structure results from the emergence of stacking faults in the fcc lattice with irregular spacing in four layers. The cellular decomposition results in a high-dispersion structure and magnetic properties approaching the level of well-known vikalloys [ru

76 FR 79607 - Local Number Portability Porting Interval and Validation Requirements; Telephone Number Portability

Science.gov (United States)

2011-12-22

... customer's account; a positive indication that the new service provider has the authority from the customer... comments. Email: [email protected] , and include the following words in the body of the message, ``get form.'' A... telephone number associated with the customer's account; a positive indication that the new service provider...

Direct cellular vs. indirect pager communication during orthopaedic surgical procedures: a prospective study.

Science.gov (United States)

Ortega, Gil R; Taksali, Sudeep; Smart, Ryan; Baumgaertner, Michael R

2009-01-01

Cellular phone use within the hospital setting has increased as physicians, nurses, and ancillary staff incorporate wireless technologies in improving efficiencies, cost, and maintaining patient safety and high quality healthcare [11]. Through the use of wireless, cellular communication, an overall improvement in communication accuracy and efficiency between intraoperative orthopaedic surgeons and floor nurses may be achieved. Both communication types occurred while the surgeon was scrubbed in the operating room (OR). Indirect communication occurred when the pager call was answered by the OR circulating nurse with communication between the surgeon, circulating nurse, and floor nurse. Direct communication consisted of cell phone and Jabra Bluetooth BT200 wireless ear piece used by the surgeon. The surgeon answered the floor nurse's cellular call by phone ring-activated automatic answering. The study was conducted during scheduled orthopaedic procedures. An independent observer measured time variables with a stop-watch while orthopaedic nurses randomly called via pager or cell phone. The nurses asked for patient caregiver confirmation and answers to 30 different patient-care questions. Sixty trials were performed with 30 cell and 30 page communications. Direct cellular communication showed a better response rate than indirect page (Cell 100%, Page 73%). Indirect page communication allowed a 27% and 33% error rate with patient problem and surgeon solution communications, respectively. There were no reported communication errors while using direct wireless, cellular communication. When compared to page communications, cellular communications showed statistically significant improvements in mean time intervals in response time (Cell = 11s, Page = 211s), correct patient identification (Cell = 5s, Page = 172s), patient problem and solution time (Cell = 13s, Page = 189s), and total communication time (Cell = 32s, Page = 250s) (s = seconds, all P < 0.001). Floor nurse

Stress amongst nurses working in a healthcare telephone-advice service: relationship with job satisfaction, intention to leave, sickness absence, and performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Farquharson, Barbara; Allan, Julia; Johnston, Derek; Johnston, Marie; Choudhary, Carolyn; Jones, Martyn

2012-07-01

This paper is a report of a study, which assessed levels of stress amongst nurses working in a healthcare telephone-advice service. We explored whether stress related to performance, sickness absence, and intention to leave. Nurses report high levels of stress, as do call-centre workers. The emergence of telephone health advice services means many nurses now work in call-centres, doing work that differs markedly from traditional nursing roles. Stress associated with these roles could have implications for nurses, patients, and service provision. This paper reports cross-sectional survey results. The design of the overall study included longitudinal elements. A comprehensive study of stress was conducted amongst nurses working for a telephone-advice service in Scotland (2008-2010). All nurse-advisors were approached by letter and invited to participate. A total of 152 participants (33%) completed a questionnaire including General Health Questionnaire-12, Work Family Conflict Questionnaire, Job Satisfaction Scale and a measure of intention to leave the telephone-advice service and rated the perceived stress of 2 working shifts. Nurses' employers provided data on sickness absence and performance. Overall levels of psychological distress were similar to those found amongst Scottish women generally. In multiple regression, work-family conflict was identified as a significant predictor of job satisfaction and intention to leave, and significantly related to sickness absence. There were significant correlations between General Health Questionnaire scores and perceived stress of shifts and some performance measures. Work-family conflict is a significant predictor of job satisfaction, intention to leave, and sickness absence amongst telephone helpline nurses. Minimizing the impact of nurses' work on their home lives might reduce turnover and sickness absence. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

The Impact of Caller Gender on Telephone Crisis-Helpline Workers' Interpretation of Suicidality in Caller Vignettes.

Science.gov (United States)

Hunt, Tara; Wilson, Coralie J; Caputi, Peter; Wilson, Ian; Woodward, Alan

2018-04-23

Telephone crisis-line workers (TCWs) are trained in a variety of techniques and skills to facilitate the identification of suicidal callers. One factor that may influence the implementation of these skills is gender. This study used an experimental design to explore whether helpline callers being identified as male or female is associated with TCWs’ ratings of callers’ potential for suicide risk and TCWs’ intention to use support- or intervention-oriented skills with callers. Data were collected using an online self-report survey in an Australian sample of 133 TCWs. The results suggest that under some circumstances the callers’ gender might influence TCWs’ intention to use intervention-oriented skills with the caller. Implications for the training of telephone crisis workers, and those trained in suicide prevention more broadly are discussed.

Beginning EFL Teachers' Beliefs about Quality Questions and Their Questioning Practices

Science.gov (United States)

Pham, Ly Ngoc Khanh; Hamid, M. Obaidul

2013-01-01

Motivated by the scarcity of research that examines the impact of teacher beliefs on their actual practices in Vietnam, this study investigated the relationship between teachers' beliefs about quality questions and their questioning behaviours in terms of questioning purposes, content focus, students' cognitive level, wording and syntax. Thirteen…

Effectiveness of telephone-assisted parent-administered behavioural family intervention for preschool children with externalizing problem behaviour: a randomized controlled trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Kierfeld, Frauke; Ise, Elena; Hanisch, Charlotte; Görtz-Dorten, Anja; Döpfner, Manfred

2013-09-01

Externalizing problem behaviour is one of the most common childhood disorders. Parent training is an effective treatment for these children and there is growing interest in the effects of parent-administered interventions with minimal therapist contact. This randomized controlled study examined the efficacy of a telephone-assisted parent-administered behavioural intervention (bibliotherapy) in families with preschool children with externalizing problem behaviour. Families were randomly assigned to a treatment group (n = 26) and an untreated waitlist control group (n = 22). The intervention comprised the reading of an 11 chapter self-help book and 11 weekly telephone consultations. Compared to the control group, the treatment group demonstrated significant decreases in parent-reported externalizing and internalizing child problem behaviour and dysfunctional parenting practices. Moreover, treated parents reported less parenting-related strains and decreases in parental depression, anxiety, and stress. The results suggest that telephone-assisted self-administered parent training is an effective alternative to more intensive forms of behavioural family intervention for preschool children with externalizing problem behaviour.

Telephone-Based Coaching: A Comparison of Tobacco Cessation Programs in an Integrated Health Care System

Science.gov (United States)

Boccio, Mindy; Sanna, Rashel S.; Adams, Sara R.; Goler, Nancy C.; Brown, Susan D.; Neugebauer, Romain S.; Ferrara, Assiamira; Wiley, Deanne M.; Bellamy, David J.; Schmittdiel, Julie A.

2016-01-01

Purpose Many Americans continue to smoke, increasing their risk of disease and premature death. Both telephone-based counseling and in-person tobacco cessation classes may improve access for smokers seeking convenient support to quit. Little research has assessed whether such programs are effective in real-world clinical populations. Design Retrospective cohort study comparing wellness coaching participants with two groups of controls. Setting Kaiser Permanente, Northern California (KPNC), a large integrated health care delivery system. Subjects 241 patients who participated in telephonic tobacco cessation coaching from 1/1/2011–3/31/2012, and two control groups: propensity-score matched controls, and controls who participated in a tobacco cessation class during the same period. Wellness coaching participants received an average of two motivational interviewing based coaching sessions that engage the patient, evoke their reason to consider quitting and help them establish a quit plan. Measures Self-reported quitting of tobacco and fills of tobacco cessation medications within 12 months of follow-up. Analysis Logistic regressions adjusting for age, gender, race/ethnicity, and primary language. Results After adjusting for confounders, tobacco quit rates were higher among coaching participants vs. matched controls (31% vs. 23%, PCoaching participants and class attendees filled tobacco-cessation prescriptions at a higher rate (47% for both) than matched controls (6%, Pcoaching was as effective as in-person classes and was associated with higher rates of quitting compared to no treatment. The telephonic modality may increase convenience and scalability for health care systems looking to reduce tobacco use and improve health. PMID:26559720

The MRC dyspnoea scale by telephone interview to monitor health status in elderly COPD patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Paladini, Luciana; Hodder, Rick; Cecchini, Isabella; Bellia, Vincenzo; Incalzi, Raffaele Antonelli

2010-07-01

Dyspnoea is the most common symptom associated with poor quality of life in patients affected by Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). While COPD severity is commonly staged by lung function, the Medical Research Council (MRC) dyspnoea scale has been proposed as a more clinically meaningful method of quantifying disease severity in COPD. We wished to assess whether this scale might also be useful during telephone surveys as a simple surrogate marker of perceived health status in elderly patients with COPD. We conducted a comprehensive health status assessment by telephone survey of 200 elderly patients who had a physician diagnosis of COPD. The telephone survey contained 71 items and explored such domains as educational level, financial status, living arrangements and social contacts, co-morbid illness, and the severity and the impact of COPD on health status. Patients were categorized according to the reported MRC score: mild dyspnoea (MRC scale of 1), moderate dyspnoea (MRC scale of 2 and 3), or severe dyspnoea (MRC of 4 and 5). Deterioration in most of the recorded indicators of health status correlated with an increasingly severe MRC score. This was most evident for instrumental activities of daily living (IADL), perceived health and emotional status, pain-related limitations, limitations in social life, hospital admissions in preceding year and prevalence of most co-morbidities. The MRC dyspnoea scale is a reliable index of disease severity and health status in elderly COPD patients which should prove useful for remote monitoring of COPD and for rating health status for epidemiological purposes.

Repetitive Questioning II

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. C. Hamdy MD

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Repetitive questioning is a major problem for caregivers, particularly taxing if they are unable to recognize and understand the reasons why their loved one keeps asking the same question over and over again. Caregivers may be tempted to believe that the patient does not even try to remember the answer given or is just getting obnoxious. This is incorrect. Repetitive questioning is due to the underlying disease: The patient’s short term memory is impaired and he is unable to register, encode, retain and retrieve the answer. If he is concerned about a particular topic, he will keep asking the same question over and over again. To the patient each time she asks the question, it is as if she asked it for the first time. Just answering repetitive questioning by providing repeatedly the same answer is not sufficient. Caregivers should try to identify the underlying cause for this repetitive questioning. In an earlier case study, the patient was concerned about her and her family’s safety and kept asking whether the doors are locked. In this present case study, the patient does not know how to handle the awkward situation he finds himself in. He just does not know what to do. He is not able to adjust to the new unexpected situation. So he repeatedly wants to reassure himself that he is not intruding by asking the same question over and over again. We discuss how the patient’s son-in-law could have avoided this situation and averted the catastrophic ending.

Cellular automata analysis and applications

CERN Document Server

Hadeler, Karl-Peter

2017-01-01

This book focuses on a coherent representation of the main approaches to analyze the dynamics of cellular automata. Cellular automata are an inevitable tool in mathematical modeling. In contrast to classical modeling approaches as partial differential equations, cellular automata are straightforward to simulate but hard to analyze. In this book we present a review of approaches and theories that allow the reader to understand the behavior of cellular automata beyond simulations. The first part consists of an introduction of cellular automata on Cayley graphs, and their characterization via the fundamental Cutis-Hedlund-Lyndon theorems in the context of different topological concepts (Cantor, Besicovitch and Weyl topology). The second part focuses on classification results: What classification follows from topological concepts (Hurley classification), Lyapunov stability (Gilman classification), and the theory of formal languages and grammars (Kůrka classification). These classifications suggest to cluster cel...

Telephone Consultation as a Substitute for Routine Out-patient Face-to-face Consultation for Children With Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Randomised Controlled Trial and Economic Evaluation.

Science.gov (United States)

Akobeng, Anthony K; O'Leary, Neil; Vail, Andy; Brown, Nailah; Widiatmoko, Dono; Fagbemi, Andrew; Thomas, Adrian G

2015-09-01

Evidence for the use of telephone consultation in childhood inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is lacking. We aimed to assess the effectiveness and cost consequences of telephone consultation compared with the usual out-patient face-to-face consultation for young people with IBD. We conducted a randomised-controlled trial in Manchester, UK, between July 12, 2010 and June 30, 2013. Young people (aged 8-16 years) with IBD were randomized to receive telephone consultation or face-to-face consultation for 24 months. The primary outcome measure was the paediatric IBD-specific IMPACT quality of life (QOL) score at 12 months. Secondary outcome measures included patient satisfaction with consultations, disease course, anthropometric measures, proportion of consultations attended, duration of consultations, and costs to the UK National Health Service (NHS). Analysis was by intention to treat. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT02319798. Eighty six patients were randomised to receive either telephone consultation (n = 44) or face-to-face consultation (n = 42). Baseline characteristics of the two groups were well balanced. At 12 months, there was no evidence of difference in QOL scores (estimated treatment effect in favour of the telephone consultation group was 5.7 points, 95% CI - 2.9 to 14.3; p = 0.19). Mean consultation times were 9.8 min (IQR 8 to 12.3) for telephone consultation, and 14.3 min (11.6 to 17.0) for face-to-face consultation with an estimated reduction (95% CI) of 4.3 (2.8 to 5.7) min in consultation times (p consultation had a mean cost of UK£35.41 per patient consultation compared with £51.12 for face-face consultation, difference £15.71 (95% CI 11.8-19.6; P consultation compared with face-to-face consultation with regard to improvements in QOL scores, and telephone consultation reduced consultation time and NHS costs. Telephone consultation is a cost-effective alternative to face-to-face consultation for the

Implementation of a national, nurse-led telephone health service in Scotland: assessing the consequences for remote and rural localities.

Science.gov (United States)

Roberts, A; Heaney, D; Haddow, G; O'Donnell, C A

2009-01-01

Internationally, nurse-led models of telephone triage have become commonplace in unscheduled healthcare delivery. Various existing models have had a positive impact on the delivery of healthcare services, often reducing the demand on accident and emergency departments and staff workload 'out of hours'. Our objective was to assess whether a model of centralised nurse telephone triage (NHS 24, introduced in Scotland in 2001) was appropriate for remote and rural areas. In this qualitative study the views and perspectives of health professionals across Scotland are explored. Thirty-five participants were purposively selected for interviews during 2005. Two types of interview were conducted: detailed, semi-structured, face-to-face interviews with key stakeholders of NHS 24; and briefer telephone interviews with partners from NHS Boards across Scotland. A constant comparative approach was taken to analysis. Ethical approval for the study was obtained from the Scottish Multi-site Research Ethics Committee. The findings are comparable with other research studies of new service developments in remote and rural health care. The rigidity of the centralised triage model introduced, the need to understand variation of health service delivery, and the importance of utilising local professional knowledge were all key issues affecting performance. Remote and rural complexities need to be considered when designing new healthcare services. It is suggested that new health service designs are 'proofed' for remote and rural complexities. This study highlights that a centralised nurse-led telephone triage model was inappropriate for remote and rural Scotland, and may not be appropriate for all geographies and circumstances.

Lwazi community communication service: Design and piloting of a telephone-based Information Service for South Africa

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Sharma, A

2010-09-01

Full Text Available We present in this paper the design, development and pilot process of the Lwazi community communication service (LCCS), a multilingual automated telephone-based information service. The service acts as a communication and dissemination tool...

Comparison between Two Assessment Methods; Modified Essay Questions and Multiple Choice Questions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Assadi S.N.* MD

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Aims Using the best assessment methods is an important factor in educational development of health students. Modified essay questions and multiple choice questions are two prevalent methods of assessing the students. The aim of this study was to compare two methods of modified essay questions and multiple choice questions in occupational health engineering and work laws courses. Materials & Methods This semi-experimental study was performed during 2013 to 2014 on occupational health students of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. The class of occupational health and work laws course in 2013 was considered as group A and the class of 2014 as group B. Each group had 50 students.The group A students were assessed by modified essay questions method and the group B by multiple choice questions method.Data were analyzed in SPSS 16 software by paired T test and odd’s ratio. Findings The mean grade of occupational health and work laws course was 18.68±0.91 in group A (modified essay questions and was 18.78±0.86 in group B (multiple choice questions which was not significantly different (t=-0.41; p=0.684. The mean grade of chemical chapter (p<0.001 in occupational health engineering and harmful work law (p<0.001 and other (p=0.015 chapters in work laws were significantly different between two groups. Conclusion Modified essay questions and multiple choice questions methods have nearly the same student assessing value for the occupational health engineering and work laws course.

Formative student-authored question bank: perceptions, question quality and association with summative performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Walsh, Jason L; Harris, Benjamin H L; Denny, Paul; Smith, Phil

2018-02-01

There are few studies on the value of authoring questions as a study method, the quality of the questions produced by students and student perceptions of student-authored question banks. Here we evaluate PeerWise, a widely used and free online resource that allows students to author, answer and discuss multiple-choice questions. We introduced two undergraduate medical student cohorts to PeerWise (n=603). We looked at their patterns of PeerWise usage; identified associations between student engagement and summative exam performance; and used focus groups to assess student perceptions of the value of PeerWise for learning. We undertook item analysis to assess question difficulty and quality. Over two academic years, the two cohorts wrote 4671 questions, answered questions 606 658 times and posted 7735 comments. Question writing frequency correlated most strongly with summative performance (Spearman's rank: 0.24, p=<0.001). Student focus groups found that: (1) students valued curriculum specificity; and (2) students were concerned about student-authored question quality. Only two questions of the 300 'most-answered' questions analysed had an unacceptable discriminatory value (point-biserial correlation <0.2). Item analysis suggested acceptable question quality despite student concerns. Quantitative and qualitative methods indicated that PeerWise is a valuable study tool. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Nuclear questions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Berg, Eugene

2012-01-01

Civilian and military nuclear questions fill a multitude of publications these days, especially after the Japanese tsunami and the Fukushima disaster. The author analyses some of them and highlights the links between civil and military nuclear industries, the realities of the nuclear cycle and related industrial questions before concluding on the controversial issue of weapons and their proliferation potential

Approaches to Exploring Category Information for Question Retrieval in Community Question-Answer Archives

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cao, Xin; Cong, Gao; Cui, Bin

2012-01-01

, and it applies these approaches to existing question retrieval models, including a state-of-the-art question retrieval model. Experiments conducted on real CQA data demonstrate that the proposed techniques are effective and efficient and are capable of outperforming a variety of baseline methods significantly......Community Question Answering (CQA) is a popular type of service where users ask questions and where answers are obtained from other users or from historical question-answer pairs. CQA archives contain large volumes of questions organized into a hierarchy of categories. As an essential function...

Fiber to the serving area: telephone-like star architecture for CATV

Science.gov (United States)

Fellows, David M.

1992-02-01

CATV systems traditionally use a tree and branch architecture to bring up to 550 MHz of analog bandwidth to every home in a franchise area. This changed slightly with the advent of AM fiber optic equipment, as fiber optics were used in an overlay fashion to reduce coaxial amplifier cascades and improve subscriber quality and reliability. Within the last year, fiber has economically replaced coaxial trunking. The resulting fiber to the serving area architecture combines fiber and coaxial stars for a network that looks much like the carrier serving area architectures used by telephone companies.

Questioning ORACLE: An Assessment of ORACLE's Analysis of Teachers' Questions and [A Comment on "Questioning ORACLE"].

Science.gov (United States)

Scarth, John; And Others

1986-01-01

Analysis of teachers' questions, part of the ORACLE (Observation Research and Classroom Learning Evaluation) project research, is examined in detail. Scarth and Hammersley argue that the rules ORACLE uses for identifying different types of questions involve levels of ambiguity and inference that threaten reliability and validity of the study's…

Positive resources for combating job burnout among Chinese telephone operators: Resilience and psychological empowerment.

Science.gov (United States)

Tian, Xiaohong; Liu, Chunqin; Zou, Guiyuan; Li, Guopeng; Kong, Linghua; Li, Ping

2015-08-30

Job burnout is a major concern within the service industry. However, there is a lack of research exploring positive resources for combating burnout among telephone operators. The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between resilience, psychological empowerment, and job burnout, and the mediating role of psychological empowerment. A cross-sectional survey of 575 telephone operators was conducted in 2 call centers in Shandong Province, China. Self-report questionnaires were used to assess job burnout symptoms, resilience, and psychological empowerment. Hierarchical linear regression was performed to analyze the degree to which resilience and psychological empowerment are associated with job burnout, and the mediating role of psychological empowerment. The results showed that resilience and psychological empowerment had significant "net effects" on job burnout, which may represent positive resources for combating job burnout. Psychological empowerment may partially mediate the relationship between resilience and job burnout. Thus, interventions focused on resilience and psychological empowerment may be useful options for managers concerned about burnout. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Implementation and evaluation of Parkinson disease management in an outpatient clinical pharmacist-run neurology telephone clinic.

Science.gov (United States)

Stefan, Teodora Cristina; Elharar, Nicole; Garcia, Guadalupe

2018-05-01

Parkinson disease (PD) is a progressive, debilitating neurodegenerative disease that often requires complex pharmacologic treatment regimens. Prior to this clinic, there was no involvement of a clinical pharmacy specialist (CPS) in the outpatient neurology clinic at the West Palm Beach Veterans Affairs Medical Center. This was a prospective, quality-improvement project to develop a clinical pharmacist-run neurology telephone clinic and evaluate pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic interventions in an effort to improve the quality of care for patients with PD. Additionally, the CPS conducted medication education groups to 24 patients with PD and their caregivers, if applicable, at this medical center with the purpose of promoting patient knowledge and medication awareness. Medication management was performed via telephone rather than face to face. Only patients with a concomitant mental health diagnosis for which they were receiving at least one psychotropic medication were included for individual visits due to the established scope of practice of the CPS being limited to mental health and primary care medications. Data collection included patient and clinic demographics as well as pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic interventions made for patients enrolled from January 6, 2017, through March 31, 2017. A total of 49 pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic interventions were made for 10 patients. We successfully implemented and evaluated a clinical pharmacist-run neurology telephone clinic for patients with PD. Expansion of this clinic to patients with various neurological disorders may improve access to care using an innovative method of medication management expertise by a CPS.

MIMO Communication for Cellular Networks

CERN Document Server

Huang, Howard; Venkatesan, Sivarama

2012-01-01

As the theoretical foundations of multiple-antenna techniques evolve and as these multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) techniques become essential for providing high data rates in wireless systems, there is a growing need to understand the performance limits of MIMO in practical networks. To address this need, MIMO Communication for Cellular Networks presents a systematic description of MIMO technology classes and a framework for MIMO system design that takes into account the essential physical-layer features of practical cellular networks. In contrast to works that focus on the theoretical performance of abstract MIMO channels, MIMO Communication for Cellular Networks emphasizes the practical performance of realistic MIMO systems. A unified set of system simulation results highlights relative performance gains of different MIMO techniques and provides insights into how best to use multiple antennas in cellular networks under various conditions. MIMO Communication for Cellular Networks describes single-user,...

Single Cell Force Spectroscopy for Quantification of Cellular Adhesion on Surfaces

Science.gov (United States)

Christenson, Wayne B.

Cell adhesion is an important aspect of many biological processes. The atomic force microscope (AFM) has made it possible to quantify the forces involved in cellular adhesion using a technique called single cell force spectroscopy (SCFS). AFM based SCFS offers versatile control over experimental conditions for probing directly the interaction between specific cell types and specific proteins, surfaces, or other cells. Transmembrane integrins are the primary proteins involved in cellular adhesion to the extra cellular matix (ECM). One of the chief integrins involved in the adhesion of leukocyte cells is alpha Mbeta2 (Mac-1). The experiments in this dissertation quantify the adhesion of Mac-1 expressing human embryonic kidney (HEK Mac-1), platelets, and neutrophils cells on substrates with different concentrations of fibrinogen and on fibrin gels and multi-layered fibrinogen coated fibrin gels. It was shown that multi-layered fibrinogen reduces the adhesion force of these cells considerably. A novel method was developed as part of this research combining total internal reflection microscopy (TIRFM) with SCFS allowing for optical microscopy of HEK Mac-1 cells interacting with bovine serum albumin (BSA) coated glass after interacting with multi-layered fibrinogen. HEK Mac-1 cells are able to remove fibrinogen molecules from the multi-layered fibrinogen matrix. An analysis methodology for quantifying the kinetic parameters of integrin-ligand interactions from SCFS experiments is proposed, and the kinetic parameters of the Mac-1 fibrinogen bond are quantified. Additional SCFS experiments quantify the adhesion of macrophages and HEK Mac-1 cells on functionalized glass surfaces and normal glass surfaces. Both cell types show highest adhesion on a novel functionalized glass surface that was prepared to induce macrophage fusion. These experiments demonstrate the versatility of AFM based SCFS, and how it can be applied to address many questions in cellular biology offering

Yucca Mountain Socioeconomic Project: The 1991 Nevada State telephone survey: Key findings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Flynn, J.H.; Mertz, C.K.; Slovic, P.

1991-05-01

The 1991 Nevada State Telephone Survey was implemented by Decision Research on behalf of the State of Nevada, Agency for Nuclear Projects/Nuclear Waste Project Office (NWPO) as part of an ongoing socioeconomic impact assessment study. The scope of this survey was considerably smaller than a previous survey conducted in 1989 and focused more upon public evaluations of the Yucca Mountain repository program and the trust Nevadans currently addressing the siting issues. In order to provide place in key public officials who are Longitudinal data on the repository program, the 1991 questionnaire consisted of questions that were used in the 1989 NWPO survey which was conducted by Mountain West Research. As a result, the findings from this survey are compared with analogous items from the 1989 survey, and with the results from a survey commissioned by the Las Vegas Review-Journal and reported in their issue of October 21, 1990. The Review-Journal survey was conducted by Bruce Merri11 of the Arizona State University Media Research Center. A more complete comparison of the 1989 and 1991 surveys sponsored by NWPO is possible since the researchers at Decision Research had access to both these databases. The only source of information for the Review-Journal findings was the articles published in the Fall, 1990. The findings of the 1991 survey show that Nevadans oppose the federal government attempts to locate a high-level radioactive waste repository at Yucca Mountain. They support a policy of opposition on the part of Nevada officials. They believe that Nevadans should have the final say in whether to accept the repository or not, and they reject the proposition that benefits from the repository program will outweigh the harms. These findings are very similar to survey results from 1989 and 1990 and once again demonstrate very widespread public opposition by Nevadans to the current federal repository program

Active Cellular Mechanics and its Consequences for Animal Development

Science.gov (United States)

Noll, Nicholas B.

A central goal of developmental biology is to understand how an organism shapes itself, a process referred to as morphogenesis. While the molecular components critical to determining the initial body plan have been well characterized, the control of the subsequent dynamics of cellular rearrangements which ultimately shape the organism are far less understood. A major roadblock to a more complete picture of morphogenesis is the inability to measure tissue-scale mechanics throughout development and thus answer fundamental questions: How is the mechanical state of the cell regulated by local protein expression and global pattering? In what way does stress feedback onto the larger developmental program? In this dissertation, we begin to approach these questions through the introduction and analysis of a multi-scale model of epithelial mechanics which explicitly connects cytoskeletal protein activity to tissue-level stress. In Chapter 2, we introduce the discrete Active Tension Network (ATN) model of cellular mechanics. ATNs are tissues that satisfy two primary assumptions: that the mechanical balance of cells is dominated by cortical tension and that myosin actively remodels the actin cytoskeleton in a stress-dependent manner. Remarkably, the interplay of these features allows for angle-preserving, i.e. 'isogonal', dilations or contractions of local cell geometry that do not generate stress. Asymptotically this model is stabilized provided there is mechanical feedback on expression of myosin within the cell; we take this to be a strong prediction to be tested. The ATN model exposes a fundamental connection between equilibrium cell geometry and its underlying force network. In Chapter 3, we relax the tension-net approximation and demonstrate that at equilibrium, epithelial tissues with non-uniform pressure have non-trivial geometric constraints that imply the network is described by a weighted `dual' triangulation. We show that the dual triangulation encodes all

Curiosity Questions

Science.gov (United States)

Nelsen, Jane; DeLorenzo, Chip

2010-01-01

Have you ever found yourself lecturing a child, with the best of intentions, in an attempt to help him or her learn a lesson or process a situation in a manner that you feel will be productive? Curiosity questions, which the authors also call What and How questions, help children process an experience, event, or natural consequence so that they…

Understanding the cellular mode of action of vernakalant using a computational model: answers and new questions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Loewe Axel

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Vernakalant is a new antiarrhythmic agent for the treatment of atrial fibrillation. While it has proven to be effective in a large share of patients in clinical studies, its underlying mode of action is not fully understood. In this work, we aim to link experimental data from the subcellular, tissue, and system level using an in-silico approach. A Hill’s equation-based drug model was extended to cover the frequency dependence of sodium channel block. Two model variants were investigated: M1 based on subcellular data and M2 based on tissue level data. 6 action potential (AP markers were evaluated regarding their dose, frequency and substrate dependence. M1 comprising potassium, sodium, and calcium channel block reproduced the reported prolongation of the refractory period. M2 not including the effects on potassium channels reproduced reported AP morphology changes on the other hand. The experimentally observed increase of ERP accompanied by a shortening of APD90 was not reproduced. Thus, explanations for the drug-induced changes are provided while none of the models can explain the effects in their entirety. These results foster the understanding of vernakalant’s cellular mode of action and point out relevant gaps in our current knowledge to be addressed in future in-silico and experimental research on this aspiring antiarrhythmic agent.

Cellular communications a comprehensive and practical guide

CERN Document Server

Tripathi, Nishith

2014-01-01

Even as newer cellular technologies and standards emerge, many of the fundamental principles and the components of the cellular network remain the same. Presenting a simple yet comprehensive view of cellular communications technologies, Cellular Communications provides an end-to-end perspective of cellular operations, ranging from physical layer details to call set-up and from the radio network to the core network. This self-contained source forpractitioners and students represents a comprehensive survey of the fundamentals of cellular communications and the landscape of commercially deployed

Self-rated worry in acute care telephone triage

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gamst-Jensen, Hejdi; Huibers, Linda; Pedersen, Kristoffer

2018-01-01

the caller's ability to quantify their degree of worry, the association between degree of worry and variables related to the caller, the effect of degree of worry on triage outcome, and the thematic content of the caller's worry. DESIGN AND SETTING: A mixed-methods study with simultaneous convergent design...... combining descriptive statistics and thematic analysis of 180 calls to a Danish out-of-hours service. METHOD: The following quantitative data were measured: age of caller, sex, reason for encounter, symptom duration, triage outcome, and degree of worry (rated from 1 = minimally worried to 5 = extremely...... worried). Qualitative data consisted of audio-recorded telephone calls. RESULTS: Most callers (170 out of 180) were able to scale their worry when contacting the out-of-hours service (median = 3, interquartile range = 2-4, mean = 2.76). Degree of worry was associated with female sex (odds ratio [OR] 1...

Telephone helplines as a source of support for eating disorders: Service user, carer, and health professional perspectives.

Science.gov (United States)

Prior, Amie-Louise; Woodward, Debbie; Hoefkens, Toni; Clayton, Debbie; Thirlaway, Katie; Limbert, Caroline

2018-01-01

Access to care for eating disorders can be problematic for numerous reasons including lack of understanding and delays with treatment referrals. Previous research has highlighted the benefits of telephone helplines as an accessible source of support for those who may not wish to access face-to-face support or to fill a gap for those waiting for treatment. This study aimed to gain an insight into the perspectives of those who may use or refer others to a telephone helpline in order to identify the requirements of such a service. Triangulation of service user, carer and health professionals' perspectives resulted in identification of themes relating to the type of support, delivery and practicalities of a helpline. The findings indicated that telephone helplines may offer numerous benefits for individuals with an eating disorder, whether accessed as a first step, alongside treatment or as an extension of this support when in recovery. Additionally helplines may provide an opportunity for carers to access information and discuss their own experiences, while supporting their loved one. Raising awareness of these services is important to encourage those affected by an eating disorder to access and make the most of this type of support. These findings offer an insight into the key requirements for new and existing service development with regard to both the type of support and the method of communication required by individuals with eating disorders.

Magnetohydrodynamics cellular automata

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hatori, Tadatsugu.

1990-02-01

There has been a renewal of interest in cellular automata, partly because they give an architecture for a special purpose computer with parallel processing optimized to solve a particular problem. The lattice gas cellular automata are briefly surveyed, which are recently developed to solve partial differential equations such as hydrodynamics or magnetohydrodynamics. A new model is given in the present paper to implement the magnetic Lorentz force in a more deterministic and local procedure than the previous one. (author)

Magnetohydrodynamic cellular automata

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hatori, Tadatsugu [National Inst. for Fusion Science, Nagoya (Japan)

1990-03-01

There has been a renewal of interest in cellular automata, partly because they give an architecture for a special purpose computer with parallel processing optimized to solve a particular problem. The lattice gas cellular automata are briefly surveyed, which are recently developed to solve partial differential equations such as hydrodynamics or magnetohydrodynamics. A new model is given in the present paper to implement the magnetic Lorentz force in a more deterministic and local procedure than the previous one. (author).

Magnetohydrodynamic cellular automata

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hatori, Tadatsugu

1990-01-01

There has been a renewal of interest in cellular automata, partly because they give an architecture for a special purpose computer with parallel processing optimized to solve a particular problem. The lattice gas cellular automata are briefly surveyed, which are recently developed to solve partial differential equations such as hydrodynamics or magnetohydrodynamics. A new model is given in the present paper to implement the magnetic Lorentz force in a more deterministic and local procedure than the previous one. (author)

Modeling cellular systems

CERN Document Server

Matthäus, Franziska; Pahle, Jürgen

2017-01-01

This contributed volume comprises research articles and reviews on topics connected to the mathematical modeling of cellular systems. These contributions cover signaling pathways, stochastic effects, cell motility and mechanics, pattern formation processes, as well as multi-scale approaches. All authors attended the workshop on "Modeling Cellular Systems" which took place in Heidelberg in October 2014. The target audience primarily comprises researchers and experts in the field, but the book may also be beneficial for graduate students.

Cellular Angiofibroma of the Nasopharynx.

Science.gov (United States)

Erdur, Zülküf Burak; Yener, Haydar Murat; Yilmaz, Mehmet; Karaaltin, Ayşegül Batioğlu; Inan, Hakki Caner; Alaskarov, Elvin; Gozen, Emine Deniz

2017-11-01

Angiofibroma is a common tumor of the nasopharynx region but cellular type is extremely rare in head and neck. A 13-year-old boy presented with frequent epistaxis and nasal obstruction persisting for 6 months. According to the clinical symptoms and imaging studies juvenile angiofibroma was suspected. Following angiographic embolization total excision of the lesion by midfacial degloving approach was performed. Histological examination revealed that the tumor consisted of staghorn blood vessels and irregular fibrous stroma. Stellate fibroblasts with small pyknotic to large vesicular nuclei were seen in a highly cellular stroma. These findings identified cellular angiofibroma mimicking juvenile angiofibroma. This article is about a very rare patient of cellular angiofibroma of nasopharynx.

Short assessment of the Big Five: robust across survey methods except telephone interviewing

OpenAIRE

Lang, Frieder R.; John, Dennis; Lüdtke, Oliver; Schupp, Jürgen; Wagner, Gert G.

2011-01-01

We examined measurement invariance and age-related robustness of a short 15-item Big Five Inventory (BFI–S) of personality dimensions, which is well suited for applications in large-scale multidisciplinary surveys. The BFI–S was assessed in three different interviewing conditions: computer-assisted or paper-assisted face-to-face interviewing, computer-assisted telephone interviewing, and a self-administered questionnaire. Randomized probability samples from a large-scale German panel survey a...

The effect of telephone follow-up after ambulatory surgery on pain management for children at home by parents

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Saeedeh Almasi

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Since time was short hospitalization after ambulatory surgery after discharge the duty of care of children at home, and parents are responsible, their familiarity with pharmacological and nonpharmacological methods of pain relief is essential. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the effect of telephone follow-up after ambulatory surgery on pain management for children at home by their parents. In these clinical trial 68 children 6 to 12 years admitted for tonsillectomy operation with careful parent choice and block randomly divided into control and test. For experimental group, including training of pharmacological and nonpharmacological methods of pain relief and telephone follow-up was done in the first three days after discharge. Data were collected log home checklist was completed by parents. Data by SPSS version 16 and chi-square tests, t and analysis of variance with repeated measures were analyzed. The mean pain intensity scores, palliative effects of acetaminophen and the use of pain relief medication and non-drug control between the two groups was statistically significant difference (P <0.05. However, between the two groups was statistically significant difference was observed sedative effects. ambulatory surgery and follow-up training before the telephone after discharge would empower parents with children at home pain management.

THE EXPLICIT COMPREHENSION-STRATEGY INSTRUCTION: QUESTION-ANSWER RELATIONSHIP VS SELF-QUESTIONING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lalu Thohir

2017-12-01

Full Text Available This study was aimed at examining and comparing the effectiveness of the Question-Answer Relationship (QAR and Self-Questioning (SQ strategies in improving the reading ability of the undergraduate students. This study was a quasi-experimental study in which two out of three classes of the third semester students at English department of Mataram University were selected randomly to receive either QAR strategy or SQ strategy instructions for ten weekly meetings. The findings of pre- and posttest with multiple-choice questions revealed that both comprehension strategies were effective in improving the undergraduate students‘ reading ability. The findings from the posttest with multiple-choice questions indicated the students who received SQ strategy instruction scored significantly higher than those students who received QAR strategy instruction. On the other hand, the students who received QAR strategy instruction scored slightly higher than those students who received SQ strategy instruction in the posttest with open-ended questions.

47 CFR 22.923 - Cellular system configuration.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 2 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Cellular system configuration. 22.923 Section... MOBILE SERVICES Cellular Radiotelephone Service § 22.923 Cellular system configuration. Mobile stations... directly or through cellular repeaters. Auxiliary test stations may communicate with base or mobile...

The Bandung neurosurgery patient outcomes project, Indonesia (Part II): Patient pathways and feasibility and acceptability of telephone follow-up.

Science.gov (United States)

Sutiono, Agung Budi; Faried, Ahmad; McAllister, Susan; Ganefianty, Amelia; Sarjono, Kalih; Arifin, Muhammad Zafrullah; Derrett, Sarah

2018-01-01

Support of neurosurgery patients following discharge from hospital is important. Currently, little is known about patients' in low- and middle-income countries before and after their hospital treatment. This companion paper reports patients' pathways before and after hospital admission and the feasibility of following up this ill-patient population by telephone. Eligible patients were aged ≥18 years admitted to the Neurosurgery Department in Dr. Hasan Sadikin Hospital-a regional referral hospital in Bandung City, Indonesia. Clinical data were collected on admission by clinicians. In-person interviews were undertaken with a clinical research nurse 1 to 2 days pre-discharge, and telephone follow-up interviews at 1, 2, and 3 months post-discharge. Information was also collected on pathways prior to admission and following discharge. The number of contact attempts for each patient interview was documented, as was the overall acceptability of undertaking a telephone interview. Of 178 patients discharged from hospital, 12 later died. Of the remaining 166 patients, 95% were able to be followed up to 3 months. Two-thirds of patients had been referred from another hospital. Patients came from, and were discharged to, locations throughout the West Java region. At the 1-month interview, 84% participants reported that they had had a follow-up consultation with a health professional-mostly with a neurosurgeon. This study has shown that, with a neurosurgery nurse delegated to the role, it is feasible to conduct follow-up telephone interviews with patients after discharge from a neurosurgery ward and that in fact such follow-up was appreciated by patients. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Design and simulation of virtual telephone keypad control based on brain computer interface (BCI with very high transfer rates

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rehab B. Ashari

2011-03-01

Full Text Available Brain Computer Interface (BCI is a communication and control mechanism, which does not rely on any kind of muscular response to send a message to the external world. This technique is used to help the paralyzed people with spinal cord injury to have the ability to communicate with the external world. In this paper we emphasize to increase the BCI System bit rate for controlling a virtual telephone keypad. To achieve the proposed algorithm, a simulated virtual telephone keypad based on Steady State Visual Evoked Potential (SSVEP BCI system is developed. Dynamic programming technique with specifically modified Longest Common Subsequence (LCS algorithm is used. By comparing the paralyzed user selection with the recent, and then the rest, of the stored records in the file of the telephone, the user can save the rest of his choices for controlling the keypad and thence improving the overall performance of the BCI system. This axiomatic approach, which is used in searching the web pages for increasing the performance of the searching, is urgent to be used for the paralyzed people rather than the normal user.

Recursive definition of global cellular-automata mappings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Feldberg, R.; Knudsen, C.; Rasmussen, S.

1994-01-01

A method for a recursive definition of global cellular-automata mappings is presented. The method is based on a graphical representation of global cellular-automata mappings. For a given cellular-automaton rule the recursive algorithm defines the change of the global cellular-automaton mapping as the number of lattice sites is incremented. A proof of lattice size invariance of global cellular-automata mappings is derived from an approximation to the exact recursive definition. The recursive definitions are applied to calculate the fractal dimension of the set of reachable states and of the set of fixed points of cellular automata on an infinite lattice

Time-tradeoff values and standard-gamble utilities assessed during telephone interviews versus face-to-face interviews

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Wijck, Esther; Bosch, JL; Hunink, Maria

1998-01-01

The purpose of this study was to compare time-tradeoff values and standard-gamble utilities obtained during telephone interviews with those obtained through face-to-face interviews. Sixty-five patients with peripheral arterial occlusive disease completed both interviews. One week prior to the

Randomized Trial Comparing Telephone Versus In-Person Weight Loss Counseling on Body Composition and Circulating Biomarkers in Women Treated for Breast Cancer: The Lifestyle, Exercise, and Nutrition (LEAN) Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Harrigan, Maura; Cartmel, Brenda; Loftfield, Erikka; Sanft, Tara; Chagpar, Anees B; Zhou, Yang; Playdon, Mary; Li, Fangyong; Irwin, Melinda L

2016-03-01

Obesity is associated with a higher risk of breast cancer mortality. The gold standard approach to weight loss is in-person counseling, but telephone counseling may be more feasible. We examined the effect of in-person versus telephone weight loss counseling versus usual care on 6-month changes in body composition, physical activity, diet, and serum biomarkers. One hundred breast cancer survivors with a body mass index ≥ 25 kg/m(2) were randomly assigned to in-person counseling (n = 33), telephone counseling (n = 34), or usual care (UC) (n = 33). In-person and telephone counseling included 11 30-minute counseling sessions over 6 months. These focused on reducing caloric intake, increasing physical activity, and behavioral therapy. Body composition, physical activity, diet, and serum biomarkers were measured at baseline and 6 months. The mean age of participants was 59 ± 7.5 years old, with a mean BMI of 33.1 ± 6.6 kg/m(2), and the mean time from diagnosis was 2.9 ± 2.1 years. Fifty-one percent of the participants had stage I breast cancer. Average 6-month weight loss was 6.4%, 5.4%, and 2.0% for in-person, telephone, and UC groups, respectively (P = .004, P = .009, and P = .46 comparing in-person with UC, telephone with UC, and in-person with telephone, respectively). A significant 30% decrease in C-reactive protein levels was observed among women randomly assigned to the combined weight loss intervention groups compared with a 1% decrease among women randomly assigned to UC (P = .05). Both in-person and telephone counseling were effective weight loss strategies, with favorable effects on C-reactive protein levels. Our findings may help guide the incorporation of weight loss counseling into breast cancer treatment and care. © 2015 by American Society of Clinical Oncology.

IBD patients in remission strongly prefer annual telephone calls by IBD nurse - compared to outpatient visits

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bager, Palle; Hentze, Runa; Markussen, Toto

Aim: To investigate the willingness among IBD patients in remission to change regularly outpatient visits to annual telephone calls by an IBD nurse. To illuminate potential barriers for introducing Self Management (SM) in the handling of IBD patients. Background: Incidence of IBD is increasing...... by a telephone call by an IBD nurse. Furthermore an extended acute access to the hospital is needed if flare occurs. Patients and Methods: 150 consecutive IBD patients attending to the outpatient clinic at Aarhus University Hospital were presented to the SM approach. On a Likert scale they were asked to what...... extend they were willing to change to SM compared to current routine appointments. Results: 87 % of the patients ‘agreed’ or ‘almost agreed’ to adopt the SM approach. Many patients comment that it was an excellent and timesaving idea. Those who had doubts were mainly older males with a long history...

Cellular senescence and organismal aging.

Science.gov (United States)

Jeyapalan, Jessie C; Sedivy, John M

2008-01-01

Cellular senescence, first observed and defined using in vitro cell culture studies, is an irreversible cell cycle arrest which can be triggered by a variety of factors. Emerging evidence suggests that cellular senescence acts as an in vivo tumor suppression mechanism by limiting aberrant proliferation. It has also been postulated that cellular senescence can occur independently of cancer and contribute to the physiological processes of normal organismal aging. Recent data have demonstrated the in vivo accumulation of senescent cells with advancing age. Some characteristics of senescent cells, such as the ability to modify their extracellular environment, could play a role in aging and age-related pathology. In this review, we examine current evidence that links cellular senescence and organismal aging.

Assessment of communication technology and post-operative telephone surveillance during global urology mission.

Science.gov (United States)

Rapp, David E; Colhoun, Andrew; Morin, Jacqueline; Bradford, Timothy J

2018-02-21

Compliance with post-operative follow-up in the context of international surgical trips is often poor. The etiology of this problem is multifactorial and includes lack of local physician involvement, transportation costs, and work responsibilities. We aimed to better understand availability of communication technologies within Belize and use this information to improve follow-up after visiting surgical trips to a public hospital in Belize City. Accordingly, a 6-item questionnaire assessing access to communication technologies was completed by all patients undergoing evaluation by a visiting surgical team in 2014. Based on this data, a pilot program for patients undergoing surgery was instituted for subsequent missions (2015-2016) that included a 6-week post-operative telephone interview with a visiting physician located in the United States. Fifty-four (n = 54) patients were assessed via survey with 89% responding that they had a mobile phone. Patients reported less access to home internet (59%), local internet (52%), and email (48%). Of 35 surgical patients undergoing surgery during 2 subsequent surgical trips, 18 (51%) were compliant with telephone interview at 6-week follow-up. Issues were identified in 3 (17%) patients that allowed for physician assistance. The cost per patient interview was $10 USD.

Zeno's paradox in quantum cellular automata

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Groessing, G [Atominst. der Oesterreichischen Universitaeten, Vienna (Austria); Zeilinger, A [Inst. fuer Experimentalphysik, Univ. Innsbruck (Austria)

1991-07-01

The effect of Zeno's paradox in quantum theory is demonstrated with the aid of quantum mechanical cellular automata. It is shown that the degree of non-unitarity of the cellular automaton evolution and the frequency of consecutive measurements of cellular automaton states are operationally indistinguishable. (orig.).

Zeno's paradox in quantum cellular automata

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Groessing, G.; Zeilinger, A.

1991-01-01

The effect of Zeno's paradox in quantum theory is demonstrated with the aid of quantum mechanical cellular automata. It is shown that the degree of non-unitarity of the cellular automaton evolution and the frequency of consecutive measurements of cellular automaton states are operationally indistinguishable. (orig.)

Couples, contentious conversations, mobile telephone use and driving.

Science.gov (United States)

Lansdown, Terry C; Stephens, Amanda N

2013-01-01

Studies have shown that the inappropriate use of in-vehicle technology may lead to hazardous disruption of driver performance. This paper reports an investigation into the socio-technical implications of maintaining a difficult conversation while driving. Twenty romantically involved couples participated in a driving-simulator experiment. The participants engaged in emotionally difficult conversations while one partner drove. The contentious conversation topics were identified using a revealed differences protocol, requiring partners to discuss sources of ongoing disagreement in their relationship. The conversations were conducted either using handsfree telephone or with both parties present in the simulator. Results indicate that the revealed differences tasks were subjectively viewed as emotionally more difficult than a control. Driver performance was found to be adversely effected for both longitudinal and lateral vehicle control. Performance was worst during contentious conversations with the partner present, suggesting the drivers may be better able to regulate driving task demands with the partner not in the vehicle during difficult discussions. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

47 CFR 90.672 - Unacceptable interference to non-cellular 800 MHz licensees from 800 MHz cellular systems or part...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Unacceptable interference to non-cellular 800 MHz licensees from 800 MHz cellular systems or part 22 Cellular Radiotelephone systems, and within the... Procedures and Process-Unacceptable Interference § 90.672 Unacceptable interference to non-cellular 800 MHz...

Plant Nucleolar Stress Response, a New Face in the NAC-Dependent Cellular Stress Responses

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Iwai Ohbayashi

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The nucleolus is the most prominent nuclear domain, where the core processes of ribosome biogenesis occur vigorously. All these processes are finely orchestrated by many nucleolar factors to build precisely ribosome particles. In animal cells, perturbations of ribosome biogenesis, mostly accompanied by structural disorders of the nucleolus, cause a kind of cellular stress to induce cell cycle arrest, senescence, or apoptosis, which is called nucleolar stress response. The best-characterized pathway of this stress response involves p53 and MDM2 as key players. p53 is a crucial transcription factor that functions in response to not only nucleolar stress but also other cellular stresses such as DNA damage stress. These cellular stresses release p53 from the inhibition by MDM2, an E3 ubiquitin ligase targeting p53, in various ways, which leads to p53-dependent activation of a set of genes. In plants, genetic impairments of ribosome biogenesis factors or ribosome components have been shown to cause characteristic phenotypes, including a narrow and pointed leaf shape, implying a common signaling pathway connecting ribosomal perturbations and certain aspects of growth and development. Unlike animals, however, plants have neither p53 nor MDM2 family proteins. Then the question arises whether plant cells have a nucleolar stress response pathway. In recent years, it has been reported that several members of the plant-specific transcription factor family NAC play critical roles in the pathways responsive to various cellular stresses. In this mini review, we outline the plant cellular stress response pathways involving NAC transcription factors with reference to the p53-MDM2-dependent pathways of animal cells, and discuss the possible involvement of a plant-unique, NAC-mediated pathway in the nucleolar stress response in plants.

Plant Nucleolar Stress Response, a New Face in the NAC-Dependent Cellular Stress Responses.

Science.gov (United States)

Ohbayashi, Iwai; Sugiyama, Munetaka

2017-01-01

The nucleolus is the most prominent nuclear domain, where the core processes of ribosome biogenesis occur vigorously. All these processes are finely orchestrated by many nucleolar factors to build precisely ribosome particles. In animal cells, perturbations of ribosome biogenesis, mostly accompanied by structural disorders of the nucleolus, cause a kind of cellular stress to induce cell cycle arrest, senescence, or apoptosis, which is called nucleolar stress response. The best-characterized pathway of this stress response involves p53 and MDM2 as key players. p53 is a crucial transcription factor that functions in response to not only nucleolar stress but also other cellular stresses such as DNA damage stress. These cellular stresses release p53 from the inhibition by MDM2, an E3 ubiquitin ligase targeting p53, in various ways, which leads to p53-dependent activation of a set of genes. In plants, genetic impairments of ribosome biogenesis factors or ribosome components have been shown to cause characteristic phenotypes, including a narrow and pointed leaf shape, implying a common signaling pathway connecting ribosomal perturbations and certain aspects of growth and development. Unlike animals, however, plants have neither p53 nor MDM2 family proteins. Then the question arises whether plant cells have a nucleolar stress response pathway. In recent years, it has been reported that several members of the plant-specific transcription factor family NAC play critical roles in the pathways responsive to various cellular stresses. In this mini review, we outline the plant cellular stress response pathways involving NAC transcription factors with reference to the p53-MDM2-dependent pathways of animal cells, and discuss the possible involvement of a plant-unique, NAC-mediated pathway in the nucleolar stress response in plants.

Easing reintegration: telephone support groups for spouses of returning Iraq and Afghanistan service members.

Science.gov (United States)

Nichols, Linda Olivia; Martindale-Adams, Jennifer; Graney, Marshall J; Zuber, Jeffrey; Burns, Robert

2013-01-01

Spouses of returning Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom, OIF) and Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom, OEF) military service members report increased depression and anxiety post deployment as they work to reintegrate the family and service member. Reconnecting the family, renegotiating roles that have shifted, reestablishing communication patterns, and dealing with mental health concerns are all tasks that spouses must undertake as part of reintegration. We tested telephone support groups focusing on helping spouses with these basic reintegration tasks. Year-long telephone support groups focused on education, skills building (communication skills, problem solving training, cognitive behavioral techniques, stress management), and support. Spouse depression and anxiety were decreased and perceived social support was increased during the course of the study. In subgroup analyses, spouses with husbands whose injuries caused care difficulties had a positive response to the intervention. However, they were more likely to be depressed, be anxious, and have less social support compared to participants who had husbands who had no injury or whose injury did not cause care difficulty. Study findings suggest that this well-established, high-access intervention can help improve quality of life for military spouses who are struggling with reintegration of the service member and family.

Origami interleaved tube cellular materials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cheung, Kenneth C; Tachi, Tomohiro; Calisch, Sam; Miura, Koryo

2014-01-01

A novel origami cellular material based on a deployable cellular origami structure is described. The structure is bi-directionally flat-foldable in two orthogonal (x and y) directions and is relatively stiff in the third orthogonal (z) direction. While such mechanical orthotropicity is well known in cellular materials with extruded two dimensional geometry, the interleaved tube geometry presented here consists of two orthogonal axes of interleaved tubes with high interfacial surface area and relative volume that changes with fold-state. In addition, the foldability still allows for fabrication by a flat lamination process, similar to methods used for conventional expanded two dimensional cellular materials. This article presents the geometric characteristics of the structure together with corresponding kinematic and mechanical modeling, explaining the orthotropic elastic behavior of the structure with classical dimensional scaling analysis. (paper)

Origami interleaved tube cellular materials

Science.gov (United States)

Cheung, Kenneth C.; Tachi, Tomohiro; Calisch, Sam; Miura, Koryo

2014-09-01

A novel origami cellular material based on a deployable cellular origami structure is described. The structure is bi-directionally flat-foldable in two orthogonal (x and y) directions and is relatively stiff in the third orthogonal (z) direction. While such mechanical orthotropicity is well known in cellular materials with extruded two dimensional geometry, the interleaved tube geometry presented here consists of two orthogonal axes of interleaved tubes with high interfacial surface area and relative volume that changes with fold-state. In addition, the foldability still allows for fabrication by a flat lamination process, similar to methods used for conventional expanded two dimensional cellular materials. This article presents the geometric characteristics of the structure together with corresponding kinematic and mechanical modeling, explaining the orthotropic elastic behavior of the structure with classical dimensional scaling analysis.

Estimating cellular network performance during hurricanes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Booker, Graham; Torres, Jacob; Guikema, Seth; Sprintson, Alex; Brumbelow, Kelly

2010-01-01

Cellular networks serve a critical role during and immediately after a hurricane, allowing citizens to contact emergency services when land-line communication is lost and serving as a backup communication channel for emergency responders. However, due to their ubiquitous deployment and limited design for extreme loading events, basic network elements, such as cellular towers and antennas are prone to failures during adverse weather conditions such as hurricanes. Accordingly, a systematic and computationally feasible approach is required for assessing and improving the reliability of cellular networks during hurricanes. In this paper we develop a new multi-disciplinary approach to efficiently and accurately assess cellular network reliability during hurricanes. We show how the performance of a cellular network during and immediately after future hurricanes can be estimated based on a combination of hurricane wind field models, structural reliability analysis, Monte Carlo simulation, and cellular network models and simulation tools. We then demonstrate the use of this approach for assessing the improvement in system reliability that can be achieved with discrete topological changes in the system. Our results suggest that adding redundancy, particularly through a mesh topology or through the addition of an optical fiber ring around the perimeter of the system can be an effective way to significantly increase the reliability of some cellular systems during hurricanes.

Asking Questions in Academia

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Annette Skovsted

2014-01-01

Motivation for the activity In academia the most important skill is to ask academically relevant and sound questions. This is not easy and students need to practice asking questions orally and in writing before they write research papers.......Motivation for the activity In academia the most important skill is to ask academically relevant and sound questions. This is not easy and students need to practice asking questions orally and in writing before they write research papers....

Individualized guidance and telephone monitoring in a self-supervised home-based physiotherapeutic program in Parkinson

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ihana Thaís Guerra de Oliveira Gondim

Full Text Available Abstract Introduction: Home therapeutic exercises have been a target of interest in the treatment of the Parkinson's disease (PD. The way that the physical therapist guides and monitors these exercises can impact the success of therapy. Objective: To evaluate the effects of individualized orientation and monitoring by telephone in a self-supervised home therapeutic exercise program on signs and symptoms of PD and quality of life (QoL. Methods: Single-blind randomized clinical trials with 28 people with PD (Hoehn and Yahr 1 to 3. Patients were randomized into two groups: experimental and control. The experimental group had a meeting with individualized guidance about physiotherapy exercises present in a manual, received the manual to guide their activities at home and obtained subsequent weekly monitoring by telephone. The control group received the usual cares by the service. Both were orientated to carry out exercises three times a week during 12 weeks. Was evaluated: (1 activities of daily living (ADL and motor examination sections of the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS and QoL by the Parkinson Disease Questionnaire 39 (PDQ-39. The analysis between groups was performed by the Mann-Whitney test and intragroup through the Wilcoxon (p < 0.05. Results: Significant improvement in ADL (p= 0.001 and motor examination (p= 0.0008 of the UPDRS, PDQ-39 total (p = 0.027 and dimensions mobility (p = 0.027, emotional well-being (p= 0.021 and bodily discomfort (p = 0.027 in the experimental group compared to the control group. Conclusion: The individualized guidance and weekly monitoring by telephone in a self-supervised home therapeutic exercises program promoted positive effects on ADL, motor examination and QoL of people in early stages of PD.

X-ray micro-tomography for investigations of brain tissues on cellular level

Science.gov (United States)

Khimchenko, Anna; Schulz, Georg; Deyhle, Hans; Thalmann, Peter; Zanette, Irene; Zdora, Marie-Christine; Bikis, Christos; Hipp, Alexander; Hieber, Simone E.; Schweighauser, Gabriel; Hench, Jürgen; Müller, Bert

2016-10-01

X-ray imaging in absorption contrast mode is well established for hard tissue visualization. However, performance for lower density materials is limited due to a reduced contrast. Our aim is three-dimensional (3D) characterization of micro-morphology of human brain tissues down to (sub-)cellular resolution within a laboratory environment. Using the laboratory-based microtomography (μCT) system nanotom m (GE Sensing and Inspection Technologies GmbH, Wunstorf, Germany) and synchrotron radiation at the Diamond-Manchester Imaging Branchline I13-2 (Diamond Light Source, Didcot, UK), we have acquired 3D data with a resolution down to 0.45 μm for visualization of a human cerebellum specimen down to cellular level. We have shown that all selected modalities, namely laboratory-based absorption contrast micro-tomography (LBμCT), synchrotron radiation based in-line single distance phase contrast tomography (SDPR) and synchrotron radiation based single-grating interferometry (GI), can reach cellular resolution for tissue samples with a size in the mm-range. The results are discussed qualitatively in comparison to optical microscopy of haematoxylin and eosin (HE) stained sections. As phase contrast yields to a better data quality for soft tissues and in order to overcome restrictions of limited beamline access for phase contrast measurements, we have equipped the μCT system nanotom m with a double-grating phase contrast set-up. Preliminary experimental results of a knee sample consisting of a bony part and a cartilage demonstrate that phase contrast data exhibits better quality compared to absorption contrast. Currently, the set-up is under adjustment. It is expected that cellular resolution would also be achieved. The questions arise (1) what would be the quality gain of laboratory-based phase contrast in comparison to laboratory-based absorption contrast tomography and (2) could laboratory-based phase contrast data provide comparable results to synchrotron radiation based