WorldWideScience

Sample records for messaging services-based personal

  1. Proximity-Based Asynchronous Messaging Platform for Location-Based Internet of Things Service

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hyeong gon Jo

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available The Internet of Things (IoT opens up tremendous opportunities to provide location-based applications. However, despite the services around a user being physically adjacent, common IoT platforms use a centralized structure, like a cloud-computing architecture, which transfers large amounts of data to a central server. This raises problems, such as traffic concentration, long service latency, and high communication cost. In this paper, we propose a physical distance-based asynchronous messaging platform that specializes in processing personalized data and location-based messages. The proposed system disperses traffic using a location-based message-delivery protocol, and has high stability.

  2. Mobile Messaging Services-Based Personal Electrocardiogram Monitoring System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ashraf A. Tahat

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available A mobile monitoring system utilizing Bluetooth and mobile messaging services (MMS/SMSs with low-cost hardware equipment is proposed. A proof of concept prototype has been developed and implemented to enable transmission of an Electrocardiogram (ECG signal and body temperature of a patient, which can be expanded to include other vital signs. Communication between a mobile smart-phone and the ECG and temperature acquisition apparatus is implemented using the popular personal area network standard specification Bluetooth. When utilizing MMS for transmission, the mobile phone plots the received ECG signal and displays the temperature using special application software running on the client mobile phone itself, where the plot can be captured and saved as an image before transmission. Alternatively, SMS can be selected as a transmission means, where in this scenario, dedicated application software is required at the receiving device. The experimental setup can be operated for monitoring from anywhere in the globe covered by a cellular network that offers data services.

  3. Mobile messaging services-based personal electrocardiogram monitoring system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tahat, Ashraf A

    2009-01-01

    A mobile monitoring system utilizing Bluetooth and mobile messaging services (MMS/SMSs) with low-cost hardware equipment is proposed. A proof of concept prototype has been developed and implemented to enable transmission of an Electrocardiogram (ECG) signal and body temperature of a patient, which can be expanded to include other vital signs. Communication between a mobile smart-phone and the ECG and temperature acquisition apparatus is implemented using the popular personal area network standard specification Bluetooth. When utilizing MMS for transmission, the mobile phone plots the received ECG signal and displays the temperature using special application software running on the client mobile phone itself, where the plot can be captured and saved as an image before transmission. Alternatively, SMS can be selected as a transmission means, where in this scenario, dedicated application software is required at the receiving device. The experimental setup can be operated for monitoring from anywhere in the globe covered by a cellular network that offers data services.

  4. Message Oriented Approach to WOM Effects in Service Industries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    MUSTAFA DILBER

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available In this study a search-based and an experience-based service were examined in Word-of-Mouth (WOM context. The study aimed at revealing the extent to which consumer choices in movie theatre and repair and maintenance shop services are influenced by the experience communicated by personal sources. Four key contributions are planned. Firstly, although it has attracted attention and criticism there is no empirical examination regarding message characteristics. In this study, the effects of messages delivered by senders concerning purchase decisions are investigated. Secondly, a more powerful scale regarding active information search was developed. Thirdly, perceptual homophily and sender characteristics were added to the model in a unique construct. Fourthly, to measure the effects of personal sources a classification of services is applied for the first time in WOM researches in this context. Data was subjected to an exploratory factor analysis (EFA and reliability analysis in the first stage of the analysis. At the second stage, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA was conducted and the model's hypotheses were tested by using structural equation modeling (SEM.

  5. Perancangan dan Implementasi Sistem Informasi Layanan Short Messaging Service (SMS)

    OpenAIRE

    Rossy W, Cahyo; Wellem, Theophilus; Utomo, Wiranto Herry

    2006-01-01

    Development progress of Communication technology increase in a line with the people demand of the technology, such as Wireless communication technology, especially, Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM), which known as a digital mobile phone. Mobile phone used to send and receive short message in GSM network known as Short Messaging Service (SMS), besides communicate with another person by voice. In recent years, SMS is not just used for text-based communication tool between mobile pho...

  6. Perancangan Dan Realisasi Sistem Transmisi Data GPS Menggunakan Teknologi SMS (Short Messaging Service Sebagai Aplikasi Sistem Personal Tracking

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    DECY NATALIANA

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstrak Berprinsip pada pengembangan teknologi dan aplikasi dari sistem penjejakan posisi (tracking, maka dibuatlah sistem personal tracking dengan mentransmisikan data GPS (Global Positioning System dengan menggunakan teknologi SMS (Short Messaging Service pada jaringan GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications sebagai media transmisinya.  Dengan sistem GPS akan diperoleh data garis lintang, serta garis bujur dari GPS receiver.  Data tersebut akan diteruskan oleh mikrokontroler untuk dikirim ke ponsel pengamat melalui komunikasi SMS.  Hasil pengujian menunjukkan bahwa device personal tracking berhasil mengirimkan data berupa IMEI, Tanggal satelit, waktu satelit, koordinat longitude, koordinat latitude, dan jumlah satelit yang berhasil ditangkap oleh device ke ponsel pengamat.  Dari data koordinat tersebut pengamat dapat memantau posisi device personal tracking berada dengan bantuan aplikasi pendukung yaitu Google Maps. Kata kunci: GPS, Personal Tracking, SMS, Google Maps.   Abstract Base on technology and application development of tracking, personal tracking system was made by transmiting GPS (Global Positioning System data using SMS (Short Messaging Service technology with GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications network as transmitter media.  BY GPS system, we can get datas such as latitude and longitude of GPS receiver.  Those datas will be processed by microcontroller to be sent from GSM/GPRS module to user cellular phone through SMS communication.  The test result showed that the device can be sending datas such as IMEI, UTC date, UTC time, longitude coordinate, latitude coordinate, and number sattelite which detected by device to user’s phonecell.  From those coordinate, user can be monitoring the device’s position with the Google Maps application. Keywords: GPS, Personal Tracking, SMS, Google Maps.

  7. A Visualized Message Interface (VMI) for intelligent messaging services

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Endo, T.; Kasahara, H.; Nakagawa, T.

    1984-01-01

    In CCITT, Message Handling Systems (MHS) have been studied from the viewpoint of communications protocol standardization. In addition to MHS services, Message Processing (MP) services, such as image processing, filing and retrieving services, will come into increasing demand in office automation field. These messaging services, including MHS services, can be thought of as Intelligent Messaging (IM) services. IM services include many basic services, optional user facilities and service parameters. Accordingly, it is necessary to deal with these parameters and MP procedures in as systematic and user-friendly a manner as possible. As one step towards realizing a user-friendly IM services interface, the characteristics of IM service parameters are studied and a Visualized Message Interface (VMI) which resembles a conventional letter exchange format is presented. The concept of VMI formation is discussed using the generic document structure concept as well as a Screen Interface and Protocol Interface conversion package

  8. The WLCG Messaging Service and its Future

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cons, Lionel; Paladin, Massimo

    2012-01-01

    Enterprise messaging is seen as an attractive mechanism to simplify and extend several portions of the Grid middleware, from low level monitoring to experiments dashboards. The production messaging service currently used by WLCG includes four tightly coupled brokers operated by EGI (running Apache ActiveMQ and designed to host the Grid operational tools such as SAM) as well as two dedicated services for ATLAS-DDM and experiments dashboards (currently also running Apache ActiveMQ). In the future, this service is expected to grow in numbers of applications supported, brokers and technologies. The WLCG Messaging Roadmap identified three areas with room for improvement (security, scalability and availability/reliability) as well as ten practical recommendations to address them. This paper describes a messaging service architecture that is in line with these recommendations as well as a software architecture based on reusable components that ease interactions with the messaging service. These two architectures will support the growth of the WLCG messaging service.

  9. The WLCG Messaging Service and its Future

    CERN Document Server

    Cons, Lionel

    2012-01-01

    Enterprise messaging is seen as an attractive mechanism to simplify and extend several portions of the Grid middleware, from low level monitoring to experiments dashboards. The production messaging service currently used by WLCG includes four tightly coupled brokers operated by EGI (running Apache ActiveMQ and designed to host the Grid operational tools such as SAM) as well as two dedicated services for ATLAS-DDM and experiments dashboards (currently also running Apache ActiveMQ). In the future, this service is expected to grow in numbers of applications supported, brokers and technologies. The WLCG Messaging Roadmap identified three areas with room for improvement (security, scalability and availability/reliability) as well as ten practical recommendations to address them. This paper describes a messaging service architecture that is in line with these recommendations as well as a software architecture based on reusable components that ease interactions with the messaging service. These two architectures wil...

  10. Personalization of Rule-based Web Services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choi, Okkyung; Han, Sang Yong

    2008-04-04

    Nowadays Web users have clearly expressed their wishes to receive personalized services directly. Personalization is the way to tailor services directly to the immediate requirements of the user. However, the current Web Services System does not provide any features supporting this such as consideration of personalization of services and intelligent matchmaking. In this research a flexible, personalized Rule-based Web Services System to address these problems and to enable efficient search, discovery and construction across general Web documents and Semantic Web documents in a Web Services System is proposed. This system utilizes matchmaking among service requesters', service providers' and users' preferences using a Rule-based Search Method, and subsequently ranks search results. A prototype of efficient Web Services search and construction for the suggested system is developed based on the current work.

  11. AMS: Area Message Service for SLC

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Crane, M.; Mackenzie, R.; Millsom, D.; Zelazny, M.

    1993-04-01

    The Area Message Service (AMS) is a TCP/IP based messaging service currently in use at SLAC. A number of projects under development here at SLAC require and application level interface to the 4.3BSD UNIX socket level communications functions using TCP/IP over ethernet. AMS provides connection management, solicited message transfer, unsolicited message transfer, and asynchronous notification of pending messages. AMS is written completely in ANSI 'C' and is currently portable over three hardware/operating system/network manager platforms, VAX/VMS/Multinet, PC/MS-DOS/Pathworks, VME 68K/pSOS/pNA. The basic architecture is a client-server connection where either end of the interface may be the server. This allows for connections and data flow to be initiated from either end of the interface. Included in the paper are details concerning the connection management, the handling of the multi-platform code, and the implementation process

  12. AMS: Area Message Service for SLC

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Crane, M.; Mackenzie, R.; Millsom, D.; Zelazny, M.

    1993-01-01

    The Area Message Service (AMS) is a TCP/IP based messaging service currently in use at SLAC. A number of projects under development here at SLAC require an application level interface to the 4.3BSD UNIX socket level communications functions using TCP/IP over ethernet. AMS provides connection management, solicited message transfer, unsolicited message transfer, and asynchronous notification of pending messages. AMS is written completely in ANSI open-quote C close-quote and is currently portable over three hardware/operating system/network manager platforms, VAX/VMS/Multinet, PC/MS-DOS/Pathworks, VME 68K/pSOS/pNA. The basic architecture is a client-server connection where either end of the interface may be the server. This allows for connections and data flow to be initiated from either end of the interface. Included in the paper are details concerning the connection management, the handling of the multi-platform code, and the implementation process

  13. Perancangan Dan Realisasi Sistem Transmisi Data GPS Menggunakan Teknologi SMS (Short Messaging Service) Sebagai Aplikasi Sistem Personal Tracking

    OpenAIRE

    DECY NATALIANA

    2013-01-01

    Abstrak Berprinsip pada pengembangan teknologi dan aplikasi dari sistem penjejakan posisi (tracking), maka dibuatlah sistem personal tracking dengan mentransmisikan data GPS (Global Positioning System) dengan menggunakan teknologi SMS (Short Messaging Service) pada jaringan GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) sebagai media transmisinya.  Dengan sistem GPS akan diperoleh data garis lintang, serta garis bujur dari GPS receiver.  Data tersebut akan diteruskan oleh mikrokontroler untuk ...

  14. Mobile phone short message service messaging for behaviour modification in a community-based weight control programme in Korea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Joo, Nam-Seok; Kim, Bom-Taeck

    2007-01-01

    We conducted a community-based anti-obesity programme using mobile phone short message service (SMS) messaging. A total of 927 participants were recruited and visited a public health centre for initial assessment. Mobile phones were used to deliver short messages about diet, exercise and behaviour modification once a week. After a 12-week anti-obesity programme they visited the public health centre again. Four hundred and thirty-three subjects (47%) successfully completed their weight control programme. There were mean reductions of weight, waist circumference and body mass index of 1.6 kg (P behaviour modification in weight control and anti-obesity health education programmes when promoted by community health centres.

  15. Designing Personalization in Technology-Based Services

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Min Kyung

    2013-01-01

    Personalization technology has the potential to optimize service for each person's unique needs and characteristics. One way to optimize service is to allow people to customize the service themselves; another is to proactively tailor services based on information provided by people or inferred from their past behaviors. These approaches function…

  16. BrdsNBz: Sexually Experienced Teens More Likely to Use Sexual Health Text Message Service.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Willoughby, Jessica Fitts

    2015-12-01

    Text messaging services are becoming an increasingly popular way to provide sexual health information to teens, but little is known about who uses such services. This study assessed whether teens at a greater risk for negative sexual health outcomes use a sexual health text message service. A text message service that connects teens with sexual health educators was promoted in six public schools in one state in the Southeast. Students (n = 2,125) in four schools completed an online questionnaire assessing personal risk factors associated with negative sexual health outcomes and use of the text message service. Text message service users (n = 144) were more likely to have had sex, to have been in a relationship, and to come from a lower socioeconomic status background. Users also felt less connected to their schools and were slightly older than nonservice users. When all variables were entered into a logistic regression, only sexual experience was associated with service use. Sexual health text message services are designed to provide information to teens in an effort to prevent negative sexual outcomes. Such services seem to be reaching youth with increased risk of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease acquisition. This study provides evidence that teens most likely to benefit are also those most likely to use a sexual health text message service. © 2015 Society for Public Health Education.

  17. Nonprofit health care services marketing: persuasive messages based on multidimensional concept mapping and direct magnitude estimation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hall, Michael L

    2009-01-01

    Persuasive messages for marketing healthcare services in general and coordinated care in particular are more important now for providers, hospitals, and third-party payers than ever before. The combination of measurement-based information and creativity may be among the most critical factors in reaching markets or expanding markets. The research presented here provides an approach to marketing coordinated care services which allows healthcare managers to plan persuasive messages given the market conditions they face. Using market respondents' thinking about product attributes combined with distance measurement between pairs of product attributes, a conceptual marketing map is presented and applied to advertising, message copy, and delivery. The data reported here are representative of the potential caregivers for which the messages are intended. Results are described with implications for application to coordinated care services. Theory building and marketing practice are discussed in the light of findings and methodology.

  18. 47 CFR 64.3100 - Restrictions on mobile service commercial messages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... subscriber; (2) Include a functioning return electronic mail address or other Internet-based mechanism that... of mobile service commercial messages and/or commercial electronic mail messages, and that does not... electronic mail messages with a functioning option and clear and conspicuous instructions to reject further...

  19. Engaging Students in Active Learning: The Case for Personalized Multimedia Messages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moreno, Roxana; Mayer, Richard E.

    2000-01-01

    Tests the hypothesis that personalized messages in a multimedia science lesson can promote deep learning by actively engaging students in the elaboration of the materials and reducing processing load. Instructional messages were presented in either a personalized style or a neutral style. Results reveal that personalized messages produced better…

  20. A Qualitative Study to Inform the Design, Content and Structure of an Interactive SMS Messaging Service in Chikwawa, Malawi.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rebecca Laidlaw

    2015-10-01

    regarding reproductive health. All focus groups reported a willingness to use the service, to encourage others to use the service and to share the information they receive. Efforts now need to be focused on identifying ways to ensure the service can be provided equally to all, both in terms of mobile phone access and confidence in user ability. In addition, as well as creating health messages based on best practice, complimentary services such as facilitated peer discussions and other mhealth based educational resources need to be identified and incorporated into the intervention. It is the intention of SCHI to implement an interactive SMS Messaging Service, working closely with the local health centre, to make the requested health information more widely accessible and personally tailored to the residents of the Chikwawa District.

  1. Like an extended family: Relationships that emerge when older caregivers use written messages to communicate in an ICT-based healthcare service.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Solli, Hilde; Bjørk, Ida Torunn; Hvalvik, Sigrun; Hellesø, Ragnhild

    2018-03-01

    To explore the relationships that emerge amongst caregivers of persons with dementia and stroke when caregivers use written messages as their communication tool in a closed information and communication technology (ICT)-based support group. An explorative design with a qualitative approach was used that applied systematic text condensation (STC) to analyse 173 written messages extracted from a web forum. Empathetic, empowering and familiar relationships emerged amongst peers of older caregivers when the caregivers used written messages as their communication tool. The empathetic relationship was characterised by sincerity and openness when the caregivers shared emotions related to caregiving. The empowering relationship reflected a fellowship based on solidarity influenced by a sense of optimism and a willingness to share knowledge to support one another in overcoming challenges. In the familiar relationship, the caregivers were thoughtful and good-humoured with one another and displayed an attitude of consideration towards one another, as in an extended family. The use of computer-mediated communication in health care service will change the context of establishing and maintaining interpersonal relationships. Therefore, greater knowledge regarding how the peers of caregivers interact with one another is vital so nurses may better support and educate ICT-based support groups.

  2. Asynchronous Message Service Reference Implementation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burleigh, Scott C.

    2011-01-01

    This software provides a library of middleware functions with a simple application programming interface, enabling implementation of distributed applications in conformance with the CCSDS AMS (Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems Asynchronous Message Service) specification. The AMS service, and its protocols, implement an architectural concept under which the modules of mission systems may be designed as if they were to operate in isolation, each one producing and consuming mission information without explicit awareness of which other modules are currently operating. Communication relationships among such modules are self-configuring; this tends to minimize complexity in the development and operations of modular data systems. A system built on this model is a society of generally autonomous, inter-operating modules that may fluctuate freely over time in response to changing mission objectives, modules functional upgrades, and recovery from individual module failure. The purpose of AMS, then, is to reduce mission cost and risk by providing standard, reusable infrastructure for the exchange of information among data system modules in a manner that is simple to use, highly automated, flexible, robust, scalable, and efficient. The implementation is designed to spawn multiple threads of AMS functionality under the control of an AMS application program. These threads enable all members of an AMS-based, distributed application to discover one another in real time, subscribe to messages on specific topics, and to publish messages on specific topics. The query/reply (client/server) communication model is also supported. Message exchange is optionally subject to encryption (to support confidentiality) and authorization. Fault tolerance measures in the discovery protocol minimize the likelihood of overall application failure due to any single operational error anywhere in the system. The multi-threaded design simplifies processing while enabling application nodes to

  3. Alternative Data Storage Solution for Mobile Messaging Services

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David C. C. Ong

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available In recent years, mobile devices have become relatively more powerful with additional features which have the capability to provide multimedia streaming. Better, faster and more reliable data storage solutions in the mobile messaging platform have become more essential with these additional improvements. The existing mobile messaging infrastructure, in particular the data storage platform has become less proficient in coping with the increased demand for its services. This demand especially in the mobile messaging area (i.e. SMS – Short Messaging Service, MMS – Multimedia Messaging Service, which may well exceeded 250,000 requests per second, means that the need to evaluate competing data management systems has become not only necessary but essential. This paper presents an evaluation of SMS and MMS platforms using different database management systems – DBMS and recommends the best data management strategies for these platforms.

  4. Entity-based Classification of Twitter Messages

    OpenAIRE

    Yerva, Surender Reddy; Miklós, Zoltán; Aberer, Karl

    2012-01-01

    Twitter is a popular micro-blogging service on theWeb, where people can enter short messages, which then become visible to some other users of the service. While the topics of these messages varies, there are a lot of messages where the users express their opinions about some companies or their products. These messages are a rich source of information for companies for sentiment analysis or opinion mining. There is however a great obstacle for analyzing the messages directly: as the company n...

  5. Advertising vs. Public Service Announcements: The Role of Message Type in Safer-Sex Campaigns and Third-Person Perception.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chapin, John

    Fifteen years ago, W. Davison introduced the third-person effect hypothesis, that individuals believe they are less influenced than others by media messages. Although third-person effect is a perceptual bias, Davison believed that individuals act on such misperceptions. Few studies since have tested the behavioral aspect of the third-person…

  6. Boyer-Moore Algorithm in Retrieving Deleted Short Message Service in Android Platform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rahmat, R. F.; Prayoga, D. F.; Gunawan, D.; Sitompul, O. S.

    2018-02-01

    Short message service (SMS) can be used as digital evidence of disclosure of crime because it can strengthen the charges against the offenders. Criminals use various ways to destroy the evidence, including by deleting SMS. On the Android OS, SMS is stored in a SQLite database file. Deletion of SMS data is not followed by bit deletion in memory so that it is possible to rediscover the deleted SMS. Based on this case, the mobile forensic needs to be done to rediscover the short message service. The proposed method in this study is Boyer-Moore algorithm for searching string matching. An auto finds feature is designed to rediscover the short message service by searching using a particular pattern to rematch a text with the result of the hex value conversion in the database file. The system will redisplay the message for each of a match. From all the testing results, the proposed method has quite a high accuracy in rediscovering the short message service using the used dataset. The search results to rediscover the deleted SMS depend on the possibility of overwriting process and the vacuum procedure on the database file.

  7. Exploring Attitudes, Perceived Norms, and Personal Agency: Insights Into Theory-Based Messages to Encourage Park-Based Physical Activity in Low-Income Urban Neighborhoods.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Groshong, Lisa; Stanis, Sonja A Wilhelm; Kaczynski, Andrew T; Hipp, J Aaron; Besenyi, Gina M

    2017-02-01

    Public parks hold promise for promoting population-level PA, but studies show a significant portion of park use is sedentary. Past research has documented the effectiveness of message-based strategies for influencing diverse behaviors in park settings and for increasing PA in nonpark contexts. Therefore, to inform message-based interventions (eg, point-ofdecision prompts) to increase park-based PA, the purpose of this study was to elicit insights about key attitudes, perceived norms, and personal agency that affect park use and park-based PA in low-income urban neighborhoods. This study used 6 focus groups with youth and adults (n = 41) from low-income urban areas in Kansas City, MO, to examine perceptions of key attitudinal outcomes and motivations, perceived norms, key referents, and personal agency facilitators and constraints that affect park use and park-based PA. Participant attitudes reflected the importance of parks for mental and physical health, with social interaction and solitude cited as key motivations. Of 10 themes regarding perceived norms, influential others reflected participants' ethnic makeup but little consensus emerged among groups. Social and safety themes were cited as both facilitators and constraints, along with park offerings and setting. Information about attitudes, perceived norms, and personal agency can increase understanding of theoretically derived factors that influence park-based PA and help park and health professionals create communication strategies to promote PA.

  8. Unified Internet Messaging

    OpenAIRE

    Healy, Paul; Barber, Declan

    2015-01-01

    As telephony services, mobile services and internet services continue to converge, the prospect of providing Unified Messaging and even Unified Communications becomes increasingly achievable. This paper discusses the growing importance of IP-based networks to Unified Messaging developments and examines some of the key services and protocols that are likely to make Unified Messaging more widely available. In this initial paper, we limit ourselves initially to the unification of text-based mess...

  9. Conception d’une architecture de services d’intelligence ambiante pour l’optimisation de la qualité de service de transmission de messages en e-santé

    OpenAIRE

    Guizani , Nachoua

    2016-01-01

    Routing policy management of eHealth messages in ubiquitous environment leads to address several key issues, such as taking into account the diversity and specificity of the different use cases and actors, as well as the dynamicity of the medical, social, logistic and environmental contexts.We propose an original, autonomous and adaptive service orchestration methodology aiming at optimizing message flow and personalizing transmission quality by timely sending the messages to the appropriate ...

  10. The role of short messaging service in supporting the delivery of healthcare: An umbrella systematic review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Househ, Mowafa

    2016-06-01

    Short messaging service (SMS) messages may present a convenient and cost-effective method to support healthcare interventions. This work assesses the effects of short messaging service on various healthcare interventions found in systematic reviews. The search strategy was based on two key concepts: short messaging service and healthcare delivery. The initial search was conducted in December 2012 and was updated in June 2013. Of the 550 identified references, 13 systematic reviews met the inclusion criteria, of which 8 were published in peer-reviewed journals and 5 were retrieved from the Cochrane library. Data analysis shows that low to moderate research evidence exists on the benefits of short messaging service interventions for appointment reminders, promoting health in developing countries and preventive healthcare. In many interventions, however, there were a few studies that were of high quality, and most of the studies were rated from low to moderate quality or had no rating at all. Healthcare organizations, policy makers, or clinicians using short messaging service messages to support healthcare interventions should (1) implement interventions that have been found to work in healthcare settings, (2) continue evaluating short messaging service interventions that have not been adequately assessed, and (3) improve collaboration between various healthcare entities to develop studies targeted at specific populations to evaluate the long-term impact of short messaging service on healthcare outcomes. © The Author(s) 2014.

  11. Personalized Location-Based Recommendation Services for Tour Planning in Mobile Tourism Applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Chien-Chih; Chang, Hsiao-Ping

    Travel and tour planning is a process of searching, selecting, grouping and sequencing destination related products and services including attractions, accommodations, restaurants, and activities. Personalized recommendation services aim at suggesting products and services to meet users’ preferences and needs, while location-based services focus on providing information based on users’ current positions. Due to the fast growing of user needs in the mobile tourism domain, how to provide personalized location-based tour recommendation services becomes a critical research and practical issue. The objective of this paper is to propose a system architecture and design methods for facilitating the delivery of location-based recommendation services to support personalized tour planning. Based on tourists’ current location and time, as well as personal preferences and needs, various recommendations regarding sightseeing spots, hotels, restaurants, and packaged tour plans can be generated efficiently. An application prototype is also implemented to illustrate and test the system feasibility and effectiveness.

  12. 47 CFR 101.503 - Digital Electronic Message Service Nodal Stations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... Service § 101.503 Digital Electronic Message Service Nodal Stations. 10.6 GHz DEMS Nodal Stations may be... 47 Telecommunication 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Digital Electronic Message Service Nodal Stations. 101.503 Section 101.503 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) SAFETY...

  13. Marketing responsible drinking behavior: comparing the effectiveness of responsible drinking messages tailored to three possible "personality" conceptualizations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    York, Valerie K; Brannon, Laura A; Miller, Megan M

    2012-01-01

    We investigated whether a thoroughly personalized message (tailored to a person's "Big Five" personality traits) or a message matched to an alternate form of self-schema (ideal self-schema) would be more influential than a self-schema matched message (that has been found to be effective) at marketing responsible drinking. We expected the more thoroughly personalized Big Five matched message to be more effective than the self-schema matched message. However, neither the Big Five message nor the ideal self-schema message was more effective than the actual self-schema message. Therefore, research examining self-schema matching should be pursued rather than more complex Big Five matching.

  14. Modeling Message Queueing Services with Reliability Guarantee in Cloud Computing Environment Using Colored Petri Nets

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jing Li

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Motivated by the need for loosely coupled and asynchronous dissemination of information, message queues are widely used in large-scale application areas. With the advent of virtualization technology, cloud-based message queueing services (CMQSs with distributed computing and storage are widely adopted to improve availability, scalability, and reliability; however, a critical issue is its performance and the quality of service (QoS. While numerous approaches evaluating system performance are available, there is no modeling approach for estimating and analyzing the performance of CMQSs. In this paper, we employ both the analytical and simulation modeling to address the performance of CMQSs with reliability guarantee. We present a visibility-based modeling approach (VMA for simulation model using colored Petri nets (CPN. Our model incorporates the important features of message queueing services in the cloud such as replication, message consistency, resource virtualization, and especially the mechanism named visibility timeout which is adopted in the services to guarantee system reliability. Finally, we evaluate our model through different experiments under varied scenarios to obtain important performance metrics such as total message delivery time, waiting number, and components utilization. Our results reveal considerable insights into resource scheduling and system configuration for service providers to estimate and gain performance optimization.

  15. Productivity and quality improvements in health care through airboss mobile messaging services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shah, P J; Martinez, R; Cooney, E

    1997-01-01

    The US health care industry is in the midst of revolutionary changes. Under tremendous pressures from third-party payers and managed care programs to control costs while providing high quality medical services, health care entities are now looking at information technologies to help them achieve their goals. These goals typically include improved productivity, efficiency and decision-making capabilities among staff members. Moreover, hospitals and other health care facilities that provide a broad and integrated range of inpatient and outpatient care, wellness and home care services are in the best position to offer comprehensive packages to managed care and private insurers. Many health care providers and administrators are considered mobile employees. This mobility can range from intra-building and intra-campus to multi-site and metropolitan areas. This group often relies on a variety of information technologies such as personal computers, communicating laptops, pagers, cellular phones, wireline phones, cordless phones and fax machines to stay in touch and handle information needs. These health care professionals require mobile information access and messaging tools to improve communications, control accessibility and enhance decision-making capabilities. AirBoss mobile messaging services could address the health care industry's need for improved messaging capabilities for its mobile employees. The AirBoss family of services supports integrated voice services, data messaging, mobile facsimile and customized information delivery. This paper describes overview of the current mobile data networking capability, the AirBoss architecture, the health care-related applications it addresses and long-term benefits. In addition, a prototype application for mobile home health care workers is illustrated. This prototype application provides integrated e-mail, information services, web access, real-time access and update of patient records from wireline or wireless networks

  16. Public responses to flood warning messages: the Floodline service in Scotland

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cranston, Michael; Geddes, Alistair; Black, Andrew; Ambler, Alice; Menmuir, Cordelia

    2017-04-01

    Over the past decade, efforts have been made to improve the national flood warning system in Scotland, with new capabilities in the underlying flood forecasting tools, as well as development of an active flood warning dissemination service. This paper focusses on the latter service, for which there are around 26,000 customers registered at present, and which saw over 300,000 individual messages being issued during recent floods in winter 2015/16. However, notwithstanding such promising signs of change, evidence of how (if at all) the flood warning messages disseminated by the service actually impacts on recipient behaviour remains more limited. For example, this includes knowledge of the extent to which the messages influence actions on flood preparedness and mitigation. In consequence, there are also ongoing questions over the cost-effectiveness of the service in its current format, and of its scalability to even larger numbers of recipients. This paper will present initial findings from the first detailed study of customer perceptions of the messages distributed via the Scottish flood warning system, officially known as Floodline. In particular, the primary focus will be on results generated from a web-based questionnaire survey of registered Floodline customers. The survey was designed to assess associations between multiple customer characteristics, including location and risk level, type of warning message received, prior experience of flooding, risk awareness, and demographics. The study was conducted for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, which is responsible for running the Floodline service. More broadly it resonates with current emphases on exploring effective means of hazard communication and encouraging public engagement in flood risk management.

  17. Streaming-based verification of XML signatures in SOAP messages

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Somorovsky, Juraj; Jensen, Meiko; Schwenk, Jörg

    2010-01-01

    approach for XML processing, the Web Services servers easily become a target of Denial-of-Service attacks. We present a solution for these problems: an external streaming-based WS-Security Gateway. Our implementation is capable of processing XML Signatures in SOAP messages using a streaming-based approach...

  18. Research on Innovating, Applying Multiple Paths Routing Technique Based on Fuzzy Logic and Genetic Algorithm for Routing Messages in Service - Oriented Routing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nguyen Thanh Long

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available MANET (short for Mobile Ad-Hoc Network consists of a set of mobile network nodes, network configuration changes very fast. In content based routing, data is transferred from source node to request nodes is not based on destination addresses. Therefore, it is very flexible and reliable, because source node does not need to know destination nodes. If We can find multiple paths that satisfies bandwidth requirement, split the original message into multiple smaller messages to transmit concurrently on these paths. On destination nodes, combine separated messages into the original message. Hence it can utilize better network resources, causes data transfer rate to be higher, load balancing, failover. Service Oriented Routing is inherited from the model of content based routing (CBR, combined with several advanced techniques such as Multicast, multiple path routing, Genetic algorithm to increase the data rate, and data encryption to ensure information security. Fuzzy logic is a logical field study evaluating the accuracy of the results based on the approximation of the components involved, make decisions based on many factors relative accuracy based on experimental or mathematical proof. This article presents some techniques to support multiple path routing from one network node to a set of nodes with guaranteed quality of service. By using these techniques can decrease the network load, congestion, use network resources efficiently.

  19. BrdsNBz: A mixed methods study exploring adolescents' use of a sexual health text message service

    Science.gov (United States)

    Willoughby, Jessica Fitts

    Sexual health text message services are becoming increasingly popular, but little is known about who uses such services and why. This project details the implementation of a campaign promoting a state-wide sexual health text message service that allows teens to text directly with a health educator and uses a mixed method design to assess who uses the service, what motivates use, and potential barriers to using the service. A theory of information seeking through text messaging is posited based on previous information seeking and communication theory and tested with adolescents. A social marketing campaign was created promoting a North Carolina sexual health text message service and conducted in six middle and high schools in the North Carolina Piedmont region in Fall 2012. More than 2000 students in four schools completed online questionnaires that assessed awareness of the service, perceptions, and use. Focus groups and in depth interviews were then conducted with middle and high school students. Results indicate teens who are sexually active and in relationships are more likely to use the service. A teens' level of uncertainty about sexual health influences affect, which in turn leads adolescents to assess various information options. Positive attitudes toward the service and credibility perceptions are direct predictors of intentions to use. Efficacy was found to be an indirect predictor, working through credibility perceptions to influence intentions to use. Although teens may have an interest in using the service, there are barriers associated with use. Survey findings and qualitative results indicate that teens are interested in using a sexual health text message service, but perceived costs, fear of parents finding out about service use, and a lack of understanding of how to use the service were barriers for some teens. This study has implications for sexual health text message services, especially those that allow teens to connect directly with a health

  20. A Service-Oriented Healthcare Message Alerting Architecture in an Asia Medical Center: A Case Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jin-Shin Lai

    2009-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper illustrates how our development team has used some information technologies to let physicians obtain an instant abnormal laboratory result report for critical patient care services. We have implementeda healthcare message alerting system (HMAS on a healthcare short message service (HSMS engine and the distributed healthcare-oriented service environment (DiHOSE in the National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH. The HSMS engine has a general interface for all applications which could easily send any kind of alerting messages. Fundamentally, the DiHOSE uses HL7 standard formats to process the information exchange behaviors and can be flexibly extended for reasonable user requirements. The disease surveillance subsystem is an integral part of NTUH new hospital information system which is based on DiHOSE and the disease surveillance subsystem would send alerting messages through the HSMS engine. The latest cell phone message alerting subsystem, a case study, in NTUH proved that the DiHOSE could integrate the user required functions without much work. We concluded that both HSMS and DiHOSE can generalize and extend application demands efficiently.

  1. Manipulative Use of Short Messaging Service (SMS Text Messages by Nigerian Telecommunications Companies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ayoola, Kehinde A.

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available This paper is an application of Relevance Theory for the interpretation of short messaging service (SMS text messages emanating from Nigerian telecommunications companies to their subscribers. The aim of the research was to identify and describe the manipulative strategies employed by Nigerian telecommunications companies to induce subscribers to part with their money through sales promotion lotteries. 100 SMS texts were purposively extracted from the cell phones of randomly selected residents of Lagos Nigeria who had received promotional SMS text messages from three major Nigerian telecommunications companies. Using Sperber and Wilson's Relevance Theory (1995 as its theoretical framework, the paper described the manipulative use of SMS by Nigerian telecommunications companies. The analysis revealed that SMS text messages were encoded to achieve maximization of relevance through explicature and implicature; contextual implication and strengthening; and the reduction of processing effort through violating the maxim of truthfulness and the creative use of graphology. The paper concludes that SMS text-messages were used manipulatively by Nigerian telecommunications companies to earn indirect income from sales promotion lottery.

  2. Design and implementation of a children vaccination reminder system based on short message service

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marjan Ghazisaeedi

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Background: Most problems related to quality of care and patient safety are related to human negligence. One of the causes of these problems is forgetting to do something. This problem can be avoided with information technology in many cases. Some forgotten are very important. Among these is failure to comply with vaccination schedule by parents that can result in inappropriate outcomes. In this study, we developed and evaluated a SMS reminder system for regular and timely vaccination of children. Methods: In this developmental-applied research, firstly, a child vaccination reminder system was designed and implemented to help parents reduce the forgetfulness. This system based on the child's vaccination history and the date of birth, offer time and type of future vaccines. Then the parents of 27 children, that their vaccination was between 22 June and 21 August 2015, referred to Children's Medical Center, were sent text messages by using this system. We evaluated the accuracy of the system logic by using some scenarios. In addition, we evaluated parents' satisfaction with the system using a questionnaire. Results: In all cases but one, the system proposed the type and date of future children vaccines correctly. All the parents who have received text messages had good perception and satisfaction on the majority of questions (total mean score of 4.15 out of 5. Most parents (4.92 out of 5 stated that using the system to remind their visit for child immunization was helpful and willing to offer the system to their friends and other families. Conclusion: Using the short message system is beneficial for parents to remind their children’s vaccination time and increases their satisfaction. So, it can be considered as an important and essential tool in providing healthcare services. SMS is an easy, cheap and effective way to improve the quality of care services.

  3. BrdsNBz: Sexually Experienced Teens More Likely to Use Sexual Health Text Message Service

    Science.gov (United States)

    Willoughby, Jessica Fitts

    2015-01-01

    Text messaging services are becoming an increasingly popular way to provide sexual health information to teens, but little is known about who uses such services. This study assessed whether teens at a greater risk for negative sexual health outcomes use a sexual health text message service. A text message service that connects teens with sexual…

  4. Credibility elements of eWOM messages in the context of health care services. A Romanian perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Purcarea, V L; Gheorghe, I R; Petrescu, C M

    2013-09-15

    The purpose of this paper is to investigate the Romanian consumers' determinants of eWOM messages' perceived credibility in the context of health care services. We selected a sample of 127 women and we administered a questionnaire. We used the partial least squares to uncover the established relationships between the variables of the model, namely the argument strength and the source credibility of a eWOM message and the intention to purchase a health care service based on the information embedded in the eWOM messages. The results revealed that all variables had positive direct correlations with each other but the argument strength of a message has the highest impact on the intention.

  5. Exploring Students' Acceptance of Team Messaging Services: The Roles of Social Presence and Motivation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Yong-Ming

    2017-01-01

    Team messaging services represent a type of cloud computing applications that support not only the messaging among users but also the collaboration in a team. Accordingly, team messaging services have great potential to facilitate students' collaboration. However, only few studies utilized such services to support students' collaboration and…

  6. Using Instant Messaging for Online Reference Service

    Science.gov (United States)

    Forster, Shirley

    2006-01-01

    Many libraries are using co-browsing chat products to provide reference services to their patrons, whilst their patrons are online and using the internet. The concept of such an online service is highly desirable, but many libraries are concerned that they will never be able to afford such a system. This may have changed: Instant Messaging (IM)…

  7. Using Text Message Surveys to Evaluate a Mobile Sexual Health Question-and-Answer Service.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Willoughby, Jessica Fitts; L'Engle, Kelly Ladin; Jackson, Kennon; Brickman, Jared

    2018-01-01

    Text message programs for sexual health are becoming increasingly popular as practitioners aim to meet youth on media they use frequently. Two-way mobile health (mHealth) interventions allow for feedback solicitation from participants. This study explores the use of a text message survey to assess demographics and program feedback from users of an adolescent sexual health text message question-and-answer service. Development and feasibility of the short-message service survey are discussed. The text message survey achieved a 43.9% response rate, which is comparable to response rates of surveys conducted via other methods. When compared to respondents who used the service and completed an online in-school questionnaire, text survey respondents were more likely to be female and older. They also reported higher service satisfaction. Results have implications for text message service providers and researchers. This article examines a community application of a new intervention strategy and research methodology.

  8. Suicide Prevention Public Service Announcements Impact Help-Seeking Attitudes: The Message Makes a Difference.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klimes-Dougan, Bonnie; Wright, Nathan; Klingbeil, David A

    2016-01-01

    Suicide continues to be one of the most serious public health challenges. Public service announcements (PSAs) are frequently used to address this challenge, but are rarely sufficiently evaluated to determine if they meet the intended goals, or are associated with potential iatrogenic effects. Although it is challenging to assess the relative impact of different PSA modalities, our group previously noted that one billboard message failed to show the same benefits as one TV ad [e.g., Klimes-Dougan and Lee (1)]. The purpose of this study was to extend these findings to test critical aspects of suicide prevention billboard messaging. Although both simulated billboard messages presented had identical supporting messages, we predicted that the more personal billboard message, focused on saving one's life, would cause more favorable help-seeking attitudes than the message focused on suicide. Young adult university students (N = 785) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions; one of two billboard simulations or a TV ad simulation. Help-seeking attitudes, maladaptive coping, and reports of concern and distress were evaluated. The results of this study suggest some relative benefits in endorsement of favorable help-seeking attitudes for one of the billboard conditions - stop depression from taking another life. Although further research is needed to determine what methods will alter the risk for suicide in the population, the results of this study provide a useful first step showing that some billboard messaging may favorably influence help-seeking attitudes.

  9. Persuasive Normative Messages: The Influence of Injunctive and Personal Norms on Using Free Plastic Bags

    OpenAIRE

    Judith I.M. de Groot; Wokje Abrahamse; Kayleigh Jones

    2013-01-01

    In this exploratory field-study, we examined how normative messages ( i.e. , activating an injunctive norm, personal norm, or both) could encourage shoppers to use fewer free plastic bags for their shopping in addition to the supermarket’s standard environmental message aimed at reducing plastic bags. In a one-way subjects-design ( N = 200) at a local supermarket, we showed that shoppers used significantly fewer free plastic bags in the injunctive, personal and combined normative message cond...

  10. Exploring Factors Influencing Mobile Users' Intention to Adopt Multimedia Messaging Service

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, Shuchih Ernest; Pan, Ying-Hui Vera

    2011-01-01

    While short messaging service (SMS) is discussed often in recent literature, multimedia messaging service (MMS), a media rich successor of SMS, is seldom heard or understood by mobile users in Taiwan. The adoption rates of MMS are far from satisfactory, implying that there might be some factors keeping the potential users away from using MMS. This…

  11. Analysis and implementation of cross lingual short message service spam filtering using graph-based k-nearest neighbor

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ayu Cyntya Dewi, Dyah; Shaufiah; Asror, Ibnu

    2018-03-01

    SMS (Short Message Service) is on e of the communication services that still be the main choice, although now the phone grow with various applications. Along with the development of various other communication media, some countries lowered SMS rates to keep the interest of mobile users. It resulted in increased spam SMS that used by several parties, one of them for advertisement. Given the kind of multi-lingual documents in a message SMS, the Web, and others, necessary for effective multilingual or cross-lingual processing techniques is becoming increasingly important. The steps that performed in this research is data / messages first preprocessing then represented into a graph model. Then calculated using GKNN method. From this research we get the maximum accuracy is 98.86 with training data in Indonesian language and testing data in indonesian language with K 10 and threshold 0.001.

  12. The Moderating Role of Mood and Personal Relevance on Persuasive Effects of Gain- and Loss-Framed Health Messages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wirtz, John G; Sar, Sela; Ghuge, Shreyas

    2015-01-01

    We predicted that mood would moderate the relation between message framing and two outcome variables, message evaluation and behavioral intention, when the message was personally relevant to the target audience. Participants (N = 242) were randomly assigned to an experimental condition in which a positive or negative mood was induced. Participants then read and evaluated a health message that emphasized potential benefits or risks associated with a vaccine. As predicted, participants who received a loss-framed message reported higher message evaluation and intention scores but only when the message was personally relevant and they were in a positive mood.

  13. Women's and Midwives' Perspectives on the Design of a Text Messaging Support for Maternal Obesity Services: An Exploratory Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    H. Soltani

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available This study was aimed to explore women’s and midwives’ views on the use of mobile technology in supporting obese pregnant women with healthy lifestyle choices. A purposive sample of 14 women and midwives participated in four focus groups in Doncaster, UK. A content analysis of the transcripts from the first focus group led to the emergence of three main constructs with associated subcategories including Benefits (“modernising,” “motivating,” “reminding,” and “reducing” the sense of isolation, Risks and Limitations (possibility of “being offensive,” “creating pressure or guilt,” and “being influenced by mood”, and Service Delivery (making it “available to all pregnant women,” giving attention to the “message tone” and development of “message content”. They also suggested the use of other modalities such as web-based services for weight management during pregnancy. Based on the above results a text messaging service was developed and presented to the 2nd focus group participants who confirmed the positive views from the first focus group on the use of the text messaging as being supportive and informative. The participants also welcomed “women’s engagement and choice” in deciding the content, timing and frequency of messages. The results informed the development of a text messaging service to support maternal obesity management. The implementation and acceptability of this service requires further investigation.

  14. A Scalable and Reliable Message Transport Service for the ATLAS Trigger and Data Acquisition System

    CERN Document Server

    Kazarov, A; The ATLAS collaboration; Kolos, S; Lehmann Miotto, G; Soloviev, I

    2014-01-01

    The ATLAS Trigger and Data Acquisition (TDAQ) is a large distributed computing system composed of several thousands of interconnected computers and tens of thousands applications. During a run, TDAQ applications produce a lot of control and information messages with variable rates, addressed to TDAQ operators or to other applications. Reliable, fast and accurate delivery of the messages is important for the functioning of the whole TDAQ system. The Message Transport Service (MTS) provides facilities for the reliable transport, the filtering and the routing of the messages, basing on publish-subscribe-notify communication pattern with content-based message filtering. During the ongoing LHC shutdown, the MTS was re-implemented, taking into account important requirements like reliability, scalability and performance, handling of slow subscribers case and also simplicity of the design and the implementation. MTS uses CORBA middleware, a common layer for TDAQ infrastructure, and provides sending/subscribing APIs i...

  15. Personal messages reduce vandalism and theft of unattended scientific equipment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clarin, B-Markus; Bitzilekis, Eleftherios; Siemers, Björn M; Goerlitz, Holger R

    2014-02-01

    Scientific equipment, such as animal traps and autonomous data collection systems, is regularly left in the field unattended, making it an easy target for vandalism or theft. We tested the effectiveness of three label types, which differed in their information content and tone of the message, that is, personal , neutral or threatening , for reducing incidents of vandalism and theft of unattended scientific field equipment. The three label types were attached to 20 scientific equipment dummies each, which were placed semi-hidden and evenly distributed in four public parks in Munich, Germany. While the label type had no effect on the severity of the interactions with our equipment dummies, the personal label reduced the overall number of interactions by c . 40-60%, compared with the dummies showing the neutral or threatening label type. We suggest that researchers, in addition to securing their field equipment, label it with personal and polite messages that inform about the ongoing research and directly appeal to the public not to disturb the equipment. Further studies should extend these results to areas with different socio-economic structure.

  16. Exploring Pre-Service Teachers' Knowledge of and Ability to Use Text Messaging

    Science.gov (United States)

    Geng, Gretchen; Disney, Leigh

    2014-01-01

    This study aimed to assess the pre-service teachers' knowledge of and ability to use text messaging, and assist their use of this technology in the classroom teaching context. Data were gathered by means of a questionnaire and text message exercises. Fifty-three pre-service teachers participated in the study. It was found that although different…

  17. [Effects of message and personal involvement on risk perception and acceptance].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Masuchi, A; Takigawa, T

    1999-10-01

    The present study analyzed people's risk perception regarding driving a car with studded or non-studded winter tires. Subjects were 252 residents of Sapporo, where a recent municipal ordinance prohibited studded tires, allowing only non-studded ones. Questionnaire data were examined concerning (1) the relationship between risk perception and its acceptance, (2) the effect of an inserted message, which was either positive or negative about the use of non-studded tires, and (3) the role of personal involvement, assessed with Personal Involvement Inventory (Zaichkowsky, 1985), regarding winter driving. Results were as follows: (1) The use of non-studded tires was favorably judged because of social benefit, but subjects hesitated to choose them because of a higher perceived possibility of an accident. (2) The inserted message had significant effects on benefit evaluation and perceived accident possibility. The effects were weaker for drivers who had experienced driving a car with studded tires. And (3) personal involvement had a weak correlation with risk judgements of the present study.

  18. Pilot study of psychotherapeutic text messaging for depression.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pfeiffer, Paul N; Henry, Jennifer; Ganoczy, Dara; Piette, John D

    2017-08-01

    Background Text messaging services could increase access to psychotherapeutic content for individuals with depression by avoiding barriers to in-person psychotherapy such as cost, transportation, and therapist availability. Determining whether text messages reflecting different psychotherapeutic techniques exhibit differences in acceptability or effectiveness may help guide service development. Objectives We aimed to determine: (1) the feasibility of delivering a psychotherapy-based text messaging service to people with depression identified via the internet, (2) whether there is variation in satisfaction with messages according to the type of psychotherapeutic technique they represent, and (3) whether symptoms of depression vary according to receipt of each message type and participants' satisfaction with the messages they received. Methods For this study 190 US adults who screened positive for a major depressive episode (Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) score ≥10) were recruited from online advertisements. Participants received a daily psychotherapy-based text message 6 days per week for 12 weeks. Text messages were developed by a team of psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers to reflect three psychotherapeutic approaches: acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), behavioural activation, and cognitive restructuring. Each week the message type for the week was randomly assigned from one of the three types, allowing for repeats. Participants were asked daily to rate each message. On the 7th day of each week, participants completed a two-item depression screener (PHQ-2). Web-based surveys at baseline, 6, and 12 weeks were used as the primary measure of depressive symptoms (PHQ-9). Results Of the 190 participants enrolled, 85 (45%) completed the 6-week web survey and 67 (35%) completed the 12-week survey. The mean baseline PHQ-9 score was 19.4 (SD 4.2) and there was a statistically significant mean improvement in PHQ-9 scores of -2.9 (SD 6.0; p

  19. Message banking: Perceptions of persons with motor neuron disease, significant others and clinicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oosthuizen, Imke; Dada, Shakila; Bornman, Juan; Koul, Rajinder

    2017-07-31

    Message banking is an intervention strategy that has the potential to facilitate effective communication for people with motor neuron disease when their condition deteriorates to the extent that they cannot communicate using natural speech. The aim of the current study was to determine and compare the perceptions on message banking of three stakeholder groups, namely, persons with motor neuron disease, their significant others and speech-language pathologists. A comparative group survey design was used. Participants listened to a short presentation about message banking, after which they individually completed a questionnaire. Although most participants reported that they had never heard of message banking, all were interested in it. The survey results revealed statistically significant differences between the various groups of stakeholders regarding the relevance of message banking and types of messages to bank. The study concluded that there is limited awareness about message banking amongst all participant groups.

  20. An approved personal dosimetry service based on an electronic dosimeter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Marshall, T.O.; Bartlett, D.T.; Burgess, P.H.; Campbell, J.I.; Hill, C.E.; Pook, E.A.; Sandford, D.J.

    1991-01-01

    At the Second Conference on Radiation Protection and Dosimetry a paper was presented which, in part, announced the development of an electronic dosimeter to be undertaken in the UK by the National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB) and Siemens Plessey Controls Ltd. This dosimeter was to be of a standard suitable for use as the basis of an approved personal dosimetry service for photon and beta radiations. The project has progressed extremely well and dosimeters and readers are about to become commercially available. The system and the specification of the dosimeter are presented. The NRPB is in the process of applying for approval by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to operate as personal monitoring service based on this dosimeter. As part of the approval procedure the dosimeter is being type tested and is also undergoing an HSE performance test and wearer trials. The tests and the wearer trials are described and a summary of the results to date presented. The way in which the service will be organized and operated is described and a comparison is made between the running of the service and others based on passive dosimeters at NRPB

  1. Semantic Learning Service Personalized

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yibo Chen

    2012-02-01

    Full Text Available To provide users with more suitable and personalized service, personalization is widely used in various fields. Current e-Learning systems search for learning resources using information search technology, based on the keywords that selected or inputted by the user. Due to lack of semantic analysis for keywords and exploring the user contexts, the system cannot provide a good learning experiment. In this paper, we defined the concept and characteristic of the personalized learning service, and proposed a semantic learning service personalized framework. Moreover, we made full use of semantic technology, using ontologies to represent the learning contents and user profile, mining and utilizing the friendship and membership of the social relationship to construct the user social relationship profile, and improved the collaboration filtering algorithm to recommend personalized learning resources for users. The results of the empirical evaluation show that the approach is effectiveness in augmenting recommendation.

  2. Ontology-Driven Instant Messaging-Based Dialogue System for Device Control

    KAUST Repository

    Noguera-Arnaldos, José Á ngel; Rodriguez-Garcia, Miguel Angel; Ochoa, José Luis; Paredes-Valverde, Mario André s; Alcaraz-Má rmol, Gema; Valencia-Garcí a, Rafael

    2015-01-01

    The im4Things platform aims to develop a communication interface for devices in the Internet of the Things (IoT) through intelligent dialogue based on written natural language over instant messaging services. This type of communication can

  3. From a Distance: Robust Reference Service via Instant Messaging

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meulemans, Yvonne Nalani; Carr, Allison; Ly, Pearl

    2010-01-01

    Reference service via instant messaging (IM) has significant potential to benefit distance learners. There has been wide experimentation with IM to expand reference services in libraries across the US, with mixed results. Concern has been expressed that IM cannot provide the same reference experience as face-to-face interactions. One academic…

  4. Friendly-Sharing: Improving the Performance of City Sensoring through Contact-Based Messaging Applications

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jorge Herrera-Tapia

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Regular citizens equipped with smart devices are being increasingly used as “sensors” by Smart Cities applications. Using contacts among users, data in the form of messages is obtained and shared. Contact-based messaging applications are based on establishing a short-range communication directly between mobile devices, and on storing the messages in these devices for subsequent delivery to cloud-based services. An effective way to increase the number of messages that can be shared is to increase the contact duration. We thus introduce the Friendly-Sharing diffusion approach, where, during a contact, the users are aware of the time needed to interchange the messages stored in their buffers, and they can thus decide to wait more time in order to increase the message sharing probability. The performance of this approach is anyway closely related to the size of the buffer in the device. We therefore compare various policies either for the message selection at forwarding times and for message dropping when the buffer is full. We evaluate our proposal with a modified version of the Opportunistic Networking Environment (ONE simulator and using real human mobility traces.

  5. Friendly-Sharing: Improving the Performance of City Sensoring through Contact-Based Messaging Applications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Herrera-Tapia, Jorge; Hernández-Orallo, Enrique; Tomás, Andrés; Manzoni, Pietro; Tavares Calafate, Carlos; Cano, Juan-Carlos

    2016-09-18

    Regular citizens equipped with smart devices are being increasingly used as "sensors" by Smart Cities applications. Using contacts among users, data in the form of messages is obtained and shared. Contact-based messaging applications are based on establishing a short-range communication directly between mobile devices, and on storing the messages in these devices for subsequent delivery to cloud-based services. An effective way to increase the number of messages that can be shared is to increase the contact duration. We thus introduce the Friendly-Sharing diffusion approach, where, during a contact, the users are aware of the time needed to interchange the messages stored in their buffers, and they can thus decide to wait more time in order to increase the message sharing probability. The performance of this approach is anyway closely related to the size of the buffer in the device. We therefore compare various policies either for the message selection at forwarding times and for message dropping when the buffer is full. We evaluate our proposal with a modified version of the Opportunistic Networking Environment (ONE) simulator and using real human mobility traces.

  6. Role of Narrative Perspective and Modality in the Persuasiveness of Public Service Advertisements Promoting HPV Vaccination.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nan, Xiaoli; Futerfas, Michelle; Ma, Zexin

    2017-03-01

    In the context of public service advertisements promoting human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination, the current research examines 1) the relative persuasiveness of narrative vs. non-narrative messages and 2) the influence of narrative perspective (first- vs. third-person) and modality (text-based vs. audio-based) on message effectiveness. Results of a controlled experiment (N = 121) suggested that both a non-narrative message and a first-person narrative message led to greater perceived risk of getting HPV than a third-person narrative message. There was no difference in risk perception between the non-narrative and first-person narrative conditions. These findings were confined to the text-based condition, however. When the messages were audio-based, no differential message effects were detected. The analysis also provided partial evidence for an indirect effect of narrative perspective on intentions to vaccinate against HPV through HPV risk perception. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

  7. Personal dosimetry and information platforms

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sanchez Hidalgo, M.; Galan Montenegro, P.; Bodineau Gil, C.; Hernandez Rodriguez, R.; Jimenez Nartin, A.; Cano Sanchez, J. J.

    2011-01-01

    One question often raised by the hospital personnel dosimetry is the high incidence in the no monthly turnover of dosimeters, which is currently a high number of administrative dose assignments. The high number of workers with personal dosimetry and in many cases, the dispersion of workplaces makes it impossible to personalized management. To make a more direct and personal, and transmit information quickly and with guaranteed reception, has developed and implemented a system of personalized dosimetric information through messaging Short Message Service (SMS) and access to the history of dosimetric dosimetric and management through web space Service Hospital Radio physics.

  8. The Impact of Suicide Prevention Public Service Announcements on Help-Seeking Attitudes: The Message Makes a Difference

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bonnie Klimes-Dougan

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Suicide continues to be one of the most serious public health challenges. Public service announcements are frequently used to address this challenge, but are rarely sufficiently evaluated to determine if they meet the intended goals, or are associated with potential iatrogenic effects. Although it is challenging to assess the relative impact of different PSA modalities, our group previously noted that one billboard message failed to show the same benefits as one TV ad (e.g., Klimes-Dougan & Lee, 2010. The purpose of this study was to extend these findings to test critical aspects of suicide prevention billboard messaging. Although both simulated billboard messages presented had identical supporting messages, we predicted that the more personal billboard message, focused on saving one’s life, would cause more favorable help-seeking attitudes than the message focused on suicide. Young adult university students (N = 785 were randomly assigned to one of three conditions; one of two billboard simulations or a TV ad simulation. Help-seeking attitudes, maladaptive coping and reports of concern and distress were evaluated. The results of this study suggest some relative benefits in endorsement of favorable help-seeking attitudes for one of the billboard conditions - Stop depression from taking another life. Although further research is needed to determine what methods will alter the risk for suicide in the population, the results of this study provide a useful first step showing that some billboard messaging may favorably influence help-seeking attitudes.

  9. Message valence, familiarity, sex, and personality effects on the perceptual distortion of height.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hensley, W E; Angoli, M

    1980-03-01

    The perceptual distortion of height was examined in a group of American male and female college student volunteers (n = 139). A message which announced either good or bad news was delivered by a familiar or unfamiliar person who was either male or female. After hearing the message, the students were asked to estimate the height of the communicator. Additionally, the variables of self-esteem and independence of judgment were measured. Results indicated that familiarity with the message source (p less than .0025) as well as sex of the communicator (p less than .024) were predictors of the perceptual distortion of height, but message valence was not. Neither self-esteem nor independence of judgment was functionally related to the proclivity to distort the heights of the communicators.

  10. INTELLIGENT E-MAIL PERSONALIZATION SYSTEM

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    SHANMUGASUNDARAM HARIHARAN

    2011-02-01

    Full Text Available In Internet era E-mail has become the most important mode of communication in every day life. E-mail offers several advantages like secure delivery, speed, cheaper cost, acknowledgement report, transparent service, and distributed environment. As spammers try to induce large amount of spam or unsolicited mails, managing these E-mails’s in an efficient manner requires huge attention. This paper focus on personalizing the E-mail messages after eliminating the spam messages. The basic step starts with pre-processing the documents and classifying the contents into several folders or categories. The next step is to cluster the documents based on the relativeness they have using cosine similarity metric. This clustering approach is carried out using unsupervised method. The mail messages are the parsed through a filter that would identify the spam immediately. Studies on personalization of mails after spam identification, prioritizing the E-mail’s based on the importance and summarization of were also proposed. The results were quiet promising leading to efficient spam identification providing a platform for further improvements to build a domain independent personalizer system.

  11. Development of a Personalized Bidirectional Text Messaging Tool for HIV Adherence Assessment and Intervention among Substance Abusers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ingersoll, Karen; Dillingham, Rebecca; Reynolds, George; Hettema, Jennifer; Freeman, Jason; Hosseinbor, Sharzad; Winstead-Derlega, Chris

    2013-01-01

    We describe the development of a two-way text messaging intervention tool for substance users who are non-adherent with HIV medications, and examine message flow data for feasibility and acceptability. The assessment and intervention tool, TxText, is fully automated, sending participants mood, substance use, and medication adherence queries by text message. Participants respond, the tool recognizes the category of response, and sends the personalized intervention message that participants designed in return. In 10 months, the tool sent 16,547 messages (half initial, half follow-up) to 31 participants assigned to the TxText condition, who sent 6711 messages in response to the initial messages. Response rates to substance use (n=2370), medication (n=2918) and mood (n=4639) queries were 67%, 69%, and 64%, respectively. Responses indicating medication adherence, abstinence from substances, and good moods were more common than negative responses. The TxText tool can send messages daily over a 3 month period, receive responses, and decode them to deliver personalized affirming or intervention messages. While we await the outcomes of a pilot randomized trial, the process analysis shows that TxText is acceptable and feasible for substance abusers with HIV, and may serve as a complement to HIV medical care. PMID:24029625

  12. Derivation and validation of the Personal Support Algorithm: an evidence-based framework to inform allocation of personal support services in home and community care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sinn, Chi-Ling Joanna; Jones, Aaron; McMullan, Janet Legge; Ackerman, Nancy; Curtin-Telegdi, Nancy; Eckel, Leslie; Hirdes, John P

    2017-11-25

    Personal support services enable many individuals to stay in their homes, but there are no standard ways to classify need for functional support in home and community care settings. The goal of this project was to develop an evidence-based clinical tool to inform service planning while allowing for flexibility in care coordinator judgment in response to patient and family circumstances. The sample included 128,169 Ontario home care patients assessed in 2013 and 25,800 Ontario community support clients assessed between 2014 and 2016. Independent variables were drawn from the Resident Assessment Instrument-Home Care and interRAI Community Health Assessment that are standardised, comprehensive, and fully compatible clinical assessments. Clinical expertise and regression analyses identified candidate variables that were entered into decision tree models. The primary dependent variable was the weekly hours of personal support calculated based on the record of billed services. The Personal Support Algorithm classified need for personal support into six groups with a 32-fold difference in average billed hours of personal support services between the highest and lowest group. The algorithm explained 30.8% of the variability in billed personal support services. Care coordinators and managers reported that the guidelines based on the algorithm classification were consistent with their clinical judgment and current practice. The Personal Support Algorithm provides a structured yet flexible decision-support framework that may facilitate a more transparent and equitable approach to the allocation of personal support services.

  13. Derivation and validation of the Personal Support Algorithm: an evidence-based framework to inform allocation of personal support services in home and community care

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chi-Ling Joanna Sinn

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Personal support services enable many individuals to stay in their homes, but there are no standard ways to classify need for functional support in home and community care settings. The goal of this project was to develop an evidence-based clinical tool to inform service planning while allowing for flexibility in care coordinator judgment in response to patient and family circumstances. Methods The sample included 128,169 Ontario home care patients assessed in 2013 and 25,800 Ontario community support clients assessed between 2014 and 2016. Independent variables were drawn from the Resident Assessment Instrument-Home Care and interRAI Community Health Assessment that are standardised, comprehensive, and fully compatible clinical assessments. Clinical expertise and regression analyses identified candidate variables that were entered into decision tree models. The primary dependent variable was the weekly hours of personal support calculated based on the record of billed services. Results The Personal Support Algorithm classified need for personal support into six groups with a 32-fold difference in average billed hours of personal support services between the highest and lowest group. The algorithm explained 30.8% of the variability in billed personal support services. Care coordinators and managers reported that the guidelines based on the algorithm classification were consistent with their clinical judgment and current practice. Conclusions The Personal Support Algorithm provides a structured yet flexible decision-support framework that may facilitate a more transparent and equitable approach to the allocation of personal support services.

  14. Efficacy of Web-Based Collection of Strength-Based Testimonials for Text Message Extension of Youth Suicide Prevention Program: Randomized Controlled Experiment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thiha, Phyo; Pisani, Anthony R; Gurditta, Kunali; Cherry, Erin; Peterson, Derick R; Kautz, Henry; Wyman, Peter A

    2016-11-09

    Equipping members of a target population to deliver effective public health messaging to peers is an established approach in health promotion. The Sources of Strength program has demonstrated the promise of this approach for "upstream" youth suicide prevention. Text messaging is a well-established medium for promoting behavior change and is the dominant communication medium for youth. In order for peer 'opinion leader' programs like Sources of Strength to use scalable, wide-reaching media such as text messaging to spread peer-to-peer messages, they need techniques for assisting peer opinion leaders in creating effective testimonials to engage peers and match program goals. We developed a Web interface, called Stories of Personal Resilience in Managing Emotions (StoryPRIME), which helps peer opinion leaders write effective, short-form messages that can be delivered to the target population in youth suicide prevention program like Sources of Strength. To determine the efficacy of StoryPRIME, a Web-based interface for remotely eliciting high school peer leaders, and helping them produce high-quality, personal testimonials for use in a text messaging extension of an evidence-based, peer-led suicide prevention program. In a double-blind randomized controlled experiment, 36 high school students wrote testimonials with or without eliciting from the StoryPRIME interface. The interface was created in the context of Sources of Strength-an evidence-based youth suicide prevention program-and 24 ninth graders rated these testimonials on relatability, usefulness/relevance, intrigue, and likability. Testimonials written with the StoryPRIME interface were rated as more relatable, useful/relevant, intriguing, and likable than testimonials written without StoryPRIME, P=.054. StoryPRIME is a promising way to elicit high-quality, personal testimonials from youth for prevention programs that draw on members of a target population to spread public health messages. ©Phyo Thiha, Anthony

  15. Personal genomics services: whose genomes?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gurwitz, David; Bregman-Eschet, Yael

    2009-07-01

    New companies offering personal whole-genome information services over the internet are dynamic and highly visible players in the personal genomics field. For fees currently ranging from US$399 to US$2500 and a vial of saliva, individuals can now purchase online access to their individual genetic information regarding susceptibility to a range of chronic diseases and phenotypic traits based on a genome-wide SNP scan. Most of the companies offering such services are based in the United States, but their clients may come from nearly anywhere in the world. Although the scientific validity, clinical utility and potential future implications of such services are being hotly debated, several ethical and regulatory questions related to direct-to-consumer (DTC) marketing strategies of genetic tests have not yet received sufficient attention. For example, how can we minimize the risk of unauthorized third parties from submitting other people's DNA for testing? Another pressing question concerns the ownership of (genotypic and phenotypic) information, as well as the unclear legal status of customers regarding their own personal information. Current legislation in the US and Europe falls short of providing clear answers to these questions. Until the regulation of personal genomics services catches up with the technology, we call upon commercial providers to self-regulate and coordinate their activities to minimize potential risks to individual privacy. We also point out some specific steps, along the trustee model, that providers of DTC personal genomics services as well as regulators and policy makers could consider for addressing some of the concerns raised below.

  16. MESA: Message-Based System Analysis Using Runtime Verification

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shafiei, Nastaran; Tkachuk, Oksana; Mehlitz, Peter

    2017-01-01

    In this paper, we present a novel approach and framework for run-time verication of large, safety critical messaging systems. This work was motivated by verifying the System Wide Information Management (SWIM) project of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). SWIM provides live air traffic, site and weather data streams for the whole National Airspace System (NAS), which can easily amount to several hundred messages per second. Such safety critical systems cannot be instrumented, therefore, verification and monitoring has to happen using a nonintrusive approach, by connecting to a variety of network interfaces. Due to a large number of potential properties to check, the verification framework needs to support efficient formulation of properties with a suitable Domain Specific Language (DSL). Our approach is to utilize a distributed system that is geared towards connectivity and scalability and interface it at the message queue level to a powerful verification engine. We implemented our approach in the tool called MESA: Message-Based System Analysis, which leverages the open source projects RACE (Runtime for Airspace Concept Evaluation) and TraceContract. RACE is a platform for instantiating and running highly concurrent and distributed systems and enables connectivity to SWIM and scalability. TraceContract is a runtime verication tool that allows for checking traces against properties specified in a powerful DSL. We applied our approach to verify a SWIM service against several requirements.We found errors such as duplicate and out-of-order messages.

  17. Short message service or disService: issues with text messaging in a complex medical environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Robert; Appel, Lora; Morra, Dante; Lo, Vivian; Kitto, Simon; Quan, Sherman

    2014-04-01

    Hospitals today are experiencing major changes in their clinical communication workflows as conventional numeric paging and face-to-face verbal conversations are being replaced by computer mediated communication systems. In this paper, we highlight the importance of understanding this transition and discuss some of the impacts that may emerge when verbal clinical conversations are replaced by short text messages. In-depth interviews (n=108) and non-participatory observation sessions (n=260h) were conducted on the General Internal Medicine wards at five academic teaching hospitals in Toronto, Canada. From our analysis of the qualitative data, we identified two major themes. De-contextualization of complex issues led to an increase in misinterpretation and an increase in back and forth messaging for clarification. Depersonalization of communication was due to less verbal conversations and face-to-face interactions and led to a negative impact on work relationships. Text-based communication in hospital settings led to the oversimplification of messages and the depersonalization of communication. It is important to recognize and understand these unintended consequences of new technology to avoid the negative impacts to patient care and work relationships. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Applications of Short Message Service and WAP in Operating Remotely Triggered Laboratories

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ananda Maiti

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available Mobile devices are becoming more powerful, reliable and common every year. Hence we can use mobile devices for conducting laboratory sessions in distance education. This paper discusses issues of integrating Short Message Service (SMS to operate instruments of hardware-based remotely triggered laboratories. Components of the system include searching an experiment, performing experiment, result handling, error handling and method of exchanging information. It is designed using the National Instruments (NI Laboratory Virtual Instrument Engineering Workbench (LabVIEW development system and web services. The scheme will enable students to conduct hardware experiments with mobile devices using SMS from anywhere and anytime.

  19. Black youth's personal involvement in the HIV/AIDS issue: does the public service announcement still work?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keys, Truman R; Morant, Kesha M; Stroman, Carolyn A

    2009-03-01

    Recent public service announcements (PSAs) directed toward Black youth utilize various formats and appeals to stimulate a motivated cognitive process that engenders personal involvement in the HIV/AIDS issue. The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) by Petty and Cacioppo argues that engagement with messages that consist of substantive content causes the audience member to critically analyze the message, which can produce awareness and attitude change. An efficient way to add emphasis to the message and seize the attention of the target audience is to insert the message into an entertainment context. Our study attempted to analyze the impact of the peripheral cue, character appeal, on audience members' attitude change in response to analyzing high- and low-involvement message content. A2 x 4 factorial design was used, with message involvement (high/low) and character appeal (White/Black and celebrity/noncelebrity) as independent variables. The findings showed that celebrity status is the salient factor, with source perception inducing attitude change as a main effect or in an interaction effect with high- and low message content.

  20. Increasing the effectiveness of messages promoting responsible undergraduate drinking: tailoring to personality and matching to context.

    Science.gov (United States)

    York, Valerie K; Brannon, Laura A; Miller, Megan M

    2012-01-01

    This study addressed the serious problem of college student binge drinking by identifying factors that improve the effectiveness of messages encouraging responsible drinking presented through a website simulation. We tested schema matching (i.e., whether the message matches the person's self-schema type or not) and two types of context matching (i.e., whether the message matches the topic or values of the message context) to determine their relative influence on the effectiveness of the message. We expected that messages matched to any of these factors would be more effective than messages not matched. Schema matching reduced intentions to drink while staying in/home, but topic matching reduced intentions to drink when going out, suggesting that different factors are important for messages targeting drinking behavior in different locations. Significant interactions between topic matching and value matching on message evaluation variables indicated that the message should not match the message context too closely. That is, there appears to be a matching threshold: Increasing the number of factors the message matches does not increase message effectiveness, possibly because it makes the message too redundant with the surrounding content.

  1. Multimedia Messaging Service teleradiology in the provision of emergency neurosurgery services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ng, Wai Hoe; Wang, Ernest; Ng, Ivan

    2007-04-01

    Neurosurgical emergencies constitute a significant proportion of workload of a tertiary neurosurgical service. Prompt diagnosis and emergent institution of definitive treatment are critical to reduce neurological mortality and morbidity. Diagnosis is highly dependent on accurate interpretation of scans by experienced clinicians. This expertise may not be readily available especially after office hours because many neurosurgical units are manned by middle-level neurosurgical staff with varying levels of experience in scan interpretation. Multimedia Messaging Service mobile phone technology offers a simple, cheap, quick, and effective solution to the problem of scan interpretation. An MMS takes only a few minutes to send and receive and allows senior doctors to view important images and make important clinical decisions to enhance patient management in an emergency situation. A mobile phone (with VGA camera and MMS capabilities) was provided to the neurosurgery registrar on call. The on-call mobile phone is passed on to the corresponding registrar on-call the next day. All consultants had personal mobile phones that are MMS-enabled. Relevant representative CT/MRI images can be taken directly from the mobile phone from the PACS off the computer screen. When only hard copies are available, the images can be taken off the light box. After a 12-month trial period, a questionnaire was given to all staff involved in the project to ascertain the usefulness of the MMS teleradiology service. The survey on the use of the MMS service in a tertiary neurosurgical service demonstrated that the technology significantly improved the level of confidence of the senior-level staff in emergent clinical decision making. Significantly, the MMS images were of sufficient quality and resolution to obviate the need to view the actual scans. The impact of MMS is less pronounced in the middle-level staff, but there was a trend that most of the junior staff found the service more useful. The MMS

  2. The Case for Using Personally Relevant and Emotionally Stimulating Gambling Messages as a Gambling Harm-Minimisation Strategy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harris, Andrew; Parke, Adrian; Griffiths, Mark D

    2018-01-01

    Emotions typically exert powerful, enduring, and often predictable influences over decision-making. However, emotion-based decision-making is seen as a mediator of impulsive and reckless gambling behaviour, where emotion may be seen as the antithesis of controlled and rational decision-making, a proposition supported by recent neuroimaging evidence. The present paper argues that the same emotional mechanisms can be used to influence a gambler to cease gambling, by focusing their emotional decision-making on positive external and personally relevant factors, such as familial impact or longer term financial factors. Emotionally stimulating messages may also have the advantage of capturing attention above and beyond traditionally responsible gambling messaging. This is important given the highly emotionally aroused states often experienced by both gamblers and problem gamblers, where attentional activation thresholds for external stimuli such as messages may be increased.

  3. MessageSpace: a messaging system for health research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Escobar, Rodrigo D.; Akopian, David; Parra-Medina, Deborah; Esparza, Laura

    2013-03-01

    Mobile Health (mHealth) has emerged as a promising direction for delivery of healthcare services via mobile communication devices such as cell phones. Examples include texting-based interventions for chronic disease monitoring, diabetes management, control of hypertension, smoking cessation, monitoring medication adherence, appointment keeping and medical test result delivery; as well as improving patient-provider communication, health information communication, data collection and access to health records. While existing messaging systems very well support bulk messaging and some polling applications, they are not designed for data collection and processing of health research oriented studies. For that reason known studies based on text-messaging campaigns have been constrained in participant numbers. In order to empower healthcare promotion and education research, this paper presents a system dedicated for healthcare research. It is designed for convenient communication with various study groups, feedback collection and automated processing.

  4. Preaching to the choir? The influence of personal relevance on the effects of gain- and loss-framed health-promoting messages

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Riet, van 't J.P.; Ruiter, de R.; Vries, de H.

    2012-01-01

    This article examines the moderating influence of personal relevance on the persuasive effects of gain- and loss-framed messages. We assessed current behaviour as a proxy for personal relevance, provided 169 participants with gain- and loss-framed messages advocating skin self-examination (SSE) and

  5. Learning from Marketing: Rapid Development of Medication Messages that Engage Patients

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yank, Veronica; Tribett, Erika; Green, Lydia; Pettis, Jasmine

    2015-01-01

    Objective To adapt marketing approaches in a health services environment. Methods Researchers and advertising professionals partnered in developing advertising-style messages designed to activate patients pre-identified as having chronic kidney disease to ask providers about recommended medications. We assessed feasibility of the development process by evaluating partnership structure, costs, and timeframe. We tested messages with patients and providers using preliminary surveys to refine initial messages and subsequent focus groups to identify the most persuasive ones. Results The partnership achieved an efficient structure, $14,550 total costs, and 4-month timeframe. The advertising team developed 11 initial messages. The research team conducted surveys and focus groups with a total of 13 patients and 8 providers to identify three messages as most activating. Focus group themes suggested the general approach of using advertising-style messages was acceptable if it supported patient-provider relationships and had a credible evidence base. Individual messages were more motivating if they elicited personal identification with imagery, particular emotions, active patient role, and message clarity. Conclusion We demonstrated feasibility of a research-advertising partnership and acceptability and likely impact of advertising-style messages on patient medication-seeking behavior. Practice Implications Healthcare systems may want to replicate our adaptation of marketing approaches to patients with chronic conditions. PMID:25913245

  6. Learning from marketing: Rapid development of medication messages that engage patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yank, Veronica; Tribett, Erika; Green, Lydia; Pettis, Jasmine

    2015-08-01

    To adapt marketing approaches in a health services environment. Researchers and advertising professionals partnered in developing advertising-style messages designed to activate patients pre-identified as having chronic kidney disease to ask providers about recommended medications. We assessed feasibility of the development process by evaluating partnership structure, costs, and timeframe. We tested messages with patients and providers using preliminary surveys to refine initial messages and subsequent focus groups to identify the most persuasive ones. The partnership achieved an efficient structure, $14,550 total costs, and 4-month timeframe. The advertising team developed 11 initial messages. The research team conducted surveys and focus groups with a total of 13 patients and 8 providers to identify three messages as most activating. Focus group themes suggested the general approach of using advertising-style messages was acceptable if it supported patient-provider relationships and had a credible evidence base. Individual messages were more motivating if they elicited personal identification with imagery, particular emotions, active patient role, and message clarity. We demonstrated feasibility of a research-advertising partnership and acceptability and likely impact of advertising-style messages on patient medication-seeking behavior. Healthcare systems may want to replicate our adaptation of marketing approaches to patients with chronic conditions. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

  7. BrdsNBz: A Mixed Methods Study Exploring Adolescents' Use of a Sexual Health Text Message Service

    Science.gov (United States)

    Willoughby, Jessica Fitts

    2013-01-01

    Sexual health text message services are becoming increasingly popular, but little is known about who uses such services and why. This project details the implementation of a campaign promoting a state-wide sexual health text message service that allows teens to text directly with a health educator and uses a mixed method design to assess who uses…

  8. Compression-based aggregation model for medical web services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Al-Shammary, Dhiah; Khalil, Ibrahim

    2010-01-01

    Many organizations such as hospitals have adopted Cloud Web services in applying their network services to avoid investing heavily computing infrastructure. SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) is the basic communication protocol of Cloud Web services that is XML based protocol. Generally,Web services often suffer congestions and bottlenecks as a result of the high network traffic that is caused by the large XML overhead size. At the same time, the massive load on Cloud Web services in terms of the large demand of client requests has resulted in the same problem. In this paper, two XML-aware aggregation techniques that are based on exploiting the compression concepts are proposed in order to aggregate the medical Web messages and achieve higher message size reduction.

  9. Sending and Receiving Text Messages with Sexual Content: Relations with Early Sexual Activity and Borderline Personality Features in Late Adolescence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brinkley, Dawn Y; Ackerman, Robert A; Ehrenreich, Samuel E; Underwood, Marion K

    2017-05-01

    This research examined adolescents' written text messages with sexual content to investigate how sexting relates to sexual activity and borderline personality features. Participants (N = 181, 85 girls) completed a measure of borderline personality features prior to 10 th grade and were subsequently given smartphones configured to capture the content of their text messages. Four days of text messaging were micro-coded for content related to sex. Following 12 th grade, participants reported on their sexual activity and again completed a measure of borderline personality features. Results showed that engaging in sexting at age 16 was associated with reporting an early sexual debut, having sexual intercourse experience, having multiple sex partners, and engaging in drug use in combination with sexual activity two years later. Girls engaging in sex talk were more likely to have had sexual intercourse by age 18. Text messaging about hypothetical sex in grade 10 also predicted borderline personality features at age 18. These findings suggest that sending text messages with sexual content poses risks for adolescents. Programs to prevent risky sexual activity and to promote psychological health could be enhanced by teaching adolescents to use digital communication responsibly.

  10. Sending and Receiving Text Messages with Sexual Content: Relations with Early Sexual Activity and Borderline Personality Features in Late Adolescence

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brinkley, Dawn Y.; Ackerman, Robert A.; Ehrenreich, Samuel E.; Underwood, Marion K.

    2017-01-01

    This research examined adolescents’ written text messages with sexual content to investigate how sexting relates to sexual activity and borderline personality features. Participants (N = 181, 85 girls) completed a measure of borderline personality features prior to 10th grade and were subsequently given smartphones configured to capture the content of their text messages. Four days of text messaging were micro-coded for content related to sex. Following 12th grade, participants reported on their sexual activity and again completed a measure of borderline personality features. Results showed that engaging in sexting at age 16 was associated with reporting an early sexual debut, having sexual intercourse experience, having multiple sex partners, and engaging in drug use in combination with sexual activity two years later. Girls engaging in sex talk were more likely to have had sexual intercourse by age 18. Text messaging about hypothetical sex in grade 10 also predicted borderline personality features at age 18. These findings suggest that sending text messages with sexual content poses risks for adolescents. Programs to prevent risky sexual activity and to promote psychological health could be enhanced by teaching adolescents to use digital communication responsibly. PMID:28824224

  11. Suspecting Neurological Dysfunction From E Mail Messages ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    A non medical person suspected and confirmed neurological dysfunction in an individual, based only on e mail messages sent by the individual. With email communication becoming rampant “peculiar” email messages may raise the suspicion of neurological dysfunction. Organic pathology explaining the abnormal email ...

  12. Career Pathing among General Administrative and Support Services Employees Based on Holland?s Typology of Personality Theory and Personal Style Inventory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mendoza, Catalino N.

    2009-01-01

    The study is about the prevailing differences, commonalities and significant contributions of the career pathing among the general administrative and support services employees based on Holland's Typology of Personality Theory and Personal Style Inventory of selected higher educational institutions in Metro Manila.

  13. An Examination of Adolescent Recall of Anti-Smoking Messages: Attitudes, Message Type, and Message Perceptions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bigsby, Elisabeth; Monahan, Jennifer L; Ewoldsen, David R

    2017-04-01

    Delayed message recall may be influenced by currently held accessible attitudes, the nature of the message, and message perceptions (perception of bias and message elaboration). This study examined the potential of message perceptions to mediate the influence of valenced attitude accessibility and message type on unaided recall of anti-smoking Public Service Announcements (PSAs). In a field experiment, ninth grade students (N = 244) watched three PSAs and responded to items on laptop computers. Twelve weeks later, follow-up telephone surveys were conducted to assess unaided recall. Both valenced attitude accessibility and message type were associated with message perceptions. However, only perception of message bias partially mediated the relationship between message type and unaided recall.

  14. Synchronous message-based communication for distributed heterogeneous systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wilkinson, N.; Dohan, D.

    1992-01-01

    The use of a synchronous, message-based real-time operating system (Unison) as the basis of transparent interprocess and inter-processor communication over VME-bus is described. The implementation of a synchronous, message-based protocol for network communication between heterogeneous systems is discussed. In particular, the design and implementation of a message-based session layer over a virtual circuit transport layer protocol using UDP/IP is described. Inter-process communication is achieved via a message-based semantic which is portable by virtue of its ease of implementation in other operating system environments. Protocol performance for network communication among heterogeneous architecture is presented, including VMS, Unix, Mach and Unison. (author)

  15. The model of microblog message diffusion based on complex social network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Wei; Bai, Shu-Ying; Jin, Rui

    2014-05-01

    Microblog is a micromessage communication network in which users are the nodes and the followship between users are the edges. Sina Weibo is a typical case of these microblog service websites. As the enormous scale of nodes and complex links in the network, we choose a sample network crawled in Sina Weibo as the base of empirical analysis. The study starts with the analysis of its topological features, and brings in epidemiological SEIR model to explore the mode of message spreading throughout the microblog network. It is found that the network is obvious small-world and scale-free, which made it succeed in transferring messages and failed in resisting negative influence. In addition, the paper focuses on the rich nodes as they constitute a typical feature of Sina Weibo. It is also found that whether the message starts with a rich node will not account for its final coverage. Actually, the rich nodes always play the role of pivotal intermediaries who speed up the spreading and make the message known by much more people.

  16. Persuasiveness of Anti-Smoking Messages: Self-Construal and Message Focus

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Bo; Nan, Xiaoli; Zhao, Xinyan

    2017-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of independent vs interdependent self-construal in non-smokers' responses to an anti-smoking message that focuses on either personal or relational consequences of smoking. Design/methodology/approach: Two web-based experimental studies were conducted among US college non-smokers. In the…

  17. Mobile Message Services Using Text, Audio or Video for Improving the Learning Infrastructure in Higher Education

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Björn Olof Hedin

    2006-06-01

    Full Text Available This study examines how media files sent to mobile phones can be used to improve education at universities, and describes a prototype implement of such a system using standard components. To accomplish this, university students were equipped with mobile phones and software that allowed teachers to send text-based, audio-based and video-based messages to the students. Data was collected using questionnaires, focus groups and log files. The conclusions were that students preferred to have information and learning content sent as text, rather than audio or video. Text messages sent to phones should be no longer than 2000 characters. The most appreciated services were notifications of changes in course schedules, short lecture introductions and reminders. The prototype showed that this functionality is easy to implement using standard components.

  18. Future-based Static Analysis of Message Passing Programs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wytse Oortwijn

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Message passing is widely used in industry to develop programs consisting of several distributed communicating components. Developing functionally correct message passing software is very challenging due to the concurrent nature of message exchanges. Nonetheless, many safety-critical applications rely on the message passing paradigm, including air traffic control systems and emergency services, which makes proving their correctness crucial. We focus on the modular verification of MPI programs by statically verifying concrete Java code. We use separation logic to reason about local correctness and define abstractions of the communication protocol in the process algebra used by mCRL2. We call these abstractions futures as they predict how components will interact during program execution. We establish a provable link between futures and program code and analyse the abstract futures via model checking to prove global correctness. Finally, we verify a leader election protocol to demonstrate our approach.

  19. Analysis and lessons learned instituting an instant messaging reference service at an academic health sciences library: the first year.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kipnis, Daniel G; Kaplan, Gary E

    2008-01-01

    In February 2006, Thomas Jefferson University went live with a new instant messaging (IM) service. This paper reviews the first 102 transcripts to examine question types and usage patterns. In addition, the paper highlights lessons learned in instituting the service. IM reference represents a small proportion of reference questions, but based on user feedback and technological improvements, the library has decided to continue the service.

  20. Personalized persuasion: tailoring persuasive appeals to recipients' personality traits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hirsh, Jacob B; Kang, Sonia K; Bodenhausen, Galen V

    2012-06-01

    Persuasive messages are more effective when they are custom-tailored to reflect the interests and concerns of the intended audience. Much of the message-framing literature has focused on the advantages of using either gain or loss frames, depending on the motivational orientation of the target group. In the current study, we extended this research to examine whether a persuasive appeal's effectiveness can be increased by aligning the message framing with the recipient's personality profile. For a single product, we constructed five advertisements, each designed to target one of the five major trait domains of human personality. In a sample of 324 survey respondents, advertisements were evaluated more positively the more they cohered with participants' dispositional motives. These results suggest that adapting persuasive messages to the personality traits of the target audience can be an effective way of increasing the messages' impact, and highlight the potential value of personality-based communication strategies.

  1. Service Interaction Flow Analysis Technique for Service Personalization

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Korhonen, Olli; Kinnula, Marianne; Syrjanen, Anna-Liisa

    2017-01-01

    Service interaction flows are difficult to capture, analyze, outline, and represent for research and design purposes. We examine how variation of personalized service flows in technology-mediated service interaction can be modeled and analyzed to provide information on how service personalization...... could support interaction. We have analyzed service interaction cases in a context of technology-mediated car rental service. With the analysis technique we propose, inspired by Interaction Analysis method, we were able to capture and model the situational service interaction. Our contribution regarding...... technology-mediated service interaction design is twofold: First, with the increased understanding on the role of personalization in managing variation in technology-mediated service interaction, our study contributes to designing service management information systems and human-computer interfaces...

  2. Survey of Instant Messaging Applications Encryption Methods

    OpenAIRE

    Kabakuş, Abdullah; Kara, Resul

    2015-01-01

    Instant messaging applications has already taken the place of traditional Short Messaging Service (SMS) and Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) due to their popularity and usage easement they provide. Users of instant messaging applications are able to send both text and audio messages, different types of attachments such as photos, videos, contact information to their contacts in real time. Because of instant messaging applications use internet instead of Short Message Service Technical Reali...

  3. Effectiveness of Short Message Service Text-Based Smoking Cessation Intervention Among University Students: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Müssener, Ulrika; Bendtsen, Marcus; Karlsson, Nadine; White, Ian R; McCambridge, Jim; Bendtsen, Preben

    2016-03-01

    Smoking is globally the most important preventable cause of ill health and death. Mobile telephone interventions and, in particular, short message service (SMS) text messaging, have the potential to overcome access barriers to traditional health services, not least among young people. To determine the effectiveness of a text-based smoking cessation intervention among young people. A single-blind, 2-arm, randomized clinical trial (Nicotine Exit [NEXit]) was conducted from October 23, 2014, to April 17, 2015; data analysis was performed from April 23, 2014, to May 22, 2015. Participants included daily or weekly smokers willing to set a quit date within 1 month of enrollment. The study used email to invite all college and university students throughout Sweden to participate. The NEXit core program is initiated with a 1- to 4-week motivational phase during which participants can choose to set a stop date. The intervention group then received 157 text messages based on components of effective smoking cessation interventions for 12 weeks. The control group received 1 text every 2 weeks thanking them for participating in the study, with delayed access to the intervention. The primary outcomes were self-reported prolonged abstinence (not having smoked >5 cigarettes over the past 8 weeks) and 4-week point prevalence of complete smoking cessation shortly after the completion of the intervention (approximately 4 months after the quit date). A total of 1590 participants, mainly between 21 and 30 years of age, were randomized into the study; 827 (573 [69.3%] women) were allocated to the intervention group and 763 (522 [68.4%] women) were included in the control group. Primary outcome data were available for 783 (94.7%) of the intervention group and 719 (94.2%) of the control group. At baseline, participants were smoking a median (range) of 63 (1-238) and 70 (2-280) cigarettes per week, respectively. Eight-week prolonged abstinence was reported by 203 participants (25.9%) in the

  4. Toward Privacy-Preserving Personalized Recommendation Services

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cong Wang

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Recommendation systems are crucially important for the delivery of personalized services to users. With personalized recommendation services, users can enjoy a variety of targeted recommendations such as movies, books, ads, restaurants, and more. In addition, personalized recommendation services have become extremely effective revenue drivers for online business. Despite the great benefits, deploying personalized recommendation services typically requires the collection of users’ personal data for processing and analytics, which undesirably makes users susceptible to serious privacy violation issues. Therefore, it is of paramount importance to develop practical privacy-preserving techniques to maintain the intelligence of personalized recommendation services while respecting user privacy. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive survey of the literature related to personalized recommendation services with privacy protection. We present the general architecture of personalized recommendation systems, the privacy issues therein, and existing works that focus on privacy-preserving personalized recommendation services. We classify the existing works according to their underlying techniques for personalized recommendation and privacy protection, and thoroughly discuss and compare their merits and demerits, especially in terms of privacy and recommendation accuracy. We also identity some future research directions. Keywords: Privacy protection, Personalized recommendation services, Targeted delivery, Collaborative filtering, Machine learning

  5. Basic Functional Capabilities for a Military Message Processing Service

    Science.gov (United States)

    1974-09-01

    Rey, California 90291 I1. CONTROLLING OFFICE NAME AND ADORESS 2. MREPORT OWNtL Advanced Research Projects Agency September 1974 1400 Wilson Blvd. Is...WOROD (Conionwo m trevre aide If tneeoooy arm idmentify by egekA INber) automated message processing, command and control , writer-to-reader service...Characterizations During Preparation 31 Post-Preparation Phases 38 Transmission 38 Delivery 39 Reception 41 Archival 44 Administrativo Functions 44

  6. Personal dosimetry service of VF, a.s. company

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Prasek, P.

    2009-01-01

    The VF, a.s. Company will extend its services in the area of personal dosimetry at the end of 2008, which is fully in compliance with the requirements of the Atomic Act, section 9 paragraph (1) letter r) and Decree on Radiation Protection, section 59 paragraph (1) letter a). Optically stimulated luminescence was selected in VF .a.s. as the most advantageous and the most advanced technology for the integral personal dosimetry. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) has been using in dosimetry for more than ten years. Although it is relatively new technology , its indisputable advantages predetermine that technology has significantly benefited in personal dosimetry services within a short time all over the advanced world. The VF, a.s. personal dosimetry service is based on the licensed products of LANDAUER, the US company, which is the world leader in OSL dosimetry. Crystalline Al 2 O 3 :C was selected as the detection material. All equipment of personal dosimetry service is installed in the VF Centre of Technology in Cerna Hora. The personal dosimetry service is incorporated in the International LANDAUER Dosimetry Service Network, and in the European Union, it is directly linked to the LANDAUER European Headquarters with its office in Paris. As a part of the OSL technology licence, the VF personal dosimetry service was included in the inter-laboratory comparison programme of the LANDAUER syndicate. (author)

  7. Personal dosimetry service of VF, a.s. company

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Prasek, P.

    2008-01-01

    The VF, a.s. Company will extend its services in the area of personal dosimetry at the end of 2008, which is fully in compliance with the requirements of the Atomic Act, section 9 paragraph (1) letter r) and Decree on Radiation Protection, section 59 paragraph (1) letter a). Optically stimulated luminescence was selected in VF .a.s. as the most advantageous and the most advanced technology for the integral personal dosimetry . Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) has been using in dosimetry for more than ten years. Although it is relatively new technology , its indisputable advantages predetermine that technology has significantly benefited in personal dosimetry services within a short time all over the advanced world. The VF, a.s. personal dosimetry service is based on the licensed products of LANDAUER, the US company, which is the world leader in OSL dosimetry. Crystalline Al 2 O 3 :C was selected as the detection material. All equipment of personal dosimetry service is installed in the VF Centre of Technology in Cerna Hora. The personal dosimetry service is incorporated in the International LANDAUER Dosimetry Service Network, and in the European Union, it is directly linked to the LANDAUER European Headquarters with its office in Paris. As a part of the OSL technology licence, the VF personal dosimetry service was included in the inter-laboratory comparison programme of the LANDAUER syndicate. (author)

  8. The efficacy of mobile phone-based text message interventions ('Happy Quit') for smoking cessation in China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liao, Yanhui; Wu, Qiuxia; Tang, Jinsong; Zhang, Fengyu; Wang, Xuyi; Qi, Chang; He, Haoyu; Long, Jiang; Kelly, Brian C; Cohen, Joanna

    2016-08-19

    Considering the extreme shortage of smoking cessation services in China, and the acceptability, feasibility and efficacy of mobile phone-based text message interventions for quitting smoking in other countries, here we propose a study of "the efficacy of mobile phone-based text message interventions ('Happy Quit') for smoking cessation in China". The primary objective of this proposed project is to assess whether a program of widely accessed mobile phone-based text message interventions ('Happy Quit') will be effective at helping people in China who smoke, to quit. Based on the efficacy of previous studies in smoking cessation, we hypothesize that 'Happy Quit' will be an effective, feasible and affordable smoking cessation program in China. In this single-blind, randomized trial, undertaken in China, about 2000 smokers willing to make a quit attempt will be randomly allocated, using an independent telephone randomization system that includes a minimization algorithm balancing for sex (male, female), age (19-34 or >34 years), educational level (≤ or >12 years), and Fagerstrom score for nicotine addiction (≤5, >5), to 'Happy Quit', comprising motivational messages and behavioral-change support, or to a control group that receives text messages unrelated to quitting. Messages will be developed to be suitable for Chinese. A pilot study will be conducted before the intervention to modify the library of messages and interventions. The primary outcome will be self-reported continuous smoking abstinence. A secondary outcome will be point prevalence of abstinence. Abstinence will be assessed at six time points (4, 8, 12, 16, 20 and 24 weeks post-intervention). A third outcome will be reductions in number of cigarettes smoked per day. The results will provide valuable insights into bridging the gap between need and services received for smoking cessation interventions and tobacco use prevention in China. It will also serve as mHealth model for extending the public

  9. Use of mobile phone text message reminders in health care services: a narrative literature review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kannisto, Kati Anneli; Koivunen, Marita Hannele; Välimäki, Maritta Anneli

    2014-10-17

    Mobile text messages are a widely recognized communication method in societies, as the global penetration of the technology approaches 100% worldwide. Systematic knowledge is still lacking on how the mobile telephone text messaging (short message service, SMS) has been used in health care services. This study aims to review the literature on the use of mobile phone text message reminders in health care. We conducted a systematic literature review of studies on mobile telephone text message reminders. The data sources used were PubMed (MEDLINE), CINAHL, Proquest Databases/ PsycINFO, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Scopus, and hand searching since 2003. Studies reporting the use of SMS intended to remind patients in health services were included. Given the heterogeneity in the studies, descriptive characteristics, purpose of the study, response rates, description of the intervention, dose and timing, instruments, outcome measures, and outcome data from the studies were synthesized using a narrative approach. From 911 initial citations, 60 studies were included in the review. The studies reported a variety of use for SMS. Mobile telephone text message reminders were used as the only intervention in 73% (44/60) of the studies, and in 27% (16/60) of the remaining studies, SMS was connected to another comprehensive health intervention system. SMS reminders were sent to different patient groups: patients with HIV/AIDS (15%, 9/60) and diabetes (13%, 8/60) being the most common groups. The response rates of the studies varied from 22-100%. Typically, the text message reminders were sent daily. The time before the specific intervention to be rendered varied from 10 minutes (eg, medication taken) to 2 weeks (eg, scheduled appointment). A wide range of different evaluation methods and outcomes were used to assess the impact of SMS varying from existing databases (eg, attendance rate based on medical records), questionnaires, and physiological measures. About three quarters of the

  10. Akzeptanz von Location Based Services

    OpenAIRE

    Bauer, Hans H.; Haber, Tobias E.; Reichardt, Tina; Bökamp, Marten

    2006-01-01

    Die enormen Investitionen in UMTS-Lizenzen und den Aufbau einer neuen Netzinfrastruktur zwingen die Mobilfunkanbieter zur Erschließung neuer Umsatzpotenziale. Durch Entwicklung neuer mobiler Mehrwertdienste hoffen sie, die „Killerapplikation“ der 3. Mobilfunkgeneration zu finden, die ähnlich wie der Short Message Service (SMS) für GSM, zum Treiber des UMTS-Markterfolges werden kann. Nach Meinung vieler Marktbeobachter könnten Location Based Services, d.h. mobile Dienste, die ...

  11. A framework for hierarchical and recursive monitoring of service based systems

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Comuzzi, M.; Spanoudakis, G.

    2009-01-01

    Runtime monitoring of Service Based Systems (SBSs) usually relies on information derived from I/O messages exchanged within business processes implementing services. When service provisioning is regulated by complex Service Level Agreements (SLAs) between service requesters, (composed) services, and

  12. Personality traits and thinking dispositions: Individual differences call for 'smart' messaging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Medders, Lorilee A; Baisley, Sarah K

    2017-06-01

    This paper reveals potentially innate psychological differences to explain differing responses to the same information that cannot be explained by personal circumstances, such as age, financial situation and physical constraints. The study examines three well-known cognitive, psychological constructs as measures of these innate differences: cognitive reflection, need for cognitive closure and psychological function preferences. The data reveal who innately: (1) makes the best decisions without full information; (2) is the most/least receptive to simple, instructive messages; and (3) is the most credible information intermediary. According to the findings, those who tend to make the best decisions under normal circumstances using uncertain or incomplete information may be the least receptive to the simple, instructive message approach frequently used in emergency preparedness. Furthermore, those who make the best information intermediaries are most likely a subset of this same group - those who respond well to an abundance of information and do not respond well to the concise directive. Nevertheless, once a deadline (or immediate crisis) approaches, people increase in their need to 'decide something', and generally all become more receptive to simple, instructive messages than they may be under normal circumstances (no immediate crisis).These findings are particularly important for business continuity and emergency management communications in promoting optimal emergency preparedness and response.

  13. Application of a Tsunami Warning Message Metric to refine NOAA NWS Tsunami Warning Messages

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gregg, C. E.; Johnston, D.; Sorensen, J.; Whitmore, P.

    2013-12-01

    In 2010, the U.S. National Weather Service (NWS) funded a three year project to integrate social science into their Tsunami Program. One of three primary requirements of the grant was to make improvements to tsunami warning messages of the NWS' two Tsunami Warning Centers- the West Coast/Alaska Tsunami Warning Center (WCATWC) in Palmer, Alaska and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) in Ewa Beach, Hawaii. We conducted focus group meetings with a purposive sample of local, state and Federal stakeholders and emergency managers in six states (AK, WA, OR, CA, HI and NC) and two US Territories (US Virgin Islands and American Samoa) to qualitatively asses information needs in tsunami warning messages using WCATWC tsunami messages for the March 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami event. We also reviewed research literature on behavioral response to warnings to develop a tsunami warning message metric that could be used to guide revisions to tsunami warning messages of both warning centers. The message metric is divided into categories of Message Content, Style, Order and Formatting and Receiver Characteristics. A message is evaluated by cross-referencing the message with the operational definitions of metric factors. Findings are then used to guide revisions of the message until the characteristics of each factor are met. Using findings from this project and findings from a parallel NWS Warning Tiger Team study led by T. Nicolini, the WCATWC implemented the first of two phases of revisions to their warning messages in November 2012. A second phase of additional changes, which will fully implement the redesign of messages based on the metric, is in progress. The resulting messages will reflect current state-of-the-art knowledge on warning message effectiveness. Here we present the message metric; evidence-based rational for message factors; and examples of previous, existing and proposed messages.

  14. Development of SNS Stream Analysis Based on Forest Disaster Warning Information Service System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oh, J.; KIM, D.; Kang, M.; Woo, C.; Kim, D.; Seo, J.; Lee, C.; Yoon, H.; Heon, S.

    2017-12-01

    Forest disasters, such as landslides and wildfires, cause huge economic losses and casualties, and the cost of recovery is increasing every year. While forest disaster mitigation technologies have been focused on the development of prevention and response technologies, they are now required to evolve into evacuation and border evacuation, and to develop technologies fused with ICT. In this study, we analyze the SNS (Social Network Service) stream and implement a system to detect the message that the forest disaster occurred or the forest disaster, and search the keyword related to the forest disaster in advance in real time. It is possible to detect more accurate forest disaster messages by repeatedly learning the retrieved results using machine learning techniques. To do this, we designed and implemented a system based on Hadoop and Spark, a distributed parallel processing platform, to handle Twitter stream messages that open SNS. In order to develop the technology to notify the information of forest disaster risk, a linkage of technology such as CBS (Cell Broadcasting System) based on mobile communication, internet-based civil defense siren, SNS and the legal and institutional issues for applying these technologies are examined. And the protocol of the forest disaster warning information service system that can deliver the SNS analysis result was developed. As a result, it was possible to grasp real-time forest disaster situation by real-time big data analysis of SNS that occurred during forest disasters. In addition, we confirmed that it is possible to rapidly propagate alarm or warning according to the disaster situation by using the function of the forest disaster warning information notification service. However, the limitation of system application due to the restriction of opening and sharing of SNS data currently in service and the disclosure of personal information remains a problem to be solved in the future. Keyword : SNS stream, Big data, Machine

  15. Friend-to-friend short message service with opportunistic Wi-Fi beacons

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Türkes, Okan; Scholten, Johan; Havinga, Paul J.M.

    2016-01-01

    This study introduces Oppline, an ad hoc opportunistic short message service that can be collaboratively used by everyone who has a smart mobile device. The data exchange method of Oppline is built on top of the universal Wi-Fi standard, thus expedites platform-independent integration of related

  16. Mobile health messaging service and helpdesk for South African mothers (MomConnect): history, successes and challenges

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barron, Peter; Peter, Joanne; Sebidi, Jane; Bekker, Marcha; Allen, Robert; Parsons, Annie Neo; Benjamin, Peter; Pillay, Yogan

    2018-01-01

    MomConnect is a flagship programme of the South African National Department of Health that has reached over 1.5 million pregnant women. Using mobile technology, MomConnect provides pregnant and postpartum women with twice-weekly health information text messages as well as access to a helpdesk for patient queries and feedback. In just 3 years, MomConnect has been taken to scale to reach over 95% of public health facilities and has reached 63% of all pregnant women attending their first antenatal appointment. The helpdesk has received over 300 000 queries at an average of 250 per day from 6% of MomConnect users. The service is entirely free to its users. The rapid deployment of MomConnect has been facilitated by strong government leadership, and an ecosystem of mobile health implementers who had experience of much of the content and technology required. An early decision to design MomConnect for universal coverage has required the use of text-based technologies (short messaging service and Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) that are accessible via even the most basic mobile phones, but cumbersome to use and costly at scale. Unlike previous mobile messaging services in South Africa, MomConnect collects the user’s identification number and facility code during registration, enabling future linkages with other health and population databases and geolocated feedback. MomConnect has catalysed additional efforts to strengthen South Africa’s digital health architecture. The rapid growth in smartphone penetration presents new opportunities to reduce costs, increase real-time data collection and expand the reach and scope of MomConnect to serve health workers and other patient groups. PMID:29713503

  17. On-call service of neurosurgeons in Germany: organization, use of communication services, and personal acceptance of modern technologies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brenke, Christopher; Lassel, Elke A; Terris, Darcey; Kurt, Aysel; Schmieder, Kirsten; Schoenberg, Stefan O; Weisser, Gerald

    2014-05-01

    A significant proportion of acute care neurosurgical patients present to hospital outside regular working hours. The objective of our study was to evaluate the structure of neurosurgical on-call services in Germany, the use of modern communication devices and teleradiology services, and the personal acceptance of modern technologies by neurosurgeons. A nationwide survey of all 141 neurosurgical departments in Germany was performed. The questionnaire consisted of two parts: one for neurosurgical departments and one for individual neurosurgeons. The questionnaire, available online and mailed in paper form, included 21 questions about on-call service structure; the availability and use of communication devices, teleradiology services, and other information services; and neurosurgeons' personal acceptance of modern technologies. The questionnaire return rate from departments was 63.1% (89/141), whereas 187 individual neurosurgeons responded. For 57.3% of departments, teleradiology services were available and were frequently used by 62.2% of neurosurgeons. A further 23.6% of departments described using smartphone screenshots of computed tomography (CT) images transmitted by multimedia messaging service (MMS), and 8.6% of images were described as sent by unencrypted email. Although 47.0% of neurosurgeons reported owning a smartphone, only 1.1% used their phone for on-call image communication. Teleradiology services were observed to be widely used by on-call neurosurgeons in Germany. Nevertheless, a significant number of departments appear to use outdated techniques or techniques that leave patient data unprotected. On-call neurosurgeons in Germany report a willingness to adopt more modern approaches, utilizing readily available smartphones or tablet technology. Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

  18. Using Publish-Subscribe Messaging for System Status and Automation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Danford S.

    2015-01-01

    The NASA Goddard Mission Services Evolution Center (GMSEC) system is a message-based plug-and-play open system architecture used in many of NASA mission operations centers. This presentation will focus on the use of GMSEC standard messages to report and analyze the status of a system and enable the automation of the system's components. In GMSEC systems, each component reports its status using a keep-alive message and also publishes status and activities as log messages. In addition, the components can accept functional directive messages from the GMSEC message bus. Over the past several years, development teams have found ways to utilize these messages to create innovative display pages and increasingly sophisticated approaches to automation. This presentation will show the flexibility and value of the message-based approach to system awareness and automation.

  19. A comparison between phone-based psychotherapy with and without text messaging support in between sessions for crisis patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Furber, Gareth; Jones, Gabrielle Margaret; Healey, David; Bidargaddi, Niranjan

    2014-10-08

    Few studies have tested whether individually tailored text messaging interventions have an effect on clinical outcomes when used to supplement traditional psychotherapy. This is despite the potential to improve outcomes through symptom monitoring, prompts for between-session activities, and psychoeducation. The intent of the study was to explore the use of individually tailored between-session text messaging, or short message service (SMS), as an adjunct to telephone-based psychotherapy for consumers who present to the Emergency Department (ED) in situational and/or emotional crises. Over a 4-month period, two therapists offered 68 prospective consumers of a telephone-based psychotherapy service individually tailored between-session text messaging alongside their telephone-based psychotherapy. Attendance and clinical outcomes (depression, anxiety, functional impairment) of those receiving messages were compared against a historical control group (n=157) who received telephone psychotherapy only. A total of 66% (45/68) of the consumers offered SMS accepted the intervention. A total of 432 messages were sent over the course of the trial, the majority involving some kind of psychoeducation or reminders to engage in therapy goals. There were no significant differences in clinical outcomes between consumers who received the SMS and those in the control group. There was a trend for participants in the intervention group to attend fewer sessions than those in the control group (mean 3.7, SD 1.9 vs mean 4.4, SD 2.3). Both groups showed significant improvement over time. Individually tailored SMS were not found to improve clinical outcomes in consumers receiving telephone-based psychotherapy, but the study was underpowered, given the effect sizes noted and the significance level chosen. Given the ease of implementation and positive feedback from therapists and clients, individually tailored text messages should be explored further in future trials with a focus on enhancing

  20. Rancang Bangun Sistem Informasi Pelayanan Kesehatan Berbasis Customer Relationship Management Menggunakan Teknologi Short Message Service (SMS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Trismianto Asmo Sutrisno Sutrisno

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available Recently, there are many hospitals as the health-care services choose to use the concept of Customer Relationship Management (CRM to build the trust bridges between the hospitals and their patients. The implementation of CRM in health caring, especially for pregnant women needs to do; such as the delivery of information related to the pregnant women to get antenatal care as the scheduled or pregnant women desire to obtain information dealing with their pregnancy. The irrelevant, slow and inaccurate information can cause the health care services given to the patients are not optimal, so that they can reduce patients’ loyalty toward the health-care services. This research resulted health care information system based on Customer Relationship Management using Short Message Service (SMS technology with case study of health care for pregnant women. The resulted information system is produced by the System Development Life Cycle methodology using the Waterfall model. One of the features produced is the pregnant women will receive a confirmation SMS to obtain antenatal care with a schedule until 28 weeks of their pregnancy check up every four weeks, 28-36 weeks of their pregnancy check up every two weeks, and 36-40 weeks of their pregnancy check up once a week.   Keywords: Pregnant Women, Antenatal Care, Customer Relationship Management, Short Message Service

  1. Ontology-Driven Instant Messaging-Based Dialogue System for Device Control

    KAUST Repository

    Noguera-Arnaldos, José Ángel

    2015-10-14

    The im4Things platform aims to develop a communication interface for devices in the Internet of the Things (IoT) through intelligent dialogue based on written natural language over instant messaging services. This type of communication can be established in different ways such as order sending and, status querying. Also, the devices themselves are responsible for alerting users when a change has been produced in the device’s sensors. The system has been validated and it has obtained promising results.

  2. Message-driven factors influencing opening and forwarding of mobile advertising messages

    OpenAIRE

    Sanz Blas, Silvia; Ruiz Mafé, Carla; Martí Parreño, José

    2015-01-01

    This work aims to analyse the influence of message-driven factors -informativeness, ubiquity, frequency and personalization- on consumer attitude and behaviour -opening and forwarding- towards mobile advertising messages. A theoretical model was developed and empirically tested using a sample of 355 Spanish teenager mobile users. Findings show that frequency is the dimension accounting the most -and significantly- of the four message-driven factors analysed on attitude toward mobile advertisi...

  3. SMS Messaging Applications

    CERN Document Server

    Pero, Nicola

    2009-01-01

    Cell phones are the most common communication device on the planet, and Short Message Service (SMS) is the chief channel for companies to offer services, accept requests, report news, and download binary files over cell phones. This guide describes the protocols and best practices (things that ensure you won't get sued or lose your right to offer a service) you need to know to make SMS messaging part of an organizational service. Issues such as character sets, differences among vendors, common practices in Europe and North America, and API choices are covered.

  4. Running a reliable messaging infrastructure for CERN's control system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ehm, F.

    2012-01-01

    The current middle-ware for CERN's Control System is based on 2 implementations: CORBA-based Controls Middle-Ware (CMW) and Java Messaging Service (JMS). The JMS service is realized using the open source messaging product ActiveMQ and had became an increasing vital part of beam operations as data need to be transported reliably for various areas such as the beam protection system, post mortem analysis, beam commissioning or the alarm system. The current JMS service is made of 18 brokers running either in clusters or as single nodes. The main service is deployed as a 2 node cluster providing fail-over and load balancing capabilities for high availability. Non-critical applications running on virtual machines or desktop machines read data via a third broker to decouple the load from the operational main cluster. This scenario has been introduced last year and the statistics showed an up-time of 99.998% and an average data serving rate of 1.6 G-Byte per minute represented by around 150 messages per second. Deploying, running, maintaining and protecting such messaging infrastructure is not trivial and includes setting up of careful monitoring and failure pre-recognition. Naturally, lessons have been learnt and their outcome is very important for the current and future operation of such service. (author)

  5. Content-Based Personalization Services Integrating Folksonomies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Musto, Cataldo; Narducci, Fedelucio; Lops, Pasquale; de Gemmis, Marco; Semeraro, Giovanni

    Basic content-based personalization consists in matching up the attributes of a user profile, in which preferences and interests are stored, with the attributes of a content object. The Web 2.0 (r)evolution has changed the game for personalization, from ‘elitary’ Web 1.0, written by few and read by many, to web content generated by everyone (user-generated content - UGC), since the role of people has evolved from passive consumers of information to that of active contributors.

  6. Improving Anomaly Detection for Text-Based Protocols by Exploiting Message Structures

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christian M. Mueller

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available Service platforms using text-based protocols need to be protected against attacks. Machine-learning algorithms with pattern matching can be used to detect even previously unknown attacks. In this paper, we present an extension to known Support Vector Machine (SVM based anomaly detection algorithms for the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP. Our contribution is to extend the amount of different features used for classification (feature space by exploiting the structure of SIP messages, which reduces the false positive rate. Additionally, we show how combining our approach with attribute reduction significantly improves throughput.

  7. Personality Diagnosis for Personalized eHealth Services

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cortellese, Fabio; Nalin, Marco; Morandi, Angelica; Sanna, Alberto; Grasso, Floriana

    In this paper we present two different approaches to personality diagnosis, for the provision of innovative personalized services, as used in a case study where diabetic patients were supported in the improvement of physical activity in their daily life. The first approach presented relies on a static clustering of the population, with a specific motivation strategy designed for each cluster. The second approach relies on a dynamic population clustering, making use of recommendation systems and algorithms, like Collaborative Filtering. We discuss pro and cons of each approach and a possible combination of the two, as the most promising solution for this and other personalization services in eHealth.

  8. Android-Stego: A Novel Service Provider Imperceptible MMS Steganography Technique Robust to Message Loss

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Avinash Srinivasan

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available Information hiding techniques, especially steganography, have been extensively researched for over two decades. Nonetheless, steganography on smartphones over cellular carrier networks is yet to be fully explored. Today, smartphones, which are at the epitome of ubiquitous and pervasive computing, make steganography an easily accessible covert communication channel. In this paper, we propose Android-Stego - a framework for steganography employing smart-phones. Android-Stego has been evaluated and confirmed to achieve covert communication over real world cellular service providers' communication networks such as Verizon and Sprint. A key contribution of our research presented in this paper is the benchmark results we have provided by analyzing real world cellular carriers network restrictions on MMS message size. We have also analyzed the actions the carriers take - such as compression and/or format conversion - on MMS messages that fall outside the established MMS communication norm, which varies for each service provider. Finally, We have used these benchmark results in implementing Android-Stego such that it is sensitive to carrier restrictions and robust to message loss.

  9. Real-time mobile customer short message system design and implementation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Han, Qirui; Sun, Fang

    To expand the current mobile phone short message service, and to make the contact between schools, teachers, parents and feedback of the modern school office system more timely and conveniently, designed and developed the Short Message System based on the Linux platform. The state-of-the-art principles and designed proposals in the Short Message System based on the Linux platform are introduced. Finally we propose an optimized secure access authentication method. At present, many schools,vbusinesses and research institutions ratify the promotion and application the messaging system gradually, which has shown benign market prospects.

  10. A Novel User Created Message Application Service Design for Bidirectional TPEG

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Sang-Hee; Jo, Kang-Hyun

    The T-DMB (Terrestrial-Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) is the national service, currently successful in use in Korea since 2008. Among other services, TPEG (Transport Protocol Experts Group) service has been spotlighted in the aspects of creating earnings. At present, TPEG service is not so popular as it fails to satisfy the user’s demands on various aspects. Thus, the variety of services including bidirectional service is necessary in stage of DMB2.0. In this paper, the limitations of existing TPEG-POI (Point of Interest) application service using the wireless communication network are indicated. To overcome such limitations, we propose a business model for TPEG-UCM (User Created Message) application service which uses individual bidirectional media. The experiment shown in this paper proves the usability and operability of the proposed method, suggesting that the implementation of the proposed method would be overcome a lack of variety and unidirectional of existing TPEG application.

  11. The efficacy of mobile phone-based text message interventions (‘Happy Quit’ for smoking cessation in China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yanhui Liao

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Considering the extreme shortage of smoking cessation services in China, and the acceptability, feasibility and efficacy of mobile phone-based text message interventions for quitting smoking in other countries, here we propose a study of “the efficacy of mobile phone-based text message interventions (‘Happy Quit’ for smoking cessation in China”. The primary objective of this proposed project is to assess whether a program of widely accessed mobile phone-based text message interventions (‘Happy Quit’ will be effective at helping people in China who smoke, to quit. Based on the efficacy of previous studies in smoking cessation, we hypothesize that ‘Happy Quit’ will be an effective, feasible and affordable smoking cessation program in China. Methods/Design In this single-blind, randomized trial, undertaken in China, about 2000 smokers willing to make a quit attempt will be randomly allocated, using an independent telephone randomization system that includes a minimization algorithm balancing for sex (male, female, age (19–34 or >34 years, educational level (≤ or >12 years, and Fagerstrom score for nicotine addiction (≤5, >5, to ‘Happy Quit’, comprising motivational messages and behavioral-change support, or to a control group that receives text messages unrelated to quitting. Messages will be developed to be suitable for Chinese. A pilot study will be conducted before the intervention to modify the library of messages and interventions. The primary outcome will be self-reported continuous smoking abstinence. A secondary outcome will be point prevalence of abstinence. Abstinence will be assessed at six time points (4, 8, 12, 16, 20 and 24 weeks post-intervention. A third outcome will be reductions in number of cigarettes smoked per day. Discussion/Implications The results will provide valuable insights into bridging the gap between need and services received for smoking cessation interventions and

  12. An inexpensive, interdisciplinary, methodology to conduct an impact study of homeless persons on hospital based services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parker, R David; Regier, Michael; Brown, Zachary; Davis, Stephen

    2015-02-01

    Homelessness is a primary concern for community health. Scientific literature on homelessness is wide ranging and diverse. One opportunity to add to existing literature is the development and testing of affordable, easily implemented methods for measuring the impact of homeless on the healthcare system. Such methodological approaches rely on the strengths in a multidisciplinary approach, including providers, both healthcare and homeless services and applied clinical researchers. This paper is a proof of concept for a methodology which is easily adaptable nationwide, given the mandated implementation of homeless management information systems in the United States and other countries; medical billing systems by hospitals; and research methods of researchers. Adaptation is independent of geographic region, budget restraints, specific agency skill sets, and many other factors that impact the application of a consistent methodological science based approach to assess and address homelessness. We conducted a secondary data analysis merging data from homeless utilization and hospital case based data. These data detailed care utilization among homeless persons in a small, Appalachian city in the United States. In our sample of 269 persons who received at least one hospital based service and one homeless service between July 1, 2012 and June 30, 2013, the total billed costs were $5,979,463 with 10 people costing more than one-third ($1,957,469) of the total. Those persons were primarily men, living in an emergency shelter, with pre-existing disabling conditions. We theorize that targeted services, including Housing First, would be an effective intervention. This is proposed in a future study.

  13. Raising Cervical Cancer Awareness: Analysing the Incremental Efficacy of Short Message Service

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lemos, Marina Serra; Rothes, Inês Areal; Oliveira, Filipa; Soares, Luisa

    2017-01-01

    Objective: To evaluate the incremental efficacy of a Short Message Service (SMS) combined with a brief video intervention in increasing the effects of a health education intervention for cervical cancer prevention, over and beyond a video-alone intervention, with respect to key determinants of health behaviour change--knowledge, motivation and…

  14. When message-frame fits salient cultural-frame, messages feel more persuasive.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Uskul, Ayse K; Oyserman, Daphna

    2010-03-01

    The present study examines the persuasive effects of tailored health messages comparing those tailored to match (versus not match) both chronic cultural frame and momentarily salient cultural frame. Evidence from two studies (Study 1: n = 72 European Americans; Study 2: n = 48 Asian Americans) supports the hypothesis that message persuasiveness increases when chronic cultural frame, health message tailoring and momentarily salient cultural frame all match. The hypothesis was tested using a message about health risks of caffeine consumption among individuals prescreened to be regular caffeine consumers. After being primed for individualism, European Americans who read a health message that focused on the personal self were more likely to accept the message-they found it more persuasive, believed they were more at risk and engaged in more message-congruent behaviour. These effects were also found among Asian Americans who were primed for collectivism and who read a health message that focused on relational obligations. The findings point to the importance of investigating the role of situational cues in persuasive effects of health messages and suggest that matching content to primed frame consistent with the chronic frame may be a way to know what to match messages to.

  15. Flow of emotional messages in artificial social networks

    OpenAIRE

    Chmiel, Anna; Holyst, Janusz A.

    2010-01-01

    Models of message flows in an artificial group of users communicating via the Internet are introduced and investigated using numerical simulations. We assumed that messages possess an emotional character with a positive valence and that the willingness to send the next affective message to a given person increases with the number of messages received from this person. As a result, the weights of links between group members evolve over time. Memory effects are introduced, taking into account t...

  16. The effects of message framing, involvement, and nicotine dependence on anti-smoking public service announcements.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jung, Wan S; Villegas, Jorge

    2011-01-01

    Anti-smoking Public Service Announcements (PSAs) typically emphasize the negative consequences of failing to quit smoking (negative frame), as opposed to emphasizing the benefits of quitting (positive frame). However, stressing the benefits of quitting sometimes produces better communication outcomes. Previous research on message framing has tried to identify factors affecting the impact of positive framing and negative framing. Data were collected on 188 undergraduates attending a southeastern university in the United States who were assigned randomly to view either positive or negative messages. Our study found that involvement and nicotine dependence moderated the impact of framed smoking-cessation messages on attitude toward the ad.

  17. The development and implementation of stroke risk prediction model in National Health Insurance Service's personal health record.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Jae-Woo; Lim, Hyun-Sun; Kim, Dong-Wook; Shin, Soon-Ae; Kim, Jinkwon; Yoo, Bora; Cho, Kyung-Hee

    2018-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to build a 10-year stroke prediction model and categorize a probability of stroke using the Korean national health examination data. Then it intended to develop the algorithm to provide a personalized warning on the basis of each user's level of stroke risk and a lifestyle correction message about the stroke risk factors. Subject to national health examinees in 2002-2003, the stroke prediction model identified when stroke was first diagnosed by following-up the cohort until 2013 and estimated a 10-year probability of stroke. It sorted the user's individual probability of stroke into five categories - normal, slightly high, high, risky, very risky, according to the five ranges of average probability of stroke in comparison to total population - less than 50 percentile, 50-70, 70-90, 90-99.9, more than 99.9 percentile, and constructed the personalized warning and lifestyle correction messages by each category. Risk factors in stroke risk model include the age, BMI, cholesterol, hypertension, diabetes, smoking status and intensity, physical activity, alcohol drinking, past history (hypertension, coronary heart disease) and family history (stroke, coronary heart disease). The AUC values of stroke risk prediction model from the external validation data set were 0.83 in men and 0.82 in women, which showed a high predictive power. The probability of stroke within 10 years for men in normal group (less than 50 percentile) was less than 3.92% and those in very risky group (top 0.01 percentile) was 66.2% and over. The women's probability of stroke within 10 years was less than 3.77% in normal group (less than 50 percentile) and 55.24% and over in very risky group. This study developed the stroke risk prediction model and the personalized warning and the lifestyle correction message based on the national health examination data and uploaded them to the personal health record service called My Health Bank in the health information website - Health

  18. Covert Channel Pada Aliran Data Websocket untuk Komunikasi Messaging XMPP

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yoga Dwitya Pramudita

    2015-07-01

    Abstract Instant Messaging communication services provide a variety of communication features that can be used by the user, such as text messaging (text messages both online and offline. One of the standard protocol that supports this service is XMPP (Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol. XMPP communication using XML documents, making it vulnerable to passive attacks monitoring content of  communications. To overcome this drawback the solution is encrypted communications. The other solutions that try to offer in this research is the use of a covert channel to send hidden messages. In this research will create a browser based XMPP client application that is capable to deliver XMPP communication and also provide covert channel communication. XMPP communication can be built on a web-based application using WebSocket protocol. This protocol will exploit field masking-key to load the covert channel messages that is sent during the session XMPP communication takes place. From the test results, the client application is able to produce a covert channel communication with a data width of 3 bytes in each packet. The client application is also able to perform covert communication channel in a communication link with the condition of the probability of packet loss rate below 10%.   Keywords— WebSocket, XMPP, masking-key, Covert Channel, browser based application.

  19. A hazard-independent approach for the standardised multi-channel dissemination of warning messages

    Science.gov (United States)

    Esbri Palomares, M. A.; Hammitzsch, M.; Lendholt, M.

    2012-04-01

    The tsunami disaster affecting the Indian Ocean region on Christmas 2004 demonstrated very clearly the shortcomings in tsunami detection, public warning processes as well as intergovernmental warning message exchange in the Indian Ocean region. In that regard, early warning systems require that the dissemination of early warning messages has to be executed in way that ensures that the message delivery is timely; the message content is understandable, usable and accurate. To that end, diverse and multiple dissemination channels must be used to increase the chance of the messages reaching all affected persons in a hazard scenario. In addition to this, usage of internationally accepted standards for the warning dissemination such as the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) and Emergency Data Exchange Language (EDXL) Distribution Element specified by the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) increase the interoperability among different warning systems enabling thus the concept of system-of-systems proposed by GEOSS. The project Distant Early Warning System (DEWS), co-funded by the European Commission under the 6th Framework Programme, aims at strengthening the early warning capacities by building an innovative generation of interoperable tsunami early warning systems based on the above mentioned concepts following a Service-oriented Architecture (SOA) approach. The project focuses on the downstream part of the hazard information processing where customized, user-tailored warning messages and alerts flow from the warning centre to the responsible authorities and/or the public with their different needs and responsibilities. The information logistics services within DEWS generate tailored EDXL-DE/CAP warning messages for each user that must receive the message according to their preferences, e.g., settings for language, interested areas, dissemination channels, etc.. However, the significant difference in the implementation and

  20. Patient-initiated Electronic Messages and Quality of Care for Patients With Diabetes and Hypertension in a Large Fee-for-Service Medical Group: Results From a Natural Experiment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McClellan, Sean R; Panattoni, Laura; Chan, Albert S; Tai-Seale, Ming

    2016-03-01

    Few studies have examined the association between patient-initiated electronic messaging (e-messaging) and clinical outcomes in fee-for-service settings. To estimate the association between patient-initiated e-messages and quality of care among patients with diabetes and hypertension. Longitudinal observational study from 2009 to 2013. In March 2011, the medical group eliminated a $60/year patient user fee for e-messaging and established a provider payment of $3-5 per patient-initiated e-message. Quality of care for patients initiating e-messages was compared before and after March 2011, relative to nonmessaging patients. Propensity score weighting accounted for differences between e-messaging and nonmessaging patients in generalized estimating equations. Large multispecialty practice in California compensating providers' fee-for-service. Patients with diabetes (N=4232) or hypertension (N=15,463) who had activated their online portal but not e-messaged before e-messaging became free. Quality of care included HEDIS-based process measures for hemoglobin (Hb) A1c, blood pressure, low-density lipoprotein (LDL), nephropathy, and retinopathy tests, and outcome measures for HbA1c, blood pressure, and LDL. E-messaging was measured as counts of patient-initiated e-message threads sent to providers. Patients were categorized into quartiles by e-messaging frequency. The probability of annually completing indicated tests increased by 1%-7% for e-messaging patients, depending on the outcome and e-messaging frequency. E-messaging was associated with small improvements in HbA1c and LDL for some patients with diabetes. Patient-initiated e-messaging may increase the likelihood of completing recommended tests, but may not be sufficient to improve clinical outcomes for most patients with diabetes or hypertension without additional interventions.

  1. E-mail to SMS service change

    CERN Multimedia

    IT Department

    2010-01-01

    If you have a CERN e-mail account, you have probably already used one of the popular services that CERN’s IT Department offers to CERN users: the mail2SMS service. It allows any CERN e-mail account holder to send short messages (SMS) free of charge to CERN GSM phone numbers. Further to recent negotiations with our GSM operator, this service has been extended. It is now possible to send short messages free of charge to any Swiss mobile number. This extension of service aims at replacing the similar service that was made available by SWITCH(1) to CERN users (address: mobilenumber@sms.switch.ch). Because of repeated abuse, this service will be definitively stopped for CERN users on 15th January 2010. Please keep in mind that CERN’s e-mail to SMS service still has some restrictions: messages can only be sent from CERN mail accounts, and not from personal ones, such as GMAIL, MSN, Yahoo; the maximum length of the message is 160 characters (standard maximum SMS length); and only Swiss mobile...

  2. The Effect of Education through Short Message Service (SMS) Messages on Diabetic Patients Adherence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adikusuma, Wirawan; Qiyaam, Nurul

    2017-05-12

    Poor adherence and a lack of understanding of medication instructions for oral antidiabetic use are key factors that inhibit the control of glycemic levels. The aforementioned situation needs intervention to improve medication adherence and the therapy. This study was conducted with a quasi-experimental design with prospective data collection. The subjects of this study were 50 outpatients with type 2 diabetes melitus (T2DM) who had received oral antidiabetic medicine therapy at least six months prior to adherence measurement. The patients were classified into two groups-the control group and the intervention group. The intervention group received Short Message Service (SMS) messages of diabetes education, while the control group did not. Data collection was conducted by doing interviews and administering the Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS) questionnaire. The results showed the increase in adherence in the intervention group as 1.15 ± 1.04 and that in the control group as 0.72 ± 0.90. These results indicated that there were significant differences in MMAS score between the control and intervention groups ( p < 0.05). The decrease in fasting blood glucose and glucose measured 2 h postprandially was greater in the intervention group than that in the control group. It was concluded that the provision of education through SMS had a positive effect on medication adherence and glycemic levels.

  3. Recall effect of short message service (SMS) as a complementary marketing communications instrument

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wouters, J.P.M.; Wetzels, M.G.M.

    2006-01-01

    A quasi-experimental study was designed to investigate the recall effect of Short Message Service (SMS) as a complementary marketing communications instrument. An experimental group (EG) was formed, consisting of people who had called an SMS number mentioned in a car brand campaign. A control group

  4. Individual differences in drivers' cognitive processing of road safety messages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaye, Sherrie-Anne; White, Melanie J; Lewis, Ioni M

    2013-01-01

    Using Gray and McNaughton's (2000) revised reinforcement sensitivity theory (r-RST), we examined the influence of personality on processing of words presented in gain-framed and loss-framed anti-speeding messages and how the processing biases associated with personality influenced message acceptance. The r-RST predicts that the nervous system regulates personality and that behaviour is dependent upon the activation of the behavioural activation system (BAS), activated by reward cues and the fight-flight-freeze system (FFFS), activated by punishment cues. According to r-RST, individuals differ in the sensitivities of their BAS and FFFS (i.e., weak to strong), which in turn leads to stable patterns of behaviour in the presence of rewards and punishments, respectively. It was hypothesised that individual differences in personality (i.e., strength of the BAS and the FFFS) would influence the degree of both message processing (as measured by reaction time to previously viewed message words) and message acceptance (measured three ways by perceived message effectiveness, behavioural intentions, and attitudes). Specifically, it was anticipated that, individuals with a stronger BAS would process the words presented in the gain-frame messages faster than those with a weaker BAS and individuals with a stronger FFFS would process the words presented in the loss-frame messages faster than those with a weaker FFFS. Further, it was expected that greater processing (faster reaction times) would be associated with greater acceptance for that message. Driver licence holding students (N=108) were recruited to view one of four anti-speeding messages (i.e., social gain-frame, social loss-frame, physical gain-frame, and physical loss-frame). A computerised lexical decision task assessed participants' subsequent reaction times to message words, as an indicator of the extent of processing of the previously viewed message. Self-report measures assessed personality and the three message

  5. An Investigation of the Impact of an Intervention to Reduce Academic Procrastination Using Short Message Service (SMS) Technology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davis, Darrel R.; Abbitt, Jason T.

    2013-01-01

    This mixed-method pilot study investigated the impact of a custom Short Message Service (SMS) reminder system developed to help students reduce procrastination and increase performance on weekly content-related quizzes in a high-enrollment hybrid online course. Text message reminders were sent to three students with high procrastination and low…

  6. 75 FR 47141 - Review of Personal Radio Services Rules

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-08-04

    ... user-generated text messages on certain GMRS channels, and reviews the technical operating parameters..., and (3) preventing the marketing of ersatz devices using the term ``Personal Locator Beacon'', by... frequency by a channel number (para. 12); d. Express frequency tolerance requirements in terms of parts per...

  7. Influencing Health Behaviors via Short Message Service (SMS): Evidence for Best Practices From Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania and Xi’an China

    OpenAIRE

    Heitner, Jesse

    2016-01-01

    Text messaging, also known as short message services (SMS), is a burgeoning innovation area showing promise in eliciting health behavior changes. This dissertation details two intervention trials that each comparatively tests the efficacy of different text message sets intended to improve behaviors. In light of pervasive road traffic injuries amongst young men in Tanzania, the first intervention tested messaging strategies aimed at increasing helmet wearing amongst commercial motorcycle t...

  8. Explaining the Efficacy of Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV Prevention: A Qualitative Study of Message Framing and Messaging Preferences Among US Men Who have Sex with Men.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Underhill, Kristen; Morrow, Kathleen M; Colleran, Christopher; Calabrese, Sarah K; Operario, Don; Salovey, Peter; Mayer, Kenneth H

    2016-07-01

    We investigated message comprehension and message framing preferences for communicating about PrEP efficacy with US MSM. We conducted eight focus groups (n = 38) and n = 56 individual interviews with MSM in Providence, RI. Facilitators probed comprehension, credibility, and acceptability of efficacy messages, including percentages, non-numerical paraphrases, efficacy ranges versus point estimates, and success- versus failure-framed messages. Our findings indicated a range of comprehension and operational understandings of efficacy messages. Participants tended to prefer percentage-based and success-framed messages, although preferences varied for communicating about efficacy using a single percentage versus a range. Participants reported uncertainty about how to interpret numerical estimates, and many questioned whether trial results would predict personal effectiveness. These results suggest that providers and researchers implementing PrEP may face challenges in communicating with users about efficacy. Efforts to educate MSM about PrEP should incorporate percentage-based information, and message framing decisions may influence message credibility and overall PrEP acceptability.

  9. Predictors for assessing electronic messaging between nurses and general practitioners as a useful tool for communication in home health care services: a cross-sectional study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lyngstad, Merete; Hofoss, Dag; Grimsmo, Anders; Hellesø, Ragnhild

    2015-02-17

    Nurses providing home health care services are dependent on access to patient information and communicating with general practitioners (GPs) to deliver safe and effective health care to patients. Information and communication technology (ICT) systems are viewed as powerful tools for this purpose. In Norway, a standardized electronic messaging (e-messaging) system is currently being established in health care. The aim of this study was to explore home health care nurses' assessments of the utility of the e-messaging system for communicating with GPs and identify elements that influence the assessment of e-messaging as a useful communication tool. The data were collected using a self-developed questionnaire based on variables identified by focus group interviews with home health care nurses (n=425) who used e-messaging and existing research. Data were analyzed using logistic regression analyses. Over two-thirds (425/632, 67.2%) of the home health care nurses returned the questionnaire. A high proportion (388/399, 97.2%) of the home health care nurses who returned the questionnaire found the e-messaging system to be a useful tool for communication with GPs. The odds of reporting that e-messaging was a useful tool were over five times higher (OR 5.1, CI 2.489-10.631, Pcommunicate with GPs. By identifying these elements, it is easier to determine which interventions are the most important for the development and implementation of ICT systems in home health care services.

  10. Trust-based information system architecture for personal wellness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ruotsalainen, Pekka; Nykänen, Pirkko; Seppälä, Antto; Blobel, Bernd

    2014-01-01

    Modern eHealth, ubiquitous health and personal wellness systems take place in an unsecure and ubiquitous information space where no predefined trust occurs. This paper presents novel information model and an architecture for trust based privacy management of personal health and wellness information in ubiquitous environment. The architecture enables a person to calculate a dynamic and context-aware trust value for each service provider, and using it to design personal privacy policies for trustworthy use of health and wellness services. For trust calculation a novel set of measurable context-aware and health information-sensitive attributes is developed. The architecture enables a person to manage his or her privacy in ubiquitous environment by formulating context-aware and service provider specific policies. Focus groups and information modelling was used for developing a wellness information model. System analysis method based on sequential steps that enable to combine results of analysis of privacy and trust concerns and the selection of trust and privacy services was used for development of the information system architecture. Its services (e.g. trust calculation, decision support, policy management and policy binding services) and developed attributes enable a person to define situation-aware policies that regulate the way his or her wellness and health information is processed.

  11. Agent-based Personal Network (PN) service architecture

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jiang, Bo; Olesen, Henning

    2004-01-01

    In this paper we proposte a new concept for a centralized agent system as the solution for the PN service architecture, which aims to efficiently control and manage the PN resources and enable the PN based services to run seamlessly over different networks and devices. The working principle...

  12. Pendidikan gizi dan pesan gizi melalui short message service terhadap pengetahuan, perilaku, dan kepatuhan ibu hamil minum tablet besi

    OpenAIRE

    Kusfriyadi, Mars Khendra; Hadi, Hamam; Fuad, Anis

    2012-01-01

    Background: Low compliance as one cause of high prevalence of anemia in Indonesia is mainly due to forgetfulness. Nutrition education and short message service (SMS) are expected to become media to send nutrition message and remind pregnant mothers of taking iron tablet. Objective: To identify impact of nutrition education and nutrition message through SMS to knowledge, behavior and compliance of pregnant mothers with taking iron tablet. Method: The study was a quasi experiment that use...

  13. Short Message Service (SMS) as an Educational Tool during Pregnancy: A Literature Review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lamont, Kim; Sliwa, Karen; Stewart, Simon; Carrington, Melinda; Pretorius, Sandra; Libhaber, Elena; Wiysonge, Charles S.; Adebayo, Esther F.; Klipstein-Grobusch, Kerstin

    2016-01-01

    Background: In many low- and middle-income countries, access to health information during pregnancy is poor. The rapid adoption of mobile phones in these countries has created new opportunities for disseminating such information. Objective: This paper reviews existing information on the use of short message services (SMSs) as a feasible tool to…

  14. VnpPersonService

    Data.gov (United States)

    Department of Veterans Affairs — Common Web Service for VONAPP. Retrieves, creates, updates and deletes a veteranÆs VNP_PERSON record in the Corporate database for a claim selected in the GUI by the...

  15. 75 FR 3886 - Amateur Service Rules

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-25

    ... message, ``get form.'' Commenters will receive a sample form and directions in reply. Commenters filing... devoted to amateur service activities consistent with this part. After [date reserved], no additional club... license trustee, submitted by a person who is not the trustee of record. * * * * * (d) A person may...

  16. Message framing and defensive processing: a cultural examination.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ko, Deborah M; Kim, Heejung S

    2010-01-01

    Past research has shown that health messages on safer sexual practices that focus on relational consequences are more persuasive than messages that focus on personal consequences. However, we theorize that it is defensiveness against personal risk framing that threatens the self among people from more individualistic cultures. Two studies tested this idea. Study 1 showed that European Americans were less persuaded by personal framing than by relational framing but that this pattern was not found for Asian Americans, who are more collectivistic. Study 2 showed that these defensive patterns were eliminated among European American participants when a person's self-image was affirmed. These results suggest defensive processes as the mechanism behind the differences in message framing effectiveness and motivate a closer look at cultural patterns.

  17. Fundamentals for Future Mobile-Health (mHealth): A Systematic Review of Mobile Phone and Web-Based Text Messaging in Mental Health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berrouiguet, Sofian; Baca-García, Enrique; Brandt, Sara; Walter, Michel; Courtet, Philippe

    2016-06-10

    Mobile phone text messages (short message service, SMS) are used pervasively as a form of communication. Almost 100% of the population uses text messaging worldwide and this technology is being suggested as a promising tool in psychiatry. Text messages can be sent either from a classic mobile phone or a web-based application. Reviews are needed to better understand how text messaging can be used in mental health care and other fields of medicine. The objective of the study was to review the literature regarding the use of mobile phone text messaging in mental health care. We conducted a thorough literature review of studies involving text messaging in health care management. Searches included PubMed, PsycINFO, Cochrane, Scopus, Embase and Web of Science databases on May 25, 2015. Studies reporting the use of text messaging as a tool in managing patients with mental health disorders were included. Given the heterogeneity of studies, this review was summarized using a descriptive approach. From 677 initial citations, 36 studies were included in the review. Text messaging was used in a wide range of mental health situations, notably substance abuse (31%), schizophrenia (22%), and affective disorders (17%). We identified four ways in which text messages were used: reminders (14%), information (17%), supportive messages (42%), and self-monitoring procedures (42%). Applications were sometimes combined. We report growing interest in text messaging since 2006. Text messages have been proposed as a health care tool in a wide spectrum of psychiatric disorders including substance abuse, schizophrenia, affective disorders, and suicide prevention. Most papers described pilot studies, while some randomized clinical trials (RCTs) were also reported. Overall, a positive attitude toward text messages was reported. RCTs reported improved treatment adherence and symptom surveillance. Other positive points included an increase in appointment attendance and in satisfaction with

  18. Identifying spam e-mail messages using an intelligence algorithm

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Parichehr Ghaedi

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available During the past few years, there have been growing interests in using email for delivering various types of messages such as social, financial, etc. There are also people who use email messages to promote products and services or even to do criminal activities called Spam email. These unwanted messages are sent to different target population for different purposes and there is a growing interest to develop methods to filter such email messages. This paper presents a method to filter Spam email messages based on the keyword pattern. In this article, a multi-agent filter trade based on the Bayes rule, which has benefit of using the users’ interest, keywords and investigation the message content according to its topic, has been used. Then Nested Neural Network has been used to detect the spam messages. To check the authenticity of this proposed method, we test it for a couple of email messages, so that it could determine spams and hams from each other, effectively. The result shows the superiority of this method over the previous ones including filters with Multi-Layer Perceptron that detect spams.

  19. Flow of Emotional Messages in Artificial Social Networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chmiel, Anna; Hołyst, Janusz A.

    Models of message flows in an artificial group of users communicating via the Internet are introduced and investigated using numerical simulations. We assumed that messages possess an emotional character with a positive valence and that the willingness to send the next affective message to a given person increases with the number of messages received from this person. As a result, the weights of links between group members evolve over time. Memory effects are introduced, taking into account that the preferential selection of message receivers depends on the communication intensity during the recent period only. We also model the phenomenon of secondary social sharing when the reception of an emotional e-mail triggers the distribution of several emotional e-mails to other people.

  20. Personality traits and dysfunctional construal of online health promotion messages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Yaeeun; Kurtz, John E

    2017-10-20

    With the Internet becoming increasingly popular as a source of information, blogs offering healthy lifestyle techniques and knowledge have become popular and accessible. Despite their focus on health, these blogs portray content that may be negatively construed by viewers, especially those with or at risk for eating disorders. The present study investigated changes in affect and self-esteem after viewing a prototypic health blog. Personality traits, specifically neuroticism and conscientiousness, were also investigated. A prototypic health blog was constructed after extensive review of existing blogs. A parallel format was then followed to create a home décor website for a control condition. Female undergraduate students were randomly assigned to one of two blog sites, and participants completed an earlier personality assessment and post-viewing study questionnaires. Contrary to the hypothesis that readers of the health blog will report more negative outcomes, no main effect of blog condition was found. However, individuals high in trait neuroticism experienced greater differences in negative affect, but not self-esteem, when viewing the health blog versus the control blog. This study found that viewing health blogs did not have immediate effects on affect and self-esteem, but more neurotic individuals were more inclined to experience negative affect when viewing health promotion messages. Personality traits assessed prior to the experiment were more predictive of negative affect and self-esteem during the experiment than blog viewing conditions. No level of evidence, experimental study.

  1. DIRECTIONAL OPPORTUNISTIC MECHANISM IN CLUSTER MESSAGE CRITICALITY LEVEL BASED ZIGBEE ROUTING

    OpenAIRE

    B.Rajeshkanna *1, Dr.M.Anitha 2

    2018-01-01

    The cluster message criticality level based zigbee routing(CMCLZOR) has been proposed for routing the cluster messages in wireless smart energy home area networks. It employs zigbee opportunistic shortcut tree routing(ZOSTR) and AODV individually for routing normal messages and highly critical messages respectively. ZOSTR allows the receiving nodes to compete for forwarding a packet with the priority of left-over hops rather than stating single next hop node like unicast protocols. Since it h...

  2. Using Text-Messaging in the Secondary Classroom

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomas, Kevin; Orthober, Corrie

    2011-01-01

    To examine the potential uses of and barriers to text-messaging in secondary schools, three classes (66 students) of high school students used their personal mobile phones to receive out of school, course-related text-messages from teachers. Forty-six students (70%) agreed to receive text-messages. Findings indicate that participants found…

  3. The Performance of a Second Generation Service Discovery Protocol In Response to Message Loss

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Sundramoorthy, V.; van de Glind, G.J.; Hartel, Pieter H.; Scholten, Johan

    We analyze the behavior of FRODO, a second generation service discovery protocol, in response to message loss in the network. Earlier protocols, like UPnP and Jini rely on underlying network layers to enhance their failure recovery. A comparison with UPnP and Jini shows that FRODO performs more

  4. The Performance of a Second Generation Service Discovery Protocol In Response to Message Loss

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Sundramoorthy, V.; van de Glind, G.J.; Hartel, Pieter H.; Scholten, Johan

    We analyze the behavior of FRODO, a second generation service discovery protocol, in response to message loss in the network. First generation protocols, like UPnP and Jini rely on underlying network layers to enhance their failure recovery. A comparison with UPnP and Jini shows that FRODO performs

  5. Becoming Embedded: Incorporating Instant Messaging and the Ongoing Evolution of a Virtual Reference Service

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stormont, Sam

    2010-01-01

    The creation of an instant messaging (IM) service is described. The challenges encountered in developing, launching, and maintaining the project are examined and include technical support, archiving, balancing different formats, privacy, assessment, training, and the effectiveness of the IM channel. The process of choosing an aggregator and a…

  6. Manager personality, manager service quality orientation, and service climate: test of a model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salvaggio, Amy Nicole; Schneider, Benjamin; Nishii, Lisa H; Mayer, David M; Ramesh, Anuradha; Lyon, Julie S

    2007-11-01

    This article conceptually and empirically explores the relationships among manager personality, manager service quality orientation, and climate for customer service. Data were collected from 1,486 employees and 145 managers in grocery store departments (N = 145) to test the authors' theoretical model. Largely consistent with hypotheses, results revealed that core self-evaluations were positively related to managers' service quality orientation, even after dimensions of the Big Five model of personality were controlled, and that service quality orientation fully mediated the relationship between personality and global service climate. Implications for personality and organizational climate research are discussed. (c) 2007 APA

  7. Short message service (SMS)-based intervention targeting alcohol consumption among university students: study protocol of a randomized controlled trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomas, Kristin; Bendtsen, Marcus; Linderoth, Catharina; Karlsson, Nadine; Bendtsen, Preben; Müssener, Ulrika

    2017-04-04

    Despite significant health risks, heavy drinking of alcohol among university students is a widespread problem; excessive drinking is part of the social norm. A growing number of studies indicate that short message service (SMS)-based interventions are cost-effective, accessible, require limited effort by users, and can enable continuous, real-time, brief support in real-world settings. Although there is emerging evidence for the effect of SMS-based interventions in reducing alcohol consumption, more research is needed. This study aims to test the effectiveness of a newly developed SMS-based intervention targeting excessive alcohol consumption among university and college students in Sweden. The study is a two-arm randomized controlled trial with an intervention (SMS programme) and a control (treatment as usual) group. Outcome measures will be investigated at baseline and at 3-month follow up. The primary outcome is total weekly alcohol consumption. Secondary outcomes are frequency of heavy episodic drinking, highest estimated blood alcohol concentration and number of negative consequences due to excessive drinking. This study contributes knowledge on the effect of automatized SMS support to reduce excessive drinking among students compared with existing support such as Student Health Centres. ISRCTN.com, ISRCTN95054707 . Registered on 31 August 2016.

  8. Fighting obesity or obese persons? Public perceptions of obesity-related health messages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Puhl, R; Peterson, J L; Luedicke, J

    2013-06-01

    This study examined public perceptions of obesity-related public health media campaigns with specific emphasis on the extent to which campaign messages are perceived to be motivating or stigmatizing. In summer 2011, data were collected online from a nationally representative sample of 1014 adults. Participants viewed a random selection of 10 (from a total of 30) messages from major obesity public health campaigns from the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, and rated each campaign message according to positive and negative descriptors, including whether it was stigmatizing or motivating. Participants also reported their familiarity with each message and their intentions to comply with the message content. Participants responded most favorably to messages involving themes of increased fruit and vegetable consumption, and general messages involving multiple health behaviors. Messages that have been publicly criticized for their stigmatizing content received the most negative ratings and the lowest intentions to comply with message content. Furthermore, messages that were perceived to be most positive and motivating made no mention of the word 'obesity' at all, and instead focused on making healthy behavioral changes without reference to body weight. These findings have important implications for framing messages in public health campaigns to address obesity, and suggest that certain types of messages may lead to increased motivation for behavior change among the public, whereas others may be perceived as stigmatizing and instill less motivation to improve health.

  9. Heterogeneous characters modeling of instant message services users' online behavior.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cui, Hongyan; Li, Ruibing; Fang, Yajun; Horn, Berthold; Welsch, Roy E

    2018-01-01

    Research on temporal characteristics of human dynamics has attracted much attentions for its contribution to various areas such as communication, medical treatment, finance, etc. Existing studies show that the time intervals between two consecutive events present different non-Poisson characteristics, such as power-law, Pareto, bimodal distribution of power-law, exponential distribution, piecewise power-law, et al. With the occurrences of new services, new types of distributions may arise. In this paper, we study the distributions of the time intervals between two consecutive visits to QQ and WeChat service, the top two popular instant messaging services in China, and present a new finding that when the value of statistical unit T is set to 0.001s, the inter-event time distribution follows a piecewise distribution of exponential and power-law, indicating the heterogeneous character of IM services users' online behavior in different time scales. We infer that the heterogeneous character is related to the communication mechanism of IM and the habits of users. Then we develop a combination model of exponential model and interest model to characterize the heterogeneity. Furthermore, we find that the exponent of the inter-event time distribution of the same service is different in two cities, which is correlated with the popularity of the services. Our research is useful for the application of information diffusion, prediction of economic development of cities, and so on.

  10. Models of home care services for persons with dementia: a narrative review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Low, Lee-Fay; Fletcher, Jennifer

    2015-10-01

    Worldwide trends of increasing dementia prevalence, have put economic and workforce pressures to shifting care for persons with dementia from residential care to home care. We reviewed the effects of the four dominant models of home care delivery on outcomes for community-dwelling persons with dementia. These models are: case management, integrated care, consumer directed care, and restorative care. This narrative review describes benefits and possible drawbacks for persons with dementia outcomes and elements that comprise successful programs. Case management for persons with dementia may increase use of community-based services and delay nursing home admission. Integrated care is associated with greater client satisfaction, increased use of community based services, and reduced hospital days however the clinical impacts on persons with dementia and their carers are not known. Consumer directed care increases satisfaction with care and service usage, but had little effect on clinical outcomes. Restorative models of home care have been shown to improve function and quality of life however these trials have excluded persons with dementia, with the exception of a pilot study. There has been a little research into models of home care for people with dementia, and no head-to-head comparison of the different models. Research to inform evidence-based policy and service delivery for people with dementia needs to evaluate both the impact of different models on outcomes, and investigate how to best deliver these models to maximize outcomes.

  11. Web Service Architecture for e-Learning

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiaohong Qiu

    2005-10-01

    Full Text Available Message-based Web Service architecture provides a unified approach to applications and Web Services that incorporates the flexibility of messaging and distributed components. We propose SMMV and MMMV collaboration as the general architecture of collaboration based on a Web service model, which accommodates both instructor-led learning and participatory learning. This approach derives from our message-based Model-View-Controller (M-MVC architecture of Web applications, comprises an event-driven Publish/Subscribe scheme, and provides effective collaboration with high interactivity of rich Web content for diverse clients over heterogeneous network environments.

  12. Organising healthcare services for persons with an intellectual disability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balogh, Robert; McMorris, Carly A; Lunsky, Yona; Ouellette-Kuntz, Helene; Bourne, Laurie; Colantonio, Angela; Gonçalves-Bradley, Daniela C

    2016-04-11

    When compared to the general population, persons with an intellectual disability have lower life expectancy, higher morbidity, and more difficulty finding and obtaining healthcare. Organisational interventions are used to reconfigure the structure or delivery of healthcare services. This is the first update of the original review. To assess the effects of organisational interventions of healthcare services for the mental and physical health problems of persons with an intellectual disability. For this update we searched CENTRAL, MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL and other databases, from April 2006 to 4 September 2015. We checked reference lists of included studies and consulted experts in the field. Randomised controlled trials of organisational interventions of healthcare services aimed at improving care of mental and physical health problems of adult persons with an intellectual disability. We employed standard methodological procedures as outlined in the Cochrane Handbook of Systematic Reviews of Interventions, in addition to specific guidance from the Cochrane Effective Practice and Organisation of Care (EPOC) Group. We identified one new trial from the updated searches.Seven trials (347 participants) met the selection criteria. The interventions varied but had common components: interventions that increased the intensity and frequency of service delivery (4 trials, 200 participants), community-based specialist behaviour therapy (1 trial, 63 participants), and outreach treatment (1 trial, 50 participants). Another trial compared two active arms (traditional counselling and integrated intervention for bereavement, 34 participants).The included studies investigated interventions dealing with the mental health problems of persons with an intellectual disability; none focused on physical health problems. Four studies assessed the effect of organisational interventions on behavioural problems for persons with an intellectual disability, three assessed care giver burden, and

  13. Encouraging children to eat more fruit and vegetables: Health vs. descriptive social norm-based messages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sharps, Maxine; Robinson, Eric

    2016-05-01

    Traditional intervention approaches to promote fruit and vegetable consumption outline the health benefits of eating fruit and vegetables. More recently, social norm-based messages describing the healthy eating habits of others have been shown to increase fruit and vegetable intake in adults. Here we report two experimental studies which investigated whether exposure to descriptive social norm-based messages about the behaviour of other children and health-based messages increased fruit and vegetable intake in young children. In both studies children were exposed to messages whilst playing a board-game. After exposure to the messages, children were able to consume fruit and vegetables, as well as high calorie snack foods. Although findings were inconsistent across the two individual studies, in a pooled analysis we found evidence that both health messages and descriptive social norm-based messages increased children's fruit and vegetable intake, relative to control condition messages (p norm-based messages can be used to promote meaningful changes to children's dietary behaviour warrants further study. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  14. Art messaging to engage homeless young adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nyamathi, Adeline; Slagle, Alexandra; Thomas, Alexandra; Hudson, Angela; Kahilifard, Farinaz; Avila, Glenna; Orser, Julie; Cuchilla, Manuel

    2011-01-01

    Art has been shown to be an empowering and engaging entity with numerous benefits to vulnerable populations, including the homeless persons and young adults. However, little is known how homeless young adults perceive the use of art as messages that can communicate the danger of initiating or continuing drug and alcohol use. The purpose of this study was to solicit perspectives of homeless, drug-using young adults as to how art can be used to design messages for their peers about the danger of initiating or continuing drug and alcohol use. Qualitative methodology via focus group discussions was utilized to engage 24 homeless young adults enrolled from a drop-in site in Santa Monica, California. The findings revealed support for a myriad of delivery styles, including in-person communication, flyers, music, documentary film, and creative writing. The young adults also provided insight into the importance of the thematic framework of messages. Such themes ranged from empowering and hopeful messages to those designed to scare young homeless adults into not experimenting with drugs. The findings indicate that in addition to messages communicating the need to prevent or reduce drug and alcohol use, homeless young adults respond to messages that remind them of goals and dreams they once had for their future, and to content that is personal, real, and truthful. Our research indicates that messages that reinforce protective factors such as hope for the future and self-esteem may be as important to homeless young adults as information about the risks and consequences of drug use.

  15. SISTEM PEMESANAN KAMAR RAWAT INAP MENGGUNAKAN SHORT MESSAGE SERVICES (SMS PADA RUMAH SAKIT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Beny Irawan

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstrak – Manusia hidup di dunia ada bermacam-macam bentuk tubuh, besar, kecil, tua-muda, laki-laki, perempuan, bentuk muka, warna kulit atau kondisi fisiknya ada yang sehat dan sakit. Semakin bertambahnya manusia di alam ini, semakin banyak persentase kemungkinan orang mengalami sakit mendadak, sehingga membutuhkan perawatan medis yang mendadak juga. Untuk itu, diperlukan suatu cara yang paling mudah untuk melakukan konfirmasi ada atau tidaknya kamar untuk rawat inap di rumah sakit yang bersangkutan, sehingga pasien tidak harus melakukan pemesanan kamar ketika sudah tiba di rumah sakit yang bersangkutan, dan kemudian semua kamar sudah penuh dan harus dipindahkan lagi ke rumah sakit lain. Hal ini menyebabkan si pasien akan mengalami keterlambatan untuk ditangani, sehingga bisa berakibat fatal bagi pasien tersebut. Permasalahan tersebut dapat ditangani dengan pengembangan sistem baru menggunakan short message services (sms terutama untuk pemesanan kamar rawat inap, dan untuk mengetahui jenis pelayanan lain yang ada di rumah sakit tersebut melalui website rumah sakit, sehingga sistem pemesanan kamar semakin efektif dan efisien. Namun, sistem yang dikembangkan masih memiliki kelemahan karena sistem hanya dapat digunakan pada telepon selular yang menggunakan modem GSM.   Keywords : Short Message Service (SMS, SMS Gateway, GSM

  16. Message Passing Framework for Globally Interconnected Clusters

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hafeez, M; Riaz, N; Asghar, S; Malik, U A; Rehman, A

    2011-01-01

    In prevailing technology trends it is apparent that the network requirements and technologies will advance in future. Therefore the need of High Performance Computing (HPC) based implementation for interconnecting clusters is comprehensible for scalability of clusters. Grid computing provides global infrastructure of interconnecting clusters consisting of dispersed computing resources over Internet. On the other hand the leading model for HPC programming is Message Passing Interface (MPI). As compared to Grid computing, MPI is better suited for solving most of the complex computational problems. MPI itself is restricted to a single cluster. It does not support message passing over the internet to use the computing resources of different clusters in an optimal way. We propose a model that provides message passing capabilities between parallel applications over the internet. The proposed model is based on Architecture for Java Universal Message Passing (A-JUMP) framework and Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) named as High Performance Computing Bus. The HPC Bus is built using ActiveMQ. HPC Bus is responsible for communication and message passing in an asynchronous manner. Asynchronous mode of communication offers an assurance for message delivery as well as a fault tolerance mechanism for message passing. The idea presented in this paper effectively utilizes wide-area intercluster networks. It also provides scheduling, dynamic resource discovery and allocation, and sub-clustering of resources for different jobs. Performance analysis and comparison study of the proposed framework with P2P-MPI are also presented in this paper.

  17. Subtle Messages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tamplin de Poinsot, Nan

    1999-01-01

    Describes a self-portrait assignment inspired by the work of Frida Kahlo. Discusses Frida Kahlo's artwork and use of surrealist and symbolist views. States that each student had to incorporate personal symbolism in the portrait to convey a message about him or herself in a subtle manner. (CMK)

  18. Introduction of a new dosimetry system based on optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) in our personal monitoring service

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hubner, S.

    2014-08-01

    The personal monitoring service named Auswertungsstelle is part of the Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen, a non-profit-making research center in Germany. As one of the four monitoring services in Germany, we have been a reliable partner in radiation protection for more than 60 years. With about 1.9 million dose assessments per year, we are the largest monitoring service in Europe. For dozens of years, our main dosimeter used in whole-body dosimetry has been a film dosimeter. Although its dosimetric properties are still up to date, film dosimetry won.t be a sustainable technique for the use in monitoring services. Therefore, a project with the objective of investigating alternative dosimetric materials and methods was launched in the late 1990 at the Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen. Based on this research work, the use of Be O as an OSL dosimeter was studied by the radiation physics group of the Tu Dresden, by order and on account of the Auswertungsstelle at the Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen. It was shown, that ceramic Be O features promising dosimetric properties, making Be O detectors particularly suitable for being used in all applications in whole-body dosimetry measuring photons. Ceramic Be O material has an excellent resistance to environmental influences. The Be O chips are almost tissue equivalent. Therefore, these detectors show low photon energy dependence. A new personal dosimetry system based on the OSL dosimetry of Be O was developed. Applying this system, the Auswertungsstelle offers OSL-dosimeters for official monitoring of the Personal Dose Equivalent Hp(10) since 2011. This OSL-System is accredited according to DIN IEC 62387 and we obtained the corresponding type approval by the Ptb, the national metrology institute in Germany. Sophisticated logistics was developed and installed. High degree of automation was achieved by robots for dosimeter assembly and machines for packing, labelling and unpacking of the dosimeters. To become a sustainable dosimetry system not only

  19. Introduction of a new dosimetry system based on optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) in our personal monitoring service

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hubner, S., E-mail: stephan.huebner@helmholtz-muenchen.de [Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen, German Research Center for Environmental Health, D-80219, Munich (Georgia)

    2014-08-15

    The personal monitoring service named Auswertungsstelle is part of the Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen, a non-profit-making research center in Germany. As one of the four monitoring services in Germany, we have been a reliable partner in radiation protection for more than 60 years. With about 1.9 million dose assessments per year, we are the largest monitoring service in Europe. For dozens of years, our main dosimeter used in whole-body dosimetry has been a film dosimeter. Although its dosimetric properties are still up to date, film dosimetry won.t be a sustainable technique for the use in monitoring services. Therefore, a project with the objective of investigating alternative dosimetric materials and methods was launched in the late 1990 at the Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen. Based on this research work, the use of Be O as an OSL dosimeter was studied by the radiation physics group of the Tu Dresden, by order and on account of the Auswertungsstelle at the Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen. It was shown, that ceramic Be O features promising dosimetric properties, making Be O detectors particularly suitable for being used in all applications in whole-body dosimetry measuring photons. Ceramic Be O material has an excellent resistance to environmental influences. The Be O chips are almost tissue equivalent. Therefore, these detectors show low photon energy dependence. A new personal dosimetry system based on the OSL dosimetry of Be O was developed. Applying this system, the Auswertungsstelle offers OSL-dosimeters for official monitoring of the Personal Dose Equivalent Hp(10) since 2011. This OSL-System is accredited according to DIN IEC 62387 and we obtained the corresponding type approval by the Ptb, the national metrology institute in Germany. Sophisticated logistics was developed and installed. High degree of automation was achieved by robots for dosimeter assembly and machines for packing, labelling and unpacking of the dosimeters. To become a sustainable dosimetry system not only

  20. Mobile Link - a theory-based messaging intervention for improving sexual and reproductive health of female entertainment workers in Cambodia: study protocol of a randomized controlled trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brody, Carinne; Tuot, Sovannary; Chhoun, Pheak; Swendenman, Dallas; Kaplan, Kathryn C; Yi, Siyan

    2018-04-19

    In Cambodia, HIV prevalence is concentrated in key populations including among female entertainment workers (FEWs) who may engage in direct or indirect sex work. Reaching FEWs with sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services has been difficult because of their hidden and stigmatized nature. Mobile-phone-based interventions may be an effective way to reach this population and connect them with the existing services. This article describes study design and implementation of a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of a mobile health intervention (the Mobile Link) aiming to improve SRH and related outcomes among FEWs in Cambodia. A two-arm RCT will be used to determine the effectiveness of a mobile-phone-based text/voice messaging intervention. The intervention will be developed through a participatory process. Focus group discussions and in-depth interviews have been conducted to inform and tailor behavior change theory-based text and voice messages. During the implementation phase, 600 FEWs will be recruited and randomly assigned into one of the two arms: (1) a control group and (2) a mobile phone message group (either text messages [SMS] or voice messages [VM], a delivery method chosen by participants). Participants in the control group will also receive a weekly monitoring survey, which will provide real-time information to implementing partners to streamline outreach efforts and be able to quickly identify geographic trends. The primary outcome measures will include self-reported HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STI) testing and treatment, condom use, contraceptive use, and gender-based violence (GBV). If the Mobile Link trial is successful, participants will report an increase in condom use, linkages to screening and treatment for HIV and STI, and contraception use as well as a reduction in GBV. This trial is unique in a number of ways. First, the option of participation mode (SMS or VM) allows participants to choose the message medium that best links them

  1. TeleHealth networks: Instant messaging and point-to-point communication over the internet

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sachpazidis, Ilias [Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics, Fraunhoferstr. 5, D-64283, Darmstadt (Germany)]. E-mail: Ilias.Sachpazidis@igd.fraunhofer.de; Ohl, Roland [MedCom Gesellschaft fuer medizinische Bildverarbeitung mbH, Runderturmstr. 12, D-64283, Darmstadt (Germany); Kontaxakis, George [Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, ETSI Telecomunicacion, Madrid 28040 (Spain); Sakas, Georgios [Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics, Fraunhoferstr. 5, D-64283, Darmstadt (Germany)

    2006-12-20

    This paper explores the advantages and disadvantages of a medical network based on point-to-point communication and a medical network based on Jabber instant messaging protocol. Instant messaging might be, for many people, a convenient way of chatting over the Internet. We will attempt to illustrate how an instant messaging protocol could serve in the best way medical services and provide great flexibility to the involved parts. Additionally, the directory services and presence status offered by the Jabber protocol make it very attractive to medical applications that need to have real time and store and forward communication. Furthermore, doctors connected to Internet via high-speed networks could benefit by saving time due to the data transmission acceleration over Jabber.

  2. TeleHealth networks: Instant messaging and point-to-point communication over the internet

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sachpazidis, Ilias; Ohl, Roland; Kontaxakis, George; Sakas, Georgios

    2006-01-01

    This paper explores the advantages and disadvantages of a medical network based on point-to-point communication and a medical network based on Jabber instant messaging protocol. Instant messaging might be, for many people, a convenient way of chatting over the Internet. We will attempt to illustrate how an instant messaging protocol could serve in the best way medical services and provide great flexibility to the involved parts. Additionally, the directory services and presence status offered by the Jabber protocol make it very attractive to medical applications that need to have real time and store and forward communication. Furthermore, doctors connected to Internet via high-speed networks could benefit by saving time due to the data transmission acceleration over Jabber

  3. TeleHealth networks: Instant messaging and point-to-point communication over the internet

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sachpazidis, Ilias; Ohl, Roland; Kontaxakis, George; Sakas, Georgios

    2006-12-01

    This paper explores the advantages and disadvantages of a medical network based on point-to-point communication and a medical network based on Jabber instant messaging protocol. Instant messaging might be, for many people, a convenient way of chatting over the Internet. We will attempt to illustrate how an instant messaging protocol could serve in the best way medical services and provide great flexibility to the involved parts. Additionally, the directory services and presence status offered by the Jabber protocol make it very attractive to medical applications that need to have real time and store and forward communication. Furthermore, doctors connected to Internet via high-speed networks could benefit by saving time due to the data transmission acceleration over Jabber.

  4. Privacy-Preserving Location-Based Services

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chow, Chi Yin

    2010-01-01

    Location-based services (LBS for short) providers require users' current locations to answer their location-based queries, e.g., range and nearest-neighbor queries. Revealing personal location information to potentially untrusted service providers could create privacy risks for users. To this end, our objective is to design a privacy-preserving…

  5. Inpatient satisfaction and usage patterns of personalized smart bedside station system for patient-centered service at a tertiary university hospital.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ryu, Borim; Kim, Seok; Lee, Kee-Hyuck; Hwang, Hee; Yoo, Sooyoung

    2016-11-01

    Bedside stations, also known as bedside terminals, are in place to enhance the quality and experience of a hospital's healthcare service delivery. The purpose of this study was to identify information needs and overall satisfaction with the personalized patient bedside system, called Smart Bedside Station (SBS) system, embedded in a tertiary general university hospital. End-user responses on the satisfaction survey and system usage logs of the SBS system were collected and analyzed. For the user opinion survey, 156 nurses and 1914 patients, their family members, or caregivers participated during the evaluation period of 2013 to 2014 in this study. All working nurses in the SBS-installed ward were answered the paper-based evaluation, for complete enumeration survey. Inpatients were voluntary participated to deliver the online questionnaire on the SBS menu. We also explored system log data including page calls and usage time from December 2013 to 2015. Regarding the relationship of overall satisfaction of the SBS with patient's characteristics, patient's education status and degree of familiarity with the smart device were statistically significant. From the analysis of system logs, Personalized My Menu(28.0%) was the most frequently used menu item (except for TV and Internet entertainment service use of 62.7%),it provides individual health information, such as laboratory test results, hospital fee check, message logs, daily medication information, and meal information. Next frequently used menus were information support(4.9%) which deliver hospital guide and health information and convenience service ordering(4.4%) such as meal order, bed sheet change. Satisfaction survey results and log data results show that the personalized service enhances the user satisfaction during hospital admission. Our post-implementation experience and subsequent assessment of SBS system is capable of providing insights into improving the hospital information system and service contents

  6. Heterogeneous characters modeling of instant message services users' online behavior.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hongyan Cui

    Full Text Available Research on temporal characteristics of human dynamics has attracted much attentions for its contribution to various areas such as communication, medical treatment, finance, etc. Existing studies show that the time intervals between two consecutive events present different non-Poisson characteristics, such as power-law, Pareto, bimodal distribution of power-law, exponential distribution, piecewise power-law, et al. With the occurrences of new services, new types of distributions may arise. In this paper, we study the distributions of the time intervals between two consecutive visits to QQ and WeChat service, the top two popular instant messaging services in China, and present a new finding that when the value of statistical unit T is set to 0.001s, the inter-event time distribution follows a piecewise distribution of exponential and power-law, indicating the heterogeneous character of IM services users' online behavior in different time scales. We infer that the heterogeneous character is related to the communication mechanism of IM and the habits of users. Then we develop a combination model of exponential model and interest model to characterize the heterogeneity. Furthermore, we find that the exponent of the inter-event time distribution of the same service is different in two cities, which is correlated with the popularity of the services. Our research is useful for the application of information diffusion, prediction of economic development of cities, and so on.

  7. Heterogeneous characters modeling of instant message services users’ online behavior

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fang, Yajun; Horn, Berthold

    2018-01-01

    Research on temporal characteristics of human dynamics has attracted much attentions for its contribution to various areas such as communication, medical treatment, finance, etc. Existing studies show that the time intervals between two consecutive events present different non-Poisson characteristics, such as power-law, Pareto, bimodal distribution of power-law, exponential distribution, piecewise power-law, et al. With the occurrences of new services, new types of distributions may arise. In this paper, we study the distributions of the time intervals between two consecutive visits to QQ and WeChat service, the top two popular instant messaging services in China, and present a new finding that when the value of statistical unit T is set to 0.001s, the inter-event time distribution follows a piecewise distribution of exponential and power-law, indicating the heterogeneous character of IM services users’ online behavior in different time scales. We infer that the heterogeneous character is related to the communication mechanism of IM and the habits of users. Then we develop a combination model of exponential model and interest model to characterize the heterogeneity. Furthermore, we find that the exponent of the inter-event time distribution of the same service is different in two cities, which is correlated with the popularity of the services. Our research is useful for the application of information diffusion, prediction of economic development of cities, and so on. PMID:29734327

  8. What's in a message? Delivering sexual health promotion to young people in Australia via text messaging

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hellard Margaret E

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Advances in communication technologies have dramatically changed how individuals access information and communicate. Recent studies have found that mobile phone text messages (SMS can be used successfully for short-term behaviour change. However there is no published information examining the acceptability, utility and efficacy of different characteristics of health promotion SMS. This paper presents the results of evaluation focus groups among participants who received twelve sexual health related SMS as part of a study examining the impact of text messaging for sexual health promotion to on young people in Victoria, Australia. Methods Eight gender-segregated focus groups were held with 21 males and 22 females in August 2008. Transcripts of audio recordings were analysed using thematic analysis. Data were coded under one or more themes. Results Text messages were viewed as an acceptable and 'personal' means of health promotion, with participants particularly valuing the informal language. There was a preference for messages that were positive, relevant and short and for messages to cover a variety of topics. Participants were more likely to remember and share messages that were funny, rhymed and/or tied into particular annual events. The message broadcasting, generally fortnightly on Friday afternoons, was viewed as appropriate. Participants said the messages provided new information, a reminder of existing information and reduced apprehension about testing for sexually transmitted infections. Conclusions Mobile phones, in particular SMS, offer health promoters an exciting opportunity to engage personally with a huge number of individuals for low cost. The key elements emerging from this evaluation, such as message style, language and broadcast schedule are directly relevant to future studies using SMS for health promotion, as well as for future health promotion interventions in other mediums that require short formats, such

  9. Hand hygiene posters: selling the message.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jenner, E A; Jones, F; Fletcher, B C; Miller, L; Scott, G M

    2005-02-01

    This literature review was undertaken to determine the established theory and research that might be utilized to inform the construction of persuasive messages on hand hygiene posters. It discusses the principles of message framing and the use of fear appeals. Current theory suggests that the most effective messages for health promotion behaviours should be framed in terms of gains rather than losses for the individual. However, as clinical hand hygiene is largely for the benefit of others (i.e. patients), messages should also invoke a sense of personal responsibility and appeal to altruistic behaviour. The use of repeated minimal fear appeals have their place. Posters that simply convey training messages are not effective persuaders.

  10. Online advertising by three commercial breast imaging services: message takeout and effectiveness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Rebecca; Jalleh, Geoffrey; Pratt, Iain S; Donovan, Robert J; Lin, Chad; Saunders, Christobel; Slevin, Terry

    2013-10-01

    Mammography is widely acknowledged to be the most cost-effective technique for population screening for breast cancer. Recently in Australia, imaging modalities other than mammography, including thermography, electrical impedance, and computerised breast imaging, have been increasingly promoted as alternative methods of breast cancer screening. This study assessed the impact of three commercial breast imaging companies' promotional material upon consumers' beliefs about the effectiveness of the companies' technology in detecting breast cancer, and consumers' intentions to seek more information or consider having their breasts imaged by these modalities. Results showed 90% of respondents agreed that the companies' promotional material promoted the message that the advertised breast imaging method was effective in detecting breast cancer, and 80% agreed that the material promoted the message that the imaging method was equally or more effective than a mammogram. These findings have implications for women's preference for and uptake of alternative breast imaging services over mammography. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Approving of personal dosimeter services

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bergman, K.; Malmqvist, L.

    2001-09-01

    The Swedish regulation SSI FS 98:5 requires that radiological workers of category A use dosemeters from an approved personal dosimetry service. The regulation also includes certain specific dosimeter requirements, which are based on those presented in the Technical Recommendations by the European Commission (Report EUR 14852 EN, 1994). All services have been tested for their ability to determine Hp(10) and some of them to determine Hp(0.07) at one radiation quality. The test was performed in the interval 0.2 mSv to 100 mSv at three different dose equivalents unknown to the system owner. The 11 services operating in Sweden at the moment use 5 different types of dosimeters. The five unique systems have been tested regarding the angular and energy dependence of the response of the dosimeters. The dosimeters were irradiated to a personal dose equivalent of about 1 mSv at three photon energies and at four angles (0, 20, 40 and 60 deg. resp. ) both vertically and horizontally rotated. Only 2 of the services determine Hp(0.07) for beta and gamma radiation and were tested for this quantity. The test results for Hp(10) are all except two within the trumpet curve. For the unique systems it is shown that the uncertainty related to angular response at a specified energy is within the required ±40 % except for the lowest X-ray quality at 40 kV. The response is more dependent on photon energy than on the direction of the photon radiation and the choice of radiation quality for the calibration is of great importance for the system performance

  12. Evaluation of a Short Message Service diary methodology in a nonclinical, naturalistic setting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walsh, Erin I; Brinker, Jay K

    2012-11-01

    Particularly suited to repeated measures in naturalistic settings, Short Message Service (SMS) is garnering increasing attention as a viable method of data collection. The current study explored issues of practical importance for the development of this methodology, including factors impacting on attrition and compliance, and participant perception of SMS. Using a business-card-sized questionnaire key, 98 university students were sent prompt SMS messages nightly for a week. Completion and compliance were very high in all participants who responded to at least one prompt SMS; those who responded at least once (n=63) responded to 83 percent of all seven prompts, with 95 percent of responses containing appropriate alphanumeric answers to all questions. However, a time lag between recruitment and participation was associated with a failure to commence the diary study. Participants reported positive perceptions of SMS privacy and convenience.

  13. Use of short message service (SMS to improve malaria chemoprophylaxis compliance after returning from a malaria endemic area

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Boutin Jean-Paul

    2009-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Malaria chemoprophylaxis compliance is suboptimal among French soldiers despite the availability of free malaria chemoprophylaxis and repeated health education before, during and after deployment to malaria endemic areas. Methods In 2007, a randomized controlled study was performed among a cohort of French soldiers returning from Côte d'Ivoire to assess the feasibility and acceptability of sending a daily short message service (SMS reminder message via mobile device to remind soldiers to take their malaria chemoprophylaxis, and to assess the impact of the daily reminder SMS on chemoprophylaxis compliance. Malaria chemoprophylaxis consisted of a daily dose of 100 mg doxycycline monohydrate, which began upon arrival in Côte d'Ivoire and was to be continued for 28 days following return to France. Feasibility and acceptability were assessed by questionnaire. Cohort members were followed for a 28 day period, with compliance assessed by use of an electronic medication monitoring device, from which several indicators were developed: daily proportion of compliant individuals, average number of pills taken, and early discontinuation. Results Among 424 volunteers randomized to the study, 47.6% were assigned to the SMS group and 52.3% to the control group. Approximately 90% of subjects assigned to the SMS group received a daily SMS at midday during the study. Persons of the SMS group agreed more frequently that SMS reminders were very useful and that the device was not annoying. Compliance did not vary significantly between groups across the compliance indicators. Conclusion SMS did not increase malaria chemoprophylaxis compliance above baseline, likely because the persons did not benefit from holidays after the return and stayed together. So the reminder by SMS was noted by all subjects of the study. Another study should be done to confirm these results on soldiers going on holidays from employment after return or with individual

  14. The effect of message frame in anti-smoking public service announcements on cognitive response and attitude toward smoking.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shen, Lijiang

    2010-01-01

    This study investigated whether and how message frames in anti-smoking public service announcements (PSAs) affect individuals' cognition and attitude toward smoking. Individuals in a sample of 315 participants were randomly assigned to one of three experimental framing conditions: (a) health consequence, (b) secondhand smoke, and (c) industry manipulation. Each participant viewed four PSAs in a random order within a particular message frame. The study found strong evidence for the application effect in framing. The accessibility effect in framing was found to be conditional on message frame. Individuals' cognition on health consequence of smoking and on industry manipulation predicted their attitude toward smoking, but not cognition on secondhand smoke. The three frames also led to different patterns of affective responses that can be a basis for persuasion. Implications for message framing effect and anti-smoking campaigns were discussed.

  15. The influence of affective and cognitive arguments on message judgement and attitude change: The moderating effects of meta-bases and structural bases.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keer, Mario; van den Putte, Bas; Neijens, Peter; de Wit, John

    2013-01-01

    This study investigated whether the efficacy of affective vs. cognitive persuasive messages was moderated by (1) individuals' subjective assessments of whether their attitudes were based on affect or cognition (i.e. meta-bases) and (2) the degree individuals' attitudes were correlated with affect and cognition (i.e. structural bases). Participants (N = 97) were randomly exposed to a message containing either affective or cognitive arguments discouraging binge drinking. The results demonstrated that meta-bases and not structural bases moderated the influence of argument type on message judgement. Affective (cognitive) messages were judged more positively when individuals' meta-bases were more affective (cognitive). In contrast, structural bases and not meta-bases moderated the influence of argument type on attitude and intention change following exposure to the message. Surprisingly, change was greater among individuals who read a message that mismatched their structural attitude base. Affective messages were more effective as attitudes were more cognition-based, and vice versa. Thus, although individuals prefer messages that match their meta-base, attitude and intention change regarding binge drinking are best established by mismatching their structural base.

  16. A message-queuing framework for STAR's online monitoring and metadata collection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Arkhipkin, D; Lauret, J; Betts, W

    2011-01-01

    We report our experience on migrating STARs Online Services (Run Control System, Data Acquisition System, Slow Control System and Subsystem Monitoring) from direct read/write database accesses to a modern non-blocking message-oriented infrastructure. Based on the Advanced Messaging Queuing Protocol (AMQP) and standards, this novel approach does not specify the message data structure, allowing great flexibility in its use. After careful consideration, we chose Google Protocol Buffers as our primary (de)serialization format for structured data exchange. This migration allows us to reduce the overall system complexity and greatly improve the reliability of the metadata collection and the performance of our online services in general. We will present this new framework through its software architecture overview, providing details about our staged and non-disruptive migration process as well as details of the implementation of pluggable components to provide future improvements without compromising stability and availability of services.

  17. Lightweight CoAP-Based Bootstrapping Service for the Internet of Things

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dan Garcia-Carrillo

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available The Internet of Things (IoT is becoming increasingly important in several fields of industrial applications and personal applications, such as medical e-health, smart cities, etc. The research into protocols and security aspects related to this area is continuously advancing in making these networks more reliable and secure, taking into account these aspects by design. Bootstrapping is a procedure by which a user obtains key material and configuration information, among other parameters, to operate as an authenticated party in a security domain. Until now solutions have focused on re-using security protocols that were not developed for IoT constraints. For this reason, in this work we propose a design and implementation of a lightweight bootstrapping service for IoT networks that leverages one of the application protocols used in IoT : Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP. Additionally, in order to provide flexibility, scalability, support for large scale deployment, accountability and identity federation, our design uses technologies such as the Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP and Authentication Authorization and Accounting (AAA. We have named this service CoAP-EAP. First, we review the state of the art in the field of bootstrapping and specifically for IoT. Second, we detail the bootstrapping service: the architecture with entities and interfaces and the flow operation. Third, we obtain performance measurements of CoAP-EAP (bootstrapping time, memory footprint, message processing time, message length and energy consumption and compare them with PANATIKI. The most significant and constrained representative of the bootstrapping solutions related with CoAP-EAP. As we will show, our solution provides significant improvements, mainly due to an important reduction of the message length.

  18. Lightweight CoAP-Based Bootstrapping Service for the Internet of Things.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garcia-Carrillo, Dan; Marin-Lopez, Rafael

    2016-03-11

    The Internet of Things (IoT) is becoming increasingly important in several fields of industrial applications and personal applications, such as medical e-health, smart cities, etc. The research into protocols and security aspects related to this area is continuously advancing in making these networks more reliable and secure, taking into account these aspects by design. Bootstrapping is a procedure by which a user obtains key material and configuration information, among other parameters, to operate as an authenticated party in a security domain. Until now solutions have focused on re-using security protocols that were not developed for IoT constraints. For this reason, in this work we propose a design and implementation of a lightweight bootstrapping service for IoT networks that leverages one of the application protocols used in IoT : Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP). Additionally, in order to provide flexibility, scalability, support for large scale deployment, accountability and identity federation, our design uses technologies such as the Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) and Authentication Authorization and Accounting (AAA). We have named this service CoAP-EAP. First, we review the state of the art in the field of bootstrapping and specifically for IoT. Second, we detail the bootstrapping service: the architecture with entities and interfaces and the flow operation. Third, we obtain performance measurements of CoAP-EAP (bootstrapping time, memory footprint, message processing time, message length and energy consumption) and compare them with PANATIKI. The most significant and constrained representative of the bootstrapping solutions related with CoAP-EAP. As we will show, our solution provides significant improvements, mainly due to an important reduction of the message length.

  19. Diet quality: associations with health messages included in the Danish Dietary Guidelines 2005, personal attitudes and social factors

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Biltoft-Jensen, Anja Pia; Groth, Margit Velsing; Matthiessen, Jeppe

    2009-01-01

    Objective: To Study the association between diet quality and the new health messages in the Danish Dietary Guidelines 2005, i.e. 'Eat a varied diet', 'Engage in regular physical activity' and 'Maintain a healthy body weight'. Design/setting/subjects: The study was cross-sectional, comprising a ra...... with healthy eating. The dietary habits reported were strongly influenced by personal intentions. Thus, the biggest challenge for public health nutritionists will be to reach non-compliers who seldom have intentions to eat healthily.......Objective: To Study the association between diet quality and the new health messages in the Danish Dietary Guidelines 2005, i.e. 'Eat a varied diet', 'Engage in regular physical activity' and 'Maintain a healthy body weight'. Design/setting/subjects: The study was cross-sectional, comprising...... a random sample of 3151 Danish adults aged 18-75 years. Dietary intake was estimated using a 7 d pre-coded food diary. information on social background, leisure-time physical activity, height, body weight and intention to eat healthily was Obtained by in-person interviews. Logistic regression models Were...

  20. Health services needs of older persons: emerging findings from Tarakan City, East Kalimantan

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rina K. Kusumaratna

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available As older persons are steadily increasing in number and there are no specialized comprehensive healthcare services for older persons in Indonesia, including East Kalimantan, the aim of the present study was to determine the extent of the problems facing healthcare staff and officials in Tarakan City, East Kalimantan, in providing comprehensive healthcare services attuned to the needs of older persons.This study was a qualitative interview-based survey with focus group discussions, involving heads and healthcare officials of seven puskesmas in Tarakan City, East Kalimantan district, with the addition of a number of district health planning officials. The results revealed a difference between daily hospital referral rate of older persons by puskesmas staff and actual daily hospital admission rate for the referrals. None of the consulted healthcare staff had any speciality education in geriatrics or older persons health. The older persons most frequently presented to the hospital with hypertension, diabetes, and myocardial insufficiency. On the other hand, at the health centers the presenting conditions were hypertension, gastroenteritis, rheumatism, sleep disorders, and upper respiratory tract infections. Improved access to healthcare for older persons should be achieved by improving knowledge and skills of human resources, including communication skills, and of supporting healthcare service infrastructure at puskesmas, specifically oriented towards the needs of and designed for use by older persons, such as ramps for wheelchairs, and handrails in corridors. Local governments should strengthen the appropriate service delivery to older persons, and provide support for the maintenance, sustainability and strengthening of community-based care for older persons.

  1. Health service needs of older persons: emerging findings from Tarakan City, East Kalimantan

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rina K. Kusumaratna

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available As older persons are steadily increasing in number and there are no specialized comprehensive healthcare services for older persons in Indonesia, including East Kalimantan, the aim of the present study was to determine the extent of the problems facing healthcare staff and officials in Tarakan City, East Kalimantan, in providing comprehensive healthcare services attuned to the needs of older persons.This study was a qualitative interview-based survey with focus group discussions, involving heads and healthcare officials of seven puskesmas in Tarakan City, East Kalimantan district, with the addition of a number of district health planning officials. The results revealed a difference between daily hospital referral rate of older persons by puskesmas staff and actual daily hospital admission rate for the referrals. None of the consulted healthcare staff had any speciality education in geriatrics or older persons health. The older persons most frequently presented to the hospital with hypertension, diabetes, and myocardial insufficiency. On the other hand, at the health centers the presenting conditions were hypertension, gastroenteritis, rheumatism, sleep disorders, and upper respiratory tract infections. Improved access to healthcare for older persons should be achieved by improving knowledge and skills of human resources, including communication skills, and of supporting healthcare service infrastructure at puskesmas, specifically oriented towards the needs of and designed for use by older persons, such as ramps for wheelchairs, and handrails in corridors. Local governments should strengthen the appropriate service delivery to older persons, and provide support for the maintenance, sustainability and strengthening of community-based care for older persons.

  2. I spy with my little eye: cognitive processing of framed physical activity messages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bassett-Gunter, Rebecca L; Latimer-Cheung, Amy E; Martin Ginis, Kathleen A; Castelhano, Monica

    2014-01-01

    The primary purpose was to examine the relative cognitive processing of gain-framed versus loss-framed physical activity messages following exposure to health risk information. Guided by the Extended Parallel Process Model, the secondary purpose was to examine the relation between dwell time, message recall, and message-relevant thoughts, as well as perceived risk, personal relevance, and fear arousal. Baseline measures of perceived risk for inactivity-related disease and health problems were administered to 77 undergraduate students. Participants read population-specific health risk information while wearing a head-mounted eye tracker, which measured dwell time on message content. Perceived risk was then reassessed. Next, participants read PA messages while the eye tracker measured dwell time on message content. Immediately following message exposure, recall, thought-listing, fear arousal, and personal relevance were measured. Dwell time on gain-framed messages was significantly greater than loss-framed messages. However, message recall and thought-listing did not differ by message frame. Dwell time was not significantly related to recall or thought-listing. Consistent with the Extended Parallel Process Model, fear arousal was significantly related to recall, thought-listing, and personal relevance. In conclusion, gain-framed messages may evoke greater dwell time than loss-famed messages. However, dwell time alone may be insufficient for evoking further cognitive processing.

  3. Upon a Message-Oriented Trading API

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Claudiu VINTE

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, we introduce the premises for a trading system application-programming interface (API based on a message-oriented middleware (MOM, and present the results of our research regarding the design and the implementation of a simulation-trading system employing a service-oriented architecture (SOA and messaging. Our research has been conducted with the aim of creating a simulation-trading platform, within the academic environment, that will provide both the foundation for future experiments with trading systems architectures, components, APIs, and the framework for research on trading strategies, trading algorithm design, and equity markets analysis tools. Mathematics Subject Classification: 68M14 (distributed systems.

  4. Menu-based service access and delivery pattern: Towards achieving equatable access to digital services

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Makitla, I

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available . This capability is used in basic service such as Short Message Service (SMS) as well as Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD). There is a need for a service access and delivery pattern that can facilitate the delivery of services using common...

  5. The influence of personality traits and basic values on the acceptance of the advertising messages of female consumers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maričić Branko R.

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The investigation of the influence of personality traits and basic values on cceptance of advertising messages, was conducted on the two-phased, random sample of 1878 women aged between 18 and 60 years. Block of indepenent variables consisted of six personality traits varables ( Big five and Cattel's superego strenght and of three basic value orientation (authoritarianism, conservativeness and conformism. Dependent variable was the 'effectiveness of advertising', measured on the bases of questionnaire's response, scaled from 1 to 5, ( where 1 meant a very small degree of respect for advertising, and the number 5 was very high degree of respect of advertizing and taking it into accout in purchase decision making. As a measure of effectiveness of advertising, score of first main component has got from factorial, i.e. component analysis of five variables that effectiveness of advertising was explored. The data were processed by multiple regression analysis. Analysis of these results has shown significante influence of four personality traits: extraversion, openness, antagonism (v:s. agreeableness and super- ego strength and one value orientation: conformity, but that influence has been of limited intensity.

  6. Feasibility and Acceptability of a Text Message-Based Smoking Cessation Program for Young Adults in Lima, Peru: Pilot Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blitchtein-Winicki, Dora; Zevallos, Karine; Samolski, M Reuven; Requena, David; Velarde, Chaska; Briceño, Patricia; Piazza, Marina; Ybarra, Michele L

    2017-08-04

    In Peru's urban communities, tobacco smoking generally starts during adolescence and smoking prevalence is highest among young adults. Each year, many attempt to quit, but access to smoking cessation programs is limited. Evidence-based text messaging smoking cessation programs are an alternative that has been successfully implemented in high-income countries, but not yet in middle- and low-income countries with limited tobacco control policies. The objective was to assess the feasibility and acceptability of an short message service (SMS) text message-based cognitive behavioral smoking cessation program for young adults in Lima, Peru. Recruitment included using flyers and social media ads to direct young adults interested in quitting smoking to a website where interested participants completed a Google Drive survey. Inclusion criteria were being between ages 18 and 25 years, smoking at least four cigarettes per day at least 6 days per week, willing to quit in the next 30 days, owning a mobile phone, using SMS text messaging at least once in past year, and residing in Lima. Participants joined one of three phases: (1) focus groups and in-depth interviews whose feedback was used to develop the SMS text messages, (2) validating the SMS text messages, and (3) a pilot of the SMS text message-based smoking cessation program to test its feasibility and acceptability among young adults in Lima. The outcome measures included adherence to the SMS text message-based program, acceptability of content, and smoking abstinence self-report on days 2, 7, and 30 after quitting. Of 639 participants who completed initial online surveys, 42 met the inclusion criteria and 35 agreed to participate (focus groups and interviews: n=12; validate SMS text messages: n=8; program pilot: n=15). Common quit practices and beliefs emerged from participants in the focus groups and interviews informed the content, tone, and delivery schedule of the messages used in the SMS text message smoking

  7. Authenticated Location-Aware Publish/Subscribe Services in Untrusted Outsourced Environments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Han Yan

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Location-aware publish/subscribe is an important location-based service based on server-initiated model. Often times, the owner of massive spatio-textual messages and subscriptions outsources its location-aware publish/subscribe services to a third-party service provider, for example, cloud service provider, who is responsible for delivering messages to their relevant subscribers. The issue arising here is that the messages delivered by the service provider might be tailored for profit purposes, intentionally or not. Therefore, it is essential to develop mechanisms which allow subscribers to verify the correctness of the messages delivered by the service provider. In this paper, we study the problem of authenticating messages in outsourced location-aware publish/subscribe services. We propose an authenticated framework which not only can deliver the messages efficiently but also can make the subscribers’ authentication available with low cost. Extensive experiments on a real-world dataset demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of our proposed authenticated framework.

  8. Increasing the Operational Value of Event Messages

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Zhenping; Savkli, Cetin; Smith, Dan

    2003-01-01

    Assessing the health of a space mission has traditionally been performed using telemetry analysis tools. Parameter values are compared to known operational limits and are plotted over various time periods. This presentation begins with the notion that there is an incredible amount of untapped information contained within the mission s event message logs. Through creative advancements in message handling tools, the event message logs can be used to better assess spacecraft and ground system status and to highlight and report on conditions not readily apparent when messages are evaluated one-at-a-time during a real-time pass. Work in this area is being funded as part of a larger NASA effort at the Goddard Space Flight Center to create component-based, middleware-based, standards-based general purpose ground system architecture referred to as GMSEC - the GSFC Mission Services Evolution Center. The new capabilities and operational concepts for event display, event data analyses and data mining are being developed by Lockheed Martin and the new subsystem has been named GREAT - the GMSEC Reusable Event Analysis Toolkit. Planned for use on existing and future missions, GREAT has the potential to increase operational efficiency in areas of problem detection and analysis, general status reporting, and real-time situational awareness.

  9. A design pattern for event-based processing of security-enriched SOAP messages

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gruschka, Nils; Jensen, Meiko; Lo Iacono, Luigi

    2010-01-01

    For Web Services in Cloud Computing contexts, the efficient processing of XML documents is a major topic of interest. Especially for WS-Security-enriched messages, processing performance nowadays tends to become a major issue. Streaming XML processing approaches lead to valuable optimization due ...

  10. Crafting a Real-Time Information Aggregator for Mobile Messaging

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jenq-Shiou Leu

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Mobile messaging is evolving beyond SMS (Short Message Service text messaging with the introduction of MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service. In the past, such a scheme is used for peer-to-peer communication. Messages are generally displayed on a cellular phone with a limited-sized screen. However, such a visualizing process is not suitable to broadcast real-time SMS/MMS messages to people in public. To facilitate the instancy and publicity, we develop a real-time information aggregator—Visualizing SMS and MMS Messages System (VSMMS—to realize the concept by integrating SMS and MMS messaging over GSM/GPRS/UMTS onto a remote display device. The device exhibits messages on a larger display device in public. VSMMS features a revolutionized variation of mass media broadcasting. In this paper, we practically illustrate how to design and implement VSMMS and use a M/M/1 model to conduct a theoretical analysis about the message delay in the system queue. Meanwhile, we make an empirical performance evaluation about the message transmission time over different networks.

  11. Forensic Investigation of Social Media and Instant Messaging Services in Firefox OS: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Telegram, OpenWapp and Line as Case Studies

    OpenAIRE

    Yusoff, Mohd Najwadi; Dehghantanha, Ali; Mahmod, Ramlan

    2017-01-01

    Mobile devices are increasingly utilized to access social media and instant messaging services, which allow users to communicate with others easily and quickly. However, the misuse of social media and instant messaging services facilitated conducting different cybercrimes such as cyber stalking, cyber bullying, slander spreading and sexual harassment. Therefore, mobile devices are an important evidentiary piece in digital investigation. In this chapter, we report the results of our investigat...

  12. A model for short message service advertising avoidance determinants – an Iranian experience

    OpenAIRE

    Shahriar AZIZI

    2013-01-01

    Short Message Service (SMS) advertising is a growing phenomenon in the Iranian marketing industry. Many Iranian companies are intensively interested in SMS advertising for its low cost and comprehensive coverage. The vital challenge in using SMS as an advertising medium is mobile avoidance. In this research, a conceptual model containing six hypotheses was developed and tested. Using 211 self-reporting questionnaires and structural equation modeling (SEM), this study found that self-esteem an...

  13. Evaluation of Smoking Prevention Television Messages Based on the Elaboration Likelihood Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Flynn, Brian S.; Worden, John K.; Bunn, Janice Yanushka; Connolly, Scott W.; Dorwaldt, Anne L.

    2011-01-01

    Progress in reducing youth smoking may depend on developing improved methods to communicate with higher risk youth. This study explored the potential of smoking prevention messages based on the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) to address these needs. Structured evaluations of 12 smoking prevention messages based on three strategies derived from…

  14. Comparison and Analysis of ISO/IEEE 11073, IHE PCD-01, and HL7 FHIR Messages for Personal Health Devices.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Sungkee; Do, Hyoungho

    2018-01-01

    Increasing use of medical devices outside of healthcare facilities inevitably requires connectivity and interoperability between medical devices and healthcare information systems. To this end, standards have been developed and used to provide interoperability between personal health devices (PHDs) and external systems. ISO/IEEE 11073 standards and IHE PCD-01 standard messages have been used the most in the exchange of observation data of health devices. Recently, transmitting observation data using the HL7 FHIR standard has been devised in the name of DoF (Devices on FHIR) and adopted very fast. We compare and analyze these standards and suggest that which standard will work best at the different environments of device usage. We generated each message/resource of the three standards for observed vital signs from blood pressure monitor and thermometer. Then, the size, the contents, and the exchange processes of these messages are compared and analyzed. ISO/IEEE 11073 standard message has the smallest data size, but it has no ability to contain the key information, patient information. On the other hand, PCD-01 messages and FHIR standards have the fields for patient information. HL7 DoF standards provide reusing of information unit known as resource, and it is relatively easy to parse DoF messages since it uses widely known XML and JSON. ISO/IEEE 11073 standards are suitable for devices having very small computing power. IHE PCD-01 and HL7 DoF messages can be used for the devices that need to be connected to hospital information systems that require patient information. When information reuse is frequent, DoF is advantageous over PCD-01.

  15. Message formulation, organization, and navigation schemes for icon-based communication aids.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Patel, Rupal

    2011-01-01

    Individuals with severe speech and motor impairments rely on assistive communication devices to convey their needs and desires in social, educational, and vocational situations. Users with limited motor control or literacy often choose to use icon-based devices that afford increased speed of message formulation at the cost of fully generative language formulation on letter-based devices. A major challenge with large vocabulary icon-based systems is rate of communication. Message formulation, vocabulary organization, and navigation schemes can be used to mitigate the trade-off between vocabulary size and communication rate. This paper summarizes our research efforts to leverage semantic frame theory, situational context, and rapid serial visual presentation to improve message formulation speed and completeness in our iconCHAT and RSVP iconCHAT systems. Usability data and persisting challenges are discussed.

  16. Theory-Based Formative Research on an Anti-Cyberbullying Victimization Intervention Message.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Savage, Matthew W; Deiss, Douglas M; Roberto, Anthony J; Aboujaoude, Elias

    2017-02-01

    Cyberbullying is a common byproduct of the digital revolution with serious consequences to victims. Unfortunately, there is a dearth of empirically based methods to confront it. This study used social cognitive theory to design and test an intervention message aimed at persuading college students to abstain from retaliation, seek social support, save evidence, and notify authorities-important victim responses identified and recommended in previous research. Using a posttest-only control group design, this study tested the effectiveness of an intervention message in changing college students' perceived susceptibility to and perceived severity of cyberbullying as well as their self-efficacy, response efficacy, attitudes, and behavioral intentions toward each recommended response in future episodes of cyberbullying. Results indicated that the intervention message caused participants in the experimental condition to report significantly higher susceptibility, but not perceived severity, to cyberbullying than those in the control condition. The intervention message also caused expected changes in all outcomes except self-efficacy for not retaliating and in all outcomes for seeking social support, saving evidence, and notifying an authority. Implications for message design and future research supporting evidence-based anti-cyberbullying health communication campaigns are discussed.

  17. Interoperable eHealth Platform for Personalized Smart Services

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mihaylov, Mihail Rumenov; Mihovska, Albena Dimitrova; Kyriazakos, Sofoklis

    2015-01-01

    personalized context-aware applications to serve the user's needs. This paper proposes the use of advised sensing, context-aware and cloud-based lifestyle reasoning to design an innovative eHealth platform that supports highly personalized smart services to primary users. The architecture of the platform has...... been designed in accordance with the interoperability requirements and standards as proposed by ITU-T and Continua Alliance. In particular, we define the interface dependencies and functional requirements needed, to allow eCare and eHealth vendors to manufacture interoperable sensors, ambient and home...

  18. Effectiveness of safety and public service announcement messages on dynamic message signs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-07-01

    The number of transportation agencies that use dynamic message signs (DMS) to provide traffic information to motorists has increased dramatically over the past four decades. This growing trend of DMS deployment is a reflection of the public interest ...

  19. Low Power LDPC Code Decoder Architecture Based on Intermediate Message Compression Technique

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shimizu, Kazunori; Togawa, Nozomu; Ikenaga, Takeshi; Goto, Satoshi

    Reducing the power dissipation for LDPC code decoder is a major challenging task to apply it to the practical digital communication systems. In this paper, we propose a low power LDPC code decoder architecture based on an intermediate message-compression technique which features as follows: (i) An intermediate message compression technique enables the decoder to reduce the required memory capacity and write power dissipation. (ii) A clock gated shift register based intermediate message memory architecture enables the decoder to decompress the compressed messages in a single clock cycle while reducing the read power dissipation. The combination of the above two techniques enables the decoder to reduce the power dissipation while keeping the decoding throughput. The simulation results show that the proposed architecture improves the power efficiency up to 52% and 18% compared to that of the decoder based on the overlapped schedule and the rapid convergence schedule without the proposed techniques respectively.

  20. The Role of Faith-Based Organizations in the Education, Support, and Services for Persons Living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stephens, Teresa M

    2018-03-01

    Faith-based organizations are in a unique position to provide resilience-enhancing efforts for persons living with human immunodeficiency virus/AIDS. Many persons living with human immunodeficiency virus/AIDS report having a strong faith or religious affiliation, with a large percentage attending church services on a regular basis. Faith-based organizations can use these factors to reach out to these individuals and effectively promote health, well-being, education, and support. Faith-based organizations can contribute to the reduction of stigma and isolation for persons living with human immunodeficiency virus/AIDS. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  1. DMS message design workshops.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2009-03-01

    This report summarizes the training conducted statewide regarding the design and display of messages on : dynamic message signs. The training is based on the Dynamic Message Sign Message Design and Display : Manual (0-4023-P3). Researchers developed ...

  2. Do Fitness Apps Need Text Reminders? An Experiment Testing Goal-Setting Text Message Reminders to Promote Self-Monitoring.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Shuang; Willoughby, Jessica F

    2018-01-01

    Fitness tracking apps have the potential to change unhealthy lifestyles, but users' lack of compliance is an issue. The current intervention examined the effectiveness of using goal-setting theory-based text message reminders to promote tracking activities on fitness apps. We conducted a 2-week experiment with pre- and post-tests with young adults (n = 50). Participants were randomly assigned to two groups-a goal-setting text message reminder group and a generic text message reminder group. Participants were asked to use a fitness tracking app to log physical activity and diet for the duration of the study. Participants who received goal-setting reminders logged significantly more physical activities than those who only received generic reminders. Further, participants who received goal-setting reminders liked the messages and showed significantly increased self-efficacy, awareness of personal goals, motivation, and intention to use the app. The study shows that incorporating goal-setting theory-based text message reminders can be useful to boost user compliance with self-monitoring fitness apps by reinforcing users' personal goals and enhancing cognitive factors associated with health behavior change.

  3. The impact of mobile phone based messages on maternal and child healthcare behaviour: a retrospective cross-sectional survey in Bangladesh.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alam, Mafruha; D'Este, Catherine; Banwell, Cathy; Lokuge, Kamalini

    2017-06-24

    Mobile phones are gradually becoming an integral part of healthcare services worldwide. We assessed the association between Aponjon mobile phone based messaging services and practices regarding childbirth and care of mother and neonates in selected areas in Bangladesh. In early 2014, 476 subscriber mothers whose last born child's age was between 3 and 18 months, were recruited to the study by Dnet from selected areas of Bangladesh. One group of mothers received the early warning messages from Aponjon during pregnancy (exposed; n = 210) while the other group of new mothers did not receive the messages during pregnancy as they had enrolled in the service after childbirth (non-exposed; n = 266). We undertook regression analyses to investigate the relationship between timing of exposure to Aponjon messages and socio-economic factors and outcomes of safe delivery, immediate breastfeeding post birth, delayed bathing of the neonate, and number of postnatal care (PNC) visits. Women reported delivering babies at home without a skilled birth attendant (SBA) (n = 58, 12%), at home with SBA (n = 111, 23%) and at health facilities (n = 307, 65%). Most (n = 443, 93%) women breastfed babies immediately post birth. Babies were bathed after 72 h (n = 294, 62%), between 48 and 72 (n = 100, 21%) and between 0 and 47 (n = 80, 17%) hours after birth. PNC frequencies were reported as none (n = 273, 57%), 1 (n = 79, 17%), 2 (n = 54, 11%), 3 (n = 34, 7%) and 4 (n = 36, 8%). There was no significant association between exposure to Aponjon messages during pregnancy and presence of a SBA at birth, breastfeeding practices, and postnatal care visits, although delayed bathing up to 48 h was significant at the 10% but not 5% level (RRR 1.7; 95% CI 0.93-3.0; p = 0.083). Women with higher education, from higher income, older in age, with birth order 1 or 2 were more likely to birth at health facilities. Facility based delivery was an independent factor for delayed

  4. Fear, threat and efficacy in threat appeals: message involvement as a key mediator to message acceptance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cauberghe, Verolien; De Pelsmacker, Patrick; Janssens, Wim; Dens, Nathalie

    2009-03-01

    In a sample of 170 youngsters, the effect of two versions of a public service announcement (PSA) threat appeal against speeding, placed in four different contexts, on evoked fear, perceived threat (severity and probability of occurrence), perceived response efficacy and self-efficacy, message involvement and anti-speeding attitude and anti-speeding intention is investigated. Evoked fear and perceived threat and efficacy independently influence message involvement. Message involvement is a full mediator between evoked fear, perceived threat and efficacy perception on the one hand, and attitudes towards the message and behavioral intention to accept the message on the other. Speeding experience has a significantly negative impact on anti-speeding attitudes. Message and medium context threat levels and context thematic congruency have a significant effect on evoked fear and to a lesser extent on perceived threat.

  5. Personalized Services Oriented towards Commercial Establishments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marin Díaz, David; Rico Zuluaga, Alejandro; Carrillo-Ramos, Angela

    This paper presents the platform PlaSerEs, whose main objective is to provide information about the products y/o services offered by commercial establishments to their clients in a personalized way. This platform is structured in four layers: i) the adaptation layer, composed of four modules: the one of the context, the one of the access device, the one of the user and the one of the wireless connection. The latter is one of the main contributions of this work. ii) The general services layer, iii) the personalized services layer and iv) the application layer. In order to validate and to evaluate how PlaSerEs works, we developed a functional prototype for a restaurant.

  6. Analyzing Short Message Services Application Effect on Diabetic Patients' Self-caring.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Naghibi, Seyed Abolhassan; Moosazadeh, Mahmood; Zhyanifard, Akram; Jafari Makrani, Zoreh; Yazdani Cherati, Jamshid

    2015-01-01

    Diabetes is the most prevalent metabolic disease with a growing spread rate in word wide. Short message service (SMS) is of the most common public communication networks, which have brought about a broad spectrum of applications like social, cultural and service products in the late decade. The objective of this research is, the investigate of using SMS on diabetes patients self-caring. In an interventional study, 228 diabetes patients have been selected from a community charity. With using of random sampling method, they were divided into two groups of 114 subjects as the control and case. The case group was sent messages reminding them about sports, caring foot, taking insulin and oral tablet for 4 weeks via mobile phone. After 4 weeks, a posttest questionnaire was completed. The data analysis was performed using a descriptive statistic, Chi-square, independent t-test, and paired t-test. There are not significant differences between case and control groups before intervention by studied dependent variables (P > 0.05). Performance score mean of taking care of foot, sport and taking oral tablet and insulin in case group before intervention were 29.90, 10, 11.16 and 3.75 respectively and after intervention were 20.11, 41.36, 13.09 and 4.90, respectively. Furthermore, the performance scores mean difference after intervention, taking care of foot (P tablet (P = 0.020) was meaningful in case and control groups. Regarding the study results on using cell phone, to utilize virtual training methods is recommended as an appropriate procedure for different health care, self-caring and follow-up training plans for various groups in society, especially diabetic and chronic patients.

  7. Response efficacy: the key to minimizing rejection and maximizing acceptance of emotion-based anti-speeding messages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lewis, I M; Watson, B; White, K M

    2010-03-01

    This study sought to improve understanding of the persuasive process of emotion-based appeals not only in relation to negative, fear-based appeals but also for appeals based upon positive emotions. In particular, the study investigated whether response efficacy, as a cognitive construct, mediated outcome measures of message effectiveness in terms of both acceptance and rejection of negative and positive emotion-based messages. Licensed drivers (N=406) participated via the completion of an on-line survey. Within the survey, participants received either a negative (fear-based) appeal or one of the two possible positive appeals (pride or humor-based). Overall, the study's findings confirmed the importance of emotional and cognitive components of persuasive health messages and identified response efficacy as a key cognitive construct influencing the effectiveness of not only fear-based messages but also positive emotion-based messages. Interestingly, however, the results suggested that response efficacy's influence on message effectiveness may differ for positive and negative emotion-based appeals such that significant indirect (and mediational) effects were found with both acceptance and rejection of the positive appeals yet only with rejection of the fear-based appeal. As such, the study's findings provide an important extension to extant literature and may inform future advertising message design. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. Predictors for Assessing Electronic Messaging Between Nurses and General Practitioners as a Useful Tool for Communication in Home Health Care Services: A Cross-Sectional Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hofoss, Dag; Grimsmo, Anders; Hellesø, Ragnhild

    2015-01-01

    Background Nurses providing home health care services are dependent on access to patient information and communicating with general practitioners (GPs) to deliver safe and effective health care to patients. Information and communication technology (ICT) systems are viewed as powerful tools for this purpose. In Norway, a standardized electronic messaging (e-messaging) system is currently being established in health care. Objective The aim of this study was to explore home health care nurses’ assessments of the utility of the e-messaging system for communicating with GPs and identify elements that influence the assessment of e-messaging as a useful communication tool. Methods The data were collected using a self-developed questionnaire based on variables identified by focus group interviews with home health care nurses (n=425) who used e-messaging and existing research. Data were analyzed using logistic regression analyses. Results Over two-thirds (425/632, 67.2%) of the home health care nurses returned the questionnaire. A high proportion (388/399, 97.2%) of the home health care nurses who returned the questionnaire found the e-messaging system to be a useful tool for communication with GPs. The odds of reporting that e-messaging was a useful tool were over five times higher (OR 5.1, CI 2.489-10.631, Pmessaging was easy to use. The odds of finding e-messaging easy to use were nearly seven times higher (OR 6.9, CI 1.713-27.899, P=.007) if the nurses did not consider the system functionality poor. If the nurses had received training in the use of e-messaging, the odds were over six times higher (OR 6.6, CI 2.515-17.437, Pmessaging easy to use. The odds that a home health care nurse would experience e-messaging as easy to use increased as the full-time equivalent percentage of the nurses increased (OR 1.032, CI 1.001-1.064, P=.045). Conclusions This study has shown that technical (ease of use and system functionality), organizational (training), and individual (full

  9. Text Messaging to Communicate With Public Health Audiences: How the HIPAA Security Rule Affects Practice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karasz, Hilary N.; Eiden, Amy; Bogan, Sharon

    2013-01-01

    Text messaging is a powerful communication tool for public health purposes, particularly because of the potential to customize messages to meet individuals’ needs. However, using text messaging to send personal health information requires analysis of laws addressing the protection of electronic health information. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Security Rule is written with flexibility to account for changing technologies. In practice, however, the rule leads to uncertainty about how to make text messaging policy decisions. Text messaging to send health information can be implemented in a public health setting through 2 possible approaches: restructuring text messages to remove personal health information and retaining limited personal health information in the message but conducting a risk analysis and satisfying other requirements to meet the HIPAA Security Rule. PMID:23409902

  10. Relationships Between Service Personal Values, Service Value, Satisfaction, and Loyalty: A Study Regarding Services of Private and State Hospitals in Turkey

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Metin Argan

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Service and value are the two inseparable concepts in experiential service environment. Service personal value is a concept that is subjectively assessed from a consumer perspective, and is associated with service value, consumer satisfaction and loyalty. In this context, the purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between services personal values, service value, satisfaction, and loyalty. Data were collected from persons (996 receiving services from private hospitals and state hospitals using convenience sampling method. The scales of service personal values, service value, satisfaction and loyalty were adapted from literature. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA was used to investigate validity and reliability of the scales. Then, a structural equation model (SEM was developed and tested using data with Lisrel 8.80 software. The results of the study indicate significant relationships between services personal values, service value, satisfaction, and loyalty. The results of the study have significant implications as to how well private hospital managers design strategies of health service, satisfaction, and loyalty.

  11. Understanding the effectiveness of the entertainment-education strategy: an investigation of how audience involvement, message processing, and message design influence health information recall.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quintero Johnson, Jessie M; Harrison, Kristen; Quick, Brian L

    2013-01-01

    A growing body of evidence suggests that entertainment-education (EE) is a promising health communication strategy. The purpose of this study was to identify some of the factors that facilitate and hinder audience involvement with EE messages. Using confirmatory factor analysis, the authors introduce a construct they call experiential involvement, which describes the experience of being cognitively and emotionally involved with EE messages and is a product of transportation into an EE text and identification with EE characters. Using an experimental design, the authors also investigated how reports of experiential involvement and health information recall varied depending on the degree to which the educational content was well integrated with the narrative content in EE messages. Findings indicated that integration significantly influenced health information recall. Results indicated that experiential involvement and the perception that the health topic in EE messages was personally relevant predicted participants' systematic processing of the information in EE messages. Contrary to expectation, personal relevance did not predict experiential involvement, and systematic message processing was negatively related to health information recall. Implications for the construction of EE messages and the study of the EE strategy are discussed.

  12. Short Message Service (SMS) Texting Symbols: A Functional Analysis of 10,000 Cellular Phone Text Messages

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beasley, Robert E.

    2009-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of symbolic expressions (e.g., "BTW," "LOL," "UR") in an SMS text messaging corpus consisting of over 10,000 text messages. More specifically, the purpose was to determine, not only how frequently these symbolic expressions are used, but how they are utilized in terms of the language functions…

  13. 48 CFR 731.205-6 - Compensation for personal services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... Organizations 731.205-6 Compensation for personal services. (a) General. When establishing the workweek for... base salary plus overseas recruitment incentive, if any (see AIDAR 731.205-70) exceeds the USAID... such approval after internal Agency procedures for review/approval of salaries in excess of the USAID...

  14. Development of a scale to measure problem use of short message service: the SMS Problem Use Diagnostic Questionnaire.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rutland, J Brian; Sheets, Tilman; Young, Tony

    2007-12-01

    This exploratory study examines a subset of mobile phone use, the compulsive use of short message service (SMS) text messaging. A measure of SMS use, the SMS Problem Use Diagnostic Questionnaire (SMS-PUDQ), was developed and found to possess acceptable reliability and validity when compared to other measures such as self-reports of time spent using SMS and scores on a survey of problem mobile phone use. Implications for the field of addiction research, technological and behavioral addictions in particular, are discussed, and directions for future research are suggested.

  15. Efficacy of a text messaging (SMS) based intervention for adults with hypertension: protocol for the StAR (SMS Text-message Adherence suppoRt trial) randomised controlled trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bobrow, Kirsty; Brennan, Thomas; Springer, David; Levitt, Naomi S; Rayner, Brian; Namane, Mosedi; Yu, Ly-Mee; Tarassenko, Lionel; Farmer, Andrew

    2014-01-11

    Interventions to support people with hypertension in attending clinics and taking their medication have potential to improve outcomes, but delivery on a wide scale and at low cost is challenging. Some trials evaluating clinical interventions using short message service (SMS) text-messaging systems have shown important outcomes, although evidence is limited. We have developed a novel SMS system integrated with clinical care for use by people with hypertension in a low-resource setting. We aim to test the efficacy of the system in improving blood pressure control and treatment adherence compared to usual care. The SMS Text-message Adherence suppoRt trial (StAR) is a pragmatic individually randomised three-arm parallel group trial in adults treated for hypertension at a single primary care centre in Cape Town, South Africa. The intervention is a structured programme of clinic appointment, medication pick-up reminders, medication adherence support and hypertension-related education delivered remotely using an automated system with either informational or interactive SMS text-messages. Usual care is supplemented by infrequent non-hypertension related SMS text-messages. Participants are 1:1:1 individually randomised, to usual care or to one of the two active interventions using minimisation to dynamically adjust for gender, age, baseline systolic blood pressure, years with hypertension, and previous clinic attendance. The primary outcome is the change in mean systolic blood pressure at 12-month follow-up from baseline measured with research staff blinded to trial allocation. Secondary outcomes include the proportion of patients with 80% or more of days medication available, proportion of participants achieving a systolic blood pressure less than 140 mmHg and a diastolic blood pressure less than 90 mmHg, hospital admissions, health status, retention in clinical care, satisfaction with treatment and care, and patient related quality of life. Anonymised demographic data

  16. Are participants concerned about privacy and security when using short message service to report product adherence in a rectal microbicide trial?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giguere, Rebecca; Brown, William; Balán, Ivan C; Dolezal, Curtis; Ho, Titcha; Sheinfil, Alan; Ibitoye, Mobolaji; Lama, Javier R; McGowan, Ian; Cranston, Ross D; Carballo-Diéguez, Alex

    2018-04-01

    During a Phase 2 rectal microbicide trial, men who have sex with men and transgender women (n = 187) in 4 countries (Peru, South Africa, Thailand, United States) reported product use daily via short message service (SMS). To prevent disclosure of study participation, the SMS system program included privacy and security features. We evaluated participants' perceptions of privacy while using the system and acceptability of privacy/security features. To protect privacy, the SMS system: (1) confirmed participant availability before sending the study questions, (2) required a password, and (3) did not reveal product name or study participation. To ensure security, the system reminded participants to lock phone/delete messages. A computer-assisted self-interview (CASI), administered at the final visit, measured burden of privacy and security features and SMS privacy concerns. A subsample of 33 participants underwent an in-depth interview (IDI). Based on CASI, 85% had no privacy concerns; only 5% were very concerned. Most were not bothered by the need for a password (73%) or instructions to delete messages (82%). Based on IDI, reasons for low privacy concerns included sending SMS in private or feeling that texting would not draw attention. A few IDI participants found the password unnecessary and more than half did not delete messages. Most participants were not concerned that the SMS system would compromise their confidentiality. SMS privacy and security features were effective and not burdensome. Short ID-related passwords, ambiguous language, and reminders to implement privacy and security-enhancing behaviors are recommended for SMS systems.

  17. Designing Anti-Binge Drinking Prevention Messages: Message Framing vs. Evidence Type.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kang, Hannah; Lee, Moon J

    2017-09-27

    We investigated whether presenting anti-binge drinking health campaign messages in different message framing and evidence types influences college students' intention to avoid binge drinking, based on prospect theory (PT) and exemplification theory. A 2 (message framing: loss-framed message/gain-framed message) X 2 (evidence type: statistical/narrative) between-subjects factorial design with a control group was conducted with 156 college students. College students who were exposed to the loss-framed message condition exhibited a higher level of intention to avoid binge drinking in the near future than those who did not see any messages (the control group). This finding was mainly among non-binge drinkers. Regardless of evidence type, those who were exposed to the messages exhibited a higher level of intention to avoid binge drinking than those in the control group. This is also mainly among non-binge drinkers. We also found the main effects of message framing and evidence type on attitude toward the message and the main effect of message framing on attitude toward drinking.

  18. An adaptive synchronization strategy based on active control for demodulating message hidden in chaotic signals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tang Fang

    2008-01-01

    In the field of secure communication, it is very important to demodulate the message hidden in chaotic signals. In this paper, an adaptive synchronization strategy based on active control is proposed, which is used to design an active controller and an appropriate adaptive demodulator at the receiver to recover the transmitted message hidden in chaotic signals of a drive system. Based on Lyapunov stability theory, it is shown that the transmitted message can be theoretically recovered by using the proposed strategy. Numerical simulations based on the Chua's circuit are also presented to verify the effectiveness of the proposed strategy. In addition, it is shown via simulations that, by increasing the gain of the active controller the message error caused by the external noise and the discontinuous property of the message can be reduced

  19. LPaMI: A Graph-Based Lifestyle Pattern Mining Application Using Personal Image Collections in Smartphones

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kifayat Ullah Khan

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Normally, individuals use smartphones for a variety of purposes like photography, schedule planning, playing games, and so on, apart from benefiting from the core tasks of call-making and short messaging. These services are sources of personal data generation. Therefore, any application that utilises personal data of a user from his/her smartphone is truly a great witness of his/her interests and this information can be used for various personalised services. In this paper, we present Lifestyle Pattern MIning (LPaMI, which is a personalised application for mining the lifestyle patterns of a smartphone user. LPaMI uses the personal photograph collections of a user, which reflect the day-to-day photos taken by a smartphone, to recognise scenes (called objects of interest in our work. These are then mined to discover lifestyle patterns. The uniqueness of LPaMI lies in our graph-based approach to mining the patterns of interest. Modelling of data in the form of graphs is effective in preserving the lifestyle behaviour maintained over the passage of time. Graph-modelled lifestyle data enables us to apply variety of graph mining techniques for pattern discovery. To demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposal, we have developed a prototype system for LPaMI to implement its end-to-end pipeline. We have also conducted an extensive evaluation for various phases of LPaMI using different real-world datasets. We understand that the output of LPaMI can be utilised for variety of pattern discovery application areas like trip and food recommendations, shopping, and so on.

  20. Combined Quitline Counseling and Text Messaging for Smoking Cessation: A Quasi-Experimental Evaluation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boal, Ashley L; Abroms, Lorien C; Simmens, Samuel; Graham, Amanda L; Carpenter, Kelly M

    2016-05-01

    This study seeks to determine whether comprehensive quitline services combined with text messaging improve smoking cessation rates beyond those achieved by offering comprehensive quitline services alone. The study sample consisted of callers to the Alere Wellbeing, Inc, commercial quitline in 2012. A quasi-experimental design was implemented using propensity score matching to create the intervention and control groups. The intervention group consisted of those who were offered and accepted a text message intervention in addition to usual quitline services, while the control group consisted of those who were not offered the text message intervention. Analyses utilized baseline data collected at intake, program use data (eg, call history and text message use), and reports of smoking behaviors and program satisfaction collected 6 months after intake. Similar rates of 7-day abstinence were reported regardless of whether participants received combined multi-call quitline services plus text messaging (25.3%) or multi-call quitline services in isolation (25.5%), though those who received combined services reported higher treatment satisfaction (P research should investigate whether text messaging programs improve quit rates when combined with less intensive services such as single-call phone counseling. While the impact of quitline and text messaging services for smoking cessation have been examined in isolation, no study has explored the impact of combined services on smoking outcomes. This study examines the role of text messaging in combination with comprehensive quitline services including multi-call phone counseling, access to an interactive website and nicotine replacement therapy. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  1. 22 CFR 92.93 - Notarial services or authentications connected with service of process by other persons.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... with service of process by other persons. 92.93 Section 92.93 Foreign Relations DEPARTMENT OF STATE... or authentications connected with service of process by other persons. An officer of the Foreign Service may administer an oath to a person making an affidavit to the effect that legal process has ben...

  2. Personalized cloud-based bioinformatics services for research and education: use cases and the elasticHPC package.

    Science.gov (United States)

    El-Kalioby, Mohamed; Abouelhoda, Mohamed; Krüger, Jan; Giegerich, Robert; Sczyrba, Alexander; Wall, Dennis P; Tonellato, Peter

    2012-01-01

    Bioinformatics services have been traditionally provided in the form of a web-server that is hosted at institutional infrastructure and serves multiple users. This model, however, is not flexible enough to cope with the increasing number of users, increasing data size, and new requirements in terms of speed and availability of service. The advent of cloud computing suggests a new service model that provides an efficient solution to these problems, based on the concepts of "resources-on-demand" and "pay-as-you-go". However, cloud computing has not yet been introduced within bioinformatics servers due to the lack of usage scenarios and software layers that address the requirements of the bioinformatics domain. In this paper, we provide different use case scenarios for providing cloud computing based services, considering both the technical and financial aspects of the cloud computing service model. These scenarios are for individual users seeking computational power as well as bioinformatics service providers aiming at provision of personalized bioinformatics services to their users. We also present elasticHPC, a software package and a library that facilitates the use of high performance cloud computing resources in general and the implementation of the suggested bioinformatics scenarios in particular. Concrete examples that demonstrate the suggested use case scenarios with whole bioinformatics servers and major sequence analysis tools like BLAST are presented. Experimental results with large datasets are also included to show the advantages of the cloud model. Our use case scenarios and the elasticHPC package are steps towards the provision of cloud based bioinformatics services, which would help in overcoming the data challenge of recent biological research. All resources related to elasticHPC and its web-interface are available at http://www.elasticHPC.org.

  3. A Framework for Exploiting Internet of Things for Context-Aware Trust-Based Personalized Services

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Abayomi Otebolaku

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available In the last years, we have witnessed the introduction of the Internet of Things (IoT as an integral part of the Internet with billions of interconnected and addressable everyday objects. On one hand, these objects generate a massive volume of data that can be exploited to gain useful insights into our day-to-day needs. On the other hand, context-aware recommender systems (CARSs are intelligent systems that assist users to make service consumption choices that satisfy their preferences based on their contextual situations. However, one of the key challenges facing the development and deployment of CARSs is the lack of functionality for providing dynamic and reliable context information required by the recommendation decision process. Thus, data obtained from IoT objects and other sources can be exploited to build CARSs that satisfy users’ preferences, improve quality of experience, and boost recommendation accuracy. This article describes various components of a conceptual IoT-based framework for context-aware personalized recommendations. The framework addresses the weakness whereby CARSs rely on static and limited contexts from user’s mobile phone by providing additional components for reliable and dynamic context information, using IoT context sources. The core of the framework consists of a context classification and reasoning management and a dynamic user profile model, incorporating trust to improve the accuracy of context-aware personalized recommendations. Experimental evaluations show that incorporating context and trust into personalized recommendation process can improve accuracy.

  4. Instant Messaging by SIP

    Science.gov (United States)

    Muhi, Daniel; Dulai, Tibor; Jaskó, Szilárd

    2008-11-01

    SIP is a general-purpose application layer protocol which is able to establish sessions between two or more parties. These sessions are mainly telephone calls and multimedia conferences. However it can be used for other purposes like instant messaging and presence service. SIP has a very important role in mobile communication as more and more communicating applications are going mobile. In this paper we would like to show how SIP can be used for instant messaging purposes.

  5. Protocol-Based Verification of Message-Passing Parallel Programs

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    López-Acosta, Hugo-Andrés; Eduardo R. B. Marques, Eduardo R. B.; Martins, Francisco

    2015-01-01

    We present ParTypes, a type-based methodology for the verification of Message Passing Interface (MPI) programs written in the C programming language. The aim is to statically verify programs against protocol specifications, enforcing properties such as fidelity and absence of deadlocks. We develo...

  6. Long term care needs and personal care services under Medicaid: a survey of administrators.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palley, H A; Oktay, J S

    1991-01-01

    Home and community based care services constitute a public initiative in the development of a long term care service network. One such home based initiative is the personal care service program of Medicaid. The authors conducted a national survey of administrators of this program. They received a response from 16 administrators of such programs in 1987-1988. The responses raise significant issues regarding training, access to and equity of services, quality of services, administrative oversight and the coordination of home-based care in a network of available services. Based on administrator responses, the authors draw several conclusions.

  7. Smartphone as a personal, pervasive health informatics services platform: literature review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wac, K

    2012-01-01

    The article provides an overview of current trends in personal sensor, signal and imaging informatics, that are based on emerging mobile computing and communications technologies enclosed in a smartphone and enabling the provision of personal, pervasive health informatics services. The article reviews examples of these trends from the PubMed and Google scholar literature search engines, which, by no means claim to be complete, as the field is evolving and some recent advances may not be documented yet. There exist critical technological advances in the surveyed smartphone technologies, employed in provision and improvement of diagnosis, acute and chronic treatment and rehabilitation health services, as well as in education and training of healthcare practitioners. However, the most emerging trend relates to a routine application of these technologies in a prevention/wellness sector, helping its users in self-care to stay healthy. Smartphone-based personal health informatics services exist, but still have a long way to go to become an everyday, personalized healthcare-provisioning tool in the medical field and in a clinical practice. Key main challenge for their widespread adoption involve lack of user acceptance striving from variable credibility and reliability of applications and solutions as they a) lack evidence- based approach; b) have low levels of medical professional involvement in their design and content; c) are provided in an unreliable way, influencing negatively its usability; and, in some cases, d) being industry-driven, hence exposing bias in information provided, for example towards particular types of treatment or intervention procedures.

  8. Gain versus loss-framed messaging and colorectal cancer screening among African Americans: A preliminary examination of perceived racism and culturally targeted dual messaging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lucas, Todd; Hayman, Lenwood W; Blessman, James E; Asabigi, Kanzoni; Novak, Julie M

    2016-05-01

    This preliminary study examined the effect of gain versus loss-framed messaging as well as culturally targeted personal prevention messaging on African Americans' receptivity to colorectal cancer (CRC) screening. This research also examined mechanistic functions of perceived racism in response to message framing. Community samples of African Americans (N = 132) and White Americans (N = 50) who were non-compliant with recommended CRC screening completed an online education module about CRC, and were either exposed to a gain-framed or loss-framed message about CRC screening. Half of African Americans were exposed to an additional and culturally targeted self-control message about personal prevention of CRC. Theory of planned behavior measures of attitudes, normative beliefs, perceived behavioural control, and intentions to obtain a CRC screen served as primary outcomes. The effect of messaging on perceived racism was also measured as an outcome. Consistent with prior research, White Americans were more receptive to CRC screening when exposed to a loss-framed message. However, African Americans were more receptive when exposed to a gain-framed message. The contrary effect of loss-framed messaging on receptivity to screening among African Americans was mediated by an increase in perceived racism. However, including an additional and culturally targeted prevention message mitigated the adverse effect of a loss-framed message. This study identifies an important potential cultural difference in the effect of message framing on illness screening among African Americans, while also suggesting a culturally relevant linking mechanism. This study also suggests the potential for simultaneously presented and culturally targeted messaging to alter the effects of gain and loss-framed messaging on African Americans. What is already known on this subject? African Americans are at an increased risk of both developing and dying from colorectal cancer (CRC). These disparities can be

  9. Personalized Boutique Service: Critical to Academic Library Success?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tilley, Elizabeth

    2013-01-01

    An academic library that focuses on delivering a personalized service is examined within the context of the boutique library model. It is suggested that a critical success factor in adopting a personalized, boutique-style service is acquiring knowledge and insight of our users. This, together with appropriate evaluation, will assist with providing…

  10. Empowerment in the process of health messaging for rural low-income mothers: an exploratory message design project.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aldoory, Linda; Braun, Bonnie; Maring, Elisabeth Fost; Duggal, Mili; Briones, Rowena Lynn

    2015-01-01

    Rural, low-income mothers face challenges to their health equal to or greater than those of low-income mothers from urban areas. This study put health message design into the hands of low-income rural mothers. The current study filled a research gap by analyzing a participatory process used to design health messages tailored to the everyday lives of rural low-income mothers. A total of forty-three mothers participated in nine focus groups, which were held from 2012 to 2013, in eight states. The mothers were from different racial and ethnic backgrounds. Participants discussed food security, physical activity, and oral health information. They created messages by considering several elements: visuals, length of message, voice/perspective, self-efficacy and personal control, emotional appeals, positive and negative reinforcements, and steps to health behavior change. This study was innovative in its focus on empowerment as a key process to health message design.

  11. Towards ontology personalization to enrich social conversations on AAC systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mancilla V., Daniela; Sastoque H., Sebastian; Iregui G., Marcela

    2015-01-01

    Communication is one of the essential needs of human beings. Augmentative and Alternative Communication Systems (AAC) seek to help in the generation of oral and written language to people with physical disorders that limit their natural communication. These systems present significant challenges such as: the composition of consistent messages according to syntactic and semantic rules, the improvement of message production times, the application to social contexts and, consequently, the incorporation of user-specific information. This work presents an original ontology personalization approach for an AAC instant messaging system incorporating personalized information to improve the efficacy and efficiency of the message production. This proposal is based on a projection of a general ontology into a more specific one, avoiding storage redundancy and data coupling, representing a big opportunity to enrich communication capabilities of current AAC systems. The evaluation was performed for a study case based on an AAC system for assistance in composing messages. The results show that adding user-specific information allows generation of enriched phrases, so improving the accuracy of the message, facilitating the communication process.

  12. Mobile phone messaging for illicit drug and alcohol dependence: A systematic review of the literature.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tofighi, Babak; Nicholson, Joseph M; McNeely, Jennifer; Muench, Frederick; Lee, Joshua D

    2017-07-01

    Mobile phone use has increased dramatically and concurrent with rapid developments in mobile phone-based health interventions. The integration of text messaging interventions promises to optimise the delivery of care for persons with substance dependence with minimal disruption to clinical workflows. We conducted a systematic review to assess the acceptability, feasibility and clinical impact of text messaging interventions for persons with illicit drug and alcohol dependence. Studies were required to evaluate the use of text messaging as an intervention for persons who met Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition criterion for a diagnosis of illicit drug and/or alcohol dependence. Authors searched for articles published to date in MEDLINE (pubmed.gov), the Cochrane Library, EMBASE, CINAHL, Google Scholar and PsychINFO. Eleven articles met the search criteria for this review and support the acceptability and feasibility of text messaging interventions for addressing illicit drug and alcohol dependence. Most studies demonstrated improved clinical outcomes, medication adherence and engagement with peer support groups. Text messaging interventions also intervened on multiple therapeutic targets such as appointment attendance, motivation, self-efficacy, relapse prevention and social support. Suggestions for future research are described, including intervention design features, clinician contact, privacy measures and integration of behaviour change theories. Text messaging interventions offer a feasible platform to address a range of substances (i.e. alcohol, methamphetamine, heroin and alcohol), and there is increasing evidence supporting further larger-scale studies. [Tofighi B, Nicholson JM, McNeely J, Muench F, Lee JD. Mobile phone messaging for illicit drug and alcohol dependence: A systematic review of the literature. Drug Alcohol Rev 2017;36:477-491]. © 2017 Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs.

  13. A Cognitive Behavioral Therapy-Based Text Messaging Intervention for Methamphetamine Dependence

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keoleian, Victoria; Stalcup, S. Alex; Polcin, Douglas L.; Brown, Michelle; Galloway, Gantt

    2013-01-01

    Psychosocial treatments for methamphetamine dependence are of limited effectiveness. Thus, a significant need exists for add-on therapy for this substance user disorder. The aim of this study was to develop and test a novel text messaging intervention for use as an adjunct to cognitive behavioral group therapy for methamphetamine users. Text messaging has the potential to support patients in real-time, around the clock. We convened 2 meetings of an expert panel, held 3 focus groups in current and former users, and conducted 15 semi-structured interviews with in-treatment users in order to develop a fully-automated, cognitive behavioral therapy-based text messaging intervention. We then conducted a randomized, crossover pre-test in 5 users seeking treatment. Participants’ ratings of ease of use and functionality of the system were high. During the pre-test we performed real-time assessments via text messaging on daily methamphetamine use, craving levels, and the perceived usefulness of messages; 79% of scheduled assessments were collected. The odds of messages being rated as “very” or “extremely” useful were 6.6 times [95% CI: 2.2, 19.4] higher in the active vs. placebo periods. The intervention is now ready for testing in randomized clinical trials. PMID:24592670

  14. Suicide Prevention Public Service Announcements Impact Help-Seeking Attitudes: The Message Makes a Difference

    OpenAIRE

    Klimes-Dougan, Bonnie; Wright, Nathan; Klingbeil, David A.

    2016-01-01

    Suicide continues to be one of the most serious public health challenges. Public service announcements (PSAs) are frequently used to address this challenge, but are rarely sufficiently evaluated to determine if they meet the intended goals, or are associated with potential iatrogenic effects. Although it is challenging to assess the relative impact of different PSA modalities, our group previously noted that one billboard message failed to show the same benefits as one TV ad [e.g., Klimes-Dou...

  15. Getting Your Message Across: Mobile Phone Text Messaging

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beecher, Constance C.; Hayungs, Lori

    2017-01-01

    Want to send a message that 99% of your audience will read? Many Extension professionals are familiar with using social media tools to enhance Extension programming. Extension professionals may be less familiar with the use of mobile phone text-based marketing tools. The purpose of this article is to introduce SMS (short message system) marketing…

  16. Communicating with the crowd: speakers use abstract messages when addressing larger audiences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Joshi, Priyanka D; Wakslak, Cheryl J

    2014-02-01

    Audience characteristics often shape communicators' message framing. Drawing from construal level theory, we suggest that when speaking to many individuals, communicators frame messages in terms of superordinate characteristics that focus attention on the essence of the message. On the other hand, when communicating with a single individual, communicators increasingly describe events and actions in terms of their concrete details. Using different communication tasks and measures of construal, we show that speakers communicating with many individuals, compared with 1 person, describe events more abstractly (Study 1), describe themselves as more trait-like (Study 2), and use more desirability-related persuasive messages (Study 3). Furthermore, speakers' motivation to communicate with their audience moderates their tendency to frame messages based on audience size (Studies 3 and 4). This audience-size abstraction effect is eliminated when a large audience is described as homogeneous, suggesting that people use abstract construal strategically in order to connect across a disparate group of individuals (Study 5). Finally, we show that participants' experienced fluency in communication is influenced by the match between message abstraction and audience size (Study 6).

  17. Physician Personal Services Contract Enforceability: The Influence of the Thirteenth Amendment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fasko, Steven A; Kerr, Bernard J; Alvarez, M Raymond; Westrum, Andrew

    We explore the influence of the Thirteenth Amendment to the US Constitution on the enforceability of personal services contracts for physicians. This influence extends from the ambiguous definition to the legal interpretation of personal services contracts. The courts have struggled with determining contracts to be a personal service and whether to grant injunctions for continued performance. The award or denial of damages due to a breach of contract is vested in these enforceability complications. Because of the Thirteenth Amendment's influence, courts and contracting parties will continue to struggle with physician personal services contract enforceability; although other points of view may exist. Possible solutions are offered for health care contract managers dealing with challenges attributable to physician personal services contracts.

  18. Text messages as a learning tool for midwives | Woods | South ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The use of cell phone text messaging to improve access to continuing ... with 50 of the message recipients, demonstrated that the text messages were well received by ... services, such as the management of HIV-infected children and adults.

  19. Military Message Experiment. Volume II.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1982-04-01

    elements of the Department of Defense. This resulted in a memorandum from the Director, Telecomunications and Comand and Control, OSD, in June 1975...1978 to April 1979 and provides a discussion of the telecomunications inter- face aspects of the experiment. This Final Report covers the period of...arise in the telecomunication system which require A retransmission of an outgoing message. A "service" message may be created within the

  20. Short message service (SMS)-based intervention to improve treatment adherence among HIV-positive youth in Uganda: focus group findings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rana, Yashodhara; Haberer, Jessica; Huang, Haijing; Kambugu, Andrew; Mukasa, Barbara; Thirumurthy, Harsha; Wabukala, Peter; Wagner, Glenn J; Linnemayr, Sebastian

    2015-01-01

    This paper presents one of the first qualitative studies to discuss programmatic barriers to SMS-based interventions for HIV-positive youth and discusses pathways through which youth perceive them to work. We conducted six focus groups with 20 male and 19 female HIV-positive youths in two clinics in Kampala, Uganda. We find that youth commonly use SMS as over 90% of this study's youths knew how to read, write and send messages and almost three-fourths of them had phones. Youth strongly felt that the success of this intervention hinged on ensuring confidentiality about their HIV-positive status. Key programmatic challenges discussed where restrictions on phone use and phone sharing that could exclude some youth. Participants felt that the intervention would improve their adherence by providing them with needed reminders and social support. Youths' suggestions about intervention logistics related to content, frequency, timing and two-way messages will be helpful to practitioners in the field.

  1. Feasibility and acceptability of SMS text messaging in a prostate cancer educational intervention for African American men.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Le, Daisy; Holt, Cheryl L; Saunders, Darlene R; Wang, Min Qi; Coriolan, Annie; Savoy, Alma D; Slade, Jimmie L; Muwwakkil, Bettye; Atkinson, Nancy L

    2016-12-01

    African Americans' greater access to mobile phones makes short messaging service technology a promising complement to health promotion interventions. Short messaging service text messages were added to the Men's Prostate Awareness Church Training project, a men's health intervention for African American men. We report on the feasibility and acceptability of the use of short messaging service text messages in the intervention. Short messaging service text messages served as (1) workshop reminders; (2) post-workshop message reinforcement; (3) spiritual/motivational messages; and (4) participant retention. At workshop 4, over 65 percent of participants wished to continue receiving the messages. While there was an increase in recall over time, more than one-third of the participants did not recall receiving the 53 text messages. However, recall was considerably greater among men who attended the Men's Prostate Awareness Church Training workshops. Overall, the inclusion of text messages in health promotion interventions targeting mature African American men was found to be feasible and acceptable. © The Author(s) 2015.

  2. Managing healthcare information using short message service (SMS) in wireless broadband networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Documet, Jorge; Tsao, Sinchai; Documet, Luis; Liu, Brent J.; Zhou, Zheng; Joseph, Anika O.

    2007-03-01

    Due to the ubiquity of cell phones, SMS (Short Message Service) has become an ideal means to wirelessly manage a Healthcare environment and in particular PACS (Picture Archival and Communications System) data. SMS is a flexible and mobile method for real-time access and control of Healthcare information systems such as HIS (Hospital Information System) or PACS. Unlike conventional wireless access methods, SMS' mobility is not limited by the presence of a WiFi network or any other localized signal. It provides a simple, reliable yet flexible method to communicate with an information system. In addition, SMS services are widely available for low costs from cellular phone service providers and allows for more mobility than other services such as wireless internet. This paper aims to describe a use case of SMS as a means of remotely communicating with a PACS server. Remote access to a PACS server and its Query-Retrieve services allows for a more convenient, flexible and streamlined radiology workflow. Wireless access methods such as SMS will increase dedicated PACS workstation availability for more specialized DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine) workflow management. This implementation will address potential security, performance and cost issues of applying SMS as part of a healthcare information management system. This is in an effort to design a wireless communication system with optimal mobility and flexibility at minimum material and time costs.

  3. SmartVeh: Secure and Efficient Message Access Control and Authentication for Vehicular Cloud Computing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Qinlong; Yang, Yixian; Shi, Yuxiang

    2018-02-24

    With the growing number of vehicles and popularity of various services in vehicular cloud computing (VCC), message exchanging among vehicles under traffic conditions and in emergency situations is one of the most pressing demands, and has attracted significant attention. However, it is an important challenge to authenticate the legitimate sources of broadcast messages and achieve fine-grained message access control. In this work, we propose SmartVeh, a secure and efficient message access control and authentication scheme in VCC. A hierarchical, attribute-based encryption technique is utilized to achieve fine-grained and flexible message sharing, which ensures that vehicles whose persistent or dynamic attributes satisfy the access policies can access the broadcast message with equipped on-board units (OBUs). Message authentication is enforced by integrating an attribute-based signature, which achieves message authentication and maintains the anonymity of the vehicles. In order to reduce the computations of the OBUs in the vehicles, we outsource the heavy computations of encryption, decryption and signing to a cloud server and road-side units. The theoretical analysis and simulation results reveal that our secure and efficient scheme is suitable for VCC.

  4. Community-Based Service-Learning as a Source of Personal Self-Efficacy: Preparing Preservice Elementary Teachers to Teach Science for Diversity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cone, Neporcha

    2009-01-01

    Bandura (1997) contends that when compared to other sources of efficacy, mastery experiences, when presented appropriately, have the most powerful influence on self-efficacy. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of community-based service learning (CBSL) experiences on preservice elementary teachers' personal self-efficacy…

  5. Reliability of Smartphone-Based Instant Messaging Application for Diagnosis, Classification, and Decision-making in Pediatric Orthopedic Trauma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stahl, Ido; Katsman, Alexander; Zaidman, Michael; Keshet, Doron; Sigal, Amit; Eidelman, Mark

    2017-07-11

    Smartphones have the ability to capture and send images, and their use has become common in the emergency setting for transmitting radiographic images with the intent to consult an off-site specialist. Our objective was to evaluate the reliability of smartphone-based instant messaging applications for the evaluation of various pediatric limb traumas, as compared with the standard method of viewing images of a workstation-based picture archiving and communication system (PACS). X-ray images of 73 representative cases of pediatric limb trauma were captured and transmitted to 5 pediatric orthopedic surgeons by the Whatsapp instant messaging application on an iPhone 6 smartphone. Evaluators were asked to diagnose, classify, and determine the course of treatment for each case over their personal smartphones. Following a 4-week interval, revaluation was conducted using the PACS. Intraobserver agreement was calculated for overall agreement and per fracture site. The overall results indicate "near perfect agreement" between interpretations of the radiographs on smartphones compared with computer-based PACS, with κ of 0.84, 0.82, and 0.89 for diagnosis, classification, and treatment planning, respectively. Looking at the results per fracture site, we also found substantial to near perfect agreement. Smartphone-based instant messaging applications are reliable for evaluation of a wide range of pediatric limb fractures. This method of obtaining an expert opinion from the off-site specialist is immediately accessible and inexpensive, making smartphones a powerful tool for doctors in the emergency department, primary care clinics, or remote medical centers, enabling timely and appropriate treatment for the injured child. This method is not a substitution for evaluation of the images in the standard method over computer-based PACS, which should be performed before final decision-making.

  6. Diabetes education via mobile text messaging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wangberg, Silje C; Arsand, Eirik; Andersson, Niklas

    2006-01-01

    Living with diabetes makes great educational demands on a family. We have tested the feasibility of using the mobile phone short message service (SMS) for reaching people with diabetes information. We also assessed user satisfaction and perceived pros and cons of the medium through interviews. Eleven parents of children with type 1 diabetes received messages for 11 weeks. The parents were positive about the system and said that they would like to continue to use it. The pop-up reminding effect of SMS messages in busy everyday life was noted as positive. Some parents experienced the messages as somewhat intrusive, arriving too often and at inconvenient times. The parents also noted the potential of the messages to facilitate communication with their adolescent children. The inability to store all of the messages or to print them out were seen as major disadvantages. Overall, the SMS seems to hold promise as means of delivering diabetes information.

  7. Simple Multi-Authority Attribute-Based Encryption for Short Messages

    OpenAIRE

    Viktoria I. Villanyi

    2016-01-01

    Central authority free multi-authority attribute based encryption scheme for short messages will be presented. Several multi-authority attribute based encryption schemes were recently proposed. We can divide these schemes into two groups, one of them are the ciphertext-policy attribute based encryption schemes (CP-ABE), the another one are the key-policy attribute based encryption schemes (KP-ABE). In our new multi-authority attribute based encryption scheme we combine them: the access struct...

  8. Fear, threat and efficacy in threat appeals: Message involvement as a key mediator to message acceptance

    OpenAIRE

    Cauberghe, Verolien; De Pelsmacker, Patrick; JANSSENS, Wim; Dens, Nathalie

    2009-01-01

    In a sample of 170 youngsters, the effect of two versions of a public service announcement (PSA) threat appeal against speeding, placed in four different contexts. on evoked fear, perceived threat (severity and probability of occurrence), perceived response efficacy and self-efficacy, message involvement and anti-speeding attitude and anti-speeding intention is investigated. Evoked fear and perceived threat and efficacy independently influence message involvement...

  9. Uncovering the most effective active ingredients of antismoking public service announcements: the role of actor and message characteristics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shadel, William G; Fryer, Craig S; Tharp-Taylor, Shannah

    2009-05-01

    This study examined whether the appeal of actors (i.e., their likeability and attractiveness) used in antismoking public service announcements (PSAs) interacts with adolescents' risk of future smoking to predict adolescents' smoking resistance self-efficacy and whether the antismoking messages in the PSAs further moderate this relationship. We used a 2 (future smoking risk: low, high) x 2 (actor appeal: low, high) x 3 (PSA antismoking message: tobacco industry manipulation, short-term smoking effects, long-term smoking effects) study design. A diverse sample of 110 adolescents (aged 11-17 years), with varying levels of experience with smoking, rated their smoking resistance self-efficacy after viewing each of the PSAs in each design cell. Overall, PSAs that used long-term smoking effects messages were associated with the strongest smoking resistance self-efficacy, followed in turn by PSAs that used short-term smoking effects messages and by tobacco industry manipulation messages. We found a significant interaction of actor appeal and PSA antismoking message. The use of more appealing actors was associated with stronger smoking resistance self-efficacy only in long-term smoking effects PSAs. The use of less appealing actors was associated with stronger smoking resistance self-efficacy for tobacco industry manipulation PSAs and short-term smoking effects PSAs. Future smoking risk did not moderate any of these findings. Antismoking PSAs that emphasize long-term smoking effects are most strongly associated with increased smoking resistance self-efficacy. The effect of these PSAs can be strengthened by using actors whom adolescents perceive to be appealing.

  10. System of message for gamma-radiation monitor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bolic, M.D.; Koturovic, A.M.

    2001-01-01

    Paper describes a system of voice messages for gamma-radiation monitor based on PC. The systems reproduces recorded messages that is simpler than the process of their synthesis. Message choice is based on combination of recorded digital results and/or received reference messages or warnings. The system of generation of voice messages applies the Windows based software. The total memory array required to create independent voice system is maximum 1.7 mbyte. The monitor may be used for continuous monitoring of radioactivity level with 5-8 s period of message repetition. Another option of the system operation is based on monitor application for the environment monitoring. Period of messages in this case is equal to 5-30 min [ru

  11. Personalized Avatars for Mobile Entertainment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tomislav Kosutic

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available With evolution in computer and mobile networking technologies comes the challenge of offering novel and complex multimedia applications and end-user services in heterogeneous environments for both developers and service providers. This paper describes one novel service, called LiveMail that explores the potential of existing face animation technologies for innovative and attractive services intended for the mobile market. This prototype service allows mobile subscribers to communicate using personalized 3D face models created from images taken by their phone cameras. The user can take a snapshot of someone's face – a friend, famous person, themselves, even a pet – using the mobile phone's camera. After a quick manipulation on the phone, a 3D model of that face is created and can be animated simply by typing in some text. Speech and appropriate animation of the face are created automatically by speech synthesis. Furthermore, these highly personalized animations can be sent to others as real 3D animated messages or as short videos in MMS. The clients were implemented on different platforms, and different network and face animation techniques, and connected into one complex system. This paper presents the architecture and experience gained in building such a system.

  12. Text messaging-based smoking cessation intervention: a narrative review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kong, Grace; Ells, Daniel M; Camenga, Deepa R; Krishnan-Sarin, Suchitra

    2014-05-01

    Smoking cessation interventions delivered via text messaging on mobile phones may enhance motivations to quit smoking. The goal of this narrative review is to describe the text messaging interventions' theoretical contents, frequency and duration, treatment outcome, and sample characteristics such as age and motivation to quit, to better inform the future development of this mode of intervention. Studies were included if text messaging was primarily used to deliver smoking cessation intervention and published in English in a peer-reviewed journal. All articles were coded by two independent raters to determine eligibility and to extract data. Twenty-two studies described 15 text messaging interventions. About half of the interventions recruited adults (ages 30-40) and the other half targeted young adults (ages 18-29). Fourteen interventions sent text messages during the quit phase, 10 had a preparation phase and eight had a maintenance phase. The number of text messages and the duration of the intervention varied. All used motivational messages grounded in social cognitive behavioral theories, 11 used behavioral change techniques, and 14 used individually tailored messages. Eleven interventions also offered other smoking cessation tools. Three interventions yielded smoking cessation outcomes greater than the control condition. The proliferation of text messaging in recent years suggests that text messaging interventions may have the potential to improve smoking cessation rates. Detailed summary of the interventions suggests areas for future research and clinical application. More rigorous studies are needed to identify components of the interventions that can enhance their acceptability, feasibility and efficacy. Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  13. Effects of message appeal and service type in CSR communication strategies

    OpenAIRE

    Andreu, Luisa; Casado-Díaz, Ana B.; Mattila, Anna S.

    2015-01-01

    Studies highlight the importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) for companies' stakeholders. Consumers, however, are often unaware of such initiatives. Understanding how to effectively communicate socially responsible initiatives is an important challenge for both researchers and managers, who invest considerable resources in CSR initiatives. This study examines consumers' responses to two types of CSR initiatives (environment-related and employee-based) using two types of message a...

  14. Agent-Based Framework for Personalized Service Provisioning in Converged IP Networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Podobnik, Vedran; Matijasevic, Maja; Lovrek, Ignac; Skorin-Kapov, Lea; Desic, Sasa

    In a global multi-service and multi-provider market, the Internet Service Providers will increasingly need to differentiate in the service quality they offer and base their operation on new, consumer-centric business models. In this paper, we propose an agent-based framework for the Business-to-Consumer (B2C) electronic market, comprising the Consumer Agents, Broker Agents and Content Agents, which enable Internet consumers to select a content provider in an automated manner. We also discuss how to dynamically allocate network resources to provide end-to-end Quality of Service (QoS) for a given consumer and content provider.

  15. Enhancing behavioral health treatment and crisis management through mobile ecological momentary assessment and SMS messaging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Brad; Harms, William D; Burres, Stephanie; Korda, Holly; Rosen, Howard; Davis, Jamie

    2012-12-01

    Many veterans returning from service in Afghanistan or Iraq suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder or mild traumatic brain injury. Treating these conditions can be challenging because of high rates of relapse and associated memory impairments. We report on a pilot study that assessed the utility of mobile health (mHealth) technologies, including personal digital assistant-based ecological momentary assessment and two-way interactive text (SMS) messaging, for providing treatment feedback to clinicians, encouraging and motivating veterans throughout treatment, and monitoring participants for relapse after treatment discharge. The results of the pilot suggest that mHealth technologies are feasible adjuncts to traditional mental treatment in the veteran population. Additional work is needed to establish the degree of clinical and economic value.

  16. A Mediator-Based Approach to Resolving Interface Heterogeneity of Web Services

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leitner, Philipp; Rosenberg, Florian; Michlmayr, Anton; Huber, Andreas; Dustdar, Schahram

    In theory, service-oriented architectures are based on the idea of increasing flexibility in the selection of internal and external business partners using loosely-coupled services. However, in practice this flexibility is limited by the fact that partners need not only to provide the same service, but to do so via virtually the same interface in order to actually be interchangeable easily. Invocation-level mediation may be used to overcome this issue — by using mediation interface differences can be resolved transparently at runtime. In this chapter we discuss the basic ideas of mediation, with a focus on interface-level mediation. We show how interface mediation is integrated into our dynamic Web service invocation framework DAIOS, and present three different mediation strategies, one based on structural message similarity, one based on semantically annotated WSDL, and one which is embedded into the VRESCo SOA runtime, a larger research project with explicit support for service mediation.

  17. The clinical usefulness of a web-based messaging system between patients with Crohn disease and their physicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jeong, Da Eun; Kim, Kyeong Ok; Jang, Byung Ik; Kim, Eun Young; Jung, Jin Tae; Jeon, Seong Woo; Lee, Hyun Seok; Kim, Eun Soo; Park, Kyung Sik; Cho, Kwang Bum

    2016-06-01

    To avoid missing events associated with clinical activity, the authors previously developed a novel, web-based, self-reporting Crohn disease (CD) symptom diary. However, although this diary provided a means of self-checking based on responses to set questions based on Harvey-Bradshaw index scores, it was limited in terms of describing other specific symptoms. Thus, the authors added a space to the questionnaire, which allows patients to send clinicians questions or a description of unpredictable events. The aim of the present study was to assess the clinical usefulness of this messaging system by analyzing patients' messages.The messaging system between patients and their doctors was included in a webpage created for recording patients' symptom diaries (www.cdsd.or.kr). Using this system, patients can send messages easily at any time and doctors can read and respond to these messages immediately using a smart phone or computer. In the present study, the authors retrospectively reviewed 686 messages sent by 152 patients from July 2012 to July 2014 and patient medical records.Mean patient age was 29.0 ± 11.6 years and the male-to-female ratio was 99:53. Most messages regarded symptoms (381 messages, 55.5%), which was followed by self-reports about general condition (195 messages, 28.4%) and questions about treatment (71 messages, 10.3%). With respect to symptoms, abdominal pain was most common (145 cases, 21.1%) followed by hematochezia (36 cases, 5.2%). Problems about medication were the most frequently associated with treatment (65, 91.5%). Patients above 40 years showed a greater tendency to focus on symptoms and treatment (P = 0.025). The doctor answer rate was 56.3% (n = 386), and based on these responses, an early visit was needed in 28 cases (7.3%).Using this web-based messaging system, patients were able to obtain proper advice from their physicians without visiting clinics or searching the Internet, and in addition, 7.3% of messages prompted an early

  18. An architecture for message exchange in pervasive healthcare based on the use of intelligent agents

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Cavalini, L.T.; Cardoso de Moraes, J.L.; Lopes de Souza, Wanderley; Ferreira Pires, Luis; Cavalini, Luciana Tricai; do Prado, Antonio Francisco

    2013-01-01

    Aims: This paper proposes an architecture for the exchange of context-aware messages in Pervasive Healthcare environments. Materials and methods: In Pervasive Healthcare, novel information and communication technologies are applied to support the provision of health services anywhere, at anytime,

  19. Design Considerations in Developing a Text Messaging Program Aimed at Smoking Cessation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holtrop, Jodi Summers; Bağci Bosi, A Tülay; Emri, Salih

    2012-01-01

    Background Cell phone text messaging is gaining increasing recognition as an important tool that can be harnessed for prevention and intervention programs across a wide variety of health research applications. Despite the growing body of literature reporting positive outcomes, very little is available about the design decisions that scaffold the development of text messaging-based health interventions. What seems to be missing is documentation of the thought process of investigators in the initial stages of protocol and content development. This omission is of particular concern because many researchers seem to view text messaging as the intervention itself instead of simply a delivery mechanism. Certainly, aspects of this technology may increase participant engagement. Like other interventions, however, the content is a central driver of the behavior change. Objective To address this noted gap in the literature, we discuss the protocol decisions and content development for SMS Turkey (or Cebiniz birakin diyor in Turkish), a smoking cessation text messaging program for adult smokers in Turkey. Methods Content was developed in English and translated into Turkish. Efforts were made to ensure that the protocol and content were grounded in evidence-based smoking cessation theory, while also reflective of the cultural aspects of smoking and quitting in Turkey. Results Methodological considerations included whether to provide cell phones and whether to reimburse participants for texting costs; whether to include supplementary intervention resources (eg, personal contact); and whether to utilize unidirectional versus bidirectional messaging. Program design considerations included how messages were tailored to the quitting curve and one’s smoking status after one’s quit date, the number of messages participants received per day, and over what period of time the intervention lasted. Conclusion The content and methods of effective smoking cessation quitline programs were

  20. Use of an Innovative Personality-Mindset Profiling Tool to Guide Culture-Change Strategies among Different Healthcare Worker Groups.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M Lindsay Grayson

    Full Text Available Important culture-change initiatives (e.g. improving hand hygiene compliance are frequently associated with variable uptake among different healthcare worker (HCW categories. Inherent personality differences between these groups may explain change uptake and help improve future intervention design.We used an innovative personality-profiling tool (ColourGrid® to assess personality differences among standard HCW categories at five large Australian hospitals using two data sources (HCW participant surveys [PS] and generic institution-wide human resource [HR] data to: a compare the relative accuracy of these two sources; b identify differences between HCW groups and c use the observed profiles to guide design strategies to improve uptake of three clinically-important initiatives (improved hand hygiene, antimicrobial stewardship and isolation procedure adherence.Results from 34,243 HCWs (HR data and 1045 survey participants (PS data suggest that HCWs were different from the general population, displaying more individualism, lower power distance, less uncertainty avoidance and greater cynicism about advertising messages. HR and PS data were highly concordant in identifying differences between the three key HCW categories (doctors, nursing/allied-health, support services and predicting appropriate implementation strategies. Among doctors, the data suggest that key messaging should differ between full-time vs part-time (visiting senior medical officers (SMO, VMO and junior hospital medical officers (HMO, with SMO messaging focused on evidence-based compliance, VMO initiatives emphasising structured mandatory controls and prestige loss for non-adherence, and for HMOs focusing on leadership opportunity and future career risk for non-adherence.Compared to current standardised approaches, targeted interventions based on personality differences between HCW categories should result in improved infection control-related culture-change uptake. Personality

  1. Use of an Innovative Personality-Mindset Profiling Tool to Guide Culture-Change Strategies among Different Healthcare Worker Groups.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grayson, M Lindsay; Macesic, Nenad; Huang, G Khai; Bond, Katherine; Fletcher, Jason; Gilbert, Gwendolyn L; Gordon, David L; Hellsten, Jane F; Iredell, Jonathan; Keighley, Caitlin; Stuart, Rhonda L; Xuereb, Charles S; Cruickshank, Marilyn

    2015-01-01

    Important culture-change initiatives (e.g. improving hand hygiene compliance) are frequently associated with variable uptake among different healthcare worker (HCW) categories. Inherent personality differences between these groups may explain change uptake and help improve future intervention design. We used an innovative personality-profiling tool (ColourGrid®) to assess personality differences among standard HCW categories at five large Australian hospitals using two data sources (HCW participant surveys [PS] and generic institution-wide human resource [HR] data) to: a) compare the relative accuracy of these two sources; b) identify differences between HCW groups and c) use the observed profiles to guide design strategies to improve uptake of three clinically-important initiatives (improved hand hygiene, antimicrobial stewardship and isolation procedure adherence). Results from 34,243 HCWs (HR data) and 1045 survey participants (PS data) suggest that HCWs were different from the general population, displaying more individualism, lower power distance, less uncertainty avoidance and greater cynicism about advertising messages. HR and PS data were highly concordant in identifying differences between the three key HCW categories (doctors, nursing/allied-health, support services) and predicting appropriate implementation strategies. Among doctors, the data suggest that key messaging should differ between full-time vs part-time (visiting) senior medical officers (SMO, VMO) and junior hospital medical officers (HMO), with SMO messaging focused on evidence-based compliance, VMO initiatives emphasising structured mandatory controls and prestige loss for non-adherence, and for HMOs focusing on leadership opportunity and future career risk for non-adherence. Compared to current standardised approaches, targeted interventions based on personality differences between HCW categories should result in improved infection control-related culture-change uptake. Personality

  2. Interface-Based Service Composition with Aggregation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dalla Preda, Mila; Gabbrielli, Maurizio; Guidi, Claudio

    2012-01-01

    Service-oriented architectures (SOAs) usually comprehend in-the-middle entities such as proxies or service mediators that compose services abstracting from the order in which they exchange messages. Although widely used, these entities are usually implemented by means of ad-hoc solutions....... In this paper we generalise this composition mechanism by identifying the primitive notion of aggregation. We formally define the semantics of aggregation in terms of a process calculus. We also provide a reference implementation for this primitive by extending the Jolie language, thus allowing...

  3. Leveraging text messaging and mobile technology to support pediatric obesity-related behavior change: a qualitative study using parent focus groups and interviews.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sharifi, Mona; Dryden, Eileen M; Horan, Christine M; Price, Sarah; Marshall, Richard; Hacker, Karen; Finkelstein, Jonathan A; Taveras, Elsie M

    2013-12-06

    Text messaging (short message service, SMS) is a widely accessible and potentially cost-effective medium for encouraging behavior change. Few studies have examined text messaging interventions to influence child health behaviors or explored parental perceptions of mobile technologies to support behavior change among children. Our aim was to examine parental acceptability and preferences for text messaging to support pediatric obesity-related behavior change. We conducted focus groups and follow-up interviews with parents of overweight and obese children, aged 6-12 years, seen for "well-child" care in eastern Massachusetts. A professional moderator used a semistructured discussion guide and sample text messages to catalyze group discussions. Seven participants then received 3 weeks of text messages before a follow-up one-on-one telephone interview. All focus groups and interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Using a framework analysis approach, we systematically coded and analyzed group and interview data to identify salient and convergent themes. We reached thematic saturation after five focus groups and seven follow-up interviews with a total of 31 parents of diverse race/ethnicity and education levels. Parents were generally enthusiastic about receiving text messages to support healthy behaviors for their children and preferred them to paper or email communication because they are brief and difficult to ignore. Participants anticipated high responsiveness to messaging endorsed by their child's doctor and indicated they would appreciate messages 2-3 times/week or more as long as content remains relevant. Suggestions for maintaining message relevance included providing specific strategies for implementation and personalizing information. Most felt the negative features of text messaging (eg, limited message size) could be overcome by providing links within messages to other media including email or websites. Text messaging is a promising medium for

  4. Personal technology use by U.S. military service members and veterans: an update.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bush, Nigel E; Wheeler, William M

    2015-04-01

    Although personal electronic devices, such as mobile phones, computers, and tablets, increasingly are being leveraged as vehicles for health in the civilian world, almost nothing is known about personal technology use in the U.S. military. In 2012 we conducted a unique survey of personal technologies used by U.S. military service members. However, with the rapidly growing sophistication of personal technology and changes in consumer habits, that knowledge must be continuously updated to be useful. Accordingly, we recently surveyed new samples of active duty service members, National Guard and Reserve, and veterans. We collected data by online surveys in 2013 from 239 active, inactive, and former service members. Online surveys were completed in-person via laptop computers at a large military installation and remotely via Web-based surveys posted on the Army Knowledge Online Web site and on a Defense Center Facebook social media channel. We measured high rates of personal technology use by service members at home across popular electronic media. The most dramatic change since our earlier survey was the tremendous increase in mobile phone use at home for a wide variety of purposes. Participants also reported moderate non-work uses of computers and tablets while on recent deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan, but almost no mobile phone use, ostensibly because of military restrictions in the war zone. These latest results will enable researchers and technology developers target their efforts on the most promising and popular technologies for psychological health in the military.

  5. Personal Information Protection and Legal Regulation on Rubbish Message%个人信息保护与垃圾短信的法律规制

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    何国强

    2012-01-01

    The "special rectification activities" cannot solve the rubbish messages which need a comprehensive and systematic legal measures to regulate. The current law mainly regulates rubbish message from the "content", which exists blemish. We should considerate the personal information protection as the breakthrough point, combination with the "behavior" angle. Specifically, we should legislate the personal information protection under the framework of legal provisions, regulate the confidentiality obligations legitimate on the personal information collectors, and the legal responsibilities for the illegal stealing and illegal purveyor. At the same time, we should strengthen the special laws on the rubbish message, regulate the behavior of the operator and SP, protect the personal information and curb the rubbish message according to the common law before the special legislation completion.%垃圾短信的泛滥已非“专项治理活动”所能解决,对垃圾短信的规制需要更加综合性和体系性的法律措施。现行法律规范主要从“内容”界定来规制垃圾短信的方式存在缺陷,应考虑以个人信息保护为切入点,结合“行为”的角度来规制垃圾短信。具体而言,应在个人信息保护立法的框架下,规定个人信息合法收集者的保密义务、非法盗取者和非法传播者的法律责任等内容。同时,加强垃圾短信治理专门法规的建设,对运营商、SP等主体进行规范;并且在特别法立法完成之前,积极利用普通法的一般保护手段对个人信息进行保护,遏制垃圾短信的泛滥。

  6. A qualitative study of college student responses to conflicting messages in advertising: anti-binge drinking public service announcements versus wine promotion health messages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ahn, Ho-Young; Wu, Lei; Kelly, Stephanie; Haley, Eric

    2011-06-01

    The purpose of this study was to investigate how college students deal with conflicting health messages in advertising regarding binge drinking and wine promotion. Phenomenological in-depth long interviews were conducted beyond the point of redundancy (N = 16). The results of this study indicated that students' meaning making regarding the conflicting messages relied greatly upon how consistent either message was with their prior beliefs about alcohol. Additionally, not all students perceived the messages to be contradictory; these students saw the messages as being constructed for different purposes and as such incomparable. Overall, students who perceived conflict responded to the topic with apathy fueled by advertising skepticism. Employing qualitative methodology to understand how college students respond to conflicting messages will assist health promotion practitioners develop more effective alcohol abuse prevention messages and provide suggestions for researchers for studying this phenomenon from other perspectives in the future. Implications are further discussed within.

  7. Experienced ethical issues of personalized data-mined media services

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sørensen, Jannick Kirk

    2008-01-01

    This tentative PhD project description concerns the ethnographic examination of users’ experience of privacy issues and usability related to personalized data mined (web-) services for media content.......This tentative PhD project description concerns the ethnographic examination of users’ experience of privacy issues and usability related to personalized data mined (web-) services for media content....

  8. Development of Virtual Resource Based IoT Proxy for Bridging Heterogeneous Web Services in IoT Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wenquan Jin

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available The Internet of Things is comprised of heterogeneous devices, applications, and platforms using multiple communication technologies to connect the Internet for providing seamless services ubiquitously. With the requirement of developing Internet of Things products, many protocols, program libraries, frameworks, and standard specifications have been proposed. Therefore, providing a consistent interface to access services from those environments is difficult. Moreover, bridging the existing web services to sensor and actuator networks is also important for providing Internet of Things services in various industry domains. In this paper, an Internet of Things proxy is proposed that is based on virtual resources to bridge heterogeneous web services from the Internet to the Internet of Things network. The proxy enables clients to have transparent access to Internet of Things devices and web services in the network. The proxy is comprised of server and client to forward messages for different communication environments using the virtual resources which include the server for the message sender and the client for the message receiver. We design the proxy for the Open Connectivity Foundation network where the virtual resources are discovered by the clients as Open Connectivity Foundation resources. The virtual resources represent the resources which expose services in the Internet by web service providers. Although the services are provided by web service providers from the Internet, the client can access services using the consistent communication protocol in the Open Connectivity Foundation network. For discovering the resources to access services, the client also uses the consistent discovery interface to discover the Open Connectivity Foundation devices and virtual resources.

  9. Development of Virtual Resource Based IoT Proxy for Bridging Heterogeneous Web Services in IoT Networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jin, Wenquan; Kim, DoHyeun

    2018-05-26

    The Internet of Things is comprised of heterogeneous devices, applications, and platforms using multiple communication technologies to connect the Internet for providing seamless services ubiquitously. With the requirement of developing Internet of Things products, many protocols, program libraries, frameworks, and standard specifications have been proposed. Therefore, providing a consistent interface to access services from those environments is difficult. Moreover, bridging the existing web services to sensor and actuator networks is also important for providing Internet of Things services in various industry domains. In this paper, an Internet of Things proxy is proposed that is based on virtual resources to bridge heterogeneous web services from the Internet to the Internet of Things network. The proxy enables clients to have transparent access to Internet of Things devices and web services in the network. The proxy is comprised of server and client to forward messages for different communication environments using the virtual resources which include the server for the message sender and the client for the message receiver. We design the proxy for the Open Connectivity Foundation network where the virtual resources are discovered by the clients as Open Connectivity Foundation resources. The virtual resources represent the resources which expose services in the Internet by web service providers. Although the services are provided by web service providers from the Internet, the client can access services using the consistent communication protocol in the Open Connectivity Foundation network. For discovering the resources to access services, the client also uses the consistent discovery interface to discover the Open Connectivity Foundation devices and virtual resources.

  10. In-Game Health Communication: Delivering Low-Fear Health Messages in a Low-Fear Videogame.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burrows, Christopher N; Blanton, Hart

    2018-06-01

    Prior research has demonstrated that psychological immersion (or "transportation") into virtual gaming worlds can heighten influence from health-promotion messages embedded in the backgrounds of gaming scenes. However, research to date has only studied the effectiveness of embedding graphic, fear-based messages in the background of violent, first-person videogames. This study sought to examine whether transportation into a nonviolent videogame can heighten persuasion from low-fear, nongraphic health messages. Willingness to drive under the influence of alcohol (DUI) was measured in an undergraduate sample (M AGE  = 19) at the start of the semester, and n = 220 returned 0-3 months later to play a car-racing videogame. All were randomly assigned to play either a version of the game containing background billboards that delivered simple, text-based anti-DUI messages or consumer advertising. Self-reported levels of transportation were assessed, as well as postgame willingness to DUI. Exposure to anti-DUI messages from within the game predicted lower postgame willingness to DUI. Moreover, replicating prior research, the effect of message exposure was largest among those who reported higher levels of pregame willingness to DUI, and higher levels of in-game transportation. This study replicates prior research by suggesting that immersive videogames that promote transportation can be used to effectively deliver health communications. Results also expand prior research by providing the first evidence that such effects can generalize when health messaging orients around nongraphic, lower fear messages embedded within immersive but lower fear videogames.

  11. Personalizing knowledge delivery services: a conceptual framework

    Science.gov (United States)

    Majchrzak, Ann; Chelleppa, Ramnath K.; Cooper, Lynne P.; Hars, Alexander

    2003-01-01

    Consistent with the call of the Minnesota Symposium for new theory in knowledge management, we offer a new conceptualization of Knowledge Management Systems (KMS) as a portfolio of personalized knowledge delivery services. Borrowing from research on online consumer behavior, we describe the challenges imposed by personalized knowledge delivery services, and suggest design parameters that can help to overcome these challenges. We develop our design constructs through a set of hypotheses and discuss the research implications of our new conceptualization. Finally, we describe practical implications suggested by our conceptualization - practical suggestions that we hope to gain some experience with as part of an ongoing action research project at our partner organization.

  12. VISION-AIDED CONTEXT-AWARE FRAMEWORK FOR PERSONAL NAVIGATION SERVICES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. Saeedi

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available The ubiquity of mobile devices (such as smartphones and tablet-PCs has encouraged the use of location-based services (LBS that are relevant to the current location and context of a mobile user. The main challenge of LBS is to find a pervasive and accurate personal navigation system (PNS in different situations of a mobile user. In this paper, we propose a method of personal navigation for pedestrians that allows a user to freely move in outdoor environments. This system aims at detection of the context information which is useful for improving personal navigation. The context information for a PNS consists of user activity modes (e.g. walking, stationary, driving, and etc. and the mobile device orientation and placement with respect to the user. After detecting the context information, a low-cost integrated positioning algorithm has been employed to estimate pedestrian navigation parameters. The method is based on the integration of the relative user’s motion (changes of velocity and heading angle estimation based on the video image matching and absolute position information provided by GPS. A Kalman filter (KF has been used to improve the navigation solution when the user is walking and the phone is in his/her hand. The Experimental results demonstrate the capabilities of this method for outdoor personal navigation systems.

  13. Location-Based Services and Privacy Protection Under Mobile Cloud Computing

    OpenAIRE

    Yan, Yan; Xiaohong, Hao; Wanjun, Wang

    2015-01-01

    Location-based services can provide personalized services based on location information of moving objects and have already been widely used in public safety services, transportation, entertainment and many other areas. With the rapid development of mobile communication technology and popularization of intelligent terminals, there will be great commercial prospects to provide location-based services under mobile cloud computing environment. However, the high adhesion degree of mobile terminals...

  14. A Messaging Infrastructure for WLCG

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Casey, James; Cons, Lionel; Lapka, Wojciech; Paladin, Massimo; Skaburskas, Konstantin

    2011-01-01

    During the EGEE-III project operational tools such as SAM, Nagios, Gridview, the regional Dashboard and GGUS moved to a communication architecture based on ActiveMQ, an open-source enterprise messaging solution. LHC experiments, in particular ATLAS, developed prototypes of systems using the same messaging infrastructure, validating the system for their use-cases. In this paper we describe the WLCG messaging use cases and outline an improved messaging architecture based on the experience gained during the EGEE-III period. We show how this provides a solid basis for many applications, including the grid middleware, to improve their resilience and reliability.

  15. The medium, not the message. How tattoos correlate with early mortality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carson, Henry J

    2014-07-01

    At autopsy, tattoos are recorded as part of the external examination. An investigation was undertaken to determine whether negative messages that are tattooed on a decedent may indicate a predisposition to certain fatal outcomes. Tattooed and nontattooed persons were classified by demography and forensics. Tattoos with negative or ominous messages were reviewed. Statistical comparisons were made. The mean age of death for tattooed persons was 39 years, compared with 53 years for nontattooed persons (P = .0001). There was a significant contribution of negative messages in tattoos associated with nonnatural death (P = .0088) but not with natural death. However, the presence of any tattoo was more significant than the content of the tattoo. Persons with tattoos appear to die earlier than those without. There may be an epiphenomenon between having tattoos and risk-taking behavior such as drug or alcohol use. A negative tattoo may suggest a predisposition to violent death but is eclipsed by the presence of any tattoo. Copyright© by the American Society for Clinical Pathology.

  16. Method of Improving Personal Name Search in Academic Information Service

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Heejun Han

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available All academic information on the web or elsewhere has its creator, that is, a subject who has created the information. The subject can be an individual, a group, or an institution, and can be a nation depending on the nature of the relevant information. Most information is composed of a title, an author, and contents. An essay which is under the academic information category has metadata including a title, an author, keyword, abstract, data about publication, place of publication, ISSN, and the like. A patent has metadata including the title, an applicant, an inventor, an attorney, IPC, number of application, and claims of the invention. Most web-based academic information services enable users to search the information by processing the meta-information. An important element is to search information by using the author field which corresponds to a personal name. This study suggests a method of efficient indexing and using the adjacent operation result ranking algorithm to which phrase search-based boosting elements are applied, and thus improving the accuracy of the search results of personal names. It also describes a method for providing the results of searching co-authors and related researchers in searching personal names. This method can be effectively applied to providing accurate and additional search results in the academic information services.

  17. [Health promoting messages posted in Facebook by the health ministries of Brazil and Peru during an AIDS awareness campaign].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cadaxa, Aedê Gomes; Sousa, Maria Fátima de; Mendonça, Ana Valéria Machado

    2015-12-01

    To identify health promoting contents (information that can be transformed into decision-making resources to improve quality of life and the health of individuals or groups) in Facebook postings by the ministries of health in Brazil and Peru. This case study compared the messages published in Facebook by the ministries of health from Brazil and Peru during World AIDS Day. Content analysis was employed to identify health promoting contents in the messages posted between November 2013 and February 2014. A total of 105 messages were published on the topic of interest (37 from Peru and 68 from Brazil). In both cases, most messages focused on individuals, addressing the change or adoption of personal behaviors relating to the prevention and detection of HIV - 34 messages (50.0%) for Brazil and 17 (45.9%) for Peru. Twenty-one (30.9%) messages with a structural emphasis were published by Brazil and 14 (37.8%) by Peru, addressing the context of health care system organization, including HIV/ AIDS health policies, available services, access to HIV testing and initiatives to promote testing. Hybrid messages, including both emphases, were less frequent: 13 (19.1%) for Brazil and six (16.2%) for Peru. Health promoting contents were identified in hybrid messages, which provided resources to expand the understanding of individuals about the susceptibility to AIDS.

  18. Improving the Effectiveness of Fundraising Messages: The Impact of Charity Goal Attainment, Message Framing, and Evidence on Persuasion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Das, Enny; Kerkhof, Peter; Kuiper, Joyce

    2008-01-01

    This experimental study assessed the effectiveness of fundraising messages. Based on recent findings regarding the effects of message framing and evidence, effective fundraising messages should combine abstract, statistical information with a negative message frame and anecdotal evidence with a positive message frame. In addition, building on…

  19. Development of a Social DTN for Message Communication between SNS Group Members

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hidenori Takasuka

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Smartphones have the ability to communicate with other terminals through ad hoc connections. A variety of applications have been developed to exploit this ability. The authors have developed an Android OS (operating system application (called “social DTN manager” that builds a DTN (delay, disruption, disconnection tolerant networking among members of a social networking service (SNS community using a community token. The members can exchange messages over this network. Control messages for building a DTN are forwarded to only those nodes that use the same community token in order to reduce flooding of message copies. When a source node sends a communication request to its destination node, they exchange control messages to establish a communication route. Relay nodes use these messages to create and hold routing information for these nodes in their routing tables. Thereafter, relay nodes can forward data messages based on their routing tables. This again reduces flooding of message copies. The social DTN manager incorporates these functions, Facebook Graph API and Google Nearby Connections API. The authors have installed it in Android terminals and confirmed that a social DTN can successfully be built using this application and that data messages can be exchanged between terminals via reactive routes.

  20. A comparison of rule-based and machine learning approaches for classifying patient portal messages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cronin, Robert M; Fabbri, Daniel; Denny, Joshua C; Rosenbloom, S Trent; Jackson, Gretchen Purcell

    2017-09-01

    Secure messaging through patient portals is an increasingly popular way that consumers interact with healthcare providers. The increasing burden of secure messaging can affect clinic staffing and workflows. Manual management of portal messages is costly and time consuming. Automated classification of portal messages could potentially expedite message triage and delivery of care. We developed automated patient portal message classifiers with rule-based and machine learning techniques using bag of words and natural language processing (NLP) approaches. To evaluate classifier performance, we used a gold standard of 3253 portal messages manually categorized using a taxonomy of communication types (i.e., main categories of informational, medical, logistical, social, and other communications, and subcategories including prescriptions, appointments, problems, tests, follow-up, contact information, and acknowledgement). We evaluated our classifiers' accuracies in identifying individual communication types within portal messages with area under the receiver-operator curve (AUC). Portal messages often contain more than one type of communication. To predict all communication types within single messages, we used the Jaccard Index. We extracted the variables of importance for the random forest classifiers. The best performing approaches to classification for the major communication types were: logistic regression for medical communications (AUC: 0.899); basic (rule-based) for informational communications (AUC: 0.842); and random forests for social communications and logistical communications (AUCs: 0.875 and 0.925, respectively). The best performing classification approach of classifiers for individual communication subtypes was random forests for Logistical-Contact Information (AUC: 0.963). The Jaccard Indices by approach were: basic classifier, Jaccard Index: 0.674; Naïve Bayes, Jaccard Index: 0.799; random forests, Jaccard Index: 0.859; and logistic regression, Jaccard

  1. Degree sequence in message transfer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yamuna, M.

    2017-11-01

    Message encryption is always an issue in current communication scenario. Methods are being devised using various domains. Graphs satisfy numerous unique properties which can be used for message transfer. In this paper, I propose a message encryption method based on degree sequence of graphs.

  2. Virtual customer service agents: using social presence and personalization to shape online service encounters

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Verhagen, T.; van Nes, J; Feldberg, F; van Dolen, W.

    2014-01-01

    By performing tasks traditionally fulfilled by service personnel and having a humanlike appearance, virtual customer service agents bring classical service elements to the web, which may positively influence customer satisfaction through eliciting social responses and feelings of personalization.

  3. Virtual Customer Service Agents: Using Social Presence and Personalization to Shape Online Service Encounters

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Verhagen, T.; van Nes, J.; Feldberg, J.F.M.; van Dolen, W.M.

    2014-01-01

    By performing tasks traditionally fulfilled by service personnel and having a humanlike appearance, virtual customer service agents bring classical service elements to the web, which may positively influence customer satisfaction through eliciting social responses and feelings of personalization.

  4. Short message service (SMS) applications for disease prevention in developing countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Déglise, Carole; Suggs, L Suzanne; Odermatt, Peter

    2012-01-12

    The last decade has witnessed unprecedented growth in the number of mobile phones in the developing world, thus linking millions of previously unconnected people. The ubiquity of mobile phones, which allow for short message service (SMS), provides new and innovative opportunities for disease prevention efforts. The aim of this review was to describe the characteristics and outcomes of SMS interventions for disease prevention in developing countries and provide recommendations for future work. A systematic search of peer-reviewed and gray literature was performed for papers published in English, French, and German before May 2011 that describe SMS applications for disease prevention in developing countries. A total of 34 SMS applications were described, among which 5 had findings of an evaluation reported. The majority of SMS applications were pilot projects in various levels of sophistication; nearly all came from gray literature sources. Many applications were initiated by the project with modes of intervention varying between one-way or two-way communication, with or without incentives, and with educative games. Evaluated interventions were well accepted by the beneficiaries. The primary barriers identified were language, timing of messages, mobile network fluctuations, lack of financial incentives, data privacy, and mobile phone turnover. This review illustrates that while many SMS applications for disease prevention exist, few have been evaluated. The dearth of peer-reviewed studies and the limited evidence found in this systematic review highlight the need for high-quality efficacy studies examining behavioral, social, and economic outcomes of SMS applications and mobile phone interventions aimed to promote health in developing country contexts.

  5. Web Service Growing Pains : Understanding Services and Their Clients

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Espinha, T.

    2015-01-01

    At an implementation level, web services serve the basic purpose of message exchange between potentially heterogeneous software systems. Through abstracting language- and platform-specific implementations into text-based, human-readable XML and JSON-based formats, different software systems are able

  6. Targeted Calorie Message Promotes Healthy Beverage Consumption Better than Charity Incentive.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Policastro, Peggy; Palm, Taylor; Schwartz, Janet; Chapman, Gretchen

    2017-08-01

    Sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption is cited as a major contributor to the U.S. obesity epidemic. The objective of this paper was to leverage insights from behavioral economics to examine whether nudges would entice college students to save meal calories by choosing water over SSBs. Three message-based nudge interventions, with washout periods between, were used during the 7-week study. Calorie savings (self-interest), charity (prosocial), or charity-plus-calorie message posters were displayed in a college-based food franchise. Multilevel logistic regressions compared the proportions of students choosing water during three experimental conditions. This study assessed whether the frequency of dining establishment visits over the study period moderated effects of the experimental conditions on beverage choices. Multiple data points from the same customer were treated as repeated measures. A total of 2,393 unique students purchased 6,730 meals. Posters displaying calorie information increased water choice relative to washout periods, while the poster without calorie information (charity only) had no effect. Controlling for fixed effects produced the same results. The calorie message poster influenced less frequent diners more than frequent diners. Food-service operations can nudge college students to substitute water for SSBs with a simple calorie-based message to save hundreds of calories per meal. © 2017 The Obesity Society.

  7. Inmarsat and personal mobile satellite services

    Science.gov (United States)

    McDougal, Patrick; Barendse, Victor

    Personal communications - mobile satellite services (PC-MSS) hold much promise as a profitable business opportunity for a number of interested operators and manufacturers. What will be their impact on the overall mobile communications landscape, and what role will they play in the drive towards the universal personal communicator? It is the thesis of this paper that PC-MSS can provide one of the critical enabling technologies to allow a more rapid, global assimilation of personal mobile communications. Terrestrial mobile communications are local by definition, both in terms of service reach and regulatory oversight. It is estimated that cellular, and other forms of terrestrial mobile communications, will cover over 50% of the world's population, but only 15% of the land mass area by the year 2000. PC-MSS will allow 'cellular extension' to interested users in the uncovered parts of the world. The market opportunity is established and technical solutions are available. However 'user cooperation' will be required and cross mapping of market needs to the technology solutions is the key to financially viable solutions. The potential political and regulatory hurdles are daunting. Inmarsat, as the existing global MSS partnership, is already introducing PC-MSS products and services in the 1990s. The widespread use of briefcase satphones (Inm-M), laptop-sized data terminals (Inm-C), and pocket satpagers (Inm-paging) will break new ground in reshaping the international regulatory context of mobile communications, and in initiating the optimal public switched network integration necessary for global interconnect. It is suggested that this evolutionary approach, by means of international consensus-building within a global partnership of operators, is an effective and proven method to ensure both a sufficient financial return for investors, and fair and equitable access of these services for all countries and users.

  8. A SECURE MESSAGE TRANSMISSION SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE FOR COMPUTER NETWORKS EMPLOYING SMART CARDS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Geylani KARDAŞ

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available In this study, we introduce a mobile system architecture which employs smart cards for secure message transmission in computer networks. The use of smart card provides two security services as authentication and confidentiality in our design. The security of the system is provided by asymmetric encryption. Hence, smart cards are used to store personal account information as well as private key of each user for encryption / decryption operations. This offers further security, authentication and mobility to the system architecture. A real implementation of the proposed architecture which utilizes the JavaCard technology is also discussed in this study.

  9. The BlackBerry Project: Capturing the Content of Adolescents' Text Messaging

    Science.gov (United States)

    Underwood, Marion K.; Rosen, Lisa H.; More, David; Ehrenreich, Samuel E.; Gentsch, Joanna K.

    2012-01-01

    This article presents an innovative method for capturing the content of adolescents' electronic communication on handheld devices: text messaging, e-mail, and instant messaging. In an ongoing longitudinal study, adolescents were provided with BlackBerry devices with service plans paid for by the investigators, and use of text messaging was…

  10. Improving the effectiveness of fundraising messages: The impact of charity goal attainment, message framing, and evidence on persuasion

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Das, E.; Kerkhof, P.; Kuiper, J.

    2008-01-01

    This experimental study assessed the effectiveness of fundraising messages. Based on recent findings regarding the effects of message framing and evidence, effective fundraising messages should combine abstract, statistical information with a negative message frame and anecdotal evidence with a

  11. A Systematic Evaluation of Mobile Applications for Instant Messaging on iOS Devices

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sergio Caro-Alvaro

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Nowadays, instant messaging applications (apps are one of the most popular applications for mobile devices with millions of active users. However, mobile devices present hardware and software characteristics and limitations compared with personal computers. Hence, to address the usability issues of mobile apps, a specific methodology must be conducted. This paper shows the findings from a systematic analysis of these applications on iOS mobile platform that was conducted to identify some usability issues in mobile applications for instant messaging. The overall process includes a Keystroke-Level Modeling and a Mobile Heuristic Evaluation. In the same trend, we propose a set of guidelines for improving the usability of these apps. Based on our findings, this analysis will help in the future to create more effective mobile applications for instant messaging.

  12. Are you Scared Yet?: Evaluating Fear Appeal Messages in Tweets about the Tips Campaign.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Emery, Sherry L; Szczypka, Glen; Abril, Eulàlia Puig; Kim, Yoonsang; Vera, Lisa

    2014-04-01

    In March 2012, the CDC launched "Tips from Former Smokers," a $54 million national campaign featuring individuals experiencing long-term health consequences of smoking. The campaign approach was based on strong evidence that anti-tobacco ads portraying fear, graphic images, and personal testimonials are associated with attitudinal and behavior change. Yet it was also controversial; critics cited the danger that viewers might reject such intensely graphic messages. Tasked with informing this debate, our study analyzes the corpus of Tips campaign-related tweets obtained via the Twitter Firehose. We provide a novel and rigorous method for media campaign evaluation within the framework of the Extended Parallel Process Model. Among the relevant Tweets, 87% showed evidence of message acceptance, while 7% exhibited message rejection.

  13. Enhancing the effects of a narrative message through experiential information processing: An experimental study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dillard, Amanda J; Hisler, Garrett

    2015-01-01

    First-person narratives are becoming a popular means to communicate health risk information. Although studies show they can increase risk perception and motivate health behaviours compared to statistical messages, more research on the conditions in which they are particularly likely to have effects is needed. In this study, we tested a moderator related to how information is processed. Specifically, we hypothesised that thinking in terms of emotions and personal experiences - known as experiential information processing - would increase people's responsiveness to a narrative. Female college students (N = 138) who reported indoor tanning were randomly assigned to read a first-person narrative message or a statistical message about the risks of skin cancer. Prior to reading the message, the women received instructions that would activate either experiential or rational information processing. Participants then reported their risk perceptions of skin cancer, worry about skin cancer and behaviour intentions related to skin cancer. Analyses showed that message type and information processing interacted to influence risk perceptions and worry. Consistent with hypotheses, participants reported the highest risk perception and worry when they used an experiential information system prior to reading the narrative message. There were no effects on behaviour intentions. Implications of these findings are discussed.

  14. Intervensi Perilaku Sadar Bahaya Rokok Melalui Humor dan Rational Based Message Appeals

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sinta Swastikawara

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Through a participatory action research study, this study identifies and analyses the associations and symbols attached by adolescents at school age in target schools, identifies strategies and message appeals based on the associations and embedded symbols so that it is appropriately used for preventive efforts of smoking behaviours and. Based on the results of the study can be concluded that there are two perspectives in associating cigarettes, first is the symbol of masculinity and flexibility in associating, the second is associated with opium, and poison. Further intervention can be done by presenting humour based appeals at the group level and rational based message appeals at the individual level. In the context of health communication, this research has shown how Social Cognitive Theory is used in the study of promotion of health by emphasising the design of fear-based appeals.

  15. Mobile instant messaging: the “killer application” for e(m)government in Africa?

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Ford, M

    2008-05-01

    Full Text Available most of these are commercial or entertainment-based in nature, there may be unique possibilities for mobile government-to-citizen type services. In South Africa a mobile instant messaging platform, MXit, is starting to overtake SMS-type textual...

  16. The Relationship of Ego-Involvement to Message Perception and Retention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ambler, Robert Steven

    Prior attitudes and personal involvement with the subject of a message do not necessarily affect a listener's recollection of the speech or his assessment of the speaker's position. This is the conclusion of a study in which subjects listened to messages presenting positions for, against, and neutral on the topic of legalizing the use of…

  17. Awareness of media-based antitobacco messages among a community sample of LGBT individuals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matthews, Alicia K; Balsam, Kimberly; Hotton, Anna; Kuhns, Lisa; Li, Chien-Ching; Bowen, Deborah J

    2014-11-01

    Study objectives were to measure awareness of general antitobacco messages in LGBT-focused and general media outlets among LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) individuals and to examine associations between sociodemographic characteristics and awareness levels. Data were based on cross-sectional survey data from a racially diverse sample of participants (N = 726). Participants were primarily male (69.3%), with smaller percentages of female (21.8%) and transgender (8.9%). The median age was 31 years. A higher proportion of participants reported awareness of antitobacco messages in general media outlets compared to LGBT-specific media outlets. Awareness of antitobacco messages in general media was positively associated with current smoking and negatively associated with female gender and Latino ethnicity. Awareness of antitobacco messages in LGBT media was positively associated with younger age, current smoking, frequent reading of LGBT newspapers or magazines, and frequent attendance at LGBT bars and negatively associated with Latino ethnicity. Despite frequent readership, awareness of antitobacco messages in LGBT newspapers/magazines was quite low. We speculate that low awareness is related to the absence of antitobacco messages in LGBT-related media. LGBT-specific media outlets provide an important opportunity for future antitobacco campaigns. © 2014 Society for Public Health Education.

  18. VISUAL ART AND REGULATORY FIT MESSAGES ON CONSUMER EVALUATIONS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Danielle Mantovani

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available In this study, we demonstrate that the art infusion effect, in which the presence of visual art causes a positive impact on consumers’ perceptions of products and advertising messages, might have a moderation effect on regulatory fit and non-fit messages. We investigate the impact of visual art on advertisement evaluations in regulatory (non- fit conditions. Regulatory focus theory suggests that consumers rely on their motivational focus (prevention vs. promotion for their evaluations and decisions. Usually, consumers prefer products that fit with their personal motivational focus. In the present study, the results of three experiments indicate that using visual art with a promotion or prevention fit message is recommended, while non-art images increase message persuasiveness when non-fit messages are presented. Therefore, not all information compatible with the consumer’s motivational focus are best evaluated. When non-art images are presented, non-fit messages might be more persuasive.

  19. Collecting location-based voice messages on a TalkingBadge

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, John Paulin; Glenstrup, Arne John; Wusheng, Wang

    2012-01-01

    and specific enough to distinguish between zones located just 20 meters apart. Finally, we played digitized voice messages to 11 participants walking into a zone. They received most of the messages well, but a majority of their comments were negative, expressing concerns for the potential infringement...... of privacy. We conclude that location specific audio messaging works from a technical perspective, but requires careful consideration of social comfort....

  20. Mitigating Psychological Reactance: The Role of Message-Induced Empathy in Persuasion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shen, Lijiang

    2010-01-01

    This article examines the role of message-induced state empathy in persuasion. Message-induced empathy is conceptualized as a perception-action process that consists of affective, cognitive, and associative components. Twenty professionally produced public service announcements (PSAs) were used as stimuli messages in a 2 (high vs. low empathy) x 2…

  1. Accessibility to health services by persons with disabilities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Castro, Shamyr Sulyvan; Lefèvre, Fernando; Lefèvre, Ana Maria Cavalcanti; Cesar, Chester Luiz Galvão

    2011-02-01

    To analyze the difficulties in accessibility to health services experienced by persons with disabilities. A qualitative study was performed with individuals who reported having a certain type of disability (paralysis or amputation of limbs; low vision, unilateral or total blindness; low hearing, unilateral or total deafness). A total of 25 individuals (14 women) were interviewed in the city of São Paulo, Southeastern Brazil, between June and August 2007, responding to questions about transportation and accessibility to health services. Collective Subject Discourse was the methodology used to analyze results and analyses were performed with the Qualiquantisoft software. The analysis of discourses on transportation to health services revealed a diversity in terms of the user going to the service alone or accompanied; using a private car, public transportation or ambulance or walking; and requiring different times to arrive at the service. With regard to the difficulties in accessibility to health services, there were reports of delayed service, problems with parking, and lack of ramps, elevators, wheelchairs, doctors and adapted toilets. Individuals with a certain type of disability used various means of transportation, requiring someone to accompany them in some cases. Problems with accessibility to health services were reported by persons with disabilities, contradicting the principle of equity, a precept of the Brazilian Unified Health System.

  2. The Berne Model and Advertising Messages: A Psychographic Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martin, Charles H.

    This study relates Eric Berne's theory of Transactional Analysis to the effectiveness of advertising messages. A 30 item Personality Mode Test was constructed in order to assess subject agreement with statements reflecting Berne's three personality states: parent (social evaluative), adult (controlled rationality), and child (emotiveness). After…

  3. Patient perceptions of text-messages, email, and video in dermatologic surgery patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hawkins, Spencer D; Barilla, Steven; Williford, Phillip Williford M; Feldman, Steven R; Pearce, Daniel J

    2017-04-14

    We developed dermatology patient education videos and a post-operative text message service that could be accessed universally via web based applications. A secondary outcome of the study was to assess patient opinions of text-messages, email, and video in the health care setting which is reported here. An investigator-blinded, randomized, controlled intervention was evaluated in 90 nonmelanoma MMS patients at Wake Forest Baptist Dermatology. Patients were randomized 1:1:1:1 for exposure to: 1) videos with text messages, 2) videos only, 3) text messages-only, or 4) standard of care. Assessment measures were obtained by the use of REDCap survey questions during the follow up visit. 1) 67% would like to receive an email with information about the procedure beforehand 2) 98% of patients reported they would like other doctors to use educational videos as a form of patient education 3) 88% of our patients think it is appropriate for physicians to communicate to patients via text message in certain situations. Nearly all patients desired physicians to use text-messages and video in their practice and the majority of patients preferred to receive an email with information about their procedure beforehand.

  4. Struggles for recognition: a content analysis of messages posted on the Internet

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andersen AJ

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available Anders Johan W Andersen,1,2 Tommy Svensson31Department of Psychosocial Health, University of Agder, Norway; 2Nordic School of Public Health, Gothenburg, Sweden; 3Department of Behavioral Sciences and Learning, Linköping University, Linköping, SwedenBackground: The Internet has enlarged the possibilities of human communication and opened new ways of exploring perceptions of mental health. This study is part of a research project aiming to explore, describe, and analyze different discourses of mental health in Norway and Sweden, using material from Internet-based services.Aim: To examine messages posed by users of publicly available question-and-answer services and to describe their content.Methods: A Web search was used to identify Norwegian and Swedish Websites offering mental health services by email or posted messages. A total of 601 messages from 20 services, 10 Norwegian and 10 Swedish, were analyzed by means of qualitative content analysis and further interpreted in light of the social theory of recognition by Honneth.Results: Eight categories emerged from the analysis: family life, couples, others, violence, the ungovernable, self-image, negotiating normality, and life struggles. These categories were then grouped into three themes: (1 relationship to significant others, (2 relationship to self, and (3 relationship to the social community. The themes promoted an understanding of mental health as closely connected to political and social factors.Conclusions: The results showed a variety of concerns from various parts of life and empowered the view that mental health should be understood broadly, at a conceptual level. Mental health emerged as a deeply relational concept that emphasized the equal distribution of chances in life. It strengthened the moral grammar of social inclusion and the acceptance of plurality in social life.Keywords: Internet-based services, mental health, public health, social theory

  5. Tax subsidization of personal assistance services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mendelsohn, Steven; Myhill, William N; Morris, Michael

    2012-04-01

    Personal assistance services (PAS) is the term used to describe the range of assistance, services, and supports many people with disabilities and older Americans need to remain in their homes and communities. The Americans with Disabilities Act requires that people with disabilities receive essential services in the communities of their choice rather than in institutional settings. PAS availability often determines whether persons with disabilities become institutionalized or remain in their communities. PAS, however, are not inexpensive or broadly available. Strategies are needed to improve their availability to people with disabilities and the elderly. We sought to analyze 8 provisions of the Internal Revenue Code for their utility to make PAS more affordable and available. The authors conducted a legal analysis of 8 statutory provisions, as interpreted by regulations, court decisions, and other authoritative sources. Each of the tax provisions analyzed covers some PAS expenses incurred by an individual or family. Favorable tax treatment is impacted by the nature and amount of expenses and by the location and conditions of services. The current limitations and complexities of legal interpretations and the fact that many individuals with disabilities are uninformed about these tax provisions present challenges and opportunities. As the need for PAS grows, reform of tax policy is an important complement to health care and long-term services and supports for people with disabilities. To increase utilization of current beneficial tax provisions that subsidize the cost of PAS, individuals with disabilities and tax preparers must become better informed about using these provisions. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  6. Promoting personal safety of building service workers: issues and challenges.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Shelley I; Skillen, D Lynn

    2006-06-01

    This exploratory, descriptive study conducted at a large western Canadian university solicited perceptions of personal safety among building service workers who perform night shift work alone. Ten semi-structured interviews were conducted at approximately 10:00 p.m. or 7:00 a.m with a convenience sample of night building service workers in private or semi-private locations on the university campus. Transcribed interview data were subjected to inductive content analysis using descriptive, interpretive, and pattern coding (Miles & Huberman, 1994). Results suggest that building service night shift workers are exposed to personal safety hazards in their physical and psychosocial work environments. In addition, culturally and linguistically appropriate delivery of safety training and education about policies and procedures is required for culturally diverse building service workers. Promotion of personal safety in this heterogeneous worker population requires due diligence, assessment, and advocacy.

  7. The Effect of Bilingualism on Communication Efficiency in Text Messages (SMS)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carrier, L. Mark; Benitez, Sandra Y.

    2010-01-01

    The widespread use of cell phones has led to the proliferation of messages sent using the Short Messaging Service (SMS). The 160-character limit on text messages encourages the use of shortenings and other shortcuts in language use. When bilingual speakers use SMS, their access to multiple sources of vocabulary, sentence structure, and other…

  8. Active ambulatory care management supported by short message services and mobile phone technology in patients with arterial hypertension.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kiselev, Anton R; Gridnev, Vladimir I; Shvartz, Vladimir A; Posnenkova, Olga M; Dovgalevsky, Pavel Ya

    2012-01-01

    The use of short message services and mobile phone technology for ambulatory care management is the most accessible and most inexpensive way to transition from traditional ambulatory care management to active ambulatory care management in patients with arterial hypertension (AH). The aim of this study was to compare the clinical efficacy of active ambulatory care management supported by short message services and mobile phone technology with traditional ambulatory care management in AH patients. The study included 97 hypertensive patients under active ambulatory care management and 102 patients under traditional ambulatory care management. Blood pressure levels, body mass, and smoking history of patients were analyzed in the study. The duration of study was 1 year. In the active ambulatory care management group, 36% of patients were withdrawn from the study within a year. At the end of the year, 77% of patients from the active care management group had achieved the goal blood pressure level. That was more than 5 times higher than that in the traditional ambulatory care management group (P mobile phone improves the quality of ambulatory care of hypertensive patients. Copyright © 2012 American Society of Hypertension. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  9. Borderline Personality Disorder in an Intermediate Psychological Therapies Service

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ryan, Seamus; Danquah, Adam N.; Berry, Katherine; Hopper, Mary

    2017-01-01

    The intermediate psychological therapies service is provided for individuals referred with common mental health problems within the primary care psychological therapies service, but whose difficulties are longstanding and/or complex. The prevalence of borderline personality disorder (BPD) in intermediate psychological therapy services has not been…

  10. Model-based development and testing of advertising messages

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bech-Larsen, Tino

    2000-01-01

    The implementation of valid and comprehensible guidelines for message development potentially enhances the effects of advertising messages and improves the possibility of measuring such effects. Moreover, such guidelines also have potential implications for the managerial communication processes...... (client-agency and intra-agency) involved in the development of advertising messages. The purpose of the study described in this paper is to compare the development and effects of two campaign proposals, with the common aim of increasing the consumption of apples among young Danes (18 to 35 years of age......-test with the target group (n=500), as well as interviews with the involved advertising agency and client2 staff....

  11. Effects of Electronic Word - of - Mouth Messages

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Choong Hoon Lim

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available With the increased usage of online technologies, there has been an escalation of Electronic Word - of –Mouth (eWOM messages related to sport products and services offered and consumed. Therefore, in this original investigation by applying eWOM to the sport industry, this study examined how the combination of the quality of the eWOM message and the provider of the eWOM message affects purchaseintentions depending on the expertise level of the consumer. This study – which involved the collection of data from 134 students at a large university situated in the Midwest of the United States – utilized repeated measures of Analysis of Variance (ANOVA with tripartite groups of expertise and experimental conditions as independent variables. Purchase intention was the dependent variables. The results indicated that the quality of the eWOM message moderated the effect of the provider of the eWOM message. The subject’s level of expertise also had a moderating role on purchase intention.

  12. If You're House Is Still Available, Send Me an Email: Personality Influences Reactions to Written Errors in Email Messages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boland, Julie E; Queen, Robin

    2016-01-01

    The increasing prevalence of social media means that we often encounter written language characterized by both stylistic variation and outright errors. How does the personality of the reader modulate reactions to non-standard text? Experimental participants read 'email responses' to an ad for a housemate that either contained no errors or had been altered to include either typos (e.g., teh) or homophonous grammar errors (grammos, e.g., to/too, it's/its). Participants completed a 10-item evaluation scale for each message, which measured their impressions of the writer. In addition participants completed a Big Five personality assessment and answered demographic and language attitude questions. Both typos and grammos had a negative impact on the evaluation scale. This negative impact was not modulated by age, education, electronic communication frequency, or pleasure reading time. In contrast, personality traits did modulate assessments, and did so in distinct ways for grammos and typos.

  13. Personalized E- learning System Based on Intelligent Agent

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duo, Sun; Ying, Zhou Cai

    Lack of personalized learning is the key shortcoming of traditional e-Learning system. This paper analyzes the personal characters in e-Learning activity. In order to meet the personalized e-learning, a personalized e-learning system based on intelligent agent was proposed and realized in the paper. The structure of system, work process, the design of intelligent agent and the realization of intelligent agent were introduced in the paper. After the test use of the system by certain network school, we found that the system could improve the learner's initiative participation, which can provide learners with personalized knowledge service. Thus, we thought it might be a practical solution to realize self- learning and self-promotion in the lifelong education age.

  14. Preferred Tone of Nutrition Text Messages for Young Adults: Focus Group Testing

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-01-01

    Background Young adults are a particularly hard to reach group using conventional health promotion practices as they do not see nutrition messages as personally relevant to them. Text messaging (short message service, SMS) offers an innovative approach to reaching young adults to support and promote dietary behavior change. Objective The aim of this study was to develop and test tonal preferences for nutrition text messages among young adults using focus groups. Methods A total of 39 young adults aged 18-30 years residing in Perth, Western Australia participated in four focus groups. Participants briefly discussed their perception of healthy eating and their responses to messages about increasing fruit and vegetables, and reducing “junk food” and alcohol intake. They ranked their preference for 15 nutrition messages across 3 dietary behaviors (fruit and vegetables, junk food, and alcohol) with 5 different message tones (authoritative, empathetic, generation Y, solutions, and substitutions) and identified the messages most likely to persuade young adults to change their diet. A 5-point ranking of the nutrition messages was from the most likely to least likely to persuade (1-5). The focus groups were conducted by a trained facilitator and observer and were recorded. Data driven content analysis was used to explore themes. Tonal preferences and potential motivators were collated and frequencies presented. Results Participants ranked offering substitutes (29%, 11/39) and using empathy (22%, 9/39) as the most persuasive message techniques in improving diets of young adults, with low responses for Generation Y (17%, 7/39), solutions (17%, 7/39), and authoritative (15%, 6/39) tones. Females were more likely to consider substitution messages persuasive (35%, 7/20) compared with males (22%, 4/19). A greater proportion of males compared with females considered authoritative messages persuasive: (22%, 4/19) compared with (7%, 1/20). There is a strong preference for a

  15. Key technologies of the server monitor and control system based on GSM short messages

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen Taiwei; Zhou Zhenliu; Liu Baoxu

    2007-01-01

    The network management based on SNMP protocol cannot effectively monitor and control application-system states and key-process states on the computer server. Furthermore, it needs the administrator's longtime surveillance. When the administrator leaves the computer, he can't receive the malfunction message in time. In this paper we present a server monitor and control system based on monitor agents and GSM short messages, introduce the key technology to realize it, and implement a model system in the real network environment. (authors)

  16. Patient-clinician mobile communication: analyzing text messaging between adolescents with asthma and nurse case managers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yoo, Woohyun; Kim, Soo Yun; Hong, Yangsun; Chih, Ming-Yuan; Shah, Dhavan V; Gustafson, David H

    2015-01-01

    With the increasing penetration of digital mobile devices among adolescents, mobile texting messaging is emerging as a new channel for patient-clinician communication for this population. In particular, it can promote active communication between healthcare clinicians and adolescents with asthma. However, little is known about the content of the messages exchanged in medical encounters via mobile text messaging. Therefore, this study explored the content of text messaging between clinicians and adolescents with asthma. We collected a total of 2,953 text messages exchanged between 5 nurse case managers and 131 adolescents with asthma through a personal digital assistant. The text messages were coded using a scheme developed by adapting categories from the Roter Interaction Analysis System. Nurse case managers sent more text messages (n=2,639) than adolescents with asthma. Most messages sent by nurse case managers were targeted messages (n=2,475) directed at all adolescents with asthma, whereas there were relatively few tailored messages (n=164) that were created personally for an individual adolescent. In addition, both targeted and tailored messages emphasized task-focused behaviors over socioemotional behaviors. Likewise, text messages (n=314) sent by adolescents also emphasized task-focused over socioemotional behaviors. Mobile texting messaging has the potential to play an important role in patient-clinician communication. It promotes not only active interaction, but also patient-centered communication with clinicians. In order to achieve this potential, healthcare clinicians may need to focus on socioemotional communication as well as task-oriented communication.

  17. Women's Perceptions of Participation in an Extended Contact Text Message-Based Weight Loss Intervention: An Explorative Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Job, Jennifer R; Spark, Lauren C; Fjeldsoe, Brianna S; Eakin, Elizabeth G; Reeves, Marina M

    2017-02-27

    Extending contact with participants after the end of an initial weight loss intervention has been shown to lead to maintained weight loss and related behavioral change. Mobile phone text messaging (short message service, SMS) offers a low-cost and efficacious method to deliver extended contact. In this rapidly developing area, formative work is required to understand user perspectives of text message technology. An extended contact intervention delivered by text messages following an initial telephone-delivered weight loss intervention in breast cancer survivors provided this opportunity. The aim of this study was to qualitatively explore women's perceptions of participation in an extended contact intervention using text messaging to support long-term weight loss, physical activity, and dietary behavioral change. Following the end of an initial 6-month randomized controlled trial of a telephone-delivered weight loss intervention (versus usual care), participants received a 6-month extended contact intervention via tailored text messages. Participant perceptions of the different types of text messages, the content, tailoring, timing, and frequency of the text messages, and the length of the intervention were assessed through semistructured interviews conducted after the extended contact intervention. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed with key themes identified. Participants (n=27) were a mean age of 56.0 years (SD 7.8) and mean body mass index of 30.4 kg/m2 (SD 4.2) and were at a mean of 16.1 months (SD 3.1) postdiagnosis at study baseline. Participants perceived the text messages to be useful behavioral prompts and felt the messages kept them accountable to their behavioral change goals. The individual tailoring of the text message content and schedules was a key to the acceptability of the messages; however, some women preferred the support and real-time discussion via telephone calls (during the initial intervention) compared with the text

  18. Communicating with the workforce during emergencies: developing an employee text messaging program in a local public health setting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karasz, Hilary N; Bogan, Sharon; Bosslet, Lindsay

    2014-01-01

    Short message service (SMS) text messaging can be useful for communicating information to public health employees and improving workforce situational awareness during emergencies. We sought to understand how the 1,500 employees at Public Health--Seattle & King County, Washington, perceived barriers to and benefits of participation in a voluntary, employer-based SMS program. Based on employee feedback, we developed the system, marketed it, and invited employees to opt in. The system was tested during an ice storm in January 2012. Employee concerns about opting into an SMS program included possible work encroachment during non-work time and receiving excessive irrelevant messages. Employees who received messages during the weather event reported high levels of satisfaction and perceived utility from the program. We conclude that text messaging is a feasible form of communication with employees during emergencies. Care should be taken to design and deploy a program that maximizes employee satisfaction.

  19. Personalized commissioning, public spaces: the limits of the market in English social care services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Needham, Catherine

    2013-01-01

    The article explores the implications of personal budgets within English social care services, which position the individual as market actor. Rooting the research in the broader personalization agenda, the study looks at the limitations of the market in relation to individual purchase of private goods (e.g. home care), in the pooling of funds to purchase group services and in the provision of public goods such as building-based services. The article takes a multi-method approach, combining an interpretive focus on the framing of the personal budget-holder by advocates of personalization with national evaluation data, and data from a small survey of day centre workers. The article identifies three framings of the individual budget-holder articulated by advocates of personalization. The first is that personal budget-holders will be empowered market actors, commissioning the services they need. The second is that budget-holders will pool resources with others to purchase group services in order to broaden the range of options available to them. The third is that services which cannot be disaggregated into individual or group budgets - such as day centres - are not valued by service users. The article looks at the evaluation data on these three claims in turn. It identifies four limitations to the capacity of people to purchase care goods on an individual basis: lack of transparency in allocating budgets, complexity in managing a budget, excessive auditing of spending and lack of responsiveness from the provider market. Pooling of budgets to purchase collective services is found to be underdeveloped, and hampered by the complexity which is a broader limitation on personal budgets. Day centres are found to be closing not in response to commissioning decisions by individual budget-holders but because of decommissioning by local authorities, minimising the scope for individuals to express a preference for this type of care. The survey highlights patterns of day centre

  20. TransWatL - Crowdsourced water level transmission via short message service within the Sondu River Catchment, Kenya

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weeser, Björn; Jacobs, Suzanne; Breuer, Lutz; Butterbach-Bahl, Klaus; Rufino, Mariana

    2016-04-01

    The fast economic development in East African countries causes an increasing need of water and farmland. Ongoing changes in land use and climate may affect the function of water tower areas such as the Mau Forest complex as an important water source and tropical montane forest in Kenya. Reliable models and predictions are necessary to ensure a sustainable and adequate water resource management. The calibration and validation process of these models requires solid data, based on widespread monitoring in both space and time, which is a time consuming and expensive exercise. Countries with merging economies often do not have the technical capacity and resources to operate monitoring networks, although both the government and citizens are aware of the importance of sustainable water management. Our research focus on the implementation and testing of a crowdsourced database as a low-cost method to assess the water quantity within the Sondu river catchment in Kenya. Twenty to 30 water level gauges will be installed and equipped with instructional signage. Citizens are invited to read and transmit the water level and the station number to the database using a simple text message and their cell phone. The text message service is easy to use, stable, inexpensive and an established way of communication in East African countries. The simplicity of the method ensures a broad access for interested citizens and integration of locals in water monitoring all over the catchment. Furthermore, the system allows a direct and fast feedback to the users, which likely increases the awareness for water flow changes in the test region. A raspberry pi 2 Model B equipped with a mobile broadband modem will be used as a server receiving and storing incoming text messages. The received raw data will be quality checked and formatted by a python script and afterwards written back in a database. This ensures flexible and standardized access for postprocessing and data visualization, for which a

  1. CDC MessageWorks: Designing and Validating a Social Marketing Tool to Craft and Defend Effective Messages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cole, Galen E; Keller, Punam A; Reynolds, Jennifer; Schaur, Michelle; Krause, Diane

    2016-03-01

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Division of Cancer Prevention and Control, in partnership with Oak Ridge Associated Universities, designed an online social marketing strategy tool, MessageWorks, to help health communicators effectively formulate messages aimed at changing health behaviors and evaluate message tactics and audience characteristics. MessageWorks is based on the advisor for risk communication model that identifies 10 variables that can be used to predict target audience intentions to comply with health recommendations. This article discusses the value of the MessageWorks tool to health communicators and to the field of social marketing by (1) describing the scientific evidence supporting use of MessageWorks to improve health communication practice and (2) summarizing how to use MessageWorks and interpret the results it produces.

  2. Investigating the impact of viral message appeal and message credibility on consumer attitude toward the brand

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Esmaeilpour Majid

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Due to the rapid growth of the Internet and use of e-commerce in the recent years, viral marketing has drawn the attention of manufacturing and service organizations. However, no research has been conducted to examine the impact of message appeal and message source credibility on consumers’ attitude with mediating role of intellectual involvement of consumers and their risk taking level. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of appeal and message source credibility on consumers’ attitude with mediating role of consumers’ intellectual involvement and their risk taking level. The population of this study includes consumers of mobile phones (Samsung, Sony, Nokia, LG and iPhone in the Bushehr city (Iran. As the population of the study is unlimited, 430 questionnaires were distributed using available sampling method, and 391 questionnaires were collected and analyzed. Using structural equation modeling, we analysed the data through smart PLS software. The results show that the appeal and credibility of the message source impact the consumer attitudes toward the brand. We also found that the intellectual involvement of consumers plays the mediating role in the relationship between message appeal and consumer attitudes toward brands. In the relationship between message source credibility and customer attitude towards the brand, the level of risk taking of people has no mediating role.

  3. Relationships between personality, emotional labor, work engagement and job satisfaction in service professions

    OpenAIRE

    Justyna Mróz; Kinga Kaleta

    2016-01-01

    Objectives: Although there have been studies linking personality to selected aspects of functioning at work, Polish literature reports a shortage of detailed analyses considering, e.g., specific professional groups or certain variables. The aim of our study was to explore the links between personality traits and emotional labor, work engagement and job satisfaction among service workers. Material and Methods: The study was based on a cross-sectional, self-report survey of 137 workers represen...

  4. Investigating the impact of viral message appeal and message credibility on consumer attitude toward brand

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Majid Esmaeilpour

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Background - Due to the rapid growth of the Internet and use of e-commerce in recent years, viral marketing has drawn the attention of manufacturing and service organizations. However, no research has been conducted to examine the impact of message appeal and message source credibility on consumers' attitude with mediating role of intellectual involvement of consumers and their risk taking level. Purpose - The aim of this study was to examine the impact of appeal and message source credibility on consumers’ attitude with mediating role of consumers’ intellectual involvement and their risk taking level. Design/methodology/approach – The population of this study includes consumers of mobile phones (Samsung, Sony, Nokia, LG and iPhone in Bushehr city (Iran. As the population of the study is unlimited, 430 questionnaires were distributed using available sampling method, and 391 questionnaires were collected and analyzed. Using structural equation modeling, data were analyzed through smart PLS software. Findings –The results show that the appeal and credibility of the message source have impact on consumer attitudes toward the brand. It was also found that intellectual involvement of consumers plays the mediating role in the relationship between message appeal and consumer attitudes toward brand. In the relationship between message source credibility and customer attitude towards the brand, the level of risk taking of people has no mediating role. Research limitations/implications – Data collection tool was questionnaire in this study, and questionnaire has some disadvantages that can affect the results. Additionally, this study was conducted in Bushehr city (Iran. Therefore, we should be cautious in generalizing the findings. Originality/value – In this study, the effect of message appeal and message source credibility on consumer attitude to brand was examined. The risk taking level of consumer and his involvement level were considered

  5. 47 CFR 80.327 - Urgency signals and messages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ....327 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) SAFETY AND SPECIAL RADIO SERVICES STATIONS IN THE MARITIME SERVICES Safety Watch Requirements and Procedures Distress, Alarm, Urgency and Safety Procedures § 80.327 Urgency signals and messages. (a) The urgency signal indicates that the...

  6. The Effect of Locus of Control on Message Acceptance and Recall.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cole, Catherine A.; Singh, Surendra

    Locus of control is a personality trait that influences human behavior in many situations. Internal-external control reactions to a persuasive message and the recall of the message were examined in two studies. In the first study, 35 undergraduate students' locus of control was measured using Duttweiler's Internal Control Measure. On the basis of…

  7. Privacy vs. Reward in Indoor Location-Based Services

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fawaz Kassem

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available With the advance of indoor localization technology, indoor location-based services (ILBS are gaining popularity. They, however, accompany privacy concerns. ILBS providers track the users’ mobility to learn more about their behavior, and then provide them with improved and personalized services. Our survey of 200 individuals highlighted their concerns about this tracking for potential leakage of their personal/private traits, but also showed their willingness to accept reduced tracking for improved service. In this paper, we propose PR-LBS (Privacy vs. Reward for Location-Based Service, a system that addresses these seemingly conflicting requirements by balancing the users’ privacy concerns and the benefits of sharing location information in indoor location tracking environments. PR-LBS relies on a novel location-privacy criterion to quantify the privacy risks pertaining to sharing indoor location information. It also employs a repeated play model to ensure that the received service is proportionate to the privacy risk. We implement and evaluate PR-LBS extensively with various real-world user mobility traces. Results show that PR-LBS has low overhead, protects the users’ privacy, and makes a good tradeoff between the quality of service for the users and the utility of shared location data for service providers.

  8. The Impact of Suicide Prevention Public Service Announcements on Help-Seeking Attitudes: The Message Makes a Difference

    OpenAIRE

    Bonnie Klimes-Dougan; Nathan Wright; David A Klingbeil

    2016-01-01

    Abstract Suicide continues to be one of the most serious public health challenges. Public service announcements are frequently used to address this challenge, but are rarely sufficiently evaluated to determine if they meet the intended goals, or are associated with potential iatrogenic effects. Although it is challenging to assess the relative impact of different PSA modalities, our group previously noted that one billboard message failed to show the same benefits as one TV ad (e.g., Klimes-D...

  9. Message Scheduling and Forwarding in Congested DTNs

    KAUST Repository

    Elwhishi, Ahmed; Ho, Pin-Han; Shihada, Basem

    2012-01-01

    Multi-copy utility-based routing has been considered as one of the most applicable approaches to effective message delivery in Delay Tolerant Networks (DTNs). By allowing multiple message replicas launched, the ratio of message delivery or delay can be significantly reduced compared with other counterparts. Such an advantage, nonetheless, is at the expense of taking more buffer space at each node and higher complexity in message forwarding decisions. This paper investigates an efficient message scheduling and dropping policy via analytical modeling approach, aiming to achieve optimal performance in terms of message delivery delay. Extensive simulation results, based on a synthetic mobility model and real mobility traces, show that the proposed scheduling framework can achieve superb performance against its counterparts in terms of delivery delay.

  10. Message Scheduling and Forwarding in Congested DTNs

    KAUST Repository

    Elwhishi, Ahmed

    2012-08-19

    Multi-copy utility-based routing has been considered as one of the most applicable approaches to effective message delivery in Delay Tolerant Networks (DTNs). By allowing multiple message replicas launched, the ratio of message delivery or delay can be significantly reduced compared with other counterparts. Such an advantage, nonetheless, is at the expense of taking more buffer space at each node and higher complexity in message forwarding decisions. This paper investigates an efficient message scheduling and dropping policy via analytical modeling approach, aiming to achieve optimal performance in terms of message delivery delay. Extensive simulation results, based on a synthetic mobility model and real mobility traces, show that the proposed scheduling framework can achieve superb performance against its counterparts in terms of delivery delay.

  11. The message development tool: a case for effective operationalization of messaging in social marketing practice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mattson, Marifran; Basu, Ambar

    2010-07-01

    That messages are essential, if not the most critical component of any communicative process, seems like an obvious claim. More so when the communication is about health--one of the most vital and elemental of human experiences (Babrow & Mattson, 2003). Any communication campaign that aims to change a target audience's health behaviors needs to centralize messages. Even though messaging strategies are an essential component of social marketing and are a widely used campaign model, health campaigns based on this framework have not always been able to effectively operationalize this key component, leading to cases where initiating and sustaining prescribed health behavior has been difficult (MacStravic, 2000). Based on an examination of the VERB campaign and an Australian breastfeeding promotion campaign, we propose a message development tool within the ambit of the social marketing framework that aims to extend the framework and ensure that the messaging component of the model is contextualized at the core of planning, implementation, and evaluation efforts.

  12. Cell phone-based health education messaging improves health literacy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhuang, Runsen; Xiang, Yueying; Han, Tieguang; Yang, Guo-An; Zhang, Yuan

    2016-03-01

    The ubiquity of cell phones, which allow for short message service (SMS), provides new and innovative opportunities for disease prevention and health education. To explore the use of cell phone-based health education SMS to improve the health literacy of community residents in China. A multi-stage random sampling method was used to select representative study communities and participants ≥ 18 years old. Intervention participants were sent health education SMSs once a week for 1 year and controls were sent conventional, basic health education measures. Health literacy levels of the residents before and after the intervention were evaluated between intervention and control groups. Public health literacy scores increased 1.5 points, from 61.8 to 63.3, after SMS intervention for 1 year (P<0.01); the increase was greater for males than females (2.01 vs. 1.03; P<0.01) and for Shenzhen local residents than non-permanent residents (2.56 vs. 1.14; P<0.01). The frequency of high health literacy scores was greater for the intervention than control group (22.03% to 30.93% vs. 22.07% to 20.82%). With health literacy as a cost-effective index, the cost-effectiveness per intervention was 0.54. SMS may be a useful tool for improving health literacy.

  13. Designing Skin Cancer Prevention Messages: Should We Emphasize Gains or Losses? Message Framing, Risk Type, and Prior Experience.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Moon J; Kang, Hannah

    2018-05-01

    To test whether message framing (ie, gain vs. loss) and risk type (ie, health vs appearance risk) in skin cancer prevention messages interact with one's prior experience. Two experiments with a 2 (message framing: gain vs loss) × 2 (risk type: health vs appearance risk) factorial design were conducted. The participants were given a URL to the experiment website via e-mail. On the first page of the website, the participants were told that they would be asked to evaluate a skin cancer print public service announcement (PSA): Online experiments. A total of 397 individuals participated (236 for experiment 1 and 161 for experiment 2). Apparatus: Four versions of the skin cancer print PSAs were developed. Four PSAs were identical except for the 2 manipulated components: message framing and risk type. Measures were adopted from Cho and Boster (message framing), Jones and Leary and Kiene et al. (risk type), De Vries, Mesters, van't Riet, Willems, and Reubsaet and Knight, Kirincich, Farmer, and Hood (prior experience), and Hammond, Fong, Zanna, Thrasher, and Borland and Hoffner and Ye (behavioral intent). General linear models were used to test hypotheses. Three-way interactions among message framing, risk type, and prior experience were found: When the intent of the message was to encourage sunscreen use, the effects of message framing and risk type were shown to be the exact opposite directions from when the intent was to discourage indoor/outdoor tanning. To discourage tanning among those with prior experience, messages emphasizing losses in terms of one's health will work better. For those with no prior experience, messages emphasizing potential appearance losses will work better for discouraging tanning while messages emphasizing gains like improving appearance will do a better job in encouraging sunscreen use.

  14. CDC MessageWorks: Designing and Validating a Social Marketing Tool to Craft and Defend Effective Messages

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cole, Galen E.; Keller, Punam A.; Reynolds, Jennifer; Schaur, Michelle; Krause, Diane

    2016-01-01

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of Cancer Prevention and Control, in partnership with Oak Ridge Associated Universities, designed an online social marketing strategy tool, MessageWorks, to help health communicators effectively formulate messages aimed at changing health behaviors and evaluate message tactics and audience characteristics. MessageWorks is based on the advisor for risk communication model that identifies 10 variables that can be used to predict target audience intentions to comply with health recommendations. This article discusses the value of the MessageWorks tool to health communicators and to the field of social marketing by (1) describing the scientific evidence supporting use of MessageWorks to improve health communication practice and (2) summarizing how to use MessageWorks and interpret the results it produces. PMID:26877714

  15. Digital mobile technology facilitates HIPAA-sensitive perioperative messaging, improves physician-patient communication, and streamlines patient care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gordon, Chad R; Rezzadeh, Kameron S; Li, Andrew; Vardanian, Andrew; Zelken, Jonathan; Shores, Jamie T; Sacks, Justin M; Segovia, Andres L; Jarrahy, Reza

    2015-01-01

    Mobile device technology has revolutionized interpersonal communication, but the application of this technology to the physician-patient relationship remains limited due to concerns over patient confidentiality and the security of digital information. Nevertheless, there is a continued focus on improving communication between doctors and patients in all fields of medicine as a means of improving patient care. In this study, we implement a novel communications platform to demonstrate that instantaneously sharing perioperative information with surgical patients and members of their support networks can improve patient care and strengthen the physician-patient relationship. 423 consecutive patients scheduled to undergo elective surgical procedures were offered complimentary registration to a secure, web-based service designed to distribute perioperative updates to a group of recipients designated by each patient via Short Message Service (SMS) and/or email. Messages were created by attending surgeons and delivered instantaneously through the web-based platform. In the postoperative period, patients and their designated message recipients, as well as participating healthcare providers, were asked to complete a survey designed to assess their experience with the messaging system. Survey results were statistically analyzed to determine satisfaction rates. Of the qualifying 423 patients, 313 opted to enroll in the study. On average, patients selected a total of 3.5 recipients to receive perioperative updates. A total of 1,195 electronic messages were generated for distribution to designated recipients during the study period and delivered to recipients located around the world. There were no documented errors or failures in message delivery. Satisfaction surveys were completed by 190 users of the service (73 %). Respondents identified themselves as either patients (n = 48, 25.5 %), family/friends (n = 120, 63.8 %), or healthcare providers (n = 15, 12

  16. How Fear-Arousing News Messages Affect Risk Perceptions and Intention to Talk About Risk.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paek, Hye-Jin; Oh, Sang-Hwa; Hove, Thomas

    2016-09-01

    Building on the theoretical arguments of the impersonal-impact and differential-impact hypotheses, this study has a twofold purpose: first, to demonstrate how fear-arousing media messages about risk are associated with personal-level risk perception, as well as, and perhaps more so than, societal-level risk perception; and second, to examine how the resulting risk perceptions can mediate intention to talk about the risk with family and friends. A news message evaluation study was conducted among the general public in South Korea concerning two major risks, carcinogens and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). Two sets of structural equation models reveal three main findings: (a) Fear-arousing news messages are positively related to personal-level risk perception, as well as to societal-level risk perception; (b) fear-arousing news messages result in intention to talk about the risk directly and indirectly through risk perception; and (c) personal-level risk perception appears more strongly related to intention to talk than does societal-level risk perception, although such relationships may vary across risk topics.

  17. Realization of Personalized Services for Intelligent Residential Space based on User Identification Method using Sequential Walking Footprints

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jin-Woo Jung

    2005-04-01

    Full Text Available A new human-friendly assistive home environment, Intelligent Sweet Home (ISH, developed at KAIST, Korea for testing advanced concepts for independent living of the elderly/the physically handicapped. The concept of ISH is to consider the home itself as an intelligent robot. ISH always checks the intention or health status of the resident. Therefore, ISH can do actively the most proper services considering the resident's life-style by the detected intention or emergency information. But, when there are more than two residents, ISH cannot consider the residents' characteristics or tastes if ISH cannot identify who he/she is before. To realize a personalized service system in the intelligent residential space like ISH, we deal with a human-friendly user identification method for ubiquitous computing environment, specially focused on dynamic human footprint recognition. And then, we address some case studies of personalized services that have been experienced by Human-friendly Welfare Robot System research center, KAIST.

  18. An Optimal Non-Interactive Message Authentication Protocol

    OpenAIRE

    Pasini, Sylvain; Vaudenay, Serge

    2006-01-01

    Vaudenay recently proposed a message authentication protocol which is interactive and based on short authenticated strings (SAS). We study here SAS-based non-interactive message authentication protocols (NIMAP). We start by the analysis of two popular non-interactive message authentication protocols. The first one is based on a collision-resistant hash function and was presented by Balfanz et al. The second protocol is based on a universal hash function family and was proposed by Gehrmann, Mi...

  19. Updated spam filters reduce amount of messages in spam folder

    CERN Multimedia

    IT Department

    2010-01-01

    The flow of spam (unsolicited e-mail) targetting CERN mailboxes is constantly increasing: 96% of the 2 million mails received daily at CERN consist in successfully filtered spam, but spammers get smarter and detecting spam is becoming ever more difficult. In order to address this evolution, a new spam-detection software engine will progressively be deployed in next weeks. The aim is to decrease number of SPAM messages which are delivered to users’ Inboxes and to spam folders. Users can notify mail service about SPAM messages. To submit a spam message one can send it as an attachment. For more details please refer to the help pages (see links below). Useful links: To report spam messages please refer to information on http://cern.ch/mail/Help/?fdid=31 To configure spam filtering for your CERN mailbox, go to http://cern.ch/mail and click ‘spam fight’. Thank you for your collaboration. CERN Mail Services

  20. Text Messaging Based Obesity Prevention Program for Parents of Pre-Adolescent African American Girls

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chishinga Callender

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available African American girls are at a greater risk of obesity than their nonminority peers. Parents have the primary control over the home environment and play an important role in the child obesity prevention. Obesity prevention programs to help parents develop an obesity-preventive home environment are needed. The purpose of this study was to collect formative research from parents of 8–10-year old African American girls about perceptions, expectations, and content for a text messaging based program. Mothers (n = 30 participated in surveys and interviews to inform message development and content. A professional expert panel (n = 10 reviewed draft text messages via a survey. All the mothers reported owning a cellphone with an unlimited texting plan, and they used their cellphones for texting (90.0% and accessing the Internet (100.0%. The majority were interested in receiving text messages about healthy eating and physical activity (86.7%. Interviews confirmed survey findings. One hundred and seven text messages promoting an obesity-preventive home environment were developed. The expert panel and parents reported positive reactions to draft text messages. This research provides evidence that mobile health (mHealth interventions appeal to parents of African American girls and they have ready access to the technology with which to support this approach.

  1. 31 CFR 560.540 - Exportation of certain services and software incident to Internet-based communications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ....540 Exportation of certain services and software incident to Internet-based communications. (a) To the....S. persons, wherever located, to persons in Iran of software necessary to enable the services... indirect exportation of services or software with knowledge or reason to know that such services or...

  2. 31 CFR 538.533 - Exportation of certain services and software incident to Internet-based communications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ....533 Exportation of certain services and software incident to Internet-based communications. (a) To the....S. persons, wherever located, to persons in Sudan of software necessary to enable the services... indirect exportation of services or software with knowledge or reason to know that such services or...

  3. Patient–Clinician Mobile Communication: Analyzing Text Messaging Between Adolescents with Asthma and Nurse Case Managers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Soo Yun; Hong, Yangsun; Chih, Ming-Yuan; Shah, Dhavan V.; Gustafson, David H.

    2015-01-01

    Abstract Background: With the increasing penetration of digital mobile devices among adolescents, mobile texting messaging is emerging as a new channel for patient–clinician communication for this population. In particular, it can promote active communication between healthcare clinicians and adolescents with asthma. However, little is known about the content of the messages exchanged in medical encounters via mobile text messaging. Therefore, this study explored the content of text messaging between clinicians and adolescents with asthma. Materials and Methods: We collected a total of 2,953 text messages exchanged between 5 nurse case managers and 131 adolescents with asthma through a personal digital assistant. The text messages were coded using a scheme developed by adapting categories from the Roter Interaction Analysis System. Results: Nurse case managers sent more text messages (n=2,639) than adolescents with asthma. Most messages sent by nurse case managers were targeted messages (n=2,475) directed at all adolescents with asthma, whereas there were relatively few tailored messages (n=164) that were created personally for an individual adolescent. In addition, both targeted and tailored messages emphasized task-focused behaviors over socioemotional behaviors. Likewise, text messages (n=314) sent by adolescents also emphasized task-focused over socioemotional behaviors. Conclusions: Mobile texting messaging has the potential to play an important role in patient–clinician communication. It promotes not only active interaction, but also patient-centered communication with clinicians. In order to achieve this potential, healthcare clinicians may need to focus on socioemotional communication as well as task-oriented communication. PMID:25401324

  4. Usage of the hybrid encryption in a cloud instant messages exchange system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kvyetnyy, Roman N.; Romanyuk, Olexander N.; Titarchuk, Evgenii O.; Gromaszek, Konrad; Mussabekov, Nazarbek

    2016-09-01

    A new approach for constructing cloud instant messaging represented in this article allows users to encrypt data locally by using Diffie - Hellman key exchange protocol. The described approach allows to construct a cloud service which operates only by users encrypted messages; encryption and decryption takes place locally at the user party using a symmetric AES encryption. A feature of the service is the conferences support without the need for messages reecryption for each participant. In the article it is given an example of the protocol implementation on the ECC and RSA encryption algorithms basis, as well as a comparison of these implementations.

  5. Self-Deprecating Humor Versus Other-Deprecating Humor in Health Messages

    Science.gov (United States)

    LEE, JI YOUNG; SLATER, MICHAEL D.; TCHERNEV, JOHN

    2016-01-01

    Humor is sometimes employed in health messages. However, little is known about contingencies under which different types of humor may or may not be effective. This experiment crossed humorous vs. non-humorous and self- vs. other-deprecating messages about binge drinking, and tested how differences in personal investment in alcohol use moderates the effects of such messages on college binge drinkers. Results showed significant three-way interaction effects on subjective norms and behavioral intentions largely consistent with hypotheses. Assessment of significant differences in the interactions indicated that for binge drinkers who weren’t high in personal investment in alcohol use, other-deprecating humor tended to reduce their perceived subjective norms about the acceptability of binge drinking behavior and their behavioral intentions. The effect of the experimental manipulation on subjective norms among these binge drinkers was shown to mediate the effect on intentions to binge drink in the future. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. PMID:26020507

  6. Simple messaging and collaboration system for heterogeneous organizations operating in disaster environments

    OpenAIRE

    Meyer, Ramsey

    2011-01-01

    Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. A novel communication system for use by a wide variety of first responders in disaster response is described. The system is based primarily on SMS messaging technologies and either indigenous mobile phone service providers or mobile phone service brought in via cellular-on-wheels (COWs), UAVs, rapidly deployed towers, etc. End users use either their own cell phones, running a native SMS application, or low-cost phones that are dist...

  7. Two Women with Multiple Disabilities Communicate with Distant Partners via a Special Text Messaging System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lancioni, Giulio E.; O'Reilly, Mark F.; Singh, Nirbhay N.; Sigafoos, Jeff; Green, Vanessa A.; Oliva, Doretta; Alberti, Gloria; Carrella, Luigina

    2013-01-01

    This study extended the research on a special text messaging system, which allows persons with multiple disabilities to (a) write and send messages to distant partners and (b) have messages from those partners read out to them. The study involved two women with multiple disabilities (including blindness or minimal residual vision). The system…

  8. A web services choreography scenario for interoperating bioinformatics applications

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cheung David W

    2004-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Very often genome-wide data analysis requires the interoperation of multiple databases and analytic tools. A large number of genome databases and bioinformatics applications are available through the web, but it is difficult to automate interoperation because: 1 the platforms on which the applications run are heterogeneous, 2 their web interface is not machine-friendly, 3 they use a non-standard format for data input and output, 4 they do not exploit standards to define application interface and message exchange, and 5 existing protocols for remote messaging are often not firewall-friendly. To overcome these issues, web services have emerged as a standard XML-based model for message exchange between heterogeneous applications. Web services engines have been developed to manage the configuration and execution of a web services workflow. Results To demonstrate the benefit of using web services over traditional web interfaces, we compare the two implementations of HAPI, a gene expression analysis utility developed by the University of California San Diego (UCSD that allows visual characterization of groups or clusters of genes based on the biomedical literature. This utility takes a set of microarray spot IDs as input and outputs a hierarchy of MeSH Keywords that correlates to the input and is grouped by Medical Subject Heading (MeSH category. While the HTML output is easy for humans to visualize, it is difficult for computer applications to interpret semantically. To facilitate the capability of machine processing, we have created a workflow of three web services that replicates the HAPI functionality. These web services use document-style messages, which means that messages are encoded in an XML-based format. We compared three approaches to the implementation of an XML-based workflow: a hard coded Java application, Collaxa BPEL Server and Taverna Workbench. The Java program functions as a web services engine and interoperates

  9. Obfuscatable multi-recipient re-encryption for secure privacy-preserving personal health record services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shi, Yang; Fan, Hongfei; Xiong, Guoyue

    2015-01-01

    With the rapid development of cloud computing techniques, it is attractive for personal health record (PHR) service providers to deploy their PHR applications and store the personal health data in the cloud. However, there could be a serious privacy leakage if the cloud-based system is intruded by attackers, which makes it necessary for the PHR service provider to encrypt all patients' health data on cloud servers. Existing techniques are insufficiently secure under circumstances where advanced threats are considered, or being inefficient when many recipients are involved. Therefore, the objectives of our solution are (1) providing a secure implementation of re-encryption in white-box attack contexts and (2) assuring the efficiency of the implementation even in multi-recipient cases. We designed the multi-recipient re-encryption functionality by randomness-reusing and protecting the implementation by obfuscation. The proposed solution is secure even in white-box attack contexts. Furthermore, a comparison with other related work shows that the computational cost of the proposed solution is lower. The proposed technique can serve as a building block for supporting secure, efficient and privacy-preserving personal health record service systems.

  10. Two-Way Text Messaging: An Interactive Mobile Learning Environment in Higher Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Premadasa, H. K. Salinda; Meegama, R. G. N.

    2016-01-01

    Short messaging service (SMS) is perhaps the most popular mobile technology prevalent among students in higher education due to its ubiquitous nature and the capability of two-way communication. However, a major limitation in two-way text messaging is sending back a part of received data with the reply message. This limitation results in users of…

  11. A lightweight messaging-based distributed processing and workflow execution framework for real-time and big data analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laban, Shaban; El-Desouky, Aly

    2014-05-01

    To achieve a rapid, simple and reliable parallel processing of different types of tasks and big data processing on any compute cluster, a lightweight messaging-based distributed applications processing and workflow execution framework model is proposed. The framework is based on Apache ActiveMQ and Simple (or Streaming) Text Oriented Message Protocol (STOMP). ActiveMQ , a popular and powerful open source persistence messaging and integration patterns server with scheduler capabilities, acts as a message broker in the framework. STOMP provides an interoperable wire format that allows framework programs to talk and interact between each other and ActiveMQ easily. In order to efficiently use the message broker a unified message and topic naming pattern is utilized to achieve the required operation. Only three Python programs and simple library, used to unify and simplify the implementation of activeMQ and STOMP protocol, are needed to use the framework. A watchdog program is used to monitor, remove, add, start and stop any machine and/or its different tasks when necessary. For every machine a dedicated one and only one zoo keeper program is used to start different functions or tasks, stompShell program, needed for executing the user required workflow. The stompShell instances are used to execute any workflow jobs based on received message. A well-defined, simple and flexible message structure, based on JavaScript Object Notation (JSON), is used to build any complex workflow systems. Also, JSON format is used in configuration, communication between machines and programs. The framework is platform independent. Although, the framework is built using Python the actual workflow programs or jobs can be implemented by any programming language. The generic framework can be used in small national data centres for processing seismological and radionuclide data received from the International Data Centre (IDC) of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear

  12. The problematic messages of nutritional discourse: A case-based critical media analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dodds, Antonia; Chamberlain, Kerry

    2017-01-01

    Nutritional science has assumed a fundamental importance in shaping food meanings and practices in the developed world. This study critically analysed the content of one weekly nutrition column written by a nutritional expert in a popular New Zealand magazine, from a social constructionist perspective, to investigate how nutritional advice constructs food, food practices and eaters. The analysis identified a range of ways in which the nutrition information communicated in the articles was potentially problematic for readers. The articles advocated eating for health with recommendations based on nutritional science, but depicted nutritional information as inconclusive, changeable and open to interpretation. Fear-based messages were used to motivate making 'healthy' food choices, through linking 'unhealthy' food choices with fatness and chronic ill health. Unhealthy foods were portrayed as more enjoyable than healthy foods, social occasions involving food were constructed as problematic, and exercise was defined only as a way to negate food consumption. Healthy eating was portrayed as a matter of personal choice, obscuring the situational factors that impact on food choice and health. We conclude that the nutritional advice analysed in this study constructs a way of understanding food that, if internalised by eaters, may evoke anxiety, confusion and dissatisfaction around food and eating. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. Text message-based diabetes self-management support (SMS4BG): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dobson, Rosie; Whittaker, Robyn; Jiang, Yannan; Shepherd, Matthew; Maddison, Ralph; Carter, Karen; Cutfield, Richard; McNamara, Catherine; Khanolkar, Manish; Murphy, Rinki

    2016-04-02

    Addressing the increasing prevalence, and associated disease burden, of diabetes is a priority of health services internationally. Interventions to support patients to effectively self-manage their condition have the potential to reduce the risk of costly and debilitating complications. The utilisation of mobile phones to deliver self-management support allows for patient-centred care at the frequency and intensity that patients desire from outside the clinic environment. Self-Management Support for Blood Glucose (SMS4BG) is a novel text message-based intervention for supporting people with diabetes to improve self-management behaviours and achieve better glycaemic control and is tailored to individual patient preferences, demographics, clinical characteristics, and culture. This study aims to assess whether SMS4BG can improve glycaemic control in adults with poorly controlled diabetes. This paper outlines the rationale and methods of the trial. A two-arm, parallel, randomised controlled trial will be conducted across New Zealand health districts. One thousand participants will be randomised at a 1:1 ratio to receive SMS4BG, a theoretically based and individually tailored automated text message-based diabetes self-management support programme (intervention) in addition to usual care, or usual care alone (control). The primary outcome is change in glycaemic control (HbA1c) at 9 months. Secondary outcomes include glycaemic control at 3 and 6 months, self-efficacy, self-care behaviours, diabetes distress, health-related quality of life, perceived social support, and illness perceptions. Cost information and healthcare utilisation will also be collected as well as intervention satisfaction and interaction. This study will provide information on the effectiveness of a text message-based self-management support tool for people with diabetes. If found to be effective it has the potential to provide individualised support to people with diabetes across New Zealand (and

  14. 78 FR 48466 - Hewlett Packard Company, Printing & Personal System Americas Division, Marketing Services...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-08-08

    ..., Printing & Personal System Americas Division, Marketing Services, Houston, Texas; Notice of Investigation... Division, Marketing Services, Houston, Texas. On January 25, 2013, the Department issued a Notice of... & Personal System Americas Division, Marketing Services, Houston, Texas) to be filed. Because the later-filed...

  15. Effects of tailored message education about breast cancer risk appraisal for obese Korean women.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Somi; Chung, ChaeWeon; Cochrane, Barbara B

    2013-11-01

    To examine the effects of tailored message education about breast cancer risk in obese Korean women. Pretest/post-test with two comparison treatments. Rural community settings in South Korea. Non-random sample of 64 obese women. Based on the Health Belief Model, tailored message education involved a one-session individual approach addressing cognitive, emotional, and behavioral domains. The comparison group received a one-time standard education group session. Data on breast cancer risk factors and mammography findings were recorded. Knowledge, awareness, emotional barriers, self-efficacy, and intent to screen and prevent breast cancer. Compared to standard education, tailored message education showed significantly higher score changes on awareness of personal risk (F = 5.21, p message education targeting breast cancer and risk associated with obesity is useful in breast cancer screening education. Future studies should incorporate individualized messages on nutrition, exercise, and cultural barriers to reduce breast cancer risk in obese women. Individual educational strategies can effectively enhance breast cancer prevention and early screening. Public and preventive education should include a focus on cultural, cognitive, and emotional domains. For obese women, a heightened awareness and self-efficacy may influence screening behaviors.

  16. Increasing selective exposure to health messages by targeting person versus behavior schemas.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pease, Meridith E; Brannon, Laura A; Pilling, Valerie K

    2006-01-01

    Schema correspondence theory (Brannon and Brock, 1994) was applied to the topic of selective exposure to health information. The following question was asked: When do people prefer to expose themselves to health-relevant information tailored to match their own needs and values (i.e., recipient self-schema matching) versus the values and goals that the healthy behavior brings to mind (i.e., behavior schema matching)? In general, recipient self-schema matched messages tended to be preferred over behavior schema matched messages. However, this tendency was attenuated to the extent that the behavior had a very well defined (prototypical) schema.

  17. Improving Type Error Messages in OCaml

    OpenAIRE

    Charguéraud , Arthur

    2015-01-01

    International audience; Cryptic type error messages are a major obstacle to learning OCaml or other ML-based languages. In many cases, error messages cannot be interpreted without a sufficiently-precise model of the type inference algorithm. The problem of improving type error messages in ML has received quite a bit of attention over the past two decades, and many different strategies have been considered. The challenge is not only to produce error messages that are both sufficiently concise ...

  18. Integrating personal medicine into service delivery: empowering people in recovery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    MacDonald-Wilson, Kim L; Deegan, Patricia E; Hutchison, Shari L; Parrotta, Nancy; Schuster, James M

    2013-12-01

    Illness management and recovery strategies are considered evidence-based practices. The article describes how a web-based application, CommonGround, has been used to support implementation of such strategies in outpatient mental health services and assess its impact. The specific focus of this article is Personal Medicine, self-management strategies that are a salient component of the CommonGround intervention. With support from counties and a not-for-profit managed care organization, CommonGround has been introduced in 10 medication clinics, one Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) team, and one peer support center across Pennsylvania. Methods include analysis of data from the application's database and evaluation of health functioning, symptoms, and progress toward recovery. Health functioning improved over time and use of self-management strategies was associated with fewer concerns about medication side effects, fewer concerns about the impact of mental health medicine on physical health, more reports that mental health medicines were helping, and greater progress in individuals' recovery. Using Personal Medicine empowers individuals to work with their prescribers to find a "right balance" between what they do to be well and what they take to be well. This program helps individuals and their service team focus on individual strengths and resilient self-care strategies. More research is needed to assess factors that may predict changes in outcomes and how a web-based tool focused on self-management strategies may moderate those factors. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

  19. How peer conversations about HIV/AIDS media messages affect ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    2016-06-16

    Jun 16, 2016 ... quency of conversations is positively related to health behaviour. For example ... consumption became more negative, the participants' intentions to refrain from ..... people, and perceived personal relevance of the message.

  20. Sistem kontrol inventori pemasokan barang Secara Real Time Menggunakan Vendor-Managed Inventory (VMI dan Short Message Service (SMS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rinaldo Turang

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available This research underlines the urgency of real-time stock replenishment control system for distributors using vendor-managed inventory. It is valuable in improving corporate performance in lowering inventory cost as well as making better customer service due to the cut made in ordering cycle. The system produces real-time information on stock available at the retailing stores. Stock replenishment can then be done by the distributor at the right time. Using Short Message Service (SMS as a one-way information channel from retailers to their distributor, the data of every transaction of the supervised item are processed by a rule-based forward-chaining inference system to determine the item’s availability in stores. Folowing steps in Rapid Application Development (RAD, the construction of this system takes place through business modeling, data modeling, process modeling of VMI system, then the application is generated and tested as a prototype. The results are: the stock replenishment control system are able to make transactional data at the stores transparent to the distributor, facilitating the continuation in stock delivery. System architecture reduces the time needed to access information about sales on supervised item by using SMS shortcut. This control system developed in stores can be operationally independent from the retailing systems. Rule-based forward-chaining inference technique processes facts on stock variations, resulting in stock replenishment notification such as normal, reserve, and depleted warning. Keywords: VMI, inventory; Stock replenishment; Rule-based reasoning; Forward-chaining system, RAD

  1. Testing a social cognitive theory-based model of indoor tanning: implications for skin cancer prevention messages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Noar, Seth M; Myrick, Jessica Gall; Zeitany, Alexandra; Kelley, Dannielle; Morales-Pico, Brenda; Thomas, Nancy E

    2015-01-01

    The lack of a theory-based understanding of indoor tanning is a major impediment to the development of effective messages to prevent or reduce this behavior. This study applied the Comprehensive Indoor Tanning Expectations (CITE) scale in an analysis of indoor tanning behavior among sorority women (total N = 775). Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that CITE positive and negative expectations were robust, multidimensional factors and that a hierarchical structure fit the data well. Social cognitive theory-based structural equation models demonstrated that appearance-oriented variables were significantly associated with outcome expectations. Outcome expectations were, in turn, significantly associated with temptations to tan, intention to tan indoors, and indoor tanning behavior. The implications of these findings for the development of messages to prevent and reduce indoor tanning behavior are discussed in two domains: (a) messages that attempt to change broader societal perceptions about tan skin, and (b) messages that focus more narrowly on indoor tanning-challenging positive expectations, enhancing negative expectations, and encouraging substitution of sunless tanning products.

  2. Care and Service at Home for Persons With Dementia in Europe.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bökberg, Christina; Ahlström, Gerd; Leino-Kilpi, Helena; Soto-Martin, Maria E; Cabrera, Esther; Verbeek, Hilde; Saks, Kai; Stephan, Astrid; Sutcliffe, Caroline; Karlsson, Staffan

    2015-09-01

    To describe available and utilized formal care and service at home for persons with dementia, from diagnosis to end-of-life stage, in eight European countries. A descriptive cross-country design concerning eight European countries as a part of the European research project RightTimePlaceCare. The research team in each country used a mapping system to collect country-specific information concerning dementia care and service system. The mapping system consists of 50 types of care and service activities. Sixteen of the 50 predefined activities concerning care and service at home were selected for this study and subdivided into three categories, following the stages of dementia. Availability was reported to be higher than utilization, and the findings indicated more similarities than differences among the eight countries involved. Even though there were several available activities of "basic care and services" and "healthcare interventions," they were utilized by few in most countries. Furthermore, "specialized dementia care and services" were sparsely available and even more sparsely utilized in the participating countries. The findings indicated that persons with dementia in Europe received formal care and service on a general, basic level but seldom adjusted to their specific needs. This study describes the gap between service provision and utilization enabling nurses to develop individually adjusted care plans for persons with dementia during the progress of the disease. The findings do not include matters of quality of care or how to best organize effective care and services. However, the activities of care and services presented here should shed light on what room there is for improvement when it comes to enabling persons with dementia to go on living at home. © 2015 Sigma Theta Tau International.

  3. Utilisation of home-based physician, nurse and personal support worker services within a palliative care programme in Ontario, Canada: trends over 2005-2015.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Zhuolu; Laporte, Audrey; Guerriere, Denise N; Coyte, Peter C

    2017-05-01

    With health system restructuring in Canada and a general preference by care recipients and their families to receive palliative care at home, attention to home-based palliative care continues to increase. A multidisciplinary team of health professionals is the most common delivery model for home-based palliative care in Canada. However, little is known about the changing temporal trends in the propensity and intensity of home-based palliative care. The purpose of this study was to assess the propensity to use home-based palliative care services, and once used, the intensity of that use for three main service categories: physician visits, nurse visits and care by personal support workers (PSWs) over the last decade. Three prospective cohort data sets were used to track changes in service use over the period 2005 to 2015. Service use for each category was assessed using a two-part model, and a Heckit regression was performed to assess the presence of selectivity bias. Service propensity was modelled using multivariate logistic regression analysis and service intensity was modelled using log-transformed ordinary least squares regression analysis. Both the propensity and intensity to use home-based physician visits and PSWs increased over the last decade, while service propensity and the intensity of nurse visits decreased. Meanwhile, there was a general tendency for service propensity and intensity to increase as the end of life approached. These findings demonstrate temporal changes towards increased use of home-based palliative care, and a shift to substitute care away from nursing to less expensive forms of care, specifically PSWs. These findings may provide a general idea of the types of services that are used more intensely and require more resources from multidisciplinary teams, as increased use of home-based palliative care has placed dramatic pressures on the budgets of local home and community care organisations. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  4. Designing Android Based Augmented Reality Location-Based Service Application

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alim Hardiansyah

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Android is an operating system for Linux based smartphone. Android provides an open platform for the developers to create their own application. The most developed and used application now is location based application. This application gives personalization service for mobile device user and is customized to their location. Location based service also gives an opportunity for the developers to develop and increase the value of service. One of the technologies that could be combined with location based application is augmented reality. Augmented reality combines the virtual world with the real one. By the assistance of augmented reality, our surrounding environment could interact in digital form. Information of objects and environment surround us could be added to the augmented reality system and presented. Based on the background, the writers tried to implement those technologies on now rapidly developing android application as a final project to achieve bachelor degree in Department of Informatics Engineering, Faculty of Information Technology and Visual Communication, Al Kamal Science and Technology Institute. This application could be functioned to locate school by using location based service technology with the assistance of navigational applications such as waze and google maps, in form of live direction process through the smartphone

  5. Expanding the Scope of Instant Messaging with Bidirectional Haptic Communication

    OpenAIRE

    Kim, Youngjae; Hahn, Minsoo

    2010-01-01

    This work was conducted on the combination of two fields, i.e., haptic and social messaging. Haptic is one of the most attention-drawing fields and the biggest buzzwords among nextgeneration users. Haptic is being applied to conventional devices such as the cellular phone and even the door lock. Diverse forms of media such as blogs, social network services, and instant messengers are used to send and receive messages. That is mainly why we focus on the messaging experience, the most frequent ...

  6. Public health interventions: reaching Latino adolescents via short message service and social media.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vyas, Amita N; Landry, Megan; Schnider, Marisa; Rojas, Angela M; Wood, Susan F

    2012-07-12

    Adolescents are substantial users of short message service (SMS) and social media. The public health community now has more opportunities to reach this population with positive youth development and health messages through these media. Latinos are a growing and youthful population with significant health risks and needs. This population may benefit from SMS and social media health interventions. To examine (1) SMS and social media utilization and behavior among Latino youth, and (2) how SMS and social media can be effectively used as a component of public health interventions focused on decreasing sexual risk taking among Latino youth. A mixed-methods approach, using both quantitative survey data and qualitative interview data, was used to provide a robust understanding of SMS and social media use and behavior for public health interventions. We recruited 428 ninth and tenth grade, self-identifying Latino adolescents to participate in a quantitative survey. Additionally, we conducted five key informant interviews with staff and 15 youth. We found that 90.8% (355/391) of respondents had access to a mobile phone either through having their own or through borrowing or sharing one. Of those who had access to a mobile phone, 94.1% (334/355) used SMS, with 41.1% (113/275) sending and receiving more than 100 text messages per day. Of 395 respondents, 384 (97.2%) had at least one social media account, and the mean number of accounts was 3.0 (range 0-8). A total of 75.8% (291/384) of adolescents logged in to their account daily. Of those with a social media account, 89.1% (342/384) had a Facebook account. Youth who took the survey in English were significantly more likely than those who took it in Spanish to have access to a mobile phone (χ(2) (1 )= 5.3; 93.3% vs 86.3%; P = .02); to be high-volume texters (χ(2) (2 )= 16.8; 49.4% vs 25.3%; P Facebook account (χ(2) (1 )= 9.9; 90.9% vs 79.7%; P = .002); and to have a greater mean number of social media accounts (t(387 )= 7

  7. Message formats and their influence on perceived risks of tobacco use: a pilot formative research project in India.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pischke, Claudia R; Galarce, Ezequiel M; Nagler, Eve; Aghi, Mira; Sorensen, Glorian; Gupta, Prakash C; Pednekar, Mangesh S; Sinha, Dhirendra N; Viswanath, K

    2013-04-01

    In India, tobacco kills 900,000 people every year though the burden of tobacco is faced disproportionately in poorer states such as Bihar. Teachers may be a particularly influential group in setting norms around tobacco use in the Indian context. However, tobacco use among teachers remains high and perceptions of tobacco-related health risks are unexplored. To qualitatively explore perceptions about tobacco use among teachers in Bihar and to examine how risk information may be communicated through a variety of message formats, 12 messages on tobacco health risks varying in formats were tested in focus groups with teachers from Bihar. Participants stated that teachers were already aware of tobacco-related health risks. To further increase awareness of these risks, the inclusion of evidence-based facts in messages was recommended. Communicating risk information using negative emotions had a great appeal to teachers and was deemed most effective for increasing risk perception. Messages using narratives of teachers' personal accounts of quitting tobacco were deemed effective for increasing knowledge about the benefits of quitting. To conclude, messages using evidence-based information, possibly with negative emotions, testimonials with role models and those messages emphasizing self-efficacy in the format of narratives appear to appeal to teachers in Bihar.

  8. Two-way text messaging: an interactive mobile learning environment in higher education

    OpenAIRE

    Premadasa, H. K. Salinda; Meegama, R. G. N.

    2016-01-01

    Short messaging service (SMS) is perhaps the most popular mobile technology prevalent among students in higher education due to its ubiquitous nature and the capability of two-way communication. However, a major limitation in two-way text messaging is sending back a part of received data with the reply message. This limitation results in users of a mobile learning environment being unable to reply back to the correct destination. This article presents a two-way text messaging system that can ...

  9. Message framing in social networking sites.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kao, Danny Tengti; Chuang, Shih-Chieh; Wang, Sui-Min; Zhang, Lei

    2013-10-01

    Online social networking sites represent significant new opportunities for Internet advertisers. However, results based on the real world cannot be generalized to all virtual worlds. In this research, the moderating effects of need for cognition (NFC) and knowledge were applied to examine the impact of message framing on attitudes toward social networking sites. A total of 216 undergraduates participated in the study. Results reveal that for social networking sites, while high-NFC individuals form more favorable attitudes toward negatively framed messages than positively framed messages, low-NFC individuals form more favorable attitudes toward positively framed messages than negatively framed messages. In addition, low-knowledge individuals demonstrate more favorable attitudes toward negatively framed messages than positively framed messages; however, the framing effect does not differentially affect the attitudes of high-knowledge individuals. Furthermore, the framing effect does not differentially affect the attitudes of high-NFC individuals with high knowledge. In contrast, low-NFC individuals with low knowledge hold more favorable attitudes toward positively framed messages than negatively framed messages.

  10. Effectiveness of a Social Marketing Campaign Promoting Use of a Sexual Health Text Service by Teens.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Willoughby, Jessica Fitts

    2015-01-01

    Sexual health text message services are becoming an increasingly popular way to provide adolescents with accurate sexual health information, but promotion of such services is often limited. This study uses three quantitative methods (service use data, a text message-based questionnaire, and an in-school online survey) to assess the effectiveness of an in-school social marketing campaign promoting a sexual health text message service that connects teens directly with a health educator. The 3-month campaign was associated with increased service use, but use was still relatively low. Follow-up qualitative work that included focus groups and interviews found a number of barriers to use. Teens indicated they did not have sexual health questions, did not think of the service, or were unsure how to use it. Teens also brought up additional barriers such as concern over parents seeing the messages. Implications for text message service providers and health educators are discussed.

  11. The mixed message behind "Medication-Assisted Treatment" for substance use disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robinson, Sean M; Adinoff, Bryon

    2018-01-01

    The gap between treatment utilization and treatment need for substance use disorders (SUDs) remains a significant concern in our field. While the growing call to bridge this gap often takes the form of more treatment services and/or better integration of existing services, this perspective proposes that more effective labels for and transparent descriptions of existing services would also have a meaningful impact. Adopting the perspective of a consumer-based health-care model (wherein treatments and services are products and patients are consumers) allows us to consider how labels like Addiction-focused Medical Management, Medication-Assisted Treatment, Medication-Assisted Therapy, and others may actually be contributing to the underutilization problem rather than alleviating it. In this perspective, "Medication-Assisted Therapy" for opioid-use disorder (OUD) is singled out and discussed as inherently confusing, providing the message that pharmacotherapy for this disorder is a secondary treatment to other services which are generally regarded, in practice, as ancillary. That this mixed message is occurring amidst a nationwide "opioid epidemic" is a potential cause for concern and may actually serve to reinforce the longstanding, documented stigma against OUD pharmacotherapy. We recommend that referring to pharmacotherapy for SUD as simply "medication," as we do for other chronic medical disorders, will bring both clarity and precision to this effective treatment approach.

  12. Guidelines for designing messages in risk communication

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Takashita, Hirofumi; Horikoshi, Hidehiko

    2004-07-01

    Risk Communication Study Team (hereafter called RC team) has designed messages for risk communication based on the analysis of the local residents' opinions which were expressed in several questionnaire surveys. The messages are described in a side format (Power Point format) every single content. This report provides basic guidelines for making messages that are used for risk communication, and does not include concrete messages which RC team designed. The RC team has already published the report entitled 'Information materials for risk communication' (JNC TN8450 2003-008) separately, and it gives the concrete messages. This report shows general cautions and checklists in designing messages, comments on the messages from outside risk communication experts, and opinions from local residents. (author)

  13. 26 CFR 1.162-7 - Compensation for personal services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 26 Internal Revenue 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Compensation for personal services. 1.162-7 Section 1.162-7 Internal Revenue INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY (CONTINUED) INCOME... a flat rate. Generally speaking, if contingent compensation is paid pursuant to a free bargain...

  14. Interest of pregnant women in the use of SMS (short message service) text messages for the improvement of perinatal and postnatal care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cormick, Gabriela; Kim, Natalie A; Rodgers, Ashlei; Gibbons, Luz; Buekens, Pierre M; Belizán, José M; Althabe, Fernando

    2012-08-06

    Mobile health (mHealth) is emerging as a useful tool to improve healthcare access especially in the developing world, where limited access to health services is linked to poor antenatal care, and maternal and perinatal mortality.The objective of this study is to 1) understand pregnant women's access and usage of cell phones and 2) survey the health information needs and interests in a population attending public hospitals and health centers of two cities in Argentina. This information is not available and it is the basis to develop a strategy for improving maternal care via cell phones. Questionnaires were verbally administered to pregnant women who were attending an antenatal care visit in community health centers and public hospitals in Rosario, Santa Fe and Mercedes, Corrientes. Participants were 18 years of age or older and had previously given birth. The data obtained was qualitative and analyzed using SPSS version 18. A total of 147 pregnant women meeting inclusion criteria (Rosario: 63; Mercedes: 84) were approached and verbally consented to participate. The average age was 29.5 years, most lived in urban areas (89%) with a mean travel time of 43.4 minutes required to get to the health center and 57.3 minutes to get the hospital.Ninety-six percent of women (n = 140) responded that they would like to receive text messages and cell phone calls with information regarding prenatal care, although the topics and period of time to receive information varied greatly. Considering the vast majority of the interviewed women had access to and were interested in receiving text messages and calls with educational information regarding pregnancy and infant health, pregnant women in Argentina could benefit from such an mHealth program. The low access to Internet suggests it is not an option for this population; however, this cannot be assumed as representative of the country's situation.To retain active participation, other forms of health communication, such as a 2

  15. Interest of pregnant women in the use of SMS (short message service text messages for the improvement of perinatal and postnatal care

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cormick Gabriela

    2012-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Mobile health (mHealth is emerging as a useful tool to improve healthcare access especially in the developing world, where limited access to health services is linked to poor antenatal care, and maternal and perinatal mortality. The objective of this study is to 1 understand pregnant women’s access and usage of cell phones and 2 survey the health information needs and interests in a population attending public hospitals and health centers of two cities in Argentina. This information is not available and it is the basis to develop a strategy for improving maternal care via cell phones. Methods Questionnaires were verbally administered to pregnant women who were attending an antenatal care visit in community health centers and public hospitals in Rosario, Santa Fe and Mercedes, Corrientes. Participants were 18 years of age or older and had previously given birth. The data obtained was qualitative and analyzed using SPSS version 18. Results A total of 147 pregnant women meeting inclusion criteria (Rosario: 63; Mercedes: 84 were approached and verbally consented to participate. The average age was 29.5 years, most lived in urban areas (89% with a mean travel time of 43.4 minutes required to get to the health center and 57.3 minutes to get the hospital. Ninety-six percent of women (n = 140 responded that they would like to receive text messages and cell phone calls with information regarding prenatal care, although the topics and period of time to receive information varied greatly. Conclusions Considering the vast majority of the interviewed women had access to and were interested in receiving text messages and calls with educational information regarding pregnancy and infant health, pregnant women in Argentina could benefit from such an mHealth program. The low access to Internet suggests it is not an option for this population; however, this cannot be assumed as representative of the country’s situation. To retain

  16. PRAGMATICS DRIVEN LAND COVER SERVICE COMPOSITION UTILIZING BEHAVIOR-INTENTION MODEL

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    H. Wu

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Web service composition is one of the key issues to develop a global land cover (GLC information service portal. Aiming at the defect that traditional syntax and semantic service compositionare difficult to take pragmatic information into account, the paper firstly analyses three tiers of web service language and their succession relations, discusses the conceptual model of pragmatic web service, and proposes the idea of pragmatics-oriented adaptive composition method based on the analysis of some examples. On this basis it puts forward the pragmatic web service model based on Behavior-Intention through presetting and expression of service usability, users' intention, and other pragmatic information, develops the on-demand assembly method based on the agent theory and matching and reconstruction method on heterogeneous message, solves the key technological issue of algorithm applicability and heterogeneous message transformation in the process of covering web service composition on the ground, applies these methods into service combination, puts forward the pragmatic driven service composition method based on behavior-intention model, and effectively settles the issue of coordination and interaction of composite service invocation.

  17. The BlackBerry Project: Capturing the Content of Adolescents’ Text Messaging

    Science.gov (United States)

    Underwood, Marion K.; Rosen, Lisa H.; More, David; Ehrenreich, Sam; Gentsch, Joanna K.

    2011-01-01

    This brief report presents an innovative method for capturing the content of adolescents’ electronic communication on handheld devices: text messaging, email, and Instant Messaging. In an ongoing longitudinal study, adolescents were provided with BlackBerry devices with service plans paid by the investigators, and use of text messaging was examined when participants were 15 years old and in the 10th grade (N=175, 81 girls). BlackBerries are configured so that the content of all text messages, email messages, and Instant Messages is saved to a secure server and organized in a highly secure, searchable, online archive. This paper describes the technology used to devise this method and ethical considerations. Evidence for validity is presented, including information on use of text messaging to show that participants used these devices heavily and frequencies of profane and sexual language in a two-day sample of text messaging to demonstrate that they were communicating openly. PMID:22004337

  18. VBSM: VCC-Based Black Box Service Model with Enhanced Data Integrity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Won Min Kang

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available Recently, intelligent transport systems have been applied to vehicle cloud environments. Such technology is especially useful for the systematic management of road traffic. Moreover, automobiles are increasingly equipped with a black box for accident prevention and preservation of evidence. Vehicle black boxes have become mandatory because black box images and voice data have served as forensic evidence in courts. However, the data from black boxes can be forged or modified by man-in-the-middle (MITM attacks and message hijacking. In this paper, we propose a vehicle cloud computing-based black box service model that can provide integrity for black box data through digital signatures in vehicle cloud computing (VCC environments. Our proposed model protects against MITM attacks and message hijacking using only a hash value and digital signature. Moreover, a mirroring technique (RAID 1 provides backup and recovery to protect the data from a traffic accident.

  19. SMS service from your GSM mobile phone

    CERN Multimedia

    IT Department

    2009-01-01

    The exchange of SMS (Short Message Service) messages is a very popular application of GSM mobile services. However, the use of the application with a CERN subscription is subject to certain conditions: First of all, only text messages can be sent and received with a CERN GSM subscription. These messages are limited to 160 characters. MMS (Multimedia Message Service) messages, which consist in attaching pictures, videos or sounds to a message, are not supported by the current CERN mobile network configuration. In addition, value-added SMS or SMS premium messages (e.g. messages to short numbers involving extra charges) are not permitted. Before sending a message, you must first record the number of the message centre (+41765980000) in your mobile. In principle, this configuration setting is automatically applied to all standard GSM mobile phones when they are issued. To send a message to another GSM user, you must of course enter his or her GSM number. This number must be e...

  20. Evidence-Based Support for the Characteristics of Tsunami Warning Messages for Local, Regional and Distant Sources

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gregg, C. E.; Johnston, D. M.; Sorensen, J. H.; Vogt Sorensen, B.; Whitmore, P.

    2014-12-01

    Many studies since 2004 have documented the dissemination and receipt of risk information for local to distant tsunamis and factors influencing people's responses. A few earlier tsunami studies and numerous studies of other hazards provide additional support for developing effective tsunami messages. This study explores evidence-based approaches to developing such messages for the Pacific and National Tsunami Warning Centers in the US. It extends a message metric developed for the NWS Tsunami Program. People at risk to tsunamis receive information from multiple sources through multiple channels. Sources are official and informal and environmental and social cues. Traditionally, official tsunami messages followed a linear dissemination path through relatively few channels from warning center to emergency management to public and media. However, the digital age has brought about a fundamental change in the dissemination and receipt of official and informal communications. Information is now disseminated in very non-linear paths and all end-user groups may receive the same message simultaneously. Research has demonstrated a range of factors that influence rapid respond to an initial real or perceived threat. Immediate response is less common than one involving delayed protective actions where people first engage in "milling behavior" to exchange information and confirm the warning before taking protective action. The most important message factors to achieve rapid response focus on the content and style of the message and the frequency of dissemination. Previously we developed a tsunami message metric consisting of 21 factors divided into message content and style and receiver characteristics. Initially, each factor was equally weighted to identify gaps, but here we extend the work by weighting specific factors. This utilizes recent research that identifies the most important determinants of protective action. We then discuss the prioritization of message information

  1. A theory-based video messaging mobile phone intervention for smoking cessation: randomized controlled trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Whittaker, Robyn; Dorey, Enid; Bramley, Dale; Bullen, Chris; Denny, Simon; Elley, C Raina; Maddison, Ralph; McRobbie, Hayden; Parag, Varsha; Rodgers, Anthony; Salmon, Penny

    2011-01-21

    Advances in technology allowed the development of a novel smoking cessation program delivered by video messages sent to mobile phones. This social cognitive theory-based intervention (called "STUB IT") used observational learning via short video diary messages from role models going through the quitting process to teach behavioral change techniques. The objective of our study was to assess the effectiveness of a multimedia mobile phone intervention for smoking cessation. A randomized controlled trial was conducted with 6-month follow-up. Participants had to be 16 years of age or over, be current daily smokers, be ready to quit, and have a video message-capable phone. Recruitment targeted younger adults predominantly through radio and online advertising. Registration and data collection were completed online, prompted by text messages. The intervention group received an automated package of video and text messages over 6 months that was tailored to self-selected quit date, role model, and timing of messages. Extra messages were available on demand to beat cravings and address lapses. The control group also set a quit date and received a general health video message sent to their phone every 2 weeks. The target sample size was not achieved due to difficulty recruiting young adult quitters. Of the 226 randomized participants, 47% (107/226) were female and 24% (54/226) were Maori (indigenous population of New Zealand). Their mean age was 27 years (SD 8.7), and there was a high level of nicotine addiction. Continuous abstinence at 6 months was 26.4% (29/110) in the intervention group and 27.6% (32/116) in the control group (P = .8). Feedback from participants indicated that the support provided by the video role models was important and appreciated. This study was not able to demonstrate a statistically significant effect of the complex video messaging mobile phone intervention compared with simple general health video messages via mobile phone. However, there was

  2. To tell the right story : Functions of the personal user narrative in service user involvement

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Erik Eriksson

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available From the starting point of narrative ethnography, this article explores a specific kind of service user involvement in psychiatry: staff training activities in which patients and former patients are invited to “tell their stories”. A core feature of these stories is that they are based on the narrators’ self-perceived experience, and they all have a highly personal character. I call these stories service user narratives, and these are the topic of study in this article. The narratives’ disposition, content and functions are explored, as is the role played by the personal aspects of the stories. This article investigates two functions of the service user narrative: the narrative as a means (1 of creating alternative images of mental ill health, and (2 of enabling a critique of psychiatry.

  3. Secure Sessions for Web Services

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Reiter, M.; Bhargavan, K.; Corin, R.J.; Fournet, C.; Gordon, A.D.

    2007-01-01

    We address the problem of securing sequences of SOAP messages exchanged between web services and their clients. The WS-Security standard defines basic mechanisms to secure SOAP traffic, one message at a time. For typical web services, however, using WS-Security independently for each message is

  4. Competing with big business: a randomised experiment testing the effects of messages to promote alcohol and sugary drink control policy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scully, Maree; Brennan, Emily; Durkin, Sarah; Dixon, Helen; Wakefield, Melanie; Barry, Colleen L; Niederdeppe, Jeff

    2017-12-28

    Evidence-based policies encouraging healthy behaviours are often strongly opposed by well-funded industry groups. As public support is crucial for policy change, public health advocates need to be equipped with strategies to offset the impact of anti-policy messages. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effectiveness of theory-based public health advocacy messages in generating public support for sugary drink/alcohol policies (increased taxes; sport sponsorship bans) and improving resistance to subsequent anti-policy messages typical of the sugary drink/alcohol industry. We conducted a two-wave randomised online experiment assigning Australian adults to one of four health policies (sugary drink tax; sugary drink industry sports sponsorship ban; alcohol tax; alcohol industry sports sponsorship ban). Within each health policy, we randomised participants to one of five message conditions: (i) non-advocacy based message about the size and seriousness of the relevant health issue (control); (ii) standard pro-policy arguments alone; (iii) standard pro-policy arguments combined with an inoculation message (forewarning and directly refuting anti-policy arguments from the opposition); (iv) standard pro-policy arguments combined with a narrative message (a short, personal story about an individual's experience of the health issue); or (v) standard pro-policy arguments combined with a composite inoculation and narrative message. At time 1, we exposed participants (n = 6000) to their randomly assigned message. Around two weeks later, we re-contacted participants (n = 3285) and exposed them to an anti-policy message described as being from a representative of the sugary drink/alcohol industry. Generalised linear models tested for differences between conditions in policy support and anti-industry beliefs at both time points. Only the standard argument plus narrative message increased policy support relative to control at time 1. The standard argument plus narrative

  5. Multicultural personality and posttraumatic stress in U.S. service members.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Herrera, Catherine J; Owens, Gina P

    2015-04-01

    Modern military missions place numerous demands on service members, including tactical, personal, and cultural challenges. The purpose of this study was to explore how domains of multicultural personality (cultural empathy, open-mindedness, social initiative, emotional stability, and flexibility) and combat exposure relate to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in service members. Participants (N = 163) completed the Multicultural Personality Questionnaire, Combat Exposure Scale, and PTSD Checklist-Military as part of an online survey. The majority of participants were Caucasian (87%), mean age was 33 years, and all were deployed at least once to Iraq or Afghanistan Regression results indicated that higher levels of combat exposure and open-mindedness and lower levels of flexibility and emotional stability were significant predictors of higher PTSD severity. The interactions between combat exposure and flexibility and combat exposure and openness were also significant. Higher levels of flexibility and emotional stability seem particularly important in their association with lower PTSD severity for service members. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  6. What are health-related users tweeting? A qualitative content analysis of health-related users and their messages on twitter.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Joy L; DeCamp, Matthew; Dredze, Mark; Chisolm, Margaret S; Berger, Zackary D

    2014-10-15

    Twitter is home to many health professionals who send messages about a variety of health-related topics. Amid concerns about physicians posting inappropriate content online, more in-depth knowledge about these messages is needed to understand health professionals' behavior on Twitter. Our goal was to characterize the content of Twitter messages, specifically focusing on health professionals and their tweets relating to health. We performed an in-depth content analysis of 700 tweets. Qualitative content analysis was conducted on tweets by health users on Twitter. The primary objective was to describe the general type of content (ie, health-related versus non-health related) on Twitter authored by health professionals and further to describe health-related tweets on the basis of the type of statement made. Specific attention was given to whether a tweet was personal (as opposed to professional) or made a claim that users would expect to be supported by some level of medical evidence (ie, a "testable" claim). A secondary objective was to compare content types among different users, including patients, physicians, nurses, health care organizations, and others. Health-related users are posting a wide range of content on Twitter. Among health-related tweets, 53.2% (184/346) contained a testable claim. Of health-related tweets by providers, 17.6% (61/346) were personal in nature; 61% (59/96) made testable statements. While organizations and businesses use Twitter to promote their services and products, patient advocates are using this tool to share their personal experiences with health. Twitter users in health-related fields tweet about both testable claims and personal experiences. Future work should assess the relationship between testable tweets and the actual level of evidence supporting them, including how Twitter users-especially patients-interpret the content of tweets posted by health providers.

  7. 47 CFR 80.319 - Radiotelegraph distress call and message transmission procedure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ...) SAFETY AND SPECIAL RADIO SERVICES STATIONS IN THE MARITIME SERVICES Safety Watch Requirements and Procedures Distress, Alarm, Urgency and Safety Procedures § 80.319 Radiotelegraph distress call and message...

  8. The Self-perception of Text-message Dependency Scale (STDS): Psychometric update based on a United States sample.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liese, Bruce S; Benau, Erik M; Atchley, Paul; Reed, Derek; Becirevic, Amel; Kaplan, Brent

    2018-05-14

    Some have suggested that text messaging is an addictive behavior. However, this characterization is uncertain, partly due to lack of well-validated measures of text messaging attitudes and behaviors. One standard instrument for measuring text messaging attitudes and behaviors is the Self-perception of Text-message Dependency Scale (STDS), though the psychometric properties of this scale have only been examined with a sample of Japanese youth. The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the STDS in the United States to determine its utility as a measure of text messaging dependence. We were interested in examining the factor structure and determining the extent to which this scale would correlate with two important outcome measures: motor vehicle accidents (MVAs) and moving violations. We analyzed data from 468 adults (age 18-74; 274 women) recruited via Amazon's Mechanical Turk (mTurk) service. Participants completed the STDS and provided information about their driving-related incidents in the past year. First we performed a confirmatory factor analysis, which supported the instrument's original factor structure. Then we tested the relationship between scores on the STDS and two important variables, MVAs and moving violations. We found that the STDS significantly correlated with both MVAs and moving violations. The present study confirms that the STDS is a potentially useful instrument for studying texting dependence in the United States and with adults of all ages. The instrument may be particularly useful in predicting motor vehicle outcomes.

  9. A System for Personality and Happiness Detection

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yago Saez

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available This work proposes a platform for estimating personality and happiness. Starting from Eysenck's theory about human's personality, authors seek to provide a platform for collecting text messages from social media (Whatsapp, and classifying them into different personality categories. Although there is not a clear link between personality features and happiness, some correlations between them could be found in the future. In this work, we describe the platform developed, and as a proof of concept, we have used different sources of messages to see if common machine learning algorithms can be used for classifying different personality features and happiness.

  10. Users of Virtual Reference Are More Satisfied with the Service They Receive than the Providers of that Service Think They Are. A Review of: Hansen, D., Johnson, M., Norton, E., & McDonough, A. (2009. Virtual provider pessimism: Analysing instant messaging reference encounters with the pair perception comparison method. Information Research, 14(4. Retrieved from http://informationr.net/ir/14-4/ paper416.html

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carol D. Howe

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available Objective – To examine provider pessimism by comparing user and provider perception of the same instant messaging reference transaction.Design – Instant messaging users and providers completed post-reference transaction surveys which were analyzed using the pair perception comparison method.Setting – A large research university in the United States.Subjects – Two hundred undergraduate journalism students (users of the instant messaging service and 51 Master of Library Science (MLS students enrolled in a reference services class (providers of the instant messaging service.Methods – The authors created a research help webpage from which users could access the instant messaging service. Prior to service availability, providers received reference instruction and demonstrated reference aptitude through in-class activities. The authors briefed providers on the project and provided a wiki containing resources they might need during reference transactions. Providers worked in two-hour shifts, and two providers were available during each shift. The service was available for one week while potential users completed a journalism assignment. The authors asked both users and providers of the service to complete an online survey at the conclusion of the reference transaction. Users and providers completed different surveys, but both types included the following four elements: questions to aid in matching a user to a provider; questions about satisfaction with the service based on guidelines put forth by the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA; open-ended questions about the reference transaction; and questions regarding demographics, prior reference service usage, and knowledge of instant messaging. There were 55 valid reference transactions, and from those, the authors matched 26 pairs of user and provider surveys. The authors analyzed paired surveys to (a compare the user’s perception of the reference transaction with the provider

  11. A Personalized QoS Prediction Approach for CPS Service Recommendation Based on Reputation and Location-Aware Collaborative Filtering.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuang, Li; Yu, Long; Huang, Lan; Wang, Yin; Ma, Pengju; Li, Chuanbin; Zhu, Yujia

    2018-05-14

    With the rapid development of cyber-physical systems (CPS), building cyber-physical systems with high quality of service (QoS) has become an urgent requirement in both academia and industry. During the procedure of building Cyber-physical systems, it has been found that a large number of functionally equivalent services exist, so it becomes an urgent task to recommend suitable services from the large number of services available in CPS. However, since it is time-consuming, and even impractical, for a single user to invoke all of the services in CPS to experience their QoS, a robust QoS prediction method is needed to predict unknown QoS values. A commonly used method in QoS prediction is collaborative filtering, however, it is hard to deal with the data sparsity and cold start problem, and meanwhile most of the existing methods ignore the data credibility issue. Thence, in order to solve both of these challenging problems, in this paper, we design a framework of QoS prediction for CPS services, and propose a personalized QoS prediction approach based on reputation and location-aware collaborative filtering. Our approach first calculates the reputation of users by using the Dirichlet probability distribution, so as to identify untrusted users and process their unreliable data, and then it digs out the geographic neighborhood in three levels to improve the similarity calculation of users and services. Finally, the data from geographical neighbors of users and services are fused to predict the unknown QoS values. The experiments using real datasets show that our proposed approach outperforms other existing methods in terms of accuracy, efficiency, and robustness.

  12. Knowledge-based personalized search engine for the Web-based Human Musculoskeletal System Resources (HMSR) in biomechanics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dao, Tien Tuan; Hoang, Tuan Nha; Ta, Xuan Hien; Tho, Marie Christine Ho Ba

    2013-02-01

    Human musculoskeletal system resources of the human body are valuable for the learning and medical purposes. Internet-based information from conventional search engines such as Google or Yahoo cannot response to the need of useful, accurate, reliable and good-quality human musculoskeletal resources related to medical processes, pathological knowledge and practical expertise. In this present work, an advanced knowledge-based personalized search engine was developed. Our search engine was based on a client-server multi-layer multi-agent architecture and the principle of semantic web services to acquire dynamically accurate and reliable HMSR information by a semantic processing and visualization approach. A security-enhanced mechanism was applied to protect the medical information. A multi-agent crawler was implemented to develop a content-based database of HMSR information. A new semantic-based PageRank score with related mathematical formulas were also defined and implemented. As the results, semantic web service descriptions were presented in OWL, WSDL and OWL-S formats. Operational scenarios with related web-based interfaces for personal computers and mobile devices were presented and analyzed. Functional comparison between our knowledge-based search engine, a conventional search engine and a semantic search engine showed the originality and the robustness of our knowledge-based personalized search engine. In fact, our knowledge-based personalized search engine allows different users such as orthopedic patient and experts or healthcare system managers or medical students to access remotely into useful, accurate, reliable and good-quality HMSR information for their learning and medical purposes. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. The Personal Norm of Reciprocity among mental health service users: conceptual development and measurement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matejkowski, Jason; McCarthy, Kevin S; Draine, Jeffrey

    2011-01-01

    A measure of an individual's level of internalization of the norm of reciprocity may signal exchange preferences and indicate whether "active" or "passive" mental health services are preferable to consumers. We evaluated the psychometric properties of one such measure, the Personal Norm of Reciprocity (PNR) scale. We recruited 70 persons receiving mental health services and 65 comparison participants to complete questionnaires assessing reciprocity tendencies and correlates of mental illness. Two of three subscales of a shortened PNR showed evidence of reliability and validity. Consumers endorsed higher levels of the reciprocity norm than persons not seeking services. Persons in "active" service settings displayed greater rigidity in application of the reciprocity norm than individuals in "passive" service settings or comparison participants. The shortened PNR can be a useful measure of individual reciprocity preferences. Measurement of the internalization of the norm of reciprocity may assist practitioners in identifying what types of services are more likely to retain and benefit mental health service consumers.

  14. Kompresi Teks Menggunakan Algoritma Huffman Dan Md5 Pada Instant Messaging Smartphone Android

    OpenAIRE

    Chulkamdi, M. Taofik; Pramono, Sholeh Hadi; Yudaningtyas, Erni

    2015-01-01

    Instant messaging is one of Android social media application that make user possible to send short messages directly in the same time (real time) using text to another user that online in the some network, more ever a lot of user using this application as an alternative communication via short message service (SMS). Remembering how important this application, so writer make an instant message application with small text transmission that will provide in the current needs with Huffman algorith...

  15. Text Messaging for Psychiatric Outpatients: Effect on Help-Seeking and Self-Harming Behaviors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kodama, Toyohiko; Syouji, Hiroko; Takaki, Sachiko; Fujimoto, Hirokazu; Ishikawa, Shinichi; Fukutake, Masaaki; Taira, Masaru; Hashimoto, Takeshi

    2016-04-01

    A mobile phone intervention was developed and tested with 30 psychiatric outpatients with mental illness, who had high ideation for suicide. The intervention involved promoting help-seeking behaviors by sending text messages, including information about social welfare services and reminders about medical appointments, for 6 months. After the intervention period, the number of participants who used social services significantly increased, and more than 80% of participants reported that the text messaging service was helpful and useful. Compared to baseline, participants' self-harming behaviors decreased and the attending psychiatrists rated their suicide ideation as weaker. This is the first intervention study to promote psychiatric patients' help-seeking using text messaging, and although it was not a randomized controlled trial, this intervention has practical value and may lead to the prevention of suicide. Copyright 2016, SLACK Incorporated.

  16. University Advertising and Universality in Messaging

    Science.gov (United States)

    Diel, Stan R.; Katsinas, Stephen

    2018-01-01

    University and college institutional advertisements, which typically are broadcast as public service announcements during the halftime of football games, were the subject of a quantitative analysis focused on commonality in messaging and employment of the semiotic theory of brand advertising. Findings indicate advertisements focus on students'…

  17. A counselor in your pocket: feasibility of mobile health tailored messages to support HIV medication adherence

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cook PF

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available Paul F Cook,1 Jane M Carrington,2 Sarah J Schmiege,1 Whitney Starr,3 Blaine Reeder11University of Colorado College of Nursing, Aurora, CO, USA; 2University of Arizona College of Nursing, Tucson, AZ, USA; 3University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USAPurpose: Medication adherence is a major challenge in HIV treatment. New mobile technologies such as smartphones facilitate the delivery of brief tailored messages to promote adherence. However, the best approach for tailoring messages is unknown. Persons living with HIV (PLWH might be more receptive to some messages than others based on their current psychological state.Methods: We recruited 37 PLWH from a parent study of motivational states and adherence. Participants completed smartphone-based surveys at a random time every day for 2 weeks, then immediately received intervention or control tailored messages, depending on random assignment. After 2 weeks in the initial condition, participants received the other condition in a crossover design. Intervention messages were tailored to match PLWH’s current psychological state based on five variables – control beliefs, mood, stress, coping, and social support. Control messages were tailored to create a mismatch between message framing and participants’ current psychological state. We evaluated intervention feasibility based on acceptance, ease of use, and usefulness measures. We also used pilot randomized controlled trial methods to test the intervention’s effect on adherence, which was measured using electronic caps that recorded pill-bottle openings.Results: Acceptance was high based on 76% enrollment and 85% satisfaction. Participants found the hardware and software easy to use. However, attrition was high at 59%, and usefulness ratings were slightly lower. The most common complaint was boredom. Unexpectedly, there was no difference between mismatched and matched messages’ effects, but each group showed a 10%–15% improvement

  18. Person-centered care planning and service engagement: a study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stanhope, Victoria; Tondora, Janis; Davidson, Larry; Choy-Brown, Mimi; Marcus, Steven C

    2015-04-22

    Service disengagement is a pervasive challenge the mental health care system faces. Mental health services are of little value should persons with mental illnesses continue to opt out of receiving them. Consumers attribute disengagement from care to an absence of choice in their treatment. In response, the mental health system is adopting a person-centered model, based upon recovery principles, to engage consumers more actively in their care. Person-centered care planning is a promising practice involving collaboration to develop and implement an actionable plan to assist the person in achieving personal recovery goals. This study design combines a parallel-group randomized controlled trial of community mental health organizations with qualitative methods to assess the effectiveness of person-centered care planning. Participants at 14 sites in Delaware and Connecticut will be randomized to treatment as usual or the person-centered care planning intervention. Participants will be in leadership (n = 70) or supervisory or direct care (n = 210) roles. The person-centered care planning intervention involves intensive staff training and 12 months of ongoing technical assistance. Quantitative survey data will be collected at baseline, 6 months and 12 months measuring person-centered care planning competency and organizational factors. Consumer outcomes (engagement, medication adherence, functioning and consumer satisfaction) will be assessed by Medicaid and state-level data. Qualitative data focused on process factors will include staff and consumer interviews and focus groups. In this intent-to-treat analysis, we will use mixed-effects multivariate regression models to evaluate the differential impact of the person-centered care planning intervention on each consumer and implementation outcome as well as the extent to which clinician assessments of organizational factors are associated with the implementation outcome. Mixed methods will triangulate and strengthen the

  19. Archetype-Based Modeling of Persona for Comprehensive Personality Computing from Personal Big Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, Jianhua

    2018-01-01

    A model describing the wide variety of human behaviours called personality, is becoming increasingly popular among researchers due to the widespread availability of personal big data generated from the use of prevalent digital devices, e.g., smartphones and wearables. Such an approach can be used to model an individual and even digitally clone a person, e.g., a Cyber-I (cyber individual). This work is aimed at establishing a unique and comprehensive description for an individual to mesh with various personalized services and applications. An extensive research literature on or related to psychological modelling exists, i.e., into automatic personality computing. However, the integrity and accuracy of the results from current automatic personality computing is insufficient for the elaborate modeling in Cyber-I due to an insufficient number of data sources. To reach a comprehensive psychological description of a person, it is critical to bring in heterogeneous data sources that could provide plenty of personal data, i.e., the physiological data, and the Internet data. In addition, instead of calculating personality traits from personal data directly, an approach to a personality model derived from the theories of Carl Gustav Jung is used to measure a human subject’s persona. Therefore, this research is focused on designing an archetype-based modeling of persona covering an individual’s facets in different situations to approach a comprehensive personality model. Using personal big data to measure a specific persona in a certain scenario, our research is designed to ensure the accuracy and integrity of the generated personality model. PMID:29495343

  20. Archetype-Based Modeling of Persona for Comprehensive Personality Computing from Personal Big Data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ao Guo

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available A model describing the wide variety of human behaviours called personality, is becoming increasingly popular among researchers due to the widespread availability of personal big data generated from the use of prevalent digital devices, e.g., smartphones and wearables. Such an approach can be used to model an individual and even digitally clone a person, e.g., a Cyber-I (cyber individual. This work is aimed at establishing a unique and comprehensive description for an individual to mesh with various personalized services and applications. An extensive research literature on or related to psychological modelling exists, i.e., into automatic personality computing. However, the integrity and accuracy of the results from current automatic personality computing is insufficient for the elaborate modeling in Cyber-I due to an insufficient number of data sources. To reach a comprehensive psychological description of a person, it is critical to bring in heterogeneous data sources that could provide plenty of personal data, i.e., the physiological data, and the Internet data. In addition, instead of calculating personality traits from personal data directly, an approach to a personality model derived from the theories of Carl Gustav Jung is used to measure a human subject’s persona. Therefore, this research is focused on designing an archetype-based modeling of persona covering an individual’s facets in different situations to approach a comprehensive personality model. Using personal big data to measure a specific persona in a certain scenario, our research is designed to ensure the accuracy and integrity of the generated personality model.

  1. Archetype-Based Modeling of Persona for Comprehensive Personality Computing from Personal Big Data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, Ao; Ma, Jianhua

    2018-02-25

    A model describing the wide variety of human behaviours called personality, is becoming increasingly popular among researchers due to the widespread availability of personal big data generated from the use of prevalent digital devices, e.g., smartphones and wearables. Such an approach can be used to model an individual and even digitally clone a person, e.g., a Cyber-I (cyber individual). This work is aimed at establishing a unique and comprehensive description for an individual to mesh with various personalized services and applications. An extensive research literature on or related to psychological modelling exists, i.e., into automatic personality computing. However, the integrity and accuracy of the results from current automatic personality computing is insufficient for the elaborate modeling in Cyber-I due to an insufficient number of data sources. To reach a comprehensive psychological description of a person, it is critical to bring in heterogeneous data sources that could provide plenty of personal data, i.e., the physiological data, and the Internet data. In addition, instead of calculating personality traits from personal data directly, an approach to a personality model derived from the theories of Carl Gustav Jung is used to measure a human subject's persona. Therefore, this research is focused on designing an archetype-based modeling of persona covering an individual's facets in different situations to approach a comprehensive personality model. Using personal big data to measure a specific persona in a certain scenario, our research is designed to ensure the accuracy and integrity of the generated personality model.

  2. Short message service (SMS) language and written language skills ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    SMS language is English language slang, used as a means of mobile phone text messaging. This practice may impact on the written language skills of learners at school. The main aim of this study was to determine the perspectives of Grade 8 and 9 English (as Home Language) educators in Gauteng regarding the ...

  3. Inside Dropbox: Understanding Personal Cloud Storage Services

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Drago, Idilio; Mellia, Marco; Munafò, Maurizio M.; Sperotto, Anna; Sadre, R.; Pras, Aiko

    2012-01-01

    Personal cloud storage services are gaining popularity. With a rush of providers to enter the market and an increasing offer of cheap storage space, it is to be expected that cloud storage will soon generate a high amount of Internet traffic. Very little is known about the architecture and the

  4. An exploration of person-centred concepts in human services: A thematic analysis of the literature.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Waters, Rebecca A; Buchanan, Angus

    2017-10-01

    Being 'person-centred' in the delivery of health and human services has become synonymous with quality care, and it is a core feature of policy reform in Australia and other Western countries. This research aimed to identify the uses, definitions and characteristics of the term 'person-centred' in the ageing, mental health and disability literature. A thematic analysis identified seven common core themes of person-centredness: honouring the person, being in relationship, facilitating participation and engagement, social inclusion/citizenship, experiencing compassionate love, being strengths/capacity focussed, and organisational characteristics. These suggest a set of higher-order experiences for people that are translated differently in different human services. There is no common definition of what it means to be person-centred, despite being a core feature of contemporary health and human service policy, and this suggests that its inclusion facilitates further misunderstanding and misinterpretation. A common understanding and policy conceptualisation of person-centredness is likely to support quality outcomes in service delivery especially where organisations work across human service groups. Further research into the application and service expressions of being 'person-centred' in context is necessary. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  5. Personality as predictor of customer service centre agent performance in the banking industry: An exploratory study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Linda Blignaut

    2014-10-01

    Research purpose: The aim of the study was to identify personality traits, as measured by the Occupational Personality Questionnaire 32r (item response theory scored version, including the more parsimonious Big Five personality traits, that may act as job performance predictors for customer service centre (CSC agents in the banking industry. Motivation for the study: This study provides an exploratory investigation of whether specific personality traits differ amongst CSC agents in the banking industry, based on their job performance. No published research in this field could be identified. Research design, approach and method: Purposive sampling was used to collect data from the entire CSC agent base of a particular banking group (N = 89. Responses were analysed by means of quantitative techniques. Main findings and practical/managerial implications: Results indicate that parsimonious traits of personality, expressed as the Big Five personality traits, predict job performance. The importance of carefully selecting suitable job performance criteria for a specific environment, however, emerged as a critical issue in performance prediction. Contribution: The study focuses attention on the importance of CSC agents’ performance as frontline staff in the banking industry and identifying valid criteria for selecting the most suitable agents. Providing a one-contact point of service such as a CSC is a fairly new approach in the South African banking industry and this study provides an initial investigation of personality traits that may serve as job performance predictors in this environment.

  6. Developing Social Media-Based Suicide Prevention Messages in Partnership With Young People: Exploratory Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robinson, Jo; Bailey, Eleanor; Hetrick, Sarah; Paix, Steve; O'Donnell, Matt; Cox, Georgina; Ftanou, Maria; Skehan, Jaelea

    2017-10-04

    Social media is increasingly being used by young people for health-related issues, including communicating about suicide. Due to the concerns about causing distress or inducing suicidal thoughts or behaviors, to date young people neither have been engaged in the development of social media-based suicide prevention interventions nor have interventions focused on educating young people about safe ways to communicate about suicide online. Given the potential that social media holds to deliver messages to vast numbers of people across space and time and the fact that young people often prefer to seek help from their friends and peers, safely educating and engaging young people to develop suicide prevention messages that can be delivered via social media is an obvious next step. The objectives of this study were to (1) provide education to a small number of secondary school students about safe ways to communicate about suicide via social media; (2) engage the same young people in the development of a suite of social media-based suicide prevention multimedia messages; (3) assess the impact of this on participants; and (4) assess the acceptability and safety of the messages developed. This study involved two phases. In phase 1, 20 participants recruited from two schools took part in an 8- to 10-week program during which they were provided with psychoeducation about mental health and suicide, including how to talk safely about suicide online, and they were then supported to design and develop their own media messages. These participants completed an evaluation questionnaire at the conclusion of the program. In phase 2, a larger group of participants (n=69), recruited via an opt-in process, viewed the media messages and completed a short questionnaire about each one. Participants in phase 1 enjoyed the program and reported that they learned new skills, such as how to talk safely about suicide online, and felt more able to provide emotional support to others (16/20, 80%). No

  7. Personal reputation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Foste, Elizabeth; Botero, Isabel C.

    2012-01-01

    the importance of supervisor perceptions for the future of employees in the organization, this study uses principles of language expectancy theory (LET) to explore how message content (benefit organization vs. no benefit) and delivery style (aggressive vs. nonaggressive) in upward communication situations affect......One of the pitfalls of past research in upward influence communication is that messages are often categorized using more than one characteristic. This categorization has made it difficult to understand how different message characteristics affect supervisors’ perceptions about employees. Given...... perceptions of personal reputation and work competence. Participants, acting in the role of supervisors, read one of four scenarios and evaluated a new employee. Results suggest that delivery style and message content independently influence the supervisor’s willingness to grant a request as well as influence...

  8. Unpacking the Black Box: A Formative Research Approach to the Development of Theory-Driven, Evidence-Based, and Culturally Safe Text Messages in Mobile Health Interventions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maar, Marion A; Yeates, Karen; Toth, Zsolt; Barron, Marcia; Boesch, Lisa; Hua-Stewart, Diane; Liu, Peter; Perkins, Nancy; Sleeth, Jessica; Wabano, Mary Jo; Williamson, Pamela; Tobe, Sheldon W

    2016-01-22

    Mobile-cellular subscriptions have increased steadily over the past decade. The accessibility of SMS messages over existing mobile networks is high and has almost universal availability even on older and unsophisticated mobile phones and in geographic settings where wireless coverage is weak. There is intensive exploration of this inexpensive mobile telecommunication technology to improve health services and promote behavior change among vulnerable populations. However, a neglected area of research is the documentation and critical analysis of the formative research process required in the development and refinement of effective SMS messages. The objective of this qualitative research study was to identify major factors that may impact on the effectiveness of evidence-based SMS messages designed to reduce health inequities in hypertension management in low resource settings, including Aboriginal populations in high-income countries and rural populations in low-income countries. Specifically, we were interested in uncovering the range of mediators that impact on appropriate message content transmission and, ultimately, on health behavior improvements in a range of these sociocultural settings. Collaborative qualitative research with Canadian Aboriginal and Tanzanian participants was conducted to deconstruct the content and transmission of evidence-based health information contained in SMS messages in the context of an international research project designed to address health inequalities in hypertension, and to develop a grounded theory of the major factors that mediate the effectiveness of this communication. We also examined the interrelationship of these mediators with the three essential conditions of the behavior system of the Behavioral Change Wheel model (capability, opportunity, and motivation) and cultural safety. Four focus groups with a total of 45 participants were conducted. Our grounded theory research revealed how discrepancies develop between the

  9. Mobile Location-Based Services for Trusted Information in Disaster Management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ragia, Lemonia; Deriaz, Michel; Seigneur, Jean-Marc

    The goal of the present chapter is to provide location-based services for disaster management. The application involves services related to the safety of the people due to an unexpected event. The current prototype is implemented for a specific issue of disaster management which is road traffic control. The users can ask requests on cell phones or via Internet to the system and get an answer in a display or in textual form. The data are in a central database and every user can input data via virtual tags. The system is based on spatial messages which can be sent from any user to any other in a certain distance. In this way all the users and not a separate source provide the necessary information for a dangerous situation. To avoid any contamination problems we use trust security to check the input to the system and a trust engine model to provide information with a considerable reliability.

  10. An Analysis of Personal Technology Use by Service Members and Military Behavioral Health Providers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Edwards-Stewart, Amanda; Smolenski, Derek J; Reger, Greg M; Bush, Nigel; Workman, Don E

    2016-07-01

    Personal technology use is ubiquitous in the United States today and technology, in general, continues to change the face of health care. However, little is known about the personal technology use of military service members and the behavioral health care providers that treat them. This study reports the technology use of 1,101 active duty service members and 45 behavioral health care providers at a large military installation. Participants reported Internet usage; ownership of smartphones, tablets, and e-readers; usage of mobile applications (apps); and basic demographic information. Compared with providers, service members reported higher rates of smartphone ownership, were more likely to own Android smartphones than iPhones, and spent more time gaming. Both groups spent a comparable amount of time using social media. With the exception of gaming, however, differences between service members and providers were not statistically significant when demographics were matched and controlled. Among service members, younger respondents (18-34) were statistically more likely than older respondents (35-58) to own smartphones, spend time gaming, and engage in social media. Our findings can help inform provider's technology-based education and intervention of their patients and guide the development of new technologies to support the psychological health of service members. Reprint & Copyright © 2016 Association of Military Surgeons of the U.S.

  11. A Personal Context-Aware Multi-Device Coaching Service that Supports a Healthy Lifestyle

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    op den Akker, Hendrikus J.A.; Klaassen, Randy; Lavrysen, Tine; Geleijnse, Gijs; van Halteren, Aart; Schwietert, Henk; van der Hout, Marloes

    2011-01-01

    This paper describes work in progress in the European Artemis project Smarcos. Smarcos focuses on interusability of multi-device embedded and networked services. The work presented here is devoted to the development of context-aware personal coaching service systems that give users personalized

  12. Personality assessment of homeless adults as a tool for service planning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tolomiczenko, G S; Sota, T; Goering, P N

    2000-01-01

    The psychiatric status of homeless adults has been described primarily in terms of Axis I disorders. By adding a subset of the Personality Assessment Inventory, this study tests the feasibility and usefulness of a brief, self-administered questionnaire to obtain scores on several dimensions of personality. Cluster analysis sorted 112 tested subjects into four groups characterized by distinct profiles. Two of these were characterized by extreme scores on pathological dimensions of personality (borderline features, antisocial traits, and aggressivity) and differed primarily on the dimension of suicidality. The third reflected moderate levels of personality dysfunction and the fourth did not deviate from adult nonclinical norms. The validity of the clusters was supported by demographic, background, and diagnostic subgroup differences. Brief personality assessment can be a cost-effective approach to matching services with clinical needs of homeless adults by attending to interpersonal dimensions that will likely affect service provision.

  13. Measures for Controlling Spam Messages%垃圾短信控制措施

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    乐炯; 陈信刚; 洪亮

    2016-01-01

    With the rapid development of Short Message Service(SMS)value-added services,spam messages repre-sented by advertising messages and fraud messages are increasing,and therefore the mobile phone user's legitimate rights and interests,as the right to tranquility in life,right to communication freedom and right to privacy,etc. are infringed. In order to effectively control the number of spam messages,the paper comprehensively analyzes spam messages types and their transmitting channels. Some control measures of spam messages,as the function of over-clocking intercept,keyword intercept,black list,white list,differentiated quality of services and SMS signature, etc. are deployed in six important network elements of the spam messages transmitting channels,such as SMS cen-ter,SMS gateway,device for mass messages,Service Provider(SP) platform,SP management platform and industry SMS platform. Through the implementation of the measures for controlling spam messages,complaints on spam messages are relatively reduced,and therefore as mobile phone user's experience improves significantly.%随着短信增值业务的快速发展,以广告短信、欺诈短信为代表的垃圾短信日益增加,手机用户的生活安宁权、通信自由权、隐私权等合法权益受到侵害。为有效控制垃圾短信数量,本文对垃圾短信种类及其发送通道进行了全面梳理分析,在短信中心、短信网关、短信群发器、SP平台、SP管理平台、行业短信平台六个垃圾短信发送通道中的重要网元上部署了超频拦截功能、关键字拦截功能、黑名单功能、白名单功能、差异化服务质量保障功能、短信签名功能等垃圾短信控制措施。通过垃圾短信控制措施的实施,垃圾短信投诉量得到较好的控制,手机用户的感知明显提升。

  14. How brand personality, brand identification and service quality influence service brand equity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sandra Maria Correia Loureiro

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available During the past couple of decades, brand equity has emerged as one of the key concepts in marketing. Literature concerned with consumer brand relationship is calling for more studies in order to increase understanding of brand equity dimensions. Therefore, this study aims to contribute to the existing body of knowledge by examining the strength of relational variables on brand equity perceived by consumers. Findings support the proposed model in the service industry revealing that brand loyalty, brand identification, trust, brand personality and brand awareness are the variables that have a greatest impact on brand equity. Thus, this study is the first to measure the strength of assorted relational variables, and variables related with identification and personality on brand equity for brands in the service industry. In this vein, brand managers should be aware of the importance of building a brand regarding the way they communicate the features of the brand.

  15. Relationships between personality, emotional labor, work engagement and job satisfaction in service professions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mróz, Justyna; Kaleta, Kinga

    2016-01-01

    Although there have been studies linking personality to selected aspects of functioning at work, Polish literature reports a shortage of detailed analyses considering, e.g., specific professional groups or certain variables. The aim of our study was to explore the links between personality traits and emotional labor, work engagement and job satisfaction among service workers. The study was based on a cross-sectional, self-report survey of 137 workers representing different service industries in Poland. Each participant received a demographic data sheet and a set of questionnaires: NEO Five-Factor Inventory, the Deep Acting and Surface Acting Scale, the Job Satisfaction Scale and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale - all in their Polish versions. A correlation analysis revealed numerous relationships between the examined variables. However, results of the regression analysis showed that only some personality traits were related with individual aspects of functioning at work. Neuroticism accounted for the phenomenon of faking emotions. Conscientiousness was significantly related to general work engagement, vigor and dedication. Agreeableness and neuroticism significantly predicted job satisfaction. Individual personality traits account for various aspects of work functioning. Int J Occup Med Environ Health 2016;29(5):767-782. This work is available in Open Access model and licensed under a CC BY-NC 3.0 PL license.

  16. Relationships between personality, emotional labor, work engagement and job satisfaction in service professions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Justyna Mróz

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available Objectives: Although there have been studies linking personality to selected aspects of functioning at work, Polish literature reports a shortage of detailed analyses considering, e.g., specific professional groups or certain variables. The aim of our study was to explore the links between personality traits and emotional labor, work engagement and job satisfaction among service workers. Material and Methods: The study was based on a cross-sectional, self-report survey of 137 workers representing different service industries in Poland. Each participant received a demographic data sheet and a set of questionnaires: NEO Five-Factor Inventory, the Deep Acting and Surface Acting Scale, the Job Satisfaction Scale and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale – all in their Polish versions. Results: A correlation analysis revealed numerous relationships between the examined variables. However, results of the regression analysis showed that only some personality traits were related with individual aspects of functioning at work. Neuroticism accounted for the phenomenon of faking emotions. Conscientiousness was significantly related to general work engagement, vigor and dedication. Agreeableness and neuroticism significantly predicted job satisfaction. Conclusions: Individual personality traits account for various aspects of work functioning. Int J Occup Med Environ Health 2016;29(5:767–782

  17. Gendered, Bilingual Communication Practices: Mobile text-messaging among Hong Kong College Students

    OpenAIRE

    Angel Lin

    2005-01-01

    Mobile text messaging—variously known as SMS (short message service), text messaging, or texting—has become a common means of keeping in constant touch, especially among young people, in many parts of the world today. The research literature abounds with studies on the social, cultural, and communicative aspects of mobile text messaging in different sociocultural contexts in the world. In this paper, current theoretical positions in the research literature on mobile communication will be summ...

  18. Quantum signature scheme for known quantum messages

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Taewan; Lee, Hyang-Sook

    2015-01-01

    When we want to sign a quantum message that we create, we can use arbitrated quantum signature schemes which are possible to sign for not only known quantum messages but also unknown quantum messages. However, since the arbitrated quantum signature schemes need the help of a trusted arbitrator in each verification of the signature, it is known that the schemes are not convenient in practical use. If we consider only known quantum messages such as the above situation, there can exist a quantum signature scheme with more efficient structure. In this paper, we present a new quantum signature scheme for known quantum messages without the help of an arbitrator. Differing from arbitrated quantum signature schemes based on the quantum one-time pad with the symmetric key, since our scheme is based on quantum public-key cryptosystems, the validity of the signature can be verified by a receiver without the help of an arbitrator. Moreover, we show that our scheme provides the functions of quantum message integrity, user authentication and non-repudiation of the origin as in digital signature schemes. (paper)

  19. Text Messaging Interventions on Cancer Screening Rates: A Systematic Review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Uy, Catherine; Lopez, Jennifer; Trinh-Shevrin, Chau; Kwon, Simona C; Sherman, Scott E; Liang, Peter S

    2017-08-24

    Despite high-quality evidence demonstrating that screening reduces mortality from breast, cervical, colorectal, and lung cancers, a substantial portion of the population remains inadequately screened. There is a critical need to identify interventions that increase the uptake and adoption of evidence-based screening guidelines for preventable cancers at the community practice level. Text messaging (short message service, SMS) has been effective in promoting behavioral change in various clinical settings, but the overall impact and reach of text messaging interventions on cancer screening are unknown. The objective of this systematic review was to assess the effect of text messaging interventions on screening for breast, cervical, colorectal, and lung cancers. We searched multiple databases for studies published between the years 2000 and 2017, including PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library, to identify controlled trials that measured the effect of text messaging on screening for breast, cervical, colorectal, or lung cancers. Study quality was evaluated using the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Our search yielded 2238 citations, of which 31 underwent full review and 9 met inclusion criteria. Five studies examined screening for breast cancer, one for cervical cancer, and three for colorectal cancer. No studies were found for lung cancer screening. Absolute screening rates for individuals who received text message interventions were 0.6% to 15.0% higher than for controls. Unadjusted relative screening rates for text message recipients were 4% to 63% higher compared with controls. Text messaging interventions appear to moderately increase screening rates for breast and cervical cancer and may have a small effect on colorectal cancer screening. Benefit was observed in various countries, including resource-poor and non-English-speaking populations. Given the paucity of data, additional research is needed to better quantify the effectiveness of this promising intervention

  20. Adaptive Beaconing in Mobility Aware Clustering Based MAC Protocol for Safety Message Dissemination in VANET

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nishu Gupta

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Majority of research contributions in wireless access in vehicular environment (WAVE/IEEE 802.11p standard focus on life critical safety-related applications. These applications require regular status update of vehicle’s position referred to as beaconing. Periodic beaconing in vehicle to vehicle communication leads to severe network congestion in the communication channel. The condition worsens under high vehicular density where it impacts reliability and upper bound latency of safety messages. In this paper, WAVE compliant enhancement to the existing IEEE 802.11p protocol is presented which targets prioritized delivery of safety messages while simultaneously provisioning the dissemination of nonsafety messages. Proposed scheme relies on dynamic generation of beacons to mitigate channel congestion and inefficient bandwidth utilization by reducing transmission frequency of beacons. Through the use of clustering mechanism, different beaconing frequencies and different data transmission rates are assigned to prioritize vehicular mobility. Through extensive simulation results, the performance of the proposed approach is evaluated in terms of a wide range of quality of service (QoS parameters for two different transmission ranges. Results show that the proposed protocol provides significant enhancement and stability of the clustered topology in vehicular ad hoc network over existing standard and other protocols with similar applications.

  1. 76 FR 52378 - Privacy Act; System of Records: State-76, Personal Services Contractor Records

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-08-22

    ... Services Contractor Records SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that the Department of State proposes to create a new system of records, Personal Services Contractor Records, State-76, pursuant to the provisions... July 20, 2011. It is proposed that the new system be named ``Personal Services Contractor Records.'' It...

  2. Personalizing a Service Robot by Learning Human Habits from Behavioral Footprints

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kun Li

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available For a domestic personal robot, personalized services are as important as predesigned tasks, because the robot needs to adjust the home state based on the operator's habits. An operator's habits are composed of cues, behaviors, and rewards. This article introduces behavioral footprints to describe the operator's behaviors in a house, and applies the inverse reinforcement learning technique to extract the operator's habits, represented by a reward function. We implemented the proposed approach with a mobile robot on indoor temperature adjustment, and compared this approach with a baseline method that recorded all the cues and behaviors of the operator. The result shows that the proposed approach allows the robot to reveal the operator's habits accurately and adjust the environment state accordingly.

  3. Mobile phone messaging for communicating results of medical investigations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gurol-Urganci, Ipek; de Jongh, Thyra; Vodopivec-Jamsek, Vlasta; Car, Josip; Atun, Rifat

    2012-06-13

    Mobile phone messaging, such as Short Message Service (SMS) and Multimedia Message Service (MMS), has rapidly grown into a mode of communication with a wide range of applications, including communicating the results from medical investigations to patients. Alternative modes of communication of results include face-to-face communication, postal messages, calls to landlines or mobile phones, through web-based health records and email. Possible advantages of mobile phone messaging include convenience to both patients and healthcare providers, reduced waiting times for health services and healthcare costs. To assess the effects of mobile phone messaging for communicating results of medical investigations, on people's healthcare-seeking behaviour and health outcomes. Secondary objectives include assessment of participants' evaluation of the intervention, direct and indirect healthcare costs and possible risks and harms associated with the intervention. We searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL, The Cochrane Library 2009, Issue 2), MEDLINE (OvidSP) (January 1993 to June 2009), EMBASE (OvidSP) (January 1993 to June 2009), PsycINFO (OvidSP) (January 1993 to June 2009), CINAHL (EbscoHOST) (January 1993 to June 2009), LILACS (January 1993 to June 2009) and African Health Anthology (January 1993 to June 2009). We also reviewed grey literature (including trial registers) and reference lists of articles. We included randomised controlled trials (RCTs), quasi-randomised controlled trials (QRCTs), controlled before-after (CBA) studies, or interrupted time series (ITS) studies with at least three time points before and after the intervention. We included studies assessing mobile phone messaging for communicating results of medical tests, between a healthcare provider or 'treatment buddy' and patient. We only included studies in which it was possible to assess the effects of mobile phone messaging independent of other technologies or interventions.

  4. Geometric data perturbation-based personal health record transactions in cloud computing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balasubramaniam, S; Kavitha, V

    2015-01-01

    Cloud computing is a new delivery model for information technology services and it typically involves the provision of dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources over the Internet. However, cloud computing raises concerns on how cloud service providers, user organizations, and governments should handle such information and interactions. Personal health records represent an emerging patient-centric model for health information exchange, and they are outsourced for storage by third parties, such as cloud providers. With these records, it is necessary for each patient to encrypt their own personal health data before uploading them to cloud servers. Current techniques for encryption primarily rely on conventional cryptographic approaches. However, key management issues remain largely unsolved with these cryptographic-based encryption techniques. We propose that personal health record transactions be managed using geometric data perturbation in cloud computing. In our proposed scheme, the personal health record database is perturbed using geometric data perturbation and outsourced to the Amazon EC2 cloud.

  5. Geometric Data Perturbation-Based Personal Health Record Transactions in Cloud Computing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balasubramaniam, S.; Kavitha, V.

    2015-01-01

    Cloud computing is a new delivery model for information technology services and it typically involves the provision of dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources over the Internet. However, cloud computing raises concerns on how cloud service providers, user organizations, and governments should handle such information and interactions. Personal health records represent an emerging patient-centric model for health information exchange, and they are outsourced for storage by third parties, such as cloud providers. With these records, it is necessary for each patient to encrypt their own personal health data before uploading them to cloud servers. Current techniques for encryption primarily rely on conventional cryptographic approaches. However, key management issues remain largely unsolved with these cryptographic-based encryption techniques. We propose that personal health record transactions be managed using geometric data perturbation in cloud computing. In our proposed scheme, the personal health record database is perturbed using geometric data perturbation and outsourced to the Amazon EC2 cloud. PMID:25767826

  6. Geometric Data Perturbation-Based Personal Health Record Transactions in Cloud Computing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. Balasubramaniam

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Cloud computing is a new delivery model for information technology services and it typically involves the provision of dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources over the Internet. However, cloud computing raises concerns on how cloud service providers, user organizations, and governments should handle such information and interactions. Personal health records represent an emerging patient-centric model for health information exchange, and they are outsourced for storage by third parties, such as cloud providers. With these records, it is necessary for each patient to encrypt their own personal health data before uploading them to cloud servers. Current techniques for encryption primarily rely on conventional cryptographic approaches. However, key management issues remain largely unsolved with these cryptographic-based encryption techniques. We propose that personal health record transactions be managed using geometric data perturbation in cloud computing. In our proposed scheme, the personal health record database is perturbed using geometric data perturbation and outsourced to the Amazon EC2 cloud.

  7. Acceptability, language, and structure of text message-based behavioral interventions for high-risk adolescent females: a qualitative study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ranney, Megan L; Choo, Esther K; Cunningham, Rebecca M; Spirito, Anthony; Thorsen, Margaret; Mello, Michael J; Morrow, Kathleen

    2014-07-01

    To elucidate key elements surrounding acceptability/feasibility, language, and structure of a text message-based preventive intervention for high-risk adolescent females. We recruited high-risk 13- to 17-year-old females screening positive for past-year peer violence and depressive symptoms, during emergency department visits for any chief complaint. Participants completed semistructured interviews exploring preferences around text message preventive interventions. Interviews were conducted by trained interviewers, audio-recorded, and transcribed verbatim. A coding structure was iteratively developed using thematic and content analysis. Each transcript was double coded. NVivo 10 was used to facilitate analysis. Saturation was reached after 20 interviews (mean age 15.4; 55% white; 40% Hispanic; 85% with cell phone access). (1) Acceptability/feasibility themes: A text-message intervention was felt to support and enhance existing coping strategies. Participants had a few concerns about privacy and cost. Peer endorsement may increase uptake. (2) Language themes: Messages should be simple and positive. Tone should be conversational but not slang filled. (3) Structural themes: Messages may be automated but must be individually tailored on a daily basis. Both predetermined (automatic) and as-needed messages are requested. Dose and timing of content should be varied according to participants' needs. Multimedia may be helpful but is not necessary. High-risk adolescent females seeking emergency department care are enthusiastic about a text message-based preventive intervention. Incorporating thematic results on language and structure can inform development of future text messaging interventions for adolescent girls. Concerns about cost and privacy may be able to be addressed through the process of recruitment and introduction to the intervention. Copyright © 2014 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  8. Multiparty quantum secret sharing of classical messages based on entanglement swapping

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang Zhanjun; Man Zhongxiao

    2005-01-01

    A multiparty quantum secret sharing (QSS) protocol of classical messages (i.e., classical bits) is proposed by using swapping quantum entanglement of Bell states. The secret messages are imposed on Bell states by local unitary operations. The secret messages are split into several parts, and each part is distributed to a separate party so that no action of a subset of all the parties without the cooperation of the entire group is able to read out the secret messages. In addition, dense coding is used in this protocol to achieve a high efficiency. The security of the present multiparty QSS against eavesdropping has been analyzed and confirmed even in a noisy quantum channel

  9. Text Messaging for Enhancement of Testing and Treatment for Tuberculosis, Human Immunodeficiency Virus, and Syphilis: A Survey of Attitudes Toward Cellular Phones and Healthcare

    Science.gov (United States)

    Person, Anna K.; Blain, Michela L.M.; Jiang, Helen; Rasmussen, Petra W.

    2011-01-01

    Abstract Objectives: The objective of this study was to assess knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors surrounding healthcare-related mobile phone use and text messaging among persons at risk for or infected with tuberculosis (TB) or the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Methods: An anonymous survey was conducted in three groups of subjects: (1) HIV-infected persons attending an HIV clinic; (2) persons with latent TB infection at a public health clinic; and (3) persons presenting for TB, HIV, and syphilis screening at a community screening site. Results: Three hundred fifteen (n  = 315) persons responded to the survey, of whom 241 (76.5%) owned a cell phone. Cell phone owners were younger and more educated than nonowners. Transportation difficulty and forgetting appointments were cited as significant barriers by 34.2% and 39.5% of respondents, respectively. Fifty-six percent of subjects felt it would be acceptable to receive text message appointment reminders, and 33% felt that text message reminders to take medications would be acceptable. Younger age and cell phone ownership were significantly associated with acceptance of text message reminders. Black and Hispanic subjects were more likely to feel that text message reminders for appointments or medications were helpful than White subjects. Further, Black and Hispanic subjects, as well as subjects with lower educational attainment, were more receptive to healthcare-related educational text messages. Conclusions: Cell phones and text messaging were prevalent among our subjects attending HIV and TB clinics, and subjects were generally receptive to text messaging for healthcare-related communication. Interventions that explore the potential for text messaging to improve clinic attendance, medication adherence, and health knowledge should be explored. PMID:21457085

  10. A Qualitative Evaluation of Contact Centre Dietitian Support and Electronic Motivational Messaging for eaTracker My Goals Users.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lieffers, Jessica R L; Haresign, Helen; Mehling, Christine; Arocha, Jose F; Hanning, Rhona M

    2018-06-01

    To conduct a qualitative evaluation of adjunct supports (brief motivational messaging regarding goals delivered by email/website, contact centre dietitian assistance) offered by EatRight Ontario (ERO) for users of a website-based nutrition/activity goal setting/tracking feature (eaTracker "My Goals"). One-on-one semi-structured interviews were conducted with My Goals users in Ontario (n = 18) and Alberta (n = 5) recruited via the eaTracker website and ERO contact centre dietitians (n = 5). Interview transcripts were analyzed using content analysis. Participants had mixed experiences and perspectives with ERO motivational messaging. Messages targeted towards specific goals (e.g., tips, recipes) were generally well-liked, and generic messages (e.g., eaTracker login reminders) were less useful. No interviewed users had contacted ERO dietitians regarding goals, and dietitians reported encountering few callers asking for assistance while using My Goals. Limited user knowledge was one explanation for this finding. Participants provided suggestions to enhance these supports. Electronic motivational messaging and contact centre dietitian assistance have the potential to support achievement of goals set with website-based features. When considering using electronic messaging, researchers and practitioners should consider message content and delivery tailoring. Marketing that focuses on how contact centre dietitians can assist website users with their goals is needed when services are used in naturalistic settings.

  11. Positive messaging promotes walking in older adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Notthoff, Nanna; Carstensen, Laura L

    2014-06-01

    Walking is among the most cost-effective and accessible means of exercise. Mounting evidence suggests that walking may help to maintain physical and cognitive independence in old age by preventing a variety of health problems. However, older Americans fall far short of meeting the daily recommendations for walking. In 2 studies, we examined whether considering older adults' preferential attention to positive information may effectively enhance interventions aimed at promoting walking. In Study 1, we compared the effectiveness of positive, negative, and neutral messages to encourage walking (as measured with pedometers). Older adults who were informed about the benefits of walking walked more than those who were informed about the negative consequences of failing to walk, whereas younger adults were unaffected by framing valence. In Study 2, we examined within-person change in walking in older adults in response to positively- or negatively-framed messages over a 28-day period. Once again, positively-framed messages more effectively promoted walking than negatively-framed messages, and the effect was sustained across the intervention period. Together, these studies suggest that consideration of age-related changes in preferences for positive and negative information may inform the design of effective interventions to promote healthy lifestyles. Future research is needed to examine the mechanisms underlying the greater effectiveness of positively- as opposed to negatively-framed messages and the generalizability of findings to other intervention targets and other subpopulations of older adults. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

  12. Advanced Messaging Concept Development Basic Safety Message

    Data.gov (United States)

    Department of Transportation — Contains all Basic Safety Messages (BSMs) collected during the Advanced Messaging Concept Development (AMCD) field testing program. For this project, all of the Part...

  13. The persuasive power of oral health promotion messages: a theory of planned behavior approach to dental checkups among young adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anderson, Christina N; Noar, Seth M; Rogers, Brandi D

    2013-01-01

    Although routine dental checkups are important for both oral and overall health, several factors influence young adults' use or nonuse of dental services. The two studies included in this report tested the theory of reasoned action (TRA), the theory of planned behavior (TPB), and an expanded TPB model in predicting young adults' routine dental checkups. Additionally, the study tested the perceived message effectiveness of TPB-based messages. Results support the use of an expanded TPB model (particularly adding satisfaction with the dentist and environmental constraints to the traditional model) for an understanding of routine dental checkup intention and behavior, and, most notably, provide support for the use of subjective norm-based messages to prompt dental checkups. This study lays the groundwork for a health communication campaign encouraging routine dental checkups among young adults. The use of targeting and tailoring to design effective oral health media campaign messages is discussed.

  14. [First year results of "APAAC infos services"].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Didi-Kouko Coulibaly, Judith; Aka Dago-Akribi, Hortense; Oyoua, Blandine; Koffi-Gnagne, Yolande; Adoubi, Innocent; Echimane, Kouassi Antoine

    2013-02-01

    In Ivory Coast, the APAAC association "Let us help persons living with cancer or affected by cancer", in French "Aidons les Personnes Atteintes ou Affectées par le Cancer" (APAAC), set up the first ivorian call center to support persons living with or affected by cancer and to inform population about cancer. To show the feasibility of such a service in a developing country and to present the first results. This helpline is, since January 28th, 2010, directly accessible to the population by a fixed phone number. The population can, with a local cost call, contact a specialists team (psychologist, adviser in help relation or doctor), in total confidentiality, every Thursday from 3 pm till 5 pm. Outside Thursdays, informations about cancer are available on vocal server 24 hours a day and seven days a week. Callers are welcomed by a message inviting them either to listen to a recorded message about cancer or about APAAC association or finally to speak to a specialist online. Retrospective study based on the statistics of the call center. Because of a problem arisen on the statistics software, our results carry only over the period from August to December, 2010. We had, during this period, 462 calls among which 23 in August, 58 in September, 67 in October, 230 in November and 84 in December. Reasons of the increasing of the figures are justify by the poster campaign in September and the communication around the service on television program in November. On these 462 calls, we had 35 real communications among whom 10 calls interrupted. The reason was the lack of call credit. The average of the call time was of 20 minutes for the conversations with the specialists. Three hundred and forty-three persons stopped to the welcome message, 341 (9%) listen information on the cancer, 27 (6%) listen information about the association. Sixteen persons wished to speak to specialists but were not regrettably able to make it because having called up except the hours of presence. Three

  15. Interprofessional education for personalized medicine through technology-based learning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haga, Susanne B; Mills, Rachel; Aucoin, Julia; Taekman, Jeff

    2015-06-01

    The delivery of personalized medicine utilizing genetic and genomic technologies is anticipated to involve many medical specialties. Interprofessional education will be key to the delivery of personalized medicine in order to reduce disjointed or uncoordinated clinical care, and optimize effective communication to promote patient understanding and engagement regarding the use of or need for these services. While several health professional organizations have endorsed and/or developed core competencies for genetics and genomics, the lack of interprofessional guidelines and training may hamper the delivery of coordinated personalized medicine. In this perspective, we consider the potential for interprofessional education and training using technology-based approaches, such as virtual simulation and gaming, compared with traditional educational approaches.

  16. Short message service prompted mouth self-examination in oral cancer patients as an alternative to frequent hospital-based surveillance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vaishampayan, Sagar; Malik, Akshat; Pawar, Prashant; Arya, Kavi; Chaturvedi, Pankaj

    2017-01-01

    Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) are amongst commonest cancer in the Indian sub-continent. After treatment, these patients require frequent followup to look for recurrences/second primary. Mouth Self Examination (MSE) has a great potential in all levels of prevention of oral cancer. However, the compliance to self-examination has been reported as poor. Mobile phone is a cheap and effective way to reach out to people. Short Message Service (SMS) is extremely popular can be a very effective motivational and interactive tool in health care setting. We aimed to identify in adequately treated OSCC patients, the influence of health provider initiated SMS on the compliance to the MSE and to establish the efficacy of MSE by comparing patients' MSE interpretation via replies to the SMS with that of the experts' opinion on clinical examination status during follow up. We conclude that MSE can be very useful in adequately treated OSCC patients for evaluating disease status. All treated OSCC patients must be adequately educated for MSE as an integral part of treatment & follow-up protocol by the health provider facility. Health provider generated SMS reminders do improve motivation and compliance towards MSE but don't seem to reduce dropouts in follow up for large and diverse population like that in India.

  17. Effects of messages emphasizing environmental determinants of obesity on intentions to engage in diet and exercise behaviors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Niederdeppe, Jeff; Roh, Sungjong; Shapiro, Michael A; Kim, Hye Kyung

    2013-12-12

    Reducing rates of obesity will require interventions that influence both individual decisions and environmental factors through changes in public policy. Previous work indicates that messages emphasizing environmental determinants increases support for public policies, but some suspect this strategy may undermine motivation to engage in diet and exercise. Study 1 involved 485 adults recruited from a shopping mall in New York. Study 2 involved 718 adult members of a Web-based national panel of US adults. Respondents in both studies were randomly assigned to read a story that emphasized environmental determinants of health or a control condition. The stories varied in the extent to which they described the story character as taking personal responsibility for weight management. Logistic regression and ordered logit models were used to test for differences in intentions to engage in diet and exercise behaviors based on which story the participant read. Analyses were also performed separately by participants' weight status. In both studies, messages that acknowledged personal responsibility while emphasizing environmental causes of obesity increased intentions to engage in healthy behavior for at least 1 weight status group. Emphasizing factors outside of personal control appears to enhance rather than undermine motivations to engage in healthy diet and exercise behavior.

  18. A study of the NRPB fast neutron personal monitoring service

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bartlett, D.T.; Knight, A.; Marshall, T.O.

    1975-10-01

    The NRPB Fast Neutron Personal Monitoring Service has been reviewed and modifications have been, or are being, introduced to improve the accuracy and reliability of the nuclear emulsion dosemeter employed by the Service. This report presents the conclusions of the study. Experimental results of the investigations undertaken in the course of this study, together with full details of the dosemeter and Service, are appended. (author)

  19. RSS based CERN Alerter. Information broadcast to all CERN offices.

    CERN Multimedia

    Otto, R

    2007-01-01

    Nearly every large organization uses a tool to broadcast messages and information across the internal campus (messages like alerts announcing interruption in services or just information about upcoming events). These tools typically allow administrators (operators) to send "targeted" messages which are sent only to specific groups of users or computers, e/g only those located in a specified building or connected to a particular computing service. CERN has a long history of such tools: CERNVMS€™s SPM_quotMESSAGE command, Zephyr and the most recent the NICE Alerter based on the NNTP protocol. The NICE Alerter used on all Windows-based computers had to be phased out as a consequence of phasing out NNTP at CERN. The new solution to broadcast information messages on the CERN campus continues to provide the service based on cross-platform technologies, hence minimizing custom developments and relying on commercial software as much as possible. The new system, called CERN Alerter, is based on RSS (Really Simpl...

  20. Integrating Personalized and Community Services for Mobile Travel Planning and Management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Chien-Chih

    Personalized and community services have been noted as keys to enhance and facilitate e-tourism as well as mobile applications. This paper aims at proposing an integrated service framework for combining personalized and community functions to support mobile travel planning and management. Major mobile tourism related planning and decision support functions specified include personalized profile management, information search and notification, evaluation and recommendation, do-it-yourself planning and design, community and collaboration management, auction and negotiation, transaction and payment, as well as trip tracking and quality control. A system implementation process with an example prototype is also presented for illustrating the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed system framework, process model, and development methodology.

  1. THE USE OF RELEVANT FACTORS FOR CONSUMERS IN DESIGNING A COMMUNICATIONAL MESSAGE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Olimpia OANCEA

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Today, organizations must adapt to the new realities of the environment in which they operate, and their efforts must be increasingly more oriented towards identifying the factors that influence consumer behavior, in particular economic, social and psychological aspects. When consumers are acting on incomplete information base, they assume automatically a risk for each purchasing decision. The size of the risk decreases depending on the quantity and relevance of information transmitted through communicational messages. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to highlight the factors that should be taken into account when designing a communicational message, so that this has to have the ability to change consumer attitudes and to keep constant interest to the products and / or services of a company.

  2. Hand hygiene posters: motivators or mixed messages?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jenner, E A; Jones, F; Fletcher, B C; Miller, L; Scott, G M

    2005-07-01

    Poster campaigns regarding hand hygiene are commonly used by infection control teams to improve practice, yet little is known of the extent to which they are based on established theory or research. This study reports on the content analysis of hand hygiene posters (N=69) and their messages (N=75) using message-framing theory. The results showed that posters seldom drew on knowledge about effective ways to frame messages. Frequently, they simply conveyed information 'telling' rather than 'selling' and some of this was confusing. Most posters were not designed to motivate, and some conveyed mixed messages. Few used fear appeals. Hand hygiene posters could have a greater impact if principles of message framing were utilized in their design. Suggestions for gain-framed messages are offered, but these need to be tested empirically.

  3. Randomized trial of a smartphone mobile application compared to text messaging to support smoking cessation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buller, David B; Borland, Ron; Bettinghaus, Erwin P; Shane, James H; Zimmerman, Donald E

    2014-03-01

    Text messaging has successfully supported smoking cessation. This study compares a mobile application with text messaging to support smoking cessation. Young adult smokers 18-30 years old (n = 102) participated in a randomized pretest-posttest trial. Smokers received a smartphone application (REQ-Mobile) with short messages and interactive tools or a text messaging system (onQ), managed by an expert system. Self-reported usability of REQ-Mobile and quitting behavior (quit attempts, point-prevalence, 30-day point-prevalence, and continued abstinence) were assessed in posttests. Overall, 60% of smokers used mobile services (REQ-Mobile, 61%, mean of 128.5 messages received; onQ, 59%, mean of 107.8 messages), and 75% evaluated REQ-Mobile as user-friendly. A majority of smokers reported being abstinent at posttest (6 weeks, 53% of completers; 12 weeks, 66% of completers [44% of all cases]). Also, 37% (25%of all cases) reported 30-day point-prevalence abstinence, and 32% (22% of all cases) reported continuous abstinence at 12 weeks. OnQ produced more abstinence (ptext messaging. Text messaging may work better because it is simple, well known, and delivered to a primary inbox. These advantages may disappear as smokers become more experienced with new handsets. Mobile phones may be promising delivery platforms for cessation services using either smartphone applications or text messaging.

  4. Countering Islamic State Messaging Through “Linkage-Based” Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J.M. Berger

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available The Islamic State’s recent losses on the battlefield, including significant casualties within its media and propaganda division, offer a unique opportunity to inject competing and alternative messages into the information space. This paper proposes that the content of such messages should be guided by a linkage-based analysis of existing Islamic State messaging. A linkage-based analysis of a top-level 2017 audio message by Islamic State spokesperson Abu Hasan al Muhajir offers several potential insights into crafting effective content for competing and alternative messages. A comparison of the 2017 work to earlier Islamic State messaging also reveals specific opportunities to undermine the credibility of the organisation’s broader propaganda programme by highlighting the organisation’s repeated failure to follow through on its extravagantly promised commitment to achieving its stated goals.

  5. Smartphone text message service to foster hand hygiene compliance in health care workers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kerbaj, Jad; Toure, Youssoupha; Soto Aladro, Alberto; Boudjema, Sophia; Giorgi, Roch; Dufour, Jean Charles; Brouqui, Philippe

    2017-03-01

    Health care-associated infections are a major worldwide public health issue. Hand hygiene is a major component in the prevention of pathogen transmission in hospitals, and hand hygiene adherence by health care workers is low in many studies. We report an intervention using text messages as reminders and feedback to improve hand hygiene adherence. The study is a historical comparison proof-of-concept study. Eighteen health care workers were monitored during 12 months by a radiofrequency identification system. Afterward we sent 2 types of text messages, congratulation or encouragement, and we studied the evolution of hand hygiene adherence. We recorded 15,723 hand hygiene opportunities, 8,973 before intervention and 6,750 during and after the intervention. Using a multilevel logistic regression analysis, we found a significant increase in hand hygiene adherence during the intervention (odds ratio, 1.68) compared with the historical period. Despite limitations due to the type of study, a text message encouraging personnel to be more vigilant is effective in increasing hand hygiene adherence in health care workers. Text message feedback should be incorporated into multimodal approaches for improving hand hygiene compliance. Copyright © 2017 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  6. 'MATRI-SUMAN' a capacity building and text messaging intervention to enhance maternal and child health service utilization among pregnant women from rural Nepal: study protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, Jitendra Kumar; Kadel, Rajendra; Acharya, Dilaram; Lombard, Daniel; Khanal, Saval; Singh, Shri Prakash

    2018-06-14

    Capacity development of health volunteers and text messaging to pregnant women through mobile phones have shown improved maternal and child health (MCH) outcomes and is associated with increased utilisation of MCH services. However, such interventions are uncommon in Nepal. We aim to carry out an intervention with the hypothesis that capacity building and text messaging intervention will increase the MCH service utilisation. MATRI-SUMAN is a 12-month cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT). The trial involves pregnant women from 52 clusters of six village development committees (VDCs) covering 66,000 populations of Dhanusha district of Nepal. In the intervention clusters, Female Community Health Volunteers (FCHVs) will receive capacity development skills through reinforcement training, supervision and monitoring skills for the promotion of health seeking behaviour among pregnant women and study participants will receive periodic promotional text messaging service about MCH components through mobile phones. A sample of 354with equal numbers in each study arm is estimated using power calculation formula. The primary outcomes of this study are the rate of utilization of skilled birth attendants and consumption of a specified diversified meal. The secondary outcomes are: four antenatal (ANC) visits, weight gain of women during pregnancy, delivery of a baby at the health facility, postnatal care (PNC) visits, positive changes in child feeding practices among mothers, performance of FCHVs in MCH service utilization. The intervention is designed to enhance the capacity of health volunteers for the promotion of health seeking behaviour among pregnant women and text messaging through a mobile phone to expecting mothers to increase MCH service utilization. The trial if proven effective will have policy implications in poor resource settings. ISRCTN60684155, ( https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN60684155 ). The trial was registered retrospectively.

  7. Personalization and perceived personal relevance in computer-tailored persuasion in smoking cessation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dijkstra, Arie; Ballast, Karien

    2012-02-01

    In most computer-tailored interventions, the recipient's name is used to personalize the information. This is done to increase the process of persuasion but few empirical data exist that support this notion. An experimental laboratory study was conducted to test the effects of mentioning the participants name and to study whether it was related to the depth of processing in a 2 (personalization/standard) × 2 (weak/strong arguments) design. Over 120 student smokers were randomly assigned to one of the four experimental conditions in which they read smoking cessation messages offering (pre-tested) strong or weak arguments. Personalization was applied by mentioning the recipient's first name three times in the text. The intention to quit smoking was the dependent variable. Personalization increased persuasion when perceived personal relevance was high, but it decreased persuasion when perceived personal relevance was low. The effects on persuasion were only present in the case of strong arguments. Personalization is not always effective, and it may even lead to less persuasion. Therefore, this often used way to tailor messages must be applied with care. ©2011 The British Psychological Society.

  8. Factors influencing message dissemination through social media

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zheng, Zeyu; Yang, Huancheng; Fu, Yang; Fu, Dianzheng; Podobnik, Boris; Stanley, H. Eugene

    2018-06-01

    Online social networks strongly impact our daily lives. An internet user (a "Netizen") wants messages to be efficiently disseminated. The susceptible-infected-recovered (SIR) dissemination model is the traditional tool for exploring the spreading mechanism of information diffusion. We here test our SIR-based dissemination model on open and real-world data collected from Twitter. We locate and identify phase transitions in the message dissemination process. We find that message content is a stronger factor than the popularity of the sender. We also find that the probability that a message will be forwarded has a threshold that affects its ability to spread, and when the probability is above the threshold the message quickly achieves mass dissemination.

  9. Designing Tailored Messages about Smoking and Breast Cancer: A Focus Group Study with Youth.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bottorff, Joan L; Haines-Saah, Rebecca; Oliffe, John L; Struik, Laura L; Bissell, Laura J L; Richardson, Chris P; Gotay, Carolyn; Johnson, Kenneth C; Hutchinson, Peter

    2014-03-01

    The purpose of this study was to design an approach to supporting the development of gender- and Aboriginal-specific messages regarding the link between tobacco exposure and breast cancer, drawing on youth perspectives. Focus groups were held with 18 girls (8 First Nations and Métis) and 25 boys (12 First Nations and Métis) to solicit advice in the design of messages. Transcribed data were analyzed for themes. Girls preferred messages that included the use of novel images, a personal story of breast cancer, and ways to avoid secondhand smoke. Boys endorsed messages that were "catchy" but not "cheesy" and had masculine themes. First Nations and Métis participants confirmed the use of Aboriginal symbols in messages as signalling their relevance to youth in their communities. The results can be used as a guide in developing tailored health promotion messages. Challenges in developing gender-appropriate messages for youth are described. Copyright© by Ingram School of Nursing, McGill University.

  10. Barriers to care and service needs among chronically homeless persons in a housing first program.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parker, R David; Albrecht, Helmut A

    2012-01-01

    In 2010, more than 600,000 people in the United States experienced homelessness. Efficient and cost-effective housing methods that reduce homelessness need to be implemented. Housing Ready programs are the standard method that often has set requirements including earned income and sobriety, among others. These programs enable a subset of the homeless to become housed. However, chronically homeless persons, who use the most resources, are often not successful at enrollment or maintaining enrollment. Housing First (H1) is a method focusing on chronically homeless persons. Housing First places a client in housing and provides services after stabilization. This article assessed differences between chronically homeless persons in a H1 program and chronically homeless persons who are not in H1. A case-control study imbedded within a homeless service program collected sociodemographic and service variables, including access and barriers to care. Although the sample was 100% native English speaking, 22% of homeless persons reported that their providers do not speak their same language. All (100%) of participants had a disabling condition under HUD guidelines, but only 17.78% of homeless controls reported having a disabling condition. There were no differences on housing status based on income, gender, race, or age. The lack of differences between these groups indicates that a H1 program can be a clear derivation from the more common Housing Ready programs that have specific requirements for participation. Provider communication may negatively impact an individual's ability to transition from homelessness. Furthermore, chronically homeless persons not in intensive case management are less likely to understand the eligibility requirements for housing and, therefore, self-disqualify because of this lack of knowledge. Intentional communication and education for chronically homeless persons are 2 examples where case managers could improve the ability of the chronically homeless

  11. Constructing RBAC based security model in u-healthcare service platform.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shin, Moon Sun; Jeon, Heung Seok; Ju, Yong Wan; Lee, Bum Ju; Jeong, Seon-Phil

    2015-01-01

    In today's era of aging society, people want to handle personal health care by themselves in everyday life. In particular, the evolution of medical and IT convergence technology and mobile smart devices has made it possible for people to gather information on their health status anytime and anywhere easily using biometric information acquisition devices. Healthcare information systems can contribute to the improvement of the nation's healthcare quality and the reduction of related cost. However, there are no perfect security models or mechanisms for healthcare service applications, and privacy information can therefore be leaked. In this paper, we examine security requirements related to privacy protection in u-healthcare service and propose an extended RBAC based security model. We propose and design u-healthcare service integration platform (u-HCSIP) applying RBAC security model. The proposed u-HCSIP performs four main functions: storing and exchanging personal health records (PHR), recommending meals and exercise, buying/selling private health information or experience, and managing personal health data using smart devices.

  12. Constructing RBAC Based Security Model in u-Healthcare Service Platform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shin, Moon Sun; Jeon, Heung Seok; Ju, Yong Wan; Lee, Bum Ju; Jeong, Seon-Phil

    2015-01-01

    In today's era of aging society, people want to handle personal health care by themselves in everyday life. In particular, the evolution of medical and IT convergence technology and mobile smart devices has made it possible for people to gather information on their health status anytime and anywhere easily using biometric information acquisition devices. Healthcare information systems can contribute to the improvement of the nation's healthcare quality and the reduction of related cost. However, there are no perfect security models or mechanisms for healthcare service applications, and privacy information can therefore be leaked. In this paper, we examine security requirements related to privacy protection in u-healthcare service and propose an extended RBAC based security model. We propose and design u-healthcare service integration platform (u-HCSIP) applying RBAC security model. The proposed u-HCSIP performs four main functions: storing and exchanging personal health records (PHR), recommending meals and exercise, buying/selling private health information or experience, and managing personal health data using smart devices. PMID:25695104

  13. Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 design, deploy and deliver an enterprise messaging solution

    CERN Document Server

    Winters, Nathan; Blank, Nicolas

    2013-01-01

    Successfully deploy a top-quality Exchange messaging service Rolling out a major messaging service with Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 requires that you not only understand the functionality of this exciting new release, but that you fully grasp all aspects of the larger Exchange server ecosystem as well. This practical book is your best field guide to it all. Written for administrators and consultants in the trenches, this innovative new guide begins with key concepts of Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 and then moves through the recommended practices and processes that are neces

  14. Un/Paid Labor: Medicaid Home and Community Based Services Waivers That Pay Family as Personal Care Providers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Friedman, Carli; Rizzolo, Mary C.

    2016-01-01

    The United States long-term services and supports system is built on largely unpaid (informal) labor. There are a number of benefits to allowing family caregivers to serve as paid personal care providers including better health and satisfaction outcomes, expanded workforces, and cost effectiveness. The purpose of this study was to examine how…

  15. The right place? Users and professionals' constructions of the place's influence on personal recovery in community mental health services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Femdal, Ingrid

    2018-01-01

    Current mental health policy emphasizes the importance of community-based service delivery for people with mental health problems to encompass personal recovery. The aim of this study is to explore how users and professionals construct the place's influence on personal recovery in community mental health services. This is a qualitative, interpretive study based on ten individual, semi-structured interviews with users and professionals, respectively. A discourse analysis inspired by the work of Foucault was used to analyze the interviews. The findings show how place can be constructed as a potential for and as a barrier against recovery. Constructions of the aim of the services matter when choosing a place for the services. Further, constructions of user-professional relationships and flexibility are important in the constructions of an appropriate place for the services. The aim of the service, the user-professional relationship, and flexibility in choosing place were essential in the participants' constructions. To find "the right place" for mental health services was constructed as context-sensitive and complex processes of assessment and co-determination. Trial registration The study is approved by the Regional Committee for Medical Research Ethics, Norway (REK-Midt 2011/2057).

  16. Comparing tailored and untailored text messages for smoking cessation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Skov-Ettrup, L S; Ringgaard, L W; Dalum, P

    2014-01-01

    The aim was to compare the effectiveness of untailored text messages for smoking cessation to tailored text messages delivered at a higher frequency. From February 2007 to August 2009, 2030 users of an internet-based smoking cessation program with optional text message support aged 15-25 years were...... of text messages increases quit rates among young smokers....

  17. [Personalizing the reference level: gold standard to evaluate the quality of service perceived].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodrigo-Rincón, I; Reyes-Pérez, M; Martínez-Lozano, M E

    2014-01-01

    To know the cutoff point at which in-house Nuclear Medicine Department (MND) customers consider that the quality of service is good (personalized cutoff). We conducted a survey of the professionals who had requested at least 5 tests to the Nuclear Medicine Department. A total of 71 doctors responded (response rate: 30%). A question was added to the questionnaire for the user to establish a cutoff point for which they would consider the quality of service as good. The quality non-conformities, areas of improvement and strong points of the six questions measuring the quality of service (Likert scale 0 to 10) were compared with two different thresholds: personalized cutoff and one proposed by the service itself a priori. Test statistics: binomial and Student's t-test for paired data. A cutoff value of 7 was proposed by the service as a reference while 68.1% of respondents suggested a cutoff above 7 points (mean 7.9 points). The 6 elements of perceived quality were considered strong points with the cutoff proposed by the MND, while there were 3 detected with the personalized threshold. Thirteen percent of the answers were nonconformities with the service cutoff versus 19.2% with the personalized one, the differences being statistically significant (difference 95% CI 6.44%:0,83-12.06). The final image of the perceived quality of an in-house customer is different when using the cutoff established by the Department versus the personalized cutoff given by the respondent. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier España, S.L. and SEMNIM. All rights reserved.

  18. Rancang Bangun Sistem Pemantauan dan Peringatan dini Parameter Lingkungan Mikro Budidaya Tanaman pada Rumah Tanaman Berbasis SMS (Short Message Service

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohamad Solahudin

    2006-12-01

    Full Text Available SMS (Short Message Service is one of technology can be use alternative to develop greenhouse micro climate monitoring and alert system. This technology selected because of simplicity in information access and widely spread use as comunication tools. The purpose of this research is to develop greenhouse Micro Climate Monitoring and Alert System by combining SMS technology, Portable Weather Station and Mobile FBUS V 1.5. System test performance for variouse provider shows the result wihch vary. The results shows that this system can be applied as monitoring and alert system technology. The performance test shows thaht the average of time service from all communication providers is 24,45 second, with 2.65 lag time.

  19. Development of a text messaging system to improve receipt of survivorship care in adolescent and young adult survivors of childhood cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Casillas, Jacqueline; Goyal, Anju; Bryman, Jason; Alquaddoomi, Faisal; Ganz, Patricia A; Lidington, Emma; Macadangdang, Joshua; Estrin, Deborah

    2017-08-01

    This study aimed to develop and examine the acceptability, feasibility, and usability of a text messaging, or Short Message Service (SMS), system for improving the receipt of survivorship care for adolescent and young adult (AYA) survivors of childhood cancer. Researchers developed and refined the text messaging system based on qualitative data from AYA survivors in an iterative three-stage process. In stage 1, a focus group (n = 4) addressed acceptability; in stage 2, key informant interviews (n = 10) following a 6-week trial addressed feasibility; and in stage 3, key informant interviews (n = 23) following a 6-week trial addressed usability. Qualitative data were analyzed using a constant comparative analytic approach exploring in-depth themes. The final system includes programmed reminders to schedule and attend late effect screening appointments, tailored suggestions for community resources for cancer survivors, and messages prompting participant feedback regarding the appointments and resources. Participants found the text messaging system an acceptable form of communication, the screening reminders and feedback prompts feasible for improving the receipt of survivorship care, and the tailored suggestions for community resources usable for connecting survivors to relevant services. Participants suggested supplementing survivorship care visits and forming AYA survivor social networks as future implementations for the text messaging system. The text messaging system may assist AYA survivors by coordinating late effect screening appointments, facilitating a partnership with the survivorship care team, and connecting survivors with relevant community resources. The text messaging system has the potential to improve the receipt of survivorship care.

  20. Gaining competitive advantage in personal dosimetry services through ISO 9001 certification

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Noriah, M.A.

    2005-01-01

    Full text: In Malaysia, the harmonization of dose monitoring for almost 12,000 radiation workers is assigned to the Secondary Standard Dosimetry Laboratory of Malaysian Institute for Nuclear Technology Research, SSDL-MINT. Established in 1980, SSDL-MINT is responsible for improving personal and workplace safety by providing high quality personal dosimetry services. It is important to demonstrate that the performance of personal dosimetry meets recognized standards, to ensure radiation doses to individual workers are within the safe limits and to verify compliance with dose limits. Concern on the quality of personal dosimetry service began to be expressed in 2000. The concern led to the ISO certification, which brought an unprecedented effort characterized by high degree coordination, proper documentation and well trained of personal dosimetry operators. These huge efforts resulted with certification ISO 9002:1994 by the SIRIM International QAS Sdn. Bhd. in January 2002. The adoption of these requirements for the ISO 9002 standard makes routine handling of the process easier, and increases the reliability and effectiveness of the services. This helps to increase the quality and uniformity of personal dosimetry. The revision of the ISO 9002:1994 to ISO 9001:2000 necessitated SSDL-MINT revising its quality management system. The work began in middle 2002, and by May 2003, SSDL-MINT has been upgraded to ISO 9001:2000. Certification to the ISO 9001:2000 demonstrates our ability to consistency provide service that meets the requirements of the customer and the regulatory authority. These includes: improved consistency of service / product performance and therefore higher customer satisfaction levels; uniformity in work processes across organizations; simplified and more uniform structure for quality documents; improved customer perception of the organizations image, culture and performance; reduced number of product and process non-conformances; greater employee

  1. Are you Scared Yet?: Evaluating Fear Appeal Messages in Tweets about the Tips Campaign

    OpenAIRE

    Emery, Sherry L.; Szczypka, Glen; Abril, Eulàlia Puig; Kim, Yoonsang; Vera, Lisa

    2014-01-01

    In March 2012, the CDC launched “Tips from Former Smokers,” a $54 million national campaign featuring individuals experiencing long-term health consequences of smoking. The campaign approach was based on strong evidence that anti-tobacco ads portraying fear, graphic images, and personal testimonials are associated with attitudinal and behavior change. Yet it was also controversial; critics cited the danger that viewers might reject such intensely graphic messages. Tasked with informing this d...

  2. An intelligent tele-healthcare environment offering person-centric and wellness-maintenance services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abidi, S S

    2001-06-01

    Worldwide healthcare delivery trends are undergoing a subtle paradigm shift--patient centered services as opposed to provider centered services and wellness maintenance as opposed to illness management. In this paper we present a Tele-Healthcare project TIDE--Tele-Healthcare Information and Diagnostic Environment. TIDE manifests an 'intelligent' healthcare environment that aims to ensure lifelong coverage of person-specific health maintenance decision-support services--i.e., both wellness maintenance and illness management services--ubiquitously available via the Internet/WWW. Taking on an all-encompassing health maintenance role--spanning from wellness to illness issues--the functionality of TIDE involves the generation and delivery of (a) Personalized, Pro-active, Persistent, Perpetual, and Present wellness maintenance services, and (b) remote diagnostic services for managing noncritical illnesses. Technically, TIDE is an amalgamation of diverse computer technologies--Artificial Intelligence, Internet, Multimedia, Databases, and Medical Informatics--to implement a sophisticated healthcare delivery infostructure.

  3. Using short-message-service notification as a method to improve acute flaccid paralysis surveillance in Papua New Guinea

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Siddhartha Sankar Datta

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background High quality acute flaccid paralysis (AFP surveillance is required to maintain polio-free status of a country. Papua New Guinea (PNG is considered as one of the highest risk countries for polio re-importation and circulation in the Western Pacific Region (WPRO of the World Health Organization due to poor healthcare infrastructure and inadequate performance in AFP surveillance. The Government of PNG, in collaboration with WHO, piloted the introduction of short-message-service (SMS to sensitize pediatricians and provincial disease control officers on AFP and to receive notification of possible AFP cases to improve surveillance quality in PNG. Methods Ninety six health care professionals were registered to receive SMS reminders to report any case of acute flaccid paralysis. Fourteen SMS messages were sent to each participant from September 2012 to November 2013. The number of reported AFP cases were compared before and after the introduction of SMS. Results Two hundred fifty three unique responses were received with an overall response rate of 21 %. More than 80 % of responses were reported within 3 days of sending the SMS. The number of reported AFP cases increased from 10 cases per year in 2009–2012 to 25 cases per year during the study period and correlated with provincial participation of the health care professionals. Conclusions Combined with improved sensitization of health care professionals on AFP reporting criteria and sample collection, SMS messaging provides an effective means to increase timely reporting and improve the availability of epidemiologic information on polio surveillance in PNG.

  4. Interarrival times of message propagation on directed networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mihaljev, Tamara; de Arcangelis, Lucilla; Herrmann, Hans J.

    2011-08-01

    One of the challenges in fighting cybercrime is to understand the dynamics of message propagation on botnets, networks of infected computers used to send viruses, unsolicited commercial emails (SPAM) or denial of service attacks. We map this problem to the propagation of multiple random walkers on directed networks and we evaluate the interarrival time distribution between successive walkers arriving at a target. We show that the temporal organization of this process, which models information propagation on unstructured peer to peer networks, has the same features as SPAM reaching a single user. We study the behavior of the message interarrival time distribution on three different network topologies using two different rules for sending messages. In all networks the propagation is not a pure Poisson process. It shows universal features on Poissonian networks and a more complex behavior on scale free networks. Results open the possibility to indirectly learn about the process of sending messages on networks with unknown topologies, by studying interarrival times at any node of the network.

  5. IoT-based user-driven service modeling environment for a smart space management system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choi, Hoan-Suk; Rhee, Woo-Seop

    2014-11-20

    The existing Internet environment has been extended to the Internet of Things (IoT) as an emerging new paradigm. The IoT connects various physical entities. These entities have communication capability and deploy the observed information to various service areas such as building management, energy-saving systems, surveillance services, and smart homes. These services are designed and developed by professional service providers. Moreover, users' needs have become more complicated and personalized with the spread of user-participation services such as social media and blogging. Therefore, some active users want to create their own services to satisfy their needs, but the existing IoT service-creation environment is difficult for the non-technical user because it requires a programming capability to create a service. To solve this problem, we propose the IoT-based user-driven service modeling environment to provide an easy way to create IoT services. Also, the proposed environment deploys the defined service to another user. Through the personalization and customization of the defined service, the value and dissemination of the service is increased. This environment also provides the ontology-based context-information processing that produces and describes the context information for the IoT-based user-driven service.

  6. Vapor Store Owner Beliefs and Messages to Customers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheney, Marshall K; Gowin, Mary; Wann, Taylor Franklin

    2016-05-01

    Electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use is becoming increasingly popular but little is known about the role of the local vapor store in promoting use and influencing customer attitudes and beliefs about vaping. Thirty-three vapor store owners were interviewed about their personal beliefs and attitudes about e-cigarettes and what they told customers about the health impact of using e-cigarettes. Interviews were recorded then transcribed, coded, and analyzed for themes. Vapor store owners used the internet to obtain information about vaping, most often from YouTube and industry sources. Owners often did not have the training to critically evaluate research studies posted on the internet. Owners promoted vaping as a healthier alternative to smoking and often compared it to a medical treatment. Owners considered ingredients in the e-liquid as safe to use if it was safe to eat and discussed other foods vapor ingredients were found in. Owners also discussed the safety of secondhand vapor. Owners described the health impact of nicotine in e-liquid by comparing nicotine to caffeine and promoted the nicotine in e-liquid as coming from vegetables rather than tobacco. Finally, owners talked about vaping as a habit rather than a continued addiction to nicotine. Local store owners are an important source of health information for current and potential e-cigarette users but their messages to customers may be based on incomplete or misinterpreted information. Understanding local store owner messages to customers in addition to internet-based messages is an important area for future public health research. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  7. Engineered cell-cell communication via DNA messaging

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ortiz Monica E

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Evolution has selected for organisms that benefit from genetically encoded cell-cell communication. Engineers have begun to repurpose elements of natural communication systems to realize programmed pattern formation and coordinate other population-level behaviors. However, existing engineered systems rely on system-specific small molecules to send molecular messages among cells. Thus, the information transmission capacity of current engineered biological communication systems is physically limited by specific biomolecules that are capable of sending only a single message, typically “regulate transcription.” Results We have engineered a cell-cell communication platform using bacteriophage M13 gene products to autonomously package and deliver heterologous DNA messages of varying lengths and encoded functions. We demonstrate the decoupling of messages from a common communication channel via the autonomous transmission of various arbitrary genetic messages. Further, we increase the range of engineered DNA messaging across semisolid media by linking message transmission or receipt to active cellular chemotaxis. Conclusions We demonstrate decoupling of a communication channel from message transmission within engineered biological systems via the autonomous targeted transduction of user-specified heterologous DNA messages. We also demonstrate that bacteriophage M13 particle production and message transduction occurs among chemotactic bacteria. We use chemotaxis to improve the range of DNA messaging, increasing both transmission distance and communication bit rates relative to existing small molecule-based communication systems. We postulate that integration of different engineered cell-cell communication platforms will allow for more complex spatial programming of dynamic cellular consortia.

  8. Access to HIV/AIDS services for disabled persons in Uganda

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersen, Helle Elisabeth

    2006-01-01

    Abstract This project is based on five weeks’ ethnographically inspired fieldwork in May 2006 in the Republic of Uganda. The study started out with the hypothesis that there was some kind of discrimination going on in the interaction between health workers at HIV/AIDS clinics, and person with dis......Abstract This project is based on five weeks’ ethnographically inspired fieldwork in May 2006 in the Republic of Uganda. The study started out with the hypothesis that there was some kind of discrimination going on in the interaction between health workers at HIV/AIDS clinics, and person...... with disabilities (PWDs) coming for HIV/AIDS testing or treatment. However, problems with discriminatory attitudes towards PWDs could not be confirmed from my fieldwork observations at five different HIV/AIDS clinics in Uganda. That observation was confirmed in my interviews with PWDs and health workers. Health...... workers said that PWDs were entitled to the same care and treatment as everybody else. However, I observed that only few PWDs seem to attend those HIV/AIDS services, and the question arose why that is so. Problems with access and confidence (for example lack of sign language interpreters) are often...

  9. Message Correlation for Conversation Reconstruction in Service Interaction Logs

    OpenAIRE

    Motahari Nezhad, Hamid R.; Saint-Paul, Regis; Benatallah, Boualem; Casati, Fabio; Andritsos, Periklis

    2007-01-01

    The problem of understanding the behavior of business processes and of services is rapidly becoming a priority in medium and large companies. To this end, recently, analysis tools as well as variations of data mining techniques have been applied to process and service execution logs to perform OLAP-style analysis and to discover behavioral (process and protocol) models out of execution data. All these approaches are based on one key assumption: events describing executions and stored in proce...

  10. Message passing for quantified Boolean formulas

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang, Pan; Ramezanpour, Abolfazl; Zecchina, Riccardo; Zdeborová, Lenka

    2012-01-01

    We introduce two types of message passing algorithms for quantified Boolean formulas (QBF). The first type is a message passing based heuristics that can prove unsatisfiability of the QBF by assigning the universal variables in such a way that the remaining formula is unsatisfiable. In the second type, we use message passing to guide branching heuristics of a Davis–Putnam–Logemann–Loveland (DPLL) complete solver. Numerical experiments show that on random QBFs our branching heuristics give robust exponential efficiency gain with respect to state-of-the-art solvers. We also manage to solve some previously unsolved benchmarks from the QBFLIB library. Apart from this, our study sheds light on using message passing in small systems and as subroutines in complete solvers

  11. A novel text message-based motivational interviewing intervention for college students who smoke cigarettes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anna Jorayeva

    2017-11-01

    This study adds to the knowledge on smoking behavior among college students. Preliminary evidence indicates that text message-based motivational interviewing and smoking cessation self-efficacy may help guide successful smoking behavior interventions for college students.

  12. Normative and counter-normative stress messages and symptom reporting: implications for health promotion and a methodological artefact for stress research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ferguson, Eamonn; Lawrence, Claire

    2013-05-01

    There is increasing use of counter-normative health messages (i.e., evidence-based health information about cause-effect relationships that run counter to shared normative beliefs, e.g., stress can lead to personal growth). The current studies examine the effect of normative and counter-normative messages about stress on levels of symptom reporting. Predictions are derived from reactance, social comparison, and self-enhancement theories. Two studies focus on the development of the messages, and two experimental studies examine the effect of manipulating normative and counter-normative messages on symptom reports. The final study controls for mere-measurement effects and explores the role of stress process variables (appraisals and coping). Exposure to a normative message (stress causes ill health) results in reduced symptom reporting compared to a counter-normative message (stress provides challenge, growth, and development) and control groups. The results suggest that people may use symptom reporting strategically to indicate coping. Based on the argument that beliefs about stress and health are stored as mental models, the theoretical associations derived from stress theory are only observed when a normative message is presented. Counter-normative stress messages may carry no tangible benefits compared to normative messages. Some stress research may suffer from inherent methodological bias when normative information is provided in information and consent sheets. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? At present, nothing is known about counter-normative health messages, despite the fact that they are becoming widely used as a public intervention. What does this study add? A clear operational definition of counter-normative messages. A test of three competing theories for counter-normative messages that focus of the stress-symptom link. Demonstrating for the first time, that in the domain of stress and health, counter-normative messages

  13. The MomConnect helpdesk: how an interactive mobile messaging programme is used by mothers in South Africa.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xiong, Khou; Kamunyori, Joy; Sebidi, Jane

    2018-01-01

    South Africa's MomConnect mobile messaging programme, which aims to promote safe motherhood and improve pregnancy outcomes for South African women, includes a helpdesk feature which allows women registered on the system to ask maternal and child health (MCH)-related questions and to provide feedback on health services received at public health clinics. Messages sent to the helpdesk are answered by staff located at the National Department of Health. We examined event data from the MomConnect helpdesk database to identify any patterns in messages received, such as correlation of frequency or types of messages with location. We also explored what these data could tell us about the helpdesk's effectiveness in improving health service delivery at public health clinics. We found that approximately 8% of registered MomConnect users used the helpdesk, and that usage was generally proportional to the use of antenatal care (ANC) services in provinces (as indicated by number of ANC first visits and number of MomConnect registrations), except in two provinces. Language, category and key topics of helpdesk messages were correlated with provinces. Most users accessed the helpdesk to seek maternal information, and where feedback about health services was provided, there were significantly more compliments than complaints. The MomConnect helpdesk is an important resource providing expectant mothers and mothers of infants with an interactive option for accessing MCH-related information-above that included in the standard MomConnect messages-and advances achievement of the health goals of the MomConnect programme.

  14. Short message service prompted mouth self-examination in oral cancer patients as an alternative to frequent hospital-based surveillance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sagar Vaishampayan

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC are amongst commonest cancer in the Indian sub-continent. After treatment, these patients require frequent followup to look for recurrences/second primary. Mouth Self Examination (MSE has a great potential in all levels of prevention of oral cancer. However, the compliance to self-examination has been reported as poor. Mobile phone is a cheap and effective way to reach out to people. Short Message Service (SMS is extremely popular can be a very effective motivational and interactive tool in health care setting. Methodology: We aimed to identify in adequately treated OSCC patients, the influence of health provider initiated SMS on the compliance to the MSE and to establish the efficacy of MSE by comparing patients' MSE interpretation via replies to the SMS with that of the experts' opinion on clinical examination status during follow up. Conclusion: We conclude that MSE can be very useful in adequately treated OSCC patients for evaluating disease status. All treated OSCC patients must be adequately educated for MSE as an integral part of treatment & follow-up protocol by the health provider facility. Health provider generated SMS reminders do improve motivation and compliance towards MSE but don't seem to reduce dropouts in follow up for large and diverse population like that in India.

  15. Tweet for Behavior Change: Using Social Media for the Dissemination of Public Health Messages

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hunter, Ruth F; Ajao, Oluwaseun; Jurek, Anna; McKeown, Gary; Hong, Jun; Barrett, Eimear; Ferguson, Marbeth; McElwee, Gerry; McCarthy, Miriam; Kee, Frank

    2017-01-01

    Background Social media public health campaigns have the advantage of tailored messaging at low cost and large reach, but little is known about what would determine their feasibility as tools for inducing attitude and behavior change. Objective The aim of this study was to test the feasibility of designing, implementing, and evaluating a social media–enabled intervention for skin cancer prevention. Methods A quasi-experimental feasibility study used social media (Twitter) to disseminate different message “frames” related to care in the sun and cancer prevention. Phase 1 utilized the Northern Ireland cancer charity’s Twitter platform (May 1 to July 14, 2015). Following a 2-week “washout” period, Phase 2 commenced (August 1 to September 30, 2015) using a bespoke Twitter platform. Phase 2 also included a Thunderclap, whereby users allowed their social media accounts to automatically post a bespoke message on their behalf. Message frames were categorized into 5 broad categories: humor, shock or disgust, informative, personal stories, and opportunistic. Seed users with a notable following were contacted to be “influencers” in retweeting campaign content. A pre- and postintervention Web-based survey recorded skin cancer prevention knowledge and attitudes in Northern Ireland (population 1.8 million). Results There were a total of 417,678 tweet impressions, 11,213 engagements, and 1211 retweets related to our campaign. Shocking messages generated the greatest impressions (shock, n=2369; informative, n=2258; humorous, n=1458; story, n=1680), whereas humorous messages generated greater engagement (humorous, n=148; shock, n=147; story, n=117; informative, n=100) and greater engagement rates compared with story tweets. Informative messages, resulted in the greatest number of shares (informative, n=17; humorous, n=10; shock, n=9; story, n=7). The study findings included improved knowledge of skin cancer severity in a pre- and postintervention Web-based survey

  16. Perceptions and acceptability of short message services technology to improve treatment adherence amongst tuberculosis patients in Peru: a Focus Group Study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sandra Albino

    Full Text Available Tuberculosis (TB is global health concern and a leading infectious cause of mortality. Reversing TB incidence and disease-related mortality is a major global health priority. Infectious disease mortality is directly linked to failure to adhere to treatments. Using technology to send reminders by short message services have been shown to improve treatment adherence. However, few studies have examined tuberculosis patient perceptions and attitudes towards using SMS technology to increase treatment adherence. In this study, we sought to investigate perceptions related to feasibility and acceptability of using text messaging to improve treatment adherence among adults who were receiving treatment for TB in Callao, Peru.We conducted focus group qualitative interviews with current TB positive and non-contagious participants to understand the attitudes, perceptions, and feasibility of using short message service (SMS reminders to improve TB treatment adherence. Subjects receiving care through the National TB Program were recruited through public health centers in Ventanilla, Callao, Peru. In four focus groups, we interviewed 16 patients. All interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Thematic network analysis and codebook techniques were used to analyze data.Three major themes emerged from the data: limits on health literacy and information posed challenges to successful TB treatment adherence, treatment motivation at times facilitated adherence to TB treatment, and acceptability of SMS including positive perceptions of SMS to improve TB treatment adherence. The majority of patients shared considerations about how to effectively and confidentially administer an SMS intervention with TB positive participants.The overall perceptions of the use of SMS were positive and indicated that SMS technology may be an efficient way to transmit motivational texts on treatment, health education information, and simple reminders to increase treatment adherence

  17. Perceptions and acceptability of short message services technology to improve treatment adherence amongst tuberculosis patients in Peru: a Focus Group Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Albino, Sandra; Tabb, Karen M; Requena, David; Egoavil, Miguel; Pineros-Leano, Maria F; Zunt, Joseph R; García, Patricia J

    2014-01-01

    Tuberculosis (TB) is global health concern and a leading infectious cause of mortality. Reversing TB incidence and disease-related mortality is a major global health priority. Infectious disease mortality is directly linked to failure to adhere to treatments. Using technology to send reminders by short message services have been shown to improve treatment adherence. However, few studies have examined tuberculosis patient perceptions and attitudes towards using SMS technology to increase treatment adherence. In this study, we sought to investigate perceptions related to feasibility and acceptability of using text messaging to improve treatment adherence among adults who were receiving treatment for TB in Callao, Peru. We conducted focus group qualitative interviews with current TB positive and non-contagious participants to understand the attitudes, perceptions, and feasibility of using short message service (SMS) reminders to improve TB treatment adherence. Subjects receiving care through the National TB Program were recruited through public health centers in Ventanilla, Callao, Peru. In four focus groups, we interviewed 16 patients. All interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Thematic network analysis and codebook techniques were used to analyze data. Three major themes emerged from the data: limits on health literacy and information posed challenges to successful TB treatment adherence, treatment motivation at times facilitated adherence to TB treatment, and acceptability of SMS including positive perceptions of SMS to improve TB treatment adherence. The majority of patients shared considerations about how to effectively and confidentially administer an SMS intervention with TB positive participants. The overall perceptions of the use of SMS were positive and indicated that SMS technology may be an efficient way to transmit motivational texts on treatment, health education information, and simple reminders to increase treatment adherence for low

  18. Health visitor education for today's Britain: Messages from a narrative review of the health visitor literature.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Malone, Mary; Whittaker, Karen A; Cowley, Sarah; Ezhova, Ivanka; Maben, Jill

    2016-09-01

    This paper draws on a narrative review of the literature, commissioned to support the Health Visitor Implementation Plan, and aimed at identifying messages about the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed by health visitors to work within the current system of health care provision. The scoping study and narrative review used three complementary approaches: a broad search, a structured search, and a seminal paper search to identify empirical papers from the health visitor literature for review. The key inclusion criteria were messages of relevance for practice. 378 papers were reviewed. These included empirical papers from the United Kingdom (UK) from 2004 to February 2012, older research identified in the seminal paper search and international literature from 2000 to January 2016. The review papers were read by members of the multidisciplinary research team which included health visitor academics, social scientists, and a clinical psychologist managed the international literature. Thematic content analysis was used to identify main messages. These were tabulated and shared between researchers in order to compare emergent findings and to confirm dominant themes. The analysis identified an 'orientation to practice' based on salutogenesis (health creation), human valuing (person-centred care), and viewing the person in situation (human ecology) as the aspirational core of health visitors' work. This was realised through home visiting, needs assessment, and relationship formation at different levels of service provision. A wide range of knowledge, skills, and abilities were required, including knowledge of health as a process and skills in engagement, building trust, and making professional judgments. These are currently difficult to impart within a 45week health visitor programme and are facilitated through ad hoc post-registration education and training. The international literature reported both similarities and differences between the working practices of health

  19. An Inter-Personal Information Sharing Model Based on Personalized Recommendations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kamei, Koji; Funakoshi, Kaname; Akahani, Jun-Ichi; Satoh, Tetsuji

    In this paper, we propose an inter-personal information sharing model among individuals based on personalized recommendations. In the proposed model, we define an information resource as shared between people when both of them consider it important --- not merely when they both possess it. In other words, the model defines the importance of information resources based on personalized recommendations from identifiable acquaintances. The proposed method is based on a collaborative filtering system that focuses on evaluations from identifiable acquaintances. It utilizes both user evaluations for documents and their contents. In other words, each user profile is represented as a matrix of credibility to the other users' evaluations on each domain of interests. We extended the content-based collaborative filtering method to distinguish other users to whom the documents should be recommended. We also applied a concept-based vector space model to represent the domain of interests instead of the previous method which represented them by a term-based vector space model. We introduce a personalized concept-base compiled from each user's information repository to improve the information retrieval in the user's environment. Furthermore, the concept-spaces change from user to user since they reflect the personalities of the users. Because of different concept-spaces, the similarity between a document and a user's interest varies for each user. As a result, a user receives recommendations from other users who have different view points, achieving inter-personal information sharing based on personalized recommendations. This paper also describes an experimental simulation of our information sharing model. In our laboratory, five participants accumulated a personal repository of e-mails and web pages from which they built their own concept-base. Then we estimated the user profiles according to personalized concept-bases and sets of documents which others evaluated. We simulated

  20. Gendered, Bilingual Communication Practices: Mobile text-messaging among Hong Kong College Students

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Angel Lin

    2005-01-01

    Full Text Available Mobile text messaging—variously known as SMS (short message service, text messaging, or texting—has become a common means of keeping in constant touch, especially among young people, in many parts of the world today. The research literature abounds with studies on the social, cultural, and communicative aspects of mobile text messaging in different sociocultural contexts in the world. In this paper, current theoretical positions in the research literature on mobile communication will be summarized and then findings of a pilot study on the mobile text-messaging practices of university students in Hong Kong will be reported. Implications for emerging bilingual and bicultural identities and gendered sociality practices among Hong Kong young people will be discussed.