Use Of Internet For Activities Research Articles

ЭФФЕКТ ИСПОЛЬЗОВАНИЯ ИНФОРМАЦИОННЫХ ТЕХНОЛОГИЙ НА КОГНИТИВНЫЕ ФУНКЦИИ

The article examines the influence of the Internet on cognitive development and social interaction of older schoolchildren and students. The initial positive impact of active Internet use on thinking is highlighted, which declines over time due to problems with long-term memory. The growth of online social interactions, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, and their implications for social intelligence are highlighted. Both positive and negative aspects of online interactions are discussed, including problems with social comparisons and self-esteem. The importance of the teacher’s role in adapting to online learning and the implementation of individual educational trajectories are also considered key elements in managing students’ cognitive development.

At-risk internet addiction and related factors among senior high school teachers in Japan based on a Nationwide survey.

Internet addiction (IA) has been drawing attention to mental health. However, few reports have been found on the related factors of at-risk IA among regular workers by a nationwide survey. The study aimed to evaluate the characteristics of at-risk IA and identify related factors among senior high school teachers in Japan. This survey was a cross-sectional survey of high schools across Japan in 2017. There were 3189 teachers (2088 males and 1098 female) who participated in this survey. The questionnaire asked about their devices, both the time and the activities of using their internet, and sociodemographic factors. IA was measured by the internet addiction test (IAT) by which 40-79 points were classified as at-risk IA, and more as IA. We compared the related factors of at-risk IA and non-IA using descriptive analysis and multivariable regression analysis. The rates of IA and at-risk IA were 0.09% (n = 3) and 6.91% (n = 220), respectively. At-risk IA was positively associated with activities on the internet for gaming, entertainment, net-surfing, and younger ages. In addition, the at-risk IA group had a longer time spent on the internet than the non-IA group. Around 7% of high school teachers are at-risk IA in this survey, though they have regular work. Our results suggest that at-risk IA may be reinforced not only by the active internet use such as gaming, but also by purposeless behaviors, such as net-surfing. Managing time on the internet may support preventing at-risk IA among senior high school teachers.

Wavelet-Hadamard based blind image watermarking using genetic algorithm and decision tree

Recently the active use of Internet and multimedia technologies has increased the violation of copyright. Digital watermarking has a crucial role in the field of multimedia copyright protection. In this paper, an optimized image watermarking technique based on Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) and Hadamard transform is proposed. Genetic Algorithm (GA) is an optimizing technique used to satisfy the tradeoff between robustness and imperceptibility. Blind property is conducted using the estimation capability of Decision Tree (DT). First the host image is transformed using second level DWT, then Hadamard transform is applied on selected DWT sub-bands. Adaptive multiple strength values are computed using GA. The watermark is successfully extracted using the trained DT which estimates the original coefficients needed for the extraction process without the need for the original host image. The proposed technique is evaluated against several types of attacks: compression, median filtering, salt and pepper noise, histogram equalization, blurring, scaling, painting, and cropping. Experimental results show that the proposed watermarking technique is robust against these attacks while keeping good imperceptibility. The proposed technique outperforms the compared techniques according to robustness, imperceptibility, and capacity.

Use and non-use of a nationwide patient portal – a survey among pharmacy customers

Abstract Objectives A nationwide patient portal (My Kanta) for viewing electronic prescriptions and health data has been phased in since 2010 in Finland. This study aimed to study how commonly Finnish pharmacy customers use My Kanta, the factors related to My Kanta use, the main reasons for non-use and how non-users would like to monitor their medication and health information. Methods A survey was conducted among adult pharmacy customers purchasing prescription medicines for themselves or for their child <18 years. Questionnaires (N = 2866) were distributed from 18 pharmacies across Finland. Open-ended questions were analysed qualitatively. Quantitative analyses included frequencies, Chi-square tests, Fisher's exact tests, t-tests and logistic regression analysis. Key findings In total, 994 (34.7%) questionnaires were included. Most (82.5%) adult pharmacy customers used My Kanta. Use of the service was associated with use of the internet to search for health-related information (OR: 8.82, 95% CI: 4.65‒16.74), active internet use (OR: 7.30, 95 %: CI 3.54‒15.08), living in Northern (OR: 4.35, 95% CI: 1.75‒10.82) or Eastern (OR: 3.25, 95% CI: 1.41‒7.48) parts of Finland, and the increasing number of currently used regular prescription medicines (OR: 1.16, 95% CI: 1.01‒1.34). The main reasons for non-use were lack of need and tools. Non-users reported physician/health centres and pharmacies as their preferred sources of medication and health information. Conclusions Most Finnish pharmacy customers use the My Kanta nationwide patient portal. The strongest predictors for use are factors related to internet use. Some pharmacy customers do not use My Kanta despite having the necessary means. The main reason for non-use is a lack of need. Customers unable to use My Kanta want to monitor their medication and health information via healthcare professionals.

Internet marketing in the medical industry; challenges and future.

Nowadays, people are living in the so-called, the era, which means the Internet has become essential to their daily lives. People have become accustomed to the Internet whenever they want to search for certain information. This phenomenon has revolutionized the peoples' way of life and thoughts, which will ultimately have an impact on the future. This change is also affecting the medical and dental industries. Many areas in the medical field can benefit from using the Internet. Hospital marketing is one of the key areas where Internet use is active in the medical and dental field, which has become an essential and routine administrative work. Hospitals favor the use of the Internet because they can advertise their strong aspects, such as competitive cutting edge facilities, high quality doctors and affordable fees, efficiently to people with easy access to the Internet. Online communication between patients and doctors is also a great tool of medical marketing that has been improved through the use of the Internet. Internet communities for patients or doctors are now growing popular and provide an excellent opportunity to exchange information on the doctors and clinics they have experienced. Many assume that this might be beneficial to patients and be effective for doctors, who open new clinics to compete successfully with the existing competitors. In reality, however, many issues are being raised as a result of active Internet use. Contrary to people's expectation, the relationship among doctors or between doctors and patients might become worse as Internet marketing competition increases. People easily critisize each other online, for example, by posting false episodes about bad experiences in competing hospitals or doctors. And also they often confuse public by giving medically unproven information on their websites where anyone can access through internet. This might be clearly harmful for public health. Many reasonable people in South Korea tend not to believe all the information on the Internet because they are webbased, and try to gain insight to distinguish true and false information. Nevertheless, not all people have such discernment and paying too much attention to check false information is time-consuming. In this chaotic environment, regular people can be very confused about the transparency and can often be a victim of a heated online attack. Some cases may even result in criminal action. In addition, many cases often cause emotional stress, waste of time and unexpected expenses on the business level, which all ultimately impact the treatment of patients. What would be the best way to address these concerns while highlighting the positive function of Internet use for medical marketing? Regulation revamps, such as strong penalties, can be effective in preventing slander. In addition, it is also important to keep Internet communities transparent as an open space, so that people can behave online as they do in the offline societies. This approach may be debatable but worth consideration, particularly in the field of medical business. The medical business is different from other types of businesses because medical services involve human lives. Therefore, the dignity the doctors should be respected in all cases. Competing doctors and clinics should be aware of this and the fellowship among doctors should always be considered. This does not mean a type of cartel and unreasonable protection of each other but sound and fair competition with mutual respect. As the future world will be more interrelated through the Internet, it is important to return to the basics, i.e., to the promise that was made on the day when the white coat was first worn just after graduating from college.

AB0768 Aesthetic Discomfort in Women with Hand Osteorthritis Means NO Less than the Pain and Functional Impairment

BackgroundOsteoarthritis (OA) is one of the most common causes of pain in the hands after 40-45 years resulting in poor health-related quality of life (HRQoL). This reduction caused not only...

Internet Use and Its Impact on Engagement in Leisure Activities in China

IntroductionInternet use has become an increasingly common leisure time activity among Chinese citizens. The association between Internet use and engagement in leisure activities is especially unclear among China population. This study aims to investigate Internet usage and to determine whether active Internet use is a marker for low or high levels of leisure time activities.Methods/Principal FindingsWith the use of a face-to-face structured questionnaire interview, a total of 2,400 respondents who met all screening requirements were surveyed to answer the questions in eight major cities in China. 66.2% (n = 1,589) of all respondents were identified as Internet users. Of these Internet users, 30.0%, 24.1%, 26.4%, and 19.6% were clustered as “informative or instrumental users,” “entertainment users,” “communication users,” and “advanced users,” respectively. Regarding time spent on Internet use in leisure time, more than 96% reported going online in non-work situations, and 26.2% (n = 416) were classified as “heavy Internet users.” A logistic regression analysis revealed that there were significant differences in some leisure activities between non-Internet users and Internet users, with an observed one-unit increase in the leisure time dependence category increasing the probability of engaging in mental or social activities. In contrast, Internet users were less engaged in physical exercise-related activities. In addition, advanced Internet users were generally more active in leisure time activities than non-Internet users and other types of users.Conclusion/SignificanceInternet use is one of very common leisure activities in Chinese citizens, and age, gender, income, and education are the key factors affecting Internet access. According to different types of leisure activities, Internet usage has different impacts on leisure activity engagement. High Internet dependence has no significant negative influence on engagement in mental or social leisure activities, but this group respondent tended to be less engaged in physical activities.

ICT activity in later life: Internet use and leisure activities amongst senior citizens in Finland.

The article examines the relationship between the Internet use and leisure activities amongst Finnish seniors. Traditionally, the young have been the most active users of the Internet and other information and communication technologies (ICTs). In recent years, however, older age groups have increasingly become more interested in ICT, yet a significant proportion of Finnish seniors rarely log on. Using data from a nationally representative survey (N=542) conducted in the summer of 2010, we explored the connection between the frequent Internet use and general leisure activity. The basic socio-demographic variables were controlled in the analysis. The findings indicate that the active Internet use in old age has a strong positive correlation with the number of different leisure activities amongst Finnish seniors. As most European societies continue to age, it is clear that future research should focus on the implications and the role the Internet and other new ICTs will play in the everyday life amongst the ageing citizens.

Determinants of the frequency of online health information seeking: Results of a Web-based survey conducted in France in 2007

In the general population, social disparities in Internet practices have been less described than disparities in health information access. Aim is to determine whether there are differences in the frequency of Internet use for health information among health seekers. We conducted an Internet-based survey from November 2006 to March 2007. We considered the 3720 residents of France who had searched for health information during the previous 12 months. This study reveals different uses of the Internet for health information seeking (HIS) between men and women and between the general population and people who work in the health sector. Health status, taking care of somebody who is sick, and active Internet use were associated with higher frequencies of online HIS to varying degrees. The effects of age and level of education were not clear or were not significant. Greater health concerns and some issues in the physician–patient relationship were associated with higher frequencies of Internet use for HIS in the general population. Considering that this increasing use of online tools for HIS is consistent with current public health policies that promote the development of the ‘informed patient’, one should remain cautious about these social disparities in online HIS practices.

Second-Rate Election Campaigning? An Analysis of Campaign Styles in European Parliamentary Elections

The literature on professionalization of political campaigns is strongly biased toward first-order (national) elections and the U.S. and U.K. contexts. This study expands that scope. Based on a survey of candidates for the 2004 European elections in eight European Union countries, we tested whether campaign efforts to mobilize voters were larger in countries with elite consensus on the issue of European integration than in countries with elite polarization. The results showed that campaigns in consensual electoral contexts in which political parties differ marginally on most issues of European integration were longer and involved more public meetings, more canvassing, and a more active use of Internet. The article concludes with a discussion of the campaign professionalization literature that does not apply universally.