Improving maternal and newborn health: effectiveness of a community health worker program in rural Kenya.

PubMed

Adam, Mary B; Dillmann, Maria; Chen, Mei-kuang; Mbugua, Simon; Ndung'u, Joram; Mumbi, Priscilla; Waweru, Eunice; Meissner, Peter

2014-01-01

Volunteer community health workers (CHWs) form an important element of many health systems, and in Kenya these volunteers are the foundation for promoting behavior change through health education, earlier case identification, and timely referral to trained health care providers. This study examines the effectiveness of a community health worker project conducted in rural Kenya that sought to promote improved knowledge of maternal newborn health and to increase deliveries under skilled attendance. The study utilized a quasi-experimental nonequivalent design that examined relevant demographic items and knowledge about maternal and newborn health combined with a comprehensive retrospective birth history of women's children using oral interviews of women who were exposed to health messages delivered by CHWs and those who were not exposed. The project trained CHWs in three geographically distinct areas. Mean knowledge scores were higher in those women who reported being exposed to the health messages from CHWs, Eburru 32.3 versus 29.2, Kinale 21.8 vs 20.7, Nyakio 26.6 vs 23.8. The number of women delivering under skilled attendance was higher for those mothers who reported exposure to one or more health messages, compared to those who did not. The percentage of facility deliveries for women exposed to health messages by CHWs versus non-exposed was: Eburru 46% versus 19%; Kinale 94% versus 73%: and Nyakio 80% versus 78%. The delivery of health messages by CHWs increased knowledge of maternal and newborn care among women in the local community and encouraged deliveries under skilled attendance.

Improving Maternal and Newborn Health: Effectiveness of a Community Health Worker Program in Rural Kenya

PubMed Central

Adam, Mary B.; Dillmann, Maria; Chen, Mei-kuang; Mbugua, Simon; Ndung’u, Joram; Mumbi, Priscilla; Waweru, Eunice; Meissner, Peter

2014-01-01

Background Volunteer community health workers (CHWs) form an important element of many health systems, and in Kenya these volunteers are the foundation for promoting behavior change through health education, earlier case identification, and timely referral to trained health care providers. This study examines the effectiveness of a community health worker project conducted in rural Kenya that sought to promote improved knowledge of maternal newborn health and to increase deliveries under skilled attendance. Methods The study utilized a quasi-experimental nonequivalent design that examined relevant demographic items and knowledge about maternal and newborn health combined with a comprehensive retrospective birth history of women’s children using oral interviews of women who were exposed to health messages delivered by CHWs and those who were not exposed. The project trained CHWs in three geographically distinct areas. Results Mean knowledge scores were higher in those women who reported being exposed to the health messages from CHWs, Eburru 32.3 versus 29.2, Kinale 21.8 vs 20.7, Nyakio 26.6 vs 23.8. The number of women delivering under skilled attendance was higher for those mothers who reported exposure to one or more health messages, compared to those who did not. The percentage of facility deliveries for women exposed to health messages by CHWs versus non-exposed was: Eburru 46% versus 19%; Kinale 94% versus 73%: and Nyakio 80% versus 78%. Conclusion The delivery of health messages by CHWs increased knowledge of maternal and newborn care among women in the local community and encouraged deliveries under skilled attendance. PMID:25090111

Delivery of Patient-Reported Outcome Instruments by Automated Mobile Phone Text Messaging.

PubMed

Anthony, Christopher A; Lawler, Ericka A; Glass, Natalie A; McDonald, Katelyn; Shah, Apurva S

2017-11-01

Patient-reported outcome (PRO) instruments allow patients to interpret their health and are integral in evaluating orthopedic treatments and outcomes. The purpose of this study was to define: (1) correlation between PROs collected by automated delivery of text messages on mobile phones compared with paper delivery; and (2) patient use characteristics of a technology platform utilizing automated delivery of text messages on mobile phones. Paper versions of the 12-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-12) and the short form of the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (QuickDASH) were completed by patients in orthopedic hand and upper extremity clinics. Over the next 48 hours, the same patients also completed the mobile phone portion of the study outside of the clinic which included text message delivery of the SF-12 and QuickDASH, assigned in a random order. Correlations between paper and text message delivery of the 2 PROs were assessed. Among 72 patients, the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) between the written and mobile phone delivery of QuickDASH was 0.91 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.85-0.95). The ICC between the paper and mobile phone delivery of the SF-12 physical health composite score was 0.88 (95% CI, 0.79-0.93) and 0.86 (95% CI, 0.75-0.92) for the SF-12 mental health composite score. We find that text message delivery using mobile phones permits valid assessment of SF-12 and QuickDASH scores. The findings suggest that software-driven automated delivery of text communication to patients via mobile phones may be a valid method to obtain other PRO scores in orthopedic patients.

Priority Queue Based Reactive Buffer Management Policy for Delay Tolerant Network under City Based Environments.

PubMed

Ayub, Qaisar; Ngadi, Asri; Rashid, Sulma; Habib, Hafiz Adnan

2018-01-01

Delay Tolerant Network (DTN) multi-copy routing protocols are privileged to create and transmit multiple copies of each message that causes congestion and some messages are dropped. This process is known as reactive drop because messages were dropped re-actively to overcome buffer overflows. The existing reactive buffer management policies apply a single metric to drop source, relay and destine messages. Hereby, selection to drop a message is dubious because each message as source, relay or destine may have consumed dissimilar magnitude of network resources. Similarly, DTN has included time to live (ttl) parameter which defines lifetime of message. Hence, when ttl expires then message is automatically destroyed from relay nodes. However, time-to-live (ttl) is not applicable on messages reached at their destinations. Moreover, nodes keep replicating messages till ttl expires even-though large number of messages has already been dispersed. In this paper, we have proposed Priority Queue Based Reactive Buffer Management Policy (PQB-R) for DTN under City Based Environments. The PQB-R classifies buffered messages into source, relay and destine queues. Moreover, separate drop metric has been applied on individual queue. The experiment results prove that proposed PQB-R has reduced number of messages transmissions, message drop and increases delivery ratio.

Priority Queue Based Reactive Buffer Management Policy for Delay Tolerant Network under City Based Environments

PubMed Central

Ngadi, Asri; Rashid, Sulma; Habib, Hafiz Adnan

2018-01-01

Delay Tolerant Network (DTN) multi-copy routing protocols are privileged to create and transmit multiple copies of each message that causes congestion and some messages are dropped. This process is known as reactive drop because messages were dropped re-actively to overcome buffer overflows. The existing reactive buffer management policies apply a single metric to drop source, relay and destine messages. Hereby, selection to drop a message is dubious because each message as source, relay or destine may have consumed dissimilar magnitude of network resources. Similarly, DTN has included time to live (ttl) parameter which defines lifetime of message. Hence, when ttl expires then message is automatically destroyed from relay nodes. However, time-to-live (ttl) is not applicable on messages reached at their destinations. Moreover, nodes keep replicating messages till ttl expires even-though large number of messages has already been dispersed. In this paper, we have proposed Priority Queue Based Reactive Buffer Management Policy (PQB-R) for DTN under City Based Environments. The PQB-R classifies buffered messages into source, relay and destine queues. Moreover, separate drop metric has been applied on individual queue. The experiment results prove that proposed PQB-R has reduced number of messages transmissions, message drop and increases delivery ratio. PMID:29438438

Mobile Phone Short Messages to Improve Exclusive Breastfeeding and Reduce Adverse Infant Feeding Practices: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial in Yangon, Myanmar.

PubMed

Hmone, Myat Pan; Li, Mu; Alam, Ashraful; Dibley, Michael J

2017-06-28

Myanmar has a high burden of mortality for children aged younger than 5 years in which undernutrition plays a major role. Despite current efforts, the exclusive breastfeeding rate for children under 6 months is only 24%. To date there have been no interventions using mobile phones to improve breastfeeding and other feeding practices in Myanmar. This study aims to implement a breastfeeding promotion intervention using mobile phone text messages in Yangon, Myanmar, and evaluate its impact on breastfeeding practices. M528 is a 2-group parallel-arm randomized controlled trial with 9 months follow-up from recruitment until 6 months post-delivery. A total of 353 pregnant women between 28 and 34 weeks' gestation who had access to a mobile phone and were able to read and write have been recruited from the Central Women's Hospital, Yangon, and allocated randomly to an intervention or control group in a 1:1 ratio. The intervention group received breastfeeding promotional SMS messages 3 times a week while the control group received maternal and child health care messages (excluding breastfeeding-related messages) once a week. The SMS messages were tailored for the women's stage of gestation or the child's age. A formative qualitative study was conducted prior to the trial to inform the study design and text message content. We hypothesize that the exclusive breastfeeding rate in the intervention group will be double that in the control group. The primary outcome is exclusive breastfeeding from birth to 6 months and secondary outcomes are median durations of exclusive breastfeeding and other infant feeding practices. Both primary and secondary outcomes were assessed by monthly phone calls at 1 to 6 months postdelivery in both groups. Participants' delivery status was tracked through text messages, phone calls, and hospital records, and delivery characteristics were assessed 1 month after delivery. Child morbidity and breastfeeding self-efficacy scores were assessed at 1, 3, and 5 months postdelivery. Social desirability was measured at 5 months, and text messages expressing delivery success and user experience were assessed at the end of the study. The targeted 353 pregnant women were recruited between January and March 2015. Baseline data have been collected; SMS messages have been developed and pretested and sent to the women from both groups. Follow-up data collection via phone calls has been completed. Data analysis is being done and results are expected soon. This is the first RCT study examining the effects of mobile text messaging for promoting exclusive breastfeeding. This trial is timely in Myanmar following the telecommunications market opening in 2014. Our results will help determine whether text messaging is an effective and feasible method for promoting appropriate feeding practices and will inform further research to assess how this model could be replicated in the broader community. Australian New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry ACTRN12615000063516; https://anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=367704 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/ 6rGif3l81). ©Myat Pan Hmone, Mu Li, Ashraful Alam, Michael J Dibley. Originally published in JMIR Research Protocols (http://www.researchprotocols.org), 28.06.2017.

Counseling Framework for HIV-Serodiscordant Couples on the Integrated Use of Antiretroviral Therapy and Pre-exposure Prophylaxis for HIV Prevention.

PubMed

Morton, Jennifer F; Celum, Connie; Njoroge, John; Nakyanzi, Agnes; Wakhungu, Imeldah; Tindimwebwa, Edna; Ongachi, Snaidah; Sedah, Eric; Okwero, Emmanuel; Ngure, Kenneth; Odoyo, Josephine; Bulya, Nulu; Haberer, Jessica E; Baeten, Jared M; Heffron, Renee

2017-01-01

For HIV-serodiscordant couples, integrated delivery of antiretroviral therapy (ART) for HIV-positive partners and time-limited pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for negative partners virtually eliminates HIV transmission. Standardized messaging, sensitive to the barriers and motivators to HIV treatment and prevention, is needed for widespread scale-up of this approach. Within the Partners Demonstration Project, a prospective interventional project among 1013 serodiscordant couples in Kenya and Uganda, we offered ART to eligible HIV-positive partners and PrEP to HIV-negative partners before ART initiation and through the HIV-positive partner's first 6 months of ART use. We conducted individual and group discussions with counseling staff to elicit the health communication framework and key messages about ART and PrEP that were delivered to couples. Counseling sessions for serodiscordant couples about PrEP and ART included discussions of HIV serodiscordance, PrEP and ART initiation and integrated use, and PrEP discontinuation. ART messages emphasized daily, lifelong use for treatment and prevention, adherence, viral suppression, resistance, side effects, and safety of ART during pregnancy. PrEP messages emphasized daily dosing, time-limited PrEP use until the HIV-positive partner sustained 6 months of high adherence to ART, adherence, safety during conception, side effects, and other risks for HIV. Counseling messages for HIV-serodiscordant couples are integral to the delivery of time-limited PrEP as a "bridge" to ART-driven viral suppression. Their incorporation into programmatic scale-up will maximize intervention impact on the global epidemic.

Promoting Quality of Program Delivery via an Internet Message Delivery System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bishop, Dana C.; Dusenbury, Linda; Pankratz, Melinda M.; Hansen, William B.

2013-01-01

This article presents results from a study that evaluated an online message system designed to improve the delivery of prevention programs. We conducted a quasi-experimental study with 32 agencies and schools that implemented substance use prevention programs and examined differences between the comparison and intervention groups. We also examined…

The multidriver: A reliable multicast service using the Xpress Transfer Protocol

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dempsey, Bert J.; Fenton, John C.; Weaver, Alfred C.

1990-01-01

A reliable multicast facility extends traditional point-to-point virtual circuit reliability to one-to-many communication. Such services can provide more efficient use of network resources, a powerful distributed name binding capability, and reduced latency in multidestination message delivery. These benefits will be especially valuable in real-time environments where reliable multicast can enable new applications and increase the availability and the reliability of data and services. We present a unique multicast service that exploits features in the next-generation, real-time transfer layer protocol, the Xpress Transfer Protocol (XTP). In its reliable mode, the service offers error, flow, and rate-controlled multidestination delivery of arbitrary-sized messages, with provision for the coordination of reliable reverse channels. Performance measurements on a single-segment Proteon ProNET-4 4 Mbps 802.5 token ring with heterogeneous nodes are discussed.

Maintaining High Assurance in Asynchronous Messaging

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-10-24

Assurance in Asynchronous Messaging Kevin E. Foltz and William R. Simpson Abstract—Asynchronous messaging is the delivery of a message without... integrity , and confidentiality guarantees. End-to-end security for asynchronous messaging must be provided by the asynchronous messaging layer itself... continuing its processing. At the completion of message transmission, the sender does not know when or whether the receiver received it. The message

Receptivity of African American Adolescents to an HIV-Prevention Curriculum Enhanced by Text Messaging

PubMed Central

Cornelius, Judith B.; St Lawrence, Janet S.

2013-01-01

PURPOSE This study assessed African American adolescents’ receptivity to an HIV-prevention curriculum enhanced by text messaging. DESIGN AND METHODS Two focus groups were conducted with 14 African American adolescents regarding how an HIV-prevention curriculum could be enhanced for text messaging delivery. RESULTS The adolescents were receptive to the idea of text messaging HIV-prevention information but wanted to receive a maximum of three messages per day during the hours of 4:00–6:00 p.m. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS By taking the findings of this study, nurses, other healthcare providers, and community-based organizations can adapt evidence-based interventions for text messaging delivery to individuals at high risk for HIV infection. PMID:19356206

Relevance and speed of message delivery trade-offs in augmentative and alternative communication.

PubMed

Bedrosian, Jan L; Hoag, Linda A; McCoy, Kathleen F

2003-08-01

This report is the first in a series of investigations designed to test a theory identifying the effects of conversational trade-offs between selected maxims on public attitudes toward augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) system users and their communication. In the current study, the trade-offs between the relevance of a prestored message and its speed of delivery were examined. Participating were 96 sales clerks. Twelve scripted videotaped conversational conditions, involving an AAC customer and a clerk at a checkout counter, were used to manipulate message relevance, speed of message delivery, and participant/AAC user gender. Following each assigned viewing, participants completed a questionnaire designed to assess their attitudes toward the AAC user and his or her communication. Significantly higher mean ratings were found for the conditions involving the slowly delivered relevant messages (both preceded by a conversational floorholder and without a floorholder) when compared to the quickly delivered partly relevant message condition. In addition, the condition involving the slowly delivered relevant message with a floorholder yielded significantly higher mean ratings than that without the floorholder. There was no effect for participant/user gender. Modifications of the theory and technological implications are discussed.

An Evaluation of One-Sided and Two-Sided Communication Paradigms on Relaxed-Ordering Interconnect

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ibrahim, Khaled Z.; Hargrove, Paul H.; Iancu, Costin

The Cray Gemini interconnect hardware provides multiple transfer mechanisms and out-of-order message delivery to improve communication throughput. In this paper we quantify the performance of one-sided and two-sided communication paradigms with respect to: 1) the optimal available hardware transfer mechanism, 2) message ordering constraints, 3) per node and per core message concurrency. In addition to using Cray native communication APIs, we use UPC and MPI micro-benchmarks to capture one- and two-sided semantics respectively. Our results indicate that relaxing the message delivery order can improve performance up to 4.6x when compared with strict ordering. When hardware allows it, high-level one-sided programmingmore » models can already take advantage of message reordering. Enforcing the ordering semantics of two-sided communication comes with a performance penalty. Furthermore, we argue that exposing out-of-order delivery at the application level is required for the next-generation programming models. Any ordering constraints in the language specifications reduce communication performance for small messages and increase the number of active cores required for peak throughput.« less

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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 capabilities of different dissemination channels such as SMS, email and television, have bearing on the information processing required for delivery and consumption of a DEWS EDXL-DE/CAP message over each dissemination channel. These messages may include additional information in the form of maps, graphs, documents, sensor observations, etc. Therefore, the generated messages are pre-processed by channel adaptors in the information dissemination services converting it into a format that is suitable for end-to-end delivery over the dissemination channels without any semantic distortion. The approach followed by DEWS for disseminating warnings not only relies on traditional communication ways used by the already established early warnings such as the delivery of faxes and phone calls but takes into consideration the use of other broadly used communication channels such as SMS, email, narrowcast and broadcast television, instant messaging, Voice over IP, and radio. It also takes advantage of social media channels like RSS feeds, Facebook, Twitter, etc., enabling a multiplier effect, like in the case of radio and television, and thus allowing to create mash-ups by aggregating other sources of information to the original message. Finally, status information is also important in order to assess and understand whether the process of disseminating the warning to the message consumers has been successfully completed or the process failed at some point of the dissemination chain. To that end, CAP-based messages generated within the information dissemination services provide the semantics for those fields that are of interest within the context of reporting the warning dissemination status in DEWS.

Delivery performance of conventional aircraft by terminal-area, time-based air traffic control: A real-time simulation evaluation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Credeur, Leonard; Houck, Jacob A.; Capron, William R.; Lohr, Gary W.

1990-01-01

A description and results are presented of a study to measure the performance and reaction of airline flight crews, in a full workload DC-9 cockpit, flying in a real-time simulation of an air traffic control (ATC) concept called Traffic Intelligence for the Management of Efficient Runway-scheduling (TIMER). Experimental objectives were to verify earlier fast-time TIMER time-delivery precision results and obtain data for the validation or refinement of existing computer models of pilot/airborne performance. Experimental data indicated a runway threshold, interarrival-time-error standard deviation in the range of 10.4 to 14.1 seconds. Other real-time system performance parameters measured include approach speeds, response time to controller turn instructions, bank angles employed, and ATC controller message delivery-time errors.

Event Driven Messaging with Role-Based Subscriptions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bui, Tung; Bui, Bach; Malhotra, Shantanu; Chen, Fannie; Kim, rachel; Allen, Christopher; Luong, Ivy; Chang, George; Zendejas, Silvino; Sadaqathulla, Syed

2009-01-01

Event Driven Messaging with Role-Based Subscriptions (EDM-RBS) is a framework integrated into the Service Management Database (SMDB) to allow for role-based and subscription-based delivery of synchronous and asynchronous messages over JMS (Java Messaging Service), SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol), or SMS (Short Messaging Service). This allows for 24/7 operation with users in all parts of the world. The software classifies messages by triggering data type, application source, owner of data triggering event (mission), classification, sub-classification and various other secondary classifying tags. Messages are routed to applications or users based on subscription rules using a combination of the above message attributes. This program provides a framework for identifying connected users and their applications for targeted delivery of messages over JMS to the client applications the user is logged into. EDMRBS provides the ability to send notifications over e-mail or pager rather than having to rely on a live human to do it. It is implemented as an Oracle application that uses Oracle relational database management system intrinsic functions. It is configurable to use Oracle AQ JMS API or an external JMS provider for messaging. It fully integrates into the event-logging framework of SMDB (Subnet Management Database).

A qualitative study to explore Prospect theory and message framing and diet and cancer prevention-related issues among African American adolescents

PubMed Central

Satia, Jessie A.; Barlow, Jameta; Armstrong-Brown, Janelle; Watters, Joanne L.

2010-01-01

Aims To develop and test cancer prevention messages based on Prospect theory on motivation to improve dietary intake in African American adolescents, and to explore other salient factors that may inform dietary intervention design and implementation in this population. Methods Semi-structured in-person qualitative interviews were conducted with 13 African-American male and female adolescents, 12-16 years, in North Carolina. Prospect theory and message framing were used to guide the design of the four sets of diet-related messages related to cancer prevention: short-term gain-, long-term gain-, short-term loss-, and long-term loss-framed messages. Data were also collected on demographic, behavioral, and psychological factors; usual health behaviors; and preferences for intervention delivery. Results The majority of respondents found the gain-framed, short-term messages most salient for both fruits/vegetables (8 (61.5%)), and fat consumption (7 (53.8%)). For fat consumption only, 2 (15.4%) found the loss-framed, short-term messages pertinent; none found the loss-framed, long-term messages relevant for either dietary variable. All indicated interest in participating in a dietary intervention/education program; most preferred the Internet as a channel for intervention delivery. Participants expressed diverse views regarding knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs regarding healthy eating. Conclusions Researchers conducting dietary interventions and education initiatives and medical professionals who counsel African American adolescents should consider using Prospect Theory as a theoretical framework, should focus on gain-framed short-term messages regarding cancer prevention, and should employ the Internet for data collection and intervention and information delivery. PMID:20142738

Small is big: Interactive Trumps passive information in breaking information barriers and impacting behavioral antecedents

DOE PAGES

Beck, Ariane L.; Lakkaraju, Kiran; Rai, Varun; ...

2017-01-18

The wealth of information available on seemingly every topic creates a considerable challenge both for information providers trying to rise above the noise and discerning individuals trying to find relevant, trustworthy information. We approach this information problem by investigating how passive versus interactive information interventions can impact the antecedents of behavior change using the context of solar energy adoption, where persistent information gaps are known to reduce market potential. We use two experiments to investigate the impact of both passive and interactive approaches to information delivery on the antecedents (attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control in the Theory ofmore » Planned Behavior) of intentions and behavior, as well as their effect on intentions and behavior directly. The passive information randomized control trial delivered via Amazon Mechanical Turk tests the effectiveness of delivering the same content in a single message versus multiple shorter messages. The interactive information delivery uses an online (mobile and PC) trivia-style gamification platform. Both experiments use the same content and are carried out over a two-week time period. Lastly, our findings suggest that interactive, gamified information has greater impact than passive information, and that shorter multiple messages of passive information are more effective than a single passive message.« less

Small is big: Interactive Trumps passive information in breaking information barriers and impacting behavioral antecedents

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Beck, Ariane L.; Lakkaraju, Kiran; Rai, Varun

The wealth of information available on seemingly every topic creates a considerable challenge both for information providers trying to rise above the noise and discerning individuals trying to find relevant, trustworthy information. We approach this information problem by investigating how passive versus interactive information interventions can impact the antecedents of behavior change using the context of solar energy adoption, where persistent information gaps are known to reduce market potential. We use two experiments to investigate the impact of both passive and interactive approaches to information delivery on the antecedents (attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control in the Theory ofmore » Planned Behavior) of intentions and behavior, as well as their effect on intentions and behavior directly. The passive information randomized control trial delivered via Amazon Mechanical Turk tests the effectiveness of delivering the same content in a single message versus multiple shorter messages. The interactive information delivery uses an online (mobile and PC) trivia-style gamification platform. Both experiments use the same content and are carried out over a two-week time period. Lastly, our findings suggest that interactive, gamified information has greater impact than passive information, and that shorter multiple messages of passive information are more effective than a single passive message.« less

Small Is Big: Interactive Trumps Passive Information in Breaking Information Barriers and Impacting Behavioral Antecedents.

PubMed

Beck, Ariane L; Lakkaraju, Kiran; Rai, Varun

2017-01-01

The wealth of information available on seemingly every topic creates a considerable challenge both for information providers trying to rise above the noise and discerning individuals trying to find relevant, trustworthy information. We approach this information problem by investigating how passive versus interactive information interventions can impact the antecedents of behavior change using the context of solar energy adoption, where persistent information gaps are known to reduce market potential. We use two experiments to investigate the impact of both passive and interactive approaches to information delivery on the antecedents (attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control in the Theory of Planned Behavior) of intentions and behavior, as well as their effect on intentions and behavior directly. The passive information randomized control trial delivered via Amazon Mechanical Turk tests the effectiveness of delivering the same content in a single message versus multiple shorter messages. The interactive information delivery uses an online (mobile and PC) trivia-style gamification platform. Both experiments use the same content and are carried out over a two-week time period. Our findings suggest that interactive, gamified information has greater impact than passive information, and that shorter multiple messages of passive information are more effective than a single passive message.

Small Is Big: Interactive Trumps Passive Information in Breaking Information Barriers and Impacting Behavioral Antecedents

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

The wealth of information available on seemingly every topic creates a considerable challenge both for information providers trying to rise above the noise and discerning individuals trying to find relevant, trustworthy information. We approach this information problem by investigating how passive versus interactive information interventions can impact the antecedents of behavior change using the context of solar energy adoption, where persistent information gaps are known to reduce market potential. We use two experiments to investigate the impact of both passive and interactive approaches to information delivery on the antecedents (attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control in the Theory of Planned Behavior) of intentions and behavior, as well as their effect on intentions and behavior directly. The passive information randomized control trial delivered via Amazon Mechanical Turk tests the effectiveness of delivering the same content in a single message versus multiple shorter messages. The interactive information delivery uses an online (mobile and PC) trivia-style gamification platform. Both experiments use the same content and are carried out over a two-week time period. Our findings suggest that interactive, gamified information has greater impact than passive information, and that shorter multiple messages of passive information are more effective than a single passive message. PMID:28099478

Minimum expected delay-based routing protocol (MEDR) for Delay Tolerant Mobile Sensor Networks.

PubMed

Feng, Yong; Liu, Ming; Wang, Xiaomin; Gong, Haigang

2010-01-01

It is a challenging work to develop efficient routing protocols for Delay Tolerant Mobile Sensor Networks (DTMSNs), which have several unique characteristics such as sensor mobility, intermittent connectivity, energy limit, and delay tolerability. In this paper, we propose a new routing protocol called Minimum Expected Delay-based Routing (MEDR) tailored for DTMSNs. MEDR achieves a good routing performance by finding and using the connected paths formed dynamically by mobile sensors. In MEDR, each sensor maintains two important parameters: Minimum Expected Delay (MED) and its expiration time. According to MED, messages will be delivered to the sensor that has at least a connected path with their hosting nodes, and has the shortest expected delay to communication directly with the sink node. Because of the changing network topology, the path is fragile and volatile, so we use the expiration time of MED to indicate the valid time of the path, and avoid wrong transmissions. Simulation results show that the proposed MEDR achieves a higher message delivery ratio with lower transmission overhead and data delivery delay than other DTMSN routing approaches.

MessageSpace: a messaging system for health research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Unpacking the performance of a mobile health information messaging program for mothers (MomConnect) in South Africa: evidence on program reach and messaging exposure

PubMed Central

Dane, Pierre; Copley, Charles J; Pienaar, Cara; Parsons, Annie Neo; Engelhard, Matt; Woods, David; Bekker, Marcha; Benjamin, Peter; Pillay, Yogan; Barron, Peter; Mohan, Diwakar

2018-01-01

Despite calls to address broader evidence gaps in linking digital technologies to outcome and impact level health indicators, limited attention has been paid to measuring processes pertaining to the performance of programs. In this paper, we assess the program reach and message exposure of a mobile health information messaging program for mothers (MomConnect) in South Africa. In this descriptive study, we draw from system generated data to measure exposure to the program through registration attempts and conversions, message delivery, opt-outs and drop-outs. Using a logit model, we additionally explore determinants for early registration, opt-outs and drop-outs. From August 2014 to April 2017, 1 159 431 women were registered to MomConnect; corresponding to half of women attending antenatal care 1 (ANC1) and nearly 60% of those attending ANC1 estimated to own a mobile phone. In 2016, 26% of registrations started to get women onto MomConnect did not succeed. If registration attempts were converted to successful registrations, coverage of ANC1 attendees would have been 74% in 2016 and 86% in 2017. When considered as percentage of ANC1 attendees with access to a mobile phone, addressing conversion challenges bring registration coverage to an estimated 83%–89% in 2016 and 97%–100% in 2017. Among women registered, nearly 80% of expected short messaging service messages were received. While registration coverage and message delivery success rates exceed those observed for mobile messaging programs elsewhere, study findings highlight opportunities for program improvement and reinforce the need for rigorous and continuous monitoring of delivery systems. PMID:29713510

Unpacking the performance of a mobile health information messaging program for mothers (MomConnect) in South Africa: evidence on program reach and messaging exposure.

PubMed

LeFevre, Amnesty E; Dane, Pierre; Copley, Charles J; Pienaar, Cara; Parsons, Annie Neo; Engelhard, Matt; Woods, David; Bekker, Marcha; Benjamin, Peter; Pillay, Yogan; Barron, Peter; Seebregts, Christopher John; Mohan, Diwakar

2018-01-01

Despite calls to address broader evidence gaps in linking digital technologies to outcome and impact level health indicators, limited attention has been paid to measuring processes pertaining to the performance of programs. In this paper, we assess the program reach and message exposure of a mobile health information messaging program for mothers (MomConnect) in South Africa. In this descriptive study, we draw from system generated data to measure exposure to the program through registration attempts and conversions, message delivery, opt-outs and drop-outs. Using a logit model, we additionally explore determinants for early registration, opt-outs and drop-outs. From August 2014 to April 2017, 1 159 431 women were registered to MomConnect; corresponding to half of women attending antenatal care 1 (ANC1) and nearly 60% of those attending ANC1 estimated to own a mobile phone. In 2016, 26% of registrations started to get women onto MomConnect did not succeed. If registration attempts were converted to successful registrations, coverage of ANC1 attendees would have been 74% in 2016 and 86% in 2017. When considered as percentage of ANC1 attendees with access to a mobile phone, addressing conversion challenges bring registration coverage to an estimated 83%-89% in 2016 and 97%-100% in 2017. Among women registered, nearly 80% of expected short messaging service messages were received. While registration coverage and message delivery success rates exceed those observed for mobile messaging programs elsewhere, study findings highlight opportunities for program improvement and reinforce the need for rigorous and continuous monitoring of delivery systems.

Communication latencies of wireless devices suitable for time-critical messaging to anesthesia providers.

PubMed

Epstein, Richard H; Dexter, Franklin; Rothman, Brian

2013-04-01

Rapid and reliable methods of text communication to mobile anesthesia care providers are important to patient care and to efficient operating room management. Anesthesia departments are implementing automated methods to send text messages to mobile devices for abnormal vital signs, clinical recommendations, quality of care, and compliance or billing issues. The most time-critical communications determine maximum acceptable latencies. We studied the reliability of several alphanumeric messaging systems to identify an appropriate technology for such use. Latencies between message initiation and delivery to 3 alphanumeric paging devices were measured over weeks. Two devices used Internet pathways outside the hospital's local network with an external paging vendor (SkyTel). The third device used only the internal hospital network (Zetron). Sequential cell phone text page latencies were examined for lag-1 autocorrelation using the runs test, with results binned by hour and by day. Message latencies subsequently were batched in successive 1-week bins for calculation of the mean and 99th percentiles of latencies. We defined acceptance criteria as a mean latency <30 seconds and no more than 1 in 200 pages (0.5%) having a latency longer than 100 seconds. Cell phone texting was used as a positive control to assure that the analysis was appropriate, because such devices have (known) poor reliability during high network activity. There was substantial correlation among latencies for sequential cell phone text messages when binned by hours (P < 0.0001), but not by days (P = 0.61). The 2 devices using Internet pathways outside the hospital's network demonstrated unacceptable performance, with 1.3% and 33% of latencies exceeding 100 seconds, respectively. The device dependent only on the internal network had a mean latency of 8 seconds, with 100% of 40,200 pages having latencies <100 seconds. The findings suggest that the network used was the deciding factor. Developers of anesthesia communication systems need to measure latencies of proposed communication pathways and devices used to deliver urgent messages to mobile users. Similar evaluation is relevant for text pagers used on an ad hoc basis for delivery of time-critical notifications. Testing over a period of hours to days is adequate only for disqualification of a candidate paging system, because acceptable results are not necessarily indicative of long-term performance. Rather, weeks of testing are required, with appropriate batching of pages for analysis.

DIRECT secure messaging as a common transport layer for reporting structured and unstructured lab results to outpatient providers.

PubMed

Sujansky, Walter; Wilson, Tom

2015-04-01

This report describes a grant-funded project to explore the use of DIRECT secure messaging for the electronic delivery of laboratory test results to outpatient physicians and electronic health record systems. The project seeks to leverage the inherent attributes of DIRECT secure messaging and electronic provider directories to overcome certain barriers to the delivery of lab test results in the outpatient setting. The described system enables laboratories that generate test results as HL7 messages to deliver these results as structured or unstructured documents attached to DIRECT secure messages. The system automatically analyzes generated HL7 messages and consults an electronic provider directory to determine the appropriate DIRECT address and delivery format for each indicated recipient. The system also enables lab results delivered to providers as structured attachments to be consumed by HL7 interface engines and incorporated into electronic health record systems. Lab results delivered as unstructured attachments may be printed or incorporated into patient records as PDF files. The system receives and logs acknowledgement messages to document the status of each transmitted lab result, and a graphical interface allows searching and review of this logged information. The described system is a fully implemented prototype that has been tested in a laboratory setting. Although this approach is promising, further work is required to pilot test the system in production settings with clinical laboratories and outpatient provider organizations. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

TiD-Introducing and Benchmarking an Event-Delivery System for Brain-Computer Interfaces.

PubMed

Breitwieser, Christian; Tavella, Michele; Schreuder, Martijn; Cincotti, Febo; Leeb, Robert; Muller-Putz, Gernot R

2017-12-01

In this paper, we present and analyze an event distribution system for brain-computer interfaces. Events are commonly used to mark and describe incidents during an experiment and are therefore critical for later data analysis or immediate real-time processing. The presented approach, called Tools for brain-computer interaction interface D (TiD), delivers messages in XML format via a buslike system using transmission control protocol connections or shared memory. A dedicated server dispatches TiD messages to distributed or local clients. The TiD message is designed to be flexible and contains time stamps for event synchronization, whereas events describe incidents, which occur during an experiment. TiD was tested extensively toward stability and latency. The effect of an occurring event jitter was analyzed and benchmarked on a reference implementation under different conditions as gigabit and 100-Mb Ethernet or Wi-Fi with a different number of event receivers. A 3-dB signal attenuation, which occurs when averaging jitter influenced trials aligned by events, is starting to become visible at around 1-2 kHz in the case of a gigabit connection. Mean event distribution times across operating systems are ranging from 0.3 to 0.5ms for a gigabit network connection for 10 6 events. Results for other environmental conditions are available in this paper. References already using TiD for event distribution are provided showing the applicability of TiD for event delivery with distributed or local clients.

When promotoras and technology meet: A qualitative analysis of promotoras’ use of small media to increase cancer screening among South Texas Latinos

PubMed Central

Fernandez, Maria E.; LaRue, Denise M.; Bartholomew, L. Kay

2012-01-01

Computer-based multimedia technologies can be used to tailor health messages, but promotoras (Spanish-speaking community health workers) rarely use these tools. Promotoras delivered health messages about colorectal cancer screening to medically underserved Latinos in South Texas using two small media formats: a “low-tech” format (flipchart and video); and a “high-tech” format consisting of a tailored, interactive computer program delivered on a tablet computer. Using qualitative methods, we observed promotora training and intervention delivery, and conducted interviews with five promotoras to compare and contrast program implementation of both formats. We discuss the ways each format aided or challenged promotoras’ intervention delivery. Findings reveal that some aspects of both formats enhanced intervention delivery by tapping into Latino health communication preferences and facilitating interpersonal communication, while other aspects hindered intervention delivery. This study contributes to our understanding of how community health workers use low- and high-tech small media formats when delivering health messages to Latinos. PMID:21986243

Increasing institutional deliveries among antenatal clients: effect of birth preparedness counselling

PubMed Central

Soubeiga, Dieudonné; Sia, Drissa; Gauvin, Lise

2014-01-01

The World Health Organization recommends birth and emergency preparedness (BEP) as essential components of the Focused Antenatal Care model. The purpose of providing BEP messages to women during their antenatal visits is to increase the use of skilled attendance at childbirth. However, the effectiveness of this component has not yet been clearly established in routine contexts. This retrospective cohort study examined the association between exposing women to BEP messages during antenatal visits and the use of the skilled attendance at childbirth in two rural districts of Burkina Faso (Koupela and Dori). The study included 456 antenatal care users in 30 rural health centres in these two districts. Data were collected using modified questionnaires from the Johns Hopkins Program for International Education in Gynecology and Obstetrics and from demographic and health surveys. Logistic regression was performed with a model of generalized estimating equation to adjust for clustered effects. In the Koupela district, where the rate of institutional deliveries (80%) was relatively high, the use of BEP messages was not associated with an increase in institutional deliveries. In contrast, in the district of Dori, where the rate of institutional deliveries (47%) was lower, messages regarding danger signs [Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) = 1.93; 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 1.07, 3.49] and cost of care (AOR = 2.13; 95% CI: 1.09, 4.22) were associated with an increased probability of institutional births. Based on these results, it appears that birth and emergency preparedness messages provided during antenatal visits may increase the use of skilled attendance (increase the rate of institutional births) in areas where institutional births are low. Therefore, it is important to adapt the content of the messages to meet the particular needs of the users in each locality. Furthermore, BEP counselling should be implemented in health facilities. PMID:24270519

Personalised electronic messages to improve sun protection in young adults.

PubMed

Mair, Sarah; Soyer, H Peter; Youl, Philippa; Hurst, Cameron; Marshall, Alison; Janda, Monika

2012-07-01

We studied the acceptability and feasibility of delivering sun protection messages via electronic media such as short message services (SMS) to people aged 18-40 years. An online survey was conducted using a pre-established panel of volunteers. We compared the characteristics of those who indicated that they would like to be alerted to the UV index, with those who would not, using bivariate logistic regression. Characteristics found to be associated with a desire to receive such advice were entered into a multivariate logistic regression analysis. The median age of the 141 participants was 34 years. Overall, 80% of participants agreed that they would like to receive some form of sun protection advice. Of these, 20% preferred to receive it via SMS and 42% via email. Willingness to receive electronic messages about the UV index was associated with being unsure about whether a suntanned person would look healthy and greater use of sun protection in the past. Careful attention to message framing and timing of message delivery, and focus on the short-term effects of sun exposure such as sunburn and skin ageing should increase the acceptability of such messages to young people. Sun protection messages delivered to young adults via electronic media appear to be feasible and acceptable.

Diagnosing the Causes and Severity of One-sided Message Contention

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tallent, Nathan R.; Vishnu, Abhinav; van Dam, Hubertus

Two trends suggest network contention for one-sided messages is poised to become a performance problem that concerns application developers: an increased interest in one-sided programming models and a rising ratio of hardware threads to network injection bandwidth. Unfortunately, it is difficult to reason about network contention and one-sided messages because one-sided tasks can either decrease or increase contention. We present effective and portable techniques for diagnosing the causes and severity of one-sided message contention. To detect that a message is affected by contention, we maintain statistics representing instantaneous (non-local) network resource demand. Using lightweight measurement and modeling, we identify themore » portion of a message's latency that is due to contention and whether contention occurs at the initiator or target. We attribute these metrics to program statements in their full static and dynamic context. We characterize contention for an important computational chemistry benchmark on InfiniBand, Cray Aries, and IBM Blue Gene/Q interconnects. We pinpoint the sources of contention, estimate their severity, and show that when message delivery time deviates from an ideal model, there are other messages contending for the same network links. With a small change to the benchmark, we reduce contention up to 50% and improve total runtime as much as 20%.« less

Qualitative study to explore Prospect Theory and message framing and diet and cancer prevention-related issues among African American adolescents.

PubMed

Satia, Jessie A; Barlow, Jameta; Armstrong-Brown, Janelle; Watters, Joanne L

2010-01-01

There is a dearth of knowledge regarding factors that may motivate African American adolescents to consume healthier diets. To develop and test cancer prevention messages based on Prospect Theory on motivation to improve dietary intake in African American adolescents and to explore other salient factors that may inform dietary intervention design and implementation in this population. Semistructured in-person qualitative interviews were conducted with 13 African American male and female adolescents, aged 12 to 16 years, in North Carolina. Prospect Theory and message framing were used to guide the design of the 4 sets of diet-related messages related to cancer prevention: short-term, gain-framed; long-term, gain-framed; short-term, loss-framed; and long-term, loss-framed messages. Data were also collected on demographic, behavioral, and psychological factors; usual health behaviors; and preferences for intervention delivery. Most respondents found the gain-framed, short-term messages most salient for both fruits/vegetables (8 [61.5%]) and fat consumption (7 [53.8%]). For fat consumption only, 2 (15.4%) found the loss-framed, short-term messages pertinent; none found the loss-framed, long-term messages relevant for either dietary variable. All indicated interest in participating in a dietary intervention/education program; most preferred the Internet as a channel for intervention delivery. Participants expressed diverse views regarding knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs regarding healthy eating. The gain-framed, short-term messages were most salient for motivating the majority of respondents to consume a healthy diet and most expressed a strong interest in participating in programs about diet and nutrition, with the Internet as the preferred communication channel. Researchers conducting dietary interventions and education initiatives and medical professionals who counsel African American adolescents should consider using Prospect Theory as a theoretical framework, should focus on gain-framed, short-term messages regarding cancer prevention, and should use the Internet for data collection and intervention and information delivery.

Addressing People and Place Microenvironments in Weight Loss Disparities (APP-Me): Design of a randomized controlled trial testing timely messages for weight loss behavior in low income black and white women

PubMed Central

Clark, Daniel O.; Srinivas, Preethi; Bodke, Kunal; Keith, NiCole; Hood, Sula; Tu, Wanzhu

2018-01-01

Background Behavioral interventions for weight loss have been less effective in lower income and black women. These poorer outcomes may in part be related to these women having more frequent exposures to social and physical situations that are obesogenic, i.e., eating and sedentary cues or situations. Objectives Working with obese, lower income black and white women, Addressing People and Place Microenvironments (APP-Me) was designed to create awareness of self-behavior at times and places of frequent eating and sedentary behavior. Design APP-Me is being evaluated in a randomized controlled trial with 240 participants recruited from federally qualified health centers located in a single Midwestern city. All participants complete four weeks of ecological momentary assessments (EMA) of situations and behavior. At the end of the four weeks, participants are randomized to enhanced usual care (UC) or UC plus APP-Me. Methods APP-Me is an automated short messaging system (SMS). Messages are text, image, audio, or a combination, and are delivered to participants’ mobile devices with the intent of creating awareness at the times and places of frequent eating or sedentary behavior. Summary This project aims to create and test timely awareness messages in a subpopulation that has not responded well to traditional behavioral interventions for weight loss. Novel aspects of the study include the involvement of a low income population, the use of data on time and place of obesogenic behavior, and message delivery time tailored to an individual’s behavioral patterns. PMID:29357313

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

PubMed

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.

A comparison of two delivery modalities of a mobile phone-based assessment for serious mental illness: native smartphone application vs text-messaging only implementations.

PubMed

Ainsworth, John; Palmier-Claus, Jasper E; Machin, Matthew; Barrowclough, Christine; Dunn, Graham; Rogers, Anne; Buchan, Iain; Barkus, Emma; Kapur, Shitij; Wykes, Til; Hopkins, Richard S; Lewis, Shôn

2013-04-05

Mobile phone-based assessment may represent a cost-effective and clinically effective method of monitoring psychotic symptoms in real-time. There are several software options, including the use of native smartphone applications and text messages (short message service, SMS). Little is known about the strengths and limitations of these two approaches in monitoring symptoms in individuals with serious mental illness. The objective of this study was to compare two different delivery modalities of the same diagnostic assessment for individuals with non-affective psychosis-a native smartphone application employing a graphical, touch user interface against an SMS text-only implementation. The overall hypothesis of the study was that patient participants with sewrious mental illness would find both delivery modalities feasible and acceptable to use, measured by the quantitative post-assessment feedback questionnaire scores, the number of data points completed, and the time taken to complete the assessment. It was also predicted that a native smartphone application would (1) yield a greater number of data points, (2) take less time, and (3) be more positively appraised by patient participant users than the text-based system. A randomized repeated measures crossover design was employed. Participants with currently treated Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (Fourth Edition) schizophrenia or related disorders (n=24) were randomly allocated to completing 6 days of assessment (four sets of questions per day) with a native smartphone application or the SMS text-only implementation. There was then a 1-week break before completing a further 6 days with the alternative delivery modality. Quantitative feedback questionnaires were administered at the end of each period of sampling. A greater proportion of data points were completed with the native smartphone application in comparison to the SMS text-only implementation (β = -.25, SE=.11, P=.02), which also took significantly less time to complete (β =.78, SE= .09, P<.001). Although there were no significant differences in participants' quantitative feedback for the two delivery modalities, most participants reported preferring the native smartphone application (67%; n=16) and found it easier to use (71%; n=16). 33% of participants reported that they would be willing to complete mobile phone assessment for 5 weeks or longer. Native smartphone applications and SMS text are both valuable methods of delivering real-time assessment in individuals with schizophrenia. However, a more streamlined graphical user interface may lead to better compliance and shorter entry times. Further research is needed to test the efficacy of this technology within clinical services, to assess validity over longer periods of time and when delivered on patients' own phones.

A Comparison of Two Delivery Modalities of a Mobile Phone-Based Assessment for Serious Mental Illness: Native Smartphone Application vs Text-Messaging Only Implementations

PubMed Central

Palmier-Claus, Jasper E; Machin, Matthew; Barrowclough, Christine; Dunn, Graham; Rogers, Anne; Buchan, Iain; Barkus, Emma; Kapur, Shitij; Wykes, Til; Hopkins, Richard S; Lewis, Shôn

2013-01-01

Background Mobile phone–based assessment may represent a cost-effective and clinically effective method of monitoring psychotic symptoms in real-time. There are several software options, including the use of native smartphone applications and text messages (short message service, SMS). Little is known about the strengths and limitations of these two approaches in monitoring symptoms in individuals with serious mental illness. Objective The objective of this study was to compare two different delivery modalities of the same diagnostic assessment for individuals with non-affective psychosis—a native smartphone application employing a graphical, touch user interface against an SMS text-only implementation. The overall hypothesis of the study was that patient participants with sewrious mental illness would find both delivery modalities feasible and acceptable to use, measured by the quantitative post-assessment feedback questionnaire scores, the number of data points completed, and the time taken to complete the assessment. It was also predicted that a native smartphone application would (1) yield a greater number of data points, (2) take less time, and (3) be more positively appraised by patient participant users than the text-based system. Methods A randomized repeated measures crossover design was employed. Participants with currently treated Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (Fourth Edition) schizophrenia or related disorders (n=24) were randomly allocated to completing 6 days of assessment (four sets of questions per day) with a native smartphone application or the SMS text-only implementation. There was then a 1-week break before completing a further 6 days with the alternative delivery modality. Quantitative feedback questionnaires were administered at the end of each period of sampling. Results A greater proportion of data points were completed with the native smartphone application in comparison to the SMS text-only implementation (β = -.25, SE=.11, P=.02), which also took significantly less time to complete (β =.78, SE= .09, P<.001). Although there were no significant differences in participants’ quantitative feedback for the two delivery modalities, most participants reported preferring the native smartphone application (67%; n=16) and found it easier to use (71%; n=16). 33% of participants reported that they would be willing to complete mobile phone assessment for 5 weeks or longer. Conclusions Native smartphone applications and SMS text are both valuable methods of delivering real-time assessment in individuals with schizophrenia. However, a more streamlined graphical user interface may lead to better compliance and shorter entry times. Further research is needed to test the efficacy of this technology within clinical services, to assess validity over longer periods of time and when delivered on patients’ own phones. PMID:23563184

Design, Implementation, and Verification of the Reliable Multicast Protocol. Thesis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Montgomery, Todd L.

1995-01-01

This document describes the Reliable Multicast Protocol (RMP) design, first implementation, and formal verification. RMP provides a totally ordered, reliable, atomic multicast service on top of an unreliable multicast datagram service. RMP is fully and symmetrically distributed so that no site bears an undue portion of the communications load. RMP provides a wide range of guarantees, from unreliable delivery to totally ordered delivery, to K-resilient, majority resilient, and totally resilient atomic delivery. These guarantees are selectable on a per message basis. RMP provides many communication options, including virtual synchrony, a publisher/subscriber model of message delivery, a client/server model of delivery, mutually exclusive handlers for messages, and mutually exclusive locks. It has been commonly believed that total ordering of messages can only be achieved at great performance expense. RMP discounts this. The first implementation of RMP has been shown to provide high throughput performance on Local Area Networks (LAN). For two or more destinations a single LAN, RMP provides higher throughput than any other protocol that does not use multicast or broadcast technology. The design, implementation, and verification activities of RMP have occurred concurrently. This has allowed the verification to maintain a high fidelity between design model, implementation model, and the verification model. The restrictions of implementation have influenced the design earlier than in normal sequential approaches. The protocol as a whole has matured smoother by the inclusion of several different perspectives into the product development.

Cascading Policies Provide Fault Tolerance for Pervasive Clinical Communications.

PubMed

Williams, Rose; Jalan, Srikant; Stern, Edie; Lussier, Yves A

2005-03-21

We implemented an end-to-end notification system that pushed urgent clinical laboratory results to Blackberry 7510 devices over the Nextel cellular network. We designed our system to use user roles and notification policies to abstract and execute clinical notification procedures. We anticipated some problems with dropped and non-delivered messages when the device was out-of-network, however, we did not expect the same problems in other situations like device reconnection to the network. We addressed these problems by creating cascading "fault tolerance" policies to drive notification escalation when messages timed-out or delivery failed. This paper describes our experience in providing an adaptable, fault tolerant pervasive notification system for delivering secure, critical, time-sensitive patient laboratory results.

SMS Security System on Mobile Devices Using Tiny Encryption Algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Novelan, M. S.; Husein, A. M.; Harahap, M.; Aisyah, S.

2018-04-01

The development of telecommunications technology is so rapid has given such great benefits. With the telecommunication technology, distance and time no longer be a significant obstacle. One of the results of telecommunications technology that is well known is the Short Message Service. In this study developed an application on the mobile phone to modify the SMS message into ciphertext so that the information content of the SMS is not known by others. SMS delivery system for encrypting messages into ciphertext using a key that is entered by the sender then sends to the destination number. SMS reception system to decrypt it to others via SMS without the fear of information from these messages will be known by others. The method used in the system encrypt and decrypt the message is the algorithm Tiny Encryption Algorithm and implemented using the Java programming language. JDK 1.7 as the Java programming language ciphertext into plaintext using the key entered by the receiver and displays the original message to the recipient. This application can be used by someone who wants to send a confidential information and the Java compiler. Eclipse, a Java SDK and the Android SDK as a Java source code editor.

Beyond Basic Feedback in Mobile Brief Interventions: Designing SMS Message Content for Delivery to Young Adults During Risky Drinking Events

PubMed Central

Dietze, Paul M; Lim, Megan S C

2017-01-01

Background Brief interventions can reduce alcohol consumption in young people through screening and delivery of personally relevant feedback. Recently, Web and mobile platforms have been harnessed to increase the reach of brief interventions. Existing literature on mobile-based alcohol brief interventions indicates mixed use of theory in developing interventions. There is no research available to guide the development of SMS text messaging (short message service, SMS) interventions delivered during risky drinking events. Objective The aim of this study was to develop and pilot an alcohol-related risk-reduction brief intervention delivered by SMS to Australian young adults during drinking events. This paper describes the development of intervention message content, with specific focus on the context of delivery during drinking events. Methods A sample of 42 young adults attended 4 workshops; these comprised focus-group style discussion on drinking habits and motivations, discussion of intervention design, analysis of existing alcohol media campaigns, and participant development of message content. Data were analyzed thematically. Results Participants described a focus on having fun and blocking out any incongruent negative influences during drinking episodes. For content to be acceptable, nonjudgmental and non-authoritative language was deemed essential. A preference for short, actionable messages was observed, including suggestions for reminders around drinking water, organizing transport home, checking on friends, and plans the next day. Participants were excited about the potential for messages to be tailored to individuals, as previous alcohol-related campaigns were deemed too generic and often irrelevant. Normative-based messages were also perceived as largely irrelevant as participants felt that they understood the drinking-related norms of their immediate peers already. Conclusions Findings from this study offer insights into young adults’ drinking events and practical advice for designing alcohol-related brief interventions. During our formative development process, we demonstrated a neat correspondence between young people’s preferences for alcohol harm reduction interventions and the theoretical principles of brief interventions, including acceptable topics and message style. PMID:28634153

Combination of Rivest-Shamir-Adleman Algorithm and End of File Method for Data Security

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rachmawati, Dian; Amalia, Amalia; Elviwani

2018-03-01

Data security is one of the crucial issues in the delivery of information. One of the ways which used to secure the data is by encoding it into something else that is not comprehensible by human beings by using some crypto graphical techniques. The Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA) cryptographic algorithm has been proven robust to secure messages. Since this algorithm uses two different keys (i.e., public key and private key) at the time of encryption and decryption, it is classified as asymmetric cryptography algorithm. Steganography is a method that is used to secure a message by inserting the bits of the message into a larger media such as an image. One of the known steganography methods is End of File (EoF). In this research, the cipher text resulted from the RSA algorithm is compiled into an array form and appended to the end of the image. The result of the EoF is the image which has a line with black gradations under it. This line contains the secret message. This combination of cryptography and steganography in securing the message is expected to increase the security of the message, since the message encryption technique (RSA) is mixed with the data hiding technique (EoF).

Supporting Beacon and Event-Driven Messages in Vehicular Platoons through Token-Based Strategies

PubMed Central

Uhlemann, Elisabeth

2018-01-01

Timely and reliable inter-vehicle communications is a critical requirement to support traffic safety applications, such as vehicle platooning. Furthermore, low-delay communications allow the platoon to react quickly to unexpected events. In this scope, having a predictable and highly effective medium access control (MAC) method is of utmost importance. However, the currently available IEEE 802.11p technology is unable to adequately address these challenges. In this paper, we propose a MAC method especially adapted to platoons, able to transmit beacons within the required time constraints, but with a higher reliability level than IEEE 802.11p, while concurrently enabling efficient dissemination of event-driven messages. The protocol circulates the token within the platoon not in a round-robin fashion, but based on beacon data age, i.e., the time that has passed since the previous collection of status information, thereby automatically offering repeated beacon transmission opportunities for increased reliability. In addition, we propose three different methods for supporting event-driven messages co-existing with beacons. Analysis and simulation results in single and multi-hop scenarios showed that, by providing non-competitive channel access and frequent retransmission opportunities, our protocol can offer beacon delivery within one beacon generation interval while fulfilling the requirements on low-delay dissemination of event-driven messages for traffic safety applications. PMID:29570676

Supporting Beacon and Event-Driven Messages in Vehicular Platoons through Token-Based Strategies.

PubMed

Balador, Ali; Uhlemann, Elisabeth; Calafate, Carlos T; Cano, Juan-Carlos

2018-03-23

Timely and reliable inter-vehicle communications is a critical requirement to support traffic safety applications, such as vehicle platooning. Furthermore, low-delay communications allow the platoon to react quickly to unexpected events. In this scope, having a predictable and highly effective medium access control (MAC) method is of utmost importance. However, the currently available IEEE 802.11p technology is unable to adequately address these challenges. In this paper, we propose a MAC method especially adapted to platoons, able to transmit beacons within the required time constraints, but with a higher reliability level than IEEE 802.11p, while concurrently enabling efficient dissemination of event-driven messages. The protocol circulates the token within the platoon not in a round-robin fashion, but based on beacon data age, i.e., the time that has passed since the previous collection of status information, thereby automatically offering repeated beacon transmission opportunities for increased reliability. In addition, we propose three different methods for supporting event-driven messages co-existing with beacons. Analysis and simulation results in single and multi-hop scenarios showed that, by providing non-competitive channel access and frequent retransmission opportunities, our protocol can offer beacon delivery within one beacon generation interval while fulfilling the requirements on low-delay dissemination of event-driven messages for traffic safety applications.

Parent and child interactions with two contrasting anti-obesity advertising campaigns: a qualitative analysis.

PubMed

Thomas, Samantha L; Olds, Timothy; Pettigrew, Simone; Yeatman, Heather; Hyde, Jim; Dragovic, Christine

2014-02-11

Social marketing has been proposed as a framework that may be effectively used to encourage behaviour change relating to obesity. Social advertising (or mass media campaigning) is the most commonly used social marketing strategy to address the issue of obesity. While social advertising has the potential to effectively communicate information about obesity, some argue that the current framing and delivery of these campaigns are ineffective, and may cause more harm than good. We used a qualitative advertising reception study. 150 family groups (comprised of 159 parents and 184 children) were shown two Australian government anti-obesity advertisements: Measure Up (focused on problems associated with obesity) and Swap It (focused on solutions for obesity). Families were engaged in a discussion about the visual appeals, verbal messages and their perceptions about the impact of the advertisements on behavioural change. Open coding techniques and a constant comparative method of analysis was used to interpret the data. Many parents had strong personal resonance with the visual imagery within the campaigns. While Swap It had strong 'likeability' with children, many children believed that the messages about overweight and obesity were less personally relevant because they did not perceive themselves to be overweight. The content and delivery style of the verbal messages (the serious risk focused message in Measure Up compared to the upbeat, fun practical message in Swap It) influenced how different audiences (parents and children) interpreted the information that was presented. Parents assimilated practical and instructive messages, while children assimilated messages about weight loss and weight gain. Parents and children recognised that the campaigns were asking individuals to take personal responsibility for their weight status, and were at times critical that the campaigns did not tackle the broader issues associated with the causes and consequences of obesity. The lack of practical tools to encourage behavioural change was a key barrier for obese parents. Well-funded, targeted social marketing campaigns will play an important role in the prevention and management of obesity. It is important that these campaigns are comprehensively evaluated and are backed up with structural supports to enable and encourage population subgroups to act upon messages.

Parent and child interactions with two contrasting anti-obesity advertising campaigns: a qualitative analysis

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Social marketing has been proposed as a framework that may be effectively used to encourage behaviour change relating to obesity. Social advertising (or mass media campaigning) is the most commonly used social marketing strategy to address the issue of obesity. While social advertising has the potential to effectively communicate information about obesity, some argue that the current framing and delivery of these campaigns are ineffective, and may cause more harm than good. Methods We used a qualitative advertising reception study. 150 family groups (comprised of 159 parents and 184 children) were shown two Australian government anti-obesity advertisements: Measure Up (focused on problems associated with obesity) and Swap It (focused on solutions for obesity). Families were engaged in a discussion about the visual appeals, verbal messages and their perceptions about the impact of the advertisements on behavioural change. Open coding techniques and a constant comparative method of analysis was used to interpret the data. Results Many parents had strong personal resonance with the visual imagery within the campaigns. While Swap It had strong ‘likeability’ with children, many children believed that the messages about overweight and obesity were less personally relevant because they did not perceive themselves to be overweight. The content and delivery style of the verbal messages (the serious risk focused message in Measure Up compared to the upbeat, fun practical message in Swap It) influenced how different audiences (parents and children) interpreted the information that was presented. Parents assimilated practical and instructive messages, while children assimilated messages about weight loss and weight gain. Parents and children recognised that the campaigns were asking individuals to take personal responsibility for their weight status, and were at times critical that the campaigns did not tackle the broader issues associated with the causes and consequences of obesity. The lack of practical tools to encourage behavioural change was a key barrier for obese parents. Conclusions Well-funded, targeted social marketing campaigns will play an important role in the prevention and management of obesity. It is important that these campaigns are comprehensively evaluated and are backed up with structural supports to enable and encourage population subgroups to act upon messages. PMID:24517101

Cacades: A reliable dissemination protocol for data collection sensor network

USGS Publications Warehouse

Peng, Y.; Song, W.; Huang, R.; Xu, M.; Shirazi, B.; LaHusen, R.; Pei, G.

2009-01-01

In this paper, we propose a fast and reliable data dissemination protocol Cascades to disseminate data from the sink(base station) to all or a subset of nodes in a data collection sensor network. Cascades makes use of the parentmonitor-children analogy to ensure reliable dissemination. Each node monitors whether or not its children have received the broadcast messages through snooping children's rebroadcasts or waiting for explicit ACKs. If a node detects a gap in its message sequences, it can fetch the missing messages from its neighbours reactively. Cascades also considers many practical issues for field deployment, such as dynamic topology, link/node failure, etc.. It therefore guarantees that a disseminated message from the sink will reach all intended receivers and the dissemination is terminated in a short time period. Notice that, all existing dissemination protocols either do not guarantee reliability or do not terminate [1, 2], which does not meet the requirement of real-time command control. We conducted experiment evaluations in both TOSSIM simulator and a sensor network testbed to compare Cascades with those existing dissemination protocols in TinyOS sensor networks, which show that Cascades achieves a higher degree of reliability, lower communication cost, and less delivery delay. ??2009 IEEE.

Scalable Multicast Protocols for Overlapped Groups in Broker-Based Sensor Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Chayoung; Ahn, Jinho

In sensor networks, there are lots of overlapped multicast groups because of many subscribers, associated with their potentially varying specific interests, querying every event to sensors/publishers. And gossip based communication protocols are promising as one of potential solutions providing scalability in P(Publish)/ S(Subscribe) paradigm in sensor networks. Moreover, despite the importance of both guaranteeing message delivery order and supporting overlapped multicast groups in sensor or P2P networks, there exist little research works on development of gossip-based protocols to satisfy all these requirements. In this paper, we present two versions of causally ordered delivery guaranteeing protocols for overlapped multicast groups. The one is based on sensor-broker as delegates and the other is based on local views and delegates representing subscriber subgroups. In the sensor-broker based protocol, sensor-broker might lead to make overlapped multicast networks organized by subscriber's interests. The message delivery order has been guaranteed consistently and all multicast messages are delivered to overlapped subscribers using gossip based protocols by sensor-broker. Therefore, these features of the sensor-broker based protocol might be significantly scalable rather than those of the protocols by hierarchical membership list of dedicated groups like traditional committee protocols. And the subscriber-delegate based protocol is much stronger rather than fully decentralized protocols guaranteeing causally ordered delivery based on only local views because the message delivery order has been guaranteed consistently by all corresponding members of the groups including delegates. Therefore, this feature of the subscriber-delegate protocol is a hybrid approach improving the inherent scalability of multicast nature by gossip-based technique in all communications.

Redesigning pictographs for patients with low health literacy and establishing preliminary steps for delivery via smart phones.

PubMed

Wolpin, Seth E; Nguyen, Juliet K; Parks, Jason J; Lam, Annie Y; Morisky, Donald E; Fernando, Lara; Chu, Adeline; Berry, Donna L

2016-01-01

Pictographs (or pictograms) have been widely utilized to convey medication related messages and to address nonadherence among patients with low health literacy. Yet, patients do not always interpret the intended messages on commonly used pictographs correctly and there are questions how they may be delivered on mobile devices. Our objectives are to refine a set of pictographs to use as medication reminders and to establish preliminary steps for delivery via smart phones. Card sorting was used to identify existing pictographs that focus group members found "not easy" to understand. Participants then explored improvements to these pictographs while iterations were sketched in real-time by a graphic artist. Feedback was also solicited on how selected pictographs might be delivered via smart phones in a sequential reminder message. The study was conducted at a community learning center that provides literacy services to underserved populations in Seattle, WA. Participants aged 18 years and older who met the criteria for low health literacy using S-TOFHLA were recruited. Among the 45 participants screened for health literacy, 29 were eligible and consented to participate. Across four focus group sessions, participants examined 91 commonly used pictographs, 20 of these were ultimately refined to improve comprehensibility using participatory design approaches. All participants in the fifth focus group owned and used cell phones and provided feedback on preferred sequencing of pictographs to represent medication messages. Low literacy adults found a substantial number of common medication label pictographs difficult to understand. Participative design processes helped generate new pictographs, as well as feedback on the sequencing of messages on cell phones, that may be evaluated in future research.

Inflammatory Bowel Disease Telemedicine Clinical Trial: Impact of Educational Text Messages on Disease-Specific Knowledge Over 1 Year.

PubMed

Abutaleb, Ameer; Buchwald, Andrea; Chudy-Onwugaje, Kenechukwu; Langenberg, Patricia; Regueiro, Miguel; Schwartz, David A; Tracy, J Kathleen; Ghazi, Leyla; Patil, Seema A; Quezada, Sandra M; Russman, Katharine M; Quinn, Charlene C; Jambaulikar, Guruprasad; Beaulieu, Dawn B; Horst, Sara; Cross, Raymond K

2018-05-18

Effective treatments are available for patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD); however, suboptimal outcomes occur and are often linked to patients' limited disease knowledge. The aim of this analysis was to determine if delivery of educational messages through a telemedicine system improves IBD knowledge. TELEmedicine for Patients with IBD (TELE-IBD) was a randomized controlled trial with visits at baseline, 6 months, and 12 months; patient knowledge was a secondary aim of the study. Patients were randomized to receive TELE-IBD every other week (EOW), weekly (TELE-IBD W), or standard of care. Knowledge was assessed at each visit with the Crohn's and Colitis Knowledge (CCKNOW) survey. The primary outcome was change in CCKNOW score over 1 year compared between the TELE-IBD and control groups. This analysis included 219 participants. Participants in the TELE-IBD arms had a greater improvement in CCKNOW score compared with standard care (TELE-IBD EOW +2.4 vs standard care +1.8, P = 0.03; TELE-IBD W +2.0 vs standard care +1.8, P = 0.35). Participants with lower baseline CCKNOW scores had a greater change in their score over time (P < 0.01). However, after adjusting for race, site, and baseline knowledge, there was no difference in CCKNOW score change between the control and telemedicine arms. Telemedicine improves IBD-specific knowledge through text messaging, although the improvement is not additive with greater frequency of text messages. However, after adjustment for confounding variables, telemedicine is not superior to education given through standard visits at referral centers. Further research is needed to determine if revised systems with different modes of delivery and/or frequency of messages improve disease knowledge.

Impact of Text Message Reminders on Caregivers’ Adherence to a Home Fortification Program Against Child Anemia in Rural Western China: A Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial

PubMed Central

Zhou, Huan; Sun, Shuai; Sylvia, Sean; Yue, Ai; Shi, Yaojiang; Zhang, Linxiu; Medina, Alexis; Rozelle, Scott

2016-01-01

Objectives. To test whether text message reminders sent to caregivers improve the effectiveness of a home micronutrient fortification program in western China. Methods. We carried out a cluster-randomized controlled trial in 351 villages (clusters) in Shaanxi Province in 2013 and 2014, enrolling children aged 6 to 12 months. We randomly assigned each village to 1 of 3 groups: free delivery group, text messaging group, or control group. We collected information on compliance with treatments and hemoglobin concentrations from all children at baseline and 6-month follow-up. We estimated the intent-to-treat effects on compliance and child anemia using a logistic regression model. Results. There were 1393 eligible children. We found that assignment to the text messaging group led to an increase in full compliance (marginal effect = 0.10; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.03, 0.16) compared with the free delivery group and decrease in the rate of anemia at end line relative to the control group (marginal effect = −0.07; 95% CI = −0.12, −0.01), but not relative to the free delivery group (marginal effect = −0.03; 95% CI = −0.09, 0.03). Conclusions. Text messages improved compliance of caregivers to a home fortification program and children’s nutrition. PMID:27077354

Capturing Changes in HIV-Infected Breastfeeding Mothers’ Cognitive Processes from Before Delivery to 5 Months Postpartum: An Application of the Pile-Sorting Technique in Haiti

PubMed Central

Fox, Elizabeth L; Pelto, Gretel H; Bar, Haim; Rasmussen, Kathleen M; Young, Sera L; Debrosse, Marie Guerda; Rouzier, Vanessa A; Pape, Jean William; Pelletier, David L

2018-01-01

Abstract Background The cognitive processes involved in individuals’ perceptions and prioritization of information, and how these change with experience or exposure to interventions, are rarely examined in the evaluation of nutrition interventions. Exclusive breastfeeding counseling is a common infant and young-child feeding intervention and is used to promote HIV-free survival in the prevention of mother-to-child transmission programs. However, it is often designed without adequate attention to the changes in mothers’ perceptions over the course of their early breastfeeding experiences. Objective The aim of this study was to identify HIV-infected breastfeeding mothers’ cognitive structure (their organization of messages and ideas) of infant feeding messages and to characterize whether their cognitive organization of infant feeding messages changed from pregnancy through the first 5 mo postpartum. Methods With the use of semistructured interviews and the cognitive mapping technique of pile sorting, we interviewed 30 HIV-infected breastfeeding mothers in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. We asked them to sort and rate 18 infant feeding messages 3 times (during pregnancy, 0- to 1-mo postpartum, and 3- to 5-mo postpartum). We analyzed their responses by using multidimensional scaling, property fitting, and partition analyses. Results At all 3 visits, we found consistency in women's cognitive mapping of messages. For example, mothers consistently differentiated messages pertinent for exclusive breastfeeding compared with those that pertained to other practices. However, subtle variations in mothers’ cognition over time were also evident, particularly at 0- to 1-mo postpartum, when message proximity was tightly clustered compared with the earlier and later periods. Conclusions We conclude that mothers share a common cognitive organization of infant feeding messages and that this organization changes over time. Attention to variations in cognition can support context-sensitive, patient-centered counseling by practitioners and improve the effectiveness of nutrition interventions. Pile sorting is an efficient, systematic technique to examine cognitive processes related to health and nutrition.

Teenagers and Texting: Use of a Youth Ecological Momentary Assessment System in Trajectory Health Research With Latina Adolescents

PubMed Central

Hardeman, Rachel R; Kwon, Gyu; Lando-King, Elizabeth; Zhang, Lei; Genis, Therese; Brady, Sonya S; Kinder, Elizabeth

2014-01-01

Background Adolescent females send and receive more text messages than any others, with an average of 4050 texts a month. Despite this technological inroad among adolescents, few researchers are utilizing text messaging technology to collect real time, contextualized data. Temporal variables (ie, mood) collected regularly over a period of time could yield useful insights, particularly for evaluating health intervention outcomes. Use of text messaging technology has multiple benefits, including capacity of researchers to immediately act in response to texted information. Objective The objective of our study was to custom build a short messaging service (SMS) or text messaging assessment delivery system for use with adolescents. The Youth Ecological Momentary Assessment System (YEMAS) was developed to collect automated texted reports of daily activities, behaviors, and attitudes among adolescents, and to examine the feasibility of YEMAS. This system was created to collect and transfer real time data about individual- and social-level factors that influence physical, mental, emotional, and social well-being. Methods YEMAS is a custom designed system that interfaces with a cloud-based communication system to automate scheduled delivery of survey questions via text messaging; we designed this university-based system to meet data security and management standards. This was a two-phase study that included development of YEMAS and a feasibility pilot with Latino adolescent females. Relative homogeneity of participants was desired for the feasibility pilot study; adolescent Latina youth were sought because they represent the largest and fastest growing ethnic minority group in the United States. Females were targeted because they demonstrate the highest rate of text messaging and were expected to be interested in participating. Phase I involved development of YEMAS and Phase II involved piloting of the system with Latina adolescents. Girls were eligible to participate if they were attending one of the participating high schools and self-identified as Latina. We contacted 96 adolescents; of these, 24 returned written parental consent forms, completed assent processes, and enrolled in the study. Results YEMAS was collaboratively developed and implemented. Feasibility was established with Latina adolescents (N=24), who responded to four surveys daily for two two-week periods (four weeks total). Each survey had between 12 and 17 questions, with responses including yes/no, Likert scale, and open-ended options. Retention and compliance rates were high, with nearly 18,000 texts provided by the girls over the course of the pilot period. Conclusions Pilot results support the feasibility and value of YEMAS, an automated SMS-based text messaging data collection system positioned within a secure university environment. This approach capitalizes on immediate data transfer protocols and enables the documentation of participants’ thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in real time. Data are collected using mobile devices that are familiar to participants and nearly ubiquitous in developed countries. PMID:25098355

Effect of health messages about "Light" and "Ultra Light" cigarettes on beliefs and quitting intent.

PubMed

Shiffman, S; Pillitteri, J L; Burton, S L; Rohay, J M; Gitchell, J G

2001-01-01

To test the impact of three health messages focusing on vent holes, sensory effects of Light and Ultra Light cigarettes, or health consequences of smoking, respectively, on beliefs and quitting intentions. In the course of a random digit dialed telephone survey, subjects were randomised to hear one of three messages. To test the effects of the messages, beliefs and quitting intentions were assessed both pre- and post-message. Daily smokers (n = 2120) of Regular (46%), Light (39%), and Ultra Light (15%) cigarettes in the USA. The sample was weighted to match the US smoker population on age, sex, and ethnicity. Beliefs were summarised on three dimensions: Safety (reduced health risk), Delivery (lower tar and nicotine delivery), and Sensation (less harsh). Quitting interest was captured by the "quit index", an aggregate measure of quitting interest and intent. The message focusing on smokers' sensory perceptions of Light and Ultra Light cigarettes resulted in the most positive change in beliefs about safety, delivery, and intent to quit, and was particularly effective among those who believed that these cigarettes were less harsh. The effect was most pronounced among young adults, and among smokers of Light and Ultra Light brands who most endorsed their sensory benefits. Addressing smokers' sensory experience that Light and Ultra Light cigarettes feel less harsh may be a promising strategy for changing their misconceptions about these cigarettes and enhancing their interest in quitting. Media counter-advertising on Lights and Ultra Lights, focusing on sensory aspects of these cigarettes, may be an important part of tobacco control efforts.

Re-Presenting Subversive Songs: Applying Strategies for Invention and Arrangement to Nontraditional Speech Texts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Charlesworth, Dacia

2010-01-01

Invention deals with the content of a speech, arrangement involves placing the content in an order that is most strategic, style focuses on selecting linguistic devices, such as metaphor, to make the message more appealing, memory assists the speaker in delivering the message correctly, and delivery ideally enables great reception of the message.…

Influence of delivery strategy on message-processing mechanisms and future adherence to a Dutch computer-tailored smoking cessation intervention.

PubMed

Stanczyk, Nicola Esther; Crutzen, Rik; Bolman, Catherine; Muris, Jean; de Vries, Hein

2013-02-06

Smoking tobacco is one of the most preventable causes of illness and death. Web-based tailored smoking cessation interventions have shown to be effective. Although these interventions have the potential to reach a large number of smokers, they often face high attrition rates, especially among lower educated smokers. A possible reason for the high attrition rates in the latter group is that computer-tailored smoking cessation interventions may not be attractive enough as they are mainly text-based. Video-based messages might be more effective in attracting attention and stimulating comprehension in people with a lower educational level and could therefore reduce attrition rates. The objective of the present study was to investigate whether differences exist in message-processing mechanisms (attention, comprehension, self-reference, appreciation, processing) and future adherence (intention to visit/use the website again, recommend the website to others), according to delivery strategy (video or text based messages) and educational level, to a Dutch computer-tailored smoking cessation program. Smokers who were motivated to quit within the following 6 months and who were aged over 16 were included in the program. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions (video/text CT). The sample was stratified into 2 categories: lower and higher educated participants. In total, 139 participants completed the first session of the web-based tailored intervention and were subsequently asked to fill out a questionnaire assessing message-processing mechanisms and future adherence. ANOVAs and regression analyses were conducted to investigate the differences in message-processing mechanisms and future adherence with regard to delivery strategy and education. No interaction effects were found between delivery strategy (video vs text) and educational level on message-processing mechanisms and future adherence. Delivery strategy had no effect on future adherence and processing mechanisms. However, in both groups results indicated that lower educated participants showed higher attention (F(1,138)=3.97; P=.05) and processing levels (F(1,138)=4.58; P=.04). Results revealed also that lower educated participants were more inclined to visit the computer-tailored intervention website again (F(1,138)=4.43; P=.04). Computer-tailored programs have the potential to positively influence lower educated groups as they might be more involved in the computer-tailored intervention than higher educated smokers. Longitudinal studies with a larger sample are needed to gain more insight into the role of delivery strategy in tailored information and to investigate whether the intention to visit the intervention website again results in the ultimate goal of behavior change. Netherlands Trial Register (NTR3102).

Influence of Delivery Strategy on Message-Processing Mechanisms and Future Adherence to a Dutch Computer-Tailored Smoking Cessation Intervention

PubMed Central

Crutzen, Rik; Bolman, Catherine; Muris, Jean; de Vries, Hein

2013-01-01

Background Smoking tobacco is one of the most preventable causes of illness and death. Web-based tailored smoking cessation interventions have shown to be effective. Although these interventions have the potential to reach a large number of smokers, they often face high attrition rates, especially among lower educated smokers. A possible reason for the high attrition rates in the latter group is that computer-tailored smoking cessation interventions may not be attractive enough as they are mainly text-based. Video-based messages might be more effective in attracting attention and stimulating comprehension in people with a lower educational level and could therefore reduce attrition rates. Objective The objective of the present study was to investigate whether differences exist in message-processing mechanisms (attention, comprehension, self-reference, appreciation, processing) and future adherence (intention to visit/use the website again, recommend the website to others), according to delivery strategy (video or text based messages) and educational level, to a Dutch computer-tailored smoking cessation program. Methods Smokers who were motivated to quit within the following 6 months and who were aged over 16 were included in the program. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions (video/text CT). The sample was stratified into 2 categories: lower and higher educated participants. In total, 139 participants completed the first session of the web-based tailored intervention and were subsequently asked to fill out a questionnaire assessing message-processing mechanisms and future adherence. ANOVAs and regression analyses were conducted to investigate the differences in message-processing mechanisms and future adherence with regard to delivery strategy and education. Results No interaction effects were found between delivery strategy (video vs text) and educational level on message-processing mechanisms and future adherence. Delivery strategy had no effect on future adherence and processing mechanisms. However, in both groups results indicated that lower educated participants showed higher attention (F 1,138=3.97; P=.05) and processing levels (F 1,138=4.58; P=.04). Results revealed also that lower educated participants were more inclined to visit the computer-tailored intervention website again (F 1,138=4.43; P=.04). Conclusions Computer-tailored programs have the potential to positively influence lower educated groups as they might be more involved in the computer-tailored intervention than higher educated smokers. Longitudinal studies with a larger sample are needed to gain more insight into the role of delivery strategy in tailored information and to investigate whether the intention to visit the intervention website again results in the ultimate goal of behavior change. Trial Registration Netherlands Trial Register (NTR3102). PMID:23388554

Text messaging versus email for emergency medicine residents’ knowledge retention: a pilot comparison in the United States

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

We evaluated the effectiveness of text messaging versus email, as a delivery method to enhance knowledge retention of emergency medicine (EM) content in EM residents. We performed a multi-centered, prospective, randomized study consisting of postgraduate year (PGY) 1 to PGY 3 & 4 residents in three United States EM residency programs in 2014. Fifty eight residents were randomized into one delivery group: text message or email. Participants completed a 40 question pre- and post-intervention exam. Primary outcomes were the means of pre- and post-intervention exam score differences. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, paired t-test, and multiple linear regressions. No significant difference was found between the primary outcomes of the two groups (P=0.51). PGY 2 status had a significant negative effect (P=0.01) on predicted exam score difference. Neither delivery method enhanced resident knowledge retention. Further research on implementation of mobile technology in residency education is required. PMID:27780350

Text messaging versus email for emergency medicine residents' knowledge retention: a pilot comparison in the United States.

PubMed

Hoonpongsimanont, Wirachin; Kulkarni, Miriam; Tomas-Domingo, Pedro; Anderson, Craig; McCormack, Denise; Tu, Khoa; Chakravarthy, Bharath; Lotfipour, Shahram

2016-01-01

We evaluated the effectiveness of text messaging versus email, as a delivery method to enhance knowledge retention of emergency medicine (EM) content in EM residents. We performed a multi-centered, prospective, randomized study consisting of postgraduate year (PGY) 1 to PGY 3 & 4 residents in three United States EM residency programs in 2014. Fifty eight residents were randomized into one delivery group: text message or email. Participants completed a 40 question pre- and post-intervention exam. Primary outcomes were the means of pre- and post-intervention exam score differences. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, paired t-test, and multiple linear regressions. No significant difference was found between the primary outcomes of the two groups (P=0.51). PGY 2 status had a significant negative effect (P=0.01) on predicted exam score difference. Neither delivery method enhanced resident knowledge retention. Further research on implementation of mobile technology in residency education is required.

Development of macaronic Hindi-English ‘Hinglish’ text message content for a coronary heart disease secondary prevention programme

PubMed Central

Thakkar, Jay; Karthikeyan, Ganesan; Purohit, Gaurav; Thakkar, Swetha; Sharma, Jitender; Verma, Sunilkumar; Parakh, Neeraj; Seth, Sandeep; Mishra, Sundeep; Yadav, Rakesh; Singh, Sandeep; Joshi, Rohina; Thiagalingam, Aravinda; Chow, Clara K; Redfern, Julie

2016-01-01

Background Coronary heart disease (CHD) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in India. Text message based prevention programs have demonstrated reduction in cardiovascular risk factors among patients with CHD in selected populations. Customisation is important as behaviour change is influenced by culture and linguistic context. Objectives To customise a mobile phone text message program supporting behaviour and treatment adherence in CHD for delivery in North India. Methods We used an iterative process with mixed methods involving three phases: (1) Initial translation, (2) Review and incorporation of feedback including review by cardiologists in India to assess alignment with local guidelines and by consumers on perceived utility and clarity and (3) Pilot testing of message management software. Results Messages were translated in three ways: symmetrical translation, asymmetrical translation and substitution. Feedback from cardiologists and 25 patients was incorporated to develop the final bank. Patients reported Hinglish messages were easy to understand (93%) and useful (78%). The software located in Australia successfully delivered messages to participants based in Delhi-surrounds (India). Conclusions Our process for customisation of a text message program considered cultural, linguistic and the medical context of potential participants. This is important in optimising intervention fidelity across populations enabling examination of the generalisability of text message programs across populations. We also demonstrated the customised program was acceptable to patients in India and that a centralised cross-country delivery model was feasible. This process could be used as a guide for other groups seeking to customise their programs. Trial registration number TEXTMEDS Australia (Parent study)—ACTRN 12613000793718. PMID:27752288

Developing content for a mHealth intervention to promote postpartum retention in prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission programs and early infant diagnosis of HIV: a qualitative study.

PubMed

Odeny, Thomas A; Newman, Maya; Bukusi, Elizabeth A; McClelland, R Scott; Cohen, Craig R; Camlin, Carol S

2014-01-01

Maternal attendance at postnatal clinic visits and timely diagnosis of infant HIV infection are important steps for prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV. We aimed to use theory-informed methods to develop text messages targeted at facilitating these steps. We conducted five focus group discussions with health workers and women attending antenatal, postnatal, and PMTCT clinics to explore aspects of women's engagement in postnatal HIV care and infant testing. Discussion topics were informed by constructs of the Health Belief Model (HBM) and prior empirical research. Qualitative data were coded and analyzed according to the construct of the HBM to which they related. Themes were extracted and used to draft intervention messages. We carried out two stages of further messaging development: messages were presented in a follow-up focus group in order to develop optimal phrasing in local languages. We then further refined the messages, pretested them in individual cognitive interviews with selected health workers, and finalized the messages for the intervention. Findings indicated that brief, personalized, caring, polite, encouraging, and educational text messages would facilitate women bringing their children to clinic after delivery, suggesting that text messages may serve as an important "cue to action." Participants emphasized that messages should not mention HIV due to fear of HIV testing and disclosure. Participants also noted that text messages could capitalize on women's motivation to attend clinic for childhood immunizations. Applying a multi-stage content development approach to crafting text messages--informed by behavioral theory--resulted in message content that was consistent across different focus groups. This approach could help answer "why" and "how" text messaging may be a useful tool to support maternal and child health. We are evaluating the effect of these messages on improving postpartum PMTCT retention and infant HIV testing in a randomized trial.

Utilizing grassroots workers in family planning programs in India: prospects and problems.

PubMed

Mani, S B

1991-01-01

In order to rapidly expand the network of delivery systems and speed up the process of acceptance of family planning messages and methods, a shift took place in the Indian family planning program from the bureaucratic "clinical" approach to the people oriented "extension" approach. As a result, there is an increasing emphasis on moving the family planning efforts closer to the grassroots level. A key methodological issue centers on the proper selection, cultural acceptability, and the effectiveness of the grassroots workers who are to be trained and through whom family planning motivational messages and methods are to be introduced. The Indian government, from time to time, has trained and utilized different groups of grassroots workers in its family planning promotional efforts. Anthropological field studies were conducted in two different regions in India to examine the potential and actual roles of two groups of grassroots workers--opinion leaders and traditional birth attendants--in the delivery of family planning services in the rural areas. These studies revealed that while the traditional birth attendants can be trained and utilized to a limited extent in promoting family planning efforts, especially to the eligible female clients, the role of the opinion leaders in such efforts is at best questionable. Based on these field studies, cultural and technical (including bureaucratic) problems in training and utilizing opinion leaders and traditional birth attendants are explored in detail. Modifications in the training program strategies are suggested to improve and expand the family planning delivery system in rural India.

The development and implementation of a theory-informed, integrated mother-child intervention in rural Uganda.

PubMed

Singla, Daisy R; Kumbakumba, Elias

2015-12-01

A randomised cluster effectiveness trial of a parenting intervention in rural Uganda found benefits to child development among children 12-36 months, relevant parenting practices related to stimulation, hygiene and diet, and prevented the worsening of mothers' depressive symptoms. An examination of underlying implementation processes allows researchers and program developers to determine whether the program was implemented as intended and highlight barriers and facilitators that may influence replication and scale-up. The objectives of this study were to describe and critically examine (a) perceived barriers and facilitators related to implementation processes of intervention content, training and supervision and delivery from the perspectives of delivery agents and supervisors; (b) perceived barriers and facilitators related to enactment of practices from the perspective of intervention mothers participating in the parenting program; and c) whether the program was implemented as intended. Semi-structured interviews were conducted at midline with peer delivery agents (n = 12) and intervention mothers (n = 31) and at endline with supervisors (n = 4). Content analysis was used to analyze qualitative data in terms of barriers and facilitators of intervention content, training and supervision, delivery and enactment. Additionally, mothers' recall and enactment of practices were coded and analyzed statistically. Monitoring of group sessions and home visits were examined to reveal whether the program was implemented as intended. Among the program's five key messages, 'love and respect' targeting maternal psychological well-being was the most practiced by mothers, easiest to implement by delivery agents, and mothers reported the most internal facilitators for this message. A detailed manual and structured monitoring forms were perceived to facilitate training, intervention delivery, and supervision. Interactive and active strategies based on social-cognitive learning theory were reported as facilitators to intervention delivery. Only program attendance, but not barriers, facilitators or message recall, was significantly positively related to message enactment. Monitoring of group sessions and home visits showed that the program was largely implemented as intended. This implementation assessment revealed a number of important barriers and facilitators from the perspectives of delivery agents, supervisors and program participants. The methods and results are useful to examining and informing the content, delivery, and scaling up of the current program as well as future mother-child interventions in LMIC settings. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Key messages for communicating information about BRCA1 and BRCA2 to women with breast or ovarian cancer: Consensus across health professionals and service users.

PubMed

Jacobs, Chris; Pichert, Gabriella; Harris, Jackie; Tucker, Kathy; Michie, Susan

2017-11-01

Genetic testing of cancer predisposing genes will increasingly be needed in oncology clinics to target cancer treatment. This Delphi study aimed to identify areas of agreement and disagreement between genetics and oncology health professionals and service users about the key messages required by women with breast/ovarian cancer who undergo BRCA1/BRCA2 genetic testing and the optimal timing of communicating key messages. Participants were 16 expert health professionals specialising in oncology/genetics and 16 service users with breast/ovarian cancer and a pathogenic BRCA1/BRCA2 variant. Online questionnaires containing 53 inductively developed information messages were circulated to the groups separately. Participants rated each message as key/not key on a Likert scale and suggested additional messages. Questionnaires were modified according to the feedback and up to 3 rounds were circulated. Consensus was reached when there was ≥75% agreement. Thirty key messages were agreed by both groups with 7 of the key messages agreed by ≥95% of participants: dominant inheritance, the availability of predictive testing, the importance of pretest discussion, increased risk of breast and ovarian cancer, and the option of risk-reducing mastectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy. Both groups agreed that key messages should be communicated before genetic testing and once a pathogenic variant has been identified. There was a high level of agreement within and between the groups about the information requirements of women with breast/ovarian cancer about BRCA1/BRCA2. These key messages will be helpful in developing new approaches to the delivery of information as genetic testing becomes further integrated into mainstream oncology services. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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

PubMed

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 bathing and having postnatal care visits. Low cost mobile phone messages may have the potential to positively influence maternal and child healthcare behaviours, such as delayed timing of first bath, in resource-poor settings. Further studies are needed, with adequate sample size to detect significant change.

Group Centric Networking: A new Approach for Wireless Multi-Hop Networking to Enable the Internet of Things

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-11-11

reliable data message delivery. The basic mechanism of link-based routing schemes is the broadcasting of a control message (called a “ hello ”) to all of its...short- est path route to a destination by using the set of ex- changed hello messages between users of the network. With sufficiently high frequency... hello messages are suc- cessfully exchanged across a high error link, and since this link is of longer distance, it gets used to build a shortest path

Group Centric Networking: A new Approach for Wireless Multi-Hop Networking to Enable the Internet of Things

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-09-07

reliable data message delivery. The basic mechanism of link-based routing schemes is the broadcasting of a control message (called a “ hello ”) to all of its...short- est path route to a destination by using the set of ex- changed hello messages between users of the network. With sufficiently high frequency... hello messages are suc- cessfully exchanged across a high error link, and since this link is of longer distance, it gets used to build a shortest path

Informing Active Play and Screen Time Behaviour Change Interventions for Low Socioeconomic Position Mothers of Young Children: What Do Mothers Want?

PubMed Central

Campbell, Karen J.; Hesketh, Kylie D.

2016-01-01

Introduction. This study investigated views of mothers from disadvantaged urban and regional areas (i.e., beyond major capital cities) as potential end users of child active play and screen time behaviour change interventions, with a focus on text messaging and web-based delivery platforms. Methods. Thirty-two mothers (22 urban; 10 regional) were interviewed. Purpose-designed questions covered topics regarding mothers' preferences for accessing and receiving information related to parenting and child active play and screen time. Data from transcribed interviews were analysed to identify responses and key themes. Results. Mothers reported frequently accessing parenting- and child-related information online. Regional mothers reported seeking information by talking with other people less frequently than urban mothers and seemed to have a stronger preference for receiving information online. There were few differences between responses from low and high educated mothers. The majority of mothers reported that they would be happy to receive text messages containing information about active play and screen time and that they would find a dedicated website with this information useful. Conclusions. Mothers in this study held favourable views on the potential of receiving information via new communication technologies. Future interventions targeting socioeconomically disadvantaged mothers may benefit from delivering intervention messages via these technologies. PMID:28053979

Mobile phone messaging reminders for attendance at healthcare appointments.

PubMed

Car, Josip; Gurol-Urganci, Ipek; de Jongh, Thyra; Vodopivec-Jamsek, Vlasta; Atun, Rifat

2012-07-11

Missed appointments are a major cause of inefficiency in healthcare delivery, with substantial monetary costs for the health system, leading to delays in diagnosis and appropriate treatment. Patients' forgetfulness is one of the main reasons for missed appointments, and reminders may help alleviate this problem. Modes of communicating reminders for appointments to patients include face-to-face communication, postal messages, calls to landlines or mobile phones, and mobile phone messaging. Mobile phone messaging applications such as Short Message Service (SMS) and Multimedia Message Service (MMS) could provide an important, inexpensive delivery medium for reminders for healthcare appointments. To assess the effects of mobile phone messaging reminders for attendance at healthcare appointments. Secondary objectives include assessment of patients' and healthcare providers' evaluation of the intervention; 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 as reminders for healthcare appointments. We only included studies in which it was possible to assess effects of mobile phone messaging independent of other technologies or interventions.   Two review authors independently assessed all studies against the inclusion criteria, with any disagreements resolved by a third review author. Study design features, characteristics of target populations, interventions and controls, and results data were extracted by two review authors and confirmed by a third author. Primary outcomes of interest were rate of attendance at healthcare appointments. We also considered health outcomes as a result of the intervention, patients' and providers' evaluation of the intervention, perceptions of safety, costs, and potential harms or adverse effects. As the intervention characteristics and outcome measures were similar across included studies, we conducted a meta-analysis to estimate an overall effect size. We included four randomised controlled trials involving 3547 participants. Three studies with moderate quality evidence showed that mobile text message reminders improved the rate of attendance at healthcare appointments compared to no reminders (risk ratio (RR) 1.10 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.03 to 1.17)). One low quality study reported that mobile text message reminders with postal reminders, compared to postal reminders, improved rate of attendance at healthcare appointments (RR 1.10 (95% CI 1.02 to 1.19)). However, two studies with moderate quality of evidence showed that mobile phone text message reminders and phone call reminders had a similar impact on healthcare attendance (RR 0.99 (95% CI 0.95 to 1.03). The costs per attendance of mobile phone text message reminders were shown to be lower compared to phone call reminders. None of the included studies reported outcomes related to harms or adverse effects of the intervention, nor health outcomes or user perception of safety related to the intervention. There is moderate quality evidence that mobile phone text message reminders are more effective than no reminders, and low quality evidence that text message reminders with postal reminders are more effective than postal reminders alone. Further, according to the moderate quality evidence we found, mobile phone text message reminders are as effective as phone call reminders. Overall, there is limited evidence on the effects of mobile phone text message reminders for appointment attendance, and further high-quality research is required to draw more robust conclusions.

Feasibility and user perception of a fully automated push-based multiple-session alcohol intervention for university students: randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Bendtsen, Marcus; Bendtsen, Preben

2014-06-23

In recent years, many electronic health behavior interventions have been developed in order to reach individuals with unhealthy behaviors, such as risky drinking. This is especially relevant for university students, many of whom are risky drinkers. This study explored the acceptability and feasibility in a nontreatment-seeking group of university students (including both risk and nonrisk drinkers), of a fully automated, push-based, multiple-session, alcohol intervention, comparing two modes of delivery by randomizing participants to receive the intervention either by SMS text messaging (short message service, SMS) or by email. A total of 5499 students at Luleå University in northern Sweden were invited to participate in a single-session alcohol assessment and feedback intervention; 28.04% (1542/5499) students completed this part of the study. In total, 29.44% (454/1542) of those participating in the single-session intervention accepted to participate further in the extended multiple-session intervention lasting for 4 weeks. The students were randomized to receive the intervention messages via SMS or email. A follow-up questionnaire was sent immediately after the intervention and 52.9% (240/454) responded. No difference was seen regarding satisfaction with the length and frequency of the intervention, regardless of the mode of delivery. Approximately 15% in both the SMS (19/136) and email groups (15/104) would have preferred the other mode of delivery. On the other hand, more students in the SMS group (46/229, 20.1%) stopped participating in the intervention during the 4-week period compared with the email group (10/193, 5.2%). Most students in both groups expressed satisfaction with the content of the messages and would recommend the intervention to a fellow student in need of reducing drinking. A striking difference was seen regarding when a message was read; 88.2% (120/136) of the SMS group read the messages within 1 hour in contrast to 45.2% (47/104) in the email group. In addition, 83.1% (113/136) in the SMS group stated that they read all or almost all the messages, compared with only 63.5% (66/104) in the email group. Based on the feedback from the students, an extended, multiple-session, push-based intervention seems to be a feasible option for students interested in additional support after a single-session alcohol intervention. SMS as a mode of delivery seems to have some advantages over email regarding when a message is read and the proportion of messages read. However, more students in the SMS group stopped the intervention than in the email group. Based on these promising findings, further studies comparing the effectiveness of single-session interventions with extended multiple-session interventions delivered separately or in combination are warranted.

Adolescent Female Text Messaging Preferences to Prevent Pregnancy After an Emergency Department Visit: A Qualitative Analysis.

PubMed

Chernick, Lauren Stephanie; Schnall, Rebecca; Stockwell, Melissa S; Castaño, Paula M; Higgins, Tracy; Westhoff, Carolyn; Santelli, John; Dayan, Peter S

2016-09-29

Over 15 million adolescents use the emergency department (ED) each year in the United States. Adolescent females who use the ED for medical care have been found to be at high risk for unintended pregnancy. Given that adolescents represent the largest users of text messaging and are receptive to receiving text messages related to their sexual health, the ED visit represents an opportunity for intervention. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore interest in and preferences for the content, frequency, and timing of an ED-based text message intervention to prevent pregnancy for adolescent females. We conducted semistructured, open-ended interviews in one urban ED in the United States with adolescent females aged 14-19 years. Eligible subjects were adolescents who were sexually active in the past 3 months, presented to the ED for a reproductive health complaint, owned a mobile phone, and did not use effective contraception. Using an interview guide, enrollment continued until saturation of key themes. The investigators designed sample text messages using the Health Beliefs Model and participants viewed these on a mobile phone. The team recorded, transcribed, and coded interviews based on thematic analysis using the qualitative analysis software NVivo and Excel. Participants (n=14) were predominantly Hispanic (13/14; 93%), insured (13/14; 93%), ED users in the past year (12/14; 86%), and frequent text users (10/14; 71% had sent or received >30 texts per day). All were interested in receiving text messages from the ED about pregnancy prevention, favoring messages that were "brief," "professional," and "nonaccusatory." Respondents favored texts with links to websites, repeated information regarding places to receive "confidential" care, and focused information on contraception options and misconceptions. Preferences for text message frequency varied from daily to monthly, with random hours of delivery to maintain "surprise." No participant feared that text messages would violate her privacy. Adolescent female patients at high pregnancy risk are interested in ED-based pregnancy prevention provided by texting. Understanding preferences for the content, frequency, and timing of messages can guide in designing future interventions in the ED.

Reaching adolescent girls through social networking: a new avenue for smoking prevention messages.

PubMed

Struik, Laura Louise; Bottorff, Joan L; Jung, Mary; Budgen, Claire

2012-09-01

Because adolescent girls are being targeted on social networking sites by the tobacco industry, new online tobacco control (TC) initiatives are needed. The purpose of this interpretive descriptive study was to explore adolescent girls' perspectives on the use of social networking sites to deliver TC messages targeting young women. Focus groups were conducted with 17 girls aged 16 to 19. Seven TC messages were provided for evaluation and as context for discussion about the delivery of TC messages on social networking sites. Data were analyzed for themes, which included concerns about the effectiveness of current TC messages and the stereotypical representations of gender, factors perceived to influence the effectiveness of TC messages on social networking sites, and suggestions for enhancing the effectiveness of TC messages placed on social networking sites. Endorsement of TC messaging on social networking sites suggests that this medium is an untapped resource for smoking prevention.

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

PubMed

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, and cross media delivery and notification. It provides seamless wide area access to patient data in a secure environment, thus providing a continuity of care from the hospital to home.

The Strategic Combination of Open-Access Peer-Review, Mainstream Media and Social Media to Improve Public Climate Literacy (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cook, J.; Nuccitelli, D. A.; Jacobs, P.

2013-12-01

The Skeptical Science website began in 2007, with the goal of refuting climate misinformation with peer-reviewed science. It achieved this by embracing a diversity of message formats and delivery methods. Myth rebuttals are available at beginner, intermediate and advanced levels, spanning from long, technical treatments to tweetable one-liners. Content has been translated into 20 different languages and made available via the web, an iPhone app and books while adopted by third parties in textbooks, university and MOOC curricula, books, Senate testimonies and TV documentaries. While social media has been a fruitful medium, we experimented with a new model in 2013, employing the strategic combination of open-access peer-review, mainstream media outreach and social media marketing. This strategy was adopted with the release of a paper quantifying the level of scientific consensus in published climate papers, resulting in broad mainstream media attention as well as acknowledgement from key public figures such as Al Gore, the UK Minister for Energy Edward Davey and President Obama. Our approach was informed by psychological research into both the importance of scientific consensus and how to reduce the influence of misconceptions. While multiple methods of delivery are important, equally important is the construction of the messages themselves. I will examine the science of crafting compelling messages and how combination with diverse message delivery can lead to impactful outcomes.

Mothers’ perspectives on the delivery of childhood injury messages: a qualitative study from the growing up in Wales, environments for healthy living study (EHL)

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Childhood injury is the second leading cause of death for infants aged 1–5 years in the United Kingdom (UK) and most unintentional injuries occur in the home. We explored mothers’ knowledge and awareness of child injury prevention and sought to discover mothers’ views about the best method of designing interventions to deliver appropriate child safety messages to prevent injury in the home. Methods Qualitative study based on 21 semi-structured interviews with prospective mothers and mothers of young children. Mothers were selected according to neighbourhood deprivation status. Results There was no difference in awareness of safety devices according to mothers’ deprivation status. Social networks were important in raising awareness and adherence to child safety advice. Mothers who were recent migrants had not always encountered safety messages or safety equipment commonly used in the UK. Mothers’ recommended that safety information should be basic and concise, and include both written and pictorial information and case studies focus on proactive preventive messages. Messages should be delivered both by mass media and suitably trained individuals and be timed to coincide with pregnancy and repeated at age appropriate stages of child development. Conclusions The findings suggest that timely childhood injury-related risk messages should be delivered during pregnancy and in line with developmental milestones of the child, through a range of sources including social networks, mass media, face-to-face advice from health professionals and other suitably trained mothers. In addition information on the safe use of home appliances around children and use of child safety equipment should be targeted specifically at those who have recently migrated to the United Kingdom. PMID:24007442

Exploring Black College Females’ Perceptions Regarding HIV Prevention Message Content

PubMed Central

Chandler, Rasheeta; Ross, Henry; Ozoya, Oluwatobi; Lescano, Celia; Flannigan, Timothy

2017-01-01

Media messages can facilitate delivery of accurate HIV/STI-related information. This study’s purpose was to examine pre-existing media campaigns from the iMPPACS study to assess age, gender, and culturally appropriate components identified by African American females who attend HBCUs. In three separate focus group sessions, 31 Black female college students (M age=20) viewed four vignettes and heard three audio-only clips, then ranked and commented on them based on perceived satisfaction of HIV prevention content and appropriateness of delivery. Conventional qualitative analysis, using NVivo software, was employed until saturation of content was achieved and themes derived. Six major themes emerged and were designated as: 1) Social media; 2) Mirror Image; 3) Visually dynamic Advertisements; 4) The Real World; 5) People, Place, Things; and 6) HIV Knowledge. Visually-stimulating content (i.e. graphics) was found to be most appealing in marketing HIV prevention, with brief monologue/dialogue from scenarios that resemble daily life. Socially and culturally relevant HIV prevention messages are important to Black college female students. Participants recommended creating short audio-visual messages that encompass familiar contexts like dorm rooms and appealing graphics for HIV health promotion messages, such as emojis. Future audio-only prevention advertisements for this population should employ recognizable voices (e.g. celebrity). Finally, messaging should be promoted on open and close circuited social media platforms. PMID:28098500

Exploring Black College Females' Perceptions Regarding HIV Prevention Message Content.

PubMed

Chandler-Coley, Rasheeta; Ross, Henry; Ozoya, Oluwatobi; Lescano, Celia; Flannigan, Timothy

2017-02-01

Media messages can facilitate the delivery of accurate information related to HIV and sexually transmitted infection. This study's purpose was to examine preexisting media campaigns from the iMPPACS study to assess age-, gender-, and culturally appropriate components identified by African American females who attend historically Black colleges/universities. In 3 separate focus group sessions, 31 Black female college students (M age = 20) viewed 4 vignettes and heard 3 audio-only clips, then ranked and commented on them based on perceived satisfaction with HIV prevention content and appropriateness of delivery. Conventional qualitative analysis using NVivo software was performed until saturation of content was achieved and themes derived. Six major themes emerged and were designated as (a) social media; (b) mirror image; (c) visually dynamic advertisements; (d) the real world; (e) people, place, things; and (f) HIV knowledge. Visually stimulating content (i.e., graphics) was found to be most appealing in marketing HIV prevention, with brief monologue/dialogue from scenarios that resemble daily life. Socially and culturally relevant HIV prevention messages are important to Black college female students. Participants recommended creating short audiovisual messages that encompass familiar contexts like dorm rooms and appealing graphics for HIV health promotion messages, such as emojis. Future audio-only prevention advertisements for this population should use recognizable voices (e.g., celebrities). Finally, messaging should be promoted on open and closed circuit social media platforms.

Mobile phone messaging reminders for attendance at healthcare appointments.

PubMed

Gurol-Urganci, Ipek; de Jongh, Thyra; Vodopivec-Jamsek, Vlasta; Atun, Rifat; Car, Josip

2013-12-05

This review is an update of the original Cochrane review published in July 2012. Missed appointments are a major cause of inefficiency in healthcare delivery with substantial monetary costs for the health system, leading to delays in diagnosis and appropriate treatment. Patients' forgetfulness is one of the main reasons for missed appointments. Patient reminders may help reduce missed appointments. Modes of communicating reminders for appointments to patients include face-to-face communication, postal messages, calls to landlines or mobile phones, and mobile phone messaging. Mobile phone messaging applications, such as Short Message Service (SMS) and Multimedia Message Service (MMS), could provide an important, inexpensive delivery medium for reminders for healthcare appointments. To update our review assessing the effects of mobile phone messaging reminders for attendance at healthcare appointments. Secondary objectives include assessment of costs; health outcomes; patients' and healthcare providers' evaluation of the intervention and perceptions of safety; and possible harms and adverse effects associated with the intervention. Original searches were run in June 2009. For this update, we searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL,The Cochrane Library 2012, Issue 8), MEDLINE (OvidSP) (January 1993 to August 2012), EMBASE (OvidSP) (January 1993 to August 2012), PsycINFO (OvidSP) (January 1993 to August 2012) and CINAHL (EbscoHOST) (January 1993 to August 2012). We also reviewed grey literature (including trial registers) and reference lists of articles. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) assessing mobile phone messaging as reminders for healthcare appointments. We only included studies in which it was possible to assess effects of mobile phone messaging independent of other technologies or interventions.   Two review authors independently assessed all studies against the inclusion criteria, with any disagreements resolved by a third review author. Study design features, characteristics of target populations, interventions and controls, and results data were extracted by two review authors and confirmed by a third author. Two authors assessed the risk of bias of the included studies. As the intervention characteristics and outcome measures were similar across included studies, we conducted a meta-analysis to estimate an overall effect size. We included eight randomised controlled trials involving 6615 participants. Four of these studies were newly identified during this update.We found moderate quality evidence from seven studies (5841 participants) that mobile text message reminders improved the rate of attendance at healthcare appointments compared to no reminders (risk ratio (RR) 1.14 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.03 to 1.26)). There was also moderate quality evidence from three studies (2509 participants) that mobile text message reminders had a similar impact to phone call reminders (RR 0.99 (95% CI 0.95 to 1.02). Low quality evidence from one study (291 participants) suggests that mobile text message reminders combined with postal reminders improved the rate of attendance at healthcare appointments compared to postal reminders alone (RR 1.10 (95% CI 1.02 to 1.19)). Overall, the attendance to appointment rates were 67.8% for the no reminders group, 78.6% for the mobile phone messaging reminders group and 80.3% for the phone call reminders group. One study reported generally that there were no adverse effects during the study period; none of the studies reported in detail on specific adverse events such as loss of privacy, data misinterpretation, or message delivery failure. Two studies reported that the costs per text message per attendance were respectively 55% and 65% lower than costs per phone call reminder. The studies included in the review did not report on health outcomes or people's perceptions of safety related to receiving reminders by text message. Low to moderate quality evidence included in this review shows that mobile phone text messaging reminders increase attendance at healthcare appointments compared to no reminders, or postal reminders.Text messaging reminders were similar to telephone reminders in terms of their effect on attendance rates, and cost less than telephone reminders. However, the included studies were heterogeneous and the quality of the evidence therein is low to moderate. Further, there is a lack of information about health effects, adverse effects and harms, user evaluation of the intervention and user perceptions of its safety. The current evidence therefore still remains insufficient to conclusively inform policy decisions.There is a need for more high-quality randomised trials of mobile phone messaging reminders, that measure not only patients' attendance rates, but also focus on the cost-effectiveness of these interventions. Health outcomes, patients' and healthcare providers' evaluation and perceptions of the safety of the interventions, potential harms, and adverse effects of mobile phone messaging reminders should be assessed. Studies should report message content and timing in relation to the appointment.

Text-Messaging-Enhanced HIV Intervention for African American Adolescents: A Feasibility Study

PubMed Central

Cornelius, Judith B.; Dmochowski, Jacek; Boyer, Cherrie; St Lawrence, Janet; Lightfoot, Marguerita; Moore, Michael

2013-01-01

We examined the feasibility and acceptability of an HIV prevention intervention for African American adolescents delivered via mobile cell phones and looked at intervention-related changes in beliefs and sexual behaviors. We used a longitudinal one-group comparison design with data collected at three points. Forty adolescents, 13–18 years old, participated in the Becoming a Responsible Teen intervention followed by the delivery of daily multimedia messages for 3 months. The mobile-cell-phone enhanced intervention was feasible and acceptable to the participants. Greater HIV knowledge, improved attitudes toward condoms, and increased perceived HIV risk scores were observed with older adolescents (16–18 years old). Behavior trends showed a decrease in the number of times participants reported engaging in unprotected sexual intercourse over the previous 2 months. Mobile-cell-phone multimedia-text-messaging boosters tested in this study provided preliminary evidence of efficacy of the enhanced HIV prevention intervention for African American youth. PMID:23122907

Poultry Disease Risk Management: Biosecurity Instructional CD-ROM

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vaillancourt, Jean-Pierre; Lambert, Gene; Popovich, Laura W.

2007-01-01

Delivery and formatting techniques for technical materials have traditionally been determined by common sense, not cognitive theory. In fact, for hundreds of years, verbal messages in the form of lecture and print have been the primary method of disseminating information to the learner. To move beyond verbal messages and toward the assimilation of…

An Efficient Two-Tier Causal Protocol for Mobile Distributed Systems

PubMed Central

Dominguez, Eduardo Lopez; Pomares Hernandez, Saul E.; Gomez, Gustavo Rodriguez; Medina, Maria Auxilio

2013-01-01

Causal ordering is a useful tool for mobile distributed systems (MDS) to reduce the non-determinism induced by three main aspects: host mobility, asynchronous execution, and unpredictable communication delays. Several causal protocols for MDS exist. Most of them, in order to reduce the overhead and the computational cost over wireless channels and mobile hosts (MH), ensure causal ordering at and according to the causal view of the Base Stations. Nevertheless, these protocols introduce certain disadvantage, such as unnecessary inhibition at the delivery of messages. In this paper, we present an efficient causal protocol for groupware that satisfies the MDS's constraints, avoiding unnecessary inhibitions and ensuring the causal delivery based on the view of the MHs. One interesting aspect of our protocol is that it dynamically adapts the causal information attached to each message based on the number of messages with immediate dependency relation, and this is not directly proportional to the number of MHs. PMID:23585828

Mobile phone messaging for preventive health care.

PubMed

Vodopivec-Jamsek, Vlasta; de Jongh, Thyra; Gurol-Urganci, Ipek; Atun, Rifat; Car, Josip

2012-12-12

Preventive health care promotes health and prevents disease or injuries by addressing factors that lead to the onset of a disease, and by detecting latent conditions to reduce or halt their progression. Many risk factors for costly and disabling conditions (such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes, and chronic respiratory diseases) can be prevented, yet healthcare systems do not make the best use of their available resources to support this process. Mobile phone messaging applications, such as Short Message Service (SMS) and Multimedia Message Service (MMS), could offer a convenient and cost-effective way to support desirable health behaviours for preventive health care. To assess the effects of mobile phone messaging interventions as a mode of delivery for preventive health care, on health status and health behaviour outcomes. 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, and interrupted time series (ITS) studies with at least three time points before and after the intervention. We included studies using SMS or MMS as a mode of delivery for any type of preventive health care. We only included studies in which it was possible to assess the effects of mobile phone messaging independent of other technologies or interventions. Two review authors independently assessed all studies against the inclusion criteria, with any disagreements resolved by a third review author. Study design features, characteristics of target populations, interventions and controls, and results data were extracted by two review authors and confirmed by a third author. Primary outcomes of interest were health status and health behaviour outcomes. We also considered patients' and providers' evaluation of the intervention, perceptions of safety, health service utilisation and costs, and potential harms or adverse effects. Because the included studies were heterogeneous in type of condition addressed, intervention characteristics and outcome measures, we did not consider that it was justified to conduct a meta-analysis to derive an overall effect size for the main outcome categories; instead, we present findings narratively. We included four randomised controlled trials involving 1933 participants.For the primary outcome category of health, there was moderate quality evidence from one study that women who received prenatal support via mobile phone messages had significantly higher satisfaction than those who did not receive the messages, both in the antenatal period (mean difference (MD) 1.25, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.78 to 1.72) and perinatal period (MD 1.19, 95% CI 0.37 to 2.01). Their confidence level was also higher (MD 1.12, 95% CI 0.51 to 1.73) and anxiety level was lower (MD -2.15, 95% CI -3.42 to -0.88) than in the control group in the antenatal period. In this study, no further differences were observed between groups in the perinatal period. There was low quality evidence that the mobile phone messaging intervention did not affect pregnancy outcomes (gestational age at birth, infant birth weight, preterm delivery and route of delivery).For the primary outcome category of health behaviour, there was moderate quality evidence from one study that mobile phone message reminders to take vitamin C for preventive reasons resulted in higher adherence (risk ratio (RR) 1.41, 95% CI 1.14 to 1.74). There was high quality evidence from another study that participants receiving mobile phone messaging support had a significantly higher likelihood of quitting smoking than those in a control group at 6 weeks (RR 2.20, 95% CI 1.79 to 2.70) and at 12 weeks follow-up (RR 1.55, 95% CI 1.30 to 1.84). At 26 weeks, there was only a significant difference between groups if, for participants with missing data, the last known value was carried forward. There was very low quality evidence from one study that mobile phone messaging interventions for self-monitoring of healthy behaviours related to childhood weight control did not have a statistically significant effect on physical activity, consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages or screen time.For the secondary outcome of acceptability, there was very low quality evidence from one study that user evaluation of the intervention was similar between groups. There was moderate quality evidence from one study of no difference in adverse effects of the intervention, measured as rates of pain in the thumb or finger joints, and car crash rates.None of the studies reported the secondary outcomes of health service utilisation or costs of the intervention. We found very limited evidence that in certain cases mobile phone messaging interventions may support preventive health care, to improve health status and health behaviour outcomes. However, because of the low number of participants in three of the included studies, combined with study limitations of risk of bias and lack of demonstrated causality, the evidence for these effects is of low to moderate quality. The evidence is of high quality only for interventions aimed at smoking cessation. Furthermore, there are significant information gaps regarding the long-term effects, risks and limitations of, and user satisfaction with, such interventions.

A social activity and physical contact-based routing algorithm in mobile opportunistic networks for emergency response to sudden disasters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Xiaoming; Lin, Yaguang; Zhang, Shanshan; Cai, Zhipeng

2017-05-01

Sudden disasters such as earthquake, flood and hurricane necessitate the employment of communication networks to carry out emergency response activities. Routing has a significant impact on the functionality, performance and flexibility of communication networks. In this article, the routing problem is studied considering the delivery ratio of messages, the overhead ratio of messages and the average delay of messages in mobile opportunistic networks (MONs) for enterprise-level emergency response communications in sudden disaster scenarios. Unlike the traditional routing methods for MONS, this article presents a new two-stage spreading and forwarding dynamic routing algorithm based on the proposed social activity degree and physical contact factor for mobile customers. A new modelling method for describing a dynamic evolving process of the topology structure of a MON is first proposed. Then a multi-copy spreading strategy based on the social activity degree of nodes and a single-copy forwarding strategy based on the physical contact factor between nodes are designed. Compared with the most relevant routing algorithms such as Epidemic, Prophet, Labelled-sim, Dlife-comm and Distribute-sim, the proposed routing algorithm can significantly increase the delivery ratio of messages, and decrease the overhead ratio and average delay of messages.

JMS Proxy and C/C++ Client SDK

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wolgast, Paul; Pechkam, Paul

2007-01-01

JMS Proxy and C/C++ Client SDK (JMS signifies "Java messaging service" and "SDK" signifies "software development kit") is a software package for developing interfaces that enable legacy programs (here denoted "clients") written in the C and C++ languages to communicate with each other via a JMS broker. This package consists of two main components: the JMS proxy server component and the client C library SDK component. The JMS proxy server component implements a native Java process that receives and responds to requests from clients. This component can run on any computer that supports Java and a JMS client. The client C library SDK component is used to develop a JMS client program running in each affected C or C++ environment, without need for running a Java virtual machine in the affected computer. A C client program developed by use of this SDK has most of the quality-of-service characteristics of standard Java-based client programs, including the following: Durable subscriptions; Asynchronous message receipt; Such standard JMS message qualities as "TimeToLive," "Message Properties," and "DeliveryMode" (as the quoted terms are defined in previously published JMS documentation); and Automatic reconnection of a JMS proxy to a restarted JMS broker.

Feasibility and User Perception of a Fully Automated Push-Based Multiple-Session Alcohol Intervention for University Students: Randomized Controlled Trial

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background In recent years, many electronic health behavior interventions have been developed in order to reach individuals with unhealthy behaviors, such as risky drinking. This is especially relevant for university students, many of whom are risky drinkers. Objective This study explored the acceptability and feasibility in a nontreatment-seeking group of university students (including both risk and nonrisk drinkers), of a fully automated, push-based, multiple-session, alcohol intervention, comparing two modes of delivery by randomizing participants to receive the intervention either by SMS text messaging (short message service, SMS) or by email. Methods A total of 5499 students at Luleå University in northern Sweden were invited to participate in a single-session alcohol assessment and feedback intervention; 28.04% (1542/5499) students completed this part of the study. In total, 29.44% (454/1542) of those participating in the single-session intervention accepted to participate further in the extended multiple-session intervention lasting for 4 weeks. The students were randomized to receive the intervention messages via SMS or email. A follow-up questionnaire was sent immediately after the intervention and 52.9% (240/454) responded. Results No difference was seen regarding satisfaction with the length and frequency of the intervention, regardless of the mode of delivery. Approximately 15% in both the SMS (19/136) and email groups (15/104) would have preferred the other mode of delivery. On the other hand, more students in the SMS group (46/229, 20.1%) stopped participating in the intervention during the 4-week period compared with the email group (10/193, 5.2%). Most students in both groups expressed satisfaction with the content of the messages and would recommend the intervention to a fellow student in need of reducing drinking. A striking difference was seen regarding when a message was read; 88.2% (120/136) of the SMS group read the messages within 1 hour in contrast to 45.2% (47/104) in the email group. In addition, 83.1% (113/136) in the SMS group stated that they read all or almost all the messages, compared with only 63.5% (66/104) in the email group. Conclusions Based on the feedback from the students, an extended, multiple-session, push-based intervention seems to be a feasible option for students interested in additional support after a single-session alcohol intervention. SMS as a mode of delivery seems to have some advantages over email regarding when a message is read and the proportion of messages read. However, more students in the SMS group stopped the intervention than in the email group. Based on these promising findings, further studies comparing the effectiveness of single-session interventions with extended multiple-session interventions delivered separately or in combination are warranted. PMID:25098296

Impact of an Educational Text Message Intervention on Adolescents' Knowledge and High-Risk Behaviors.

PubMed

Hickman, Nichole Erin; Schaar, Gina

2018-03-01

Health care providers need to develop improved methods of educating adolescents. This study was developed to evaluate adolescents' responses to and satisfaction with an educational text message intervention to promote healthy behaviors, reduce the incidence of unhealthy behaviors, and prevent high-risk behaviors. Adolescent participants received weekly text messages regarding high-risk sexual behaviors, healthy dietary habits, exercise, drug, or alcohol use, and social issues. Results indicate adolescents learned something new, made a behavioral change, and overall liked the delivery of educational information via text message. This indicates long-term continuation of a text message intervention is a viable means to deliver adolescent health information, thereby improving an adolescent's current and future health status.

MEMO--a mobile phone depression prevention intervention for adolescents: development process and postprogram findings on acceptability from a randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Whittaker, Robyn; Merry, Sally; Stasiak, Karolina; McDowell, Heather; Doherty, Iain; Shepherd, Matthew; Dorey, Enid; Parag, Varsha; Ameratunga, Shanthi; Rodgers, Anthony

2012-01-24

Prevention of the onset of depression in adolescence may prevent social dysfunction, teenage pregnancy, substance abuse, suicide, and mental health conditions in adulthood. New technologies allow delivery of prevention programs scalable to large and disparate populations. To develop and test the novel mobile phone delivery of a depression prevention intervention for adolescents. We describe the development of the intervention and the results of participants' self-reported satisfaction with the intervention. The intervention was developed from 15 key messages derived from cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). The program was fully automated and delivered in 2 mobile phone messages/day for 9 weeks, with a mixture of text, video, and cartoon messages and a mobile website. Delivery modalities were guided by social cognitive theory and marketing principles. The intervention was compared with an attention control program of the same number and types of messages on different topics. A double-blind randomized controlled trial was undertaken in high schools in Auckland, New Zealand, from June 2009 to April 2011. A total of 1348 students (13-17 years of age) volunteered to participate at group sessions in schools, and 855 were eventually randomly assigned to groups. Of these, 835 (97.7%) self-completed follow-up questionnaires at postprogram interviews on satisfaction, perceived usefulness, and adherence to the intervention. Over three-quarters of participants viewed at least half of the messages and 90.7% (379/418) in the intervention group reported they would refer the program to a friend. Intervention group participants said the intervention helped them to be more positive (279/418, 66.7%) and to get rid of negative thoughts (210/418, 50.2%)--significantly higher than proportions in the control group. Key messages from CBT can be delivered by mobile phone, and young people report that these are helpful. Change in clinician-rated depression symptom scores from baseline to 12 months, yet to be completed, will provide evidence on the effectiveness of the intervention. If proven effective, this form of delivery may be useful in many countries lacking widespread mental health services but with extensive mobile phone coverage. CLINICALTRIAL: Australia New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN): 12609000405213; http://www.anzctr.org.au/trial_view.aspx?ID=83667 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/64aueRqOb).

Global Surgery System Strengthening: It Is All About the Right Metrics.

PubMed

Watters, David A; Guest, Glenn D; Tangi, Viliami; Shrime, Mark G; Meara, John G

2018-04-01

Progress in achieving "universal access to safe, affordable surgery, and anesthesia care when needed" is dependent on consensus not only about the key messages but also on what metrics should be used to set goals and measure progress. The Lancet Commission on Global Surgery not only achieved consensus on key messages but also recommended 6 key metrics to inform national surgical plans and monitor scale-up toward 2030. These metrics measure access to surgery, as well as its timeliness, safety, and affordability: (1) Two-hour access to the 3 Bellwether procedures (cesarean delivery, emergency laparotomy, and management of an open fracture); (2) Surgeon, Anesthetist, and Obstetrician workforce >20/100,000; (3) Surgical volume of 5000 procedures/100,000; (4) Reporting of perioperative mortality rate; and (5 and 6) Risk rates of catastrophic expenditure and impoverishment when requiring surgery. This article discusses the definition, validity, feasibility, relevance, and progress with each of these metrics. The authors share their experience of introducing the metrics in the Pacific and sub-Saharan Africa. We identify appropriate messages for each potential stakeholder-the patients, practitioners, providers (health services and hospitals), public (community), politicians, policymakers, and payers. We discuss progress toward the metrics being included in core indicator lists by the World Health Organization and the World Bank and how they have been, or may be, used to inform National Surgical Plans in low- and middle-income countries to scale-up the delivery of safe, affordable, and timely surgical and anesthesia care to all who need it.

Short message service (SMS) text messaging as an intervention medium for weight loss: A literature review.

PubMed

Shaw, Ryan; Bosworth, Hayden

2012-12-01

Nearly 68% of American adults are obese or overweight. Mobile devices such as mobile phones have emerged as a mode of intervention delivery to help people improve their health, particularly in relation to weight loss. This literature review examines the relationship between the use of short message service (SMS) text messaging as an intervention medium and weight loss. Results from this literature review (n = 14) suggest that SMS as an intervention tool for weight loss is still in its infancy. Initial results are promising but continued investigation is needed. We offer several recommendations for future research.

Workshop Highlights: An interactive workshop designed to bring social and environmental scientists together while improving the content, delivery, awareness, and use of wildfire smoke health risk messages

EPA Science Inventory

Scientists are asked to communicate their research for a variety of reasons, including general transparency of science, completing funding/grant applications, or making contributions to the greater body of research supporting public and environmental health. Conveying messages th...

Smartphone Applications in Palliative Homecare

PubMed Central

Dhiliwal, Sunil R; Salins, Naveen

2015-01-01

Smartphone applications in healthcare delivery are a novel concept and is rapidly gaining ground in all fields of medicine. The modes of e-communications such as e-mail, short message service (SMS), multimedia messaging service (MMS) and WhatsApp in palliative care provides a means for quick tele-consultation, information sharing, cuts the waiting time and facilitates initiation of the treatment at the earliest. It also forms a means of communication with local general practitioner and local health care provider such that continuity of the care is maintained. It also minimizes needless transport of the patient to hospital, prevents needless hospitalization and investigations and minimizes cost and logistics involved in the care process. The two case studies provided highlights the use of smartphone application like WhatsApp in palliative care practice and demonstrates its utility. PMID:25709195

Automated Behavioral Text Messaging and Face-to-Face Intervention for Parents of Overweight or Obese Preschool Children: Results From a Pilot Study.

PubMed

Militello, Lisa; Melnyk, Bernadette Mazurek; Hekler, Eric B; Small, Leigh; Jacobson, Diana

2016-03-14

Children are 5 times more likely to be overweight at the age of 12 years if they are overweight during the preschool period. The purpose of this study was to establish the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effects of a cognitive behavioral intervention (TEXT2COPE) synergized with tailored mobile technology (mHealth) on the healthy lifestyle behaviors of parents of overweight and obese preschoolers delivered in a primary care setting. Fifteen preschooler-parent dyads recruited through primary care clinics completed a manualized 7-week cognitive behavioral skills building intervention. Beck's Cognitive Theory guided the TEXT2COPE intervention content and Fogg's Behavior Model guided the implementation. The intervention employed a combination of face-to-face clinic visits and ecological momentary interventions using text messaging (short message service, SMS). To enhance the intervention's relevance to the family's needs, parents dictated the wording of the text messages and also were able to adapt the frequency and timing of delivery throughout program implementation. Self-reported findings indicate that the program is feasible and acceptable in this population. The intervention showed preliminary effects with significant improvements on parental knowledge about nutrition (P=.001) and physical activity (P=.012) for their children, parental beliefs (P=.001) toward healthy lifestyles, and parental behaviors (P=.040) toward engaging in healthy lifestyle choices for their children. Effect sizes were medium to large for all variables. The timing, frequency, and wording of the text messages were tailored to the individual families, with 69% of parents (9/13) increasing the frequency of the tailored SMS from being sent once weekly to as many as 5 times a week. Utilizing a cognitive behavioral skills intervention with SMS has great potential for supporting clinical care of overweight and obese preschool children and their families. Further exploration of the potential effects on health and behavioral outcomes is warranted.

Using Storytelling to Address Oral Health Knowledge in American Indian and Alaska Native Communities.

PubMed

Heaton, Brenda; Gebel, Christina; Crawford, Andrew; Barker, Judith C; Henshaw, Michelle; Garcia, Raul I; Riedy, Christine; Wimsatt, Maureen A

2018-05-24

We conducted a qualitative analysis to evaluate the acceptability of using storytelling as a way to communicate oral health messages regarding early childhood caries (ECC) prevention in the American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) population. A traditional story was developed and pilot tested among AIAN mothers residing in 3 tribal locations in northern California. Evaluations of the story content and acceptability followed a multistep process consisting of initial feedback from 4 key informants, a focus group of 7 AIAN mothers, and feedback from the Community Advisory Board. Upon story approval, 9 additional focus group sessions (N = 53 participants) were held with AIAN mothers following an oral telling of the story. Participants reported that the story was culturally appropriate and used relatable characters. Messages about oral health were considered to be valuable. Concerns arose about the oral-only delivery of the story, story content, length, story messages that conflicted with normative community values, and the intent to target audiences. Feedback by focus group participants raised some doubts about the relevance and frequency of storytelling in AIAN communities today. AIAN communities value the need for oral health messaging for community members. However, the acceptability of storytelling as a method for the messaging raises concerns, because the influence of modern technology and digital communications may weaken the acceptability of the oral tradition. Careful attention must be made to the delivery mode, content, and targeting with continual iterative feedback from community members to make these messages engaging, appropriate, relatable, and inclusive.

Decision Support and the Effectiveness of Web-based Delivery and Information Tailoring for Bowel Cancer Screening: An Exploratory Study

PubMed Central

Wilson, Carlene J; Zajac, Ian T; Hart, Elizabeth; McGillivray, Jane A

2012-01-01

Background Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer in males and the second in females throughout the developed world. Population screening using fecal occult blood tests (FOBTs) facilitates early detection and greater chance of survival, but participation rates are low. We developed a Web-based decision tool to provide information tailored to an individual’s decision stage for CRC screening and attitude toward screening utilizing the Preventive Health Model (PHM) and Precaution Adoption Process Model (PAPM) as theoretical frameworks for screening behavior. We describe the practical steps employed in the tool’s design and the subsequent conduct of an exploratory study. Objective To design a decision tool for CRC screening and conduct an exploratory study among average-risk men and women to (1) test the impact of message type (tailored vs non-tailored) and message delivery modality (Web-based vs paper-based) on attitudes toward screening and screening uptake, and (2) investigate the acceptability of the decision tool and relevance of materials. Methods Participants (n = 100), recruited from a population sample of men and women aged 50-76 residing in urban Adelaide, Australia, were randomly assigned to a control group or one of 4 interventions: (1) Web-based and tailored information, (2) paper-based and tailored information, (3) Web-based and non-tailored (generic) information, or (4) paper-based and non-tailored information. Participation was augmented by snowball recruitment (n = 19). Questionnaires based on PHM variables were administered pre- and post-intervention. Participants were given the opportunity to request an FOBT. Following the intervention, participants discussed the acceptability of the tool. Results Full data were available for 87.4% (104/119) of participants. Post-intervention, perceived susceptibility scores for individuals receiving tailored information increased from mean 10.6 (SD 2.1) to mean 11.8 (SD 2.2). Scores on self-efficacy increased in the tailored group from mean 11.7 (SD 2.0) to mean 12.6 (SD 1.8). There were significant time x modality x message effects for social influence and salience and coherence, reflecting an increase in these scores for tailored Web-based participants only; social influence scores increased from mean 11.7 (SD 2.6) to mean 14.9 (SD 2.3), and salience and coherence scores increased from mean 16.0 (SD 2.2) to mean 17.7 (SD 2.1). There was no greater influence of modality or message type on movement toward a decision to screen or screening uptake, indicating that neither tailored messages nor a Web modality had superior effect. Overall, participants regarded tailored messages positively, but thought that the Web tool lacked “media richness.” Conclusions This exploratory study confirms that tailoring on PHM predictors of CRC screening has the potential to positively address attitudes toward screening. However, tailoring on these variables did not result in significantly increased screening uptake. Future research should consider other possible psychosocial influences. Mode of delivery did not affect outcomes, but as a delivery medium, the Web has economic and logistical advantages over paper. PMID:23611950

Adolescent Female Text Messaging Preferences to Prevent Pregnancy After an Emergency Department Visit: A Qualitative Analysis

PubMed Central

Schnall, Rebecca; Stockwell, Melissa S; Castaño, Paula M; Higgins, Tracy; Westhoff, Carolyn; Santelli, John; Dayan, Peter S

2016-01-01

Background Over 15 million adolescents use the emergency department (ED) each year in the United States. Adolescent females who use the ED for medical care have been found to be at high risk for unintended pregnancy. Given that adolescents represent the largest users of text messaging and are receptive to receiving text messages related to their sexual health, the ED visit represents an opportunity for intervention. Objective The aim of this qualitative study was to explore interest in and preferences for the content, frequency, and timing of an ED-based text message intervention to prevent pregnancy for adolescent females. Methods We conducted semistructured, open-ended interviews in one urban ED in the United States with adolescent females aged 14-19 years. Eligible subjects were adolescents who were sexually active in the past 3 months, presented to the ED for a reproductive health complaint, owned a mobile phone, and did not use effective contraception. Using an interview guide, enrollment continued until saturation of key themes. The investigators designed sample text messages using the Health Beliefs Model and participants viewed these on a mobile phone. The team recorded, transcribed, and coded interviews based on thematic analysis using the qualitative analysis software NVivo and Excel. Results Participants (n=14) were predominantly Hispanic (13/14; 93%), insured (13/14; 93%), ED users in the past year (12/14; 86%), and frequent text users (10/14; 71% had sent or received >30 texts per day). All were interested in receiving text messages from the ED about pregnancy prevention, favoring messages that were “brief,” “professional,” and “nonaccusatory.” Respondents favored texts with links to websites, repeated information regarding places to receive “confidential” care, and focused information on contraception options and misconceptions. Preferences for text message frequency varied from daily to monthly, with random hours of delivery to maintain “surprise.” No participant feared that text messages would violate her privacy. Conclusions Adolescent female patients at high pregnancy risk are interested in ED-based pregnancy prevention provided by texting. Understanding preferences for the content, frequency, and timing of messages can guide in designing future interventions in the ED. PMID:27687855

The Use of a Situation-Comedy in the Delivery of Media Messages: A Content Analysis of Health-Related Themes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trunfio, Tony N.

2011-01-01

A quantitative-qualitative historical content analysis of selected Seinfeld television comedy episodes was conducted for this study. Episodes were analyzed for the presence of health-related messages pertaining to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's health priority areas, which include the most harmful risk behaviors affecting…

Apparatus and method supporting wireless access to multiple security layers in an industrial control and automation system or other system

DOEpatents

Chen, Yu-Gene T.

2013-04-16

A method includes receiving a message at a first wireless node. The first wireless node is associated with a first wired network, and the first wired network is associated with a first security layer. The method also includes transmitting the message over the first wired network when at least one destination of the message is located in the first security layer. The method further includes wirelessly transmitting the message for delivery to a second wireless node when at least one destination of the message is located in a second security layer. The second wireless node is associated with a second wired network, and the second wired network is associated with the second security layer. The first and second security layers may be associated with different security paradigms and/or different security domains. Also, the message could be associated with destinations in the first and second security layers.

Lessons learned from the implementation of clinical messaging systems.

PubMed

Barnes, Mike

2007-10-11

The Regenstrief Institute has designed and implemented two clinical messaging systems over the past six years, both called DOCS4DOCS. These systems receive HL7 messages from data sources and deliver results to clinicians via the web, fax, or as HL7 directed to an EMR. This paper focuses on some of the lessons we have learned, both good and bad. We discuss important issues in clinical messaging including provider mapping, document delivery and duplicate prevention, creating uniform HL7 outbound feeds, user authentication, the problems of allowing Active-X controls, why automatic printing of documents is not important although a frequently requested feature, and assorted other pearls of wisdom we have acquired.

Lessons Learned from the Implementation of Clinical Messaging Systems

PubMed Central

Barnes, Mike

2007-01-01

The Regenstrief Institute has designed and implemented two clinical messaging systems over the past six years, both called DOCS4DOCS®. These systems receive HL7 messages from data sources and deliver results to clinicians via the web, fax, or as HL7 directed to an EMR. This paper focuses on some of the lessons we have learned, both good and bad. We discuss important issues in clinical messaging including provider mapping, document delivery and duplicate prevention, creating uniform HL7 outbound feeds, user authentication, the problems of allowing Active-X controls, why automatic printing of documents is not important although a frequently requested feature, and assorted other pearls of wisdom we have acquired. PMID:18693793

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

PubMed Central

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 a useful guide in developing SMS Turkey. Proposed guidelines in developing text messaging-based behavior change programs are offered. PMID:22832182

Simulation of Controller Pilot Data Link Communications over VHF Digital Link Mode 3

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bretmersky, Steven C.; Murawski, Robert; Nguyen, Thanh C.; Raghavan, Rajesh S.

2004-01-01

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has established an operational plan for the future Air Traffic Management (ATM) system, in which the Controller Pilot Data Link Communications (CPDLC) is envisioned to evolve into digital messaging that will take on an ever increasing role in controller to pilot communications, significantly changing the way the National Airspace System (NAS) is operating. According to FAA, CPDLC represents the first phase of the transition from the current analog voice system to an International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) compliant system in which digital communication becomes the alternate and perhaps primary method of routine communication. The CPDLC application is an Air Traffic Service (ATS) application in which pilots and controllers exchange messages via an addressed data link. CPDLC includes a set of clearance, information, and request message elements that correspond to existing phraseology employed by current Air Traffic Control (ATC) procedures. These message elements encompass altitude assignments, crossing constraints, lateral deviations, route changes and clearances, speed assignments, radio frequency assignments, and various requests for information. The pilot is provided with the capability to respond to messages, to request clearances and information, to report information, and to declare/rescind an emergency. A 'free text' capability is also provided to exchange information not conforming to defined formats. This paper presents simulated results of the aeronautical telecommunication application Controller Pilot Data Link Communications over VHF Digital Link Mode 3 (VDL Mode 3). The objective of this simulation study was to determine the impact of CPDLC traffic loads, in terms of timely message delivery and capacity of the VDL Mode 3 subnetwork. The traffic model is based on and is used for generating air/ground messages with different priorities. Communication is modeled for the en route domain of the Cleveland Center air traffic (ZOB ARTCC).

A high performance totally ordered multicast protocol

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Montgomery, Todd; Whetten, Brian; Kaplan, Simon

1995-01-01

This paper presents the Reliable Multicast Protocol (RMP). RMP provides a totally ordered, reliable, atomic multicast service on top of an unreliable multicast datagram service such as IP Multicasting. RMP is fully and symmetrically distributed so that no site bears un undue portion of the communication load. RMP provides a wide range of guarantees, from unreliable delivery to totally ordered delivery, to K-resilient, majority resilient, and totally resilient atomic delivery. These QoS guarantees are selectable on a per packet basis. RMP provides many communication options, including virtual synchrony, a publisher/subscriber model of message delivery, an implicit naming service, mutually exclusive handlers for messages, and mutually exclusive locks. It has commonly been held that a large performance penalty must be paid in order to implement total ordering -- RMP discounts this. On SparcStation 10's on a 1250 KB/sec Ethernet, RMP provides totally ordered packet delivery to one destination at 842 KB/sec throughput and with 3.1 ms packet latency. The performance stays roughly constant independent of the number of destinations. For two or more destinations on a LAN, RMP provides higher throughput than any protocol that does not use multicast or broadcast.

Impact of SMS/GPRS Printers in Reducing Time to Early Infant Diagnosis Compared With Routine Result Reporting: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

PubMed Central

Markby, Jessica; Boeke, Caroline; Penazzato, Martina; Urick, Brittany; Ghadrshenas, Anisa; Harris, Lindsay; Ford, Nathan; Peter, Trevor

2017-01-01

Background: Despite significant gains made toward improving access, early infant diagnosis (EID) testing programs suffer from long test turnaround times that result in substantial loss to follow-up and mortality associated with delays in antiretroviral therapy initiation. These delays in treatment initiation are particularly impactful because of significant HIV-related infant mortality observed by 2–3 months of age. Short message service (SMS) and general packet radio service (GPRS) printers allow test results to be transmitted immediately to health care facilities on completion of testing in the laboratory. Methods: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the benefit of using SMS/GPRS printers to increase the efficiency of EID test result delivery compared with traditional courier paper–based results delivery methods. Results: We identified 11 studies contributing data for over 16,000 patients from East and Southern Africa. The test turnaround time from specimen collection to result received at the health care facility with courier paper–based methods was 68.0 days (n = 6835), whereas the test turnaround time with SMS/GPRS printers was 51.1 days (n = 6711), resulting in a 2.5-week (25%) reduction in the turnaround time. Conclusions: Courier paper–based EID test result delivery methods are estimated to add 2.5 weeks to EID test turnaround times in low resource settings and increase the risk that infants receive test results during or after the early peak of infant mortality. SMS/GPRS result delivery to health care facility printers significantly reduced test turnaround time and may reduce this risk. SMS/GPRS printers should be considered for expedited delivery of EID and other centralized laboratory test results. PMID:28825941

Using Storytelling to Address Oral Health Knowledge in American Indian and Alaska Native Communities

PubMed Central

Gebel, Christina; Crawford, Andrew; Barker, Judith C.; Henshaw, Michelle; Garcia, Raul I.; Riedy, Christine; Wimsatt, Maureen A.

2018-01-01

Introduction We conducted a qualitative analysis to evaluate the acceptability of using storytelling as a way to communicate oral health messages regarding early childhood caries (ECC) prevention in the American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) population. Methods A traditional story was developed and pilot tested among AIAN mothers residing in 3 tribal locations in northern California. Evaluations of the story content and acceptability followed a multistep process consisting of initial feedback from 4 key informants, a focus group of 7 AIAN mothers, and feedback from the Community Advisory Board. Upon story approval, 9 additional focus group sessions (N = 53 participants) were held with AIAN mothers following an oral telling of the story. Results Participants reported that the story was culturally appropriate and used relatable characters. Messages about oral health were considered to be valuable. Concerns arose about the oral-only delivery of the story, story content, length, story messages that conflicted with normative community values, and the intent to target audiences. Feedback by focus group participants raised some doubts about the relevance and frequency of storytelling in AIAN communities today. Conclusion AIAN communities value the need for oral health messaging for community members. However, the acceptability of storytelling as a method for the messaging raises concerns, because the influence of modern technology and digital communications may weaken the acceptability of the oral tradition. Careful attention must be made to the delivery mode, content, and targeting with continual iterative feedback from community members to make these messages engaging, appropriate, relatable, and inclusive. PMID:29806581

Pre/post evaluation of a pilot prevention with positives training program for healthcare providers in North West Province, Republic of South Africa.

PubMed

Kemp, Christopher G; de Kadt, Julia; Pillay, Erushka; Gilvydis, Jennifer M; Naidoo, Evasen; Grignon, Jessica; Weaver, Marcia R

2017-05-02

Prevention interventions for people living with HIV/AIDS are an important component of HIV programs. We report the results of a pilot evaluation of a four-hour, clinic-based training for healthcare providers in South Africa on HIV prevention assessments and messages. This pre/post pilot evaluation examined whether the training was associated with providers delivering more prevention messages. Seventy providers were trained at four public primary care clinics with a high volume of HIV patients. Pre- and post-training patient exit surveys were conducted using Audio-Computer Assisted Structured Interviews. Seven provider appropriate messaging outcomes and one summary provider outcome were compared pre- and post-training using Poisson regression. Four hundred fifty-nine patients pre-training and 405 post-training with known HIV status were interviewed, including 175 and 176 HIV positive patients respectively. Among HIV positive patients, delivery of all appropriate messages by providers declined post-training. The summary outcome decreased from 56 to 50%; adjusted rate ratio 0.92 (95% CI = 0.87-0.97). Sensitivity analyses adjusting for training coverage and time since training detected fewer declines. Among HIV negative patients the summary score was stable at 32% pre- and post-training; adjusted rate ratio 1.05 (95% CI = 0.98-1.12). Surprisingly, this training was associated with a decrease in prevention messages delivered to HIV positive patients by providers. Limited training coverage and delays between training and post-training survey may partially account for this apparent decrease. A more targeted approach to prevention messages may be more effective.

mCare: using secure mobile technology to support soldier reintegration and rehabilitation.

PubMed

Poropatich, Ronald K; Pavliscsak, Holly H; Tong, James C; Little, Jeanette R; McVeigh, Francis L

2014-06-01

The U.S. Army Medical Department conducted a pilot mobile health project to determine the requirements for coordination of care for "Wounded Warriors" using mobile messaging. The primary objective was to determine if a secure mobile health (mhealth) intervention provided to geographically dispersed patients would improve contact rates and positively impact the military healthcare system. Over 21 months, volunteers enrolled in a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act-compliant, secure mobile messaging initiative called mCare. The study included males and females, 18-61 years old, with a minimum of 60 days of outpatient recovery. Volunteers were required to have a compatible phone. The mhealth intervention included appointment reminders, health and wellness tips, announcements, and other relevant information to this population exchanged between care teams and patients. Provider respondents reported that 85% would refer patients to mCare, and 56% noted improvement in appointment attendance (n=90). Patient responses also revealed high acceptability of mCare and refined the frequency and delivery times (n=114). The pilot project resulted in over 84,000 outbound messages and improved contact rates by 176%. The mCare pilot project demonstrated the feasibility and administrative effectiveness of a scalable mhealth application using secure mobile messaging and information exchanges, including personalized patient education.

Telemetry Standards, RCC Standard 106-17. Chapter 26. TmNSDataMessage Transfer Protocol

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-07-01

Channel (RTSPDataChannel) ............................................ 26-13 26.4.3 Reliability Critical (RC) Delivery Protocol...error status code specified in RFC 2326 for "Request-URI Too Large" is 虮". 26.4.1.5 Request Types RTSPDataSources shall return valid ...to the following requirements. • Valid TmNSDataMessages shall be delivered containing the original Packages matching the requested

An operating system for future aerospace vehicle computer systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Foudriat, E. C.; Berman, W. J.; Will, R. W.; Bynum, W. L.

1984-01-01

The requirements for future aerospace vehicle computer operating systems are examined in this paper. The computer architecture is assumed to be distributed with a local area network connecting the nodes. Each node is assumed to provide a specific functionality. The network provides for communication so that the overall tasks of the vehicle are accomplished. The O/S structure is based upon the concept of objects. The mechanisms for integrating node unique objects with node common objects in order to implement both the autonomy and the cooperation between nodes is developed. The requirements for time critical performance and reliability and recovery are discussed. Time critical performance impacts all parts of the distributed operating system; e.g., its structure, the functional design of its objects, the language structure, etc. Throughout the paper the tradeoffs - concurrency, language structure, object recovery, binding, file structure, communication protocol, programmer freedom, etc. - are considered to arrive at a feasible, maximum performance design. Reliability of the network system is considered. A parallel multipath bus structure is proposed for the control of delivery time for time critical messages. The architecture also supports immediate recovery for the time critical message system after a communication failure.

An Emergency Packet Forwarding Scheme for V2V Communication Networks

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

This paper proposes an effective warning message forwarding scheme for cooperative collision avoidance. In an emergency situation, an emergency-detecting vehicle warns the neighbor vehicles via an emergency warning message. Since the transmission range is limited, the warning message is broadcast in a multihop manner. Broadcast packets lead two challenges to forward the warning message in the vehicular network: redundancy of warning messages and competition with nonemergency transmissions. In this paper, we study and address the two major challenges to achieve low latency in delivery of the warning message. To reduce the intervehicle latency and end-to-end latency, which cause chain collisions, we propose a two-way intelligent broadcasting method with an adaptable distance-dependent backoff algorithm. Considering locations of vehicles, the proposed algorithm controls the broadcast of a warning message to reduce redundant EWM messages and adaptively chooses the contention window to compete with nonemergency transmission. Via simulations, we show that our proposed algorithm reduces the probability of rear-end crashes by 70% compared to previous algorithms by reducing the intervehicle delay. We also show that the end-to-end propagation delay of the warning message is reduced by 55%. PMID:25054181

Mobile Phone Messaging During Unobserved "Home" Induction to Buprenorphine.

PubMed

Tofighi, Babak; Grossman, Ellie; Sherman, Scott; Nunes, Edward V; Lee, Joshua D

2016-01-01

The deployment of health information technologies promises to optimize clinical outcomes for populations with substance use disorders. Electronic health records, web-based counseling interventions, and mobile phone applications enhance the delivery of evidence-based behavioral and pharmacological treatments, with minimal burden to clinical personnel, infrastructure, and work flows. This clinical case shares a recent experience utilizing mobile phone text messaging between an office-based buprenorphine provider in a safety net ambulatory clinic and a patient seeking buprenorphine treatment for opioid use disorder. The case highlights the use of text message-based physician-patient communication to facilitate unobserved "home" induction onto buprenorphine.

Organization model for Mobile Wireless Sensor Networks inspired in Artificial Bee Colony

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Freire Roberto, Guilherme; Castilho Maschi, Luis Fernando; Pigatto, Daniel Fernando; Jaquie Castelo Branco, Kalinka Regina Lucas; Alves Neves, Leandro; Montez, Carlos; Sandro Roschildt Pinto, Alex

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study is to find a self-organizing model for MWSN based on bee colonies in order to reduce the number of messages transmitted among nodes, and thus reduce the overall consumption energy while maintaining the efficiency of message delivery. The results obtained in this article are originated from simulations carried out with SINALGO software, which demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed approach. The BeeAODV (Bee Ad-Hoc On Demand Distance Vector) proposed in this paper allows to considerably reduce message exchanges whether compared to AODV (Ad-Hoc On Demand Distance Vector).

Exploring resources for intrafamilial communication of cancer genetic risk: we still need to talk

PubMed Central

McClellan, Kelly A; Kleiderman, Erika; Black, Lee; Bouchard, Karine; Dorval, Michel; Simard, Jacques; Knoppers, Bartha M; Avard, Denise

2013-01-01

While the importance of intrafamilial communication of hereditary cancer risk has been acknowledged, the factors that promote and act as barriers to patients disclosing their information to their families are complex and emerging. This raises the question: How are patients guided in practice to contemplate intrafamilial communication? Focusing on breast cancer, we conducted an exploratory study examining current resources supporting patients and health-care professionals, and isolated the messages surrounding intrafamilial communication of cancer risk. We find the duty for health-care professionals to counsel patients regarding intrafamilial communication is acknowledged to varying degrees by multiple actors in the cancer care delivery landscape, including health-care professional associations, health service organizations, and patient groups. A range of medical, psychosocial, and other factors underlying intrafamilial communication are acknowledged in messages to patients. Patients, however, are often referred to a single group of health-care professionals to discuss their diverse and complex needs. At the same time, messages aimed at patients appear to place the emphasis on barriers that could exist for patients contemplating intrafamilial communication, while highlighting the benefits families derive from such communication. Taken together, this points to a lack of coherence within materials directed to patients and suggests the need to do coordinated research among stakeholders to address two related issues: (1) determining who are the actors best positioned to send messages surrounding intrafamilial communication to patients and (2) addressing the content of messages conveyed in patient materials. PMID:23340514

Risks and benefits of text message-delivered and small group-delivered sexual health interventions among African American women in the Midwestern U.S.

PubMed Central

Broaddus, Michelle R.; Marsch, Lisa A.

2014-01-01

Interventions to decrease acquisition and transmission of sexually transmitted diseases among African American women using text messages versus small group delivery modalities pose distinct research risks and benefits. Determining the relative risk-benefit ratio of studies using these different modalities has relied on the expertise of investigators and their institutional review boards. In this study, African American women participated in focus groups and surveys to elicit and compare risks and benefits inherent in these two intervention delivery modalities, focusing on issues such as convenience, privacy, and stigma of participation. Some risk/benefit variables were implicated in willingness to participate the two intervention modalities. PMID:25750497

CISN Display - Reliable Delivery of Real-time Earthquake Information, Including Rapid Notification and ShakeMap to Critical End Users

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rico, H.; Hauksson, E.; Thomas, E.; Friberg, P.; Given, D.

2002-12-01

The California Integrated Seismic Network (CISN) Display is part of a Web-enabled earthquake notification system alerting users in near real-time of seismicity, and also valuable geophysical information following a large earthquake. It will replace the Caltech/USGS Broadcast of Earthquakes (CUBE) and Rapid Earthquake Data Integration (REDI) Display as the principal means of delivering graphical earthquake information to users at emergency operations centers, and other organizations. Features distinguishing the CISN Display from other GUI tools are a state-full client/server relationship, a scalable message format supporting automated hyperlink creation, and a configurable platform-independent client with a GIS mapping tool; supporting the decision-making activities of critical users. The CISN Display is the front-end of a client/server architecture known as the QuakeWatch system. It is comprised of the CISN Display (and other potential clients), message queues, server, server "feeder" modules, and messaging middleware, schema and generators. It is written in Java, making it platform-independent, and offering the latest in Internet technologies. QuakeWatch's object-oriented design allows components to be easily upgraded through a well-defined set of application programming interfaces (APIs). Central to the CISN Display's role as a gateway to other earthquake products is its comprehensive XML-schema. The message model starts with the CUBE message format, but extends it by provisioning additional attributes for currently available products, and those yet to be considered. The supporting metadata in the XML-message provides the data necessary for the client to create a hyperlink and associate it with a unique event ID. Earthquake products deliverable to the CISN Display are ShakeMap, Ground Displacement, Focal Mechanisms, Rapid Notifications, OES Reports, and Earthquake Commentaries. Leveraging the power of the XML-format, the CISN Display provides prompt access to earthquake information on the Web. The links are automatically created when product generators deliver CUBE formatted packets to a Quake Data Distribution System (QDDS) hub (new distribution methods may be used later). The "feeder" modules tap into the QDDS hub and convert the packets into XML-messages. These messages are forwarded to message queues, and then distributed to clients where URLs are dynamically created for these products and linked to events on the CISN Display map. The products may be downloaded out-of-band; and with the inclusion of a GIS mapping tool users can plot organizational assets on the CISN Display map and overlay them against key spectral data, such as ground accelerations. This gives Emergency Response Managers information useful in allocating limited personnel and resources after a major event. At the heart of the system's robustness is a well-established and reliable set of communication protocols for best-effort delivery of data. For critical users a Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) state-full connection is used via a dedicated signaling channel. The system employs several CORBA methods that alert users of changes in the link status. Loss of connectivity triggers a strategy that attempts to reconnect through various physical and logical paths. Thus, by building on past application successes and proven Internet advances the CISN Display targets a specific audience by providing enhancements previously not available from other applications.

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

PubMed Central

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

2017-01-01

Background 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. Objective 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. Methods 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. Results 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 cessation program. A small randomized controlled pilot trial was performed to test the program’s feasibility and acceptability; nine smokers were assigned to the SMS text message smoking cessation program and six to a SMS text message nutrition program. Participant retention was high: 93% (14/15) remained until day 30 after quit day. In all, 56% of participants (5/9) in the SMS text message smoking cessation program reported remaining smoke-free until day 30 after quit day and 17% of participants (1/6) in the SMS text message nutrition program reported remaining smoke-free during the entire program. The 14 participants who completed the pilot reported that they received valuable health information and approved the delivery schedule of the SMS text messages. Conclusions This study provides initial evidence that a SMS text message smoking cessation program is feasible and acceptable for young adults residing in Lima. PMID:28778850

Acceptability of delivering and accessing health information through text messaging among community health advisors.

PubMed

Schoenberger, Yu-Mei; Phillips, Janice; Mohiuddin, Mohammed Omar; McNees, Patrick; Scarinci, Isabel

2013-09-09

Communication technologies can play a significant role in decreasing communication inequalities and cancer disparities by promoting cancer control and enhancing population and individual health. Studies have shown that technology, such as the mobile phone short message service (SMS) or text messaging, can be an effective health communication strategy that influences individuals' health-related decisions, behaviors, and outcomes. The purpose of this study was to explore usage of communication technologies, assess the acceptability of mobile technology for delivery and access of health information, and identify cancer and health information needs among Deep South Network for Cancer Control trained Community Health Advisors as Research Partners (CHARPs). A mixed-method design was used, and a triangulation protocol was followed to combine quantitative and qualitative data. Focus groups (4 focus groups; n=37) and self-administered surveys (n=77) were conducted to determine CHARPs mobile phone and text message usage. The objective was to include identification of barriers and facilitators to a mobile phone intervention. All participants were African American (37/37, 100%), 11/37 (89%) were women, and the mean age was 53.4 (SD 13.9; focus groups) and 59.9 (SD 8.7; survey). Nearly all (33/37, 89%) of focus group participants reported owning a mobile phone. Of those, 8/33 (24%) owned a smartphone, 22/33 (67%) had a text messaging plan, and 18/33 (55%) and 11/33 (33%) received and sent text messages several times a week or day, respectively. Similar responses were seen among the survey participants, with 75/77 (97%) reporting owning a mobile phone, and of those, 22/75 (30%) owned a smartphone, 39/75 (53%) had a text messaging plan, and 37/75 (50%) received and 27/75 (37%) sent text messages several times a week or day. The benefits of a text messaging system mentioned by focus group participants included alternative form of communication, quick method for disseminating information, and privacy of communication. The main barriers reported by both groups to using mobile technology to receive health information were cost and not knowing how to text message. Ways to overcome barriers were explored with focus group participants, and education was the most proposed solution. Majority of CHARPs were in favor of receiving a weekly text message that would provide cancer/health information. The findings from this study indicate that CHARPs are receptive to receiving text messages focusing on cancer/health information and would be likely to engage in mobile health research. These findings represent the first step in the development of an interactive mobile health program designed to provide cancer/health information and a support network for the Deep South Network Community Health Advisors as Research Partners (DSN CHARPs).

77 FR 3211 - USACE's Plan for Retrospective Review Under E.O. 13563

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-01-23

...-2011-0028, in the subject line of the message. Mail: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, ATTN: CECW-CO-R (Ms. Amy S. Klein), 441 G Street NW., Washington, DC 20314-1000. Hand Delivery/Courier: Due to security requirements, we cannot receive comments by hand delivery or courier. Instructions: Instructions for submitting...

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

PubMed

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.

Recruitment and retention in an SMS-based health education program: Lessons learned from Text2BHealthy.

PubMed

Speirs, Katherine E; Grutzmacher, Stephanie K; Munger, Ashley L; Messina, Lauren A

2016-09-01

While text messages or short messaging service programs are increasingly utilized for delivering health education, few studies have explored the unique challenges of recruiting and retaining participants in such programs. This study utilizes survey and focus group data from Text2BHealthy, a short messaging service-based nutrition and physical activity promotion program, to examine barriers to enrollment and facilitators of retention among parents of elementary school students. Results show that participants were hard to reach with recruitment materials, had difficulty with self-enrollment, and were apprehensive about program costs. However, 89-90 percent of participants were retained. Results suggest that providing manual enrollment options, alternative program delivery methods (e.g. email messages), and opportunities to reenroll may facilitate participation in short messaging service-based health education and promotion programs. © The Author(s) 2015.

Biotube

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Richards, Stephanie E. (Compiler); Levine, Howard G.; Romero, Vergel

2016-01-01

Biotube was developed for plant gravitropic research investigating the potential for magnetic fields to orient plant roots as they grow in microgravity. Prior to flight, experimental seeds are placed into seed cassettes, that are capable of containing up to 10 seeds, and inserted between two magnets located within one of three Magnetic Field Chamber (MFC). Biotube is stored within an International Space Station (ISS) stowage locker and provides three levels of containment for chemical fixatives. Features include monitoring of temperature, fixative/ preservative delivery to specimens, and real-time video imaging downlink. Biotube's primary subsystems are: (1) The Water Delivery System that automatically activates and controls the delivery of water (to initiate seed germination). (2) The Fixative Storage and Delivery System that stores and delivers chemical fixative or RNA later to each seed cassette. (3) The Digital Imaging System consisting of 4 charge-coupled device (CCD) cameras, a video multiplexer, a lighting multiplexer, and 16 infrared light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that provide illumination while the photos are being captured. (4) The Command and Data Management System that provides overall control of the integrated subsystems, graphical user interface, system status and error message display, image display, and other functions.

Direction based Hazard Routing Protocol (DHRP) for disseminating road hazard information using road side infrastructures in VANETs.

PubMed

Berlin, M A; Anand, Sheila

2014-01-01

This paper presents Direction based Hazard Routing Protocol (DHRP) for disseminating information about fixed road hazards such as road blocks, tree fall, boulders on road, snow pile up, landslide, road maintenance work and other obstacles to the vehicles approaching the hazardous location. The proposed work focuses on dissemination of hazard messages on highways with sparse traffic. The vehicle coming across the hazard would report the presence of the hazard. It is proposed to use Road Side fixed infrastructure Units for reliable and timely delivery of hazard messages to vehicles. The vehicles can then take appropriate safety action to avoid the hazardous location. The proposed protocol has been implemented and tested using SUMO simulator to generate road traffic and NS 2.33 network simulator to analyze the performance of DHRP. The performance of the proposed protocol was also compared with simple flooding protocol and the results are presented.

Reactions to a health threat: dispositional threat orientations and message characteristics.

PubMed

Thompson, Suzanne C; Schlehofer, Michèle M; Gonzalez, Amelia; Denison, Elizabeth

2011-05-01

This study explored the interactive effects of dispositional threat orientation, type of message, and having children on reactions to a message about exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) in plastics. The study used a 2 (message: Fear Arousal or Plain)×2 (parenting status: child or no child)×2 (threat orientation: high or low) mixed factorial design. Adults (N= 200) recruited via the Internet completed measures of threat orientations, reported whether they were a parent, and read either a low or high fear-arousal message about the risks of BPA exposure. They then completed measures of reactions to the message (perceived susceptibility to BPA effects, negative emotions, and behavioural intentions to engage in protection). Depending on threat orientations, the fear arousal version of the message and parenthood had strikingly different effects, ranging from no effect (for those high in a control-based approach) to prompting change (for those low in a control-based approach) to counterproductive (for those high in an optimistic denial approach). These findings suggest that considering individual differences and their interactions with situational factors could improve both the predictive ability of threat protection theories and the delivery of messages intended to change behaviour. ©2010 The British Psychological Society.

A Research Protocol to Test the Effectiveness of Text Messaging and Reminder Calls to Increase Service Use Referrals in a Community Engagement Program.

PubMed

Varma, Deepthi Satheesa; Hart, Mark; McIntyre, Denise Sonya; Kwiatkowski, Evan; Cottler, Linda Bauer

2016-06-28

Mobile phoned-based interventions have been increasingly used in clinical populations to improve health and health care delivery. The literature has shown that mobile phone-based text messages (short message service, SMS) are instantaneous, cost effective, and have less chance of being misplaced. Studies using mobile phone based-text messages have reported text messages as effective reminders that have resulted in increased appointment attendance, adherence to treatment, and better self-management. There have been no reports of adverse events when using text messaging in terms of misreading or misinterpreting data, transmitting inaccurate data, losing verbal or nonverbal communication cues, privacy issues, or failure or delay in message delivery. However, the literature has cited a need for personalized messages that are more responsive to individual needs. In addition, there has been a dearth of information on the use of reminders in nonclinical populations. The goal of this study is to assess the effectiveness of adding reminders in the form of text messaging versus reminder calls versus text messages and reminder calls to increase use of service referrals provided through community outreach. A total of 300 participants will be recruited for the study. Each participant will be randomized to one of three arms: a group that receives only reminder calls (CALLSONLY); a group that receives only text message reminders (TEXTONLY); and a group that receives both reminder calls and text messages (CALLS+TEXT). All groups will receive their reminder intervention on the 15th and 45th day after baseline when they receive medical and social service referrals from the community health workers (CHWs). A standard script will be used to administer the call and text reminders and a 15-item telephone-based satisfaction survey will be administered to assess the participant satisfaction with the process of receiving periodic reminders. The study is in the recruitment and follow-up phase. The authors anticipate completion of recruitment, interventions, and data entry by July 2016. Preliminary results are expected to be available by September 2016. This study will provide an opportunity to test the effectiveness of mobile-based interventions on nonclinical, community-recruited populations. In particular, such a protocol would increase the effectiveness of a community-based engagement program by instating a formal reminder system for all program members who receive social and/or medical service referrals during outreach in the community. Findings from this study would guide the development and implementation of reminder protocols for community-based engagement programs nationwide.

Design Considerations in Development of a Mobile Health Intervention Program: The TEXT ME and TEXTMEDS Experience

PubMed Central

Thakkar, Jay; Barry, Tony; Thiagalingam, Aravinda; Redfern, Julie; McEwan, Alistair L; Rodgers, Anthony

2016-01-01

Background Mobile health (mHealth) has huge potential to deliver preventative health services. However, there is paucity of literature on theoretical constructs, technical, practical, and regulatory considerations that enable delivery of such services. Objectives The objective of this study was to outline the key considerations in the development of a text message-based mHealth program; thus providing broad recommendations and guidance to future researchers designing similar programs. Methods We describe the key considerations in designing the intervention with respect to functionality, technical infrastructure, data management, software components, regulatory requirements, and operationalization. We also illustrate some of the potential issues and decision points utilizing our experience of developing text message (short message service, SMS) management systems to support 2 large randomized controlled trials: TEXT messages to improve MEDication adherence & Secondary prevention (TEXTMEDS) and Tobacco, EXercise and dieT MEssages (TEXT ME). Results The steps identified in the development process were: (1) background research and development of the text message bank based on scientific evidence and disease-specific guidelines, (2) pilot testing with target audience and incorporating feedback, (3) software-hardware customization to enable delivery of complex personalized programs using prespecified algorithms, and (4) legal and regulatory considerations. Additional considerations in developing text message management systems include: balancing the use of customized versus preexisting software systems, the level of automation versus need for human inputs, monitoring, ensuring data security, interface flexibility, and the ability for upscaling. Conclusions A merging of expertise in clinical and behavioral sciences, health and research data management systems, software engineering, and mobile phone regulatory requirements is essential to develop a platform to deliver and manage support programs to hundreds of participants simultaneously as in TEXT ME and TEXTMEDS trials. This research provides broad principles that may assist other researchers in developing mHealth programs. PMID:27847350

Design Considerations in Development of a Mobile Health Intervention Program: The TEXT ME and TEXTMEDS Experience.

PubMed

Thakkar, Jay; Barry, Tony; Thiagalingam, Aravinda; Redfern, Julie; McEwan, Alistair L; Rodgers, Anthony; Chow, Clara K

2016-11-15

Mobile health (mHealth) has huge potential to deliver preventative health services. However, there is paucity of literature on theoretical constructs, technical, practical, and regulatory considerations that enable delivery of such services. The objective of this study was to outline the key considerations in the development of a text message-based mHealth program; thus providing broad recommendations and guidance to future researchers designing similar programs. We describe the key considerations in designing the intervention with respect to functionality, technical infrastructure, data management, software components, regulatory requirements, and operationalization. We also illustrate some of the potential issues and decision points utilizing our experience of developing text message (short message service, SMS) management systems to support 2 large randomized controlled trials: TEXT messages to improve MEDication adherence & Secondary prevention (TEXTMEDS) and Tobacco, EXercise and dieT MEssages (TEXT ME). The steps identified in the development process were: (1) background research and development of the text message bank based on scientific evidence and disease-specific guidelines, (2) pilot testing with target audience and incorporating feedback, (3) software-hardware customization to enable delivery of complex personalized programs using prespecified algorithms, and (4) legal and regulatory considerations. Additional considerations in developing text message management systems include: balancing the use of customized versus preexisting software systems, the level of automation versus need for human inputs, monitoring, ensuring data security, interface flexibility, and the ability for upscaling. A merging of expertise in clinical and behavioral sciences, health and research data management systems, software engineering, and mobile phone regulatory requirements is essential to develop a platform to deliver and manage support programs to hundreds of participants simultaneously as in TEXT ME and TEXTMEDS trials. This research provides broad principles that may assist other researchers in developing mHealth programs. ©Jay Thakkar, Tony Barry, Aravinda Thiagalingam, Julie Redfern, Alistair L McEwan, Anthony Rodgers, Clara K Chow. Originally published in JMIR Mhealth and Uhealth (http://mhealth.jmir.org), 15.11.2016.

Lessons Learned From the Implementation of Seek, Test, Treat, Retain Interventions Using Mobile Phones and Text Messaging to Improve Engagement in HIV Care for Vulnerable Populations in the United States.

PubMed

Christopoulos, Katerina A; Cunningham, William E; Beckwith, Curt G; Kuo, Irene; Golin, Carol E; Knight, Kevin; Flynn, Patrick M; Spaulding, Anne C; Coffin, Lara S; Kruszka, Bridget; Kurth, Ann; Young, Jeremy D; Mannheimer, Sharon; Crane, Heidi M; Kahana, Shoshana Y

2017-11-01

In the United States, little is known about interventions that rely on mobile phones and/or text messaging to improve engagement in HIV care for vulnerable populations. Domestic studies using these technologies as part of the National Institute on Drug Abuse "Seek, Test, Treat, Retain" research initiative were queried regarding intervention components, implementation issues, participant characteristics, and descriptive statistics of mobile phone service delivery. Across five studies with 1,135 predominantly male, minority participants, implementation challenges occurred in three categories: (1) service interruptions; (2) billing/overage issues, and; (3) the participant user experience. Response rules for automated text messages frequently frustrated participants. The inability to reload minutes/texting capacity remotely was a significant barrier to intervention delivery. No study encountered confidentiality breaches. Service interruption was common, even if studies provided mobile phones and plans. Future studies should attend to the type of mobile phone and service, the participant user experience, and human subjects concerns.

Eliminating livelock by assigning the same priority state to each message that is input into a flushable routing system during N time intervals

DOEpatents

Faber, V.

1994-11-29

Livelock-free message routing is provided in a network of interconnected nodes that is flushable in time T. An input message processor generates sequences of at least N time intervals, each of duration T. An input register provides for receiving and holding each input message, where the message is assigned a priority state p during an nth one of the N time intervals. At each of the network nodes a message processor reads the assigned priority state and awards priority to messages with priority state (p-1) during an nth time interval and to messages with priority state p during an (n+1) th time interval. The messages that are awarded priority are output on an output path toward the addressed output message processor. Thus, no message remains in the network for a time longer than T. 4 figures.

Eliminating livelock by assigning the same priority state to each message that is inputted into a flushable routing system during N time intervals

DOEpatents

Faber, Vance

1994-01-01

Livelock-free message routing is provided in a network of interconnected nodes that is flushable in time T. An input message processor generates sequences of at least N time intervals, each of duration T. An input register provides for receiving and holding each input message, where the message is assigned a priority state p during an nth one of the N time intervals. At each of the network nodes a message processor reads the assigned priority state and awards priority to messages with priority state (p-1) during an nth time interval and to messages with priority state p during an (n+1) th time interval. The messages that are awarded priority are output on an output path toward the addressed output message processor. Thus, no message remains in the network for a time longer than T.

Designing Patient-Centered Text Messaging Interventions for Increasing Physical Activity Among Participants With Type 2 Diabetes: Qualitative Results From the Text to Move Intervention.

PubMed

Horner, Gabrielle N; Agboola, Stephen; Jethwani, Kamal; Tan-McGrory, Aswita; Lopez, Lenny

2017-04-24

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a disease affecting approximately 29.1 million people in the United States, and an additional 86 million adults have prediabetes. Diabetes self-management education, a complex health intervention composed of 7 behaviors, is effective at improving self-care behaviors and glycemic control. Studies have employed text messages for education, reminders, and motivational messaging that can serve as "cues to action," aiming to improve glucose monitoring, self-care behaviors, appointment attendance, and medication adherence. The Text to Move (TTM) study was a 6-month 2-parallel group randomized controlled trial of individuals with T2DM to increase physical activity, measured by a pedometer. The intervention arm received text messages twice daily for 6 months that were tailored to the participant's stage of behavior change as defined by the transtheoretical model of behavior change. We assessed participants' attitudes regarding their experience with text messaging, focusing on perceived barriers and facilitators, through two focus groups and telephone interviews. All interviews were audiorecorded, transcribed verbatim, coded, and analyzed using a grounded theory approach. The response rate was 67% (31/46 participants). The average age was 51.4 years and 61% (19/31 participants) were male. The majority of individuals were English speakers and married, had completed at least 12th grade and approximately half of the participants were employed full-time. Overall, participants were satisfied with the TTM program and recalled the text messages as educational, informational, and motivational. Program involvement increased the sense of connection with their health care center. The wearing of pedometers and daily step count information served as motivational reminders and created a sense of accountability through the sentinel effect. However, there was frustration concerning the automation of the text message program, including the repetitiveness, predictability of text time delivery, and lack of customization and interactivity of text message content. Participants recommended personalization of texting frequency as well as more contact time with personnel for a stronger sense of support, including greater surveillance and feedback based on their own results and comparison to other participants. Participants in a theory-based text messaging intervention identified key facilitators and barriers to program efficacy that should be incorporated into future texting interventions to optimize participant satisfaction and outcomes. Clinicaltrials.gov NCT01569243; http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01569243 (Archived by Webcite at http://www.webcitation.org/6pfH6yXag). ©Gabrielle N Horner, Stephen Agboola, Kamal Jethwani, Aswita Tan-McGrory, Lenny Lopez. Originally published in JMIR Mhealth and Uhealth (http://mhealth.jmir.org), 24.04.2017.

Advancing Health Marketing Research and Policy Recommendations by Incorporating Source Perspectives.

PubMed

Mackert, Michael; Guadagno, Marie; Champlin, Sara

2015-01-01

Communication researchers, recognizing the message sent is not necessarily the same as the message received, have incorporated the perspective of advertising professionals into the study of advertising effects. Health marketing research could similarly benefit from incorporating this largely absent perspective into the academic and policy debate surrounding the impact of advertising on health issues ranging from obesity to alcohol use. This commentary serves as a call to action to stakeholders in this academic and policy debate: focus on the perspective of advertising professionals to enrich health marketing and public health research in which advertising is the delivery vehicle for health messages.

Intrinsic Advance Primers: An Investigation of the Effects of Personalized Extraneous Multimedia upon Intrinsic Interest and Student Achievement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Williams, Matthew Anthony

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate if the delivery of personalized extraneous multimedia (PEM) messages prior to the delivery of the primary instructional materials could prime intrinsic interest and have a positive impact upon achievement in comparison to the use of non-personalized extraneous multimedia (NPEM). Extraneous materials are…

A decentralized software bus based on IP multicas ting

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Callahan, John R.; Montgomery, Todd

1995-01-01

We describe decentralized reconfigurable implementation of a conference management system based on the low-level Internet Protocol (IP) multicasting protocol. IP multicasting allows low-cost, world-wide, two-way transmission of data between large numbers of conferencing participants through the Multicasting Backbone (MBone). Each conference is structured as a software bus -- a messaging system that provides a run-time interconnection model that acts as a separate agent (i.e., the bus) for routing, queuing, and delivering messages between distributed programs. Unlike the client-server interconnection model, the software bus model provides a level of indirection that enhances the flexibility and reconfigurability of a distributed system. Current software bus implementations like POLYLITH, however, rely on a centralized bus process and point-to-point protocols (i.e., TCP/IP) to route, queue, and deliver messages. We implement a software bus called the MULTIBUS that relies on a separate process only for routing and uses a reliable IP multicasting protocol for delivery of messages. The use of multicasting means that interconnections are independent of IP machine addresses. This approach allows reconfiguration of bus participants during system execution without notifying other participants of new IP addresses. The use of IP multicasting also permits an economy of scale in the number of participants. We describe the MULITIBUS protocol elements and show how our implementation performs better than centralized bus implementations.

Gemini-Type Tetraphenylethylene Amphiphiles Containing [12]aneN3 and Long Hydrocarbon Chains as Nonviral Gene Vectors and Gene Delivery Monitors.

PubMed

Ding, Ai-Xiang; Tan, Zheng-Li; Shi, You-Di; Song, Lin; Gong, Bing; Lu, Zhong-Lin

2017-04-05

Four gemini amphiphiles decorated with triazole-[12]aneN 3 as the hydrophilic moiety and various long hydrocarbons as hydrophobic moieties, 1-4, were designed to form micelles possessing the aggregation-induced emission (AIE) property for gene delivery and tracing. All four amphiphiles give ultralow critical micelle concentrations, are pH-/photostable and biocompatible, and completely retard the migration of plasmid DNAs at low concentrations. The DNA-binding abilities of the micelles were fully assessed. The coaggregated nanoparticles of 1-4 with DNAs could convert back into AIE micelles. In vitro transfections indicated that lipids 1 and 2 and their originated liposomes bearing decent delivering abilities have great potentials as nonviral vectors. Finally, on the basis of the transfection and the transitions between condensates and micelles, lipid 2 was singled out as the first example for real-time tracing of the intracellular deliveries of nonlabeled DNA, which provides spatiotemporal messages about the processes of condensate uptake and DNA release.

The feasibility, patterns of use and acceptability of using mobile phone text-messaging to improve treatment adherence and post-treatment review of children with uncomplicated malaria in western Kenya.

PubMed

Otieno, Gabriel; Githinji, Sophie; Jones, Caroline; Snow, Robert W; Talisuna, Ambrose; Zurovac, Dejan

2014-02-03

Trials evaluating the impact of mobile phone text-messaging to support management of acute diseases, such as malaria, are urgently needed in Africa. There has been however a concern about the feasibility of interventions that rely on access to mobile phones among caregivers in rural areas. To assess the feasibility and inform development of an intervention to improve adherence to malaria medications and post-treatment review, mobile phone network, access, ownership and use among caregivers in western Kenya was assessed. A cross-sectional survey based on outpatient exit interviews was undertaken among caregivers of children with malaria at four trial facilities. The main outcomes were proportions of caregivers that have mobile signal at home; have access to mobile phones; are able to read; and use text-messaging. Willingness to receive text-message reminders was also explored. Descriptive analyses were performed. Of 400 interviewed caregivers, the majority were female (93.5%), mothers of the sick children (87.8%) and able to read (97.3%). Only 1.7% of caregivers were without any education. Nearly all (99.8%) reported access to a mobile signal at home. 93.0% (site range: 89-98%) had access to a mobile phone within their household while 73.8% (site range: 66-78%) possessed a personal phone. Among caregivers with mobile phone access, 93.6% (site range: 85-99%) used the phone to receive text-messages. Despite only 19% having electricity at home nearly all (99.7%) caregivers reported that they would be able to have permanent phone access to receive text-messages in the next 28 days. Willingness to receive text-message reminders was nearly universal (99.7%) with 41.7% of caregivers preferring texts in English, 32.3% in Kiswahili and 26.1% in Dholuo. Despite concerns that the feasibility of text-messaging interventions targeting caregivers may be compromised in rural high malaria risk areas in Kenya, very favourable conditions were found with respect to mobile network, access and ownership of phones, use of text-messaging and minimum literacy levels required for successful intervention delivery. Moreover, there was a high willingness of caregivers to receive text-message reminders. Impact evaluations of carefully tailored text-messaging interventions targeting caregivers of children with malaria are timely and justified.

NASA work unit system users manual

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1972-01-01

The NASA Work Unit System is a management information system for research tasks (i.e., work units) performed under NASA grants and contracts. It supplies profiles to indicate how much effort is being expended to what types of research, where the effort is being expended, and how funds are being distributed. The user obtains information by entering requests on the keyboard of a time-sharing terminal. Responses are received as video displays or typed messages at the terminal, or as lists printed in the computer room for subsequent delivery by messenger.

The Impact of Visual Aids and Enhanced Training on the Delivery of Positive Health, Dignity, and Prevention Messages to Adult Patients Living with HIV in Rural North Central Mozambique

PubMed Central

Audet, Carolyn M.; Gutin, Sarah A.; Blevins, Meridith; Chiau, Elvino; Alvim, Fernanda; Jose, Eurico; Vaz, Lara M. E.; Shepherd, Bryan E; Dawson Rose, Carol

2015-01-01

Introduction Positive health, dignity, and prevention (PHDP) interventions target people living with HIV and AIDS (PLHIV) to promote well-being and prevent onward transmission. Concern that increased life expectancy and improved well-being would lead to increased risky sexual behaviour and subsequent HIV transmission motivated researchers to test novel strategies to support treatment adherence, encourage safer sex, STI treatment and partner testing, prevention of mother to child transmission, and support uptake of family planning. Methods We assessed the number and type of PHDP messages delivered to PLHIV before and after the implementation of an educational intervention for health providers combined with the distribution of visual job aids and monthly technical assistance. Results From April 21, 2013 to March 20, 2014, we documented 54,731 clinical encounters at three rural health centres in Zambézia province, Mozambique from 9,248 unique patients. The percentage of patients who received all seven PHDP messages during their last three visits was 1.9% pre-intervention vs. 13.6% post- intervention (p=<0.001). Younger patients (25 years vs. 35) and those with a recent HIV diagnosis (two weeks vs. two years) had higher odds of receiving any PHDP message (Odds Ratio [OR]: 1.22 and 2.79, respectively). Patients >59 days late collecting medications were not more likely to receive adherence messages than adherent patients (p=0.17). Discussion Targeting HIV prevention efforts to PLHIV is an effective HIV prevention approach to eliminate HIV transmission. Despite intensive training and support, PHDP message delivery remained unacceptably low in rural Mozambique. Patients at high risk for treatment abandonment were not more likely to be counselled about adherence and support measures, something that needs to be addressed. Conclusions We need to develop novel strategies to motivate health care providers to deliver these messages more consistently to all patients and develop a system that assists counsellors and clinicians to quickly and effectively determine which messages should be delivered. PMID:26147115

Study on Dissemination Patterns in Location-Aware Gossiping Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kami, Nobuharu; Baba, Teruyuki; Yoshikawa, Takashi; Morikawa, Hiroyuki

We study the properties of information dissemination over location-aware gossiping networks leveraging location-based real-time communication applications. Gossiping is a promising method for quickly disseminating messages in a large-scale system, but in its application to information dissemination for location-aware applications, it is important to consider the network topology and patterns of spatial dissemination over the network in order to achieve effective delivery of messages to potentially interested users. To this end, we propose a continuous-space network model extended from Kleinberg's small-world model applicable to actual location-based applications. Analytical and simulation-based study shows that the proposed network achieves high dissemination efficiency resulting from geographically neutral dissemination patterns as well as selective dissemination to proximate users. We have designed a highly scalable location management method capable of promptly updating the network topology in response to node movement and have implemented a distributed simulator to perform dynamic target pursuit experiments as one example of applications that are the most sensitive to message forwarding delay. The experimental results show that the proposed network surpasses other types of networks in pursuit efficiency and achieves the desirable dissemination patterns.

Promoting positive psychology using social networking sites: a study of new college entrants on Facebook.

PubMed

Chang, Shu-Man; Lin, Yung-Hsiu; Lin, Chi-Wei; Chang, Her-Kun; Chong, Ping Pete

2014-04-29

This study explores the potential of promoting college students' positive psychological development using popular online social networks. Online social networks have dramatically changed the ways college students manage their social relationships. Social network activities, such as checking Facebook posts dominates students' Internet time and has the potential to assist students' positive development. Positive psychology is a scientific study of how ordinary individuals can apply their strength effectively when facing objective difficulties and how this capability can be cultivated with certain approaches. A positive message delivery approach was designed for a group of new college entrants. A series of positive messages was edited by university counselors and delivered by students to their Facebook social groups. Responses from each posted positive messages were collected and analyzed by researchers. The responses indicated that: (1) relationships of individual engagement and social influence in this study can partially explain the observed student behavior; (2) using class-based social groups can promote a positive atmosphere to enhance strong-tie relationships in both the physical and virtual environments, and (3) promoting student's positive attitudes can substantially impact adolescents' future developments, and many positive attitudes can be cultivated by emotional events and social influence.

Promoting Positive Psychology Using Social Networking Sites: A Study of New College Entrants on Facebook

PubMed Central

Chang, Shu-Man; Lin, Yung-Hsiu; Lin, Chi-Wei; Chang, Her-Kun; Chong, Ping Pete

2014-01-01

This study explores the potential of promoting college students’ positive psychological development using popular online social networks. Online social networks have dramatically changed the ways college students manage their social relationships. Social network activities, such as checking Facebook posts dominates students’ Internet time and has the potential to assist students’ positive development. Positive psychology is a scientific study of how ordinary individuals can apply their strength effectively when facing objective difficulties and how this capability can be cultivated with certain approaches. A positive message delivery approach was designed for a group of new college entrants. A series of positive messages was edited by university counselors and delivered by students to their Facebook social groups. Responses from each posted positive messages were collected and analyzed by researchers. The responses indicated that: (1) relationships of individual engagement and social influence in this study can partially explain the observed student behavior; (2) using class-based social groups can promote a positive atmosphere to enhance strong-tie relationships in both the physical and virtual environments, and (3) promoting student’s positive attitudes can substantially impact adolescents’ future developments, and many positive attitudes can be cultivated by emotional events and social influence. PMID:24785540

MO-FG-202-08: Real-Time Monte Carlo-Based Treatment Dose Reconstruction and Monitoring for Radiotherapy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tian, Z; Shi, F; Gu, X

2016-06-15

Purpose: This proof-of-concept study is to develop a real-time Monte Carlo (MC) based treatment-dose reconstruction and monitoring system for radiotherapy, especially for the treatments with complicated delivery, to catch treatment delivery errors at the earliest possible opportunity and interrupt the treatment only when an unacceptable dosimetric deviation from our expectation occurs. Methods: First an offline scheme is launched to pre-calculate the expected dose from the treatment plan, used as ground truth for real-time monitoring later. Then an online scheme with three concurrent threads is launched while treatment delivering, to reconstruct and monitor the patient dose in a temporally resolved fashionmore » in real-time. Thread T1 acquires machine status every 20 ms to calculate and accumulate fluence map (FM). Once our accumulation threshold is reached, T1 transfers the FM to T2 for dose reconstruction ad starts to accumulate a new FM. A GPU-based MC dose calculation is performed on T2 when MC dose engine is ready and a new FM is available. The reconstructed instantaneous dose is directed to T3 for dose accumulation and real-time visualization. Multiple dose metrics (e.g. maximum and mean dose for targets and organs) are calculated from the current accumulated dose and compared with the pre-calculated expected values. Once the discrepancies go beyond our tolerance, an error message will be send to interrupt the treatment delivery. Results: A VMAT Head-and-neck patient case was used to test the performance of our system. Real-time machine status acquisition was simulated here. The differences between the actual dose metrics and the expected ones were 0.06%–0.36%, indicating an accurate delivery. ∼10Hz frequency of dose reconstruction and monitoring was achieved, with 287.94s online computation time compared to 287.84s treatment delivery time. Conclusion: Our study has demonstrated the feasibility of computing a dose distribution in a temporally resolved fashion in real-time and quantitatively and dosimetrically monitoring the treatment delivery.« less

"Getting Our Story Straight: Taking the scientific process out of science communication"

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hirschland, M.

2011-12-01

Conveying the implications and applications of our science is becoming more, not less difficult. With media and policy debates around scientific issues fraught with gridlock, misinformation and confusion, we must recognize that the scientific process itself often contributes more noise than clarity. For science to occupy more of a privileged and influential place in the public and policy discourse, this must change. From the perspective of a communications professional, this presentation offers solutions. Efforts to remedy this have disproportionately focused on training scientists to be "better" communicators. While this is necessary, it is far from sufficient in building the type of public trust and authority that really moves the credibility needle and our impact. By itself, a train the scientist approach actually complicates the issue by unleashing hoards of trained "science communicators", trumpeting disconnected, qualified, and sometimes contradictory messages. The result, from the public's perspective, is a focus on the sausage making elements of science, rather than the sausages - or the real consensus messages resulting from our work. What is required is much better coordination in terms of framing and amplifying clear messages and findings around areas where real consensus exists, and a similar focus on deemphasizing those that occupy the opinion tails. Other sectors including government, corporates and medical sciences understand and practice this to better effect in building public consensus. The correctives to this are threefold: -Recognize that the scientific process, while excellent for doing science, is an awful way to communicate clearly. Publicly airing out the debates that are part and parcel of a healthy scientific discourse is a sure recipe for confusion. -Create and bolster better coordination mechanisms for consensus message building and delivery. Professional associations can and must play a more central convening and shaping role when it comes to key message shaping, timing and delivery. -Better leverage the tools, lessons and expertise of the communications profession. Often, communication is thought of as something everyone either can or should do. Other institutions regularly engage highly skilled experts to help build and shape messages for intended results. Better leveraging this group and their body of knowledge will pay great dividends. All of these correctives are predicated on agreement that as a community we a) have a problem, b) can be disciplined and committed to promoting consensus views (as are those that seek to call into question our work), and c) are willing to examine our own incentive structures that push elements of scientific debate into the open that are better left behind closed doors. As long as scientists continue delivering multiple, and often competing messages, we should not be incredulous that non-scientists continue to doubt even those consensus views that have been hard won and remain squarely built on fact.

Stepwise Development of a Text Messaging-Based Bullying Prevention Program for Middle School Students (BullyDown)

PubMed Central

Prescott, Tonya L; Espelage, Dorothy L

2016-01-01

Background Bullying is a significant public health issue among middle school-aged youth. Current prevention programs have only a moderate impact. Cell phone text messaging technology (mHealth) can potentially overcome existing challenges, particularly those that are structural (e.g., limited time that teachers can devote to non-educational topics). To date, the description of the development of empirically-based mHealth-delivered bullying prevention programs are lacking in the literature. Objective To describe the development of BullyDown, a text messaging-based bullying prevention program for middle school students, guided by the Social-Emotional Learning model. Methods We implemented five activities over a 12-month period: (1) national focus groups (n=37 youth) to gather acceptability of program components; (2) development of content; (3) a national Content Advisory Team (n=9 youth) to confirm content tone; and (4) an internal team test of software functionality followed by a beta test (n=22 youth) to confirm the enrollment protocol and the feasibility and acceptability of the program. Results Recruitment experiences suggested that Facebook advertising was less efficient than using a recruitment firm to recruit youth nationally, and recruiting within schools for the pilot test was feasible. Feedback from the Content Advisory Team suggests a preference for 2-4 brief text messages per day. Beta test findings suggest that BullyDown is both feasible and acceptable: 100% of youth completed the follow-up survey, 86% of whom liked the program. Conclusions Text messaging appears to be a feasible and acceptable delivery method for bullying prevention programming delivered to middle school students. PMID:27296471

Stepwise Development a Text Messaging-Based Bullying Prevention Program for Middle School Students (BullyDown).

PubMed

Ybarra, Michele L; Prescott, Tonya L; Espelage, Dorothy L

2016-06-13

Bullying is a significant public health issue among middle school-aged youth. Current prevention programs have only a moderate impact. Cell phone text messaging technology (mHealth) can potentially overcome existing challenges, particularly those that are structural (e.g., limited time that teachers can devote to non-educational topics). To date, the description of the development of empirically-based mHealth-delivered bullying prevention programs are lacking in the literature. To describe the development of BullyDown, a text messaging-based bullying prevention program for middle school students, guided by the Social-Emotional Learning model. We implemented five activities over a 12-month period: (1) national focus groups (n=37 youth) to gather acceptability of program components; (2) development of content; (3) a national Content Advisory Team (n=9 youth) to confirm content tone; and (4) an internal team test of software functionality followed by a beta test (n=22 youth) to confirm the enrollment protocol and the feasibility and acceptability of the program. Recruitment experiences suggested that Facebook advertising was less efficient than using a recruitment firm to recruit youth nationally, and recruiting within schools for the pilot test was feasible. Feedback from the Content Advisory Team suggests a preference for 2-4 brief text messages per day. Beta test findings suggest that BullyDown is both feasible and acceptable: 100% of youth completed the follow-up survey, 86% of whom liked the program. Text messaging appears to be a feasible and acceptable delivery method for bullying prevention programming delivered to middle school students.

Simulation studies of a wide area health care network.

PubMed Central

McDaniel, J. G.

1994-01-01

There is an increasing number of efforts to install wide area health care networks. Some of these networks are being built to support several applications over a wide user base consisting primarily of medical practices, hospitals, pharmacies, medical laboratories, payors, and suppliers. Although on-line, multi-media telecommunication is desirable for some purposes such as cardiac monitoring, store-and-forward messaging is adequate for many common, high-volume applications. Laboratory test results and payment claims, for example, can be distributed using electronic messaging networks. Several network prototypes have been constructed to determine the technical problems and to assess the effectiveness of electronic messaging in wide area health care networks. Our project, Health Link, developed prototype software that was able to use the public switched telephone network to exchange messages automatically, reliably and securely. The network could be configured to accommodate the many different traffic patterns and cost constraints of its users. Discrete event simulations were performed on several network models. Canonical star and mesh networks, that were composed of nodes operating at steady state under equal loads, were modeled. Both topologies were found to support the throughput of a generic wide area health care network. The mean message delivery time of the mesh network was found to be less than that of the star network. Further simulations were conducted for a realistic large-scale health care network consisting of 1,553 doctors, 26 hospitals, four medical labs, one provincial lab and one insurer. Two network topologies were investigated: one using predominantly peer-to-peer communication, the other using client-server communication.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS) PMID:7949966

Versatile simulation testbed for rotorcraft speech I/O system design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Simpson, Carol A.

1986-01-01

A versatile simulation testbed for the design of a rotorcraft speech I/O system is described in detail. The testbed will be used to evaluate alternative implementations of synthesized speech displays and speech recognition controls for the next generation of Army helicopters including the LHX. The message delivery logic is discussed as well as the message structure, the speech recognizer command structure and features, feedback from the recognizer, and random access to controls via speech command.

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

PubMed

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.

A mobile phone intervention to reduce binge drinking among disadvantaged men: study protocol for a randomised controlled cost-effectiveness trial.

PubMed

Crombie, Iain K; Irvine, Linda; Williams, Brian; Sniehotta, Falko F; Petrie, Dennis; Evans, Josie Mm; Emslie, Carol; Jones, Claire; Ricketts, Ian W; Humphris, Gerry; Norrie, John; Rice, Peter; Slane, Peter W

2014-12-19

Socially disadvantaged men are at a substantially higher risk of developing alcohol-related problems. The frequency of heavy drinking in a single session is high among disadvantaged men. Brief alcohol interventions were developed for, and are usually delivered in, healthcare settings. The group who binge drink most frequently, young to middle-aged disadvantaged men, have less contact with health services and there is a need for an alternative method of intervention delivery. Text messaging has been used successfully to modify other adverse health behaviours. This study will test whether text messages can reduce the frequency of binge drinking by disadvantaged men. Disadvantaged men aged 25 to 44 years who drank >8 units of alcohol at least twice in the preceding month will be recruited from the community. Two recruitment strategies will be used: contacting men listed in primary care registers, and a community outreach method (time-space sampling). The intended sample of 798 men will be randomised to intervention or control, stratifying by recruitment method. The intervention group will receive a series of text messages designed to reduce the frequency of binge drinking through the formation of specific action plans. The control group will receive behaviourally neutral text messages intended to promote retention in the study. The primary outcome measure is the proportion of men consuming >8 units on at least three occasions in the previous 30 days. Secondary outcomes include total alcohol consumption and the frequency of consuming more than 16 units of alcohol in one session in the previous month. Process measures, developed during a previous feasibility study, will monitor engagement with the key behaviour change components of the intervention. The study will incorporate an economic evaluation comparing the costs of recruitment and intervention delivery with the benefits of reduced alcohol-related harm. This study will assess the effectiveness of a brief intervention, delivered by text messages, aimed at reducing the frequency of binge drinking in disadvantaged men. The process measures will identify components of the intervention which contribute to effectiveness. The study will also determine whether any benefit of the intervention is justified by the costs of intervening. ISRCTN07695192. Date assigned: 14 August 2013.

Communication latencies of Apple push notification messages relevant for delivery of time-critical information to anesthesia providers.

PubMed

Rothman, Brian S; Dexter, Franklin; Epstein, Richard H

2013-08-01

Tablet computers and smart phones have gained popularity in anesthesia departments for educational and patient care purposes. VigiVU(™) is an iOS application developed at Vanderbilt University for remote viewing of perioperative information, including text message notifications delivered via the Apple Push Notification (APN) service. In this study, we assessed the reliability of the APN service. Custom software was written to send a message every minute to iOS devices (iPad(®), iPod Touch(®), and iPhone(®)) via wireless local area network (WLAN) and cellular pathways 24 hours a day over a 4-month period. Transmission and receipt times were recorded and batched by days, with latencies calculated as their differences. The mean, SEM, and the exact 95% upper confidence limits for the percent of days with ≥1 prolonged (>100 seconds) latency were calculated. Acceptable performance was defined as mean latency <30 seconds and ≤0.5% of latencies >100 seconds. Testing conditions included fixed locations of devices in high signal strength locations. Mean latencies were <1 second for iPad and iPod devices (WLAN), and <4 seconds for iPhone (cellular). Among >173,000 iPad and iPod latencies, none were >100 seconds. For iPhone latencies, 0.03% ± 0.01% were >100 seconds. The 95% upper confidence limits of days with ≥1 prolonged latency were 42% (iPhone) and 5% to 8% (iPad, iPod). The APN service was reliable for all studied devices over WLAN and cellular pathways, and performance was better than third party paging systems using Internet connections previously investigated using the same criteria. However, since our study was a best-case assessment, testing is required at individual sites considering use of this technology for critical messaging. Furthermore, since the APN service may fail due to Internet or service provider disruptions, a backup paging system is recommended if the APN service were to be used for critical messaging.

Patient Perspectives on a Text Messaging Program to Support Asthma Management: A Qualitative Study.

PubMed

Doyle, Reina; Albright, Karen; Hurley, Laura P; Chávez, Catia; Stowell, Melanie; Dircksen, Suzanne; Havranek, Edward P; Anderson, Mark

2018-05-01

This study investigated participants' acceptance of a short messaging service (SMS) intervention designed to support asthma management, including suggestions regarding program delivery and message content. Individual and group interviews were conducted with patients from a safety-net health care system in Denver, Colorado. Eligible participants were English or Spanish speakers between the ages of 13 and 40 years, with diagnosed persistent asthma. All individual and group interviews were digitally recorded, transcribed, translated from Spanish to English (where applicable), and analyzed for thematic content by experienced analysts using established qualitative content techniques. The qualitative software package ATLAS.ti was used for data analysis and management. This study included a total of 43 participants. In general, participants were receptive toward the SMS program and supported the use of tailored and interactive messages. Adolescents supported the idea of enhancing care by sending messages to a support person, such as a parent or guardian. However, adults were less receptive toward this idea. Participants also preferred directive educational messages and cues to action, while general messages reminding them of their asthma diagnosis were viewed less favorably. The results from this study will inform a randomized control trial evaluating the efficacy of the SMS intervention.

Design and Implementation of a MAC Protocol for Timely and Reliable Delivery of Command and Data in Dynamic Wireless Sensor Networks

PubMed Central

Oh, Hoon; Van Vinh, Phan

2013-01-01

This paper proposes and implements a new TDMA-based MAC protocol for providing timely and reliable delivery of data and command for monitoring and control networks. In this kind of network, sensor nodes are required to sense data from the monitoring environment periodically and then send the data to a sink. The sink determines whether the environment is safe or not by analyzing the acquired data. Sometimes, a command or control message is sent from the sink to a particular node or a group of nodes to execute the services or request further interested data. The proposed MAC protocol enables bidirectional communication, controls active and sleep modes of a sensor node to conserve energy, and addresses the problem of load unbalancing between the nodes near a sink and the other nodes. It can improve reliability of communication significantly while extending network lifetime. These claims are supported by the experimental results. PMID:24084116

Design and implementation of a MAC protocol for timely and reliable delivery of command and data in dynamic wireless sensor networks.

PubMed

Oh, Hoon; Van Vinh, Phan

2013-09-30

This paper proposes and implements a new TDMA-based MAC protocol for providing timely and reliable delivery of data and command for monitoring and control networks. In this kind of network, sensor nodes are required to sense data from the monitoring environment periodically and then send the data to a sink. The sink determines whether the environment is safe or not by analyzing the acquired data. Sometimes, a command or control message is sent from the sink to a particular node or a group of nodes to execute the services or request further interested data. The proposed MAC protocol enables bidirectional communication, controls active and sleep modes of a sensor node to conserve energy, and addresses the problem of load unbalancing between the nodes near a sink and the other nodes. It can improve reliability of communication significantly while extending network lifetime. These claims are supported by the experimental results.

CISN Display Progress to Date - Reliable Delivery of Real-Time Earthquake Information, and ShakeMap to Critical End Users

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rico, H.; Hauksson, E.; Thomas, E.; Friberg, P.; Frechette, K.; Given, D.

2003-12-01

The California Integrated Seismic Network (CISN) has collaborated to develop a next-generation earthquake notification system that is nearing its first operations-ready release. The CISN Display actively alerts users of seismic data, and vital earthquake hazards information following a significant event. It will primarily replace the Caltech/USGS Broadcast of Earthquakes (CUBE) and Rapid Earthquake Data Integration (REDI) Display as the principal means of delivering geographical seismic data to emergency operations centers, utility companies and media outlets. A subsequent goal is to provide automated access to the many Web products produced by regional seismic networks after an earthquake. Another aim is to create a highly configurable client, allowing user organizations to overlay infrastructure data critical to their roles as first-responders, or lifeline operators. And the final goal is to integrate these requirements, into a package offering several layers of reliability to ensure delivery of services. Central to the CISN Display's role as a gateway to Web-based earthquake products is its comprehensive XML-messaging schema. The message model uses many of the same attributes in the CUBE format, but extends the old standard by provisioning additional elements for products currently available, and others yet to be considered. The client consumes these XML-messages, sorts them through a resident Quake Data Merge filter, and posts updates that also include hyperlinks associated to specific event IDs on the display map. Earthquake products available for delivery to the CISN Display are ShakeMap, focal mechanisms, waveform data, felt reports, aftershock forecasts and earthquake commentaries. By design the XML-message schema can evolve as products and information needs change, without breaking existing applications that rely on it. The latest version of the CISN Display can also automatically download ShakeMaps and display shaking intensity within the GIS system. This can give Emergency Response managers' information needed to allocate limited personnel and resources after a major event. The shaking intensity shape files may be downloaded out-of-band to the client computer, and with the GIS mapping tool, users can plot organizational assets on the CISN Display map and analyze their inventory against potentially damaged areas. Lastly, in support of a robust design is a well-established and reliable set of communication protocols. To achieve a state-full server connection and messaging via a signaling channel the application uses a Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA). The client responds to keep-alive signals from the server, and alerts users of changes in the connection status. This full-featured messaging service will allow the system to trigger a reconnect strategy whenever the client detects a loss of connectivity. This sets the CISN Display apart from its predecessors, which do not provide a failover mechanism, or a state of connection. Thus by building on past programming successes and advances in proven Internet technologies, the CISN Display will augment the emergency responder's ability to make informed decisions following a potentially damaging earthquake.

Asynchronous broadcast for ordered delivery between compute nodes in a parallel computing system where packet header space is limited

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kumar, Sameer

Disclosed is a mechanism on receiving processors in a parallel computing system for providing order to data packets received from a broadcast call and to distinguish data packets received at nodes from several incoming asynchronous broadcast messages where header space is limited. In the present invention, processors at lower leafs of a tree do not need to obtain a broadcast message by directly accessing the data in a root processor's buffer. Instead, each subsequent intermediate node's rank id information is squeezed into the software header of packet headers. In turn, the entire broadcast message is not transferred from the rootmore » processor to each processor in a communicator but instead is replicated on several intermediate nodes which then replicated the message to nodes in lower leafs. Hence, the intermediate compute nodes become "virtual root compute nodes" for the purpose of replicating the broadcast message to lower levels of a tree.« less

A volunteer citizen-servant pilot program using tailored messages to empower Alabamians to live healthier lives.

PubMed

McMillan, Libba R; Smith-Hendricks, Constance; Gore, Teresa

2010-01-01

This study examines the use of tailored messages as a learning tool to volunteer citizen servants to promote health and empower Alabama citizens to live healthier lives. Descriptive data of formative and summative questionnaires were analyzed from convenience sampling in this study, which encompassed 12 months. Researchers formed unique partnerships among community service organizations (CSO), faith-based organizations (FBO), author affiliated school of nursing, and community organizations to implement Healthy People 2010 goals. The program provided "health information stations" to focus on delivery of monthly culturally relevant messages to meet the health needs in the community. This program provided tailored health messages to 11 CSO and FBO. Outcome measures include an increase in health promotion knowledge, desire for furtherance and expansion of programs, and improved contacts within the community. The results from this study provide achievement of overall program goals, suggestions for improved evaluation strategies, implementation plans, and examples of specific topical messages. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Using animated computer-generated text and graphics to depict the risks and benefits of medical treatment.

PubMed

Tait, Alan R; Voepel-Lewis, Terri; Brennan-Martinez, Colleen; McGonegal, Maureen; Levine, Robert

2012-11-01

Conventional print materials for presenting risks and benefits of treatment are often difficult to understand. This study was undertaken to evaluate and compare subjects' understanding and perceptions of risks and benefits presented using animated computerized text and graphics. Adult subjects were randomized to receive identical risk/benefit information regarding taking statins that was presented on an iPad (Apple Corp, Cupertino, Calif) in 1 of 4 different animated formats: text/numbers, pie chart, bar graph, and pictograph. Subjects completed a questionnaire regarding their preferences and perceptions of the message delivery together with their understanding of the information. Health literacy, numeracy, and need for cognition were measured using validated instruments. There were no differences in subject understanding based on the different formats. However, significantly more subjects preferred graphs (82.5%) compared with text (17.5%, P<.001). Specifically, subjects preferred pictographs (32.0%) and bar graphs (31.0%) over pie charts (19.5%) and text (17.5%). Subjects whose preference for message delivery matched their randomly assigned format (preference match) had significantly greater understanding and satisfaction compared with those assigned to something other than their preference. Results showed that computer-animated depictions of risks and benefits offer an effective means to describe medical risk/benefit statistics. That understanding and satisfaction were significantly better when the format matched the individual's preference for message delivery is important and reinforces the value of "tailoring" information to the individual's needs and preferences. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

MS Thomas on middeck with TIPS messages

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-08-12

STS083-309-003 (4-8 April 1997) --- Astronaut Donald A. Thomas, mission specialist, checks a fresh delivery of messages from ground controllers onboard the Earth-orbiting Space Shuttle Columbia. The Thermal Impulse Imaging System (TIPS) is located on the mid deck of Columbia. Thomas, along with four other NASA astronauts and two payload specialists supporting the Microgravity Sciences Laboratory (MSL-1) mission were less than a fourth of the way through a scheduled 16-day flight when a power problem cut short their planned stay.

Message sidedness in advertising: the moderating roles of need for cognition and time pressure in persuasion.

PubMed

Kao, Danny Tengti

2011-08-01

Persuasion has been extensively researched for decades. Much of this research has focused on different message tactics and their effects on persuasion (e.g., Chang & Chou, 2008; Lafferty, 1999). This research aims to assess whether the persuasion of a specific type of message is influenced by need for cognition (NFC) and time pressure. The 336 undergraduates participated in a 2 (message sidedness: one-sided/two-sided) × 3 (time pressure: low/moderate/high) between-subjects design. Results indicate that two-sided messages tend to elicit more favorable ad attitudes than one-sided messages. As compared with low-NFC individuals, high-NFC individuals are likely to express more favorable ad attitudes, brand attitudes and purchase intention. Moderate time pressure tends to lead to more favorable ad attitudes than low time pressure and high time pressure. In addition, moderate time pressure is likely to elicit more favorable brand attitudes and purchase intentions than high time pressure, but does not elicit more favorable brand attitudes and purchase intentions than low time pressure. Furthermore, when high-NFC individuals are under low or moderate time pressure, two-sided messages are more persuasive than one-sided messages; however, message sidedness does not differentially affect the persuasion when high-NFC individuals are pressed for time. In contrast, one-sided messages are more persuasive than two-sided messages when low-NFC individuals are under low or high time pressure, and two-sided messages are more persuasive than one-sided messages when low-NFC individuals are under moderate time pressure. © 2011 The Author. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology © 2011 The Scandinavian Psychological Associations.

Young People’s Views and Experiences of a Mobile Phone Texting Intervention to Promote Safer Sex Behavior

PubMed Central

McCarthy, Ona; Baraitser, Paula; Wellings, Kaye; Bailey, Julia V; Free, Caroline

2016-01-01

Background The risk of poor sexual health, including unplanned pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), is greatest amongst young people. Innovative and acceptable interventions to improve sexual health are required. Mobile phone text messaging (short message service, SMS) interventions have the potential to reach large numbers of people at relatively low cost, but greater understanding is needed on how these interventions should be developed and how they work. Objectives The aim of this paper is to explore young people’s views of and experiences with a mobile phone text messaging intervention to promote safer sex behavior. Methods We undertook qualitative interviews with young people aged 16 to 24 years as part of a pilot trial of a sexual health intervention delivered by text message in the United Kingdom. Study participants received sexual health promotion text messages based on behavior-change techniques. The message content, tailored by gender and STI status, included support for correct STI treatment and promotion of safer sex behaviors. Young people were eligible if they had received a positive chlamydia test or had more than one partner and at least one episode of unprotected sex in the last year. Telephone interviews were conducted 2 to 3 weeks after initiation of the intervention. A semi-structured topic guide was followed to explore participant experiences and a thematic analysis was conducted. Results We conducted 16 telephone interviews with participants who had received the text intervention and an additional four interviews with those in the control group (13 women and 7 men). Intervention participants found text messages easy to understand and appearing to come from a friendly and trustworthy source. They considered the frequency and timing of messages to be appropriate, and delivery via mobile phones convenient. Receipt of support by text message allowed recipients to assimilate information at their own pace, and prompted reflection on and sharing of messages with friends, family members, and partners, thus providing opportunities for education and discussion. For some recipients, the messages had increased their knowledge of how to correctly use condoms. Some described how the messages had increased their confidence and reduced stigma, enabling them to disclose infection to a partner and/or to do so sooner and more calmly. Discussing the messages with a partner reportedly enabled some women to negotiate condom use. Conclusion From the perspective of the recipients, the tone, frequency, and content of the text messaging-based sexual health intervention was acceptable and appropriate. Their accounts indicated that the intervention increased knowledge, confidence, and safer sex behaviors. A large-scale randomized controlled trial (RCT) is needed to assess effectiveness. PMID:27083784

Young People's Views and Experiences of a Mobile Phone Texting Intervention to Promote Safer Sex Behavior.

PubMed

French, Rebecca Sophia; McCarthy, Ona; Baraitser, Paula; Wellings, Kaye; Bailey, Julia V; Free, Caroline

2016-04-15

The risk of poor sexual health, including unplanned pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), is greatest amongst young people. Innovative and acceptable interventions to improve sexual health are required. Mobile phone text messaging (short message service, SMS) interventions have the potential to reach large numbers of people at relatively low cost, but greater understanding is needed on how these interventions should be developed and how they work. The aim of this paper is to explore young people's views of and experiences with a mobile phone text messaging intervention to promote safer sex behavior. We undertook qualitative interviews with young people aged 16 to 24 years as part of a pilot trial of a sexual health intervention delivered by text message in the United Kingdom. Study participants received sexual health promotion text messages based on behavior-change techniques. The message content, tailored by gender and STI status, included support for correct STI treatment and promotion of safer sex behaviors. Young people were eligible if they had received a positive chlamydia test or had more than one partner and at least one episode of unprotected sex in the last year. Telephone interviews were conducted 2 to 3 weeks after initiation of the intervention. A semi-structured topic guide was followed to explore participant experiences and a thematic analysis was conducted. We conducted 16 telephone interviews with participants who had received the text intervention and an additional four interviews with those in the control group (13 women and 7 men). Intervention participants found text messages easy to understand and appearing to come from a friendly and trustworthy source. They considered the frequency and timing of messages to be appropriate, and delivery via mobile phones convenient. Receipt of support by text message allowed recipients to assimilate information at their own pace, and prompted reflection on and sharing of messages with friends, family members, and partners, thus providing opportunities for education and discussion. For some recipients, the messages had increased their knowledge of how to correctly use condoms. Some described how the messages had increased their confidence and reduced stigma, enabling them to disclose infection to a partner and/or to do so sooner and more calmly. Discussing the messages with a partner reportedly enabled some women to negotiate condom use. From the perspective of the recipients, the tone, frequency, and content of the text messaging-based sexual health intervention was acceptable and appropriate. Their accounts indicated that the intervention increased knowledge, confidence, and safer sex behaviors. A large-scale randomized controlled trial (RCT) is needed to assess effectiveness.

Marketing to physicians in a digital world.

PubMed

Manz, Christopher; Ross, Joseph S; Grande, David

2014-11-13

Pharmaceutical marketing can lead to overdiagnosis, overtreatment, and overuse of medications. Digital advertising creates new pathways for reaching physicians, allowing delivery of marketing messages at the point of care, when clinical decisions are being made.

47 CFR 11.61 - Tests of EAS procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... message when transmitting the required weekly test. (3) National tests. (i) All EAS Participants shall... Management Agency (FEMA). Such tests will consist of the delivery by FEMA to PEP/NP stations of a coded EAS...

The impact of flavour, device type and warning messages on youth preferences for electronic nicotine delivery systems: evidence from an online discrete choice experiment.

PubMed

Shang, Ce; Huang, Jidong; Chaloupka, Frank J; Emery, Sherry L

2017-11-02

To examine the impact of flavour, device type and health warning messages on youth preference for electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), and to provide evidence and data to inform the Food and Drug Administration's potential regulatory actions on ENDS. An online discrete choice experiment was conducted in September 2015. Each participant was given nine choice sets and asked to choose one out of two alternative ENDS products, with varying characteristics in three attributes (flavour, device type and warning message). The impact of the attributes on the probability of choosing ENDS was analysed using conditional and nested logit regressions, controlling for individual sociodemographic characteristics and current smoking status. A general population sample of 515 participants (50 ever-users and 465 never-users of ENDS) aged 14-17 years were recruited to complete the experiment using an online panel. Fruit/sweets/beverage flavours significantly increase the probability of choosing ENDS among youth (p<0.01 for never-users and <0.1 for ever-users) and flavour has the most pronounced impact among three attributes. Among never-users, menthol flavour also increases (p<0.05) the probability of choosing ENDS compared with tobacco flavour. Vaping devices that are modifiable, compared with cigarette-like e-cigarettes, increase (p<0.05) the probability of choosing ENDS among adolescent never-users. Warning messages reduce (p<0.01) the probability of choosing ENDS among never-users. Restricting fruit/sweets/beverage flavours in ENDS, regulating modifiable vaping devices and adopting strong health warning messages may reduce the uptake of ENDS among youth. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Model of epidemic control based on quarantine and message delivery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Xingyuan; Zhao, Tianfang; Qin, Xiaomeng

2016-09-01

The model provides two novel strategies for the preventive control of epidemic diseases. One approach is related to the different isolating rates in latent period and invasion period. Experiments show that the increasing of isolating rates in invasion period, as long as over 0.5, contributes little to the preventing of epidemic; the improvement of isolation rate in latent period is key to control the disease spreading. Another is a specific mechanism of message delivering and forwarding. Information quality and information accumulating process are also considered there. Macroscopically, diseases are easy to control as long as the immune messages reach a certain quality. Individually, the accumulating messages bring people with certain immunity to the disease. Also, the model is performed on the classic complex networks like scale-free network and small-world network, and location-based social networks. Results show that the proposed measures demonstrate superior performance and significantly reduce the negative impact of epidemic disease.

Testing the effect of text messaging cues to promote physical activity habits: a worksite-based exploratory intervention.

PubMed

Fournier, M; d'Arripe-Longueville, F; Radel, R

2017-10-01

This study aims to test the efficacy of text messaging cues (SMS) to promote physical activity (PA) habit formation in the workplace. Employees (N = 49; 28 females and 21 males, Mage = 47.5 ± 8.29 years) were randomized into two parallel groups: a PA group enrolled in a 28-week supervised PA program and a PA+SMS group enrolled in the same PA program with text messaging cues received before their PA sessions. The exercise habit was assessed every week from self-reports on an online application. PA maintenance and several physical fitness measures were also assessed prior to and after the intervention to evaluate its general impact. Mixed model analysis of the 603 observations indicated a small but significant effect of the SMS cues on the speed at which participants engaged in PA behaviors, as the significant interaction effect revealed that the slope of the exercise habit over time was slightly steeper in the PA+SMS group (B = 0.0462, P = 0.0001) than in the PA group (B = 0.0216, P = 0.01). SMS delivery had a marginal effect on the maintenance of PA behaviors 1 year after the intervention. The results suggest that text messaging can help to form PA habits at the workplace and might facilitate long-term maintenance of PA behaviors. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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

PubMed

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 Index: 0.861. For medical communications, the most predictive variables were NLP concepts (e.g., Temporal_Concept, which maps to 'morning', 'evening' and Idea_or_Concept which maps to 'appointment' and 'refill'). For logistical communications, the most predictive variables contained similar numbers of NLP variables and words (e.g., Telephone mapping to 'phone', 'insurance'). For social and informational communications, the most predictive variables were words (e.g., social: 'thanks', 'much', informational: 'question', 'mean'). This study applies automated classification methods to the content of patient portal messages and evaluates the application of NLP techniques on consumer communications in patient portal messages. We demonstrated that random forest and logistic regression approaches accurately classified the content of portal messages, although the best approach to classification varied by communication type. Words were the most predictive variables for classification of most communication types, although NLP variables were most predictive for medical communication types. As adoption of patient portals increases, automated techniques could assist in understanding and managing growing volumes of messages. Further work is needed to improve classification performance to potentially support message triage and answering. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Discrete-event simulation of a wide-area health care network.

PubMed Central

McDaniel, J G

1995-01-01

OBJECTIVE: Predict the behavior and estimate the telecommunication cost of a wide-area message store-and-forward network for health care providers that uses the telephone system. DESIGN: A tool with which to perform large-scale discrete-event simulations was developed. Network models for star and mesh topologies were constructed to analyze the differences in performances and telecommunication costs. The distribution of nodes in the network models approximates the distribution of physicians, hospitals, medical labs, and insurers in the Province of Saskatchewan, Canada. Modeling parameters were based on measurements taken from a prototype telephone network and a survey conducted at two medical clinics. Simulation studies were conducted for both topologies. RESULTS: For either topology, the telecommunication cost of a network in Saskatchewan is projected to be less than $100 (Canadian) per month per node. The estimated telecommunication cost of the star topology is approximately half that of the mesh. Simulations predict that a mean end-to-end message delivery time of two hours or less is achievable at this cost. A doubling of the data volume results in an increase of less than 50% in the mean end-to-end message transfer time. CONCLUSION: The simulation models provided an estimate of network performance and telecommunication cost in a specific Canadian province. At the expected operating point, network performance appeared to be relatively insensitive to increases in data volume. Similar results might be anticipated in other rural states and provinces in North America where a telephone-based network is desired. PMID:7583646

A Qualitative Evaluation of Contact Centre Dietitian Support and Electronic Motivational Messaging for eaTracker My Goals Users.

PubMed

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.

TTEthernet for Integrated Spacecraft Networks

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Loveless, Andrew

2015-01-01

Aerospace projects have traditionally employed federated avionics architectures, in which each computer system is designed to perform one specific function (e.g. navigation). There are obvious downsides to this approach, including excessive weight (from so much computing hardware), and inefficient processor utilization (since modern processors are capable of performing multiple tasks). There has therefore been a push for integrated modular avionics (IMA), in which common computing platforms can be leveraged for different purposes. This consolidation of multiple vehicle functions to shared computing platforms can significantly reduce spacecraft cost, weight, and design complexity. However, the application of IMA principles introduces significant challenges, as the data network must accommodate traffic of mixed criticality and performance levels - potentially all related to the same shared computer hardware. Because individual network technologies are rarely so competent, the development of truly integrated network architectures often proves unreasonable. Several different types of networks are utilized - each suited to support a specific vehicle function. Critical functions are typically driven by precise timing loops, requiring networks with strict guarantees regarding message latency (i.e. determinism) and fault-tolerance. Alternatively, non-critical systems generally employ data networks prioritizing flexibility and high performance over reliable operation. Switched Ethernet has seen widespread success filling this role in terrestrial applications. Its high speed, flexibility, and the availability of inexpensive commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components make it desirable for inclusion in spacecraft platforms. Basic Ethernet configurations have been incorporated into several preexisting aerospace projects, including both the Space Shuttle and International Space Station (ISS). However, classical switched Ethernet cannot provide the high level of network determinism required by real-time spacecraft applications. Even with modern advancements, the uncoordinated (i.e. event-driven) nature of Ethernet communication unavoidably leads to message contention within network switches. The arbitration process used to resolve such conflicts introduces variation in the time it takes for messages to be forwarded. TTEthernet1 introduces decentralized clock synchronization to switched Ethernet, enabling message transmission according to a time-triggered (TT) paradigm. A network planning tool is used to allocate each device a finite amount of time in which it may transmit a frame. Each time slot is repeated sequentially to form a periodic communication schedule that is then loaded onto each TTEthernet device (e.g. switches and end systems). Each network participant references the synchronized time in order to dispatch messages at predetermined instances. This schedule guarantees that no contention exists between time-triggered Ethernet frames in the network switches, therefore eliminating the need for arbitration (and the timing variation it causes). Besides time-triggered messaging, TTEthernet networks may provide two additional traffic classes to support communication of different criticality levels. In the rate-constrained (RC) traffic class, the frame payload size and rate of transmission along each communication channel are limited to predetermined maximums. The network switches can therefore be configured to accommodate the known worst-case traffic pattern, and buffer overflows can be eliminated. The best-effort (BE) traffic class behaves akin to classical Ethernet. No guarantees are provided regarding transmission latency or successful message delivery. TTEthernet coordinates transmission of all three traffic classes over the same physical connections, therefore accommodating the full spectrum of traffic criticality levels required in IMA architectures. Common computing platforms (e.g. LRUs) can share networking resources in such a way that failures in non-critical systems (using BE or RC communication modes) cannot impact flight-critical functions (using TT communication). Furthermore, TTEthernet hardware (e.g. switches, cabling) can be shared by both TTEthernet and classical Ethernet traffic.

Packet Fragmentation and Reassembly in Molecular Communication.

PubMed

Furubayashi, Taro; Nakano, Tadashi; Eckford, Andrew; Okaie, Yutaka; Yomo, Tetsuya

2016-04-01

This paper describes packet fragmentation and reassembly to achieve reliable molecular communication among bionanomachines. In the molecular communication described in this paper, a sender bionanomachine performs packet fragmentation, dividing a large molecular message into smaller pieces and embedding into smaller molecular packets, so that molecular packets have higher diffusivity to reach the receiver bionanomachine. The receiver bionanomachine then performs packet reassembly to retrieve the original molecular message from a set of molecular packets that it receives. To examine the effect of packet fragmentation and reassembly, we develop analytical models and conduct numerical experiments. Numerical results show that packet fragmentation and reassembly can improve the message delivery performance. Numerical results also indicate that packet fragmentation and reassembly may degrade the performance in the presence of drift in the environment.

Use of mobile phones and text messaging to decrease the turnaround time for early infant HIV diagnosis and notification in rural Zambia: an observational study.

PubMed

Sutcliffe, Catherine G; Thuma, Philip E; van Dijk, Janneke H; Sinywimaanzi, Kathy; Mweetwa, Sydney; Hamahuwa, Mutinta; Moss, William J

2017-03-08

Early infant diagnosis of HIV infection is challenging in rural sub-Saharan Africa as blood samples are sent to central laboratories for HIV DNA testing, leading to delays in diagnosis and treatment initiation. Simple technologies to rapidly deliver results to clinics and notify mothers of test results would decrease many of these delays. The feasibility of using mobile phones to contact mothers was evaluated. In addition, the first two years of implementation of a national short message service (SMS) reporting system to deliver test results from the laboratory to the clinic were evaluated. The study was conducted in Macha, Zambia from 2013 to 2015 among mothers of HIV-exposed infants. Mothers were interviewed about mobile phone use and willingness to be contacted directly or through their rural health center. Mothers were contacted according to their preferred method of communication when test results were available. Mothers of positive infants were asked to return to the clinic as soon as possible. Dates of sample collection, delivery of test results to the clinic and notification of mothers were documented in addition to test results. Four hundred nineteen mothers and infants were enrolled. Only 30% of mothers had ever used a mobile phone. 96% of mobile phone owners were reached by study staff and 98% of mothers without mobile phones were contacted through their rural health center. Turnaround times for mothers of positive infants were approximately 2 weeks shorter than for mothers of negative infants. Delivery of test results by the national SMS system improved from 2013 to 2014, with increases in the availability of texted results (38 vs. 91%) and arrival of the texted result prior to the hardcopy report (27 vs. 83%). Texted results arriving at the clinic before the hardcopy were received a median of 19 days earlier. Four discrepancies between texted and hardcopy results were identified out of 340 tests. Mobile phone and text messaging technology has the potential to improve early infant diagnosis but challenges to widespread implementation need to be addressed, including low mobile phone ownership, use and coverage in rural areas.

Self-management education en masse: effectiveness of the Back Pain: Don't Take It Lying Down mass media campaign.

PubMed

Buchbinder, Rachelle

2008-11-17

Despite the availability of a range of Australian self-management support programs targeting the individual patient and/or health professional, three-quarters of Australians have at least one long-term medical condition, suggesting that a more comprehensive public health approach is needed. Use of mass media to deliver community health messages is a well established public health strategy. It may enhance more targeted approaches with its ability to reach large numbers of people simultaneously, including those difficult to identify, high-risk groups and those difficult to reach through traditional medical delivery. By simultaneously influencing large numbers of people, well designed health messages have the potential to promote and maintain behavioural change over time. Back Pain: Don't Take It Lying Down (1997-1999), a mass media campaign of the Victorian WorkCover Authority, can be seen as a prototype of a successful public health strategy designed to enhance people's self-management abilities. One of the main messages of the campaign was that there is a lot you can do to help yourself, which emphasises shifting the responsibility of control onto the individual. The success of the campaign makes a compelling evidence-based case for using a similar strategy to enhance the self-management abilities of the population.

A Secure Region-Based Geographic Routing Protocol (SRBGR) for Wireless Sensor Networks

PubMed Central

Adnan, Ali Idarous; Hanapi, Zurina Mohd; Othman, Mohamed; Zukarnain, Zuriati Ahmad

2017-01-01

Due to the lack of dependency for routing initiation and an inadequate allocated sextant on responding messages, the secure geographic routing protocols for Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) have attracted considerable attention. However, the existing protocols are more likely to drop packets when legitimate nodes fail to respond to the routing initiation messages while attackers in the allocated sextant manage to respond. Furthermore, these protocols are designed with inefficient collection window and inadequate verification criteria which may lead to a high number of attacker selections. To prevent the failure to find an appropriate relay node and undesirable packet retransmission, this paper presents Secure Region-Based Geographic Routing Protocol (SRBGR) to increase the probability of selecting the appropriate relay node. By extending the allocated sextant and applying different message contention priorities more legitimate nodes can be admitted in the routing process. Moreover, the paper also proposed the bound collection window for a sufficient collection time and verification cost for both attacker identification and isolation. Extensive simulation experiments have been performed to evaluate the performance of the proposed protocol in comparison with other existing protocols. The results demonstrate that SRBGR increases network performance in terms of the packet delivery ratio and isolates attacks such as Sybil and Black hole. PMID:28121992

A Secure Region-Based Geographic Routing Protocol (SRBGR) for Wireless Sensor Networks.

PubMed

Adnan, Ali Idarous; Hanapi, Zurina Mohd; Othman, Mohamed; Zukarnain, Zuriati Ahmad

2017-01-01

Due to the lack of dependency for routing initiation and an inadequate allocated sextant on responding messages, the secure geographic routing protocols for Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) have attracted considerable attention. However, the existing protocols are more likely to drop packets when legitimate nodes fail to respond to the routing initiation messages while attackers in the allocated sextant manage to respond. Furthermore, these protocols are designed with inefficient collection window and inadequate verification criteria which may lead to a high number of attacker selections. To prevent the failure to find an appropriate relay node and undesirable packet retransmission, this paper presents Secure Region-Based Geographic Routing Protocol (SRBGR) to increase the probability of selecting the appropriate relay node. By extending the allocated sextant and applying different message contention priorities more legitimate nodes can be admitted in the routing process. Moreover, the paper also proposed the bound collection window for a sufficient collection time and verification cost for both attacker identification and isolation. Extensive simulation experiments have been performed to evaluate the performance of the proposed protocol in comparison with other existing protocols. The results demonstrate that SRBGR increases network performance in terms of the packet delivery ratio and isolates attacks such as Sybil and Black hole.

Can we address cancer disparities in immigrants by improving cancer literacy through English as a second language instruction?

PubMed

Hughes, Donna L; Flight, Ingrid; Chapman, Janine; Wilson, Carlene

2018-03-27

In many Western countries, immigrants exhibit disparities in cancer incidence and mortality, and variable uptake of cancer prevention services. New immigrants may not be aware of cancer risks pertinent to their new country, or prevention resources. Traditional cancer prevention health messaging may not be accessible for cultural, language, or literacy reasons. New methods are needed. In North America, health message delivery via English classes for immigrants is showing potential as an efficacious and a feasible way to reach immigrants at the same time improving language skills. Interventions published to date are promising but limited in their ability to generalize or be adapted to a variety of populations and settings. This concept paper aims to synthesize previous findings and identify ways to improve and advance the translation potential of this approach. We propose that this could be achieved by (i) using a translation framework to guide intervention planning, development, implementation, and evaluation; (ii) encouraging and evaluating health message spread throughout language learners' social networks; and (iii) incorporating cultural sensitivity into the curriculum. A pilot project following these recommendations is planned for Australia and will be discussed. These recommendations could serve as a framework to fit the requirements of immigrant language programs in other countries and other health topics.

Randomized trial of a smartphone mobile application compared to text messaging to support smoking cessation.

PubMed

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 (p<0.05) than REQ-Mobile. Use of both services predicted increased 30-day abstinence at 12 weeks (used, 47%; not used, 20%; p = 0.03). REQ-Mobile was feasible for delivering cessation support but appeared to not move smokers to quit as quickly as text 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.

Venue-based network analysis to inform HIV prevention efforts among young gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men.

PubMed

Holloway, Ian W; Rice, Eric; Kipke, Michele D

2014-06-01

In the USA, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) incidence rates continue to increase among young gay, bisexual, and other men have sexual intercourse with men. Young men who have sex with men (YMSM) indicate interest in HIV prevention programming that is implemented in the social venues that they frequent when they want to socialize with other men. We sought to understand YMSM venues as a networked space to provide insights into venue-based HIV prevention intervention delivery. The present study used survey data reported by 526 YMSM (ages 18-24) in 2005 to conduct a venue-based social network analysis. The latter sought to determine if the structure and composition of the networks in Los Angeles could be used to facilitate the delivery of HIV prevention messages to YMSM. Degree of person sharing between venues was used to demonstrate interconnectivity between venues classified as low risk (e.g., coffee shops) and high risk (e.g., bars and clubs) by a Community Advisory Board. Sixty-five percent of the 110 venues nominated were bars and clubs. Nearly all YMSM were connected by a single venue and over 87 % were connected by the six most central venues. A handful of highly connected low-risk venues was central to the venue network and connected to popular high-risk venues. Venue-based network analysis can inform tailored HIV prevention messaging for YMSM. Targeted delivery of prevention messaging at low-risk centralized venues may lead to widespread diffusion among venue-attending YMSM.

Venue-based Network Analysis to Inform HIV Prevention Efforts Among Young Gay, Bisexual and Other Men Who Have Sex With Men

PubMed Central

Holloway, Ian W.; Rice, Eric; Kipke, Michele D.

2014-01-01

Purpose In the United States, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) incidence rates continue to increase among young gay, bisexual and other men have sexual intercourse with men. Young men who have sex with men (YMSM) indicate interest in HIV prevention programming that is implemented in the social venues that they frequent when they want to socialize with other men. We sought to understand YMSM venues as a networked space to provide insights into venue-based HIV prevention intervention delivery. Methods The present study used survey data reported by 526 YMSM (ages 18–24) in 2005 to conduct a venue-based social network analysis. The latter sought to determine if the structure and composition of the networks in Los Angeles could be used to facilitate the delivery of HIV prevention messages to YMSM. Degree of person sharing between venues was used to demonstrate interconnectivity between venues classified as low-risk (e.g., coffee shops) and high-risk (e.g., bars, clubs) by a Community Advisory Board. Results Sixty-five percent of the 110 venues nominated were bars and clubs. Nearly all YMSM were connected by a single venue and over 87% were connected by the 6 most central venues. A handful of highly connected low-risk venues were central to the venue network and connected to popular high-risk venues. Conclusions Venue-based network analysis can inform tailored HIV prevention messaging for YMSM. Targeted delivery of prevention messaging at low-risk centralized venues may lead to widespread diffusion among venue-attending YMSM. PMID:24464324

Improving Appointment Adherence among Young Adults with HIV in Peru with an mHealth Intervention: a Feasibility Study

PubMed Central

Prochazka, Mateo; Batey, D Scott; Zinski, Anne; Dionne-Odom, Jodie; Otero, Larissa; Rodriguez, J Martin; González, Elsa

2017-01-01

Abstract Background Mobile Health (mHealth) interventions, including short message services (SMS) reminders and motivational messages, are associated with improved HIV appointment adherence, though feasibility is context-dependent. We assessed the feasibility of an mHealth intervention to improve appointment adherence among young adults with HIV in Lima, Peru. Methods Between November 2016 and April 2017, we implemented a one-way mHealth pilot intervention in an outpatient hospital without electronic medical records. We enrolled young adults (age 18–29) entering HIV care in a 3-component intervention: (i) reminder SMS prior to scheduled appointments (provider, laboratory, pharmacy); (ii) motivational SMS after each visit; and (iii) phone call following a missed visit. Feasibility evaluation included enrollment acceptance, visit tracking (information captured in the study database within 3 days of attendance), and proportion of intervention delivery (threshold >90%). We performed a qualitative assessment to identify implementation challenges reviewing staff field notes and meeting minutes. Results We enrolled 80/94 (85.1%) eligible participants. The median age was 25 years and 83% were male. The median time of follow-up after enrollment was 115 [interquartile range (IQR): 84–141] days, and participants had a median of 10 (IQR: 8–14) visits during the study period. Among 850 total participant visits, study personnel tracked 751 (88.4%); most (80.8%) untracked visits were pharmacy pickups. Of all tracked visits, most (78.7%) were scheduled appointments and 160 (21.3%) were unscheduled walk-ins. Intervention delivery reached 556/591 (94.1%) for reminder SMS; 733/751 (97.6%) for motivational messages, and 169/170 (99.4%) phone calls for missed visits, 127 (75.1%) of which were answered. Qualitative assessment revealed 2 major themes: real-time appointment tracking in a paper-based system consumed most staff time and resources, and meticulous in-person coordination between the implementation and hospital staff was essential for tracking. Conclusion An mHealth intervention to improve appointment adherence among young adults with HIV in Peru appears feasible with dedicated staff and a reliable appointment tracking system. Digitalized appointment systems may be needed to address challenges for scale-up. Disclosures All authors: No reported disclosures.

The Marriage of Fax and Online.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Basch, Reva

1995-01-01

Discusses the use of fax transmissions. Highlights include searching by fax, including online service, print and electronic publishing, and database producers; customer service, including documentation updates, new product announcements, and marketing materials; document delivery; problems; and fax messaging. (four references) (LRW)

Design of a clinical notification system.

PubMed

Wagner, M M; Tsui, F C; Pike, J; Pike, L

1999-01-01

We describe the requirements and design of an enterprise-wide notification system. From published descriptions of notification schemes, our own experience, and use cases provided by diverse users in our institution, we developed a set of functional requirements. The resulting design supports multiple communication channels, third party mappings (algorithms) from message to recipient and/or channel of delivery, and escalation algorithms. A requirement for multiple message formats is addressed by a document specification. We implemented this system in Java as a CORBA object. This paper describes the design and current implementation of our notification system.

Establishing cross-discipline consensus on contraception, pregnancy and breast feeding-related educational messages and clinical practices to support women with rheumatoid arthritis: an Australian Delphi study

PubMed Central

Jordan, Joanne E; Ackerman, Ilana N; Van Doornum, Sharon

2016-01-01

Objective Recognising the need for a best-practice and consistent approach in providing care to women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in relation to (1) general health, (2) contraception, (3) conception and pregnancy, (4) breast feeding and (5) early parenting, we sought to achieve cross-discipline, clinical consensus on key messages and clinical practice behaviours in these 5 areas. Design 3-round eDelphi study. In round 1, panellists provided free-text responses to open-ended questions about care for women with RA across the 5 areas. Subsequently, panellists refined and scored the synthesised responses, presented as metathemes, themes and detailed elements. Where ≥5% of panellists did not support a theme in a given round, it was removed. Setting Panel of practicing Australian rheumatologists (n=22), obstetricians/obstetric medicine physicians (n=9) and pharmacists (n=5). Results 34 (94.4%) panellists participated in all 3 rounds. The panel supported 18 themes across the 5 areas (support/strongly support: 88.2–100%) underpinned by 5 metathemes. Metathemes focused on coordination in information delivery, the mode and timing of information delivery, evidence underpinning information, engagement of the right health professionals at the right time and a non-judgemental approach to infant feeding. Themes included practices for primary prevention of chronic disease and their sequelae, the importance of contraception and planning pregnancy and breast feeding, close monitoring of medications, supporting mental well-being, managing disease activity and providing practical support for early parenting. Conclusions A cross-disciplinary clinical panel highly supported key information and clinical practices in the care for women with RA across the continuum of contraception to early parenting within a whole-person, chronic disease management approach. PMID:27633637

Resident Use of Text Messaging for Patient Care: Ease of Use or Breach of Privacy?

PubMed

Prochaska, Micah T; Bird, Amber-Nicole; Chadaga, Amar; Arora, Vineet M

2015-11-26

Short message service (SMS) text messaging is an efficient form of communication and pervasive in health care, but may not securely protect patient information. It is unclear if resident providers are aware of the security concerns of SMS text messaging when communicating about patient care. We sought to compare residents' preferences for SMS text messaging compared with other forms of in-hospital communication when considering security versus ease of use. This study was a cross-sectional multi-institutional survey of internal medicine residents. Residents ranked different communication modalities based on efficiency, ease of use, and security using a Likert scale. Communication options included telephone, email, hospital paging, and SMS text messaging. Respondents also reported whether they had received confidential patient identifiers through any of these modalities. SMS text messaging was preferred by 71.7% (94/131) of respondents because of its efficiency and by 79.8% (103/129) of respondents because of its ease of use. For security, 82.5% (104/126) of respondents preferred the hospital paging system, whereas only 20.6% (26/126) of respondents preferred SMS text messaging for secure communication. In all, 70.9% (93/131) of respondents reported having received patient identifiers (first and/or last name), 81.7% (107/131) reported receiving patient initials, and 50.4% (66/131) reported receiving a patient's medical record number through SMS text messages. Residents prefer in-hospital communication through SMS text messaging because of its ease of use and efficiency. Despite security concerns, the majority of residents reported receiving confidential patient information through SMS text messaging. For providers, it is possible that the benefits of improved in-hospital communication with SMS text messaging and the presumed improvement in the coordination and delivery of patient care outweigh security concerns they may have. The tension between the security and convenience of SMS text messaging may represent an educational opportunity to ensure the compliance of mobile technology in the health care setting.

Individualized Communications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1997-01-01

IntelliWeb and IntelliPrint, products from MicroMass Communications, utilize C Language Integrated Production System (CLIPS), a development and delivery expert systems tool developed at Johnson Space Center. IntelliWeb delivers personalized messages by dynamically creating single web pages or entire web sites based on information provided by each website visitor. IntelliPrint is a product designed to create tailored, individualized messages via printed media. The software uses proprietary technology to generate printed messages that are personally relevant and tailored to meet each individual's needs. Intelliprint is in use in many operations including Brystol-Myers Squibb's personalized newsletter, "Living at Your Best," geared to each recipient based on a health and lifestyle survey taken earlier; and SmithKline Beecham's "Nicorette Committed Quitters Program," in which customized motivational materials support participants in their attempt to quit smoking.

Lightweight causal and atomic group multicast

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Birman, Kenneth P.; Schiper, Andre; Stephenson, Pat

1991-01-01

The ISIS toolkit is a distributed programming environment based on support for virtually synchronous process groups and group communication. A suite of protocols is presented to support this model. The approach revolves around a multicast primitive, called CBCAST, which implements a fault-tolerant, causally ordered message delivery. This primitive can be used directly or extended into a totally ordered multicast primitive, called ABCAST. It normally delivers messages immediately upon reception, and imposes a space overhead proportional to the size of the groups to which the sender belongs, usually a small number. It is concluded that process groups and group communication can achieve performance and scaling comparable to that of a raw message transport layer. This finding contradicts the widespread concern that this style of distributed computing may be unacceptably costly.

Effect of Mobile-health on maternal health care service utilization in Eastern Ethiopia: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Gelano, Tilayie Feto; Assefa, Nega; Bacha, Yadeta Dessie; Mahamed, Afendi Abdi; Roba, Kedir Teji; Hambisa, Mitiku Teshome

2018-02-12

Globally, the rapid development of mobile technology has created new ways of addressing public health challenges and shifted the paradigm of health care access and delivery. The primary aim of this study is to examine the effectiveness of Mobile-health on maternal health care service utilization in Eastern Ethiopia. Through, a cluster-randomized controlled trial, 640 participants will be selected based on their districts and respective health centers as the unit of randomization. All pregnant mothers who fulfill the inclusion criteria will be allocated to a mobile-phone-based intervention and existing standard of care or control with a 1:1 allocation ratio. The intervention consists of a series of 24 voice messages which will be sent every 2 weeks from the date of enrollment until the close-out time. The control group will receive existing standard of care without voice messages. Data related to outcome variables will be assessed at three phases of the data collection periods. The primary outcome measures will be the proportion of antenatal care visits and institutional delivery, whereas the secondary outcome measures will consist of the proportion of postnatal care visits and pregnancy outcomes. Risk ratios will be used to a measure the effect of intervention on the outcomes which will be estimated with 95% confidence interval and all the analyses will be done with consideration of clustering effect. This study should generate evidence on the effectiveness of mobile-phone-based voice messages for the early initiation of maternal health care service use and its uptake. It has been carefully designed with the assumption of obtaining higher levels of maternal health care service use among the treatment group as compared to the control. Pan African Clinical Trial Registry, www.panctr.org , ID: PACTR201704002216259 . Registered on 28 April 2017.

Art messaging to engage homeless young adults.

PubMed

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.

Launch Control System Master Console Event Message Reduction

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nguyen, Uyen

2014-01-01

System monitoring and control (SMC) message browsers receive so many messages daily that operators do not need to see. Important messages are often mixed up among the less important ones. My job is to reduce the messages displayed in the message browser so that warning and emergency messages can be seen easily and therefore, responded promptly. There are multiple methods to achieve this. Firstly, duplicate messages should not appear many times in the message browser. Instead, the message should appear only once but with a number that counts the times that it appears. This method is called duplicate message suppression. Secondly, messages that update the most recent state (e.g. up/down) of a component should replace the old-state messages. This method is called state based message correlation. Thirdly, messages that display "normal" alarm level should be suppressed unless it's a response to an operator action. In addition to message reduction, I also work on correcting the severity level and text formats on messages.

Randomized Trial of a Smartphone Mobile Application Compared to Text Messaging to Support Smoking Cessation

PubMed Central

Borland, Ron; Bettinghaus, Erwin P.; Shane, James H.; Zimmerman, Donald E.

2014-01-01

Abstract Background: Text messaging has successfully supported smoking cessation. This study compares a mobile application with text messaging to support smoking cessation. Materials and Methods: 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. Results: 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 (p<0.05) than REQ-Mobile. Use of both services predicted increased 30-day abstinence at 12 weeks (used, 47%; not used, 20%; p=0.03). Conclusions: REQ-Mobile was feasible for delivering cessation support but appeared to not move smokers to quit as quickly as text 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. PMID:24350804

A QoS Management Technique of Urgent Information Provision in ITS Services Using DSRC for Autonomous Base Stations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shimura, Akitoshi; Aizono, Takeiki; Hiraiwa, Masashi; Sugano, Shigeki

A QoS management technique based on an autonomous decentralized mobility system, which is an autonomous decentralized system enhanced to provide mobile stations with information about urgent roadway situations, is proposed in this paper. This technique enables urgent messages to be flexibly and quickly transmitted to mobile stations by multiple decentralized base stations using dedicated short range communication. It also supports the easy addition of additional base stations. Each station autonomously creates information-delivery communities based on the urgency of the messages it receives through the roadside network and the distances between the senders and receivers. Each station dynamically determines the urgency of messages according to the message content and the speed of the mobile stations. Evaluation of this technique applied to the Smart Gateway system, which provides driving-assistance services to mobile stations through dedicated short-range communication, demonstrated its effectiveness and that it is suitable for actual systems.

Re-Examination of Mixed Media Communication: The Impact of Voice, Data Link, and Mixed Air Traffic Control Environments on the Flight Deck

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dunbar, Melisa; McGann, Alison; Mackintosh, Margaret-Anne; Lozito, Sandra; Ashford, Rose (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

A simulation in the B747-400 was conducted at NASA Ames Research Center that compared how crews handled voice and data link air traffic control (ATC) messages in a single medium versus a mixed voice and data link ATC environment The interval between ATC messages was also varied to examine the influence of time pressure in voice, data link, and mixed ATC environments. For messages sent via voice, transaction times were lengthened in the mixed media environment for closely spaced messages. The type of environment did not affect data link times. However, messages times were lengthened in both single and mixed-modality environments under time pressure. Closely spaced messages also increased the number of requests for clarification for voice messages in the mixed environment and review menu use for data link messages. Results indicated that when time pressure is introduced, the mix of voice and data link does not necessarily capitalize on the advantages of both media. These findings emphasize the need to develop procedures for managing communication in mixed voice and data link environments.

Illinois department of public health H1N1/A pandemic communications evaluation survey.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Walsh, D.; Decision and Information Sciences

Because of heightened media coverage, a 24-hour news cycle and the potential miscommunication of health messages across all levels of government during the onset of the H1N1 influenza outbreak in spring 2009, the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) decided to evaluate its H1N1 influenza A communications system. IDPH wanted to confirm its disease information and instructions were helping stakeholders prepare for and respond to a novel influenza outbreak. In addition, the time commitment involved in preparing, issuing, monitoring, updating, and responding to H1N1 federal guidelines/updates and media stories became a heavy burden for IDPH staff. The process and resultsmore » of the H1N1 messaging survey represent a best practice that other health departments and emergency management agencies can replicate to improve coordination efforts with stakeholder groups during both emergency preparedness and response phases. Importantly, the H1N1 survey confirmed IDPH's messages were influencing stakeholders decisions to activate their pandemic plans and initiate response operations. While there was some dissatisfaction with IDPH's delivery of information and communication tools, such as the fax system, this report should demonstrate to IDPH that its core partners believe it has the ability and expertise to issue timely and accurate instructions that can help them respond to a large-scale disease outbreak in Illinois. The conclusion will focus on three main areas: (1) the survey development process, (2) survey results: best practices and areas for improvement and (3) recommendations: next steps.« less

Healthy eating, activity and obesity prevention: a qualitative study of parent and child perceptions in Australia.

PubMed

Hesketh, K; Waters, E; Green, J; Salmon, L; Williams, J

2005-03-01

Preventative health strategies incorporating the views of target participants have improved the likelihood of success. This qualitative study aimed to elicit child and parent views regarding social and environmental barriers to healthy eating, physical activity and child obesity prevention programmes, acceptable foci, and appropriate modes of delivery. To obtain views across a range of social circumstances three demographically diverse primary schools in Victoria, Australia were selected. Children in Grades 2 (aged 7-8 years) and 5 (aged 10-11 years) participated in focus groups of three to six children. Groups were semi-structured using photo-based activities to initiate discussion. Focus groups with established parent groups were also conducted. Comments were recorded, collated, and themes extracted using grounded theory. 119 children and 17 parents participated. Nine themes emerged: information and awareness, contradiction between knowledge and behaviour, lifestyle balance, local environment, barriers to a healthy lifestyle, contradictory messages, myths, roles of the school and family, and timing and content of prevention strategies for childhood obesity. In conclusion, awareness of food 'healthiness' was high however perceptions of the 'healthiness' of some sedentary activities that are otherwise of benefit (e.g. reading) were uncertain. The contradictions in messages children receive were reported to be a barrier to a healthy lifestyle. Parent recommendations regarding the timing and content of childhood obesity prevention strategies were consistent with quantitative research. Contradictions in the explicit and implicit messages children receive around diet and physical activity need to be prevented. Consistent promotion of healthy food and activity choices across settings is core to population prevention programmes for childhood obesity.

A data-management system using sensor technology and wireless devices for port security

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saldaña, Manuel; Rivera, Javier; Oyola, Jose; Manian, Vidya

2014-05-01

Sensor technologies such as infrared sensors and hyperspectral imaging, video camera surveillance are proven to be viable in port security. Drawing from sources such as infrared sensor data, digital camera images and processed hyperspectral images, this article explores the implementation of a real-time data delivery system. In an effort to improve the manner in which anomaly detection data is delivered to interested parties in port security, this system explores how a client-server architecture can provide protected access to data, reports, and device status. Sensor data and hyperspectral image data will be kept in a monitored directory, where the system will link it to existing users in the database. Since this system will render processed hyperspectral images that are dynamically added to the server - which often occupy a large amount of space - the resolution of these images is trimmed down to around 1024×768 pixels. Changes that occur in any image or data modification that originates from any sensor will trigger a message to all users that have a relation with the aforementioned. These messages will be sent to the corresponding users through automatic email generation and through a push notification using Google Cloud Messaging for Android. Moreover, this paper presents the complete architecture for data reception from the sensors, processing, storage and discusses how users of this system such as port security personnel can use benefit from the use of this service to receive secure real-time notifications if their designated sensors have detected anomalies and/or have remote access to results from processed hyperspectral imagery relevant to their assigned posts.

Relay Forward-Link File Management Services (MaROS Phase 2)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Allard, Daniel A.; Wallick, Michael N.; Hy, Franklin H.; Gladden, Roy E.

2013-01-01

This software provides the service-level functionality to manage the delivery of files from a lander mission repository to an orbiter mission repository for eventual spacelink relay by the orbiter asset on a specific communications pass. It provides further functions to deliver and track a set of mission-defined messages detailing lander authorization instructions and orbiter data delivery state. All of the information concerning these transactions is persisted in a database providing a high level of accountability of the forward-link relay process.

Targeting Future Customers: An Introductory Biobanking Course for Undergraduate Students of Life Sciences.

PubMed

Abdelhafiz, Ahmed Samir; Fouda, Merhan Ahmed; El-Jaafary, Shaimaa Ibrahim; Farghly, Maysa Ibrahim; Salem, Mazen; Tammam, Ahmed; Gabr, Hala

2017-08-01

Biobanking is a relatively new concept in the Arab region. Targeting different stakeholders to introduce the concept of biobanking and develop an acceptance of it among them is important for the growth of biobanking in the region. Undergraduate students of life sciences represent an important segment of stakeholders, since they constitute potential future biobank customers. Limited funding, lack of awareness of the existence of the term "biobanking" itself among these students, and questions regarding best marketing strategies presented challenges to planning for the most effective message delivery to this target group. A specific course was designed for undergraduate students of life sciences, which was conducted at the Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Egypt. The course was conducted twice in 2016 and included lectures covering biobanking, quality, ethics, information technology, and translational research. Facebook and word-of-mouth were used for marketing and advertising. A total number of 125 participants attended both courses cumulatively. Facebook appeared to have been an effective marketing outlet, especially when paid advertisements were used. Evaluation of knowledge, measured using a pretest and posttest, demonstrated some improvement in knowledge of participants. Evaluation forms filled after the course showed positive attitude toward content and message delivery by a majority of participants. Facebook was also used as an evaluation method through analysis of engagement with posts created after course completion. Biobanking education can be carried out effectively with limited resources. Understanding the needs of the target group and using appropriate methods of communication are essential prerequisites to a well-tailored curriculum and effective message delivery. Using Facebook appears to be an effective and affordable method of communication and advertising. Targeting undergraduate students of life sciences interested in research is a good investment and can be very effective in increasing awareness about biobanking inside the research community.

The personal health record paradox: health care professionals' perspectives and the information ecology of personal health record systems in organizational and clinical settings.

PubMed

Nazi, Kim M

2013-04-04

Despite significant consumer interest and anticipated benefits, overall adoption of personal health records (PHRs) remains relatively low. Understanding the consumer perspective is necessary, but insufficient by itself. Consumer PHR use also has broad implications for health care professionals and organizational delivery systems; however, these have received less attention. An exclusive focus on the PHR as a tool for consumer empowerment does not adequately take into account the social and organizational context of health care delivery, and the reciprocal nature of patient engagement. The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of physicians, nurses, and pharmacists at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) using an organizationally sponsored PHR to develop insights into the interaction of technology and processes of health care delivery. The conceptual framework for the study draws on an information ecology perspective, which recognizes that a vibrant dynamic exists among technologies, people, practices, and values, accounting for both the values and norms of the participants and the practices of the local setting. The study explores the experiences and perspectives of VA health care professionals related to patient use of the My HealtheVet PHR portal and secure messaging systems. In-depth interviews were conducted with 30 VA health care professionals engaged in providing direct patient care who self-reported that they had experiences with at least 1 of 4 PHR features. Interviews were transcribed, coded, and analyzed to identify inductive themes. Organizational documents and artifacts were reviewed and analyzed to trace the trajectory of secure messaging implementation as part of the VA Patient Aligned Care Team (PACT) model. Study findings revealed a variety of factors that have facilitated or inhibited PHR adoption, use, and endorsement of patient use by health care professionals. Health care professionals' accounts and analysis of organizational documents revealed a multidimensional dynamic between the trajectory of secure messaging implementation and its impact on organizational actors and their use of technology, influencing workflow, practices, and the flow of information. In effect, secure messaging was the missing element of complex information ecology and its implementation acted as a catalyst for change. Secure messaging was found to have important consequences for access, communication, patient self-report, and patient/provider relationships. Study findings have direct implications for the development and implementation of PHR systems to ensure adequate training and support for health care professionals, alignment with clinical workflow, and features that enable information sharing and communication. Study findings highlight the importance of clinician endorsement and engagement, and the need to further examine both intended and unintended consequences of use. This research provides an integral step toward better understanding the social and organizational context and impact of PHR and secure messaging use in clinical practice settings.

LCS Master Console Event Message Reduction

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nguyen, Uyen

2014-01-01

System monitoring and control (SMC) message browsers receive so many messages daily that operators are unable to keep track all of them. Important messages are often mixed up among the less important ones. My job is to reduce the messages so that warning and emergency messages can be seen easily and therefore, responded promptly. There are multiple methods to achieve this. Firstly, messages that look the same should not appear many times in the message browser. Instead, the message should appear only once but with a number that counts the times that it appears. This method is called duplicate message suppression. Messages that display "normal" or "advisory" alarm level should be suppressed. Secondly, messages that update the most recent status of a system should replace the old-status messages. This method is called state based message correlation. Thirdly, some unnecessary messages should be sent straight to history after being displayed or not displayed at all. For an example, normal messages that are not a response to an operator's action should not be displayed. I also work on fixing messages that are not color-coded and formatted properly.

Information and Communication Technology Use Among Low-Income Pregnant and Postpartum Women by Race and Ethnicity: A Cross-Sectional Study.

PubMed

Chilukuri, Nymisha; West, Meredith; Henderson, Janice Lynn; Lawson, Shari; Ehsanipoor, Robert; Costigan, Kathleen; Polk, Sarah; Bennett, Wendy

2015-07-03

Pregnancy and the postpartum period provide windows of opportunity to impact perinatal and lifelong preventive health behavior for women and their families, but these opportunities are often missed. Understanding racial/ethnic differences in information and communication technology (ICT) use could inform technology-based interventions in diverse populations. The objective of the study was to evaluate differences in the use of ICT between racial and ethnic groups as well as by English language proficiency. We conducted a cross-sectional study of 246 women who were aged 18 years or older and pregnant or within 1 year of delivery. They were recruited from 4 hospital-based outpatient clinics and completed a self-administered survey. We used multivariate regression analysis to evaluate the association between race/ethnicity and ICT (mobile phone/short message service [SMS] text message, Internet, and social network) usage by race/ethnicity and perceived English language proficiency after adjusting for age, income, marital status, and insurance status. In all, 28% (69/246) of participants were Latina, 40% (98/246) were African American, 23% (56/246) were white, and 9% (23/246) from other racial/ethnic groups. Of the Latinas, 84% (58/69) reported limited English language proficiency and 59% (41/69) were uninsured. More than 90% of all participants reported mobile phone use, but more than 25% (65/246) had changed phone numbers 2 or more times in the past year. Compared to white women, African American women were less likely to SMS text message (OR 0.07, 95% CI 0.01-0.63) and Latinas were less likely to use the Internet to find others with similar concerns (OR 0.23, 95% CI 0.08-0.73). Women with limited English language proficiency were less likely to use the Internet overall (OR 0.30, 95% CI 0.09-0.99) or use email (OR 0.22, 95% CI 0.08-0.63) compared to women with adequate English language proficiency. Mobile phones are widely available for the delivery of health interventions to low-income, racially diverse pregnant and postpartum women, but disparities in Internet use and SMS text messaging exist. Interventions or programs requiring Web-based apps may have lower uptake unless alternatives are available, such as those adapted for limited English proficiency populations.

Crafting the News

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Strawser, Michael G.

2017-01-01

Courses: This activity could be used in a basic public-speaking course to demonstrate messaging and the development of the three pillars of public speaking: content, organization, and delivery. In a basic communication course, this activity would help illustrate the process of communication (sender, receiver, feedback, channel, etc.). A mass…

Mobile Delivery of Treatment for Alcohol Use Disorders

PubMed Central

Quanbeck, Andrew; Chih, Ming-Yuan; Isham, Andrew; Johnson, Roberta; Gustafson, David

2014-01-01

Several systems for treating alcohol-use disorders (AUDs) exist that operate on mobile phones. These systems are categorized into four groups: text-messaging monitoring and reminder systems, text-messaging intervention systems, comprehensive recovery management systems, and game-based systems. Text-messaging monitoring and reminder systems deliver reminders and prompt reporting of alcohol consumption, enabling continuous monitoring of alcohol use. Text-messaging intervention systems additionally deliver text messages designed to promote abstinence and recovery. Comprehensive recovery management systems use the capabilities of smart-phones to provide a variety of tools and services that can be tailored to individuals, including in-the-moment assessments and access to peer discussion groups. Game-based systems engage the user using video games. Although many commercial applications for treatment of AUDs exist, few (if any) have empirical evidence of effectiveness. The available evidence suggests that although texting-based applications may have beneficial effects, they are probably insufficient as interventions for AUDs. Comprehensive recovery management systems have the strongest theoretical base and have yielded the strongest and longest-lasting effects, but challenges remain, including cost, understanding which features account for effects, and keeping up with technological advances. PMID:26259005

IP telephony based danger alert communication system and its implementation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rezac, Filip; Safarik, Jakub; Voznak, Miroslav; Tomala, Karel; Partila, Pavol

2013-05-01

This article discusses a danger alert system created as a part of the research project at Department of Telecommunications of Technical University of Ostrava. The aim of the system is to distribute pre-recorded voice messages in order to alert the called party in danger. This article describes individual technologies, which the application uses for its operation as well as issues relating to hardware requirements and transfer line bandwidth load. The article also describes new algorithms, which had to be developed in order to ensure the reliability of the system. Our intent is focused on disaster management, the message, which should be delivered within specified time span, is typed in the application and text-to-speech module ensures its transformation to a speech format, after that a particular scenario or warned area is selected and a target group is automatically unloaded. For this purpose, we have defined XML format for delivery of phone numbers which are located in the target area and these numbers are obtained from mobile BTS's (Base transmission stations). The benefit of such communication compared to others, is the fact, that it uses a phone call and, therefore, it is possible to get feedback who accepted the message and to improve efficiency of alert system. Finally, the list of unanswered calls is exported and these users can be informed via SMS.

Flight Deck Data Link Displays: An Evaluation of Textual and Graphical Implementations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McGann, Alison; Lozito, Sandy; Corker, Kevin; Ashford, Rose (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

In Experiment 1, 16 pilots participated in a part-task simulation study that evaluated pilot data link communication for short and long message types and for two textual formats. No differences were found between the two textual formats when evaluating data link transaction times and pilot performance on a secondary task. Pilots initiated flight changes more quickly with the T-Scan format, where location of clearance information roughly corresponded to the cockpit instrument layout. Longer messages were less problematic than two short messages sent in close succession as pilots required more verbal clarification for closely spaced messages. 24 pilots participated in a second experiment that evaluated pilot communication performance for textual data link, two implementations of graphical data link, and a combined graphical and textual information modality. The two modalities incorporating text resulted in significantly faster transaction times and better performance on the secondary task than the two graphical-only implementations. The interval between messages was also more systematically varied in Experiment 2, and a short interval between messages significantly increased the access time for the second message. This delay in access was long enough to increase significantly the total transaction time of the second message, and this effect was exaggerated for the graphical-only implementations. Time to view the message before acknowledgement and time to initiate flight changes were not affected by the interval manipulation, This suggests that pilots adopt a sequential message handling strategy, and presenting messages closely in succession may present operational problems in a data link Air Traffic Control (ATC) environment. The results of this study also indicate that the perceived importance of message content is currently a crucial element in pilot data link communication.

Provision Increases Reported PPE Use for Mexican Immigrant Farmworkers: An mHealth Pilot Study.

PubMed

Snipes, Shedra Amy; Smyth, Joshua M; Murphy, Dennis; Miranda, Patricia Y; Ishino, Francisco Alejandro Montiel

2015-12-01

Personal protective equipment (PPE) reduces pesticide exposures, but many farmworkers complain that it is difficult to obtain. We examined if PPE provision increased usage. We also delivered motivational messaging aimed to promote PPE use. First, we delivered a daily survey through a mobile phone app to assess PPE use. Farmworkers subsequently received a daily, individualized motivational message based on their PPE use and reported difficulties. PPE use was evaluated at baseline and at the close of the study. PPE behaviors improved for gloves (P ≤ 0.01) and safety glasses (P ≤ 0.001). Use of long-sleeved shirts, hats, and long pants were already consistently used at baseline and did not exhibit significant change. Our findings demonstrate that PPE provision and delivery of motivational messaging through mobile phones may increase PPE usage for farmworkers.

The Digital Divide and Patient Portals: Internet Access Explained Differences in Patient Portal Use for Secure Messaging by Age, Race, and Income.

PubMed

Graetz, Ilana; Gordon, Nancy; Fung, Vick; Hamity, Courtnee; Reed, Mary E

2016-08-01

Online access to health records and the ability to exchange secure messages with physicians can improve patient engagement and outcomes; however, the digital divide could limit access to web-based portals among disadvantaged groups. To understand whether sociodemographic differences in patient portal use for secure messaging can be explained by differences in internet access and care preferences. Cross-sectional survey to examine the association between patient sociodemographic characteristics and internet access and care preferences; then, the association between sociodemographic characteristics and secure message use with and without adjusting for internet access and care preference. One thousand forty-one patients with chronic conditions in a large integrated health care delivery system (76% response rate). Internet access, portal use for secure messaging, preference for in-person or online care, and sociodemographic and health characteristics. Internet access and preference mediated some of the differences in secure message use by age, race, and income. For example, using own computer to access the internet explained 52% of the association between race and secure message use and 60% of the association between income and use (Sobel-Goodman mediation test, P<0.001 for both). Education and sex-related differences in portal use remained statistically significant when controlling for internet access and preference. As the availability and use of patient portals increase, it is important to understand which patients have limited access and the barriers they may face. Improving internet access and making portals available across multiple platforms, including mobile, may reduce some disparities in secure message use.

Service Management Database for DSN Equipment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zendejas, Silvino; Bui, Tung; Bui, Bach; Malhotra, Shantanu; Chen, Fannie; Wolgast, Paul; Allen, Christopher; Luong, Ivy; Chang, George; Sadaqathulla, Syed

2009-01-01

This data- and event-driven persistent storage system leverages the use of commercial software provided by Oracle for portability, ease of maintenance, scalability, and ease of integration with embedded, client-server, and multi-tiered applications. In this role, the Service Management Database (SMDB) is a key component of the overall end-to-end process involved in the scheduling, preparation, and configuration of the Deep Space Network (DSN) equipment needed to perform the various telecommunication services the DSN provides to its customers worldwide. SMDB makes efficient use of triggers, stored procedures, queuing functions, e-mail capabilities, data management, and Java integration features provided by the Oracle relational database management system. SMDB uses a third normal form schema design that allows for simple data maintenance procedures and thin layers of integration with client applications. The software provides an integrated event logging system with ability to publish events to a JMS messaging system for synchronous and asynchronous delivery to subscribed applications. It provides a structured classification of events and application-level messages stored in database tables that are accessible by monitoring applications for real-time monitoring or for troubleshooting and analysis over historical archives.

Channel access schemes and fiber optic configurations for integrated-services local area networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nassehi, M. Mehdi

1987-03-01

Local Area Networks are in common use for data communications and have enjoyed great success. Recently, there is a growing interest in using a single network to support many applications in addition to traditional data traffic. These additional applications introduce new requirements in terms of volume of traffic and real-time delivery of data which are not met by existing networks. To satisfy these requirements, a high-bandwidth tranmission medium, such as fiber optics, and a distributed channel access scheme for the efficient sharing of the bandwidth among the various applications are needed. As far as the throughput-delay requirements of the various application are concerned, a network structure along with a distributed channel access are proposed which incorporate appropriate scheduling policies for the transmission of outstanding messages on the network. A dynamic scheduling policy was devised which outperforms all existing policies in terms of minimizing the expected cost per message. A broadcast mechanism was devised for the efficient dissemination of all relevant information. Fiber optic technology is considered for the high-bandwidth transmisison medium.

Channel access schemes and fiber optic configurations for integrated-services local area networks. Ph.D. Thesis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nassehi, M. Mehdi

1987-01-01

Local Area Networks are in common use for data communications and have enjoyed great success. Recently, there is a growing interest in using a single network to support many applications in addition to traditional data traffic. These additional applications introduce new requirements in terms of volume of traffic and real-time delivery of data which are not met by existing networks. To satisfy these requirements, a high-bandwidth tranmission medium, such as fiber optics, and a distributed channel access scheme for the efficient sharing of the bandwidth among the various applications are needed. As far as the throughput-delay requirements of the various application are concerned, a network structure along with a distributed channel access are proposed which incorporate appropriate scheduling policies for the transmission of outstanding messages on the network. A dynamic scheduling policy was devised which outperforms all existing policies in terms of minimizing the expected cost per message. A broadcast mechanism was devised for the efficient dissemination of all relevant information. Fiber optic technology is considered for the high-bandwidth transmisison medium.

Exploring bi-directional and SMS messaging for communications between Public Health Agencies and their stakeholders: a qualitative study.

PubMed

Revere, Debra; Calhoun, Rebecca; Baseman, Janet; Oberle, Mark

2015-07-08

Communication technologies that enable bi-directional/two-way communications and cell phone texting (SMS) between public health agencies and their stakeholders may improve public health surveillance, ensure targeted distribution of alerts to hard-to-reach populations, reduce mortality and morbidity in an emergency, and enable a crucial feedback loop between public health agencies and the communities they serve. Building on prior work regarding health care provider preferences for receiving one-way public health communications by email, fax or SMS, we conducted a formative, exploratory study to understand how a bi-directional system and the incorporation of SMS in that system might be used as a strategy to send and receive messages between public health agencies and community-based organizations which serve vulnerable populations, health care providers, and public health workers. Our research question: Under what conditions and/or situations might public health agencies utilize bi-directional and/or SMS messaging for disseminating time-sensitive public health information (alerts, advisories, updates, etc.) to their stakeholders? A mixed methods (qualitative and quantitative) study was conducted between April and July 2014. Data collection included a survey distributed to health care providers and semi-structured interviews with providers, community- and government-based organization leaders and directors, and public health agency internal workforce staff. Survey respondents and interviewees were asked about their exposure to public health messages, how these messages are received and how the information in these messages are handled, and in what situations (for example, a local vs. a national event, a pandemic or emergency vs. a health update) a bi-directional and/or SMS messaging system might improve communications between public health agencies and their stakeholder group. Interview and survey data were qualitatively analyzed. Thematic codes were quantitized into dichotomous variables of 0 or 1 on a per respondent basis to enumerate the presence or absence of each thematic code, enable quantitative analysis, and inform interpretation of findings. Five major themes emerged from synthesizing survey and interview results: 1) Regardless of situational context (emergency vs. non-urgent) and message recipient (stakeholder group), e-mail is a favored modality for receiving public health messages; 2) The decision to use bi-directional, SMS or multiple communication strategies is complex and public health agencies' need to manage messaging concerns/barriers and benefits for all parties; 3) Both public health agencies and their stakeholders share similar values/uses and concerns regarding two-way public health messaging and SMS; 4) Public health is highly trusted, thus thoughtful, effective messaging will ensure continuation of this goodwill; and 5) Information reciprocity between public health agencies and stakeholders who share their information is essential. Multiple communication strategies might be utilized but the choice of a specific strategy needs to balance message content (emergency vs. routine communications), delivery (one- vs. two-way), channel (SMS, email, etc.), and public health agency burden with stakeholder preferences and technical capabilities, all while mitigating the risk of message overload and disregard of important communications by recipients.

A qualitative evaluation of New Zealand consumers perceptions of general practice nurses

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background An important consideration in health service delivery is ensuring that services meet consumer needs and that consumers are satisfied with service delivery. Patient satisfaction can impact on compliance with suggested treatments and therefore impact on health outcomes. Comparatively few studies have explored consumer satisfaction with nurses in general practice. Methods A sub-group of 18 consumers from a larger quantitative evaluation of consumer satisfaction with New Zealand general practice nurses participated in semi-structured telephone interviews. Interview data was analysed using thematic analysis. Results Four major themes emerged from the data. These themes highlighted that, despite confusion experienced by some consumers regarding the practice nurse role, consumers were happy with the level of care provided by them. Consumers felt valued by Practice Nurses and considered them competent and highly knowledgeable. Findings also convey that consumers appreciate the accessibility and financial benefits of utilising the services of practice nurses. Conclusions Consumers are highly satisfied with practice nurse service delivery and value their relationships with these health professionals. Consumers revealed that greater clarity around the practice nurse role and their scope of practice may enhance their utilisation. Spreading the message of practice nurses being the right person to deliver care, within their scope of practice, at the right time may have the potential to provide more timely care within the primary care setting. PMID:23433311

47 CFR 10.420 - Message elements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 1 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Message elements. 10.420 Section 10.420... § 10.420 Message elements. A WEA Alert Message processed by a Participating CMS Provider shall include five mandatory CAP elements—Event Type; Area Affected; Recommended Action; Expiration Time (with time...

47 CFR 10.420 - Message elements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 1 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Message elements. 10.420 Section 10.420... § 10.420 Message elements. A WEA Alert Message processed by a Participating CMS Provider shall include five mandatory CAP elements—Event Type; Area Affected; Recommended Action; Expiration Time (with time...

A communication theoretical analysis of FRET-based mobile ad hoc molecular nanonetworks.

PubMed

Kuscu, Murat; Akan, Ozgur B

2014-09-01

Nanonetworks refer to a group of nanosized machines with very basic operational capabilities communicating to each other in order to accomplish more complex tasks such as in-body drug delivery, or chemical defense. Realizing reliable and high-rate communication between these nanomachines is a fundamental problem for the practicality of these nanonetworks. Recently, we have proposed a molecular communication method based on Förster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) which is a nonradiative excited state energy transfer phenomenon observed among fluorescent molecules, i.e., fluorophores. We have modeled the FRET-based communication channel considering the fluorophores as single-molecular immobile nanomachines, and shown its reliability at high rates, and practicality at the current stage of nanotechnology. In this study, for the first time in the literature, we investigate the network of mobile nanomachines communicating through FRET. We introduce two novel mobile molecular nanonetworks: FRET-based mobile molecular sensor/actor nanonetwork (FRET-MSAN) which is a distributed system of mobile fluorophores acting as sensor or actor node; and FRET-based mobile ad hoc molecular nanonetwork (FRET-MAMNET) which consists of fluorophore-based nanotransmitter, nanoreceivers and nanorelays. We model the single message propagation based on birth-death processes with continuous time Markov chains. We evaluate the performance of FRET-MSAN and FRET-MAMNET in terms of successful transmission probability and mean extinction time of the messages, system throughput, channel capacity and achievable communication rates.

A Social Systems Approach to Evaluation Research.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olien, C. N.; And Others

An information-control systems model for evaluation of adult education programs is offered and illustrated. The model is based upon identifying principal subsystems, such as source, channel and audience, which are involved in initiation, production, delivery and reception of educational messages. These subsystems are seen as separate but…

Internet-enabled solutions for health care business problems.

PubMed

Kennedy, R; Geisler, M

1997-01-01

Many health care delivery organizations have built, installed, or made use of Nets. As single entities merge with others, and independent institutions become part of much larger delivery networks, the need for collaboration is critical. With the formation of such partnerships, existing platforms will become increasingly available from which it will be possible to build disparate technologies that must somehow be part of a single working "system." Nets can enable this leveraging, allowing access from multiple technological platforms. The collaboration, distribution, application integration, and messaging possibilities with the Nets are unprecedented. We believe that meeting a health care delivery organization's needs without these benefits will soon be unthinkable. While Nets are not the answer to the challenges facing health care delivery today, they certainly are a large contributor to the solution.

Reasons for non-adherence to cardiometabolic medications, and acceptability of an interactive voice response intervention in patients with hypertension and type 2 diabetes in primary care: a qualitative study

PubMed Central

Sutton, Stephen

2017-01-01

Objectives This study explored the reasons for patients’ non-adherence to cardiometabolic medications, and tested the acceptability of the interactive voice response (IVR) as a way to address these reasons, and support patients, between primary care consultations. Design, method, participants and setting The study included face-to-face interviews with 19 patients with hypertension and/or type 2 diabetes mellitus, selected from primary care databases, and presumed to be non-adherent. Thirteen of these patients pretested elements of the IVR intervention few months later, using a think-aloud protocol. Five practice nurses were interviewed. Data were analysed using multiperspective, and longitudinalthematic analysis. Results Negative beliefs about taking medications, the complexity of prescribed medication regimens, and the limited ability to cope with the underlying affective state, within challenging contexts, were mentioned as important reasons for non-adherence. Nurses reported time constraints to address each patient’s different reasons for non-adherence, and limited efficacy to support patients, between primary care consultations. Patients gave positive experiential feedback about the IVR messages as a way to support them take their medicines, and provided recommendations for intervention content and delivery mode. Specifically, they liked the voice delivering the messages and the voice recognition software. For intervention content, they preferred messages that were tailored, and included messages with ‘information about health consequences’, ‘action plans’, or simple reminders for performing the behaviour. Conclusions Patients with hypertension and/or type 2 diabetes, and practice nurses, suggested messages tailored to each patient’s reasons for non-adherence. Participants recommended IVR as an acceptable platform to support adherence to cardiometabolic medications between primary care consultations. Future studies could usefully test the acceptability, and feasibility, of tailored IVR interventions to support medication adherence, as an adjunct to primary care. PMID:28801402

A formative evaluation of social media campaign to reduce adolescent dating violence.

PubMed

Lambert, Danielle N; Bishop, Lauren E; Guetig, Stephanie; Frew, Paula M

2014-11-12

The Emory Jane Fonda Center implemented the Start Strong Atlanta social marketing campaign, "Keep It Strong ATL", in 2007 to promote the development of healthy adolescent relationships and to foster the prevention of adolescent dating abuse among 11-14 year olds. A formative evaluation was conducted to understand whether messages directed at the target audience were relevant to the program's relationship promotion and violence prevention goals, and whether the "Web 2.0" social media channels of communication (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, Tumblr, and Pinterest) were reaching the intended audience. Mixed methodologies included qualitative interviews and a key informant focus group, a cross-sectional survey, and web analytics. Qualitative data were analyzed using constant comparative methodology informed by grounded theory. Descriptive statistics were generated from survey data, and web analytics provided user information and traffic patterns. Results indicated that the Keep It Strong ATL social marketing campaign was a valuable community resource that had potential for broader scope and greater reach. The evaluation team learned the importance of reaching adolescents through Web 2.0 platforms, and the need for message dissemination via peers. Survey results indicated that Facebook (ranked 6.5 out of 8) was the highest rated social media outlet overall, and exhibited greatest appeal and most frequent visits, yet analytics revealed that only 3.5% of "likes" were from the target audience. These results indicate that the social media campaign is reaching predominantly women (76.5% of viewership) who are outside of the target age range of 11-14 years. While the social media campaign was successfully launched, the findings indicate the need for a more focused selection of communication channels, timing of media updates to maximize visibility, balancing message tone and delivery, and incorporating differentiated messaging for the target audiences. Collaboration with parents and community partners is also emphasized in order to expand the campaign's reach and create more channels to disseminate relationship promotion and dating violence prevention messaging to the intended audience.

The Airline Lifesaver: a 17-year analysis of a technique to prompt the delivery of a safety message.

PubMed

Geller, E Scott; Hickman, Jeffrey S; Pettinger, Charles B

2004-01-01

The Airline Lifesaver (AL) is a 13.3 cm x 9.8 cm card any passenger can deliver to the attendant of a commercial airline in order to prompt the delivery of an important safety message. In particular, the AL requests the following safety--belt reminder be added to the regular announcements given at the end of the flight-"Now that you have worn a seat belt for the safest part of your trip, the flight crew would like to remind you to buckle-up during your ground transportation." The AL card was handed to 1,258 flight attendants over a 17-year period and compliance with the request for the safety message was systematically tracked. Slightly more than one-third of the AL cards (n=460) included an incentive for making the announcement. Without the incentive, compliance to give the buckle-up reminder was 35.5% of 798 flights. With the incentive, compliance was significantly higher (i.e., 53.3%). The validity of the AL intervention is discussed with regard to its: (a) relevance to cognitive dissonance and consistency theory, and (b) broad-based applicability as a component of community-wide efforts to facilitate a safety-focused culture. The 17-year study also demonstrated a practical and cost-effective application of a behavior-based incentive program.

Notes on critical care-review of seminal management and leadership papers in the United Kingdom.

PubMed

Coombs, Maureen

2009-06-01

Review of recent critical care provision reveals substantial changes in clinical unit operating, and policy drivers influencing international critical care delivery. Practitioners who have worked in healthcare environments over this time, will have witnessed substantial shifts in healthcare policy, changes in professional body guidance and greater service evaluation have impacted on critical care management and leadership. This paper offers a personal perspective on seminal management and leadership papers published in the critical care literature over the past decade. Presenting a range of national and international work that utilise diverse approaches, ten key papers are highlighted that have impacted in the United Kingdom setting. Through this, the influence of the modernisation agenda, the increasing significance of outcome studies, and the need for flexible, interdependent practice emerges. A key message to surface from this paper is the need for all in critical care to engage with, and understand the wider implications of management and leadership change for critical care delivery.

Real Time Assessment of Young Adults' Attitudes toward Tobacco Messages.

PubMed

Hébert, Emily T; Vandewater, Elizabeth A; Businelle, Michael S; Harrell, Melissa B; Kelder, Steven H; Perry, Cheryl L

2018-01-01

We used ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to examine young adults' attitudes towards pro-tobacco messages encountered in real time and their association with intentions to use tobacco. Young adults (N = 92, ages 18-29) recorded sightings of marketing or social media related to tobacco in real time via mobile app for 28 days. Participants reported message characteristics, their attitudes towards the message, and intentions to use the depicted product for each submission. We used generalized linear mixed models to examine factors related to attitude towards message and intentions to use tobacco. Messages depicting e-cigarettes (p < .001) or hookah (p < .05) were associated with significantly more favorable attitudes compared with traditional cigarettes. Positive attitude towards the message was significantly associated with intention to use the depicted product (p < .001). Messages depicting e-cigarettes and hookah were significantly associated with higher intention to use. Message source was not significantly related to attitudes towards the message or product use intentions. Marketing featuring e-cigarettes and hookah is an important target for future regulation. Given that pro-tobacco and e-cigarette messages are prevalent online, future research should consider the Internet and social media as important venues for counter-marketing and intervention efforts.

Communicating Risk to Aboriginal Peoples: First Nations and Metis Responses to H1N1 Risk Messages

PubMed Central

Driedger, S. Michelle; Cooper, Elizabeth; Jardine, Cindy; Furgal, Chris; Bartlett, Judith

2013-01-01

Developing appropriate risk messages during challenging situations like public health outbreaks is complicated. The focus of this paper is on how First Nations and Metis people in Manitoba, Canada, responded to the public health management of pandemic H1N1, using a focus group methodology (n = 23 focus groups). Focus group conversations explored participant reactions to messaging regarding the identification of H1N1 virus risk groups, the H1N1 vaccine and how priority groups to receive the vaccine were established. To better contextualize the intentions of public health professionals, key informant interviews (n = 20) were conducted with different health decision makers (e.g., public health officials, people responsible for communications, representatives from some First Nations and Metis self-governing organizations). While risk communication practice has improved, ‘one size’ messaging campaigns do not work effectively, particularly when communicating about who is most ‘at-risk’. Public health agencies need to pay more attention to the specific socio-economic, historical and cultural contexts of First Nations and Metis citizens when planning for, communicating and managing responses associated with pandemic outbreaks to better tailor both the messages and delivery. More attention is needed to directly engage First Nations and Metis communities in the development and dissemination of risk messaging. PMID:23940697

A Context-Sensing Mobile Phone App (Q Sense) for Smoking Cessation: A Mixed-Methods Study

PubMed Central

Hopewell, Sarah; Lathia, Neal; Schalbroeck, Rik; Brown, Chloë; Mascolo, Cecilia; McEwen, Andy; Sutton, Stephen

2016-01-01

Background A major cause of lapse and relapse to smoking during a quit attempt is craving triggered by cues from a smoker's immediate environment. To help smokers address these cue-induced cravings when attempting to quit, we have developed a context-aware smoking cessation app, Q Sense, which uses a smoking episode-reporting system combined with location sensing and geofencing to tailor support content and trigger support delivery in real time. Objective We sought to (1) assess smokers’ compliance with reporting their smoking in real time and identify reasons for noncompliance, (2) assess the app's accuracy in identifying user-specific high-risk locations for smoking, (3) explore the feasibility and user perspective of geofence-triggered support, and (4) identify any technological issues or privacy concerns. Methods An explanatory sequential mixed-methods design was used, where data collected by the app informed semistructured interviews. Participants were smokers who owned an Android mobile phone and were willing to set a quit date within one month (N=15). App data included smoking reports with context information and geolocation, end-of-day (EoD) surveys of smoking beliefs and behavior, support message ratings, and app interaction data. Interviews were undertaken and analyzed thematically (N=13). Quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed separately and findings presented sequentially. Results Out of 15 participants, 3 (20%) discontinued use of the app prematurely. Pre-quit date, the mean number of smoking reports received was 37.8 (SD 21.2) per participant, or 2.0 (SD 2.2) per day per participant. EoD surveys indicated that participants underreported smoking on at least 56.2% of days. Geolocation was collected in 97.0% of smoking reports with a mean accuracy of 31.6 (SD 16.8) meters. A total of 5 out of 9 (56%) eligible participants received geofence-triggered support. Interaction data indicated that 50.0% (137/274) of geofence-triggered message notifications were tapped within 30 minutes of being generated, resulting in delivery of a support message, and 78.2% (158/202) of delivered messages were rated by participants. Qualitative findings identified multiple reasons for noncompliance in reporting smoking, most notably due to environmental constraints and forgetting. Participants verified the app’s identification of their smoking locations, were largely positive about the value of geofence-triggered support, and had no privacy concerns about the data collected by the app. Conclusions User-initiated self-report is feasible for training a cessation app about an individual’s smoking behavior, although underreporting is likely. Geofencing was a reliable and accurate method of identifying smoking locations, and geofence-triggered support was regarded positively by participants. PMID:27637405

A Context-Sensing Mobile Phone App (Q Sense) for Smoking Cessation: A Mixed-Methods Study.

PubMed

Naughton, Felix; Hopewell, Sarah; Lathia, Neal; Schalbroeck, Rik; Brown, Chloë; Mascolo, Cecilia; McEwen, Andy; Sutton, Stephen

2016-09-16

A major cause of lapse and relapse to smoking during a quit attempt is craving triggered by cues from a smoker's immediate environment. To help smokers address these cue-induced cravings when attempting to quit, we have developed a context-aware smoking cessation app, Q Sense, which uses a smoking episode-reporting system combined with location sensing and geofencing to tailor support content and trigger support delivery in real time. We sought to (1) assess smokers' compliance with reporting their smoking in real time and identify reasons for noncompliance, (2) assess the app's accuracy in identifying user-specific high-risk locations for smoking, (3) explore the feasibility and user perspective of geofence-triggered support, and (4) identify any technological issues or privacy concerns. An explanatory sequential mixed-methods design was used, where data collected by the app informed semistructured interviews. Participants were smokers who owned an Android mobile phone and were willing to set a quit date within one month (N=15). App data included smoking reports with context information and geolocation, end-of-day (EoD) surveys of smoking beliefs and behavior, support message ratings, and app interaction data. Interviews were undertaken and analyzed thematically (N=13). Quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed separately and findings presented sequentially. Out of 15 participants, 3 (20%) discontinued use of the app prematurely. Pre-quit date, the mean number of smoking reports received was 37.8 (SD 21.2) per participant, or 2.0 (SD 2.2) per day per participant. EoD surveys indicated that participants underreported smoking on at least 56.2% of days. Geolocation was collected in 97.0% of smoking reports with a mean accuracy of 31.6 (SD 16.8) meters. A total of 5 out of 9 (56%) eligible participants received geofence-triggered support. Interaction data indicated that 50.0% (137/274) of geofence-triggered message notifications were tapped within 30 minutes of being generated, resulting in delivery of a support message, and 78.2% (158/202) of delivered messages were rated by participants. Qualitative findings identified multiple reasons for noncompliance in reporting smoking, most notably due to environmental constraints and forgetting. Participants verified the app's identification of their smoking locations, were largely positive about the value of geofence-triggered support, and had no privacy concerns about the data collected by the app. User-initiated self-report is feasible for training a cessation app about an individual's smoking behavior, although underreporting is likely. Geofencing was a reliable and accurate method of identifying smoking locations, and geofence-triggered support was regarded positively by participants.

Mobile phone text message reminders: Measuring preferences of people with antipsychotic medication.

PubMed

Kauppi, Kaisa; Kannisto, Kati A; Hätönen, Heli; Anttila, Minna; Löyttyniemi, Eliisa; Adams, Clive E; Välimäki, Maritta

2015-10-01

Mobile technology use, including Short Messaging Service (SMS) text messaging, has increased in health care services. Preferences regarding the type or timing of text messages sent by healthcare providers to people with antipsychotic medication have not yet been fully investigated. This study examines the relationship between patients' demographic characteristics and the tailored messages they select. The study ("Mobile.Net", 27704027) includes a structured analysis of a random sub-sample of participants who received messages for 12months. The data were collected in 24 sites and 45 psychiatric hospitals in Finland and analyzed with descriptive statistics and Poisson regression models. The study sample involved 562 people on antipsychotic medication, and a total of 2112 text messages (2 to 25 monthly) were analysed. Regarding message content, there was no significant variation in the proportions relating to 'medication', 'treatment appointments' or 'free time'. Monday was the most popular day to receive messages and morning was preferred to later in the day. Age was most closely associated with 'number of messages' and 'time of messages'. Older women and younger men preferred higher numbers of messages (p=0.0031). Participants preferred positive, encouraging and slightly humorous messages. The findings suggest that messages may be acceptable for difficult to access groups in follow-up. This type of intervention may be useful for various types of patients especially for younger males. To further support the evidence about factors related to message utilization and use, it is important to evaluate the effectiveness of text messages in psychiatric care. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V.

The Rocky Road to Change: Implications for Substance Abuse Programs on College Campuses.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scott, Cynthia G.; Ambroson, DeAnn L.

1994-01-01

Examines college substance abuse prevention and intervention programs in the framework of the elaboration likelihood model. Discusses the role of persuasion and recommends careful analysis of the relevance, construction, and delivery of messages about substance use and subsequent program evaluation. Recommendations for increasing program…

Ten Design Points for the Human Interface to Instructional Multimedia.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McFarland, Ronald D.

1995-01-01

Ten ways to design an effective Human-Computer Interface are explained. Highlights include material delivery that relates to user knowledge; appropriate screen presentations; attention value versus learning and recall; the relationship of packaging and message; the effectiveness of visuals and text; the use of color to enhance communication; the…

76 FR 24489 - Privacy Act of 1974; Amendment to System of Records

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-05-02

... message). Fax: 202-482-9237, Attention: Elaine Newton, Privacy Officer. Mail, Hand Delivery/Courier...: Elaine Newton, Privacy Officer. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Newton at the Office of Government... 4685 (Jan. 26, 2009); and in support of this Administration's core principles of the business of...

Don't Let Your Message Die on Delivery!

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trainer, Laureen

2015-01-01

Museum educators are in the business of communication. After creating, implementing and evaluating a program or exhibition, museum educators need to communicate findings effectively. Design plays a crucial role in communication: "the way we package our words and data reflects on audience perception--both in terms of their views of our…

The Ontario printed educational message (OPEM) trial to narrow the evidence-practice gap with respect to prescribing practices of general and family physicians: a cluster randomized controlled trial, targeting the care of individuals with diabetes and hypertension in Ontario, Canada

PubMed Central

Zwarenstein, Merrick; Hux, Janet E; Kelsall, Diane; Paterson, Michael; Grimshaw, Jeremy; Davis, Dave; Laupacis, Andreas; Evans, Michael; Austin, Peter C; Slaughter, Pamela M; Shiller, Susan K; Croxford, Ruth; Tu, Karen

2007-01-01

Background There are gaps between what family practitioners do in clinical practice and the evidence-based ideal. The most commonly used strategy to narrow these gaps is the printed educational message (PEM); however, the attributes of successful printed educational messages and their overall effectiveness in changing physician practice are not clear. The current endeavor aims to determine whether such messages change prescribing quality in primary care practice, and whether these effects differ with the format of the message. Methods/design The design is a large, simple, factorial, unblinded cluster-randomized controlled trial. PEMs will be distributed with informed, a quarterly evidence-based synopsis of current clinical information produced by the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, Toronto, Canada, and will be sent to all eligible general and family practitioners in Ontario. There will be three replicates of the trial, with three different educational messages, each aimed at narrowing a specific evidence-practice gap as follows: 1) angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, hypertension treatment, and cholesterol lowering agents for diabetes; 2) retinal screening for diabetes; and 3) diuretics for hypertension. For each of the three replicates there will be three intervention groups. The first group will receive informed with an attached postcard-sized, short, directive "outsert." The second intervention group will receive informed with a two-page explanatory "insert" on the same topic. The third intervention group will receive informed, with both the above-mentioned outsert and insert. The control group will receive informed only, without either an outsert or insert. Routinely collected physician billing, prescription, and hospital data found in Ontario's administrative databases will be used to monitor pre-defined prescribing changes relevant and specific to each replicate, following delivery of the educational messages. Multi-level modeling will be used to study patterns in physician-prescribing quality over four quarters, before and after each of the three interventions. Subgroup analyses will be performed to assess the association between the characteristics of the physician's place of practice and target behaviours. A further analysis of the immediate and delayed impacts of the PEMs will be performed using time-series analysis and interventional, auto-regressive, integrated moving average modeling. Trial registration number Current controlled trial ISRCTN72772651. PMID:18039361

Improving treatment adherence for blood pressure lowering via mobile phone SMS-messages in South Africa: a qualitative evaluation of the SMS-text Adherence SuppoRt (StAR) trial.

PubMed

Leon, Natalie; Surender, Rebecca; Bobrow, Kirsty; Muller, Jocelyn; Farmer, Andrew

2015-07-03

Effective use of proven treatments for high blood pressure, a preventable health risk, is challenging for many patients. Prompts via mobile phone SMS-text messaging may improve adherence to clinic visits and treatment, though more research is needed on impact and patient perceptions of such support interventions, especially in low-resource settings. An individually-randomised controlled trial in a primary care clinic in Cape Town (2012-14), tested the effect of an adherence support intervention delivered via SMS-texts, on blood pressure control and adherence to medication, for hypertensive patients. ( ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02019823). We report on a qualitative evaluation that explored the trial participants' experiences and responses to the SMS-text messages, and identified barriers and facilitators to delivering adherence support via patients' own mobile phones. Two focus groups and fifteen individual interviews were conducted. We used comparative and thematic analysis approaches to identify themes and triangulated our analysis amongst three researchers. Most participants were comfortable with the technology of using SMS-text messages. Messages were experienced as acceptable, relevant and useful to a broad range of participants. The SMS-content, the respectful tone and the delivery (timing of reminders and frequency) and the relational aspect of trial participation (feeling cared for) were all highly valued. A subgroup who benefitted the most, were those who had been struggling with adherence due to high levels of personal stress. The intervention appeared to coincide with their readiness for change, and provided practical and emotional support for improving adherence behaviour. Change may have been facilitated through increased acknowledgement of their health status and attitudinal change towards greater self-responsibility. Complex interaction of psycho-social stressors and health service problems were reported as broader challenges to adherence behaviours. Adherence support for treatment of raised blood pressure, delivered via SMS-text message on the patient's own phone, was found to be acceptable, relevant and helpful, even for those who already had their own reminder systems in place. Our findings begin to identify for whom and what core elements of the SMS-text message intervention appear to work best in a low-resource operational setting, issues that future research should explore in greater depth.

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.

PubMed

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 to services. Second, this is the first RCT of a mobile-phone-based behavior change intervention using SMS/VMs to support linkage to SRH services in Cambodia. Lastly, we are working with a hidden, hard-to-reach, and dynamic population with which existing methods of outreach have not been fully successful. Clinical trials.gov, NCT03117842 . Registered on 31 March 2017.

NOAA Weather Radio - Alarms

Science.gov Websites

affected (usually by county), and the expiration time of the message. The Maximum message expiration time county), and the valid time period of the hazard. Other details, such as storm movement, storm spotter time in SAME vs. valid time period in voice message: For short-fuse hazards, such as a tornado warning

Alcohol Messages in Prime-Time Television Series

PubMed Central

RUSSELL, CRISTEL ANTONIA; RUSSELL, DALE W.

2010-01-01

Alcohol messages contained in television programming serve as sources of information about drinking. To better understand the ways embedded messages about alcohol are communicated, it is crucial to objectively monitor and analyze television alcohol depictions. This article presents a content analysis of an eight-week sample of eighteen prime-time programs. Alcohol messages were coded based on modalities of presentation, level of plot connection, and valence. The analysis reveals that mixed messages about alcohol often coexist but the ways in which they are presented differ: whereas negative messages are tied to the plot and communicated verbally, positive messages are associated with subtle visual portrayals. PMID:21188281

Upward Communication About Cancer Screening—Adolescent Daughter to Mother

PubMed Central

MOSAVEL, MAGHBOEBA; PORTS, KATIE A.

2015-01-01

Substantial breast and cervical cancer disparities exist in the United States, particularly among African American women with low social economic status. There is considerable potential for discussions about cancer prevention between mothers and daughters. However, upward communication, from child to parent, remains a relatively novel research area, and it remains unclear how receptive mothers would be to messages from their daughter about cancer, a topic that may be considered culturally inappropriate for daughters to initiate. In this study, we simulated cancer message delivery to daughters and then conducted direct observation of daughters as they recalled and shared the message with their mother or female elder. We found that daughters were able to successfully recall and deliver a cancer appeal to their mother and mothers were generally receptive to this message. Not only did mothers listen to their daughters’ appeals, but also daughters’ knowledge of cancer was considerably improved by the opportunity to educate her female elder. Moreover, daughters’ nonverbal communication suggested a surprisingly relaxed demeanor. The potential of young people to impact the screening behavior of their female elders is very promising in terms of reducing cancer disparities. PMID:25848895

Effects of color scheme and message lines of variable message signs on driver performance.

PubMed

Lai, Chien-Jung

2010-07-01

The advancement in variable message signs (VMS) technology has made it possible to display message with various formats. This study presented an ergonomic study on the message design of Chinese variable message signs on urban roads in Taiwan. Effects of color scheme (one, two and three) and number of message lines (single, double and triple) of VMS on participants' response performance were investigated through a laboratory experiment. Results of analysis showed that color scheme and number of message lines are significant factors for participants' response time to VMS. Participants responded faster for two-color than for one- and three-color scheme. Participants also took less response time for double line message than for single and triple line message. Both color scheme and number of message lines had no significant effect on participants' response accuracy. The preference survey after the experiment showed that most participants preferred two-color scheme and double line message to the other combinations. The results can assist in adopting appropriate color scheme and number of message lines of Chinese VMS. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effects of subliminal backward-recorded messages on attitudes.

PubMed

Swart, L C; Morgan, C L

1992-12-01

This study was designed to measure the effects of subliminal backward messages on attitudes. It was hypothesized that subliminal backward-recorded messages would influence the attitudes of listeners. Three subliminal backward-recorded messages from a popular song were used. 82 undergraduates were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: a three-message group heard a tape containing the backward messages recorded three times in succession, a six-message group heard a tape with the same backward messages recorded six times in succession, two control groups heard nonbackward recorded music. No statistically significant differences were found between the groups on a posttape attitude questionnaire. The results are discussed in terms of unconscious processing and the tricomponent theory of attitudes and attitude change.

Gain versus loss framing in adherence-promoting communication targeting patients with chronic diseases: the moderating effect of individual time perspective.

PubMed

Zhao, Xiaoquan; Villagran, Melinda M; Kreps, Gary L; McHorney, Colleen

2012-01-01

This study investigated the joint effect of message framing and time perspective in adherence-promoting communication targeting patients with chronic diseases. Based on previous framing and time perspective research, it was hypothesized that the gain frame would show an advantage over the loss frame among future-oriented patients; for present-oriented patients, it was hypothesized that the framing effect would be relatively indistinct. In total, 1,108 currently nonadherent patients with chronic disease participated in an experiment where they were randomly assigned to either gain- or loss-framed messages addressing key beliefs underlying their nonadherence or a no-message control condition. Intention and attitude regarding future adherence as well as message perceptions were measured after message presentation. Results of this study generally supported the hypotheses. Message topics-whether the messages addressed patients' perceived need for medications or concerns about side effects-did not moderate the effect of framing or the interaction between framing and time perspective. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Delay Analysis of Car-to-Car Reliable Data Delivery Strategies Based on Data Mulling with Network Coding

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Park, Joon-Sang; Lee, Uichin; Oh, Soon Young; Gerla, Mario; Lun, Desmond Siumen; Ro, Won Woo; Park, Joonseok

Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANET) aims to enhance vehicle navigation safety by providing an early warning system: any chance of accidents is informed through the wireless communication between vehicles. For the warning system to work, it is crucial that safety messages be reliably delivered to the target vehicles in a timely manner and thus reliable and timely data dissemination service is the key building block of VANET. Data mulling technique combined with three strategies, network codeing, erasure coding and repetition coding, is proposed for the reliable and timely data dissemination service. Particularly, vehicles in the opposite direction on a highway are exploited as data mules, mobile nodes physically delivering data to destinations, to overcome intermittent network connectivity cause by sparse vehicle traffic. Using analytic models, we show that in such a highway data mulling scenario the network coding based strategy outperforms erasure coding and repetition based strategies.

Electronic Communication of Protected Health Information: Privacy, Security, and HIPAA Compliance.

PubMed

Drolet, Brian C; Marwaha, Jayson S; Hyatt, Brad; Blazar, Phillip E; Lifchez, Scott D

2017-06-01

Technology has enhanced modern health care delivery, particularly through accessibility to health information and ease of communication with tools like mobile device messaging (texting). However, text messaging has created new risks for breach of protected health information (PHI). In the current study, we sought to evaluate hand surgeons' knowledge and compliance with privacy and security standards for electronic communication by text message. A cross-sectional survey of the American Society for Surgery of the Hand membership was conducted in March and April 2016. Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were performed of composite results as well as relevant subgroup analyses. A total of 409 responses were obtained (11% response rate). Although 63% of surgeons reported that they believe that text messaging does not meet Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 security standards, only 37% reported they do not use text messages to communicate PHI. Younger surgeons and respondents who believed that their texting was compliant were statistically significantly more like to report messaging of PHI (odds ratio, 1.59 and 1.22, respectively). A majority of hand surgeons in this study reported the use of text messaging to communicate PHI. Of note, neither the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 statute nor US Department of Health and Human Services specifically prohibits this form of electronic communication. To be compliant, surgeons, practices, and institutions need to take reasonable security precautions to prevent breach of privacy with electronic communication. Communication of clinical information by text message is not prohibited under Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, but surgeons should use appropriate safeguards to prevent breach when using this form of communication. Copyright © 2017 American Society for Surgery of the Hand. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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

PubMed

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.

Tailored motivational message generation: A model and practical framework for real-time physical activity coaching.

PubMed

Op den Akker, Harm; Cabrita, Miriam; Op den Akker, Rieks; Jones, Valerie M; Hermens, Hermie J

2015-06-01

This paper presents a comprehensive and practical framework for automatic generation of real-time tailored messages in behavior change applications. Basic aspects of motivational messages are time, intention, content and presentation. Tailoring of messages to the individual user may involve all aspects of communication. A linear modular system is presented for generating such messages. It is explained how properties of user and context are taken into account in each of the modules of the system and how they affect the linguistic presentation of the generated messages. The model of motivational messages presented is based on an analysis of existing literature as well as the analysis of a corpus of motivational messages used in previous studies. The model extends existing 'ontology-based' approaches to message generation for real-time coaching systems found in the literature. Practical examples are given on how simple tailoring rules can be implemented throughout the various stages of the framework. Such examples can guide further research by clarifying what it means to use e.g. user targeting to tailor a message. As primary example we look at the issue of promoting daily physical activity. Future work is pointed out in applying the present model and framework, defining efficient ways of evaluating individual tailoring components, and improving effectiveness through the creation of accurate and complete user- and context models. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Importance of Sexual History Taking for PrEP Comprehension Among Young People of Color.

PubMed

Golub, Sarit A; Gamarel, Kristi E; Lelutiu-Weinberger, Corina

2017-05-01

Despite demonstrated efficacy, uptake of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) remains low, especially among highest priority populations. This study examined four PrEP messaging factors hypothesized to impact comprehension of PrEP educational information: (1) modality (video versus in-person message delivery); (2) frame (risk versus health focus); (3) specificity (gist versus verbatim efficacy information); and (4) sexual history (administered either before or after PrEP education). We examined message comprehension among 157 young people of color (YPoC) eligible for PrEP, using a series of multiple choice questions. Overall, 65.6 % (n = 103) got all message comprehension questions correct. In multivariate analyses, engaging in a sexual history before receiving PrEP education was associated with increased odds of message comprehension (aOR 2.23; 95 % CI 1.06-4.72). This effect was even stronger among those who received PrEP education via video (aOR 3.53; 95 % CI 1.16-10.81) compared to via health educator. This research underscores the importance of sexual history-taking as part of PrEP education and clinical practice for YPoC, and suggests that engaging patients in a sexual history prior to providing them with PrEP education may be key to increasing comprehension.

The Personal Health Record Paradox: Health Care Professionals’ Perspectives and the Information Ecology of Personal Health Record Systems in Organizational and Clinical Settings

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Despite significant consumer interest and anticipated benefits, overall adoption of personal health records (PHRs) remains relatively low. Understanding the consumer perspective is necessary, but insufficient by itself. Consumer PHR use also has broad implications for health care professionals and organizational delivery systems; however, these have received less attention. An exclusive focus on the PHR as a tool for consumer empowerment does not adequately take into account the social and organizational context of health care delivery, and the reciprocal nature of patient engagement. Objective The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of physicians, nurses, and pharmacists at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) using an organizationally sponsored PHR to develop insights into the interaction of technology and processes of health care delivery. The conceptual framework for the study draws on an information ecology perspective, which recognizes that a vibrant dynamic exists among technologies, people, practices, and values, accounting for both the values and norms of the participants and the practices of the local setting. The study explores the experiences and perspectives of VA health care professionals related to patient use of the My HealtheVet PHR portal and secure messaging systems. Methods In-depth interviews were conducted with 30 VA health care professionals engaged in providing direct patient care who self-reported that they had experiences with at least 1 of 4 PHR features. Interviews were transcribed, coded, and analyzed to identify inductive themes. Organizational documents and artifacts were reviewed and analyzed to trace the trajectory of secure messaging implementation as part of the VA Patient Aligned Care Team (PACT) model. Results Study findings revealed a variety of factors that have facilitated or inhibited PHR adoption, use, and endorsement of patient use by health care professionals. Health care professionals’ accounts and analysis of organizational documents revealed a multidimensional dynamic between the trajectory of secure messaging implementation and its impact on organizational actors and their use of technology, influencing workflow, practices, and the flow of information. In effect, secure messaging was the missing element of complex information ecology and its implementation acted as a catalyst for change. Secure messaging was found to have important consequences for access, communication, patient self-report, and patient/provider relationships. Conclusions Study findings have direct implications for the development and implementation of PHR systems to ensure adequate training and support for health care professionals, alignment with clinical workflow, and features that enable information sharing and communication. Study findings highlight the importance of clinician endorsement and engagement, and the need to further examine both intended and unintended consequences of use. This research provides an integral step toward better understanding the social and organizational context and impact of PHR and secure messaging use in clinical practice settings. PMID:23557596

Competing with big business: a randomised experiment testing the effects of messages to promote alcohol and sugary drink control policy.

PubMed

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 and standard argument plus inoculation messages were effective at increasing resistance to the persuasive impact of anti-policy messages relative to control at time 2. Dissemination of advocacy messages using inoculation or narrative components can help strengthen public resistance to subsequent anti-policy messages from industry groups.

Listeriosis Prevention for Older Adults: Effective Messages and Delivery Methods

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cates, Sheryl C.; Kosa, Katherine M.; Moore, Christina M.; Jaykus, Lee-Ann; Ten Eyck, Toby A.; Cowen, Peter

2007-01-01

Individuals aged 60 years and older are at an increased risk for listeriosis and other foodborne illnesses. They can reduce their risk by following recommended food safety practices. A total of 8 focus groups were conducted to characterize older adults' food safety knowledge and practices, their impressions of educational materials on listeriosis…

AASA's Message Delivery Man Has Sent His Last

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hunter, Bruce

2012-01-01

On Dec. 1, Nick Penning, a longtime fixture on the advocacy team at the American Association of School Administrators (AASA), retired as the association's senior legislative analyst. In his 26 years with the association, Penning played many roles relating to advocacy, but the one he relished the most was serving as the principal communicator with…

75 FR 3905 - Proposed Collection; Comment Request for an Unmodified OGE Form 450 Executive Branch Confidential...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-01-25

... OFFICE OF GOVERNMENT ETHICS Proposed Collection; Comment Request for an Unmodified OGE Form 450 Executive Branch Confidential Financial Disclosure Report AGENCY: Office of Government Ethics (OGE). ACTION... message). FAX: 202-482-9237. Mail, Hand Delivery/Courier: Office of Government Ethics, Suite 500, 1201 New...

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2012-08-13

... message delivery media to backcountry visitors. USGS social scientists and a NPS bear management biologist will use their combined expertise to conduct a social survey of backcountry visitors to YNP to help... 1995 (PRA), and as a part of our continuing efforts to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, we...

A Model for Integrating Program Development and Evaluation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, J. Lynne; Kiernan, Nancy Ellen

1998-01-01

A communication model consisting of input from target audience, program delivery, and outcomes (receivers' perception of message) was applied to an osteoporosis-prevention program for working mothers ages 21 to 45. Due to poor completion rate on evaluation instruments and failure of participants to learn key concepts, the model was used to improve…

Is there an app for that? Mobile phones and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease.

PubMed

Neubeck, Lis; Cartledge, Susie; Dawkes, Susan; Gallagher, Robyn

2017-09-01

Advances in technology coupled with increased penetration of mobile phones and smart devices are rapidly changing healthcare delivery. Mobile phone applications ('apps'), text messages, and Internet platforms used alone or in combination are now providing interventions targeting people with multiple cardiovascular risk factors. The present article will review the emerging evidence regarding apps and discuss their potential role in providing secondary prevention interventions via mobile phones. Seven recent randomized controlled trials used text messages or apps for six to 12 months, with or without differing combinations of other technology platforms. All studies, involved cardiac and diabetes populations, and demonstrated at least one positive improvement to cardiovascular risk factor profiles. When measured, acceptability of the intervention was high. Mobile apps and technology can deliver positive outcomes in the management of cardiovascular risk factors. However, because of the complexity of combination interventions, it is difficult to determine the 'active' ingredient. A future challenge for researchers and clinicians will be to respond quickly to these rapidly evolving interventions in order to ensure the delivery of effective, evidence-based outcomes.

Cell phone usage among adolescents in Uganda: acceptability for relaying health information

PubMed Central

Mitchell, Kimberly J.; Bull, Sheana; Kiwanuka, Julius; Ybarra, Michele L.

2011-01-01

The increase in cell phone use has manifested a growing interest in using this technology for health promotion. The portability and ‘always on’ features of the cell phone, along with increasing capability for the devices to carry and transfer data suggest that they will reach more people than computers and the Internet in coming years. Self-reported quantitative survey data from 1503 secondary school students in Mbarara, Uganda collected in 2008–2009 suggest that 27% currently have cell phones and about half (51%) of all students and 61% of those who owned a cell phone believe that they would access a text messaging-based HIV prevention program if it were available. Other forms of program delivery modality (e.g. Internet, religious organizations, schools) were preferred to text messaging however. We are in need of effective HIV prevention programs that can reach large audiences at low cost and are culturally relevant for the East African context. Researchers are encouraged to consider translation of effective HIV prevention programs for cell phone delivery in Africa. PMID:21536715

Guaranteeing synchronous message deadlines with the timed token medium access control protocol

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Agrawal, Gopal; Chen, Baio; Zhao, Wei; Davari, Sadegh

1992-01-01

We study the problem of guaranteeing synchronous message deadlines in token ring networks where the timed token medium access control protocol is employed. Synchronous capacity, defined as the maximum time for which a node can transmit its synchronous messages every time it receives the token, is a key parameter in the control of synchronous message transmission. To ensure the transmission of synchronous messages before their deadlines, synchronous capacities must be properly allocated to individual nodes. We address the issue of appropriate allocation of the synchronous capacities. Several synchronous capacity allocation schemes are analyzed in terms of their ability to satisfy deadline constraints of synchronous messages. We show that an inappropriate allocation of the synchronous capacities could cause message deadlines to be missed even if the synchronous traffic is extremely low. We propose a scheme called the normalized proportional allocation scheme which can guarantee the synchronous message deadlines for synchronous traffic of up to 33 percent of available utilization. To date, no other synchronous capacity allocation scheme has been reported to achieve such substantial performance. Another major contribution of this paper is an extension to the previous work on the bounded token rotation time. We prove that the time elapsed between any consecutive visits to a particular node is bounded by upsilon TTRT, where TTRT is the target token rotation time set up at system initialization time. The previous result by Johnson and Sevcik is a special case where upsilon = 2. We use this result in the analysis of various synchronous allocation schemes. It can also be applied in other similar studies.

Verifying Safety Messages Using Relative-Time and Zone Priority in Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks.

PubMed

Banani, Sam; Gordon, Steven; Thiemjarus, Surapa; Kittipiyakul, Somsak

2018-04-13

In high-density road networks, with each vehicle broadcasting multiple messages per second, the arrival rate of safety messages can easily exceed the rate at which digital signatures can be verified. Since not all messages can be verified, algorithms for selecting which messages to verify are required to ensure that each vehicle receives appropriate awareness about neighbouring vehicles. This paper presents a novel scheme to select important safety messages for verification in vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs). The proposed scheme uses location and direction of the sender, as well as proximity and relative-time between vehicles, to reduce the number of irrelevant messages verified (i.e., messages from vehicles that are unlikely to cause an accident). Compared with other existing schemes, the analysis results show that the proposed scheme can verify messages from nearby vehicles with lower inter-message delay and reduced packet loss and thus provides high level of awareness of the nearby vehicles.

Verifying Safety Messages Using Relative-Time and Zone Priority in Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks

PubMed Central

Banani, Sam; Thiemjarus, Surapa; Kittipiyakul, Somsak

2018-01-01

In high-density road networks, with each vehicle broadcasting multiple messages per second, the arrival rate of safety messages can easily exceed the rate at which digital signatures can be verified. Since not all messages can be verified, algorithms for selecting which messages to verify are required to ensure that each vehicle receives appropriate awareness about neighbouring vehicles. This paper presents a novel scheme to select important safety messages for verification in vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs). The proposed scheme uses location and direction of the sender, as well as proximity and relative-time between vehicles, to reduce the number of irrelevant messages verified (i.e., messages from vehicles that are unlikely to cause an accident). Compared with other existing schemes, the analysis results show that the proposed scheme can verify messages from nearby vehicles with lower inter-message delay and reduced packet loss and thus provides high level of awareness of the nearby vehicles. PMID:29652840

Short Text Messages (SMS) as an Additional Tool for Notifying Medical Staff in Case of a Hospital Mass Casualty Incident.

PubMed

Timler, Dariusz; Bogusiak, Katarzyna; Kasielska-Trojan, Anna; Neskoromna-Jędrzejczak, Aneta; Gałązkowski, Robert; Szarpak, Łukasz

2016-02-01

The aim of the study was to verify the effectiveness of short text messages (short message service, or SMS) as an additional notification tool in case of fire or a mass casualty incident in a hospital. A total of 2242 SMS text messages were sent to 59 hospital workers divided into 3 groups (n=21, n=19, n=19). Messages were sent from a Samsung GT-S8500 Wave cell phone and Orange Poland was chosen as the telecommunication provider. During a 3-month trial period, messages were sent between 3:35 PM and midnight with no regular pattern. Employees were asked to respond by telling how much time it would take them to reach the hospital in case of a mass casualty incident. The mean reaction time (SMS reply) was 36.41 minutes. The mean declared time of arrival to the hospital was 100.5 minutes. After excluding 10% of extreme values for declared arrival time, the mean arrival time was estimated as 38.35 minutes. Short text messages (SMS) can be considered an additional tool for notifying medical staff in case of a mass casualty incident.

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

PubMed Central

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 substitution tone for fruit and vegetable messages (52%, 20/39), and no overall message tone preference for junk food and alcohol messages. Substitutions were viewed as helpful and practical. Empathy was liked as it acknowledged previous efforts. Responses to authoritative tone were mixed with some feeling guilt while others found them informative. Acceptability of the solutions depended on the behavioral change and acceptability of the solution proposed. Generation Y tone had some support for junk food and alcohol messages, and if favored, was considered casual, humorous, catchy, and motivational. Conclusions Substitutions and tone of empathy were favored as the most likely execution styles to motivate nutrition behavior change across all participants. There is no “one size fits all” with different tones preferred by individuals for different dietary behaviors. Although text messaging provides instant message delivery direct to the individual, these results demonstrate the complexity of developing motivational nutrition message for young adults. These findings reveal the importance of considering the tone and content and pretesting messages for health promotion text message interventions. PMID:26787115

Time Triggered Ethernet System Testing Means and Method

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smithgall, William Todd (Inventor); Hall, Brendan (Inventor); Varadarajan, Srivatsan (Inventor)

2014-01-01

Methods and apparatus are provided for evaluating the performance of a Time Triggered Ethernet (TTE) system employing Time Triggered (TT) communication. A real TTE system under test (SUT) having real input elements communicating using TT messages with output elements via one or more first TTE switches during a first time interval schedule established for the SUT. A simulation system is also provided having input simulators that communicate using TT messages via one or more second TTE switches with the same output elements during a second time interval schedule established for the simulation system. The first and second time interval schedules are off-set slightly so that messages from the input simulators, when present, arrive at the output elements prior to messages from the analogous real inputs, thereby having priority over messages from the real inputs and causing the system to operate based on the simulated inputs when present.

Promoting Engagement With a Digital Health Intervention (HeLP-Diabetes) Using Email and Text Message Prompts: Mixed-Methods Study

PubMed Central

Modrow, Kerstin; Hamilton, Fiona; Pal, Kingshuk; Ross, Jamie

2017-01-01

Background Engagement with digital health interventions (DHIs) may be regarded as a prerequisite for the intervention to achieve positive health or behavior change outcomes. One method employed to promote engagement is the use of prompts such as emails and text messages. However, little is known about the characteristics of prompts that promote engagement. This study explored the association between the content and delivery mode of prompts and the users’ engagement with HeLP-Diabetes (Healthy Living for People with type 2 Diabetes), a DHI that aimed to promote self-management in adults with type 2 diabetes. Objective The objective of this study was to identify the characteristics of prompts, specifically the content and delivery mode, which were associated with increased engagement. Methods This was a mixed-methods study. Email and text message prompts were sent to the registered users of HeLP-Diabetes. Use of the intervention was recorded and examined to identify which email and text message prompts were associated with subsequent visits to the DHI. Characteristics of prompts that were identified as particularly effective or ineffective were explored through think-aloud interviews with the participants. Results Of a total of 39 email prompts, 49% (19/39) prompts showed a significant association with subsequent visits to the DHI. However, none of the text message prompts were associated with subsequent visits to the DHI. Furthermore, think-aloud interviews were carried out with 6 experienced participants with type 2 diabetes. The findings suggest that these participants preferred email prompts that were clear, relatively short, and empowering; used nondirective advice; included health professional references; were visually appealing; and contained news and updates. Conclusions The findings of this study contribute to the existing evidence supporting the role of email prompts in promoting and maintaining engagement with DHIs. This study described the content of prompts that may be engaging. However, the results should be interpreted with caution, as prompts may be context-specific interventions and the results may not be generalizable across other DHIs or other types of interventions targeting self-management of type 2 diabetes. PMID:28829328

Patient-Physician Web Messaging

PubMed Central

Liederman, Eric M; Lee, Jerry C; Baquero, Victor H; Seites, Paul G

2005-01-01

BACKGROUND Patients want electronic access to providers. Providers fear being overwhelmed by unreimbursed messages. OBJECTIVE Measure the effects of patient-physician web messaging on primary care practices. DESIGN/SETTING Retrospective analysis of 6 case and 9 control internal medicine (IM) and family practice (FP) physicians' message volume, and a survey of 5,971 patients' web messaging with 267 providers and staff in 16 community primary care clinics in the Sacramento, CA region. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS Case telephone volume was 18.2% lower (P =.002) and fell 6.50 times faster than control. Case total telephone plus web message volume was 13.7% lower (P =.025) and fell 5.84 times faster than control. Surveys were responded to by 40.3% (1,743/4,320) of patients and 61.4% (164/267) of providers and staff. Patients were overwhelmingly satisfied and providers and staff were generally satisfied; both found the system easy to use. Patient satisfaction correlated strongly with provider response time (Γ=0.557), and provider/staff satisfaction with computer skills (Γ=0.626) (Goodman-Kruskal Gamma [Γ] measure of ordinal association). CONCLUSIONS Secure web messaging improves on e-mail with encryption, access controls, message templates, customized message and prescription routing, knowledge content, and reimbursement. Further study is needed to determine whether reducing telephone traffic through the use of web messaging decreases provider interruptions and increases clinical efficiency during the workday. Satisfaction with web messaging may increase patient retention. PMID:15693928

Using a domestic and sexual violence prevention advocate to implement a dating violence prevention program with athletes.

PubMed

Jaime, M C D; Stocking, M; Freire, K; Perkinson, L; Ciaravino, S; Miller, E

2016-12-01

'Coaching Boys into Men' is an evidence-based dating violence prevention program for coaches to implement with male athletes. A common adaptation of this program is delivery by domestic violence and sexual violence prevention advocates instead of coaches. We explored how this implementer adaptation may influence athlete uptake of program messages and outcomes. Randomly, one school received the program delivered by an advocate while another school received the program delivered by coaches. Athletes completed baseline and follow-up surveys (n = 148), and a subset who received the advocate-led program participated in focus groups (four groups; n = 26). We compared changes in athlete attitudes and behaviors and conducted thematic analyses with qualitative data. We found no significant differences between athletes who received the program from the advocate versus their coaches. Athletes highlighted the advocate's delivery and role as a non-judgmental adult ally as qualities that influenced their uptake of program messages. The acceptability of the advocate-led program may be related to the implementer type along with specific implementer characteristics and delivery methods. Using advocates together with coaches as implementers could increase the reach of this program. Further study of best practices for Coaching Boys into Men adaptation is needed to guide program dissemination and sustainability. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Timely response to secure messages from primary care patients.

PubMed

Rohrer, James E; North, Frederick; Angstman, Kurt B; Oberhelman, Sara S; Meunier, Matthew R

2013-01-01

To assess delays in response to patient secure e-mail messages in primary care. Secure electronic messages are initiated by primary care patients. Timely response is necessary for patient safety and quality. A database of secure messages. A random sample of 353 secure electronic messages initiated by primary care patients treated in 4 clinics. Message not opened after 12 hours or messages not responded to after 36 hours. A total of 8.5% of electronic messages were not opened within 12 hours, and 17.6% did not receive a response in 36 hours. Clinic location, being a clinic employee, and patient sex were not related to delays. Patients older than 50 years were more likely to receive a delayed response (25.7% delayed, P = .013). The risk of both kinds of delays was higher on weekends (P < .001 for both). The e-mail message system resulted in high rates of delayed response. Delays were concentrated on weekends (Friday-Sunday). Reducing delayed responses may require automatic rerouting of messages to message centers staffed 24-7 or other mechanisms to manage this after-hours work flow.

Acceptability and non-compliance in a family-led weight-management programme for obese Pacific children.

PubMed

Teevale, Tasileta; Taufa, Seini; Percival, Teuila

2015-10-01

To explore factors influencing participation and attrition in a family-led weight-management programme for obese Pacific children. Qualitative study used bilingual in-depth interviews at exit and end of an 8-week weight-management programme. New Zealand. Forty-two parents/primary caregivers of obese children who were randomised in the intervention weight-management programme. Programmatic factors that enhanced retention included: simultaneous delivery to both children and parents as participants; delivery of the programme in small group settings at local community venues; enabling trustworthy and accountable relationships; providing resources for travel to venues and regular telephone/text messaging follow-up calls reinforcing programme goals; and day and time scheduling. Suggested programme improvements included having ethnic-specific Island-language delivery and practical sessions like cooking classes and shopping expeditions at local food stores. The research found that unpredictable external life crises like extended family deaths, a change in job shift, family illnesses (both acute and those requiring chronic management) and long-term family visitations affected participation and momentum. A loss of momentum through managing life crises was often difficult to overcome for participants, leading them to drop out of the weight-management programme. Most drop-out participants preferred to defer their programme participation with hopes of re-committing to future programmes at another time. In order for weight-management programmes to be effective, participants must be able to complete them. Identifying factors that predict participation and attrition may serve as a basis for programme improvement.

Patterns of Recovery from Pain after Cesarean Delivery.

PubMed

Booth, Jessica L; Sharpe, Emily E; Houle, Timothy T; Harris, Lynnette; Curry, Regina S; Aschenbrenner, Carol A; Eisenach, James C

2018-06-13

We know very little about the change in pain in the first 2 months after surgery. To address this gap, we studied 530 women scheduled for elective cesarean delivery who completed daily pain diaries for two months after surgery via text messaging. Over 82% of subjects missed fewer than 10 diary entries and were included in the analysis. Completers were more likely to be Caucasian, non-smokers, and with fewer previous pregnancies than non-completers. Daily worst pain intensity ratings for the previous 24 hours were fit to a log(time) function and allowed to change to a different function up to 3 times according to a Bayesian criterion. All women had at least one change point, occurring 22 ± 9 days postoperatively, and 81% of women had only one change, most commonly to a linear function at 0 pain. Approximately 9% of women were predicted to have pain 2 months after surgery, similar to previous observations. Cluster analysis revealed 6 trajectories of recovery from pain. Predictors of cluster membership included severity of acute pain, perceived stress, surgical factors, and smoking status. These data demonstrate feasibility but considerable challenges to this approach to data acquisition. The form of the initial process of recovery from pain is common to all women, with divergence of patterns at 2-4 weeks after cesarean delivery. The change point model accurately predicts recovery from pain, its parameters can be used to assess predictors of speed of recovery, and it may be useful for future observational, forecasting, and interventional trials.

--No Title--

Science.gov Websites

disseminate its messages? Does PTWC send messages via SMS to mobile phones? Does PTWC issue evacuation orders send messages via SMS to mobile phones? No. At this time, PTWC does not directly send its messages to mobile phones. Some emergency managers in Pacific, Asian, and African countries can receive PTWC messages

The Combined Effects of Response Time and Message Content on Growth Patterns of Discussion Threads in Computer-Supported Collaborative Argumentation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jeong, Allan

2004-01-01

This study examined the effects of response time and message content on the growth patterns of discussion threads in computer-supported collaborative argumentation. Event sequence analysis was used to measure response times between threaded messages and responses containing arguments, evidence, critiques, evaluations, and other comments from…

Rethinking mobile delivery: using Quick Response codes to access information at the point of need.

PubMed

Lombardo, Nancy T; Morrow, Anne; Le Ber, Jeanne

2012-01-01

This article covers the use of Quick Response (QR) codes to provide instant mobile access to information, digital collections, educational offerings, library website, subject guides, text messages, videos, and library personnel. The array of uses and the value of using QR codes to push customized information to patrons are explained. A case is developed for using QR codes for mobile delivery of customized information to patrons. Applications in use at the Libraries of the University of Utah will be reviewed to provide readers with ideas for use in their library. Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

An ecological momentary intervention for smoking cessation: The associations of just-in-time, tailored messages with lapse risk factors.

PubMed

Hébert, Emily T; Stevens, Elise M; Frank, Summer G; Kendzor, Darla E; Wetter, David W; Zvolensky, Michael J; Buckner, Julia D; Businelle, Michael S

2018-03-01

Smartphone apps can provide real-time, tailored interventions for smoking cessation. The current study examines the effectiveness of a smartphone-based smoking cessation application that assessed risk for imminent smoking lapse multiple times per day and provided messages tailored to current smoking lapse risk and specific lapse triggers. Participants (N=59) recruited from a safety-net hospital smoking cessation clinic completed phone-based ecological momentary assessments (EMAs) 5 times/day for 3 consecutive weeks (1week pre-quit, 2weeks post-quit). Risk for smoking lapse was estimated in real-time using a novel weighted lapse risk estimator. With each EMA, participants received messages tailored to current level of risk for imminent smoking lapse and self-reported presence of smoking urge, stress, cigarette availability, and motivation to quit. Generalized linear mixed model analyses determined whether messages tailored to specific lapse risk factors were associated with greater reductions in these triggers than messages not tailored to specific triggers. Overall, messages tailored to smoking urge, cigarette availability, or stress corresponded with greater reductions in those triggers than messages that were not tailored to specific triggers (p's=0.02 to <0.001). Although messages tailored to stress were associated with greater reductions in stress than messages not tailored to stress, the association was non-significant (p=0.892) when only moments of high stress were included in the analysis. Mobile technology can be used to conduct real-time smoking lapse risk assessment and provide tailored treatment content. Findings provide initial evidence that tailored content may impact users' urge to smoke, stress, and cigarette availability. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Lipid and polymeric carrier-mediated nucleic acid delivery

PubMed Central

Zhu, Lin; Mahato, Ram I

2010-01-01

Importance of the field Nucleic acids such as plasmid DNA, antisense oligonucleotide, and RNA interference (RNAi) molecules, have a great potential to be used as therapeutics for the treatment of various genetic and acquired diseases. To design a successful nucleic acid delivery system, the pharmacological effect of nucleic acids, the physiological condition of the subjects or sites, and the physicochemical properties of nucleic acid and carriers have to be thoroughly examined. Areas covered in this review The commonly used lipids, polymers and corresponding delivery systems are reviewed in terms of their characteristics, applications, advantages and limitations. What the reader will gain This article aims to provide an overview of biological barriers and strategies to overcome these barriers by properly designing effective synthetic carriers for nucleic acid delivery. Take home message A thorough understanding of biological barriers and the structure–activity relationship of lipid and polymeric carriers is the key for effective nucleic acid therapy. PMID:20836625

Determining a bisection bandwidth for a multi-node data communications network

DOEpatents

Faraj, Ahmad A.

2010-01-26

Methods, systems, and products are disclosed for determining a bisection bandwidth for a multi-node data communications network that include: partitioning nodes in the network into a first sub-network and a second sub-network in dependence upon a topology of the network; sending, by each node in the first sub-network to a destination node in the second sub-network, a first message having a predetermined message size; receiving, by each node in the first sub-network from a source node in the second sub-network, a second message; measuring, by each node in the first sub-network, the elapsed communications time between the sending of the first message and the receiving of the second message; selecting the longest elapsed communications time; and calculating the bisection bandwidth for the network in dependence upon the number of the nodes in the first sub-network, the predetermined message size of the first test message, and the longest elapsed communications time.

On Reducing Delay in Mesh-Based P2P Streaming: A Mesh-Push Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Zheng; Xue, Kaiping; Hong, Peilin

The peer-assisted streaming paradigm has been widely employed to distribute live video data on the internet recently. In general, the mesh-based pull approach is more robust and efficient than the tree-based push approach. However, pull protocol brings about longer streaming delay, which is caused by the handshaking process of advertising buffer map message, sending request message and scheduling of the data block. In this paper, we propose a new approach, mesh-push, to address this issue. Different from the traditional pull approach, mesh-push implements block scheduling algorithm at sender side, where the block transmission is initiated by the sender rather than by the receiver. We first formulate the optimal upload bandwidth utilization problem, then present the mesh-push approach, in which a token protocol is designed to avoid block redundancy; a min-cost flow model is employed to derive the optimal scheduling for the push peer; and a push peer selection algorithm is introduced to reduce control overhead. Finally, we evaluate mesh-push through simulation, the results of which show mesh-push outperforms the pull scheduling in streaming delay, and achieves comparable delivery ratio at the same time.

Facilitating pediatric patient-provider communications using wireless technology in children and adolescents with sickle cell disease.

PubMed

Jacob, Eufemia; Pavlish, Carol; Duran, Joana; Stinson, Jennifer; Lewis, Mary Ann; Zeltzer, Lonnie

2013-01-01

Use of wireless devices has the potential to transform delivery of primary care services for persons with sickle cell disease (SCD). The study examined text message communications between patients and an advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) and the different primary care activities that emerged with use of wireless technology. Patients (N = 37; mean age 13.9 ± 1.8 years; 45.9% male and 54.1% female) engaged in intermittent text conversations with the APRN as part of the Wireless Pain Intervention Program. Content analyses were used to analyze the content of text message exchanges between patients and the APRN. The primary care needs that emerged were related to pain and symptom management and sickle cell crisis prevention. Two primary care categories (collaborating and coaching), four primary care subcategories (screening, referring, informing, and supporting), and 16 primary care activities were evident in text conversations. The use of wireless technology may facilitate screening, prompt management of pain and symptoms, prevention or reduction of SCD-related complications, more efficient referral for treatments, timely patient education, and psychosocial support in children and adolescents with SCD. Copyright © 2013 National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Next Frontier in Communication and the ECLIPPSE Study: Bridging the Linguistic Divide in Secure Messaging.

PubMed

Schillinger, Dean; McNamara, Danielle; Crossley, Scott; Lyles, Courtney; Moffet, Howard H; Sarkar, Urmimala; Duran, Nicholas; Allen, Jill; Liu, Jennifer; Oryn, Danielle; Ratanawongsa, Neda; Karter, Andrew J

2017-01-01

Health systems are heavily promoting patient portals. However, limited health literacy (HL) can restrict online communication via secure messaging (SM) because patients' literacy skills must be sufficient to convey and comprehend content while clinicians must encourage and elicit communication from patients and match patients' literacy level. This paper describes the Employing Computational Linguistics to Improve Patient-Provider Secure Email (ECLIPPSE) study, an interdisciplinary effort bringing together scientists in communication, computational linguistics, and health services to employ computational linguistic methods to (1) create a novel Linguistic Complexity Profile (LCP) to characterize communications of patients and clinicians and demonstrate its validity and (2) examine whether providers accommodate communication needs of patients with limited HL by tailoring their SM responses. We will study >5 million SMs generated by >150,000 ethnically diverse type 2 diabetes patients and >9000 clinicians from two settings: an integrated delivery system and a public (safety net) system. Finally, we will then create an LCP-based automated aid that delivers real-time feedback to clinicians to reduce the linguistic complexity of their SMs. This research will support health systems' journeys to become health literate healthcare organizations and reduce HL-related disparities in diabetes care.

Design Report for the Synchronized Position, Velocity, and Time Code Generator

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-08-01

Stream Specification 4 2.3 Data Packet Format Specification 4 2.3.1 Individual Message Definition 5 3. MATLAB Parsing Software 6 4. Conclusions and...packet format structure ..................................................................4 Table 2 PPS time message definition ...5 Table 3 Position message definition ...................................................................5

Twitter weather warnings: Communicating risk in 140 characters-the impact of imperative and declarative message style on weather risk perception and behavioral intentions.

PubMed

Rainear, Adam M; Lachlan, Kenneth A; Spence, Patric R

Understanding how individuals utilize risk messages is important for protecting lives and gaining compliance toward safe behaviors. Recent advances in technology afford users with timeliness when needing to acquire information, and research investigating imperative and declarative message styles suggests utilizing both strategies is most effective. Similarly, the element of time can play a role when an individual engages in certain behaviors. This study employed an experimental design to better understand how imperative and declarative tweets, and time can contribute to risk perceptions and behavioral intentions. Results indicate the most negative affect is experienced after receiving an imperative-only tweet in a short-lead time condition, whereas a tweet utilizing both message styles in a long-lead time condition induces the most fear. Future research should investigate stylistic message elements on new media platforms to better understand how messages can be effectively sent and received by the intended audience within character-limited platforms.

Reaching Low-Income Mothers to Improve Family Fruit and Vegetable Intake: Food Hero Social Marketing Campaign—Research Steps, Development and Testing

PubMed Central

Tobey, Lauren N.; Koenig, Harold F.; Brown, Nicole A.; Manore, Melinda M.

2016-01-01

The objective of this study was to create/test a social marketing campaign to increase fruit/vegetable (FV) intake within Oregon Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) eligible families. Focus groups (n = 2) and pre/post campaign phone surveys (n = 2082) were conducted in intervention counties (IC) and one control county. Participants were female (86%–100%) with 1–2 children at home. Mean FV intake/without juice was 3.1 servings/day; >50% preferred the Internet for delivery of healthy eating information. Participants reported time/financial burdens, low household FV variety and desirability of frozen/canned FV, and acceptance of positive messages. A Food Hero (FH) campaign was created/delivered daily August–October 2009 to mothers through multiple channels (e.g., grocery stores, online, educators). Results showed that the IC had better FH name recall (12%) and interpretation of intended messages (60%) vs. control (3%, 23%, respectively). Compared to controls, the IC were less likely to report healthy food preparation as time consuming or a FV rich diet expensive, and it was easier to get their family to eat fruit. Results did not vary based on county/household characteristics. The FH campaign increased FH awareness and positive FV beliefs. A longer campaign with FV assessments will increase understanding of the target audience, and allow for campaign refinement. PMID:27649233

Reaching Low-Income Mothers to Improve Family Fruit and Vegetable Intake: Food Hero Social Marketing Campaign-Research Steps, Development and Testing.

PubMed

Tobey, Lauren N; Koenig, Harold F; Brown, Nicole A; Manore, Melinda M

2016-09-13

The objective of this study was to create/test a social marketing campaign to increase fruit/vegetable (FV) intake within Oregon Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) eligible families. Focus groups (n = 2) and pre/post campaign phone surveys (n = 2082) were conducted in intervention counties (IC) and one control county. Participants were female (86%-100%) with 1-2 children at home. Mean FV intake/without juice was 3.1 servings/day; >50% preferred the Internet for delivery of healthy eating information. Participants reported time/financial burdens, low household FV variety and desirability of frozen/canned FV, and acceptance of positive messages. A Food Hero (FH) campaign was created/delivered daily August-October 2009 to mothers through multiple channels (e.g., grocery stores, online, educators). Results showed that the IC had better FH name recall (12%) and interpretation of intended messages (60%) vs. control (3%, 23%, respectively). Compared to controls, the IC were less likely to report healthy food preparation as time consuming or a FV rich diet expensive, and it was easier to get their family to eat fruit. Results did not vary based on county/household characteristics. The FH campaign increased FH awareness and positive FV beliefs. A longer campaign with FV assessments will increase understanding of the target audience, and allow for campaign refinement.

Twitter earthquake detection: Earthquake monitoring in a social world

USGS Publications Warehouse

Earle, Paul S.; Bowden, Daniel C.; Guy, Michelle R.

2011-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is investigating how the social networking site Twitter, a popular service for sending and receiving short, public text messages, can augment USGS earthquake response products and the delivery of hazard information. Rapid detection and qualitative assessment of shaking events are possible because people begin sending public Twitter messages (tweets) with in tens of seconds after feeling shaking. Here we present and evaluate an earthquake detection procedure that relies solely on Twitter data. A tweet-frequency time series constructed from tweets containing the word "earthquake" clearly shows large peaks correlated with the origin times of widely felt events. To identify possible earthquakes, we use a short-term-average, long-term-average algorithm. When tuned to a moderate sensitivity, the detector finds 48 globally-distributed earthquakes with only two false triggers in five months of data. The number of detections is small compared to the 5,175 earthquakes in the USGS global earthquake catalog for the same five-month time period, and no accurate location or magnitude can be assigned based on tweet data alone. However, Twitter earthquake detections are not without merit. The detections are generally caused by widely felt events that are of more immediate interest than those with no human impact. The detections are also fast; about 75% occur within two minutes of the origin time. This is considerably faster than seismographic detections in poorly instrumented regions of the world. The tweets triggering the detections also provided very short first-impression narratives from people who experienced the shaking.

Forecasting of Information Security Related Incidents: Amount of Spam Messages as a Case Study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Romanov, Anton; Okamoto, Eiji

With the increasing demand for services provided by communication networks, quality and reliability of such services as well as confidentiality of data transfer are becoming ones of the highest concerns. At the same time, because of growing hacker's activities, quality of provided content and reliability of its continuous delivery strongly depend on integrity of data transmission and availability of communication infrastructure, thus on information security of a given IT landscape. But, the amount of resources allocated to provide information security (like security staff, technical countermeasures and etc.) must be reasonable from the economic point of view. This fact, in turn, leads to the need to employ a forecasting technique in order to make planning of IT budget and short-term planning of potential bottlenecks. In this paper we present an approach to make such a forecasting for a wide class of information security related incidents (ISRI) — unambiguously detectable ISRI. This approach is based on different auto regression models which are widely used in financial time series analysis but can not be directly applied to ISRI time series due to specifics related to information security. We investigate and address this specifics by proposing rules (special conditions) of collection and storage of ISRI time series, adherence to which improves forecasting in this subject field. We present an application of our approach to one type of unambiguously detectable ISRI — amount of spam messages which, if not mitigated properly, could create additional load on communication infrastructure and consume significant amounts of network capacity. Finally we evaluate our approach by simulation and actual measurement.

Reducing Concurrent Sexual Partnerships Among Blacks in the Rural Southeastern United States: Development of Narrative Messages for a Radio Campaign.

PubMed

Cates, Joan R; Francis, Diane B; Ramirez, Catalina; Brown, Jane D; Schoenbach, Victor J; Fortune, Thierry; Powell Hammond, Wizdom; Adimora, Adaora A

2015-01-01

In the United States, heterosexual transmission of HIV infection is dramatically higher among Blacks than among Whites. Overlapping (concurrent) sexual partnerships promote HIV transmission. The authors describe their process for developing a radio campaign (Escape the Web) to raise awareness among 18-34-year-old Black adults of the effect of concurrency on HIV transmission in the rural South. Radio is a powerful channel for the delivery of narrative-style health messages. Through six focus groups (n = 51) and 42 intercept interviews, the authors explored attitudes toward concurrency and solicited feedback on sample messages. Men were advised to (a) end concurrent partnerships and not to begin new ones; (b) use condoms consistently with all partners; and (c) tell others about the risks of concurrency and benefits of ending concurrent partnerships. The narrative portrayed risky behaviors that trigger initiation of casual partnerships. Women were advised to (a) end partnerships in which they are not their partner's only partner; (b) use condoms consistently with all partners; and (c) tell others about the risks of concurrency and benefits of ending concurrent partnerships. Messages for all advised better modeling for children.

Upward communication about cancer screening: adolescent daughter to mother.

PubMed

Mosavel, Maghboeba; Ports, Katie A

2015-01-01

Substantial breast and cervical cancer disparities exist in the United States, particularly among African American women with low socioeconomic status. There is considerable potential for discussions about cancer prevention between mothers and daughters. However, upward communication, from child to parent, remains a relatively novel research area, and it remains unclear how receptive mothers would be to messages from their daughter about cancer, a topic that may be considered culturally inappropriate for daughters to initiate. In this study, the authors simulated cancer message delivery to daughters and then conducted direct observation of daughters as they recalled and shared the message with their mother or female elder. The authors found that daughters were able to successfully recall and deliver a cancer appeal to their mother and mothers were generally receptive to this message. Not only did mothers listen to their daughters' appeals, but also daughters' knowledge of cancer was considerably improved by the opportunity to educate her female elder. Moreover, daughters' nonverbal communication suggested a surprisingly relaxed demeanor. The potential of young people to have an effect on the screening behavior of their female elders is very promising in terms of reducing cancer disparities.

Effects of Disfluency in Online Interpretation of Deception.

PubMed

Loy, Jia E; Rohde, Hannah; Corley, Martin

2017-05-01

A speaker's manner of delivery of an utterance can affect a listener's pragmatic interpretation of the message. Disfluencies (such as filled pauses) influence a listener's off-line assessment of whether the speaker is truthful or deceptive. Do listeners also form this assessment during the moment-by-moment processing of the linguistic message? Here we present two experiments that examined listeners' judgments of whether a speaker was indicating the true location of the prize in a game during fluent and disfluent utterances. Participants' eye and mouse movements were biased toward the location named by the speaker during fluent utterances, whereas the opposite bias was observed during disfluent utterances. This difference emerged rapidly after the onset of the critical noun. Participants were similarly sensitive to disfluencies at the start of the utterance (Experiment 1) and in the middle (Experiment 2). Our findings support recent research showing that listeners integrate pragmatic information alongside semantic content during the earliest moments of language processing. Unlike prior work which has focused on pragmatic effects in the interpretation of the literal message, here we highlight disfluency's role in guiding a listener to an alternative non-literal message. Copyright © 2016 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Social Interface Model: Theorizing Ecological Post-Delivery Processes for Intervention Effects.

PubMed

Pettigrew, Jonathan; Segrott, Jeremy; Ray, Colter D; Littlecott, Hannah

2018-01-03

Successful prevention programs depend on a complex interplay among aspects of the intervention, the participant, the specific intervention setting, and the broader set of contexts with which a participant interacts. There is a need to theorize what happens as participants bring intervention ideas and behaviors into other life-contexts, and theory has not yet specified how social interactions about interventions may influence outcomes. To address this gap, we use an ecological perspective to develop the social interface model. This paper presents the key components of the model and its potential to aid the design and implementation of prevention interventions. The model is predicated on the idea that intervention message effectiveness depends not only on message aspects but also on the participants' adoption and adaptation of the message vis-à-vis their social ecology. The model depicts processes by which intervention messages are received and enacted by participants through social processes occurring within and between relevant microsystems. Mesosystem interfaces (negligible interface, transference, co-dependence, and interdependence) can facilitate or detract from intervention effects. The social interface model advances prevention science by theorizing that practitioners can create better quality interventions by planning for what occurs after interventions are delivered.

Reducing Concurrent Sexual Partnerships Among Blacks in the Rural Southeastern United States: Development of Narrative Messages for a Radio Campaign

PubMed Central

CATES, JOAN R.; FRANCIS, DIANE B.; RAMIREZ, CATALINA; BROWN, JANE D.; SCHOENBACH, VICTOR J.; FORTUNE, THIERRY; HAMMOND, WIZDOM POWELL; ADIMORA, ADAORA A.

2015-01-01

In the United States, heterosexual transmission of HIV infection is dramatically higher among Blacks than among Whites. Overlapping (concurrent) sexual partnerships promote HIV transmission. The authors describe their process for developing a radio campaign (Escape the Web) to raise awareness among 18–34-year-old Black adults of the effect of concurrency on HIV transmission in the rural South. Radio is a powerful channel for the delivery of narrative-style health messages. Through six focus groups (n = 51) and 42 intercept interviews, the authors explored attitudes toward concurrency and solicited feedback on sample messages. Men were advised to (a) end concurrent partnerships and not to begin new ones; (b) use condoms consistently with all partners; and (c) tell others about the risks of concurrency and benefits of ending concurrent partnerships. The narrative portrayed risky behaviors that trigger initiation of casual partnerships. Women were advised to (a) end partnerships in which they are not their partner’s only partner; (b) use condoms consistently with all partners; and (c) tell others about the risks of concurrency and benefits of ending concurrent partnerships. Messages for all advised better modeling for children. PMID:26134387

A systematic review and meta-analysis of interventions for weight management using text messaging.

PubMed

Siopis, G; Chey, T; Allman-Farinelli, M

2015-02-01

Obesity prevalence continues to increase worldwide, with significant associated chronic disease and health cost implications. Among more recent innovations in health service provision is the use of text messaging for health behaviour change interventions including weight management. This review investigates the efficacy of weight management programmes incorporating text messaging. Medical and scientific databases were searched from January 1993 to October 2013. Eligibility criteria included randomised controlled trials (RCTs), pseudoRCTs and before and after studies of weight management, among healthy children and adults, that used text messaging and included a nutrition component. Data extraction and quality assessment followed guidelines from PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses) and the Evidence Analysis Manual of the American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. From 512 manuscripts retrieved, 14 met the inclusion criteria (five manuscripts in children and nine in adults). Duration of interventions ranged from 1 to 24 months. Frequency of text messaging was from daily to fortnightly. Six studies in adults were included in a meta-analysis with mean body weight change as the primary outcome. The weighted mean change in body weight in intervention participants was -2.56 kg (95% confidence interval = -3.46 to -1.65) and in controls -0.37 kg (95% confidence interval = -1.22 to 0.48). The small body of evidence indicates that text messaging interventions can promote weight loss. However, lack of long-term results indicate that further efficacy studies are required. Future investigations should elucidate the determinants, such as intervention duration, text message frequency and level of interactivity that maximise the success and cost effectiveness of the delivery medium. © 2014 The British Dietetic Association Ltd.

Cognitive Processes in the Production of Multiple-Goal Messages: Evidence from the Temporal Characteristics of Speech.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Greene, John O.; And Others

1993-01-01

Finds that the increased cognitive load accompanying multiple-goal messages arises from demands on time and processing capacity associated with assembling incompatible message features and that multiple-goal messages are characterized by heavier demand on processing capacity associated with maintaining more complex message-relevant specifications…

Patient-generated secure messages and eVisits on a patient portal: are patients at risk?

PubMed Central

North, Frederick; Crane, Sarah J; Stroebel, Robert J; Cha, Stephen S; Edell, Eric S; Tulledge-Scheitel, Sidna M

2013-01-01

Background Patient portals are becoming increasingly common, but the safety of patient messages and eVisits has not been well studied. Unlike patient-to-nurse telephonic communication, patient messages and eVisits involve an asynchronous process that could be hazardous if patients were using it for time-sensitive symptoms such as chest pain or dyspnea. Methods We retrospectively analyzed 7322 messages (6430 secure messages and 892 eVisits). To assess the overall risk associated with the messages, we looked for deaths within 30 days of the message and hospitalizations and emergency department (ED) visits within 7 days following the message. We also examined message content for symptoms of chest pain, breathing concerns, and other symptoms associated with high risk. Results Two deaths occurred within 30 days of a patient-generated message, but were not related to the message. There were six hospitalizations related to a previous secure message (0.09% of secure messages), and two hospitalizations related to a previous eVisit (0.22% of eVisits). High-risk symptoms were present in 3.5% of messages but a subject line search to identify these high-risk messages had a sensitivity of only 15% and a positive predictive value of 29%. Conclusions Patients use portal messages 3.5% of the time for potentially high-risk symptoms of chest pain, breathing concerns, abdominal pain, palpitations, lightheadedness, and vomiting. Death, hospitalization, or an ED visit was an infrequent outcome following a secure message or eVisit. Screening the message subject line for high-risk symptoms was not successful in identifying high-risk message content. PMID:23703826

Electrostatic Surface Modifications to Improve Gene Delivery

PubMed Central

Shmueli, Ron B.; Anderson, Daniel G.

2010-01-01

Importance of the field Gene therapy has the potential to treat a wide variety of diseases including genetic diseases and cancer. Areas covered in this review This review introduces biomaterials used for gene delivery and then focuses on the use of electrostatic surface modifications to improve gene delivery materials. These modifications have been used to stabilize therapeutics in vivo, add cell-specific targeting ligands, and promote controlled release. Coatings of nanoparticles and microparticles as well as non-particulate surface coatings are covered in this review. Electrostatic principles are crucial for the development of multilayer delivery structures fabricated by the layer-by-layer method. What the reader will gain The reader will gain knowledge about the composition of biomaterials used for surface modifications and how these coatings and multilayers can be utilized to improve spatial control and efficiency of delivery. Examples are shown for the delivery of nucleic acids, including DNA and siRNA, to in vitro and in vivo systems. Take home message The versatile and powerful approach of electrostatic coatings and multilayers will lead to the development of enhanced gene therapies. PMID:20201712

An Evaluation of a Classroom Science Intervention Designed to Extend the Bicycle Helmet Safety Message

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McPherson, Moira N.; Marsh, Pamela K.; Montelpare, William J.; Van Barneveld, Christina; Zerpa, Carlos E.

2009-01-01

Background: Wizards of Motion is a program of curriculum delivery through which experts in Kinesiology introduce grade 7 students to applications of physics for human movement. The program is linked closely to Ministry of Education curriculum requirements but includes human movement applications and data analysis experiences. Purpose: The purpose…

47 CFR 11.61 - Tests of EAS procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... receipt, as specified in § 11.35(a) and 11.54(a)(3). (iii) The EAS weekly test is not required during the... message when transmitting the required weekly test. (3) National tests. (i) All EAS Participants shall... Management Agency (FEMA). Such tests will consist of the delivery by FEMA to PEP/NP stations of a coded EAS...

47 CFR 11.61 - Tests of EAS procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... receipt, as specified in § 11.35(a) and 11.54(a)(3). (iii) The EAS weekly test is not required during the... message when transmitting the required weekly test. (3) National tests. (i) All EAS Participants shall... Management Agency (FEMA). Such tests will consist of the delivery by FEMA to PEP/NP stations of a coded EAS...

47 CFR 11.61 - Tests of EAS procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... receipt, as specified in § 11.35(a) and 11.54(a)(3). (iii) The EAS weekly test is not required during the... message when transmitting the required weekly test. (3) National tests. (i) All EAS Participants shall... Management Agency (FEMA). Such tests will consist of the delivery by FEMA to PEP/NP stations of a coded EAS...

Delivery arrangements for health systems in low-income countries: an overview of systematic reviews.

PubMed

Ciapponi, Agustín; Lewin, Simon; Herrera, Cristian A; Opiyo, Newton; Pantoja, Tomas; Paulsen, Elizabeth; Rada, Gabriel; Wiysonge, Charles S; Bastías, Gabriel; Dudley, Lilian; Flottorp, Signe; Gagnon, Marie-Pierre; Garcia Marti, Sebastian; Glenton, Claire; Okwundu, Charles I; Peñaloza, Blanca; Suleman, Fatima; Oxman, Andrew D

2017-09-13

Delivery arrangements include changes in who receives care and when, who provides care, the working conditions of those who provide care, coordination of care amongst different providers, where care is provided, the use of information and communication technology to deliver care, and quality and safety systems. How services are delivered can have impacts on the effectiveness, efficiency and equity of health systems. This broad overview of the findings of systematic reviews can help policymakers and other stakeholders identify strategies for addressing problems and improve the delivery of services. To provide an overview of the available evidence from up-to-date systematic reviews about the effects of delivery arrangements for health systems in low-income countries. Secondary objectives include identifying needs and priorities for future evaluations and systematic reviews on delivery arrangements and informing refinements of the framework for delivery arrangements outlined in the review. We searched Health Systems Evidence in November 2010 and PDQ-Evidence up to 17 December 2016 for systematic reviews. We did not apply any date, language or publication status limitations in the searches. We included well-conducted systematic reviews of studies that assessed the effects of delivery arrangements on patient outcomes (health and health behaviours), the quality or utilisation of healthcare services, resource use, healthcare provider outcomes (such as sick leave), or social outcomes (such as poverty or employment) and that were published after April 2005. We excluded reviews with limitations important enough to compromise the reliability of the findings. Two overview authors independently screened reviews, extracted data, and assessed the certainty of evidence using GRADE. We prepared SUPPORT Summaries for eligible reviews, including key messages, 'Summary of findings' tables (using GRADE to assess the certainty of the evidence), and assessments of the relevance of findings to low-income countries. We identified 7272 systematic reviews and included 51 of them in this overview. We judged 6 of the 51 reviews to have important methodological limitations and the other 45 to have only minor limitations. We grouped delivery arrangements into eight categories. Some reviews provided more than one comparison and were in more than one category. Across these categories, the following intervention were effective; that is, they have desirable effects on at least one outcome with moderate- or high-certainty evidence and no moderate- or high-certainty evidence of undesirable effects. Who receives care and when: queuing strategies and antenatal care to groups of mothers. Who provides care: lay health workers for caring for people with hypertension, lay health workers to deliver care for mothers and children or infectious diseases, lay health workers to deliver community-based neonatal care packages, midlevel health professionals for abortion care, social support to pregnant women at risk, midwife-led care for childbearing women, non-specialist providers in mental health and neurology, and physician-nurse substitution. Coordination of care: hospital clinical pathways, case management for people living with HIV and AIDS, interactive communication between primary care doctors and specialists, hospital discharge planning, adding a service to an existing service and integrating delivery models, referral from primary to secondary care, physician-led versus nurse-led triage in emergency departments, and team midwifery. Where care is provided: high-volume institutions, home-based care (with or without multidisciplinary team) for people living with HIV and AIDS, home-based management of malaria, home care for children with acute physical conditions, community-based interventions for childhood diarrhoea and pneumonia, out-of-facility HIV and reproductive health services for youth, and decentralised HIV care. Information and communication technology: mobile phone messaging for patients with long-term illnesses, mobile phone messaging reminders for attendance at healthcare appointments, mobile phone messaging to promote adherence to antiretroviral therapy, women carrying their own case notes in pregnancy, interventions to improve childhood vaccination. Quality and safety systems: decision support with clinical information systems for people living with HIV/AIDS. Complex interventions (cutting across delivery categories and other health system arrangements): emergency obstetric referral interventions. A wide range of strategies have been evaluated for improving delivery arrangements in low-income countries, using sound systematic review methods in both Cochrane and non-Cochrane reviews. These reviews have assessed a range of outcomes. Most of the available evidence focuses on who provides care, where care is provided and coordination of care. For all the main categories of delivery arrangements, we identified gaps in primary research related to uncertainty about the applicability of the evidence to low-income countries, low- or very low-certainty evidence or a lack of studies.

Randomised controlled trial of a text messaging intervention for reducing processed meat consumption: The mediating roles of anticipated regret and intention.

PubMed

Carfora, V; Caso, D; Conner, M

2017-10-01

The present study aimed to extend the literature on text messaging interventions involved in promoting healthy eating behaviours. The theoretical framework was the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). A randomized controlled trial was used to test the impact of daily text messages compared to no message (groups) for reducing processed meat consumption (PMC) over a 2 week period, testing the sequential mediation role of anticipated regret and intention on the relationship between groups and PMC reduction. PMC and TPB variables were assessed both at Time 1 and Time 2. Participants were Italian undergraduates (at Time 1 N = 124) randomly allocated to control and message condition groups. Undergraduates in the message condition group received a daily SMS, which focused on anticipated regret and urged them to self-monitor PMC. Participants in the control group did not receive any message. Those who completed all measures at both time points were included in the analyses (N = 112). Findings showed that a daily messaging intervention, controlling for participants' past behaviour, reduced self-reported consumption of PMC. Mediation analyses indicated partial serial mediation via anticipated regret and intentions. The current study provided support for the efficacy of a daily messaging intervention targeting anticipated regret and encouraging self-monitoring in decreasing PMC. Outcomes showed the important mediating role of anticipated regret and intentions for reducing PMC. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Delivery arrangements for health systems in low-income countries: an overview of systematic reviews

PubMed Central

Ciapponi, Agustín; Lewin, Simon; Herrera, Cristian A; Opiyo, Newton; Pantoja, Tomas; Paulsen, Elizabeth; Rada, Gabriel; Wiysonge, Charles S; Bastías, Gabriel; Dudley, Lilian; Flottorp, Signe; Gagnon, Marie-Pierre; Garcia Marti, Sebastian; Glenton, Claire; Okwundu, Charles I; Peñaloza, Blanca; Suleman, Fatima; Oxman, Andrew D

2017-01-01

Background Delivery arrangements include changes in who receives care and when, who provides care, the working conditions of those who provide care, coordination of care amongst different providers, where care is provided, the use of information and communication technology to deliver care, and quality and safety systems. How services are delivered can have impacts on the effectiveness, efficiency and equity of health systems. This broad overview of the findings of systematic reviews can help policymakers and other stakeholders identify strategies for addressing problems and improve the delivery of services. Objectives To provide an overview of the available evidence from up-to-date systematic reviews about the effects of delivery arrangements for health systems in low-income countries. Secondary objectives include identifying needs and priorities for future evaluations and systematic reviews on delivery arrangements and informing refinements of the framework for delivery arrangements outlined in the review. Methods We searched Health Systems Evidence in November 2010 and PDQ-Evidence up to 17 December 2016 for systematic reviews. We did not apply any date, language or publication status limitations in the searches. We included well-conducted systematic reviews of studies that assessed the effects of delivery arrangements on patient outcomes (health and health behaviours), the quality or utilisation of healthcare services, resource use, healthcare provider outcomes (such as sick leave), or social outcomes (such as poverty or employment) and that were published after April 2005. We excluded reviews with limitations important enough to compromise the reliability of the findings. Two overview authors independently screened reviews, extracted data, and assessed the certainty of evidence using GRADE. We prepared SUPPORT Summaries for eligible reviews, including key messages, 'Summary of findings' tables (using GRADE to assess the certainty of the evidence), and assessments of the relevance of findings to low-income countries. Main results We identified 7272 systematic reviews and included 51 of them in this overview. We judged 6 of the 51 reviews to have important methodological limitations and the other 45 to have only minor limitations. We grouped delivery arrangements into eight categories. Some reviews provided more than one comparison and were in more than one category. Across these categories, the following intervention were effective; that is, they have desirable effects on at least one outcome with moderate- or high-certainty evidence and no moderate- or high-certainty evidence of undesirable effects. Who receives care and when: queuing strategies and antenatal care to groups of mothers. Who provides care: lay health workers for caring for people with hypertension, lay health workers to deliver care for mothers and children or infectious diseases, lay health workers to deliver community-based neonatal care packages, midlevel health professionals for abortion care, social support to pregnant women at risk, midwife-led care for childbearing women, non-specialist providers in mental health and neurology, and physician-nurse substitution. Coordination of care: hospital clinical pathways, case management for people living with HIV and AIDS, interactive communication between primary care doctors and specialists, hospital discharge planning, adding a service to an existing service and integrating delivery models, referral from primary to secondary care, physician-led versus nurse-led triage in emergency departments, and team midwifery. Where care is provided: high-volume institutions, home-based care (with or without multidisciplinary team) for people living with HIV and AIDS, home-based management of malaria, home care for children with acute physical conditions, community-based interventions for childhood diarrhoea and pneumonia, out-of-facility HIV and reproductive health services for youth, and decentralised HIV care. Information and communication technology: mobile phone messaging for patients with long-term illnesses, mobile phone messaging reminders for attendance at healthcare appointments, mobile phone messaging to promote adherence to antiretroviral therapy, women carrying their own case notes in pregnancy, interventions to improve childhood vaccination. Quality and safety systems: decision support with clinical information systems for people living with HIV/AIDS. Complex interventions (cutting across delivery categories and other health system arrangements): emergency obstetric referral interventions. Authors' conclusions A wide range of strategies have been evaluated for improving delivery arrangements in low-income countries, using sound systematic review methods in both Cochrane and non-Cochrane reviews. These reviews have assessed a range of outcomes. Most of the available evidence focuses on who provides care, where care is provided and coordination of care. For all the main categories of delivery arrangements, we identified gaps in primary research related to uncertainty about the applicability of the evidence to low-income countries, low- or very low-certainty evidence or a lack of studies. Effects of delivery arrangements for health systems in low-income countries What is the aim of this overview? The aim of this Cochrane Overview is to provide a broad summary of what is known about the effects of delivery arrangements for health systems in low-income countries. This overview is based on 51 systematic reviews. These systematic reviews searched for studies that evaluated different types of delivery arrangements. The reviews included a total of 850 studies. This overview is one of a series of four Cochrane Overviews that evaluate health system arrangements. What was studied in the overview? Delivery arrangements include changes in who receives care and when, who provides care, the working conditions of those who provide care, coordination of care amongst different health care providers, where care is provided, the use of information and communication technology to deliver care, and quality and safety systems. How services are delivered can have impacts on the effectiveness, efficiency and equity of health systems. This overview can help policymakers and other stakeholders to identify evidence-informed strategies to improve the delivery of services. What are the main results of the overview? When focusing only on evidence assessed as high to moderate certainty, the overview points to a number of delivery arrangements that had at least one desirable outcome and no evidence of any undesirable outcomes. These include the following: Who receives care and when - Queuing strategies - Group antenatal care Who provides care – role expansion or task shifting - Lay or community health workers supporting the care of people with hypertension - Community-based neonatal packages that include additional training of outreach workers - Lay health workers to deliver care for mothers and children or for infectious diseases - Mid-level, non-physician providers for abortion care - Health workers providing social support during at-risk pregnancies - Midwife-led care for childbearing women and their infants - Non-specialist health workers or other professionals with health roles to help people with mental, neurological and substance-abuse disorders - Nurses substituting for physicians in providing care Coordination of care - Structured multidisciplinary care plans (care pathways) used by health care providers in hospitals to detail essential steps in the care of people with a specific clinical problem - Interactive communication between collaborating primary care physicians and specialist physicians in outpatient care - Planning to facilitate patients’ discharge from hospital to home - Adding a new health service to an existing service and integrating services in health care delivery - Integrating vaccination with other healthcare services - Using physicians rather than nurses to lead triage in emergency departments - Groups or teams of midwives providing care for a group of women during pregnancy and childbirth and after childbirth Where care is provided – site of service delivery - Clinics or hospitals that manage a high volume of people living with HIV and AIDS rather than smaller volumes - Intensive home-based care for people living with HIV and AIDS - Home-based management of malaria in children - Providing care closer to home for children with long-term health conditions - Community-based interventions using lay health workers for childhood diarrhoea and pneumonia - Youth HIV and reproductive health services provided outside of health facilities - Decentralising care for initiation and maintenance of HIV and AIDS medicine treatment to peripheral health centres or lower levels of healthcare Information and communication technology - Mobile phone messaging for people with long-term illnesses - Mobile phone messaging reminders for attendance at healthcare appointments - Mobile phone messaging to promote adherence to antiretroviral therapy - Women carrying their own case notes in pregnancy - Information and communication interventions to improve childhood vaccination coverage Quality and safety systems - Establishing clinical information systems to organize patient data for people living with HIV and AIDS Packages that include multiple interventions - Interventions to improve referral for emergency care during pregnancy and childbirth How up to date is this overview? The overview authors searched for systematic reviews that had been published up to 17 December 2016. PMID:28901005

Interactive weekly mobile phone text messaging plus motivational interviewing in promotion of breastfeeding among women living with HIV in South Africa: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Zunza, Moleen; Cotton, Mark F; Mbuagbaw, Lawrence; Lester, Richard; Thabane, Lehana

2017-07-17

South Africa recently phased out access to free formula milk in the public sector in support of breastfeeding for women living with HIV. Few women living with HIV in South Africa choose breastfeeding and among those who do, many stop breastfeeding early. We sought to explore the feasibility of using mobile phone text messaging coupled with motivational interviewing to enhance adherence to breastfeeding practices. A randomized, parallel group, single-center pilot trial. Electronic sequence generation and random allocation will be done centrally. Women of low socioeconomic status, from Cape Town, South Africa will be randomly assigned within 24 h of giving birth at a primary healthcare clinic to a structured weekly text message plus motivational interviewing and usual standard of care, using a permutation of different block sizes. Criteria for feasibility success will include: five participants recruited per week (over 12 weeks), about 75% of all eligible participants consent for study participation, complete evaluation of outcomes in at least 70% of all recruited participants, breastfeeding adherence rates of at least 70% in the intervention group, six months after delivery. Participants will be evaluated soon after giving birth and post-delivery at weeks 2, 6, 10, and 24. Primary analysis will follow the "intention-to-treat" principle. Sub-group analysis will be used to assess sub-group effects. This pilot trial will evaluate the feasibility of conducting a larger trial on communication and support approaches to improve adherence to breastfeeding by HIV-infected women. Text messaging and motivational interviewing are simple interventions which may allow participants to access personalized adherence advice and support. ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02949713 . Registered on 26 October 2016; Pan African Clinical Trial Registry PACTR201611001855404 . Registered on 8 November 2016.

A multimedia mobile phone-based youth smoking cessation intervention: findings from content development and piloting studies.

PubMed

Whittaker, Robyn; Maddison, Ralph; McRobbie, Hayden; Bullen, Chris; Denny, Simon; Dorey, Enid; Ellis-Pegler, Mary; van Rooyen, Jaco; Rodgers, Anthony

2008-11-25

While most young people who smoke want to quit, few access cessation support services. Mobile phone-based cessation programs are ideal for young people: mobile phones are the most common means of peer communication, and messages can be delivered in an anonymous manner, anywhere, anytime. Following the success of our text messaging smoking cessation program, we developed an innovative multimedia mobile phone smoking cessation intervention. The aim of the study was to develop and pilot test a youth-oriented multimedia smoking cessation intervention delivered solely by mobile phone. Development included creating content and building the technology platform. Content development was overseen by an expert group who advised on youth development principles, observational learning (from social cognitive theory), effective smoking cessation interventions, and social marketing. Young people participated in three content development phases (consultation via focus groups and an online survey, content pre-testing, and selection of role models). Video and text messages were then developed, incorporating the findings from this research. Information technology systems were established to support the delivery of the multimedia messages by mobile phone. A pilot study using an abbreviated 4-week program of video and text content tested the reliability of the systems and the acceptability of the intervention. Approximately 180 young people participated in the consultation phase. There was a high priority placed on music for relaxation (75%) and an interest in interacting with others in the program (40% would read messages, 36% would read a blog). Findings from the pre-testing phase (n = 41) included the importance of selecting "real" and "honest" role models with believable stories, and an interest in animations (37%). Of the 15 participants who took part in the pilot study, 13 (87%) were available for follow-up interviews at 4 weeks: 12 participants liked the program or liked it most of the time and found the role model to be believable; 7 liked the role model video messages (5 were unsure); 8 used the extra assistance for cravings; and 9 were happy with two messages per day. Nine participants (60%) stopped smoking during the program. Some technical challenges were encountered during the pilot study. A multimedia mobile phone smoking cessation program is technically feasible, and the content developed is appropriate for this medium and is acceptable to our target population. These results have informed the design of a 6-month intervention currently being evaluated for its effectiveness in increasing smoking cessation rates in young people.

A Multimedia Mobile Phone–Based Youth Smoking Cessation Intervention: Findings From Content Development and Piloting Studies

PubMed Central

Maddison, Ralph; McRobbie, Hayden; Bullen, Chris; Denny, Simon; Dorey, Enid; Ellis-Pegler, Mary; van Rooyen, Jaco; Rodgers, Anthony

2008-01-01

Background While most young people who smoke want to quit, few access cessation support services. Mobile phone–based cessation programs are ideal for young people: mobile phones are the most common means of peer communication, and messages can be delivered in an anonymous manner, anywhere, anytime. Following the success of our text messaging smoking cessation program, we developed an innovative multimedia mobile phone smoking cessation intervention. Objective The aim of the study was to develop and pilot test a youth-oriented multimedia smoking cessation intervention delivered solely by mobile phone. Methods Development included creating content and building the technology platform. Content development was overseen by an expert group who advised on youth development principles, observational learning (from social cognitive theory), effective smoking cessation interventions, and social marketing. Young people participated in three content development phases (consultation via focus groups and an online survey, content pre-testing, and selection of role models). Video and text messages were then developed, incorporating the findings from this research. Information technology systems were established to support the delivery of the multimedia messages by mobile phone. A pilot study using an abbreviated 4-week program of video and text content tested the reliability of the systems and the acceptability of the intervention. Results Approximately 180 young people participated in the consultation phase. There was a high priority placed on music for relaxation (75%) and an interest in interacting with others in the program (40% would read messages, 36% would read a blog). Findings from the pre-testing phase (n = 41) included the importance of selecting “real” and “honest” role models with believable stories, and an interest in animations (37%). Of the 15 participants who took part in the pilot study, 13 (87%) were available for follow-up interviews at 4 weeks: 12 participants liked the program or liked it most of the time and found the role model to be believable; 7 liked the role model video messages (5 were unsure); 8 used the extra assistance for cravings; and 9 were happy with two messages per day. Nine participants (60%) stopped smoking during the program. Some technical challenges were encountered during the pilot study. Conclusions A multimedia mobile phone smoking cessation program is technically feasible, and the content developed is appropriate for this medium and is acceptable to our target population. These results have informed the design of a 6-month intervention currently being evaluated for its effectiveness in increasing smoking cessation rates in young people. PMID:19033148

Mother-Daughter Dyad Recruitment and Cancer Intervention Challenges in an African American Sample

PubMed Central

Mosavel, Maghboeba; Ports, Katie; Leighton-Herrmann, Ellyn

2014-01-01

Developing an effective youth-based health messaging intervention for African American women, who remain disparately impacted by cancer, presents unique challenges. This paper reports on the challenges with recruiting familial dyads from predominantly low-income, African American neighborhoods, as well as the challenges associated with designing and implementing an upward-directed cancer screening intervention. We developed and pilot tested an educational workshop that provided adolescents with cancer screening information to share with their mother or female relative. Data from follow-up interviews and focus groups, as well as observation records regarding implementation obstacles highlight important lessons learned. The use of familial dyads as well as issues of access posed challenges for recruitment and follow-up. Workshop-related challenges stemmed from the approach, content and length. Finally, personal and environmental factors presented barriers to adolescent message delivery and adult follow-through. By identifying these challenges, we hope to influence and enable the future development of effective adolescent-initiated health messaging interventions. PMID:25489496

Enhancing presentation skills for the advanced practice nurse: strategies for success.

PubMed

Vollman, Kathleen M

2005-01-01

Professional speaking is a component of the professional practice role of the advanced practice nurse (APN). The skills to communicate effectively to one person or an audience of 100 provide the APN with the essential tools for implementing change, collaborating effectively, presenting information at professional meetings, or communicating the impact of clinical outcomes in the boardroom. Public speaking skills, a professional image, and improved communication can facilitate advancement along any career ladder. The greater your fear, the more self-confidence you will gain by stepping up to a challenge and conquering it. This article describes strategies for organizing and presenting your message in a clear and concise format. Techniques to manage the anxiety produced when attempting to articulate your thoughts is essential for effective communication. Skills for enhancing the delivery of your message through effective body language, professional image, voice modulation, and use of audiovisual aids are addressed. Creative techniques for fielding questions are key in promoting a dynamic closure and provide consistent reinforcement of the key message content.

Use of One Time Pad Algorithm for Bit Plane Security Improvement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suhardi; Suwilo, Saib; Budhiarti Nababan, Erna

2017-12-01

BPCS (Bit-Plane Complexity Segmentation) which is one of the steganography techniques that utilizes the human vision characteristics that cannot see the change in binary patterns that occur in the image. This technique performs message insertion by making a switch to a high-complexity bit-plane or noise-like regions with bits of secret messages. Bit messages that were previously stored precisely result the message extraction process to be done easily by rearranging a set of previously stored characters in noise-like region in the image. Therefore the secret message becomes easily known by others. In this research, the process of replacing bit plane with message bits is modified by utilizing One Time Pad cryptography technique which aims to increase security in bit plane. In the tests performed, the combination of One Time Pad cryptographic algorithm to the steganography technique of BPCS works well in the insertion of messages into the vessel image, although in insertion into low-dimensional images is poor. The comparison of the original image with the stegoimage looks identical and produces a good quality image with a mean value of PSNR above 30db when using a largedimensional image as the cover messages.

A Formative Evaluation of a Social Media Campaign to Reduce Adolescent Dating Violence

PubMed Central

Lambert, Danielle N; Bishop, Lauren E; Guetig, Stephanie

2014-01-01

Background The Emory Jane Fonda Center implemented the Start Strong Atlanta social marketing campaign, “Keep It Strong ATL”, in 2007 to promote the development of healthy adolescent relationships and to foster the prevention of adolescent dating abuse among 11-14 year olds. Objective A formative evaluation was conducted to understand whether messages directed at the target audience were relevant to the program’s relationship promotion and violence prevention goals, and whether the “Web 2.0” social media channels of communication (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, Tumblr, and Pinterest) were reaching the intended audience. Methods Mixed methodologies included qualitative interviews and a key informant focus group, a cross-sectional survey, and web analytics. Qualitative data were analyzed using constant comparative methodology informed by grounded theory. Descriptive statistics were generated from survey data, and web analytics provided user information and traffic patterns. Results Results indicated that the Keep It Strong ATL social marketing campaign was a valuable community resource that had potential for broader scope and greater reach. The evaluation team learned the importance of reaching adolescents through Web 2.0 platforms, and the need for message dissemination via peers. Survey results indicated that Facebook (ranked 6.5 out of 8) was the highest rated social media outlet overall, and exhibited greatest appeal and most frequent visits, yet analytics revealed that only 3.5% of “likes” were from the target audience. These results indicate that the social media campaign is reaching predominantly women (76.5% of viewership) who are outside of the target age range of 11-14 years. Conclusions While the social media campaign was successfully launched, the findings indicate the need for a more focused selection of communication channels, timing of media updates to maximize visibility, balancing message tone and delivery, and incorporating differentiated messaging for the target audiences. Collaboration with parents and community partners is also emphasized in order to expand the campaign’s reach and create more channels to disseminate relationship promotion and dating violence prevention messaging to the intended audience. PMID:25405494

Can a text message a week improve breastfeeding?

PubMed

Gallegos, Danielle; Russell-Bennett, Rebekah; Previte, Josephine; Parkinson, Joy

2014-11-06

Breastfeeding is recognised as the optimal method for feeding infants with health gains made by reducing infectious diseases in infancy; and chronic diseases, including obesity, in childhood, adolescence and adulthood. Despite this, exclusivity and duration in developed countries remains resistant to improvement. The objectives of this research were to test if an automated mobile phone text messaging intervention, delivering one text message a week, could increase "any" breastfeeding rates and improve breastfeeding self-efficacy and coping. Women were eligible to participate if they were: over eighteen years; had an infant less than three months old; were currently breastfeeding; no diagnosed mental illness; and used a mobile phone. Women in the intervention group received MumBubConnect, a text messaging service with automated responses delivered once a week for 8 weeks. Women in the comparison group received their usual care and were sampled two years after the intervention group. Data collection included online surveys at two time points, week zero and week nine, to measure breastfeeding exclusivity and duration, coping, emotions, accountability and self-efficacy. A range of statistical analyses were used to test for differences between groups. Hierarchical regression was used to investigate change in breastfeeding outcome, between groups, adjusting for co-variates. The intervention group had 120 participants at commencement and 114 at completion, the comparison group had 114 participants at commencement and 86 at completion. MumBubConnect had a positive impact on the primary outcome of breastfeeding behaviors with women receiving the intervention more likely to continue exclusive breastfeeding; with a 6% decrease in exclusive breastfeeding in the intervention group, compared to a 14% decrease in the comparison group (p < 0.001). This remained significant after controlling for infant age, mother's income, education and delivery type (p = 0.04). Women in the intervention group demonstrated active coping and were less likely to display emotions-focussed coping (p < .001). There was no discernible statistical effect on self-efficacy or accountability. A fully automated text messaging services appears to improve exclusive breastfeeding duration. The service provides a well-accepted, personalised support service that empowers women to actively resolve breastfeeding issues. Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry: ACTRN12614001091695.

Six-month follow-up and participant use and satisfaction of an electronic mail intervention promoting physical activity and nutrition.

PubMed

Plotnikoff, Ronald C; Pickering, Michael A; McCargar, Linda J; Loucaides, Constantinos A; Hugo, Kylie

2010-01-01

To evaluate the effects of a 12-week e-mail intervention promoting physical activity and nutrition, and to describe participant use and satisfaction feedback. A longitudinal, randomized trial. Five large workplaces in Alberta, Canada. One thousand forty-three participants completed all three assessments, and 1263 participants in the experimental group provided use and satisfaction feedback after receiving the 12-week intervention. Paired physical activity and nutrition messages were e-mailed weekly to the experimental group. The control group received all messages in bulk (i.e., within a single e-mail message) at the conclusion of the intervention. Self-report measures of knowledge, cognitions, and behaviors related to physical activity and nutrition were used. Satisfaction with e-mail messages was assessed at Time 2. Planned contrasts compared the experimental group measures at Time 3 with those reported at Time 2 and with control group measures reported at Time 3. Control group measures at Time 3 were also compared with control group measures at Time 2. The small intervention effects previously reported between Time 1 and Time 2 were maintained at Time 3. Providing the e-mail messages in bulk also had a significant positive effect on many of the physical activity and nutrition variables. E-mail offers a promising medium for promoting health-enhancing knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. Additional research is needed to determine optimal message dose and content.

Optimizing Tailored Communications for Health Risk Assessment: A Randomized Factorial Experiment of the Effects of Expectancy Priming, Autonomy Support, and Exemplification

PubMed Central

Ribisl, Kurt M; Mayer, Deborah K; Tate, Deborah F

2018-01-01

Background Health risk assessments with tailored feedback plus health education have been shown to be effective for promoting health behavior change. However, there is limited evidence to guide the development and delivery of online automated tailored feedback. Objective The goal of this study was to optimize tailored feedback messages for an online health risk assessment to promote enhanced user engagement, self-efficacy, and behavioral intentions for engaging in healthy behaviors. We examined the effects of three theory-based message factors used in developing tailored feedback messages on levels of engagement, self-efficacy, and behavioral intentions. Methods We conducted a randomized factorial experiment to test three different components of tailored feedback messages: tailored expectancy priming, autonomy support, and use of an exemplar. Individuals (N=1945) were recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk and randomly assigned to one of eight different experimental conditions within one of four behavioral assessment and feedback modules (tobacco use, physical activity [PA], eating habits, and weight). Participants reported self-efficacy and behavioral intentions pre- and postcompletion of an online health behavior assessment with tailored feedback. Engagement and message perceptions were assessed at follow-up. Results For the tobacco module, there was a significant main effect of the exemplar factor (P=.04); participants who received exemplar messages (mean 3.31, SE 0.060) rated their self-efficacy to quit tobacco higher than those who did not receive exemplar messages (mean 3.14, SE 0.057). There was a three-way interaction between the effect of message conditions on self-efficacy to quit tobacco (P=.02), such that messages with tailored priming and an exemplar had the greatest impact on self-efficacy to quit tobacco. Across PA, eating habits, and weight modules, there was a three-way interaction among conditions on self-efficacy (P=.048). The highest self-efficacy scores were reported among those who were in the standard priming condition and received both autonomy supportive and exemplar messages. In the PA module, autonomy supportive messages had a stronger effect on self-efficacy for PA in the standard priming condition. For PA, eating habits, and weight-related behaviors, the main effect of exemplar messages on behavioral intentions was in the hypothesized direction but did not reach statistical significance (P=.08). When comparing the main effects of different message conditions, there were no differences in engagement and message perceptions. Conclusions Findings suggest that tailored feedback messages that use exemplars helped improve self-efficacy related to tobacco cessation, PA, eating habits, and weight control. Combining standard priming and autonomy supportive message components shows potential for optimizing tailored feedback for tobacco cessation and PA behaviors. PMID:29496652

Amaro-autonomous real-time detection of moving maritime objects: introducing a flight experiment for an on-board ship detection system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schwenk, Kurt; Willburger, Katharina; Pless, Sebastian

2017-10-01

Motivated by politics and economy, the monitoring of the world wide ship traffic is a field of high topicality. To detect illegal activities like piracy, illegal fishery, ocean dumping and refugee transportation is of great value. The analysis of satellite images on the ground delivers a great contribution to situation awareness. However, for many applications the up-to-dateness of the data is crucial. With ground based processing, the time between image acquisition and delivery of the data to the end user is in the range of several hours. The highest influence to the duration of ground based processing is the delay caused by the transmission of the large amount of image data from the satellite to the processing centre on the ground. One expensive solution to this issue is the usage of data relay satellites systems like EDRS. Another approach is to analyse the image data directly on-board of the satellite. Since the product data (e.g. ship position, heading, velocity, characteristics) is very small compared to the input image data, real-time connections provided by satellite telecommunication services like Iridium or Orbcomm can be used to send small packets of information directly to the end user without significant delay. The AMARO (Autonomous real-time detection of moving maritime objects) project at DLR is a feasibility study of an on-board ship detection system involving a real-time low bandwidth communication. The operation of a prototype on-board ship detection system will be demonstrated on an airborne platform. In this article, the scope, aim and design of a flight experiment for an on-board ship detection system scheduled for mid of 2018 is presented. First, the scope and the constraints of the experiment are explained in detail. The main goal is to demonstrate the operability of an automatic ship detection system on board of an airplane. For data acquisition the optical high resolution DLR MACS-MARE camera (VIS/NIR) is used. The system will be able to send product data, like position, size and a small image of the ship directly to the user's smart-phone by email. The time between the acquisition of the image data and the delivery of the product data to the end-user is aimed to be less than three minutes. For communication, the SMS-like Iridium Short Burst Data (SBD) Service was chosen, providing a message size of around 300 Bytes. Under optimal sending/receiving conditions, messages can be transmitted bidirectional every 20 seconds. Due to the very small data bandwidth, not all product data may be transmittable at once, for instance, when flying over busy ships traffic zones. Therefore the system offers two services: a query and a push service. With the query service the end user can explicitly request data of a defined location and fixed time period by posting queries in an SQL-like language. With the push service, events can be predefined and messages are received automatically, if and when the event occurs. Finally, the hardware set-up, details of the ship detection algorithms and the current status of the experiment is presented.

Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial Evaluating Mobile Text Messaging to Promote Retention and Adherence to Antiretroviral Therapy for People Living With HIV in Burkina Faso.

PubMed

Wagner, Natascha; Ouedraogo, Denis; Artavia-Mora, Luis; Bedi, Arjun; Thiombiano, Boundia Alexandre

2016-08-17

Retention in care and adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) among people living with human immunodeficiency virus (PLHIV) is a critical challenge in many African countries including Burkina Faso. Delivering text messaging (short message service, SMS) interventions through mobile phones may help facilitate health service delivery and improve patient health. Despite this potential, no evaluations have been delivered for national scale settings to demonstrate the impact of mobile health (mHealth) for PLHIV. This study aims to test the impact of SMS text messaging reminders for PLHIV in Burkina Faso, who are under ART. The evaluation identifies whether patients who receive SMS text messages are more likely to (1) retain in care (measured as a dichotomous variable), (2) adhere to antiretroviral regimens (measured as the number of doses missed in the past 7 days), and (3) experience slower disease progression (measured with T-lymphocytes cells). The second objective is to assess its effects on the frequency of health center visits, physical and psychosocial health, nutrition and whether the type of message (text vs image) and frequency (weekly vs semiweekly) have differential impacts including the possibility of message fatigue over time. This 24-month, wide-scale intervention implements a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate the impact of four variants of a mHealth intervention versus a control group. Our sample comprises adult patients (>15 years of age) undergoing antiretroviral therapy with access to mobile phone services. Multivariate regression analysis will be used to analyze the effect of the intervention on the study population. Data collection is done at baseline and three follow-up waves 6, 12, and 24 months after the intervention starts. The targeted 3800 patients were recruited between February 2015 and May 2015. But political uncertainty delayed the launch of the intervention until October 2015. Data analysis has not yet started. The first follow-up data collection started in April 2016. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first research that explores the effects of mobile message reminders using a wide-spread sample across an entire nation over a 2-year horizon, especially in a Francophone African country. We hypothesize that the interventions have a positive impact on retention in care and adherence to ART schemes and that a more sluggish disease progression will be observed in the short run. However, these benefits may fade out in the long run. The study expects to advance the research on how long mHealth interventions remain effective and when fatigue sets in the context of wide-scale interventions. This information will be useful in designing future wide-scale mHealth interventions in developing countries.

Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial Evaluating Mobile Text Messaging to Promote Retention and Adherence to Antiretroviral Therapy for People Living With HIV in Burkina Faso

PubMed Central

Ouedraogo, Denis; Artavia-Mora, Luis; Bedi, Arjun; Thiombiano, Boundia Alexandre

2016-01-01

Background Retention in care and adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) among people living with human immunodeficiency virus (PLHIV) is a critical challenge in many African countries including Burkina Faso. Delivering text messaging (short message service, SMS) interventions through mobile phones may help facilitate health service delivery and improve patient health. Despite this potential, no evaluations have been delivered for national scale settings to demonstrate the impact of mobile health (mHealth) for PLHIV. Objectives This study aims to test the impact of SMS text messaging reminders for PLHIV in Burkina Faso, who are under ART. The evaluation identifies whether patients who receive SMS text messages are more likely to (1) retain in care (measured as a dichotomous variable), (2) adhere to antiretroviral regimens (measured as the number of doses missed in the past 7 days), and (3) experience slower disease progression (measured with T-lymphocytes cells). The second objective is to assess its effects on the frequency of health center visits, physical and psychosocial health, nutrition and whether the type of message (text vs image) and frequency (weekly vs semiweekly) have differential impacts including the possibility of message fatigue over time. Methods This 24-month, wide-scale intervention implements a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate the impact of four variants of a mHealth intervention versus a control group. Our sample comprises adult patients (>15 years of age) undergoing antiretroviral therapy with access to mobile phone services. Multivariate regression analysis will be used to analyze the effect of the intervention on the study population. Data collection is done at baseline and three follow-up waves 6, 12, and 24 months after the intervention starts. Results The targeted 3800 patients were recruited between February 2015 and May 2015. But political uncertainty delayed the launch of the intervention until October 2015. Data analysis has not yet started. The first follow-up data collection started in April 2016. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first research that explores the effects of mobile message reminders using a wide-spread sample across an entire nation over a 2-year horizon, especially in a Francophone African country. Conclusions We hypothesize that the interventions have a positive impact on retention in care and adherence to ART schemes and that a more sluggish disease progression will be observed in the short run. However, these benefits may fade out in the long run. The study expects to advance the research on how long mHealth interventions remain effective and when fatigue sets in the context of wide-scale interventions. This information will be useful in designing future wide-scale mHealth interventions in developing countries. PMID:27535717

Internode data communications in a parallel computer

DOEpatents

Archer, Charles J.; Blocksome, Michael A.; Miller, Douglas R.; Parker, Jeffrey J.; Ratterman, Joseph D.; Smith, Brian E.

2013-09-03

Internode data communications in a parallel computer that includes compute nodes that each include main memory and a messaging unit, the messaging unit including computer memory and coupling compute nodes for data communications, in which, for each compute node at compute node boot time: a messaging unit allocates, in the messaging unit's computer memory, a predefined number of message buffers, each message buffer associated with a process to be initialized on the compute node; receives, prior to initialization of a particular process on the compute node, a data communications message intended for the particular process; and stores the data communications message in the message buffer associated with the particular process. Upon initialization of the particular process, the process establishes a messaging buffer in main memory of the compute node and copies the data communications message from the message buffer of the messaging unit into the message buffer of main memory.

Internode data communications in a parallel computer

DOEpatents

Archer, Charles J; Blocksome, Michael A; Miller, Douglas R; Parker, Jeffrey J; Ratterman, Joseph D; Smith, Brian E

2014-02-11

Internode data communications in a parallel computer that includes compute nodes that each include main memory and a messaging unit, the messaging unit including computer memory and coupling compute nodes for data communications, in which, for each compute node at compute node boot time: a messaging unit allocates, in the messaging unit's computer memory, a predefined number of message buffers, each message buffer associated with a process to be initialized on the compute node; receives, prior to initialization of a particular process on the compute node, a data communications message intended for the particular process; and stores the data communications message in the message buffer associated with the particular process. Upon initialization of the particular process, the process establishes a messaging buffer in main memory of the compute node and copies the data communications message from the message buffer of the messaging unit into the message buffer of main memory.

High ANC coverage and low skilled attendance in a rural Tanzanian district: a case for implementing a birth plan intervention.

PubMed

Magoma, Moke; Requejo, Jennifer; Campbell, Oona M R; Cousens, Simon; Filippi, Veronique

2010-03-19

In Tanzania, more than 90% of all pregnant women attend antenatal care at least once and approximately 62% four times or more, yet less than five in ten receive skilled delivery care at available health units. We conducted a qualitative study in Ngorongoro district, Northern Tanzania, in order to gain an understanding of the health systems and socio-cultural factors underlying this divergent pattern of high use of antenatal services and low use of skilled delivery care. Specifically, the study examined beliefs and behaviors related to antenatal, labor, delivery and postnatal care among the Maasai and Watemi ethnic groups. The perspectives of health care providers and traditional birth attendants on childbirth and the factors determining where women deliver were also investigated. Twelve key informant interviews and fifteen focus group discussions were held with Maasai and Watemi women, traditional birth attendants, health care providers, and community members. Principles of the grounded theory approach were used to elicit and assess the various perspectives of each group of participants interviewed. The Maasai and Watemi women's preferences for a home birth and lack of planning for delivery are reinforced by the failure of health care providers to consistently communicate the importance of skilled delivery and immediate post-partum care for all women during routine antenatal visits. Husbands typically serve as gatekeepers of women's reproductive health in the two groups - including decisions about where they will deliver- yet they are rarely encouraged to attend antenatal sessions. While husbands are encouraged to participate in programs to prevent maternal-to-child transmission of HIV, messages about the importance of skilled delivery care for all women are not given emphasis. Increasing coverage of skilled delivery care and achieving the full implementation of Tanzania's Focused Antenatal Care Package in Ngorongoro depends upon improved training and monitoring of health care providers, and greater family participation in antenatal care visits.

High ANC coverage and low skilled attendance in a rural Tanzanian district: a case for implementing a birth plan intervention

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background In Tanzania, more than 90% of all pregnant women attend antenatal care at least once and approximately 62% four times or more, yet less than five in ten receive skilled delivery care at available health units. We conducted a qualitative study in Ngorongoro district, Northern Tanzania, in order to gain an understanding of the health systems and socio-cultural factors underlying this divergent pattern of high use of antenatal services and low use of skilled delivery care. Specifically, the study examined beliefs and behaviors related to antenatal, labor, delivery and postnatal care among the Maasai and Watemi ethnic groups. The perspectives of health care providers and traditional birth attendants on childbirth and the factors determining where women deliver were also investigated. Methods Twelve key informant interviews and fifteen focus group discussions were held with Maasai and Watemi women, traditional birth attendants, health care providers, and community members. Principles of the grounded theory approach were used to elicit and assess the various perspectives of each group of participants interviewed. Results The Maasai and Watemi women's preferences for a home birth and lack of planning for delivery are reinforced by the failure of health care providers to consistently communicate the importance of skilled delivery and immediate post-partum care for all women during routine antenatal visits. Husbands typically serve as gatekeepers of women's reproductive health in the two groups - including decisions about where they will deliver- yet they are rarely encouraged to attend antenatal sessions. While husbands are encouraged to participate in programs to prevent maternal-to-child transmission of HIV, messages about the importance of skilled delivery care for all women are not given emphasis. Conclusions Increasing coverage of skilled delivery care and achieving the full implementation of Tanzania's Focused Antenatal Care Package in Ngorongoro depends upon improved training and monitoring of health care providers, and greater family participation in antenatal care visits. PMID:20302625

Experimental Evidence of the Knowledge Gap: Message Arousal, Motivation, and Time Delay

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grabe, Maria Elizabeth; Yegiyan, Narine; Kamhawi, Rasha

2008-01-01

This study experimentally tested the knowledge gap from an information processing perspective. Specifically, knowledge acquisition was investigated under conditions of medium and low news message arousal, with time delay. Results show the persistence of a knowledge gap, particularly for low arousing messages. In fact, at low levels of message…

The influence of ATC message length and timing on pilot communication

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Morrow, Daniel; Rodvold, Michelle

1993-01-01

Pilot-controller communication is critical to safe and efficient flight. It is often a challenging component of piloting, which is reflected in the number of incidents and accidents involving miscommunication. Our previous field study identified communication problems that disrupt routine communication between pilots and controllers. The present part-task simulation study followed up the field results with a more controlled investigation of communication problems. Pilots flew a simulation in which they were frequently vectored by Air Traffic Control (ATC), requiring intensive communication with the controller. While flying, pilots also performed a secondary visual monitoring task. We examined the influence of message length (one message with four commands vs. two messages with two commands each) and noncommunication workload on communication accuracy and length. Longer ATC messages appeared to overload pilot working memory, resulting in more incorrect or partial readbacks, as well as more requests to repeat the message. The timing between the two short messages also influenced communication. The second message interfered with memory for or response to the first short message when it was delivered too soon after the first message. Performing the secondary monitoring task did not influence communication. Instead, communication reduced monitoring accuracy.

User Perceptions of ¡Protéjase!: An Intervention Designed to Increase Protective Equipment Use Among Mexican Immigrant and Mexican American Farmworkers

PubMed Central

Montiel-Ishino, Francisco A; Smyth, Joshua M; Murphy, Dennis J; Miranda, Patricia Y; Davis, Lisa A

2016-01-01

Background Farmworkers’ exposures to pesticides are reduced when they wear personal protective equipment (PPE), and mobile health (mHealth) platforms can potentially deliver information to farmworkers to help promote PPE use. However, little is known about the feasibility of using mHealth platforms to promote farmworkers’ use of PPE. Objective The objective of the study was to describe the development and feasibility-testing of Protect Yourself! (¡Protéjase!), an intervention designed to increase PPE use. As the vast majority of farmworkers in the United States are from Mexico, we examined the intervention in a primarily Mexican-origin farmworker population. Methods ¡Protéjase was developed in several steps. First, we performed ethnographic observations to understand what prevents PPE use. Next, we developed program components that met the challenges uncovered in the ethnographic observations, seeking direct feedback from farmworkers on each component. Feasibility was assessed using surveys and focus groups. Material was provided in Spanish or English at the preference of the participant. Finally, we pilot tested each component of the intervention, including: (1) PPE that was provided to each worker for their personal use during the intervention trial, and (2) delivery of an application-based tool that promoted the use of PPE through daily individualized messaging. Results 55 farmworkers enrolled in the study, but only 41 of 55 (75%) completed the entire pilot intervention trial. Results focus on the evaluation of the intervention, and include only those who completed the entire trial. Among farmworkers who completed the entire intervention trial, all but two farmworkers were born in Mexico and were Spanish speaking. Still, all study participants self-identified as Mexican or Mexican-American. When asked what changes were needed in the intervention’s messaging or delivery to increase user satisfaction, 22 out of 41 participants (54%) felt that no changes were needed. However, 16 of 41 participants (39%) suggested small changes to messaging (eg, refer to long pants as pants only) to improve their understanding of the messages. Finally, a small number (3 of 41 participants, 7%) felt that messages were difficult to read, primarily due to low literacy. Conclusions The ¡Protéjase! mHealth program demonstrated very good feasibility, satisfaction, and acceptance; potential improvements (eg, small modifications in messaging to increase farmworkers’ use) were noted. Overall, the PPE provided to workers as well as the mHealth platform were both perceived as useful for promoting PPE use. PMID:27066727

Developing a theory driven text messaging intervention for addiction care with user driven content.

PubMed

Muench, Frederick; Weiss, Rebecca A; Kuerbis, Alexis; Morgenstern, Jon

2013-03-01

The number of text messaging interventions designed to initiate and support behavioral health changes have been steadily increasing over the past 5 years. Messaging interventions can be tailored and adapted to an individual's needs in their natural environment-fostering just-in-time therapies and making them a logical intervention for addiction continuing care. This study assessed the acceptability of using text messaging for substance abuse continuing care and the intervention preferences of individuals in substance abuse treatment in order to develop an interactive mobile text messaging intervention. Fifty individuals enrolled in intensive outpatient substance abuse treatment completed an assessment battery relating to preferred logistics of mobile interventions, behavior change strategies, and types of messages they thought would be most helpful to them at different time points. Results indicated that 98% participants were potentially interested in using text messaging as a continuing care strategy. Participants wrote different types of messages that they perceived might be most helpful, based on various hypothetical situations often encountered during the recovery process. Although individuals tended to prefer benefit driven over consequence driven messages, differences in the perceived benefits of change among individuals predicted message preference. Implications for the development of mobile messaging interventions for the addictions are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved).

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.

PubMed

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, P<.001) if the nurses agreed or strongly agreed that e-messaging 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, P<.001) that they would consider e-messaging 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). This study has shown that technical (ease of use and system functionality), organizational (training), and individual (full-time equivalent percentage) elements had an impact on home health care nurses' assessments of using e-messaging to communicate 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.

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

PubMed Central

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, P<.001) if the nurses agreed or strongly agreed that e-messaging 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, P<.001) that they would consider e-messaging 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-time equivalent percentage) elements had an impact on home health care nurses’ assessments of using e-messaging to communicate 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. PMID:25691234

47 CFR 10.420 - Message elements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 1 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Message elements. 10.420 Section 10.420... Requirements § 10.420 Message elements. A CMAS Alert Message processed by a Participating CMS Provider shall include five mandatory CAP elements—Event Type; Area Affected; Recommended Action; Expiration Time (with...

47 CFR 10.420 - Message elements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 1 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Message elements. 10.420 Section 10.420... Requirements § 10.420 Message elements. A CMAS Alert Message processed by a Participating CMS Provider shall include five mandatory CAP elements—Event Type; Area Affected; Recommended Action; Expiration Time (with...

Biomedicine of Enkephalin-Derived Glycopeptide Analgesics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Polt, Robin

The incorporation of glycosides into peptide neurotransmitters imparts drug-like character to the neurotransmitter "message" via "membrane hopping". The importance of the glycopeptide-membrane interaction is emphasized, and the biousian theory is briefly explained. Application of this approach to enkephalins, the endogenous opioid peptides, leads to potent analgesic compounds capable of systemic delivery. The clinical applications of these compounds are advocated by the author.

The Medium Is the Message: Online Technology and Knowledge Construction in Adult Graduate Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kilgore, Deborah

2004-01-01

Teaching online entails delivering a course fully or in part via the Internet and, in particular, the World Wide Web. Online course delivery in higher education is widespread and increasing. A range of offerings exists, including fully online degree programs, online courses in all disciplines of study, and hybrid courses, where face-to-face…

78 FR 38617 - Procedures for Establishing That an American Indian Group Exists as an Indian Tribe

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-06-27

... DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Bureau of Indian Affairs 25 CFR Part 83 [DR.5A211.IA000413] RIN 1076... . Include ``1076-AF18'' in the subject line of the message. --Mail or Hand-Delivery: Elizabeth Appel, Office... 4141, Washington, DC 20240. Include ``1076-AF18'' on the cover of the submission. FOR FURTHER...

Participation Rates in a Worksite Wellness Program Using E-Mail Wellness Messages

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anenson, Larry W.; Brunt, Ardith; Terbizan, Donna J.; Christensen, Bryan

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine which days of the work week had the largest rate of opened e-health messages, whether detailed or basic e-health messages were more likely to be opened, if motivation influenced the rate of message opening, and if the rate of opening messages declined over time. Ninety-one city employees (52 male and 39…

Real-Time Computer-Mediated Communication: Email and Instant Messaging Simulation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Newman, Amy

2007-01-01

As computer-mediated communication becomes increasingly prevalent in the workplace, students need to apply effective writing principles to today's technologies. Email, in particular, requires interns and new hires to manage incoming messages, use an appropriate tone, and craft clear, concise messages. In addition, with instant messaging (IM)…

Race Socialization Messages across Historical Time

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Tony N.; Lesane-Brown, Chase L.

2006-01-01

In this study we investigated whether the content of race socialization messages varied by birth cohort, using data from a national probability sample. Most respondents recalled receiving messages about what it means to be black from their parents or guardians; these messages were coded into five mutually exclusive content categories: individual…

Innovative methods for calculation of freeway travel time using limited data : executive summary report.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2008-08-01

ODOTs policy for Dynamic Message Sign : utilization requires travel time(s) to be displayed as : a default message. The current method of : calculating travel time involves a workstation : operator estimating the travel time based upon : observati...

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

PubMed

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 acceptance measures. As predicted, the degree of initial processing of the content of the social gain-framed message mediated the relationship between the reward sensitive trait and message effectiveness. Initial processing of the physical loss-framed message partially mediated the relationship between the punishment sensitive trait and both message effectiveness and behavioural intention ratings. These results show that reward sensitivity and punishment sensitivity traits influence cognitive processing of gain-framed and loss-framed message content, respectively, and subsequently, message effectiveness and behavioural intention ratings. Specifically, a range of road safety messages (i.e., gain-frame and loss-frame messages) could be designed which align with the processing biases associated with personality and which would target those individuals who are sensitive to rewards and those who are sensitive to punishments. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An analysis of messages sent between nurses and physicians in deteriorating internal medicine patients to help identify issues in failures to rescue.

PubMed

Wong, Hannah J; Bierbrier, Rachel; Ma, Philip; Quan, Sherman; Lai, Sannie; Wu, Robert C

2017-04-01

To evaluate in patients who deteriorate and require transfer to the intensive care unit (ICU), how many have a critical text message communicating deterioration and what is the quality of this message? Is message quality, message response or the timeliness of rapid response team (RRT) activation related to death? We conducted a retrospective chart review of all ICU transfers from General Internal Medicine (GIM) wards from January 2012 until August 2014. All critical messages (CM) in the 48h prior to ICU transfer were analyzed for RRT calling criteria, time to RRT activation, message quality, presence of vitals, and the quality and timeliness of physician response. Of the 236 patients in the study, 93 (39%) had a CM in the 48h prior to ICU transfer. Within this subset, 76 patients did not have prior RRT activation and the median times from CM to RRT activation and CM to ICU transfer were 8.9 [IQR 2.9, 20.7] and 15.6 [IQR 9.0, 28.7] hours, respectively. Only 45% of messages contained 2 or more vitals and only 3% of messages contained Situation, Background, Assessment, and Recommendations (SBAR). Physician response was timely (3 [IQR 2, 17] min) but response quality was poor; nearly one quarter of responses only acknowledged receipt. Among message characteristics, only the number of SBAR elements was correlated with in-hospital survival (p=0.047). Communication between nurses and physicians about critically ill patients could be improved. There appear to be significant gaps in the quality of messages, their responses, and delays in RRT activation. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Mobile phone text messaging intervention to improve alertness and reduce sleepiness and fatigue during shiftwork among emergency medicine clinicians: study protocol for the SleepTrackTXT pilot randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Patterson, Paul Daniel; Moore, Charity G; Weaver, Matthew D; Buysse, Daniel J; Suffoletto, Brian P; Callaway, Clifton W; Yealy, Donald M

2014-06-21

Mental and physical fatigue while at work is common among emergency medical services (EMS) shift workers. Extended shifts (for example 24 hours) and excessive amounts of overtime work increase the likelihood of negative safety outcomes and pose a challenge for EMS fatigue-risk management. Text message-based interventions are a potentially high-impact, low-cost platform for sleep and fatigue assessment and distributing information to workers at risk of negative safety outcomes related to sleep behaviors and fatigue. We will conduct a pilot randomized trial with a convenience sample of adult EMS workers recruited from across the United States using a single study website. Participants will be allocated to one of two possible arms for a 90-day study period. The intervention arm will involve text message assessments of sleepiness, fatigue, and difficulty with concentration at the beginning, during, and end of scheduled shifts. Intervention subjects reporting high levels of sleepiness or fatigue will receive one of four randomly selected intervention messages promoting behavior change during shiftwork. Control subjects will receive assessment only text messages. We aim to determine the performance characteristics of a text messaging tool for the delivery of a sleep and fatigue intervention. We seek to determine if a text messaging program with tailored intervention messages is effective at reducing perceived sleepiness and/or fatigue among emergency medicine clinician shift workers. Additional aims include testing whether a theory-based behavioral intervention, delivered by text message, changes 'alertness behaviors'. The SleepTrackTXT pilot trial could provide evidence of compliance and effectiveness that would support rapid widespread expansion in one of two forms: 1) a stand-alone program in the form of a tailored/individualized sleep monitoring and fatigue reduction support service for EMS workers; or 2) an add-on to a multi-component fatigue risk management program led and maintained by employers or by safety and risk management services. Clinicaltrials.gov NCT02063737, Registered on 10 January 2014.

Mobile phone text messaging intervention to improve alertness and reduce sleepiness and fatigue during shiftwork among emergency medicine clinicians: study protocol for the SleepTrackTXT pilot randomized controlled trial

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Mental and physical fatigue while at work is common among emergency medical services (EMS) shift workers. Extended shifts (for example 24 hours) and excessive amounts of overtime work increase the likelihood of negative safety outcomes and pose a challenge for EMS fatigue-risk management. Text message-based interventions are a potentially high-impact, low-cost platform for sleep and fatigue assessment and distributing information to workers at risk of negative safety outcomes related to sleep behaviors and fatigue. Methods/Design We will conduct a pilot randomized trial with a convenience sample of adult EMS workers recruited from across the United States using a single study website. Participants will be allocated to one of two possible arms for a 90-day study period. The intervention arm will involve text message assessments of sleepiness, fatigue, and difficulty with concentration at the beginning, during, and end of scheduled shifts. Intervention subjects reporting high levels of sleepiness or fatigue will receive one of four randomly selected intervention messages promoting behavior change during shiftwork. Control subjects will receive assessment only text messages. We aim to determine the performance characteristics of a text messaging tool for the delivery of a sleep and fatigue intervention. We seek to determine if a text messaging program with tailored intervention messages is effective at reducing perceived sleepiness and/or fatigue among emergency medicine clinician shift workers. Additional aims include testing whether a theory-based behavioral intervention, delivered by text message, changes ‘alertness behaviors’. Discussion The SleepTrackTXT pilot trial could provide evidence of compliance and effectiveness that would support rapid widespread expansion in one of two forms: 1) a stand-alone program in the form of a tailored/individualized sleep monitoring and fatigue reduction support service for EMS workers; or 2) an add-on to a multi-component fatigue risk management program led and maintained by employers or by safety and risk management services. Trial Registration Clinicaltrials.gov NCT02063737, Registered on 10 January 2014 PMID:24952387

Real-time logic modelling on SpaceWire

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Qiang; Ma, Yunpeng; Fei, Haidong; Wang, Xingyou

2017-04-01

A SpaceWire is a standard for on-board satellite networks as the basis for future data-handling architectures. However, it cannot meet the deterministic requirement for safety/time critical application in spacecraft, where the delay of real-time (RT) message streams must be guaranteed. Therefore, SpaceWire-D is developed that provides deterministic delivery over a SpaceWire network. Formal analysis and verification of real-time systems is critical to their development and safe implementation, and is a prerequisite for obtaining their safety certification. Failure to meet specified timing constraints such as deadlines in hard real-time systems may lead to catastrophic results. In this paper, a formal verification method, Real-Time Logic (RTL), has been proposed to specify and verify timing properties of SpaceWire-D network. Based on the principal of SpaceWire-D protocol, we firstly analyze the timing properties of fundamental transactions, such as RMAP WRITE, and RMAP READ. After that, the RMAP WRITE transaction structure is modeled in Real-Time Logic (RTL) and Presburger Arithmetic representations. And then, the associated constraint graph and safety analysis is provided. Finally, it is suggested that RTL method can be useful for the protocol evaluation and provision of recommendation for further protocol evolutions.

Efficiency of instant messaging applications in coordination of emergency calls for combat injuries: A pilot study.

PubMed

Eksert, Sami; Aşık, Mehmet Burak; Akay, Sinan; Keklikçi, Kenan; Aydın, Fevzi Nuri; Çoban, Mehmet; Kantemir, Ali; Güngör, Onur; Garip, Beyazıt; Turgut, Mustafa Suphi; Olcay, Kenan

2017-05-01

Coordination of an emergency response team is an important determinant of prompt treatment for combat injuries in hospitals. The authors hypothesized that instant messaging applications for smartphones could be appropriate tools for notifying emergency response team members. The objective of this study was to investigate the efficiency of a commercial instant messaging application (WhatsApp, Mountain View, CA) as a communication tool for the emergency team in a level-I trauma center. We retrospectively evaluated the messages in the instant messaging application group that was formed to coordinate responses to patients who suffered from combat injuries and who were transported to our hospital via helicopter during an 8-week period. We evaluated the response times, response time periods during or outside of work hours, and the differences in the response times of doctors, nurses, and technicians among the members of the emergency team to the team leader's initial message about the patients. A total of 510 emergency call messages pertaining to 17 combat injury emergency cases were logged. The median time of emergency response was 4.1 minutes, 6 minutes, and 5.3 minutes for doctors, nurses, and the other team members, respectively. The differences in these response times between the groups were statistically significant (p=0.03), with subgroup analyses revealing significant differences between doctors and nurses (p=0.038). However, no statistically significant differences were observed between the doctors and the technicians (p=0.19) or the nurses and the technicians (p=1.0). From the team leader's perspective, using this application reduced the workload and the time loss, and also encouraged the team. Instant messaging applications for smartphones can be efficient, easy-to-operate, and time-saving communication tools in the transfer of medical information and the coordination of emergency response team members in hospitals.

The effect of distressing imagery on attention to and persuasiveness of an antialcohol message: a gaze-tracking approach.

PubMed

Brown, Stephen L; Richardson, Miles

2012-02-01

Distressing imagery may inhibit health communications by inducing audiences to reduce distress by avoiding attention to persuasive messages. This study used eye-tracking methods to compare gaze time allocated to a persuasive textual message, accompanied by either distressing high-resolution color images or less distressing two-color images with degraded outline and detail. Participants in the distressing images condition showed lower intentions to reduce drinking in the following 3 months, which may have been mediated by lower gaze time to textual elements of the message. The effect was stronger in participants who both scored lower on dispositional mental disengagement and were more vulnerable to alcohol-related problems. These findings suggest that distressing imagery may inhibit persuasion by reducing audience attention to message components. Implications for message design are discussed.

Information Management and Learning in Computer Conferences: Coping with Irrelevant and Unconnected Messages.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schwan, Stephan; Straub, Daniela; Hesse, Friedrich W.

2002-01-01

Describes a study of computer conferencing where learners interacted over the course of four log-in sessions to acquire the knowledge sufficient to pass a learning test. Studied the number of messages irrelevant to the topic, explicit threading of messages, reading times of relevant messages, and learning outcomes. (LRW)

A one-way text messaging intervention for obesity.

PubMed

Ahn, Ahleum; Choi, Jaekyung

2016-04-01

Worldwide, there has been a startling increase in the number of people who are obese or overweight. Obesity increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and overall mortality. Mobile phone messaging is an important means of human communication globally. Because the mobile phone can be used anywhere at any time, mobile phone messaging has the potential to manage obesity. We investigated the effectiveness of a one-way text messaging intervention for obesity. Participants' body mass index and waist circumference were measured at the beginning of the programme and again after 12 weeks. The text message group received text messages about exercise, dietary intake, and general information about obesity three times a week, while the control group did not receive any text messages from the study. Of the 80 participants, 25 subjects in the text message group and 29 participants in the control group completed the study. After adjusting for baseline body mass index, the body mass index was significantly lower in the text message group than in the control group (27.9 vs. 28.3; p = 0.02). After adjusting for the baseline waist circumference, the difference of waist circumference between the text message group and control group was not significant (93.4 vs. 94.6; p = 0.13). The one-way text messaging intervention was a simple and effective way to manage obesity. The one-way text messaging intervention may be a useful method for lifestyle modification in obese subjects. © The Author(s) 2015.

Optimizing Tailored Communications for Health Risk Assessment: A Randomized Factorial Experiment of the Effects of Expectancy Priming, Autonomy Support, and Exemplification.

PubMed

Valle, Carmina G; Queen, Tara L; Martin, Barbara A; Ribisl, Kurt M; Mayer, Deborah K; Tate, Deborah F

2018-03-01

Health risk assessments with tailored feedback plus health education have been shown to be effective for promoting health behavior change. However, there is limited evidence to guide the development and delivery of online automated tailored feedback. The goal of this study was to optimize tailored feedback messages for an online health risk assessment to promote enhanced user engagement, self-efficacy, and behavioral intentions for engaging in healthy behaviors. We examined the effects of three theory-based message factors used in developing tailored feedback messages on levels of engagement, self-efficacy, and behavioral intentions. We conducted a randomized factorial experiment to test three different components of tailored feedback messages: tailored expectancy priming, autonomy support, and use of an exemplar. Individuals (N=1945) were recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk and randomly assigned to one of eight different experimental conditions within one of four behavioral assessment and feedback modules (tobacco use, physical activity [PA], eating habits, and weight). Participants reported self-efficacy and behavioral intentions pre- and postcompletion of an online health behavior assessment with tailored feedback. Engagement and message perceptions were assessed at follow-up. For the tobacco module, there was a significant main effect of the exemplar factor (P=.04); participants who received exemplar messages (mean 3.31, SE 0.060) rated their self-efficacy to quit tobacco higher than those who did not receive exemplar messages (mean 3.14, SE 0.057). There was a three-way interaction between the effect of message conditions on self-efficacy to quit tobacco (P=.02), such that messages with tailored priming and an exemplar had the greatest impact on self-efficacy to quit tobacco. Across PA, eating habits, and weight modules, there was a three-way interaction among conditions on self-efficacy (P=.048). The highest self-efficacy scores were reported among those who were in the standard priming condition and received both autonomy supportive and exemplar messages. In the PA module, autonomy supportive messages had a stronger effect on self-efficacy for PA in the standard priming condition. For PA, eating habits, and weight-related behaviors, the main effect of exemplar messages on behavioral intentions was in the hypothesized direction but did not reach statistical significance (P=.08). When comparing the main effects of different message conditions, there were no differences in engagement and message perceptions. Findings suggest that tailored feedback messages that use exemplars helped improve self-efficacy related to tobacco cessation, PA, eating habits, and weight control. Combining standard priming and autonomy supportive message components shows potential for optimizing tailored feedback for tobacco cessation and PA behaviors. ©Carmina G Valle, Tara L Queen, Barbara A Martin, Kurt M Ribisl, Deborah K Mayer, Deborah F Tate. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 01.03.2018.

Interarrival times of message propagation on directed networks.

PubMed

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.

Interarrival times of message propagation on directed networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Nose-to-brain peptide delivery - The potential of nanotechnology.

PubMed

Samaridou, Eleni; Alonso, Maria José

2018-06-01

Nose-to-brain (N-to-B) delivery offers to protein and peptide drugs the possibility to reach the brain in a non-invasive way. This article is a comprehensive review of the state-of-the-art of this emerging peptide delivery route, as well as of the challenges associated to it. Emphasis is given on the potential of nanosized drug delivery carriers to enhance the direct N-to-B transport of protein or peptide drugs. In particular, polymer- and lipid- based nanocarriers are comparatively analyzed in terms of the influence of their physicochemical characteristics and composition on their in vivo fate and efficacy. The use of biorecognitive ligands and permeation enhancers in order to enhance their brain targeting efficiency is also discussed. The article concludes highlighting the early stage of this research field and its still unveiled potential. The final message is that more explicatory PK/PD studies are required in order to achieve the translation from preclinical to the clinical development phase. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

PubMed

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.

Development of Participant-Informed Text Messages to Promote Physical Activity Among African American Women Attending College: A Qualitative Mixed-Methods Inquiry.

PubMed

Reese, Jasmine M; Joseph, Rodney P; Cherrington, Andrea; Allison, Jeroan; Kim, Young-Il; Spear, Bonnie; Childs, Gwendolyn; Simpson, Tina; Durant, Nefertiti H

2017-05-01

The purpose of this study was to develop a participant-informed technology-based physical activity (PA) promotion tool for young overweight and obese African American (AA) women. A mixed-method 3-phase study protocol design was used to develop text messages to promote PA in AA women attending the University of Alabama at Birmingham during the Spring of 2013. Nominal focus groups and a 2-week pilot were used to generate and test participant-developed messages. Participants ( n = 14) had a mean age of 19.79 years ( SD = 1.4) and mean body mass index of 35.9 ( SD = 5.926). Focus group data identified key themes associated with the use of text messages to promote PA including message frequency, length, tone, and time of day. Participants preferred text messages that were brief, specific, and time sensitive. Results showed that text messaging was a feasible and acceptable strategy to promote PA in overweight and obese AA women in a university setting.

The Impact on Quality of Service When Using Security-Enabling Filters to Provide for the Security of Run-Time Virtual Environments

DTIC Science & Technology

2002-09-01

Secure Multicast......................................................................24 i. Message Digests and Message Authentication Codes ( MACs ...that is, the needs of the VE will determine what the design will look like (e.g., reliable vs . unreliable data communications). In general, there...Molva00] and [Abdalla00]. i. Message Digests and Message Authentication Codes ( MACs ) Message digests and MACs are used for data integrity verification

Strategic Implications of Cloud Computing for Modeling and Simulation (Briefing)

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-04-01

of Promises with Cloud • Cost efficiency • Unlimited storage • Backup and recovery • Automatic software integration • Easy access to information...activities that wrap the actual exercise itself (e.g., travel for exercise support, data collection, integration , etc.). Cloud -based simulation would...requiring quick delivery rather than fewer large messages requiring high bandwidth. Cloud environments tend to be better at providing high-bandwidth

SVANET: A smart vehicular ad hoc network for efficient data transmission with wireless sensors.

PubMed

Sahoo, Prasan Kumar; Chiang, Ming-Jer; Wu, Shih-Lin

2014-11-25

Wireless sensors can sense any event, such as accidents, as well as icy roads, and can forward the rescue/warning messages through intermediate vehicles for any necessary help. In this paper, we propose a smart vehicular ad hoc network (SVANET) architecture that uses wireless sensors to detect events and vehicles to transmit the safety and non-safety messages efficiently by using different service channels and one control channel with different priorities. We have developed a data transmission protocol for the vehicles in the highway, in which data can be forwarded with the help of vehicles if they are connected with each other or data can be forwarded with the help of nearby wireless sensors. Our data transmission protocol is designed to increase the driving safety, to prevent accidents and to utilize channels efficiently by adjusting the control and service channel time intervals dynamically. Besides, our protocol can transmit information to vehicles in advance, so that drivers can decide an alternate route in case of traffic congestion. For various data sharing, we design a method that can select a few leader nodes among vehicles running along a highway to broadcast data efficiently. Simulation results show that our protocol can outperform the existing standard in terms of the end to end packet delivery ratio and latency.

Blended learning in paediatric emergency medicine: preliminary analysis of a virtual learning environment.

PubMed

Spedding, Ruth; Jenner, Rachel; Potier, Katherine; Mackway-Jones, Kevin; Carley, Simon

2013-04-01

Paediatric emergency medicine (PEM) currently faces many competing educational challenges. Recent changes to the working patterns have made the delivery of effective teaching to trainees extremely difficult. We developed a virtual learning environment, on the basis of socioconstructivist principles, which allows learning to take place regardless of time or location. The aim was to evaluate the effectiveness of a blended e-learning approach for PEM training. We evaluated the experiences of ST3 trainees in PEM using a multimodal approach. We classified and analysed message board discussions over a 6-month period to look for evidence of practice change and learning. We conducted semistructured qualitative interviews with trainees approximately 5 months after they completed the course. Trainees embraced the virtual learning environment and had positive experiences of the blended approach to learning. Socioconstructivist learning did take place through the use of message boards on the virtual learning environment. Despite their initial unfamiliarity with the online learning system, the participants found it easy to access and use. The participants found the learning relevant and there was an overlap between shop floor learning and the online content. Clinical discussion was often led by trainees on the forums and these were described as enjoyable and informative. A blended approach to e-learning in basic PEM is effective and enjoyable to trainees.

SVANET: A Smart Vehicular Ad Hoc Network for Efficient Data Transmission with Wireless Sensors

PubMed Central

Sahoo, Prasan Kumar; Chiang, Ming-Jer; Wu, Shih-Lin

2014-01-01

Wireless sensors can sense any event, such as accidents, as well as icy roads, and can forward the rescue/warning messages through intermediate vehicles for any necessary help. In this paper, we propose a smart vehicular ad hoc network (SVANET) architecture that uses wireless sensors to detect events and vehicles to transmit the safety and non-safety messages efficiently by using different service channels and one control channel with different priorities. We have developed a data transmission protocol for the vehicles in the highway, in which data can be forwarded with the help of vehicles if they are connected with each other or data can be forwarded with the help of nearby wireless sensors. Our data transmission protocol is designed to increase the driving safety, to prevent accidents and to utilize channels efficiently by adjusting the control and service channel time intervals dynamically. Besides, our protocol can transmit information to vehicles in advance, so that drivers can decide an alternate route in case of traffic congestion. For various data sharing, we design a method that can select a few leader nodes among vehicles running along a highway to broadcast data efficiently. Simulation results show that our protocol can outperform the existing standard in terms of the end to end packet delivery ratio and latency. PMID:25429409

System and Method for Providing a Real Time Audible Message to a Pilot

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, Walter W. (Inventor); Lachter, Joel B. (Inventor); Koteskey, Robert W. (Inventor); Battiste, Vernol (Inventor)

2016-01-01

A system and method for providing information to a crew of the aircraft while in-flight. The system includes a module having: a receiver for receiving a message while in-flight; a filter having a set of screening parameters and operative to filter the message based on the set of screening parameters; and a converter for converting the message into an audible message. The message includes a pilot report having at least one of weather information, separation information, congestion information, flight deviation information and destination information. The message is sent to the aircraft by another aircraft or an air traffic controller.

Rural patients' access to mobile phones and willingness to receive mobile phone-based pharmacy and other health technology services: a pilot study.

PubMed

Sankaranarayanan, Jayashri; Sallach, Rory E

2014-02-01

This pilot study explores the patient-centered demand for mobile phone-based health (mobile health [m-health]) services in the rural United States by documenting rural patients' access to mobile phones and patients' willingness to receive m-health services. An anonymous institutional review board-approved survey was completed by patients visiting two rural pharmacies in Nebraska from August to October 2011. Patients who volunteered to complete the survey provided their demographic data, disease state information, health status, mobile phone access, and willingness to receive (in terms of using and giving time to) m-health services. The majority of the 24 survey respondents were 19-40 years old (52%), female (88%), married (63%), with excellent to very good health status (63%), with no comorbidities (83%), with ≤$100 monthly medication expenses (80%), with private insurance (78%), living within 5 miles of their pharmacy (71%), and reporting that m-health services are important to them (75%; 12/16). Approximately 95%, 81%, 73%, and 55% of respondents reported access to a mobile phone, voice mails, text messaging, and mobile phone applications, respectively. Of the respondents, 65%, 57%, 52%, and 48% were willing to receive prerecorded messages for appointment reminders from the doctor, disease information, medication use/self-care information, and symptom monitoring information, respectively. In total, 70%, 63%, 61%, 54%, and 50% were willing to receive prerecorded messages from the pharmacist containing contact requests, new/refill prescription reminders, information on medication problems, reviewing/monitoring of medication use, and medication self-management/preventive screenings/immunizations, respectively. Of 44% (7/16) respondents willing to give time for m-health services, 83% were willing to give 15 min, and 17% were willing to give 30 min every month. By demonstrating rural patients' demand for m-health (including pharmacy) services, this is one of the first pilot studies showing rural patients have access to mobile phones and may be willing to use and give time to m-health services. Further research is needed on delivery and coordination of transitions in patient-centered care in the United States with m-health services.

"Even if you know everything you can forget": health worker perceptions of mobile phone text-messaging to improve malaria case-management in Kenya.

PubMed

Jones, Caroline O H; Wasunna, Beatrice; Sudoi, Raymond; Githinji, Sophie; Snow, Robert W; Zurovac, Dejan

2012-01-01

This paper presents the results of a qualitative study to investigate the perceptions and experiences of health workers involved in a a cluster-randomized controlled trial of a novel intervention to improve health worker malaria case-management in 107 government health facilities in Kenya. The intervention involved sending text-messages about paediatric outpatient malaria case-management accompanied by "motivating" quotes to health workers' mobile phones. Ten malaria messages were developed reflecting recommendations from the Kenyan national guidelines. Two messages were delivered per day for 5 working days and the process was repeated for 26 weeks (May to October 2009). The accompanying quotes were unique to each message. The intervention was delivered to 119 health workers and there were significant improvements in correct artemether-lumefantrine (AL) management both immediately after the intervention (November 2009) and 6 months later (May 2010). In-depth interviews with 24 health workers were undertaken to investigate the possible drivers of this change. The results suggest high acceptance of all components of the intervention, with the active delivery of information in an on the job setting, the ready availability of new and stored text messages and the perception of being kept 'up to date' as important factors influencing practice. Applying the construct of stages of change we infer that in this intervention the SMS messages were operating primarily at the action and maintenance stages of behaviour change achieving their effect by creating an enabling environment and providing a prompt to action for the implementation of case management practices that had already been accepted as the clinical norm by the health workers. Future trials testing the effectiveness of SMS reminders in creating an enabling environment for the establishment of new norms in clinical practice as well as in providing a prompt to action for the implementation of the new case-management guidelines are justified.

“Even if You Know Everything You Can Forget”: Health Worker Perceptions of Mobile Phone Text-Messaging to Improve Malaria Case-Management in Kenya

PubMed Central

Jones, Caroline O. H.; Wasunna, Beatrice; Sudoi, Raymond; Githinji, Sophie; Snow, Robert W.; Zurovac, Dejan

2012-01-01

This paper presents the results of a qualitative study to investigate the perceptions and experiences of health workers involved in a a cluster-randomized controlled trial of a novel intervention to improve health worker malaria case-management in 107 government health facilities in Kenya. The intervention involved sending text-messages about paediatric outpatient malaria case-management accompanied by “motivating” quotes to health workers’ mobile phones. Ten malaria messages were developed reflecting recommendations from the Kenyan national guidelines. Two messages were delivered per day for 5 working days and the process was repeated for 26 weeks (May to October 2009). The accompanying quotes were unique to each message. The intervention was delivered to 119 health workers and there were significant improvements in correct artemether-lumefantrine (AL) management both immediately after the intervention (November 2009) and 6 months later (May 2010). In-depth interviews with 24 health workers were undertaken to investigate the possible drivers of this change. The results suggest high acceptance of all components of the intervention, with the active delivery of information in an on the job setting, the ready availability of new and stored text messages and the perception of being kept ‘up to date’ as important factors influencing practice. Applying the construct of stages of change we infer that in this intervention the SMS messages were operating primarily at the action and maintenance stages of behaviour change achieving their effect by creating an enabling environment and providing a prompt to action for the implementation of case management practices that had already been accepted as the clinical norm by the health workers. Future trials testing the effectiveness of SMS reminders in creating an enabling environment for the establishment of new norms in clinical practice as well as in providing a prompt to action for the implementation of the new case-management guidelines are justified. PMID:22719911

Costs and cost-effectiveness of a mobile phone text-message reminder programmes to improve health workers' adherence to malaria guidelines in Kenya.

PubMed

Zurovac, Dejan; Larson, Bruce A; Sudoi, Raymond K; Snow, Robert W

2012-01-01

Simple interventions for improving health workers' adherence to malaria case-management guidelines are urgently required across Africa. A recent trial in Kenya showed that text-message reminders sent to health workers' mobile phones improved management of pediatric outpatients by 25 percentage points. In this paper we examine costs and cost-effectiveness of this intervention. We evaluate costs and cost-effectiveness in 2010 USD under three implementation scenarios: (1) as implemented under study conditions in study areas; (2) if the intervention was routinely implemented by the Ministry of Health (MoH) in the same areas; and (3) if the intervention was scaled up nationally. Under study conditions, intervention costs were 19,342 USD, of which 45% were for developing and pretesting text-messages, 12% for developing text-message distribution system, 29% for collecting health workers' phone numbers, and 13% were costs of sending text-messages and monitoring of the system. If the intervention was implemented in the same areas by the MoH, the costs would be 28% lower (13,920 USD) due to lower costs of collecting health workers' numbers. The cost of national scale-up would be 97,350 USD, and the majority of these costs (66%) would be for sending text-messages. The cost per additional child correctly managed was 0.50 USD under study conditions, 0.36 USD if implemented by the MoH in the same area, and estimated at only 0.03 USD if implemented nationally. Even if the effect size was only 5% or the cost on the national scale was 400% higher than estimated, the cost per additional child correctly managed would be only 0.16 USD. A simple text-messaging intervention improving health worker adherence to malaria guidelines is effective and inexpensive. Further research is justified to optimize delivery of the intervention and expand targets beyond children and malaria disease.

Gaining perspective: the effects of message frame on viewer attention to and recall of osteoporosis prevention print advertisements.

PubMed

O'Malley, Deborah A; Latimer-Cheung, Amy E

2013-11-01

This study examined how framed messages affect viewer attention to and cognitive processing of osteoporosis prevention print ads. Attention was measured with eye tracking technology. Cognitive processing was assessed through masked recall. A total of 60 college-aged women viewed 12 gain-framed, 12 loss-framed, and 12 neutral-framed ads. Number of fixations, dwell time, and recall of gain-framed osteoporosis prevention ads were higher than loss-framed or neutral-framed ads, p < .01. Message recall was positively correlated with the number of fixations and dwell time for the gain-framed and neutral-framed messages, p < .01. These findings provide preliminary insight into potential mechanisms underlying message framing effects.

Three-pass protocol scheme for bitmap image security by using vernam cipher algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rachmawati, D.; Budiman, M. A.; Aulya, L.

2018-02-01

Confidentiality, integrity, and efficiency are the crucial aspects of data security. Among the other digital data, image data is too prone to abuse of operation like duplication, modification, etc. There are some data security techniques, one of them is cryptography. The security of Vernam Cipher cryptography algorithm is very dependent on the key exchange process. If the key is leaked, security of this algorithm will collapse. Therefore, a method that minimizes key leakage during the exchange of messages is required. The method which is used, is known as Three-Pass Protocol. This protocol enables message delivery process without the key exchange. Therefore, the sending messages process can reach the receiver safely without fear of key leakage. The system is built by using Java programming language. The materials which are used for system testing are image in size 200×200 pixel, 300×300 pixel, 500×500 pixel, 800×800 pixel and 1000×1000 pixel. The result of experiments showed that Vernam Cipher algorithm in Three-Pass Protocol scheme could restore the original image.

A Context-Aware-Based Audio Guidance System for Blind People Using a Multimodal Profile Model

PubMed Central

Lin, Qing; Han, Youngjoon

2014-01-01

A wearable guidance system is designed to provide context-dependent guidance messages to blind people while they traverse local pathways. The system is composed of three parts: moving scene analysis, walking context estimation and audio message delivery. The combination of a downward-pointing laser scanner and a camera is used to solve the challenging problem of moving scene analysis. By integrating laser data profiles and image edge profiles, a multimodal profile model is constructed to estimate jointly the ground plane, object locations and object types, by using a Bayesian network. The outputs of the moving scene analysis are further employed to estimate the walking context, which is defined as a fuzzy safety level that is inferred through a fuzzy logic model. Depending on the estimated walking context, the audio messages that best suit the current context are delivered to the user in a flexible manner. The proposed system is tested under various local pathway scenes, and the results confirm its efficiency in assisting blind people to attain autonomous mobility. PMID:25302812

The Localized Discovery and Recovery for Query Packet Losses in Wireless Sensor Networks with Distributed Detector Clusters

PubMed Central

Teng, Rui; Leibnitz, Kenji; Miura, Ryu

2013-01-01

An essential application of wireless sensor networks is to successfully respond to user queries. Query packet losses occur in the query dissemination due to wireless communication problems such as interference, multipath fading, packet collisions, etc. The losses of query messages at sensor nodes result in the failure of sensor nodes reporting the requested data. Hence, the reliable and successful dissemination of query messages to sensor nodes is a non-trivial problem. The target of this paper is to enable highly successful query delivery to sensor nodes by localized and energy-efficient discovery, and recovery of query losses. We adopt local and collective cooperation among sensor nodes to increase the success rate of distributed discoveries and recoveries. To enable the scalability in the operations of discoveries and recoveries, we employ a distributed name resolution mechanism at each sensor node to allow sensor nodes to self-detect the correlated queries and query losses, and then efficiently locally respond to the query losses. We prove that the collective discovery of query losses has a high impact on the success of query dissemination and reveal that scalability can be achieved by using the proposed approach. We further study the novel features of the cooperation and competition in the collective recovery at PHY and MAC layers, and show that the appropriate number of detectors can achieve optimal successful recovery rate. We evaluate the proposed approach with both mathematical analyses and computer simulations. The proposed approach enables a high rate of successful delivery of query messages and it results in short route lengths to recover from query losses. The proposed approach is scalable and operates in a fully distributed manner. PMID:23748172

A carrier sensed multiple access protocol for high data base rate ring networks

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Foudriat, E. C.; Maly, Kurt J.; Overstreet, C. Michael; Khanna, S.; Paterra, Frank

1990-01-01

The results of the study of a simple but effective media access protocol for high data rate networks are presented. The protocol is based on the fact that at high data rates networks can contain multiple messages simultaneously over their span, and that in a ring, nodes used to detect the presence of a message arriving from the immediate upstream neighbor. When an incoming signal is detected, the node must either abort or truncate a message it is presently sending. Thus, the protocol with local carrier sensing and multiple access is designated CSMA/RN. The performance of CSMA/RN with TTattempt and truncate is studied using analytic and simulation models. Three performance factors, wait or access time, service time and response or end-to-end travel time are presented. The service time is basically a function of the network rate, it changes by a factor of 1 between no load and full load. Wait time, which is zero for no load, remains small for load factors up to 70 percent of full load. Response time, which adds travel time while on the network to wait and service time, is mainly a function of network length, especially for longer distance networks. Simulation results are shown for CSMA/RN where messages are removed at the destination. A wide range of local and metropolitan area network parameters including variations in message size, network length, and node count are studied. Finally, a scaling factor based upon the ratio of message to network length demonstrates that the results, and hence, the CSMA/RN protocol, are applicable to wide area networks.

Do you want the good news or the bad news? Gain- versus loss-framed messages following health risk information: The effects on leisure time physical activity beliefs and cognitions.

PubMed

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

2013-12-01

The primary purpose was to examine the relative effectiveness of chronic disease and psychological health risk information combined with gain- versus loss-framed leisure time physical activity (LTPA) messages for changing perceived personal risk, LTPA response efficacy (i.e., the belief that LTPA can effectively reduce risk), and LTPA intentions. A secondary purpose was to explore the relationship between message framing and cognitive processing. Baseline assessments of perceived risk for inactivity-related disease and psychological health problems, LTPA response efficacy, and intentions were measured among 96 individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI). Participants read population-specific information about the risk for inactivity-related disease and psychological health problems following SCI, and perceived risk was reassessed. Participants were then randomized to read LTPA response efficacy messages emphasizing the benefits of LTPA (gain framed) or the risks of inactivity (loss framed). Immediately following message exposure, cognitive processing (i.e., thought listing and message recall), LTPA response efficacy, and LTPA intentions were assessed. Changes in perceived risk were observed following exposure to health risk information. Changes in LTPA response efficacy and intentions were greater following loss-framed messages targeting psychological health compared with gain-framed messages. Greater cognitive processing was observed following loss-framed messages compared with gain-framed messages. Following exposure to psychological health risk information, loss-framed messages may be more effective than gain-framed messages for eliciting cognitive processing and changing LTPA beliefs and intentions.

Optimising mHealth helpdesk responsiveness in South Africa: towards automated message triage

PubMed Central

Engelhard, Matthew; Copley, Charles; Watson, Jacqui; Pillay, Yogan; Barron, Peter

2018-01-01

In South Africa, a national-level helpdesk was established in August 2014 as a social accountability mechanism for improving governance, allowing recipients of public sector services to send complaints, compliments and questions directly to a team of National Department of Health (NDoH) staff members via text message. As demand increases, mechanisms to streamline and improve the helpdesk must be explored. This work aims to evaluate the need for and feasibility of automated message triage to improve helpdesk responsiveness to high-priority messages. Drawing from 65 768 messages submitted between October 2016 and July 2017, the quality of helpdesk message handling was evaluated via detailed inspection of (1) a random sample of 481 messages and (2) messages reporting mistreatment of women, as identified using expert-curated keywords. Automated triage was explored by training a naïve Bayes classifier to replicate message labels assigned by NDoH staff. Classifier performance was evaluated on 12 526 messages withheld from the training set. 90 of 481 (18.7%) NDoH responses were scored as suboptimal or incorrect, with median response time of 4.0 hours. 32 reports of facility-based mistreatment and 39 of partner and family violence were identified; NDoH response time and appropriateness for these messages were not superior to the random sample (P>0.05). The naïve Bayes classifier had average accuracy of 85.4%, with ≥98% specificity for infrequently appearing (<50%) labels. These results show that helpdesk handling of mistreatment of women could be improved. Keyword matching and naïve Bayes effectively identified uncommon messages of interest and could support automated triage to improve handling of high-priority messages. PMID:29713508

Mobile Phone Text Messaging Intervention for Cervical Cancer Screening: Changes in Knowledge and Behavior Pre-Post Intervention

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Cervical cancer poses a significant threat to Korean American women, who are reported to have one of the highest cervical cancer mortality rates in the United States. Studies consistently report that Korean American women have the lowest Pap test screening rates across US ethnic groups. Objective In response to the need to enhance cervical cancer screening in this vulnerable population, we developed and tested a 7-day mobile phone text message-based cervical cancer Screening (mScreening) intervention designed to promote the receipt of Pap tests by young Korean American women. Methods We developed and assessed the acceptability and feasibility of a 1-week mScreening intervention to increase knowledge of cervical cancer screening, intent to receive screening, and the receipt of a Pap test. Fogg’s Behavior Model was the conceptual framework that guided the development of the mScreening intervention. A series of focus groups were conducted to inform the development of the intervention. The messages were individually tailored for each participant and delivered to them for a 7-day period at each participant’s preferred time. A quasi-experimental research design of 30 Korean American women aged 21 to 29 years was utilized with baseline, post (1 week after the completion of mScreening), and follow-up (3 months after the completion of mScreening) testing. Results Findings revealed a significant increase in participants’ knowledge of cervical cancer (P<.001) and guidelines for cervical cancer screening (P=.006). A total of 23% (7/30) (95% CI 9.9-42.3) of the mScreening participants received a Pap test; 83% (25/30) of the participants expressed satisfaction with the intervention and 97% (29/30) reported that they would recommend the program to their friends, indicating excellent acceptability and feasibility of the intervention. Conclusions This study provides evidence of the effectiveness and feasibility of the mScreening intervention. Mobile technology is a promising tool to increase both knowledge and receipt of cervical cancer screening. Given the widespread usage of mobile phones among young adults, a mobile phone-based health intervention could be a low-cost and effective method of reaching populations with low cervical cancer screening rates, using individually tailored messages that cover broad content areas and overcome restrictions to place and time of delivery. PMID:25164545

Mobile phone text messaging intervention for cervical cancer screening: changes in knowledge and behavior pre-post intervention.

PubMed

Lee, Hee Yun; Koopmeiners, Joseph S; Rhee, Taeho Greg; Raveis, Victoria H; Ahluwalia, Jasjit S

2014-08-27

Cervical cancer poses a significant threat to Korean American women, who are reported to have one of the highest cervical cancer mortality rates in the United States. Studies consistently report that Korean American women have the lowest Pap test screening rates across US ethnic groups. In response to the need to enhance cervical cancer screening in this vulnerable population, we developed and tested a 7-day mobile phone text message-based cervical cancer Screening (mScreening) intervention designed to promote the receipt of Pap tests by young Korean American women. We developed and assessed the acceptability and feasibility of a 1-week mScreening intervention to increase knowledge of cervical cancer screening, intent to receive screening, and the receipt of a Pap test. Fogg's Behavior Model was the conceptual framework that guided the development of the mScreening intervention. A series of focus groups were conducted to inform the development of the intervention. The messages were individually tailored for each participant and delivered to them for a 7-day period at each participant's preferred time. A quasi-experimental research design of 30 Korean American women aged 21 to 29 years was utilized with baseline, post (1 week after the completion of mScreening), and follow-up (3 months after the completion of mScreening) testing. Findings revealed a significant increase in participants' knowledge of cervical cancer (P<.001) and guidelines for cervical cancer screening (P=.006). A total of 23% (7/30) (95% CI 9.9-42.3) of the mScreening participants received a Pap test; 83% (25/30) of the participants expressed satisfaction with the intervention and 97% (29/30) reported that they would recommend the program to their friends, indicating excellent acceptability and feasibility of the intervention. This study provides evidence of the effectiveness and feasibility of the mScreening intervention. Mobile technology is a promising tool to increase both knowledge and receipt of cervical cancer screening. Given the widespread usage of mobile phones among young adults, a mobile phone-based health intervention could be a low-cost and effective method of reaching populations with low cervical cancer screening rates, using individually tailored messages that cover broad content areas and overcome restrictions to place and time of delivery.

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

PubMed Central

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

Mastery Based Homework in Introductory Physics at the University of Illinois

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stelzer, Tim; Gutmann, Brianne; Gladding, Gary; Lundsgaard, Morten; Schroeder, Noah

2017-01-01

The successful implementation of mastery-style online homework into our preparatory mechanics course has been a long-term project, currently in its second year. By requiring students to perfect a single unit of defined competencies before moving on to its successive unit (with intervening narrated animated solutions for instructional support), this homework delivery method replaced traditional immediate feedback online homework for the class of about 500 students. After the first year of data collection and analysis, significant revisions were made to the system's delivery, content, and messaging. The impact of these changes and second year data will be presented, as well as data from implementation in our introductory electricity and magnetism course. NSF DUE 16-08002.

Engagement with dietary fibre and receptiveness to resistant starch in Australia.

PubMed

Mohr, Philip; Quinn, Sinéad; Morell, Matthew; Topping, David

2010-11-01

To investigate community engagement with the health benefits of dietary fibre (DF) and its potential as a framework for the promotion of increased consumption of resistant starch (RS). A nationwide postal Food and Health Survey conducted in Australia by CSIRO Human Nutrition. Adults aged 18 years and above, selected at random from the Australian Electoral Roll (n 849). A cross-sectional design was employed to analyse ratings of (i) the importance of various RS health and functional claims and (ii) receptiveness to different foods as RS delivery vehicles, according to the respondents' level of fibre engagement as classified under the Precaution Adoption Process Model (PAPM) of Health Behaviour. There was a high level of recognition (89·5 %) of DF as being important for health. Significant gender differences were found for ratings of RS attributes and RS delivery options. Women were both more fibre-engaged than men and more receptive than men to RS and its potential benefits. Ratings of the acceptability of several foods as means of delivering RS revealed a general preference for healthy staples over indulgences, with the margin between acceptability of staples and indulgences increasing markedly with increased fibre engagement. Application of the PAPM to awareness of DF reveals a ready-made target group for health messages about RS and pockets of differential potential receptiveness. The findings support the promotion of RS as providing health benefits of DF with the added reduction of risk of serious disease, its delivery through healthy staples and the targeting of messages at both fibre-engaged individuals and women in general.

Physician perceptions of primary prevention: qualitative base for the conceptual shaping of a practice intervention tool

PubMed Central

Mirand, Amy L; Beehler, Gregory P; Kuo, Christina L; Mahoney, Martin C

2002-01-01

Background A practice intervention must have its basis in an understanding of the physician and practice to secure its benefit and relevancy. We used a formative process to characterize primary care physician attitudes, needs, and practice obstacles regarding primary prevention. The characterization will provide the conceptual framework for the development of a practice tool to facilitate routine delivery of primary preventive care. Methods A focus group of primary care physician Opinion Leaders was audio-taped, transcribed, and qualitatively analyzed to identify emergent themes that described physicians' perceptions of prevention in daily practice. Results The conceptual worth of primary prevention, including behavioral counseling, was high, but its practice was significantly countered by the predominant clinical emphasis on and rewards for secondary care. In addition, lack of health behavior training, perceived low self-efficacy, and patient resistance to change were key deterrents to primary prevention delivery. Also, the preventive focus in primary care is not on cancer, but on predominant chronic nonmalignant conditions. Conclusions The success of the future practice tool will be largely dependent on its ability to "fit" primary prevention into the clinical culture of diagnoses and treatment sustained by physicians, patients, and payers. The tool's message output must be formatted to facilitate physician delivery of patient-tailored behavioral counseling in an accurate, confident, and efficacious manner. Also, the tool's health behavior messages should be behavior-specific, not disease-specific, to draw on shared risk behaviors of numerous diseases and increase the likelihood of perceived salience and utility of the tool in primary care. PMID:12204096

Acceptability of delivery of dietary advice in the dentistry setting to address obesity in pre-school children: a case study of the Common Risk Factor Approach.

PubMed

Henderson, Emily J

2015-07-01

The Common Risk Factor Approach proposes that public health efforts can be improved by multiple agencies working together on a shared risk factor. The present study aimed to assess the acceptability to parents, dental practice staff and commissioners of the delivery of dietary advice in the dentistry setting in order to address obesity. Semi-structured focus groups with dental practice staff and one-to-one interviews with parents of pre-school children and public health commissioners involved in an oral health promotion initiative delivering dietary advice in dental surgeries. Data were analysed using the Framework Approach. General dental practice surgeries and pre-schools in areas of high deprivation in north-east England. Parents (n 4), dental practice staff (n 23) and one commissioner. All participants found acceptable the concept of delivering public health messages in non-conventional settings. Dental practice staff were concerned about the potential for conflicting messages and deprioritisation of oral health advice, and they identified practical barriers to delivery, such as lack of training. Parents were very apprehensive about the potential of such approaches to stigmatise overweight children, including bullying. Uncertainty over the causes of obesity led to confusion about its solutions and the roles of public health and health care. Major concerns about the implementation of the Common Risk Factor Approach were raised by parents and dental practice staff. Specific dietary guidance for both oral health and healthy weight, as well as further research into issues of suitability, feasibility and stigmatisation, are needed.

Collaborative, Trust-Based Security Mechanisms for a National Utility Intranet

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-09-01

time_message_ceated … username bearnold operation_type copy from_file C:/etc/ passwd \\MPLpw.txt from_file_data_type ND //network data...time_message_created … username bearnold operation_type paste from_file C:\\etc\\ passwd \\MPLpw.txt //logon server password file...from_file_data_type ND from_file_caveat restricted-release to_file F:\\Copy of C:\\etc\\ passwd \\MPLpw.txt //removable drive //end message data

Computer-generated graphical presentations: use of multimedia to enhance communication.

PubMed

Marks, L S; Penson, D F; Maller, J J; Nielsen, R T; deKernion, J B

1997-01-01

Personal computers may be used to create, store, and deliver graphical presentations. With computer-generated combinations of the five media (text, images, sound, video, and animation)--that is, multimedia presentations--the effectiveness of message delivery can be greatly increased. The basic tools are (1) a personal computer; (2) presentation software; and (3) a projector to enlarge the monitor images for audience viewing. Use of this new method has grown rapidly in the business-conference world, but has yet to gain widespread acceptance at medical meetings. We review herein the rationale for multimedia presentations in medicine (vis-à-vis traditional slide shows) as an improved means for increasing audience attention, comprehension, and retention. The evolution of multimedia is traced from earliest times to the present. The steps involved in making a multimedia presentation are summarized, emphasizing advances in technology that bring the new method within practical reach of busy physicians. Specific attention is given to software, digital image processing, storage devices, and delivery methods. Our development of a urology multimedia presentation--delivered May 4, 1996, before the Society for Urology and Engineering and now Internet-accessible at http://www.usrf.org--was the impetus for this work.

Trialling a shaken baby syndrome prevention programme in the Auckland District Health Board.

PubMed

Kelly, Patrick; Wilson, Kati; Mowjood, Aqeela; Friedman, Joshua; Reed, Peter

2016-02-19

To describe and evaluate a shaken baby prevention programme trialled in the Auckland District Health Board from January 2010, to December 2011. Development and implementation of the programme, telephone survey of a sample of caregivers and written survey of a sample of providers. At least 2,592 caregivers received the trial programme. 150 (6%) were surveyed by telephone a median of 6 weeks later. 128 (85%) remembered at least one key message, unprompted; most commonly "It's OK to walk away" (94/150, 63%). When asked, 92% had made a plan for what to do when frustrated and 63% had shared the information with others. Only 98/150 (65%) watched the programme DVD. Many said they already knew about the risks of shaking a baby, but still found the programme highly relevant. Thirty-one nurses were surveyed. There was a high degree of agreement that the programme was relevant. Barriers to programme delivery included time, workload and the documentation required. A shaken baby prevention programme adapted to New Zealand can be introduced in a District Health Board and is acceptable to caregivers and health professionals. Further research is needed to evaluate the content, mode of delivery and effectiveness of this programme.

Monitoring Receptivity to Online Health Messages by Tracking Daily Web Traffic Engagement Patterns: A Review of More than 13 Million US Web Exposures over 1,235 Days.

PubMed

Seeman, Neil; Seeman, Bob

2017-01-01

Reaching the recipient of online health messages is necessary to Web-based health promotion applications. To measure willingness to adhere to a health-related Web message, we explored the frequency with which more than 13 million Web users ignored or opted to receive a random inbound message. The findings suggest declining curiosity among Web users about online messages, and that certain days may be more propitious than others for communicating with users. This approach can be modified to gather more granular insights into how messages, including timing and design features, can be tailored to promote improved public health messaging.

Use of an android phone application for automated text messages in international settings: A case study in an HIV clinical trial in St. Petersburg, Russia.

PubMed

Forman, Leah S; Patts, Gregory J; Coleman, Sharon M; Blokhina, Elena; Lu, John; Yaroslavtseva, Tatiana; Gnatienko, Natalia; Krupitsky, Evgeny; Samet, Jeffrey H; Chaisson, Christine E

2018-02-01

Reproducible outcomes in clinical trials depend on adherence to study protocol. Short message service (also known as text message) reminders have been shown to improve clinical trial adherence in the United States and elsewhere. However, due to systematic differences in mobile data plans, languages, and technology, these systems are not easily translated to international settings. To gauge technical capabilities for international projects, we developed SMSMessenger, an automated Android application that uses a US server to send medication reminders to participants in a clinical trial in St. Petersburg, Russia (Zinc for HIV disease among alcohol users-a randomized controlled trial in the Russia Alcohol Research Collaboration on HIV/AIDS cohort). The application is downloaded once onto an Android study phone. When it is time for the text message reminders to be sent, study personnel access the application on a local phone, which in turn accesses the existing clinical trial database hosted on a US web server. The application retrieves a list of participants with the following information: phone number, whether a message should be received at that time, and the appropriate text of the message. The application is capable of storing multiple outgoing messages. With a few clicks, text messages are sent to study participants who can reply directly to the message. Study staff can check the local phone for incoming messages. The SMSMessenger application uses an existing clinical trial database and is able to receive real-time updates. All communications between the application and server are encrypted, and phone numbers are stored in a secure database behind a firewall. No sensitive data are stored on the phone, as outgoing messages are sent through the application and not by messaging features on the phone itself. Messages are sent simultaneously to study participants, which reduces the burden on local study staff. Costs and setup are minimal. The only local requirements are an Android phone and data plan. The SMSMessenger technology could be modified to be applied anywhere in the world, in any language, script, or alphabet, and for many different purposes. The novel application of this existing low-cost technology can improve the usefulness of text messaging in advancing the goals of international clinical trials.

Customization of home closed-loop insulin delivery in adult patients with type 1 diabetes, assisted with structured remote monitoring: the pilot WP7 Diabeloop study.

PubMed

Benhamou, Pierre Yves; Huneker, Erik; Franc, Sylvia; Doron, Maeva; Charpentier, Guillaume

2018-06-01

Improvement in closed-loop insulin delivery systems could result from customization of settings to individual needs and remote monitoring. This pilot home study evaluated the efficacy and relevance of this approach. A bicentric clinical trial was conducted for 3 weeks, using an MPC-based algorithm (Diabeloop Artificial Pancreas system) featuring five settings designed to modulate the reactivity of regulation. Remote monitoring was ensured by expert nurses with a web platform generating automatic Secured Information Messages (SIMs) and with a structured procedure. Endpoints were glucose metrics and description of impact of monitoring on regulation parameters. Eight patients with type 1 diabetes (six men, age 41.8 ± 11.4 years, HbA1c 7.7 ± 1.0%) were included. Time spent in the 70-180 mg/dl range was 70.2% [67.5; 76.9]. Time in hypoglycemia < 70 mg/dl was 2.9% [2.1; 3.4]. Eleven SIMs led to phone intervention. Original default settings were modified in all patients by the intervention of the nurses. This pilot trial suggests that the Diabeloop closed-loop system could be efficient regarding metabolic outcomes, whereas its telemedical monitoring feature could contribute to enhanced efficacy and safety. This study is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov with trial registration number NCT02987556.

Performance analysis of local area networks

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Alkhatib, Hasan S.; Hall, Mary Grace

1990-01-01

A simulation of the TCP/IP protocol running on a CSMA/CD data link layer was described. The simulation was implemented using the simula language, and object oriented discrete event language. It allows the user to set the number of stations at run time, as well as some station parameters. Those parameters are the interrupt time and the dma transfer rate for each station. In addition, the user may configure the network at run time with stations of differing characteristics. Two types are available, and the parameters of both types are read from input files at run time. The parameters include the dma transfer rate, interrupt time, data rate, average message size, maximum frame size and the average interarrival time of messages per station. The information collected for the network is the throughput and the mean delay per packet. For each station, the number of messages attempted as well as the number of messages successfully transmitted is collected in addition to the throughput and mean packet delay per station.

Selections from the ABC 2013 Annual Convention, New Orleans, Louisiana. Part II: All That Favorite Assignment Jazz--Message Packaging and Delivery, Job Interviews, and On-the-Job Communication

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Whalen, D. Joel

2014-01-01

This article, the second in a two-part series, catalogs teaching innovations presented at the 2013 Association for Business Communication Annual Convention, New Orleans. They were presented during the My Favorite Assignment session. The 11 Favorite Assignments featured here offer the reader a variety of learning experiences, including…

Information Management: Telecommunications: Record Communications and the Privacy Communications System

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-09-04

commanders of major Army commands (MACOMs) will— (1) Disseminate a CIC’s specific meaning to all concerned agen- cies, offices, installations, data...be by electrical or non- electrical means and assigning the proper precedence. Where mail or courier is indicated, the writer must ensure that the...selected means are used for delivery. (7) Obtaining needed staff coordination. (8) Handcarrying priority and higher precedence messages during the staff

Reaching help on time in an emergency delivery.

PubMed

1991-01-01

Many maternal deaths in developing countries occur because mothers with complicated pregnancies or deliveries cannot be transported at all or fast enough to a health facility. A pregnant woman hemorrhaging greatly had to wait for a taxi because an unauthorized person had the health center's vehicle in Tanzania. Since most physicians practice in cities, most maternal deaths involve rural women. Further the less educated, lower the socioeconomic status, and lower the family's income the more likely she is to die. 3 phases contributed to transport delays of pregnant women. The 1st phase includes the time it take for a woman and her family to decide if her condition is serious enough to require medical attention, and if so, can they afford to pay for transport. Sometimes the services scare her or she considers the services to be of poor quality. The next phase involves the availability of transport and the distance between the mother and the services. Indeed in Nigeria, 96% of mothers who do not use medical delivery services report that they do not do so because of distance. Once at the health facility, the waiting period between arrival and meeting the woman's medical needs make up the 3rd phase. Often health facilities have inadequate number of medical personnel. Moreover the family must buy needed medical supplies before treatment can even begin. Alarm and transport systems are needed. In 1 area of India, pigeons carry messages to a physician that a woman is experiencing labor difficulties. Prior to the civil war in Somalia, a distinct flag informed passing motorists that emergency transport was needed for a pregnant woman who was carried to the roadside on a stretcher or in a cart. High technology transport is not cost effective and should not be part of a primary health care system.

Persuading People to Drink Less Alcohol: The Role of Message Framing, Temporal Focus and Autonomy.

PubMed

Churchill, Susan; Pavey, Louisa; Jessop, Donna; Sparks, Paul

2016-11-01

Health information can be used to try to persuade people to follow safe drinking recommendations. However, both the framing of information and the dispositional characteristics of message recipients need to be considered. An online study was conducted to examine how level of autonomy moderated the effect on drinking behaviour of gain- and loss-framed messages about the short- vs. long-term consequences of alcohol use. At Time 1, participants (N = 335) provided demographic information and completed a measure of autonomy. At Time 2, participants reported baseline alcohol use and read a gain-framed or loss-framed health message that highlighted either short- or long-term outcomes of alcohol consumption. Alcohol consumption was reported 7 days later. The results showed a significant three-way interaction between message framing (loss vs. gain), temporal focus (short-term vs. long-term) and autonomy. For low-autonomy (but not high-autonomy) individuals, the loss-framed health message was associated with lower levels of alcohol consumption than was the gain-framed message but only if the short-term outcomes were conveyed. This research provides evidence that the interaction between message framing and temporal focus may depend on a person's level of autonomy, which has implications for health promotion and the construction of effective health communication messages. We examined how autonomy moderated the effect on drinking behaviour of gain- and loss-framed messages about the short- vs. long-term consequences of alcohol use. For low-autonomy individuals, the loss-framed health message was associated with lower alcohol consumption than was the gain-framed message but only if the short-term outcomes were conveyed. © The Author 2016. Medical Council on Alcohol and Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.

Evaluation of dynamic message signs and their potential impact on traffic flow.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2013-04-01

Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA) has a rich data archive of the messages posted to the : Dynamic Message Signs (DMS) and the time stamps when they were posted and taken down. The archive : also contains traffic information surrounding the ...

ScatterBlogs2: real-time monitoring of microblog messages through user-guided filtering.

PubMed

Bosch, Harald; Thom, Dennis; Heimerl, Florian; Püttmann, Edwin; Koch, Steffen; Krüger, Robert; Wörner, Michael; Ertl, Thomas

2013-12-01

The number of microblog posts published daily has reached a level that hampers the effective retrieval of relevant messages, and the amount of information conveyed through services such as Twitter is still increasing. Analysts require new methods for monitoring their topic of interest, dealing with the data volume and its dynamic nature. It is of particular importance to provide situational awareness for decision making in time-critical tasks. Current tools for monitoring microblogs typically filter messages based on user-defined keyword queries and metadata restrictions. Used on their own, such methods can have drawbacks with respect to filter accuracy and adaptability to changes in trends and topic structure. We suggest ScatterBlogs2, a new approach to let analysts build task-tailored message filters in an interactive and visual manner based on recorded messages of well-understood previous events. These message filters include supervised classification and query creation backed by the statistical distribution of terms and their co-occurrences. The created filter methods can be orchestrated and adapted afterwards for interactive, visual real-time monitoring and analysis of microblog feeds. We demonstrate the feasibility of our approach for analyzing the Twitter stream in emergency management scenarios.

Feasibility and principal acceptability of school-based mobile communication applications to disseminate healthy lunchbox messages to parents.

PubMed

Reynolds, Renee; Sutherland, Rachel; Nathan, Nicole; Janssen, Lisa; Lecathelinais, Christophe; Reilly, Kathryn; Walton, Alison; Wolfenden, Luke

2018-03-12

This study aimed to assess the feasibility and acceptability of using an existing school-based mobile communication application to deliver messages to parents on how to pack a healthy lunchbox. A telephone survey was conducted with 196 primary school principals within the Hunter New England region of New South Wales, Australia, in 2016. Almost two thirds of primary schools (59%) currently use a school-based mobile communication application to communicate with parents. Most principals (91%) agreed school lunchboxes need improving, of which 80% agree it is a school's role to provide information and guidelines to parents. However, only 50% of principals reported currently providing such information. The provision of lunchbox messages to parents by a third party appeared an acceptable model of delivery by principals. Larger schools and schools in urban and lower socio-economic localities were more likely to have used a school-based mobile communication application. The majority of principals recognise student lunchboxes need improving. The use of school-based mobile communication applications appears to be feasible and acceptable by principals as a method of communicating lunchbox messages to parents. SO WHAT?: Use of school-based mobile communication applications may be an effective method for delivering health information at a population level. Future research should assess the potential efficacy of disseminating health interventions via this modality. © 2018 Australian Health Promotion Association.

The effects of frame, appeal, and outcome extremity of antismoking messages on cognitive processing.

PubMed

Leshner, Glenn; Cheng, I-Huei

2009-04-01

Research on the impact of antismoking advertisements in countermarketing cigarette advertising is equivocal. Although many studies examined how different message appeal types influence people's attitudes and behavior, there have been few studies that have explored the mechanism of how individuals attend to and remember antismoking information. This study examined how message attributes of antismoking TV ads (frame, appeal type, and outcome extremity) interacted to influence people's attention (secondary task reaction time) and memory (recognition). Antismoking public service announcements were chosen that were either loss- or gain-framed, had either a health or social appeal, or had either a more or less extreme outcome described in the message. Among the key findings were that loss-framed messages with more extreme outcomes required the most processing resources (i.e., had the slowest secondary task reaction times) and were the best remembered (i.e., were best recognized). These findings indicate ways that different message attributes affect individuals' cognitive processing, and they are discussed in light of prior framing and persuasion research.

Design of Instant Messaging System of Multi-language E-commerce Platform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Heng; Chen, Xinyi; Li, Jiajia; Cao, Yaru

2017-09-01

This paper aims at researching the message system in the instant messaging system based on the multi-language e-commerce platform in order to design the instant messaging system in multi-language environment and exhibit the national characteristics based information as well as applying national languages to e-commerce. In order to develop beautiful and friendly system interface for the front end of the message system and reduce the development cost, the mature jQuery framework is adopted in this paper. The high-performance server Tomcat is adopted at the back end to process user requests, and MySQL database is adopted for data storage to persistently store user data, and meanwhile Oracle database is adopted as the message buffer for system optimization. Moreover, AJAX technology is adopted for the client to actively pull the newest data from the server at the specified time. In practical application, the system has strong reliability, good expansibility, short response time, high system throughput capacity and high user concurrency.

Text messaging data collection for monitoring an infant feeding intervention program in rural China: feasibility study.

PubMed

Li, Ye; Wang, Wei; van Velthoven, Michelle Helena; Chen, Li; Car, Josip; Rudan, Igor; Zhang, Yanfeng; Wu, Qiong; Du, Xiaozhen; Scherpbier, Robert W

2013-12-04

An effective data collection method is crucial for high quality monitoring of health interventions. The traditional face-to-face data collection method is labor intensive, expensive, and time consuming. With the rapid increase of mobile phone subscribers, text messaging has the potential to be used for evaluation of population health interventions in rural China. The objective of this study was to explore the feasibility of using text messaging as a data collection tool to monitor an infant feeding intervention program. Participants were caregivers of children aged 0 to 23 months in rural China who participated in an infant feeding health education program. We used the test-retest method. First, we collected data with a text messaging survey and then with a face-to-face survey for 2 periods of 3 days. We compared the response rate, data agreement, costs, and participants' acceptability of the two methods. Also, we interviewed participants to explore their reasons for not responding to the text messages and the reasons for disagreement in the two methods. In addition, we evaluated the most appropriate time during the day for sending text messages. We included 258 participants; 99 (38.4%) participated in the text messaging survey and 177 (68.6%) in the face-to-face survey. Compared with the face-to-face survey, the text messaging survey had much lower response rates to at least one question (38.4% vs 68.6%) and to all 7 questions (27.9% vs 67.4%) with moderate data agreement (most kappa values between .5 and .75, the intraclass correlation coefficients between .53 to .72). Participants who took part in both surveys gave the same acceptability rating for both methods (median 4.0 for both on a 5-point scale, 1=disliked very much and 5=liked very much). The costs per questionnaire for the text messaging method were much lower than the costs for the face-to-face method: ¥19.7 (US $3.13) versus ¥33.9 (US $5.39) for all questionnaires, and ¥27.1 (US $4.31) versus ¥34.4 (US $5.47) for completed questionnaires. The main reasons for not replying were that participants did not receive text messages, they were too busy to reply, or they did not see text messages in time. The main reasons for disagreement in responses were that participants forgot their answers in the text messaging survey and that they changed their minds. We found that participants were more likely to reply to text messages immediately during 2 time periods: 8 AM to 3 PM and 8 PM to 9 PM. The text messaging method had reasonable data agreement and low cost, but a low response rate. Further research is needed to evaluate effectiveness of measures that can increase the response rate, especially in collecting longitudinal data by text messaging.

Text Messaging Data Collection for Monitoring an Infant Feeding Intervention Program in Rural China: Feasibility Study

PubMed Central

van Velthoven, Michelle Helena; Chen, Li; Car, Josip; Rudan, Igor; Wu, Qiong; Du, Xiaozhen; Scherpbier, Robert W

2013-01-01

Background An effective data collection method is crucial for high quality monitoring of health interventions. The traditional face-to-face data collection method is labor intensive, expensive, and time consuming. With the rapid increase of mobile phone subscribers, text messaging has the potential to be used for evaluation of population health interventions in rural China. Objective The objective of this study was to explore the feasibility of using text messaging as a data collection tool to monitor an infant feeding intervention program. Methods Participants were caregivers of children aged 0 to 23 months in rural China who participated in an infant feeding health education program. We used the test-retest method. First, we collected data with a text messaging survey and then with a face-to-face survey for 2 periods of 3 days. We compared the response rate, data agreement, costs, and participants’ acceptability of the two methods. Also, we interviewed participants to explore their reasons for not responding to the text messages and the reasons for disagreement in the two methods. In addition, we evaluated the most appropriate time during the day for sending text messages. Results We included 258 participants; 99 (38.4%) participated in the text messaging survey and 177 (68.6%) in the face-to-face survey. Compared with the face-to-face survey, the text messaging survey had much lower response rates to at least one question (38.4% vs 68.6%) and to all 7 questions (27.9% vs 67.4%) with moderate data agreement (most kappa values between .5 and .75, the intraclass correlation coefficients between .53 to .72). Participants who took part in both surveys gave the same acceptability rating for both methods (median 4.0 for both on a 5-point scale, 1=disliked very much and 5=liked very much). The costs per questionnaire for the text messaging method were much lower than the costs for the face-to-face method: ¥19.7 (US $3.13) versus ¥33.9 (US $5.39) for all questionnaires, and ¥27.1 (US $4.31) versus ¥34.4 (US $5.47) for completed questionnaires. The main reasons for not replying were that participants did not receive text messages, they were too busy to reply, or they did not see text messages in time. The main reasons for disagreement in responses were that participants forgot their answers in the text messaging survey and that they changed their minds. We found that participants were more likely to reply to text messages immediately during 2 time periods: 8 AM to 3 PM and 8 PM to 9 PM. Conclusions The text messaging method had reasonable data agreement and low cost, but a low response rate. Further research is needed to evaluate effectiveness of measures that can increase the response rate, especially in collecting longitudinal data by text messaging. PMID:24305514

Social mobilisation, consent and acceptability: a review of human papillomavirus vaccination procedures in low and middle-income countries.

PubMed

Kabakama, Severin; Gallagher, Katherine E; Howard, Natasha; Mounier-Jack, Sandra; Burchett, Helen E D; Griffiths, Ulla K; Feletto, Marta; LaMontagne, D Scott; Watson-Jones, Deborah

2016-08-19

Social mobilisation during new vaccine introductions encourages acceptance, uptake and adherence to multi-dose schedules. Effective communication is considered especially important for human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, which targets girls of an often-novel age group. This study synthesised experiences and lessons learnt around social mobilisation, consent, and acceptability during 55 HPV vaccine demonstration projects and 8 national programmes in 37 low and middle-income countries (LMICs) between January 2007 and January 2015. A qualitative study design included: (i) a systematic review, in which 1,301 abstracts from five databases were screened and 41 publications included; (ii) soliciting 124 unpublished documents from governments and partner institutions; and (iii) conducting 27 key informant interviews. Data were extracted and analysed thematically. Additionally, first-dose coverage rates were categorised as above 90 %, 90-70 %, and below 70 %, and cross-tabulated with mobilisation timing, message content, materials and methods of delivery, and consent procedures. All but one delivery experience achieved over 70 % first-dose coverage; 60 % achieved over 90 %. Key informants emphasized the benefits of starting social mobilisation early and actively addressing rumours as they emerged. Interactive communication with parents appeared to achieve higher first-dose coverage than non-interactive messaging. Written parental consent (i.e., opt-in), though frequently used, resulted in lower reported coverage than implied consent (i.e., opt-out). Protection against cervical cancer was the primary reason for vaccine acceptability, whereas fear of adverse effects, exposure to rumours, lack of project/programme awareness, and schoolgirl absenteeism were major reasons for non-vaccination. Despite some challenges in obtaining parental consent and addressing rumours, experiences indicated effective social mobilisation and high HPV vaccine acceptability in LMICs. Social mobilisation, consent, and acceptability lessons were consistent across world regions and HPV vaccination projects/programmes. These can be used to guide HPV vaccination communication strategies without additional formative research.

Development of a staff recall system for mass casualty incidents using cell phone text messaging.

PubMed

Epstein, Richard H; Ekbatani, Ali; Kaplan, Javier; Shechter, Ronen; Grunwald, Zvi

2010-03-01

After a mass casualty incident (MCI), rapid mobilization of hospital personnel is required because of an expected surge of victims. Risk assessment of our department's manual phone tree recall system revealed multiple weaknesses that would limit an effective response. Because cell phone use is widespread within the department, we developed and tested a staff recall system, based in our anesthesia information management system (AIMS), using Short Message Service (SMS) text messaging. We sent test text messages to anesthesia staff members' cell phone numbers, determined the distance from their home to the hospital, and stored this information in our AIMS. Latency testing for the time from transmission of SMS test messages from the server to return of an e-mail reply was determined at 2 different times on 2 different dates, 1 of which was a busy holiday weekend, using volunteers within the department. Two unannounced simulated disaster recall drills were conducted, with text messages sent asking for the anticipated time to return to the hospital. A timeline of available staff on site was determined. Reasons for failure to respond to the disaster notification message were tabulated. Latency data were fit by a log-normal distribution with an average of 82 seconds from message transmission to e-mail reply. Replies to the simulated disaster alert were received from approximately 50% of staff, with 16 projecting that they would have been able to be back at the hospital within 30 minutes on both dates. There would have been 21 and 23 staff in-house at 30 minutes, and 32 and 37 staff in-house at 60 minutes on the first and second test date, respectively, including in-house staff. Of the nonresponders to the alert, 48% indicated that their cell phone was not with them or was turned off, whereas 22% missed the message. Our SMS staff recall system is likely to be able to rapidly mobilize sufficient numbers of anesthesia personnel in response to an MCI, but actual performance cannot be predicted with confidence. Using our AIMS as the source for contact information and from which to send messages was simple, inexpensive, and easy to implement. Updating contact information, periodic testing, and analysis of responses to simulated disaster alerts are essential for the effective functioning of such a system. However, maintenance of alternative methods of communication is recommended, because there may be more significant message transmission delays and failures during an actual MCI, and not all staff will receive the text message in a timely fashion.

Control mechanism to prevent correlated message arrivals from degrading signaling no. 7 network performance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kosal, Haluk; Skoog, Ronald A.

1994-04-01

Signaling System No. 7 (SS7) is designed to provide a connection-less transfer of signaling messages of reasonable length. Customers having access to user signaling bearer capabilities as specified in the ANSI T1.623 and CCITT Q.931 standards can send bursts of correlated messages (e.g., by doing a file transfer that results in the segmentation of a block of data into a number of consecutive signaling messages) through SS7 networks. These message bursts with short interarrival times could have an adverse impact on the delay performance of the SS7 networks. A control mechanism, Credit Manager, is investigated in this paper to regulate incoming traffic to the SS7 network by imposing appropriate time separation between messages when the incoming stream is too bursty. The credit manager has a credit bank where credits accrue at a fixed rate up to a prespecified credit bank capacity. When a message arrives, the number of octets in that message is compared to the number of credits in the bank. If the number of credits is greater than or equal to the number of octets, then the message is accepted for transmission and the number of credits in the bank is decremented by the number of octets. If the number of credits is less than the number of octets, then the message is delayed until enough credits are accumulated. This paper presents simulation results showing delay performance of the SS7 ISUP and TCAP message traffic with a range of correlated message traffic, and control parameters of the credit manager (i.e., credit generation rate and bank capacity) are determined that ensure the traffic entering the SS7 network is acceptable. The results show that control parameters can be set so that for any incoming traffic stream there is no detrimental impact on the SS7 ISUP and TCAP message delay, and the credit manager accepts a wide range of traffic patterns without causing significant delay.

Intrathecal Pump Exposure to Electromagnetic Interference: A Report of Device Interrogation following Multiple ECT Sessions.

PubMed

Bicket, Mark C; Hanna, George M

2016-02-01

Intrathecal drug delivery systems represent an increasingly common treatment modality for patients with a variety of conditions, including chronic pain and spasticity. Pumps rely on electronic programming to properly control and administer highly concentrated medications. Electromagnetic interference (EMI) is a known exposure that may cause a potential patient safety issue stemming from direct patient injury, pump damage, or changes to pump operation or flow rate. The objective of our case report was to describe an approach to evaluating a patient with a pump prior to and following exposure to EMI from electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), as well as to document findings from device interrogations associated with this event. Case report. Academic university-based pain management center. We present the case of a patient with an intrathecal pump who underwent multiple exposures to EMI in the form of 42 ECT sessions. Interrogation of the intrathecal drug delivery system revealed no safety issues following ECT sessions. At no time were error messages, unintentional changes in event logs, unintentional changes in pump settings, or evidence of pump stall or over-infusion noted. Communication with multiple entities (patient, family, consulting physicians, and device manufacturer) and maintaining vigilance through device interrogation both before and after EMI exposure are appropriate safeguards to mitigate the risk and detect potential adverse events of EMI with intrathecal drug delivery systems. Given the infrequent reports of device exposure to ECT, best practices may be derived from experience with EMI exposure from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Although routine EMI exposure to intrathecal drug delivery systems should be avoided, we describe one patient with repeated exposure to ECT without apparent complication.

Software Implements a Space-Mission File-Transfer Protocol

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rundstrom, Kathleen; Ho, Son Q.; Levesque, Michael; Sanders, Felicia; Burleigh, Scott; Veregge, John

2004-01-01

CFDP is a computer program that implements the CCSDS (Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems) File Delivery Protocol, which is an international standard for automatic, reliable transfers of files of data between locations on Earth and in outer space. CFDP administers concurrent file transfers in both directions, delivery of data out of transmission order, reliable and unreliable transmission modes, and automatic retransmission of lost or corrupted data by use of one or more of several lost-segment-detection modes. The program also implements several data-integrity measures, including file checksums and optional cyclic redundancy checks for each protocol data unit. The metadata accompanying each file can include messages to users application programs and commands for operating on remote file systems.

Increasing the Operational Value of Event Messages

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

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.

The feasibility of characterising the effects of dental post-operative discomfort and sensitivity over time.

PubMed

Sear, Rose; Rees, Jeremy; Buller, Zairah; Moore, Simon C

2018-05-01

To assess the feasibility of using short message service text messages to solicit dental patients' experiences of post-operative dental discomfort and sensitivity (PODDS) and whether responses characterise change in PODDS over time. Patients were recruited from clinics following routine dental procedures, such as simple restorations or root surface debridement. They completed a short questionnaire collecting information on socio-economic circumstances, their recent experience of PODDS, the acceptability of receiving text message questions and their telephone number. Participants received a short question by text to their telephone for five consecutive days that asked them to respond with an indication (on a 1 to 10 scale) of their experience of PODDS at that time. Questionnaires were completed by 34 participants, of whom text message responses were received from an average of 23.4 participants (min 20, max 26) across the five follow-up days. Regression analyses indicated that PODDS decreased over time (β = -0.24, 95% CI -0.36 to -0.12). Text messaging to solicit PODDS is feasible and can potentially be used to assess the efficacy of treatments designed to minimise or reduce PODDS. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Decentralized operating procedures for orchestrating data and behavior across distributed military systems and assets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peach, Nicholas

2011-06-01

In this paper, we present a method for a highly decentralized yet structured and flexible approach to achieve systems interoperability by orchestrating data and behavior across distributed military systems and assets with security considerations addressed from the beginning. We describe an architecture of a tool-based design of business processes called Decentralized Operating Procedures (DOP) and the deployment of DOPs onto run time nodes, supporting the parallel execution of each DOP at multiple implementation nodes (fixed locations, vehicles, sensors and soldiers) throughout a battlefield to achieve flexible and reliable interoperability. The described method allows the architecture to; a) provide fine grain control of the collection and delivery of data between systems; b) allow the definition of a DOP at a strategic (or doctrine) level by defining required system behavior through process syntax at an abstract level, agnostic of implementation details; c) deploy a DOP into heterogeneous environments by the nomination of actual system interfaces and roles at a tactical level; d) rapidly deploy new DOPs in support of new tactics and systems; e) support multiple instances of a DOP in support of multiple missions; f) dynamically add or remove run-time nodes from a specific DOP instance as missions requirements change; g) model the passage of, and business reasons for the transmission of each data message to a specific DOP instance to support accreditation; h) run on low powered computers with lightweight tactical messaging. This approach is designed to extend the capabilities of existing standards, such as the Generic Vehicle Architecture (GVA).

More Than a Text Message: Dismantling Digital Triggers to Curate Behavior Change in Patient-Centered Health Interventions

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Digital triggers such as text messages, emails, and push alerts are designed to focus an individual on a desired goal by prompting an internal or external reaction at the appropriate time. Triggers therefore have an essential role in engaging individuals with digital interventions delivered outside of traditional health care settings, where other events in daily lives and fluctuating motivation to engage in effortful behavior exist. There is an emerging body of literature examining the use of digital triggers for short-term action and longer-term behavior change. However, little attention has been given to understanding the components of digital triggers. Using tailoring as an overarching framework, we separated digital triggers into 5 primary components: (1) who (sender), (2) how (stimulus type, delivery medium, heterogeneity), (3) when (delivered), (4) how much (frequency, intensity), and (5) what (trigger’s target, trigger’s structure, trigger’s narrative). We highlighted key considerations when tailoring each component and the pitfalls of ignoring common mistakes, such as alert fatigue and habituation. As evidenced throughout the paper, there is a broad literature base from which to draw when tailoring triggers to curate behavior change in health interventions. More research is needed, however, to examine differences in efficacy based on component tailoring, to best use triggers to facilitate behavior change over time, and to keep individuals engaged in physical and mental health behavior change efforts. Dismantling digital triggers into their component parts and reassembling them according to the gestalt of one’s change goals is the first step in this development work. PMID:28550001

Getting Your Message out (And Why It's Not Enough)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, Jean

2015-01-01

Sometimes, education leaders are so intent on getting their message out that they neglect the other side of the equation--listening. In this article, Jean Johnson of Public Agenda describes the conditions that make "messaging" a perilous undertaking today. "These are skeptical times," she explains, in which Americans are…

SAHAYOG: A Testbed for Load Sharing under Failure,

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-07-01

messages, shared memory and semaphores . To communicate using messages, processes create message queues using system-provided prim- itives. The message...The size of the memory that is to be shared is decided by the process when it makes a request for memory allocation. The semaphore option of IPC can be...used to prevent two or more concurrent processes from executing their critical sections at the same time. Semaphores must be used when the processes

'TXT2BFiT' a mobile phone-based healthy lifestyle program for preventing unhealthy weight gain in young adults: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Hebden, Lana; Balestracci, Kate; McGeechan, Kevin; Denney-Wilson, Elizabeth; Harris, Mark; Bauman, Adrian; Allman-Farinelli, Margaret

2013-03-18

Despite international efforts to arrest increasing rates of overweight and obesity, many population strategies have neglected young adults as a target group. Young adults are at high risk for unhealthy weight gain which tends to persist throughout adulthood with associated chronic disease health risks. TXT2BFiT is a nine month two-arm parallel-group randomized controlled trial aimed at improving weight management and weight-related dietary and physical activity behaviors among young adults. Participants are recruited via general practice (primary medical care) clinics in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. All participants receive a mailed resource outlining national physical activity and dietary guidelines and access to the study website. Additional resources accessible to the intervention arm via the study website include Smartphone mobile applications, printable handouts, an interactive healthy weight tracker chart, and a community blog. The study consists of two phases: (1) Intensive phase (weeks 1 to 12): the control arm receives four short message service (SMS) text messages; the intervention arm receives eight SMS messages/week tailored to their baseline stage-of-change, one Email/week, and personalized coaching calls during weeks 0, 2, 5, 8, and 11; and (2) Maintenance phase (weeks 14 to 36): the intervention arm receives one SMS message/month, one Email/month and booster coaching calls during months 5 and 8. A sample of N = 354 (177 per arm) is required to detect differences in primary outcomes: body weight (kg) and body mass index (kg/m2), and secondary outcomes: physical activity, sitting time, intake of specific foods, beverages and nutrients, stage-of-change, self-efficacy and participant well-being, at three and nine months. Program reach, costs, implementation and participant engagement will also be assessed. This mobile phone based program addresses an important gap in obesity prevention efforts to date. The method of intervention delivery is via platforms that are highly accessible and appropriate for this population group. If effective, further translational research will be required to assess how this program might operate in the broader community. Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12612000924853.

Two-Way Social Media Messaging in Postoperative Cataract Surgical Patients: Prospective Interventional Study

PubMed Central

Sanguansak, Thuss; Morley, Michael G; Thinkhamrop, Kavin; Thuanman, Jaruwan; Agarwal, Isha

2017-01-01

Background Social media offers a new way to provide education, reminders, and support for patients with a variety of health conditions. Most of these interventions use one-way, provider-patient communication. Incorporating social media tools to improve postoperative (postop) education and follow-up care has only been used in limited situations. Objective The aim of this study was to determine the feasibility and efficacy of two-way social media messaging to deliver reminders and educational information about postop care to cataract patients. Methods A total of 98 patients undergoing their first eye cataract surgery were divided into two groups: a no message group receiving usual pre- and postop care and a message group receiving usual care plus messages in a mobile social media format with standardized content and timing. Each patient in the message group received nine messages about hand and face hygiene, medication and postop visit adherence, and links to patient education videos about postop care. Patients could respond to messages as desired. Main outcome measures included medication adherence, postop visit adherence, clinical outcomes, and patients’ subjective assessments of two-way messaging. The number, types, content, and timing of responses by patients to messages were recorded. Results Medication adherence was better in the message group at postop day 7, with high adherence in 47 patients (96%, 47/49) versus 36 patients (73%, 36/49) in the no message group (P=.004), but no statistically significant differences in medication adherence between the groups were noted at preop and postop day 30. Visit adherence was higher at postop day 30 in the message group (100%, 49/49) versus the no message group (88%, 43/49; P=.03) but was 100% (49/49) in both groups at postop day 1 and 7. Final visual outcomes were similar between groups. A total of 441 standardized messages were sent to the message group. Out of 270 responses generated, 188 (70%) were simple acknowledgments or “thank you,” and 82 (30%) responses were questions that were divided into three general categories: administrative, postop care, and clinical issues. Out of the 82 question responses, 31 (11%) were about administrative issues, 28 (10%) about postop care, and 23 (9%) about clinical symptoms. All the messages about symptoms were triaged by nurses or ophthalmologists and only required reassurance or information. Patients expressed satisfaction with messaging. Conclusions Two-way social media messaging to deliver postop information to cataract patients is feasible and improves early medication compliance. Further design improvements can streamline work flow to optimize efficiency and patient satisfaction. PMID:29258973

An Initial Investigation into Naturally Occurring Loss- and Gain-Framed Memorable Breast Cancer Messages

PubMed Central

LaPlante, Carolyn; Smith, Sandi; Kotowski, Michael; Nazione, Samantha; Stohl, Cynthia; Prestin, Abby; So, Jiyeon; Nabi, Robin

2012-01-01

Memorable message research examines interpersonal messages “…remembered for extremely long periods of time and which people perceive as a major influence on the course of their lives” (Knapp, Stohl, & Reardon, 1981, p. 27). They can also guide actions, such as health behaviors. This exploratory research examined self-reported memorable messages about breast cancer to determine if they were framed, emphasizing either the benefits (gain-framed) or the costs (loss-framed) of a behavior. About one-fourth of the messages were framed, with most being gain-framed. The messages tended to emphasize early detection actions. Study limitations and implications for future research are discussed. PMID:22539867

Birth preparedness and complication readiness - a qualitative study among community members in rural Tanzania.

PubMed

August, Furaha; Pembe, Andrea B; Kayombo, Edmund; Mbekenga, Columba; Axemo, Pia; Darj, Elisabeth

2015-01-01

Birth preparedness and complication readiness (BP/CR) strategies are aimed at reducing delays in seeking, reaching, and receiving care. Counselling on birth preparedness is provided during antenatal care visits. However, it is not clear why birth preparedness messages do not translate to utilisation of facility delivery. This study explores the perceptions, experiences, and challenges the community faces on BP/CR. A qualitative study design using Focused Group Discussions was conducted. Twelve focus group discussions were held with four separate groups: young men and women and older men and women in a rural community in Tanzania. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the data. The community members expressed a perceived need to prepare for childbirth. They were aware of the importance to attend the antenatal clinics, relied on family support for practical and financial preparations such as saving money for costs related to delivery, moving closer to the nearest hospital, and also to use traditional herbs, in favour of a positive outcome. Community recognised that pregnancy and childbirth complications are preferably treated at hospital. Facility delivery was preferred; however, certain factors including stigma on unmarried women and transportation were identified as hindering birth preparedness and hence utilisation of skilled care. Challenges were related to the consequences of poverty, though the maternal health care should be free, they perceived difficulties due to informal user fees. This study revealed community perceptions that were in favour of using skilled care in BP/CR. However, issues related to inability to prepare in advance hinder the realisation of the intention to use skilled care. It is important to innovate how the community reinforces BP/CR, such as using insurance schemes, using community health funds, and providing information on other birth preparedness messages via community health workers.

Using Consumer Preference Information to Increase the Reach and Impact of Media-Based Parenting Interventions in a Public Health Approach to Parenting Support

PubMed Central

Metzler, Carol W.; Sanders, Matthew R.; Rusby, Julie C.; Crowley, Ryann

2012-01-01

Within a public health approach to improving parenting, the mass media offer a potentially more efficient and affordable format for directly reaching a large number of parents with evidence-based parenting information than do traditional approaches to parenting interventions that require delivery by a practitioner. Little is known, however, about factors associated with parents’ interest in and willingness to watch video messages about parenting. Knowledge of consumer preferences could inform the effective design of media interventions to maximize parental engagement in the parenting messages. This study examined parents’ preferred formats for receiving parenting information, as well as family sociodemographic and child behavior factors that predict parents’ ratings of acceptability of a media-based parenting intervention. An ethnically diverse sample of 162 parents of children ages 3–6 years reported their preferences for various delivery formats for parenting information and provided feedback on a prototype episode of a video-format parenting program based on the Triple P Positive Parenting Program. Parents reported the strongest preference for self-administered delivery formats such as television, online programs, and written materials; the least preferred formats were home visits, therapists, and multiweek parenting groups. Parents’ ratings of engagement, watchability, and realism of the prototype parenting episode were quite strong. Parents whose children exhibited clinical levels of problem behaviors rated the episode as more watchable, engaging, and realistic. Mothers also rated the episodes as more engaging and realistic than did fathers. Lower income marginally predicted higher watchability ratings. Minority status and expectations of future problems did not predict acceptability ratings. The results suggest that the episode had broad appeal across groups. PMID:22440064

Community Peer-Led Falls Prevention Presentations: What Do the Experts Suggest?

PubMed

Khong, Linda A M; Berlach, Richard G; Hill, Keith D; Hill, Anne-Marie

2018-04-01

Falls among older adults are a major problem. Despite considerable progress in falls prevention research, older adults often show low motivation to engage in recommended preventive strategies. Peer-led falls prevention education for older adults may have potential for bridging the research evidence-practice gap, thereby promoting the uptake of falls prevention strategies. We evaluated peer educators' presentations of falls prevention education to community-dwelling older adults in regard to established criteria that were consistent with adult learning principles, the framework of health behaviour change, falls prevention guidelines, and recommendations for providing falls prevention information. We conducted a within-stage mixed model study using purposive and snowball sampling techniques to recruit 10 experts to evaluate video recordings of the delivery of three peer-led falls prevention presentations. Each expert viewed three videos and rated them using a questionnaire containing both open-ended and closed items. There was a good level of expert agreement across the questionnaire domains. Though the experts rated some aspects of the presentations highly, they thought that the presentations were mainly didactic in delivery, not consistently personally relevant to the older adult audience, and did not encourage older adults to engage in the preventive strategies that were presented. Based on the experts' findings, we developed five key themes and recommendations for the effective delivery of peer-led falls prevention presentations. These included recommending that peer educators share falls prevention messages in a more interactive and experiential manner and that uptake of strategies should be facilitated by encouraging the older adults to develop a personalised action plan. Findings suggest that if peer-led falls prevention presentations capitalise on older adults' capability, opportunity, and motivation, the older adults may be more receptive to take up falls prevention messages.

Using consumer preference information to increase the reach and impact of media-based parenting interventions in a public health approach to parenting support.

PubMed

Metzler, Carol W; Sanders, Matthew R; Rusby, Julie C; Crowley, Ryann N

2012-06-01

Within a public health approach to improving parenting, the mass media offer a potentially more efficient and affordable format for directly reaching a large number of parents with evidence-based parenting information than do traditional approaches to parenting interventions that require delivery by a practitioner. Little is known, however, about factors associated with parents' interest in and willingness to watch video messages about parenting. Knowledge of consumer preferences could inform the effective design of media interventions to maximize parental engagement in the parenting messages. This study examined parents' preferred formats for receiving parenting information, as well as family sociodemographic and child behavior factors that predict parents' ratings of acceptability of a media-based parenting intervention. An ethnically diverse sample of 162 parents of children ages 3-6 years reported their preferences for various delivery formats for parenting information and provided feedback on a prototype episode of a video-format parenting program based on the Triple P Positive Parenting Program. Parents reported the strongest preference for self-administered delivery formats such as television, online programs, and written materials; the least preferred formats were home visits, therapists, and multiweek parenting groups. Parents' ratings of engagement, watchability, and realism of the prototype parenting episode were quite strong. Parents whose children exhibited clinical levels of problem behaviors rated the episode as more watchable, engaging, and realistic. Mothers also rated the episodes as more engaging and realistic than did fathers. Lower income marginally predicted higher watchability ratings. Minority status and expectations of future problems did not predict acceptability ratings. The results suggest that the episode had broad appeal across groups. Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Developing effective messages about potable recycled water: The importance of message structure and content

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Price, J.; Fielding, K. S.; Gardner, J.; Leviston, Z.; Green, M.

2015-04-01

Community opposition is a barrier to potable recycled water schemes. Effective communication strategies about such schemes are needed. Drawing on social psychological literature, two experimental studies are presented, which explore messages that improve public perceptions of potable recycled water. The Elaboration-Likelihood Model of information processing and attitude change is tested and supported. Study 1 (N = 415) premeasured support for recycled water, and trust in government information at Time 1. Messages varied in complexity and sidedness were presented at Time 2 (3 weeks later), and support and trust were remeasured. Support increased after receiving information, provided that participants received complex rather than simple information. Trust in government was also higher after receiving information. There was tentative evidence of this in response to two-sided messages rather than one-sided messages. Initial attitudes to recycled water moderated responses to information. Those initially neutral or ambivalent responded differently to simple and one-sided messages, compared to participants with positive or negative attitudes. Study 2 (N = 957) tested the effectiveness of information about the low relative risks, and/or benefits of potable recycled water, compared to control groups. Messages about the low risks resulted in higher support when the issue of recycled water was relevant. Messages about benefits resulted in higher perceived issue relevance, but did not translate into greater support. The results highlight the importance of understanding people's motivation to process information, and need to tailor communication to match attitudes and stage of recycled water schemes' development.

Improving Health Worker Adherence to Malaria Treatment Guidelines in Papua New Guinea: Feasibility and Acceptability of a Text Message Reminder Service

PubMed Central

Kurumop, Serah F.; Bullen, Chris; Whittaker, Robyn; Betuela, Inoni; Hetzel, Manuel W.; Pulford, Justin

2013-01-01

The aim of this study is to assess whether a text message reminder service designed to support health worker adherence to a revised malaria treatment protocol is feasible and acceptable in Papua New Guinea (PNG). The study took place in six purposively selected health facilities located in the Eastern Highlands Province (EHP) of PNG. Ten text messages designed to remind participants of key elements of the new NMTP were transmitted to 42 health workers twice over a two week period (two text messages per day, Monday to Friday) via the country’s largest mobile network provider. The feasibility and acceptability of the text message reminder service was assessed by transmission reports, participant diaries and group discussions. Findings indicate that the vast majority of text messages were successfully transmitted, participants’ had regular mobile phone access and that most text messages were read most of the time and were considered both acceptable and clinically useful. Nevertheless, the study found that PNG health workers may tire of the service if the same messages are repeated too many times and that health workers may be reluctant to utilize more comprehensive, yet complementary, resources. In conclusion, a text message reminder service to support health worker adherence to the new malaria treatment protocol is feasible and acceptable in PNG. A rigorous pragmatic, effectiveness trial would be justified on the basis of these findings. PMID:24116122

Helping Older Adults Sustain Their Physical Therapy Gains: A Theory-Based Intervention to Promote Adherence to Home Exercise Following Rehabilitation.

PubMed

Gallagher, Kristel M

2016-01-01

The benefits of exercise gained by older adults during physical therapy are often not maintained once the program is over. This lack of sustained benefits is thought to be partially the result of poor adherence to the prescribed home exercise program to be continued once therapy is completed. Most of what is known about older adults' adherence to physical therapy and home exercise comes from research seeking to identify and understand predictors of adherence, rather than trying to enhance adherence explicitly. The purpose of this study was to test a theoretically grounded approach to promoting adherence to home exercise programs in older adults. Sixty older adults (M age = 69.3 (6.87) years) in a program of physical therapy received 1 of 2 print messages and magnets promoting adherence to home exercise. The content of the messages was informed by the goal-specific tenets of socioemotional selectivity theory-one message described the emotional and meaningful benefits of home exercise, such as time with loved ones and independence, and one message described facts and information about physiological benefits, such as balance and strength. Adherence to home exercise was measured 2 weeks after participants were discharged from physical therapy by calculating the percentage of the prescribed exercises participants reported completing at home. An analysis of covariance indicated that there was no statistically significant difference in adherence rates between participants receiving either message. However, a 2×2 analysis of covariance did reveal a significant interaction between the type of message participants received and the time at which they received that message. Post hoc analyses separately examined the rates of adherence in participants who received the intervention message with time remaining in their therapy program and participants who received the intervention message on the day of discharge. In the subset of participants who received their intervention message with time remaining in their therapy program, those who received the emotion and meaning message were somewhat more adherent to their home exercise program than those who received the facts and information message (63.6% vs 50.8%; P = .07). Those who received the emotion and meaning message also performed on average more exercises outside of their home exercise program (2.4 vs 1.3; P = .06). Despite lacking a statistically significant difference between message groups, the results of this study suggest that highlighting the emotional and meaningful benefits of home exercise versus providing facts and information about the physiological benefits may encourage older adults to be adherent to their home exercise programs. This may especially be the case if they receive the information while still in therapy. As this was the first study to empirically test an intervention targeting adherence to post-physical therapy home exercise in older adults, future research is needed to better understand what motivates older adults to be adherent.

Health messages on television commercials.

PubMed

Wallack, L; Dorfman, L

1992-01-01

Television is an important source of health information in the United States, yet little research has focused on the presentation of general health issues on television. This preliminary study reports on the health-related content of television commercials found on a typical television day. We conducted a content analysis of a composite day of television comprising 20 hours randomly selected over a three week period (April-May 1989). Findings are presented regarding health messages found in commercial time--advertisements, public service announcements (PSAs), editorials, and promotions for upcoming programs. Overall, 31% of the 654 commercial spots contained health messages. Most health messages were claims of good nutrition in food and beverage advertisements. PSAs comprise 1.4% of the 20-hour sample and 5.8% of the commercial time. Health messages appeared in 38% of PSAs, accounting for less than seven minutes. Not one PSA addressed tobacco, alcohol, or diet--the three leading behavioral risk factors for poor health. PSAs are usually seen as a mechanism by which the public health community can alert the public to important health issues. Given the declining pool of PSA time, public health educators will need to seek alternative strategies for influencing television content, such as media advocacy. In addition, further research on audience interpretation and response to commercial messages is suggested.

The effects of fear appeal message repetition on perceived threat, perceived efficacy, and behavioral intention in the extended parallel process model.

PubMed

Shi, Jingyuan Jolie; Smith, Sandi W

2016-01-01

This study examined the effect of moderately repeated exposure (three times) to a fear appeal message on the Extended Parallel Processing Model (EPPM) variables of threat, efficacy, and behavioral intentions for the recommended behaviors in the message, as well as the proportions of systematic and message-related thoughts generated after each message exposure. The results showed that after repeated exposure to a fear appeal message about preventing melanoma, perceived threat in terms of susceptibility and perceived efficacy in terms of response efficacy significantly increased. The behavioral intentions of all recommended behaviors did not change after repeated exposure to the message. However, after the second exposure the proportions of both systematic and all message-related thoughts (relative to total thoughts) significantly decreased while the proportion of heuristic thoughts significantly increased, and this pattern held after the third exposure. The findings demonstrated that the predictions in the EPPM are likely to be operative after three exposures to a persuasive message.

Increasing Youths' Exposure to a Tobacco Prevention Media Campaign in Rural and Low-Population-Density Communities

PubMed Central

Vallone, Donna M.; Allen, Jane A.; Cullen, Jennifer; Mowery, Paul D.; Xiao, Haijun; Dorrler, Nicole; Asche, Eric T.; Healton, Cheryl

2009-01-01

Objectives. We examined the effectiveness of a program to increase exposure to national “truth” tobacco countermarketing messages among youths in rural and low-population-density communities. Methods. A longitudinal survey of 2618 youths aged 12 to 17 years was conducted over 5 months in 8 media markets receiving supplemental advertising and 8 comparison markets receiving less than the national average of “truth” messages. Results. Confirmed awareness of “truth” increased from 40% to 71% among youths in treatment markets while remaining stable in comparison markets. Over 35% of all youths who were unaware of the campaign at baseline became aware of it as a direct result of the increased advertising. Youths living in rural and low-population-density communities were receptive to the campaign's messages. Conclusions. Through purchase of airtime in local broadcast media, the reach of a national tobacco countermarketing campaign was expanded among youths living in rural and low-population-density areas. This strategy of augmenting delivery of nationally broadcast antitobacco ads can serve as a model for leveraging limited tobacco control resources to increase the impact of evidence-based tobacco prevention campaigns. PMID:19833994

A pilot study of delivering peer health messages in an HIV clinic via mobile media.

PubMed

Winstead-Derlega, Christopher; Rafaly, Mary; Delgado, Sarah; Freeman, Jason; Cutitta, Katherine; Miles, Tony; Ingersoll, Karen; Dillingham, Rebecca

2012-01-01

This pilot study tested the feasibility and impact of using mobile media devices to present peer health messages to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive patients. A convenience sample of 30 adult patients from an outpatient HIV clinic serving a mostly rural catchment area in central Virginia volunteered for the study. Participants viewed short videos of people discussing HIV health topics on an Apple (Cupertino, CA) iPod® touch® mobile device. Pre- and post-intervention surveys assessed attitudes related to engagement in care and disease disclosure. Participants found delivery of health information by the mobile device acceptable in a clinic setting. They used the technology without difficulty. Participants reported satisfaction with and future interest in viewing such videos after using the mobile devices. The majority of participants used the device to access more videos than requested, and many reported the videos "hit home." There were no significant changes in participant perceptions about engagement in care or HIV disclosure after the intervention. This pilot study demonstrates the feasibility and acceptability of using mobile media technology to deliver peer health messages. Future research should explore how to best use mobile media to improve engagement in care and reduce perceptions of stigma.

Perceptions of successful cues to action and opportunities to augment behavioral triggers in diabetes self-management: qualitative analysis of a mobile intervention for low-income Latinos with diabetes.

PubMed

Burner, Elizabeth R; Menchine, Michael D; Kubicek, Katrina; Robles, Marisela; Arora, Sanjay

2014-01-29

The increasing prevalence of diabetes and the associated cost of managing this complicated disease have a significant impact on public health outcomes and health expenditures, especially among resource-poor Latino patients. Mobile health (mHealth) may be the solution to reaching this group and improving their health. In this qualitative study, we examined nuances of motivation, intention, and triggers to action effected by TExT-MED (Trial to Examine Text Messaging for Emergency Department patient with Diabetes), an mHealth intervention tailored to low-income, urban Latinos with diabetes. TExT-MED is a fully-automated, text message-based program designed to increase knowledge, self-efficacy, and subsequent disease management and glycemic control. We conducted 5 focus group interviews with 24 people who participated in TExT-MED. We employed a modified grounded theory analytic approach-an iterative process of coding and immersion in the data used to recognize the patterns and links between concepts voiced by the participants. We coded data to identify themes of participant experiences, motivations, and responses to the program. We organized themes into a theory of TExT-MED's action. Participants enjoyed their experience with TExT-MED and believed it improved their diabetes management. Through analysis of the transcripts, we identified that the strengths of the program were messages that cued specific behaviors such as medication reminders and challenge messages. Our analysis also revealed that increasing personalization of message delivery and content could augment these cues. This in-depth qualitative analysis of TExT-MED shows that low-income Latino patients will accept text messages as a behavioral intervention. This mHealth intervention acts as a behavioral trigger rather than an education platform. Personalization is an opportunity to enhance these cues to action and further research should be conducted on the ideal forms of personalization.

A Mobile Health Strategy to Support Adherence to Antiretroviral Preexposure Prophylaxis.

PubMed

Fuchs, Jonathan D; Stojanovski, Kristefer; Vittinghoff, Eric; McMahan, Vanessa M; Hosek, Sybill G; Amico, K Rivet; Kouyate, Aminta; Gilmore, Hailey J; Buchbinder, Susan P; Lester, Richard T; Grant, Robert M; Liu, Albert Y

2018-03-01

Preexposure prophylaxis is a highly protective HIV prevention strategy, yet nonadherence can significantly reduce its effectiveness. We conducted a mixed methods evaluation of a mobile health intervention (iText) that utilized weekly bidirectional text or e-mail support messages to encourage preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) adherence among participants in the multi-site iPrEx open-label extension study. A convenience sample of PrEP users from the San Francisco and Chicago sites participated in a 12-week pilot study. Fifty-six men who have sex with men were enrolled; a quarter of them were less than 30 years of age, 13% were black/African American, 11% were Latino, and most (88%) completed some college. Two-thirds opted for text message delivery. Of the 667 messages sent, only 1 individual requested support; initial nonresponse was observed in 22% and was higher among e-mail compared to text message recipients. Poststudy, a majority of participants would recommend the intervention to others, especially during PrEP initiation. Moreover, younger participants and men of color were more likely to report that they would use the iText strategy if it were available to them. Several participants commented that while they were aware that the messages were automated, they felt supported and encouraged that "someone was always there." Study staff reported that the intervention is feasible to administer and can be incorporated readily into clinic flow. A pre-post intervention regression discontinuity analysis using clinic-based pill counts showed a 50% reduction in missed doses [95% confidence interval (CI) 16-71; p = 0.008] and 77% (95% CI 33-92; p = 0.007) when comparing pill counts at quarterly visits just before and after iText enrollment. A mobile health intervention using weekly bidirectional messaging was highly acceptable and demonstrated promising effects on PrEP adherence warranting further evaluation for efficacy in a randomized controlled trial.

Perceptions of Successful Cues to Action and Opportunities to Augment Behavioral Triggers in Diabetes Self-Management: Qualitative Analysis of a Mobile Intervention for Low-Income Latinos With Diabetes

PubMed Central

Menchine, Michael D; Kubicek, Katrina; Robles, Marisela; Arora, Sanjay

2014-01-01

Background The increasing prevalence of diabetes and the associated cost of managing this complicated disease have a significant impact on public health outcomes and health expenditures, especially among resource-poor Latino patients. Mobile health (mHealth) may be the solution to reaching this group and improving their health. Objective In this qualitative study, we examined nuances of motivation, intention, and triggers to action effected by TExT-MED (Trial to Examine Text Messaging for Emergency Department patient with Diabetes), an mHealth intervention tailored to low-income, urban Latinos with diabetes. TExT-MED is a fully-automated, text message-based program designed to increase knowledge, self-efficacy, and subsequent disease management and glycemic control. Methods We conducted 5 focus group interviews with 24 people who participated in TExT-MED. We employed a modified grounded theory analytic approach—an iterative process of coding and immersion in the data used to recognize the patterns and links between concepts voiced by the participants. We coded data to identify themes of participant experiences, motivations, and responses to the program. We organized themes into a theory of TExT-MED’s action. Results Participants enjoyed their experience with TExT-MED and believed it improved their diabetes management. Through analysis of the transcripts, we identified that the strengths of the program were messages that cued specific behaviors such as medication reminders and challenge messages. Our analysis also revealed that increasing personalization of message delivery and content could augment these cues. Conclusions This in-depth qualitative analysis of TExT-MED shows that low-income Latino patients will accept text messages as a behavioral intervention. This mHealth intervention acts as a behavioral trigger rather than an education platform. Personalization is an opportunity to enhance these cues to action and further research should be conducted on the ideal forms of personalization. PMID:24476784

A flexible software architecture for scalable real-time image and video processing applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Usamentiaga, Rubén; Molleda, Julio; García, Daniel F.; Bulnes, Francisco G.

2012-06-01

Real-time image and video processing applications require skilled architects, and recent trends in the hardware platform make the design and implementation of these applications increasingly complex. Many frameworks and libraries have been proposed or commercialized to simplify the design and tuning of real-time image processing applications. However, they tend to lack flexibility because they are normally oriented towards particular types of applications, or they impose specific data processing models such as the pipeline. Other issues include large memory footprints, difficulty for reuse and inefficient execution on multicore processors. This paper presents a novel software architecture for real-time image and video processing applications which addresses these issues. The architecture is divided into three layers: the platform abstraction layer, the messaging layer, and the application layer. The platform abstraction layer provides a high level application programming interface for the rest of the architecture. The messaging layer provides a message passing interface based on a dynamic publish/subscribe pattern. A topic-based filtering in which messages are published to topics is used to route the messages from the publishers to the subscribers interested in a particular type of messages. The application layer provides a repository for reusable application modules designed for real-time image and video processing applications. These modules, which include acquisition, visualization, communication, user interface and data processing modules, take advantage of the power of other well-known libraries such as OpenCV, Intel IPP, or CUDA. Finally, we present different prototypes and applications to show the possibilities of the proposed architecture.

The effect of minimum impact education on visitor spatial behavior in parks and protected areas: An experimental investigation using GPS-based tracking.

PubMed

Kidd, Abigail M; Monz, Christopher; D'Antonio, Ashley; Manning, Robert E; Reigner, Nathan; Goonan, Kelly A; Jacobi, Charles

2015-10-01

The unmanaged impacts of recreation and tourism can often result in unacceptable changes in resource conditions and quality of the visitor experience. Minimum impact visitor education programs aim to reduce the impacts of recreation by altering visitor behaviors. Specifically, education seeks to reduce impacts resulting from lack of knowledge both about the consequences of one's actions and impact-minimizing best practices. In this study, three different on-site minimum impact education strategies ("treatments") and a control condition were applied on the trails and summit area of Sargent Mountain in Acadia National Park, Maine. Treatment conditions were designed to encourage visitors to stay on marked trails and minimize off-trail travel. Treatments included a message delivered via personal contact, and both an ecological-based message and an amenity-based message posted on signs located alongside the trail. A control condition of current trail markings and directional signs was also assessed. The efficacy of the messaging was evaluated through the use of Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking of visitor spatial behavior on/off trails. Spatial analysis of GPS tracks revealed statistically significant differences among treatments, with the personal contact treatment yielding significantly less dispersion of visitors on the mountain summit. Results also indicate that the signs deployed in the study were ineffective at limiting off-trail use beyond what can be accomplished with trail markers and directional signs. These findings suggest that personal contact by a uniformed ranger or volunteer may be the most effective means of message delivery for on-site minimum impact education. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keep on brushing: a longitudinal study of motivational text messaging in young adults aged 18-24 years receiving Work and Income Support.

PubMed

Schluter, Philip; Lee, Martin; Hamilton, Greg; Coe, Gill; Messer-Perkins, Heather; Smith, Belinda

2015-01-01

Using text messaging, underpinned by the Health Belief Model, this study aimed to improve tooth brushing frequencies among unemployed young adults aged 18-24 years. Set within Work and Income's Linwood Community Link office (one Christchurch branch of the New Zealand Government's employment and beneficiary services), unemployed young adults aged 18-24 years with access to a mobile phone were recruited using either a purpose-built computer kiosk or Work and Income's Facebook site. Participants completed a baseline survey and then received and responded to a series of motivational text messages over 10 weeks. Self-reported tooth brushing frequency was the primary outcome variable. Important socio-demographic (age, gender, ethnicity, employment status) and method-specific (level of attrition, distribution of successful text messages deliveries, active withdrawal) variables were also collected. Longitudinal analyses of these responses employed generalized estimating equation (GEE) models. Four hundred and three registered for the trial, of whom 171 (42%) were eligible. Self-reported tooth brushing twice or more per day increased from 51% at baseline to 70% at week 3, 74% at week 6, and 73% at week 9 - an increase significant in crude (P<0.001) and adjusted (P<0.001) GEE analyses. No important differences were noted between age, gender, or ethnic groups, although attrition was relatively high with only 26% participating by week 9. However, no evidence of differential attrition was observed. Invention through motivational text messaging improved the measured oral health self-care behavior in a hard-to-reach group carrying a disproportionately heavy oral health burden. This intervention warrants further investigation. © 2014 American Association of Public Health Dentistry.

Integrating weight bias awareness and mental health promotion into obesity prevention delivery: a public health pilot study.

PubMed

McVey, Gail L; Walker, Kathryn S; Beyers, Joanne; Harrison, Heather L; Simkins, Sari W; Russell-Mayhew, Shelly

2013-04-04

Promoting healthy weight is a top priority in Canada. Recent federal guidelines call for sustained, multisectoral partnerships that address childhood obesity on multiple levels. Current healthy weight messaging does not fully acknowledge the influence of social determinants of health on weight. An interactive workshop was developed and implemented by a team of academic researchers and health promoters from the psychology and public health disciplines to raise awareness about 1) weight bias and its negative effect on health, 2) ways to balance healthy weight messaging to prevent the triggering of weight and shape preoccupation, and 3) the incorporation of mental health promotion into healthy weight messaging. We conducted a full-day workshop with 342 Ontario public health promoters and administered a survey at preintervention, postintervention, and follow-up. Participation in the full-day workshop led to significant decreases in antifat attitudes and the internalization of media stereotypes and to significant increases in self-efficacy to address weight bias. Participants reported that the training heightened their awareness of their own personal weight biases and the need to broaden their scope of healthy weight promotion to include mental health promotion. There was consensus that additional sessions are warranted to help translate knowledge into action. Buy-in and resource support at the organizational level was also seen as pivotal. Professional development training in the area of weight bias awareness is associated with decreases in antifat attitudes and the internalization of media stereotypes around thinness. Health promoters' healthy weight messaging was improved by learning to avoid messages that trigger weight and shape preoccupation or unhealthful eating practices among children and youth. Participants also learned ways to integrate mental health promotion and resiliency-building into daily practice.

Normative and counter-normative stress messages and symptom reporting: implications for health promotion and a methodological artefact for stress research.

PubMed

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 are at best ineffective. Demonstrating for the first time that only when the stress-coping-symptom links are made explicit do the theoretical associations observed in the literature emerge. This may be a potential methodological artefact in stress research that needs to be controlled. © 2013 The British Psychological Society.

Electronic Health Record Logs Indicate That Physicians Split Time Evenly Between Seeing Patients And Desktop Medicine.

PubMed

Tai-Seale, Ming; Olson, Cliff W; Li, Jinnan; Chan, Albert S; Morikawa, Criss; Durbin, Meg; Wang, Wei; Luft, Harold S

2017-04-01

Time spent by physicians is a key resource in health care delivery. This study used data captured by the access time stamp functionality of an electronic health record (EHR) to examine physician work effort. This is a potentially powerful, yet unobtrusive, way to study physicians' use of time. We used data on physicians' time allocation patterns captured by over thirty-one million EHR transactions in the period 2011-14 recorded by 471 primary care physicians, who collectively worked on 765,129 patients' EHRs. Our results suggest that the physicians logged an average of 3.08 hours on office visits and 3.17 hours on desktop medicine each day. Desktop medicine consists of activities such as communicating with patients through a secure patient portal, responding to patients' online requests for prescription refills or medical advice, ordering tests, sending staff messages, and reviewing test results. Over time, log records from physicians showed a decline in the time allocated to face-to-face visits, accompanied by an increase in time allocated to desktop medicine. Staffing and scheduling in the physician's office, as well as provider payment models for primary care practice, should account for these desktop medicine efforts. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

Remote “Hovering” with Individuals with Psychotic Disorders and Substance Use: Feasibility, Engagement, and Therapeutic Alliance with a Text-Messaging Mobile Interventionist

PubMed Central

Ben-Zeev, Dror; Kaiser, Susan M.; Krzos, Izabela

2014-01-01

Objective People with serious mental illnesses and substance abuse problems (i.e., dual diagnosis) constitute a particularly challenging and costly clinical group. This study evaluated the feasibility and acceptability of a novel model of care in which a mobile interventionist used mobile phone text messaging to remotely monitor and provide daily support to individuals with psychotic disorders and substance use. Methods Seventeen participants with dual diagnosis were enrolled in a twelve-week single-arm trial. A clinical social worker served as the mobile interventionist and sent daily text-messages to participants’ privately-owned mobile phones to assess their medication adherence and clinical status. The mobile interventionist provided text-message feedback and support, and suggested various coping strategies flexibly, in response to participants’ replies to prompts. At the end of the trial, participants completed a usability and satisfaction measure and two self-rated measures of therapeutic alliance with their clinicians. In one version, participants rated their relationship with their mobile interventionist; in the second version, they rated their relationship with their community-based treatment team. Results Participants received an average of 139 text messages (SD = 37.5) each from the mobile interventionist over the twelve-week trial. On average, participants responded to 87% of the mobile interventionist’s messages that required a reply. Over 90% of participants thought the intervention was useful and rewarding, and that it helped them be more effective and productive in their lives. Participants’ assessments of their relationship with the mobile interventionist were positive. Paired sample t-test found the therapeutic alliance ratings participants provided for their mobile interventionist were significantly higher than those provided for their community-based treatment team clinicians who they met with regularly. Conclusions Our findings suggest that text-message “hovering” can be conducted successfully with individuals with psychotic disorders and substance abuse. Developing a cadre of mobile interventionists who are specifically trained on how to engage patients via mobile devices while adhering to ethical guidelines and regulatory standards may be an effective way to strengthen service delivery models, improve patient outcomes, and reduce costs. PMID:25391277

Use of text messaging in general practice: a mixed methods investigation on GPs' and patients' views.

PubMed

Leahy, Dorothy; Lyons, Aoife; Dahm, Matthias; Quinlan, Diarmuid; Bradley, Colin

2017-11-01

Text messaging has become more prevalent in general practice as a tool with which to communicate with patients. The main objectives were to assess the extent, growth, and perceived risks and benefits of text messaging by GPs to communicate with patients, and assess patients' attitudes towards receiving text messages from their GP. A mixed methods study, using surveys, a review, and a focus group, was conducted in both urban and rural practices in the south-west of Ireland. A telephone survey of 389 GPs was conducted to ascertain the prevalence of text messaging. Subsequently, the following were also carried out: additional telephone surveys with 25 GPs who use text messaging and 26 GPs who do not, a written satisfaction survey given to 78 patients, a review of the electronic information systems of five practices, and a focus group with six GPs to ascertain attitudes towards text messaging. In total, 38% ( n = 148) of the surveyed GPs used text messaging to communicate with patients and 62% ( n = 241) did not. Time management was identified as the key advantage of text messaging among GPs who used it (80%; n = 20) and those who did not (50%; n = 13). Confidentiality was reported as the principal concern among both groups, at 32% ( n = 8) and 69% ( n = 18) respectively. Most patients (99%; n = 77) were happy to receive text messages from their GP. The GP focus group identified similar issues and benefits in terms of confidentiality and time management. Data were extracted from the IT systems of five consenting practices and the number of text messages sent during the period from January 2013 to March 2016 was generated. This increased by 40% per annum. Collaborative efforts are required from relevant policymakers to address data protection and text messaging issues so that GPs can be provided with clear guidelines to protect patient confidentiality. © British Journal of General Practice 2017.

The psychology of nutrition messages.

PubMed

Schofield, Heather; Mullainathan, Sendhil

2008-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to explore consumer thinking about nutrition decisions and how firms can use consumers' awareness of the links between nutrients and health generated by public health messages to market products, including ones, which have little nutritional value. We approach this issue by tracking the development of public health messages based on scientific research, dissemination of those messages in the popular press, and use of nutrition claims in food advertisements to assess whether firms are timing the use of nutrition claims to take advantage of heuristic-based decision-making. Our findings suggest that the timing of the development of nutrition information, its dissemination in the press, and use in advertising accords well with a heuristic processing model in which firms take advantage of associations between nutrient information and health in their advertisements. However, the demonstrated relationships may not be causal. Further research will be needed to provide stronger and more comprehensive evidence regarding the proposed message hijacking process. If the message hijacking framework is borne out: (1) simple overall health rating scales could significantly improve consumer decision-making, (2) the impact of misleading advertisements could be mitigated by encouraging a multidimensional view of nutrition, and (3) more intensive regulation of product labeling could limit the impact of hijacked messages. Overall, this paper considers a novel hypothesis about the impact of public health messages on nutrition and health.

Patient-to-physician messaging: volume nearly tripled as more patients joined system, but per capita rate plateaued.

PubMed

Crotty, Bradley H; Tamrat, Yonas; Mostaghimi, Arash; Safran, Charles; Landon, Bruce E

2014-10-01

Patients want to be able to communicate with their physicians by e-mail. However, physicians are often concerned about the impact that such communications will have on their time, productivity, and reimbursement. Typically, physicians are not reimbursed for time spent communicating with patients electronically. But under federal meaningful-use criteria for information technology, physicians can receive a modest incentive for such communications. Little is known about trends in secure e-mail messaging between physicians and patients. To understand these trends, we analyzed the volume of messages in a large academic health system's patient portal in the period 2001-10. At the end of 2010, 49,778 patients (22.7 percent of all patients seen within the system) had enrolled in the portal, and 36.9 percent of enrolled patients (8.4 percent of all patients) had sent at least one message to a physician. Physicians in the aggregate saw a near tripling of e-mail messages during the study period. However, the number of messages per hundred patients per month stabilized between 2005 and 2010, at an average of 18.9 messages. As physician reimbursement moves toward global payments, physicians' and patients' participation in secure messaging will likely increase, and electronic communication should be considered part of physicians' job descriptions. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

The Reduction of Aggressive Behavior: Behavioral Strategies and Contingency Messages.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Paul, Stephen C.; Thelen, Mark H.

College students were instigated by a confederate and then interacted with that same person on a reaction time completion task. The confederate informed half of the treatment subjects of the response strategy he intended to adopt. The other half received an irrelevant message. Subjects in both message conditions then competed against the…

Realization of Real-Time Clinical Data Integration Using Advanced Database Technology

PubMed Central

Yoo, Sooyoung; Kim, Boyoung; Park, Heekyong; Choi, Jinwook; Chun, Jonghoon

2003-01-01

As information & communication technologies have advanced, interest in mobile health care systems has grown. In order to obtain information seamlessly from distributed and fragmented clinical data from heterogeneous institutions, we need solutions that integrate data. In this article, we introduce a method for information integration based on real-time message communication using trigger and advanced database technologies. Messages were devised to conform to HL7, a standard for electronic data exchange in healthcare environments. The HL7 based system provides us with an integrated environment in which we are able to manage the complexities of medical data. We developed this message communication interface to generate and parse HL7 messages automatically from the database point of view. We discuss how easily real time data exchange is performed in the clinical information system, given the requirement for minimum loading of the database system. PMID:14728271

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Electronic communication based interventions for hazardous young drinkers: A systematic review.

PubMed

O Rourke, L; Humphris, G; Baldacchino, A

2016-09-01

Previous reviews have specifically looked at computer-based or Internet-based approaches. However, there has been no systematic review focused upon electronic communication based interventions for hazardous young drinkers. Out of 3298 relevant citations, 13 papers consisting of 11 studies met the inclusion criteria. Effectiveness of intervention delivery was assessed using behavioural outcomes. Eight papers delivered interventions using the Web, three implemented text messaging, one used a mobile phone app and the remaining paper used a social networking site. The ability to provide personalized electronic feedback resulted in a reduction in alcohol consumption, frequency of binge drinking, and drinking in a non-risky way. However, intervention length did not appear to have an impact on overall effectiveness. Usage of text messaging and Social Network Sites (SNS) increased accessibility and ease of engaging in an intervention that is appealing and acceptable for young adults. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Management Information System Model for Program Management. Ph.D. Thesis - Oklahoma State Univ.; [Computerized Systems Analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shipman, D. L.

1972-01-01

The development of a model to simulate the information system of a program management type of organization is reported. The model statistically determines the following parameters: type of messages, destinations, delivery durations, type processing, processing durations, communication channels, outgoing messages, and priorites. The total management information system of the program management organization is considered, including formal and informal information flows and both facilities and equipment. The model is written in General Purpose System Simulation 2 computer programming language for use on the Univac 1108, Executive 8 computer. The model is simulated on a daily basis and collects queue and resource utilization statistics for each decision point. The statistics are then used by management to evaluate proposed resource allocations, to evaluate proposed changes to the system, and to identify potential problem areas. The model employs both empirical and theoretical distributions which are adjusted to simulate the information flow being studied.

Implementation and Evaluation of an HIV/STD Intervention in Peru

PubMed Central

Andre, Maiorana; Susan, Kegeles; Percy, Fernandez; Ximena, Salazar; Carlos, Cáceres; Clara, Sandoval; Ana María, Rosasco; Thomas, Coates

2009-01-01

This paper presents the lessons learned through a process evaluation (PE) after one year of implementation of a two-year community intervention in Lima, Peru. The intervention consisted of training and motivating community popular opinion leaders (CPOLs) for three marginal population segments to disseminate prevention messages among their peers. PE data included: observations, qualitative interviews with CPOLS, conversations and messages delivered by CPOLs, training facilitators' perceptions about implementation, and a survey of CPOLs. The PE helped to document and enhance the intervention. CPOLs were motivated to talk to their peers. CPOLs perceived that their participation had an effect on their own risk behaviors and saw their role as beneficial to their community. The PE was helpful in examining training delivery and the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention in order to assess the elements related to program success necessary to replicate the CPOL model. PMID:17689315

Feasibility and usability of a text message-based program for diabetes self-management in an urban African-American population.

PubMed

Dick, Jonathan J; Nundy, Shantanu; Solomon, Marla C; Bishop, Keisha N; Chin, Marshall H; Peek, Monica E

2011-09-01

We pilot-tested a text message-based diabetes care program in an urban African-American population in which automated text messages were sent to participants with personalized medication, foot care, and appointment reminders and text messages were received from participants on adherence. Eighteen patients participated in a 4-week pilot study. Baseline surveys collected data about demographics, historical cell phone usage, and adherence to core diabetes care measures. Exit interview surveys (using close-coded and open-ended questions) were administered to patients at the end of the program. A 1-month follow-up interview was conducted surveying patients on perceived self-efficacy. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were used to compare baseline survey responses about self-management activities to those at the pilot's end and at 1-month follow-up. Eighteen urban African-American participants completed the pilot study. The average age was 55 and the average number of years with diabetes was 8. Half the participants were initially uncomfortable with text messaging. Example messages include "Did you take your diabetes medications today" and "How many times did you check your feet for wounds this week?" Participants averaged 220 text messages with the system, responded to messages 80% of the time, and on average responded within 6 minutes. Participants strongly agreed that text messaging was easy to perform and helped with diabetes self-care. Missed medication doses decreased from 1.6 per week to 0.6 (p = .003). Patient confidence in diabetes self-management was significantly increased during and 1 month after the pilot (p = .002, p = .008). Text messaging may be a feasible and useful approach to improve diabetes self-management in urban African Americans. © 2011 Diabetes Technology Society.

CROSS-DISCIPLINARY PHYSICS AND RELATED AREAS OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: Message Spreading and Forget Remember Mechanism on a Scale-Free Network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Wei; Gu, Jiao; Cai, Xu

2008-06-01

We study message spreading on a scale-free network, by introducing a novel forget-remember mechanism. Message, a general term which can refer to email, news, rumor or disease, etc, can be forgotten and remembered by its holder. The way the message is forgotten and remembered is governed by the forget and remember function, F and R, respectively. Both F and R are functions of history time t concerning individual's previous states, namely being active (with message) or inactive (without message). Our systematic simulations show at the low transmission rate whether or not the spreading can be efficient is primarily determined by the corresponding parameters for F and R.

Flow of Emotional Messages in Artificial Social Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Performance comparison of token ring protocols for hard-real-time communication

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kamat, Sanjay; Zhao, Wei

1992-01-01

The ability to guarantee the deadlines of synchronous messages while maintaining a good aggregate throughput is an important consideration in the design of distributed real-time systems. In this paper, we study two token ring protocols, the priority driven protocol and the timed token protocol, for their suitability for hard real-time systems. Both these protocols use a token to control access to the transmission medium. In a priority driven protocol, messages are assigned priorities and the protocol ensures that messages are transmitted in the order of their priorities. Timed token protocols do not provide for priority arbitration but ensure that the maximum access delay for a station is bounded. For both protocols, we first derive the schedulability conditions under which the transmission deadlines of a given set of synchronous messages can be guaranteed. Subsequently, we use these schedulability conditions to quantitatively compare the average case behavior of the protocols. This comparison demonstrates that each of the protocols has its domain of superior performance and neither dominates the other for the entire range of operating conditions.

Impact of telemonitoring approaches on integrated HIV and TB diagnosis and treatment interventions in sub-Saharan Africa: a scoping review.

PubMed

Yah, Clarence S; Tambo, Ernest; Khayeka-Wandabwa, Christopher; Ngogang, Jeanne Y

2017-01-01

Background: This paper explores telemonitoring/mhealth approaches as a promising real time and contextual strategy in overhauling HIV and TB interventions quality access and uptake, retention,adherence and coverage impact in endemic and prone-epidemic prevention and control in sub-Sahara Africa. Methods: The scoping review method was applied in acknowledged journals indexing platforms including Medline, Embase, Global Health, PubMed, MeSH PsycInfo, Scopus and Google Scholar to identify relevant articles pertaining to telemonitoring as a proxy surrogate method in reinforcing sustainability of HIV/TB prevention/treatment interventions in sub-Saharan Africa. Full papers were assessed and those selected that fosters evidence on telemonitoring/mhealth diagnosis, treatment approaches and strategies in HIV and TB prevention and control were synthesized and analyzed. Results: We found telemonitoring/mhealth approach as a more efficient and sustained proxy in HIV and TB risk reduction strategies for early diagnosis and prompt quality clinical outcomes. It can significantly contribute to decreasing health systems/patients cost, long waiting time in clinics, hospital visits, travels and time off/on from work. Improved integrated HIV and TB telemonitoring systems sustainability hold great promise in health systems strengthening including patient centered early diagnosis and care delivery systems, uptake and retention to medications/services and improving patients' survival and quality of life. Conclusion: Telemonitoring/mhealth (electronic phone text/video/materials messaging)acceptability, access and uptake are crucial in monitoring and improving uptake, retention,adherence and coverage in both local and national integrated HIV and TB programs and interventions. Moreover, telemonitoring is crucial in patient-providers-health professional partnership, real-time quality care and service delivery, antiretroviral and anti-tuberculous drugs improvement, susceptibility monitoring and prescription choice, reinforcing cost effective HIV and TB integrated therapy model and survival rate.

Active8! Technology-Based Intervention to Promote Physical Activity in Hospital Employees.

PubMed

Blake, Holly; Suggs, L Suzanne; Coman, Emil; Aguirre, Lucia; Batt, Mark E

2017-03-01

Increase physical activity in health care employees using health messaging, and compare e-mail with mobile phone short-message service (SMS) as delivery channels. Randomized controlled trial Setting. U.K. hospital workplace. Two hundred ninety-six employees (19-67 years, 53% of study Web site visitors). Twelve-week messaging intervention designed to increase physical activity and delivered via SMS (n =147) or e-mail (n =149); content tailored using theory of planned behavior (TPB) and limited to 160 characters. Baseline and 6, 12, and 16 weeks. Online measures included TPB constructs, physical activity behavior on the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire, and health-related quality of life on the Short-Form 12. General linear models for repeated measures. Increase in duration (mean h/d) of moderate work-related activity and moderate recreational activity from baseline to 16 weeks. Short-lived increase in frequency (d/wk) of vigorous recreational activity from baseline to 6 weeks. Increase in duration and frequency of active travel from baseline to 16 weeks. E-mails generated greater changes than SMS in active travel and moderate activity (work and recreational). Minimal physical activity promotion delivered by SMS or e-mail can increase frequency and duration of active travel and duration of moderate intensity physical activity at work and for leisure, which is maintained up to 1 month after messaging ends. Both channels were useful platforms for health communication; e-mails were particularly beneficial with hospital employees.

Effectiveness of extended contact interventions for weight management delivered via text messaging: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

PubMed

Job, J R; Fjeldsoe, B S; Eakin, E G; Reeves, M M

2018-04-01

Extended contact interventions provide support for continued weight management (weight loss/prevention of weight regain) following a weight loss intervention. Text messages offer a medium for delivery in a potentially cost-effective, broad-reach manner. This study aims to examine (i) the effectiveness of extended contact, text message interventions for adults in supporting weight management, and (ii) which intervention characteristics are common to those that are effective. A systematic database search (to 19 September 2016) was conducted. Meta-analyses were performed to quantify the average weight changes (kg) during the extended contact intervention, net of control (if a control group was present) and within-group. Seven studies were eligible for inclusion. The pooled effect of the extended contact intervention compared with control (n = 3 studies) was -0.82 kg (95% confidence interval -1.43, -0.21), while the pooled within-group weight loss (n = 6 studies) during the extended contact interventions was -2.16 kg (95% confidence interval -3.40, -0.91). Interventions considered 'effective' (n = 4) were more likely to be >12 weeks duration, compared with interventions considered 'ineffective' (n = 3). Evidence from the small number of studies reviewed suggests that extended contact, text message-delivered interventions are effective. Further research is required to elucidate effective intervention components and the longer-term impact on weight, diet and physical activity behaviour. © 2017 World Obesity Federation.

"Love me, parents!": impact evaluation of a national social and behavioral change communication campaign on maternal health outcomes in Tanzania.

PubMed

Kaufman, Michelle R; Harman, Jennifer J; Smelyanskaya, Marina; Orkis, Jennifer; Ainslie, Robert

2017-09-15

Despite marked improvements over the last few decades, maternal mortality in Tanzania remains among the world's highest at 454 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. Many factors contribute to this disparity, such as a lack of attendance at antenatal care (ANC) services and low rates of delivery at a health facility with a skilled provider. The Wazazi Nipendeni (Love me, parents) social and behavioral change communication campaign was launched in Tanzania in 2012 to improve a range of maternal health outcomes, including individual birth planning, timely ANC attendance, and giving birth in a healthcare facility. An evaluation to determine the impact of the national Wazazi Nipendeni campaign was conducted in five purposively selected regions of Tanzania using exit interviews with pregnant and post-natal women attending ANC clinics. A total of 1708 women were interviewed regarding campaign exposure, ANC attendance, and individual birth planning. Over one third of interviewed women (35.1%) reported exposure to the campaign in the last month. The more sources from which women reported hearing the Wazazi Nipendeni message, the more they planned for the birth of their child (β = 0.08, p = .001). Greater numbers of types of exposure to the Wazazi Nipendeni message was associated with an increase in ANC visits (β = 0.05, p = .004). Intervention exposure did not significantly predict the timing of the first ANC visit or HIV testing in the adjusted model, however, findings showed that exposure did predict whether women delivered at a health care facility (or not) and whether they tested for HIV with a partner in the unadjusted models. The Wazazi Nipendeni campaign shows promise that such a behavior change communication intervention could lead to better pregnancy and childbirth outcomes for women in low resource settings. For outcomes such as HIV testing, message exposure showed some promising effects, but demographic variables such as age and socioeconomic status appear to be important as well.

Software Project Management and Measurement on the World-Wide-Web (WWW)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Callahan, John; Ramakrishnan, Sudhaka

1996-01-01

We briefly describe a system for forms-based, work-flow management that helps members of a software development team overcome geographical barriers to collaboration. Our system, called the Web Integrated Software Environment (WISE), is implemented as a World-Wide-Web service that allows for management and measurement of software development projects based on dynamic analysis of change activity in the workflow. WISE tracks issues in a software development process, provides informal communication between the users with different roles, supports to-do lists, and helps in software process improvement. WISE minimizes the time devoted to metrics collection and analysis by providing implicit delivery of messages between users based on the content of project documents. The use of a database in WISE is hidden from the users who view WISE as maintaining a personal 'to-do list' of tasks related to the many projects on which they may play different roles.

Disaster Radio for Communication of Vital Messages and Health-Related Information: Experiences From the Haiyan Typhoon, the Philippines.

PubMed

Hugelius, Karin; Gifford, Mervyn; Örtenwall, Per; Adolfsson, Annsofie

2016-08-01

Crisis communication is seen as an integrated and essential part of disaster management measures. After Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) in the Philippines 2013, radio was used to broadcast information to the affected community. The aim of this study was to describe how disaster radio was used to communicate vital messages and health-related information to the public in one affected region after Typhoon Haiyan. Mixed-methods analysis using qualitative content analysis and descriptive statistics was used to analyze 2587 logged radio log files. Radio was used to give general information and to demonstrate the capability of officials to manage the situation, to encourage, to promote recovery and foster a sense of hope, and to give practical advice and encourage self-activity. The content and focus of the messages changed over time. Encouraging messages were the most frequently broadcast messages. Health-related messages were a minor part of all information broadcast and gaps in the broadcast over time were found. Disaster radio can serve as a transmitter of vital messages including health-related information and psychological support in disaster areas. The present study indicated the potential for increased use. The perception, impact, and use of disaster radio need to be further evaluated. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2016;10:591-597).

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

PubMed

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 messages (during the extended contact intervention). Text message support was perceived as acceptable for the majority of women as a way of extending intervention contact for weight loss and behavioral maintenance. Text messages supported the maintenance of healthy behaviors established in the intervention phase and kept the women accountable to their goals. A combination of telephone calls and text message support was suggested as a more acceptable option for some of the women for an extended contact intervention. ©Jennifer R Job, Lauren C Spark, Brianna S Fjeldsoe, Elizabeth G Eakin, Marina M Reeves. Originally published in JMIR Mhealth and Uhealth (http://mhealth.jmir.org), 27.02.2017.

Routing Based on Length of Time of Available Connection

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Anandappan, Thanga (Inventor); Roy, Aloke (Inventor); Malve, Sharath Babu (Inventor); Toth, Louis T. (Inventor)

2016-01-01

In an embodiment, a method of routing packets at a first node in an ad-hoc network is provided. The method includes receiving, at the first node, a plurality of route-alive messages corresponding to a destination, each of the plurality of route-alive messages including a route time indicating a length of time in which a communicative connection is available between the second node that sent the respective route-alive message and the destination. The method also includes determining an updated route time for each second node. The updated route time corresponds to a length of time in which a communication connection is available between the first node and the destination through the respective second node. A second node is selected for sending a packet to based on the updated route time for each of the second nodes, wherein a node having a longer updated route time is given higher priority for selection.

Comparison of secure messaging application (WhatsApp) and standard telephone usage for consultations on Length of Stay in the ED. A prospective randomized controlled study.

PubMed

Gulacti, Umut; Lok, Ugur

2017-07-19

Consultation, the process of an Emergency Physician seeking an opinion from other specialties, occurs frequently in the Emergency Department (ED). The aim of this study was to determine the effect of secure messaging application (WhatsApp) usage for medical consultations on Emergency Department Length of Stay (ED LOS) and consult time. We conducted a prospective, randomized controlled trial in the ED using allocation concealment over three months. Consultations requested in the ED were allocated into two groups: consultations requested via the secure messaging application and consultations requested by telephone as verbal. A total of 439 consultations requested in the ED were assessed for eligibility and 345 were included in the final analysis: 173 consultations were conducted using secure messaging application and 172 consultations were conducted using standard telephone communications. The median ED LOS was 240 minutes (IQR:230-270, 95% CI:240 to 255.2) for patients in the secure messaging application group and 277 minutes (IQR:270-287.8, 95% CI:277 to 279) for patients in the telephone group. The median total ED LOS was significantly lower among consults conducted using Secure messaging application relative to consults conducted by telephone (median dif: -30, 95%CI:-37to-25, p<0.0001). The median consult time was 158 minutes (IQR:133 to 177.25, 95% CI:150 to 169) for patients in the Secure messaging application group and 170 minutes (IQR:165 to 188.5, 95% CI:170-171) for patients in the Telephone group (median dif: -12, 95%CI:-19 to-7,p<0.0001). Consultations completed without ED arrival was 61.8% in the secure messaging group and 33.1% in the Telephone group (dif: 28.7, 95% CI:48.3 to 66, p<0.001). Use of secure messaging application for consultations in the ED reduces the total ED LOS and consultation time. Consultation with secure messaging application eliminated more than half of in-person ED consultation visits.

Why Women Are Averse to Facility Delivery in Northwest Nigeria: A Qualitative Inquiry.

PubMed

Tukur, Ismail; Cheekhoon, Chan; Tinsu, Tin; Muhammed-Baba, Tukur; Aderemi Ijaiya, Munir'deen

2016-05-01

In many sub-Saharan African countries the rate of antenatal care (ANC) has been increased but skilled birth attendance rate is still low. The objective of this study was to evaluate the reasons why women prefer home delivery when facility based delivery is available at minimal cost. This study was conducted in Northwest Nigeria using a qualitative method (phenomenology) among five categories of women in April - May 2013. This study investigated different categories of women (those that never attend ANC nor deliver in the facility, those that attend ANC but delivered at home and those that delivered once in the facility but fail to return in subsequent deliveries, the in-laws and facilities staff). Through focus group discussions and In-depth interviews several reasons why women are averse to hospital deliveries were identified. Women reported ignorance, abuse, illiteracy, and poverty, and low esteem, poor attitude of health workers, few working hours and some integrated health services like preventing mother to child transmission of HIV testing as deterrents, while cheap and accessible services were reasons for preference to traditional birth attendants. The findings highlighted important entrenched barriers to facility deliveries among women, which is basically socio-cultural and economic. Therefore emphasis must be given to health education program to ensure comprehensive and target specific messages that will address individual needs of the groups.

Two-Way Social Media Messaging in Postoperative Cataract Surgical Patients: Prospective Interventional Study.

PubMed

Sanguansak, Thuss; Morley, Katharine E; Morley, Michael G; Thinkhamrop, Kavin; Thuanman, Jaruwan; Agarwal, Isha

2017-12-19

Social media offers a new way to provide education, reminders, and support for patients with a variety of health conditions. Most of these interventions use one-way, provider-patient communication. Incorporating social media tools to improve postoperative (postop) education and follow-up care has only been used in limited situations. The aim of this study was to determine the feasibility and efficacy of two-way social media messaging to deliver reminders and educational information about postop care to cataract patients. A total of 98 patients undergoing their first eye cataract surgery were divided into two groups: a no message group receiving usual pre- and postop care and a message group receiving usual care plus messages in a mobile social media format with standardized content and timing. Each patient in the message group received nine messages about hand and face hygiene, medication and postop visit adherence, and links to patient education videos about postop care. Patients could respond to messages as desired. Main outcome measures included medication adherence, postop visit adherence, clinical outcomes, and patients' subjective assessments of two-way messaging. The number, types, content, and timing of responses by patients to messages were recorded. Medication adherence was better in the message group at postop day 7, with high adherence in 47 patients (96%, 47/49) versus 36 patients (73%, 36/49) in the no message group (P=.004), but no statistically significant differences in medication adherence between the groups were noted at preop and postop day 30. Visit adherence was higher at postop day 30 in the message group (100%, 49/49) versus the no message group (88%, 43/49; P=.03) but was 100% (49/49) in both groups at postop day 1 and 7. Final visual outcomes were similar between groups. A total of 441 standardized messages were sent to the message group. Out of 270 responses generated, 188 (70%) were simple acknowledgments or "thank you," and 82 (30%) responses were questions that were divided into three general categories: administrative, postop care, and clinical issues. Out of the 82 question responses, 31 (11%) were about administrative issues, 28 (10%) about postop care, and 23 (9%) about clinical symptoms. All the messages about symptoms were triaged by nurses or ophthalmologists and only required reassurance or information. Patients expressed satisfaction with messaging. Two-way social media messaging to deliver postop information to cataract patients is feasible and improves early medication compliance. Further design improvements can streamline work flow to optimize efficiency and patient satisfaction. ©Thuss Sanguansak, Katharine E Morley, Michael G Morley, Kavin Thinkhamrop, Jaruwan Thuanman, Isha Agarwal. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 19.12.2017.

The Message or the Messenger: Reflection on the Volatility of Evoking Novice Teachers' Courageous Conversations on Race

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Amobi, Funmi A.

2007-01-01

Every teacher is a messenger. The message that a teacher communicates and portrays is acquired formally and informally through systematic study, and environmental and socialization processes. While formal study happens consciously within a particular period of time, experiential learning that impinges on the development of the message happens all…

Pedagogical Applications of Instant Messaging Technology for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students in the Science Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pagano, Todd; Quinsland, L. K.

2007-01-01

For deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals, the emergence of Instant Messaging technology and digital pagers has been perhaps one of the greatest liberating communication technological breakthroughs since the advent of the TTY. Instant Messaging has evolved into an everyday socially compelling, portable, and "real time" communication mode…

Fast Times and Digital Literacy: Participation Roles and Portfolio Construction within Instant Messaging

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jacobs, Gloria E.

2006-01-01

The purpose of this study was to develop an understanding of adolescent use of instant messaging. Grounded in the New Literacy Studies stance that literacy is a social practice embedded in local contexts and informed by global ideologies (Street, 1995), I argue that participation in digital literacies such as instant messaging has implications for…

Use of Text Messaging for Monitoring Sugar-Sweetened Beverages, Physical Activity, and Screen Time in Children: A Pilot Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shapiro, Jennifer R.; Bauer, Stephanie; Hamer, Robert M.; Kordy, Hans; Ward, Dianne; Bulik, Cynthia M.

2008-01-01

Objective: To examine acceptability, attrition, adherence, and preliminary efficacy of mobile phone short message service (SMS; text messaging) for monitoring healthful behaviors in children. Design: All randomized children received a brief psychoeducational intervention. They then either monitored target behaviors via SMS with feedback or via…

Instant Messaging for Creating Interactive and Collaborative m-Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kadirire, James

2007-01-01

"Instant Messaging" (IM) and "Presence," which is essentially the ability of being able to detect if other users are logged in on the network and send them messages in real time, has become one of the most popular applications of the Internet, causing people to want to stay connected to the Internet for inordinate amounts of…

Announcement/Subscription/Publication: Message Based Communication for Heterogeneous Mobile Environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ristau, Henry

Many tasks in smart environments can be implemented using message based communication paradigms that decouple applications in time, space, synchronization and semantics. Current solutions for decoupled message based communication either do not support message processing and thus semantic decoupling or rely on clearly defined network structures. In this paper we present ASP, a novel concept for such communication that can directly operate on neighbor relations between brokers and does not rely on a homogeneous addressing scheme or anymore than simple link layer communication. We show by simulation that ASP performs well in a heterogeneous scenario with mobile nodes and decreases network or processor load significantly compared to message flooding.

A Report on GPS and Galileo Time Offset Coordination Efforts

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-01-01

broadcast as part of the GPS and Galileo navigation message and determined by: Two-way Satellite Time and Frequency Transfer ( TWSTFT ); Common...navigation message • use of TWSTFT and GPS Common View The overall goal is to verify the GGTO performance budget for the IOV Phase (detailed budget

Changing self-reported physical activity using different types of affectively and cognitively framed health messages, in a student population.

PubMed

Morris, Benjamin; Lawton, Rebecca; McEachan, Rosemary; Hurling, Robert; Conner, Mark

2016-01-01

The present research focused upon the power of different messages to increase self-reported physical activity (PA). Five hundered and ninety six participants were randomised to one of five conditions that varied in the content of message: short-term affective, short-term cognitive, long-term affective, long-term cognitive and a no message control. PA was measured at baseline and follow-up (seven days later) was done using the Godin Leisure Time Exercise Questionnaire over the subsequent seven day period. The affective short-term message (ASM) was shown to be equally effective at increasing self-reported PA as a cognitive long-term message. Furthermore, when controlling for baseline activity levels, the ASM emerged as being the message that produced the highest levels of self-reported PA at follow-up. The findings point to the value of distinguishing between health messages in terms of the focus on affective and cognitive outcomes and the temporal nature of the outcomes (short-term or long-term).

Temporal Effects of Message Congruency on Attention to and Recall of Pictorial Health Warning Labels on Cigarette Packages.

PubMed

Lochbuehler, Kirsten; Wileyto, E Paul; Mercincavage, Melissa; Souprountchouk, Valentina; Burdge, Jordan Z; Tang, Kathy Z; Cappella, Joseph N; Strasser, Andrew A

2018-06-16

Recent research has shown that message congruency is beneficial to recall of pictorial health warning label (PWL) content after initial exposure. Despite less attention to the text warning, smokers exposed to congruent PWLs were more likely to recall the text and the message. This study aimed to replicate these findings and to examine whether congruency also affects recall after multiple exposures over time. 320 daily smokers (39.7% female; cigarettes/day: M = 15.31, SD = 7.15) were randomized to one congruent or incongruent PWL and attended 4 laboratory sessions over 10 days. During each session, eye-movements were recorded while viewing the PWL and open-ended recall of label content was assessed after exposure. Smokers who were exposed to a congruent PWL were more likely to recall the text (p = .01) and the message (p = .02) and less likely to recall the image (p = .003) of the PWL after initial exposure. By day 4, incongruent PWLs were recalled equally well as congruent PWLs. Independent of condition, image recall was initially high and remained high while text and message recall was relatively low initially but increased over time. It was not until day 7 that about 80% of text and message recall was observed. Even when exposed to the same PWL over time, smokers require multiple exposures to recall the text and the message of a PWL. More research on the effects of congruency in the natural environment, where smokers are exposed to multiple PWLs, is needed.

Using secure messaging to update medications list in ambulatory care setting.

PubMed

Raghu, T S; Frey, Keith; Chang, Yu-Hui; Cheng, Meng-Ru; Freimund, Sharon; Patel, Asha

2015-10-01

This study analyzed patient adoption of secure messaging to update medication list in an ambulatory care setting. The objective was to establish demographic differences between users and non-users of secure messaging for medications list update. Efficiency of secure messaging for the updates was compared to fax and telephone based updates. The study used a retrospective, cross-sectional study of patient medical records and pharmacy call logs at Mayo Clinic, Arizona from December 2012 to May 2013, approximately one year after organizing a pharmacy call center for medication updates. A subgroup analysis during a 2-week period was used to measure time to complete update. Main dependent variable is the frequency of medication list updates over the study duration. Technician time required for the update was also utilized. A total of 22,495 outpatient visits were drawn and 18,702 unique patients were included in the primary analysis. A total of 402 unique patients were included in sub-group analysis. Secure message response rate (49.5%) was statistically significantly lower than that for phone calls (54.8%, p<0.001). Time to complete the update was significantly higher for faxed medication lists (Wilcoxon rank-sum tests, p<0.001) when compared to those for secure message or phone. Around 50% of the patients respond to medication update requests before office visit when contacted using phone calls and secure messages. Given the demographic differences between users and non-users of patient portal, mixed mode communication with patients is likely to be the norm for the foreseeable future in outpatient settings. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

Effect of text message follow-up on patient's self-reported level of pain and anxiety.

PubMed

Keith, Daniel J; Rinchuse, Daniel J; Kennedy, Meghan; Zullo, Thomas

2013-07-01

To determine whether a text message reduces the severity of patient self-reported levels of pain and anxiety following initial placement of orthodontic appliances. Thirty-nine orthodontic patients were randomly assigned to one of two groups and matched for age, gender, and bracket type (self-ligating vs conventional). The subjects completed baseline questionnaires to ascertain their levels of pain and anxiety before initiating orthodontic treatment. Following the initial appointment, subjects completed the pain questionnaire and anxiety inventory at the same time daily for 1 week. One group received a structured text message showing concern and reassurance, while the second group served as a control and received no postprocedural communication. There was a statistically significant difference in pain in relation to time between the text message group and the control group as it was demonstrated that demonstrated that compared with the text message group, mean pain intensity increased and selfreported discomfort was longer in the control group. Anxiety was determined to be at its peak the day following initial orthodontic appliance placement and gradually tapered off from that time point. No intergroup difference was noted when analyzing anxiety. This study demonstrated that a text message sent from an orthodontic office following initial appliance placement resulted in a lower level of patient's self-reported pain. Additionally, patient anxiety is at its peak the day following the initial appointment and decreases from that point forward.

Optimizing nonpharmacological management following an acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

PubMed

Harrison, Samantha L; Goldstein, Roger; Desveaux, Laura; Tulloch, Verity; Brooks, Dina

2014-01-01

Though the guidelines for the optimal management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) following an acute exacerbation (AE) are well established, issues associated with poor adherence to nonpharmacological interventions such as self-management advice and pulmonary rehabilitation will impact on hospital readmission rates and health care costs. Systems developed for clinically stable patients with COPD may not be sufficient for those who are post-exacerbation. A redesign of the manner in which such interventions are delivered to patients following an AECOPD is necessary. Addressing two or more components of the chronic care model is effective in reducing health care utilization in patients with COPD, with self-management support contributing a key role. By refining self-management support to incorporate the identification and treatment of psychological symptoms and by providing health care professionals adequate time and training to deliver respiratory-specific advice and self-management strategies, adherence to nonpharmacological therapies following an AE may be enhanced. Furthermore, following up patients in their own homes allows for the tailoring of advice and for the delivery of consistent health care messages which may enable knowledge to be retained. By refining the delivery of nonpharmacological therapies following an AECOPD according to components of the chronic care model, adherence may be improved, resulting in better disease management and possibly reducing health care utilization.

Developing Health Promotion Interventions on Social Networking Sites: Recommendations from The FaceSpace Project

PubMed Central

Pedrana, Alisa E; Stoove, Mark A; Chang, Shanton; Howard, Steve; Asselin, Jason; Ilic, Olivia; Batrouney, Colin; Hellard, Margaret E

2012-01-01

Online social networking sites offer a novel setting for the delivery of health promotion interventions due to their potential to reach a large population and the possibility for two-way engagement. However, few have attempted to host interventions on these sites, or to use the range of interactive functions available to enhance the delivery of health-related messages. This paper presents lessons learnt from “The FaceSpace Project”, a sexual health promotion intervention using social networking sites targeting two key at-risk groups. Based on our experience, we make recommendations for developing and implementing health promotion interventions on these sites. Elements crucial for developing interventions include establishing a multidisciplinary team, allowing adequate time for obtaining approvals, securing sufficient resources for building and maintaining an online presence, and developing an integrated process and impact evaluation framework. With two-way interaction an important and novel feature of health promotion interventions in this medium, we also present strategies trialled to generate interest and engagement in our intervention. Social networking sites are now an established part of the online environment; our experience in developing and implementing a health promotion intervention using this medium are of direct relevance and utility for all health organizations creating a presence in this new environment. PMID:22374589

Source credibility and evidence format: examining the effectiveness of HIV/AIDS messages for young African Americans.

PubMed

Major, Lesa Hatley; Coleman, Renita

2012-01-01

Using experimental methodology, this study tests the effectiveness of HIV/AIDS prevention messages tailored specifically to college-aged African Americans. To test interaction effects, it intersects source role and evidence format. The authors used gain-framed and loss-framed information specific to young African Americans and HIV to test message effectiveness between statistical and emotional evidence formats, and for the first time, a statistical/emotional combination format. It tests which source--physician or minister--that young African Americans believe is more effective when delivering HIV/AIDS messages to young African Americans. By testing the interaction between source credibility and evidence format, this research expands knowledge on creating effective health messages in several major areas. Findings include a significant interaction between the role of physician and the combined statistical/emotional format. This message was rated as the most effective way to deliver HIV/AIDS prevention messages.

Diabetes education via mobile text messaging.

PubMed

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.

"You should go so that others can come"; the role of facilities in determining an early departure after childbirth in Morogoro Region, Tanzania.

PubMed

McMahon, Shannon A; Mohan, Diwakar; LeFevre, Amnesty E; Mosha, Idda; Mpembeni, Rose; Chase, Rachel P; Baqui, Abdullah H; Winch, Peter J

2015-12-09

Tanzania is among ten countries that account for a majority of the world's newborn deaths. However, data on time-to-discharge after facility delivery, receipt of postpartum messaging by time to discharge and women's experiences in the time preceding discharge from a facility after childbirth are limited. Household survey of 1267 women who delivered in the preceding 2-14 months; in-depth interviews with 24 women, 12 husbands, and 5 community elders. Two-thirds of women with vaginal, uncomplicated births departed within 12 h; 90 % within 24 h, and 95 % within 48 h. Median departure times varied significantly across facilities (hospital: 23 h, health center: 10 h, dispensary: 7 h, p < 0.001). Quantitative and qualitative data highlight the importance of type of facility and facility amenities in determining time-to-discharge. In multiple logistic regression, level of facility (hospital, health center, dispensary) was the only significant predictor of early discharge (p = 0.001). However across all types of facilities a majority of women depart before 24 h ranging from hospitals (54 %) to health centers (64 %) to dispensaries (74 %). Most women who experienced a delivery complication (56 %), gave birth by caesarean section (90 %), or gave birth to a pre-term baby (70 %) stayed longer than 24 h. Reasons for early discharge include: facility practices including discharge routines and working hours and facility-based discomforts for women and those who accompany them to facilities. Provision of postpartum counseling was inadequate regardless of time to discharge and regardless of type of facility where delivery occurred. Our quantitative and qualitative findings indicate that the level of facility care and comforts existing or lacking in a facility have the greatest effect on time to discharge. This suggests that individual or interpersonal characteristics play a limited role in deciding whether a woman would stay for shorter or longer periods. Implementation of a policy of longer stay must incorporate enhanced postpartum counseling and should be sensitive to women's perceptions that it is safe and beneficial to leave hospitals soon after birth.

Cohort profile: China respiratory illness surveillance among pregnant women (CRISP), 2015–2018

PubMed Central

Bao, Lin; Tan, Yayun; Sheng, Falin; Song, Ying; Zhang, Ran; Danielle Iuliano, A; Thompson, Mark G; Greene, Carolyn M; Zhang, Jun

2018-01-01

Purpose We established the China Respiratory Illness Surveillance among Pregnant women (CRISP) to conduct active surveillance for influenza-associated respiratory illness during pregnancy in China from 2015 to 2018. Among annual cohorts of pregnant women, we assess the incidence of acute respiratory illness (ARI), influenza-like illness (ILI), laboratory-confirmed influenza virus infection and the seroconversion proportion during the winter influenza season. We also plan to examine the effect of influenza virus infection on adverse pregnancy, delivery and infant health outcomes with cumulative data from the three annual cohorts. Participants Cohort nurses enrol pregnant women in different trimesters of pregnancy from prenatal care facilities in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, eastern China. Pregnant women who plan to deliver in the study facilities are eligible. Pregnant women who are seeking care for anything other than routine prenatal care, such as confirmation of low progesterone and threatened miscarriage, are excluded. At enrolment, study nurses collect baseline information on demographics, education-level attained, underlying medical conditions, seasonal influenza vaccination receipt, risk factors for influenza infection, gravidity and parity and contact information. For each participant, cohort nurses conduct twice weekly follow-up contacts, one phone call and one WeChat message (free instant messaging), from the time of enrolment until delivery or termination of pregnancy. During follow-up, study nurses ask about symptoms, timing and characteristics of ARI, healthcare-seeking behaviour and medications taken for participants reporting respiratory illness since the last contact. In addition, we collect combined nasal and throat swabs for identified ARI to test for influenza viruses. We collect paired sera before and after the influenza season. Active respiratory illness surveillance and seroinfection data during pregnancy of participants are linked to their medical record and the Suzhou Maternal Child Information System for detailed information on clinical treatment for respiratory illness, pregnancy, delivery and infant health outcomes. Findings to date In 2015–2016, of 4915 pregnant women approached, 192 (4%) refused to participate, 91 (2%) were ineligible because they did not plan to deliver in one of the study hospitals or because their visit was for anything other than routine prenatal care and 4632 (94%) were enrolled, 46% during their first trimester of pregnancy (range 5–12 weeks), 48% during the second trimester (range 13–27 weeks) and 6% during the third trimester (range 28–37 weeks). The median age of the enrollees was 27 years (range 16–45) and two (0.04%, 95% CI 0.01% to 0.17%) reported influenza vaccination in the previous 12 months before pregnancy, while zero reported influenza vaccination in the previous 12 months during pregnancy. During the observation time of 648 518 person-days, 1355 ARI episodes were identified. Among 1127 swabs collected (for 83% of all ARIs), 68 (6%) tested positive for influenza virus, for a laboratory-confirmed influenza incidence of 0.31 (95% CI 0.25 to 0.40) per 100 person-months during pregnancy in the study cohort. Future plans Results will be used to describe influenza disease burden in this population to model potential numbers of influenza illnesses averted if influenza vaccination coverage were increased and to support enhanced influenza prevention and control strategies among pregnant women in China. We also plan to enrol and follow three cohorts of pregnant women over three influenza seasons during 2015–2018 which will allow an analysis of the effect of influenza virus infection during pregnancy on adverse pregnancy, delivery and infant outcomes. PMID:29705756

Generic Ada code in the NASA space station command, control and communications environment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mcdougall, D. P.; Vollman, T. E.

1986-01-01

The results of efforts to apply powerful Ada constructs to the formatted message handling process are described. The goal of these efforts was to extend the state-of-technology in message handling while at the same time producing production-quality, reusable code. The first effort was initiated in September, 1984 and delivered in April, 1985. That product, the Generic Message Handling Facility, met initial goals, was reused, and is available in the Ada Repository on ARPANET. However, it became apparent during its development that the initial approach to building a message handler template was not optimal. As a result of this initial effort, several alternate approaches were identified, and research is now on-going to identify an improved product. The ultimate goal is to be able to instantly build a message handling system for any message format given a specification of that message format. The problem lies in how to specify the message format, and one that is done, how to use that information to build the message handler. Message handling systems and message types are described. The initial efforts, its results and its shortcomings are detailed. The approach now being taken to build a system which will be significantly easier to implement, and once implemented, easier to use, is described. Finally, conclusions are offered.

Effects of stimulus characteristics and task demands on pilots' perception of dichotic messages

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wenzel, Elizabeth M.

1986-01-01

The experiment is an initial investigation of pilot performance when auditory advisory messages are presented dichotically, either with or without a concurrent pursuit task requiring visual/motor dexterity. The dependent measures were percent correct and correct reaction times for manual responses to the auditory messages. Two stimulus variables which show facilitory effects in traditional dichotic-listening paradigms, differences in pitch and semantic content of the messages, were examined to determine their effectiveness during the functional simulation of helicopter pursuit. In an effort to accumulate points for the advisory messages for accuracy alone or for both accuracy and reaction times which were faster than their opponent's. In general, the combined effects of the stimulus and task variables are additive. When interactions do occur they suggest that an increase in task demands can sometimes mitigate, but usually does not remove, any processing advantages accrued from stimulus characteristics. The implications of these results for cockpit displays are discussed.

Empirical Accuracies of U.S. Space Surveillance Network Reentry Predictions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, Nicholas L.

2008-01-01

The U.S. Space Surveillance Network (SSN) issues formal satellite reentry predictions for objects which have the potential for generating debris which could pose a hazard to people or property on Earth. These prognostications, known as Tracking and Impact Prediction (TIP) messages, are nominally distributed at daily intervals beginning four days prior to the anticipated reentry and several times during the final 24 hours in orbit. The accuracy of these messages depends on the nature of the satellite s orbit, the characteristics of the space vehicle, solar activity, and many other factors. Despite the many influences on the time and the location of reentry, a useful assessment of the accuracies of TIP messages can be derived and compared with the official accuracies included with each TIP message. This paper summarizes the results of a study of numerous uncontrolled reentries of spacecraft and rocket bodies from nearly circular orbits over a span of several years. Insights are provided into the empirical accuracies and utility of SSN TIP messages.

Message Brokering Evaluation for Live Spacecraft Telemetry Monitoring, Recorded Playback, and Analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, Daren; Pomerantz, Marc

2015-01-01

Live monitoring and post-flight analysis of telemetry data play a vital role in the development, diagnosis, and deployment of components of a space flight mission. Requirements for such a system include low end-to-end latency between data producers and visualizers, preserved ordering of messages, data stream archiving with random access playback, and real-time creation of derived data streams. We evaluate the RabbitMQ and Kafka message brokering systems, on how well they can enable a real-time, scalable, and robust telemetry framework that delivers telemetry data to multiple clients across heterogeneous platforms and flight projects. In our experiments using an actively developed robotic arm testbed, Kafka yielded a much higher message throughput rate and a consistent publishing rate across the number of topics and consumers. Consumer message rates were consistent across the number of topics but can exhibit bursty behavior with an increase in the contention for a single topic partition with increasing number of consumers.

Women’s Perceptions of Participation in an Extended Contact Text Message–Based Weight Loss Intervention: An Explorative Study

PubMed Central

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

2017-01-01

Background 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. Objective 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. Methods 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. Results 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 messages (during the extended contact intervention). Conclusions Text message support was perceived as acceptable for the majority of women as a way of extending intervention contact for weight loss and behavioral maintenance. Text messages supported the maintenance of healthy behaviors established in the intervention phase and kept the women accountable to their goals. A combination of telephone calls and text message support was suggested as a more acceptable option for some of the women for an extended contact intervention. PMID:28242595

Prevalence and Risk Profile Of Unread Messages To Patients In A Patient Web Portal.

PubMed

Crotty, B H; Mostaghimi, A; O'Brien, J; Bajracharya, A; Safran, C; Landon, B E

2015-01-01

Excitement around the adoption of electronic communication between physicians and patients is tempered by the possibility of increased clinical and legal risk. If patients do not read messages in a timely fashion, duplicative communication efforts may be required and patient safety may be jeopardized. We sought to assess the prevalence and risk profile of unread messages in a mature patient portal. We analyzed six years of messages (2005-2010) from physicians to patients to determine the prevalence and associated characteristics of unread messages in a patient portal. We focused on clinical messages, and excluded announcements. Because some physicians sent clinical messages to groups of patients, we labeled messages sent to more than 5 patients as "outreach" messages and excluded them from general analyses. We performed a chart review of 75 clinical messages to assess for harm. We found that 3% of clinical messages were unread after 21 days. Messages arriving outside of business hours were slightly more likely to go unread (RR 1.15 95% CI 1.11-1.19). Patients who were male (OR 1.14 CI 1.04-1.26) African American (OR 1.69 CI 1.29-2.22) or Hispanic (OR 1.74 CI 1.17-2.59), or in the lowest income group (OR 1.72 CI 1.19-2.49) were more likely to have unread messages. Chart review showed no evidence of harm, but 13% of sampled unread messages were associated with potential delays in care. Incidentally, we found 50% of the physician-initiated outreach messages were unread. Overall, secure messaging appears a safe form of communication, but systems to notify senders when messages are unread may have value. While most clinical messages were read, many outreach messages were not, providing caution for relying on such systems for information dissemination. Similar to other studies, differences by race and income were observed and require further study.

Effects of text messaging in addition to emails on physical activity among university and college employees in the UK.

PubMed

Suggs, Suzanne; Blake, Holly; Bardus, Marco; Lloyd, Scott

2013-04-01

To test the effects of adding text messages to weekly email communications on recipients' total physical activity (leisure-time; workplace; domestic and garden; and active transportation) in employees of universities and colleges in the UK. A randomised trial with two study groups (email only or email plus text messaging for 12 weeks) was implemented at five workplaces. Data were collected at baseline, immediately after, and four weeks after the intervention. Intervention effects on physical activity were evaluated using latent growth modelling. Total physical activity decreased over time in both groups but the decrease was non-significant. The only significant difference between groups was found for workplace physical activity, with the group receiving emails and text messages having a linear decrease of 2.81 Metabolic Equivalent h/week (β = -0.31, p = 0.035) compared to the email only group. Sending employees two additional text messages resulted in less physical activity. Further investigation is needed to understand whether text messaging may play a beneficial role in promoting physical activity in workplace settings. © The Author(s) 2013 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav.

Early- or mid-trimester amniocentesis biomarkers for predicting preterm delivery: a meta-analysis.

PubMed

Liu, Yinglin; Liu, Yukun; Zhang, Rui; Zhu, Liqiong; Feng, Ziya

2017-02-01

To determine the value of early- or mid-trimester amniotic fluid levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6), matrix metalloproteinase-8 (MMP-8), and glucose for predicting preterm delivery. Randomized controlled trials and two-arm prospective, retrospective, cohorts, and case-controlled studies in which patients received early- or mid-trimester amniocentesis for karyotyping, and biomarker testing of the amniotic fluid was performed and delivery data were available were included in the analysis. Outcome measures were the associations of amniotic fluid IL-6, MMP-8, and glucose levels with preterm delivery. Differences in means with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated. Of 288 articles identified, 14 were included in the meta-analysis with a total of 675 patients who had preterm birth and 2518 patients who had term births. The preterm-delivery group had significantly higher amniotic fluid IL-6 and MMP-8 levels, and a significantly lower glucose level than the term delivery group (IL-6: difference in means = 0.32, 95% CI: 0.22-0.43, p < 0.001; MMP-8: difference in means = 4.47, 95% CI: 0.83-8.11), p = 0.016; glucose: difference in means = -5.22, 95% CI: -8.19 to -2.26, p = 0.001) Conclusion: Early- or mid-trimester amniotic fluid IL-6, MMP-8, and glucose levels are useful for predicting the risk of preterm delivery. KEY MESSAGES Median amniotic fluid ferritin and IL-6 levels, and mean amniotic fluid ALP levels were higher in the preterm group. The preterm-delivery group had significantly higher amniotic fluid IL-6 and MMP-8 levels, and a significantly lower glucose level than the term-delivery group.

The data acquisition system for the Anglo-Australian Observatory 2-degree field project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shortridge, K.; Farrell, T. J.; Bailey, J.

1992-01-01

The Anglo-Australian Observatory (AAO) is building a system that will provide a two-degree field of view at prime focus. A robot positioner will be used to locate up to 400 optical fibers at pre-determined positions in this field. While observations are being made using one set of 400 fibers, the robot will be positioning a second set of fibers in a background field that can be moved in to replace the first when the telescope is moved to a new position. The fibers feed two spectrographs each with a 1024 square CCD detector. The software system being produced to control this involves Vaxes for overall control and data recording, UNIX workstations for fiber configuration calculations and on-line data reduction, and VME systems running VxWorks for real-time control of critical parts such as the positioner robot. The system has to be able to interact with the observatory's present data acquisition systems, which use the ADAM system. As yet, the real-time parts of ADAM have not been ported to Unix, and so we are having to produce a smaller-scale system that is similar but inherently distributed (which ADAM is not). We are using this system as a testbed for ideas that we hope may eventually influence an ADAM II system. The system we are producing is based on a message system that is designed to be able to handle inter-process and inter-processor messages of any length, efficiently, and without ever requiring a task to block (i.e., be unresponsive to 'cancel' messages, enquiry messages), other than when deliberately waiting for external input - all of which will be through such messages. The essential requirement is that a message 'send' operation should never be able to block. The messages will be hierarchical, self-defining, machine-independent data structures. This allows us to provide very simple monitoring of messages for diagnostic purposes, and allows general purpose interface programs to be written without needing to share precise byte by byte message format definitions. Programs in this system have interfaces defined simply in terms of named actions and their parameters. Real-time control programs are required to be able to handle a number of such actions concurrently; data reduction programs will normally only need to handle one action at a time ('process an image', 'display a spectrum', etc).

How long do people look and listen to forest-oriented exhibits?

Treesearch

James William Shiner; Elwood L., Jr. Shafer

1975-01-01

To gain a better understanding of public reaction to I & E displays, average visitor-viewing time was measured for a variety of exhibits at the Adirondack Museum, Blue Mountain Lake, N.Y. Visitors viewed displays 15 to 64 percent of the time required to read or listen to the total message presented. The longer the message per exhibit, the less time was spent...

Endlessly Circulating Messages in IEEE 1588-2008 Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-05-13

section 13.5 of the standard. Once the timing topology is established by the BMC algo- rithm, each clock synchronizes to its master by exchanging timing ...Endlessly Circulating Messages in IEEE 1588-2008 Systems David Broman Patricia Derler Ankush Desai John Eidson Sanjit A. Seshia Electrical...estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the

The Prime Time Diet: A Content Analysis of Eating Behavior and Food Messages in Television Program Content and Commercials.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Story, Mary; Faulkner, Patricia

1990-01-01

Identifies and analyzes messages related to food and eating behavior as presented on prime time television programing and commercials. Finds that food references occur an average of 4.8 times per 30 minutes and that over half of all food references were for low nutrient beverages and sweets, which is inconsistent with healthy dietary guidelines.…

High-Performance, Reliable Multicasting: Foundations for Future Internet Groupware Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Callahan, John; Montgomery, Todd; Whetten, Brian

1997-01-01

Network protocols that provide efficient, reliable, and totally-ordered message delivery to large numbers of users will be needed to support many future Internet applications. The Reliable Multicast Protocol (RMP) is implemented on top of IP multicast to facilitate reliable transfer of data for replicated databases and groupware applications that will emerge on the Internet over the next decade. This paper explores some of the basic questions and applications of reliable multicasting in the context of the development and analysis of RMP.

Accuracy and Speed of Response to Different Voice Types in a Cockpit Voice Warning System

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-09-01

military aircraft. Different levels of engine background noise, signal to noise ratio of the warning message, and precursor delivery formats were used. The...flight deck signals, the Society of Automotive Engineers stated that a unique, attention-getting sound (such as a chime, 4 etc.) together with voice...aircr,-ft wherein there is no flight engineer position" (cited in Thorburn, 1971, p. 3). The AFIAS letter cited several incidents in which the VWS had

Crewmember activity in the middeck during delivery of morning mail messages

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-08-24

STS091-362-005 (2-12 June 1998) --- Four of the seven STS-91 crew members check the morning mail on the mid deck of the Earth-orbiting Space Shuttle Discovery toward the end of the scheduled ten-day mission. Left to right are astronauts Charles J. Precourt, commander; Andrew S.W. Thomas, mission specialist; Dominic C. Gorie, pilot; and Janet L. Kavandi, mission specialist. The emergency escape pole, flown on all shuttle missions, runs across the top center of the frame.

An Introduction to Message-Bus Architectures for Space Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Danford; Gregory, Brian

2005-01-01

This course presents technical and programmatic information on the development of message-based architectures for space mission ground and flight software systems. Message-based architecture approaches provide many significant advantages over the more traditional socket-based one-of-a-kind integrated system development approaches. The course provides an overview of publish/subscribe concepts, the use of common isolation layer API's, approaches to message standardization, and other technical topics. Several examples of currently operational systems are discussed and possible changes to the system discussed and time for questions and answers will be provided.

Results of a content analysis of electronic messages (email) sent between patients and their physicians

PubMed Central

Sittig, Dean F

2003-01-01

Background Email is the most important mechanism introduced since the telephone for developing interpersonal relationships. This study was designed to provide insight into how patients are using email to request information or services from their healthcare providers. Methods Following IRB approval, we reviewed all electronic mail (e-mail) messages sent between five study clinicians and their patients over a one-month period. We used a previously described taxonomy of patient requests to categorize all patient requests contained in the messages. We measured message volume, frequency, length and response time for all messages sent to and received by these clinicians. Results On average the 5 physicians involved in this study received 40 messages per month, each containing approximately 139 words. Replies sent by the physicians contained 39 words on average and 59.4% of them were sent within 24 hours. Patients averaged 1 request per message. Requests for information on medications or treatments, specific symptoms or diseases, and requests for actions regarding medications or treatments accounted for 75% of all requests. Physicians fulfilled 80.2% of all these requests. Upon comparison of these data to that obtained from traditional office visits, it appears that the potential exists for email encounters to substitute for some percentage of office visits. Conclusion Electronic messaging is an important method for physicians and patients to communicate and further develop their relationship. While many physicians worry that either the number or length of messages from their patients will overwhelm them, there is no evidence to support this. In fact, the evidence suggests that many patient requests, formerly made over the telephone or during office visits, can be addressed via email thus potentially saving both patients and physicians time. PMID:14519206

Eye movement responses to health messages on cigarette packages

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background While the majority of the health messages on cigarette packages contain threatening health information, previous studies indicate that risk information can trigger defensive reactions, especially when the information is self-relevant (i.e., smokers). Providing coping information, information that provides help for quitting smoking, might increase attention to health messages instead of triggering defensive reactions. Methods Eye-movement registration can detect attention preferences for different health education messages over a longer period of time during message exposure. In a randomized, experimental study with 23 smoking and 41 non-smoking student volunteers, eye-movements were recorded for sixteen self-created cigarette packages containing health texts that presented either high risk or coping information combined with a high threat or a low threat smoking-related photo. Results Results of the eye movement data showed that smokers tend to spend more time looking (i.e., more unique fixations and longer dwell time) at the coping information than at the high risk information irrespective of the content of the smoking-related photo. Non-smokers tend to spend more time looking at the high risk information than at the coping information when the information was presented in combination with a high threat smoking photo. When a low threat photo was presented, non-smokers paid more attention to the coping information than to the high risk information. Results for the smoking photos showed more attention allocation for low threat photos that were presented in combination with high risk information than for low threat photos in combination with coping information. No attention differences were found for the high threat photos. Conclusions Non-smokers demonstrated an attention preference for high risk information as opposed to coping information, but only when text information was presented in combination with a high threat photo. For smokers, however, our findings suggest more attention allocation for coping information than for health risk information. This preference for coping information is not reflected in current health messages to motivate smokers to quit smoking. Coping information should be more frequently implemented in health message design to increase attention for these messages and thus contribute to effective persuasion. PMID:22583956

Eye movement responses to health messages on cigarette packages.

PubMed

Kessels, Loes T E; Ruiter, Robert A C

2012-05-14

While the majority of the health messages on cigarette packages contain threatening health information, previous studies indicate that risk information can trigger defensive reactions, especially when the information is self-relevant (i.e., smokers). Providing coping information, information that provides help for quitting smoking, might increase attention to health messages instead of triggering defensive reactions. Eye-movement registration can detect attention preferences for different health education messages over a longer period of time during message exposure. In a randomized, experimental study with 23 smoking and 41 non-smoking student volunteers, eye-movements were recorded for sixteen self-created cigarette packages containing health texts that presented either high risk or coping information combined with a high threat or a low threat smoking-related photo. Results of the eye movement data showed that smokers tend to spend more time looking (i.e., more unique fixations and longer dwell time) at the coping information than at the high risk information irrespective of the content of the smoking-related photo. Non-smokers tend to spend more time looking at the high risk information than at the coping information when the information was presented in combination with a high threat smoking photo. When a low threat photo was presented, non-smokers paid more attention to the coping information than to the high risk information. Results for the smoking photos showed more attention allocation for low threat photos that were presented in combination with high risk information than for low threat photos in combination with coping information. No attention differences were found for the high threat photos. Non-smokers demonstrated an attention preference for high risk information as opposed to coping information, but only when text information was presented in combination with a high threat photo. For smokers, however, our findings suggest more attention allocation for coping information than for health risk information. This preference for coping information is not reflected in current health messages to motivate smokers to quit smoking. Coping information should be more frequently implemented in health message design to increase attention for these messages and thus contribute to effective persuasion.

More Than a Text Message: Dismantling Digital Triggers to Curate Behavior Change in Patient-Centered Health Interventions.

PubMed

Muench, Frederick; Baumel, Amit

2017-05-26

Digital triggers such as text messages, emails, and push alerts are designed to focus an individual on a desired goal by prompting an internal or external reaction at the appropriate time. Triggers therefore have an essential role in engaging individuals with digital interventions delivered outside of traditional health care settings, where other events in daily lives and fluctuating motivation to engage in effortful behavior exist. There is an emerging body of literature examining the use of digital triggers for short-term action and longer-term behavior change. However, little attention has been given to understanding the components of digital triggers. Using tailoring as an overarching framework, we separated digital triggers into 5 primary components: (1) who (sender), (2) how (stimulus type, delivery medium, heterogeneity), (3) when (delivered), (4) how much (frequency, intensity), and (5) what (trigger's target, trigger's structure, trigger's narrative). We highlighted key considerations when tailoring each component and the pitfalls of ignoring common mistakes, such as alert fatigue and habituation. As evidenced throughout the paper, there is a broad literature base from which to draw when tailoring triggers to curate behavior change in health interventions. More research is needed, however, to examine differences in efficacy based on component tailoring, to best use triggers to facilitate behavior change over time, and to keep individuals engaged in physical and mental health behavior change efforts. Dismantling digital triggers into their component parts and reassembling them according to the gestalt of one's change goals is the first step in this development work. ©Frederick Muench, Amit Baumel. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 26.05.2017.

A secure transmission scheme of streaming media based on the encrypted control message

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Bing; Jin, Zhigang; Shu, Yantai; Yu, Li

2007-09-01

As the use of streaming media applications increased dramatically in recent years, streaming media security becomes an important presumption, protecting the privacy. This paper proposes a new encryption scheme in view of characteristics of streaming media and the disadvantage of the living method: encrypt the control message in the streaming media with the high security lever and permute and confuse the data which is non control message according to the corresponding control message. Here the so-called control message refers to the key data of the streaming media, including the streaming media header and the header of the video frame, and the seed key. We encrypt the control message using the public key encryption algorithm which can provide high security lever, such as RSA. At the same time we make use of the seed key to generate key stream, from which the permutation list P responding to GOP (group of picture) is derived. The plain text of the non-control message XORs the key stream and gets the middle cipher text. And then obtained one is permutated according to P. In contrast the decryption process is the inverse process of the above. We have set up a testbed for the above scheme and found our scheme is six to eight times faster than the conventional method. It can be applied not only between PCs but also between handheld devices.

High performance interconnection between high data rate networks

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Foudriat, E. C.; Maly, K.; Overstreet, C. M.; Zhang, L.; Sun, W.

1992-01-01

The bridge/gateway system needed to interconnect a wide range of computer networks to support a wide range of user quality-of-service requirements is discussed. The bridge/gateway must handle a wide range of message types including synchronous and asynchronous traffic, large, bursty messages, short, self-contained messages, time critical messages, etc. It is shown that messages can be classified into three basic classes, synchronous and large and small asynchronous messages. The first two require call setup so that packet identification, buffer handling, etc. can be supported in the bridge/gateway. Identification enables resequences in packet size. The third class is for messages which do not require call setup. Resequencing hardware based to handle two types of resequencing problems is presented. The first is for a virtual parallel circuit which can scramble channel bytes. The second system is effective in handling both synchronous and asynchronous traffic between networks with highly differing packet sizes and data rates. The two other major needs for the bridge/gateway are congestion and error control. A dynamic, lossless congestion control scheme which can easily support effective error correction is presented. Results indicate that the congestion control scheme provides close to optimal capacity under congested conditions. Under conditions where error may develop due to intervening networks which are not lossless, intermediate error recovery and correction takes 1/3 less time than equivalent end-to-end error correction under similar conditions.