Cell Phone Applications Research Articles

Office- versus home-based evaluation of quality of life in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction: A randomized study

BackgroundHeart failure (HF) patients often experience poor health-related quality-of-life (HR-QoL). The Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ) is frequently used for assessing HR-QoL in HF. Whether KCCQ scores vary in a clinical meaningful manner according to the setting (home vs office) where patients respond to the questionnaire is currently unknown. AimsAssess the differences in the responses to KCCQ-23 questionnaire when completed at home or office. MethodsRandomized parallel-group study, including patients with HF with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). Primary outcome was home vs office comparison of overall summary score (KCCQ-OSS). Main secondary outcomes were clinical summary score (KCCQ-CSS) and total symptom score (KCCQ-TSS). ResultsA total of 100 patients were included in the study: 50 home vs 50 office. Mean age was 71 yrs. Most baseline characteristics were well balanced between groups, except male sex, MRA use, and prior HF hospitalizations which were more frequent in the home group. No statistically-significant between-group differences were found regarding KCCQ-OSS (median [percentile25–75]) scores: home 69.1 (42.0–86.5) vs office 63.1 (44.3–82.3) points, P-value = 0.59, or main secondary outcomes: KCCQ-CSS home 62.2 (46.5–79.9) vs office 68.1 (51.9–79.2) points, P-value = 0.69, and KCCQ-TSS home 84.7 (59.7–97.2) vs office 76.4 (66.7–94.4) points, P-value = 0.85. Results remained similar after adjustment for differences in baseline characteristics and using non-parametric regressions. ConclusionsNo major differences were found in KCCQ-23 scores regardless of whether the questionnaire was completed at home or office. These findings can be useful to make HR-QoL more accessible, allowing patients to respond at home using email or cell-phone applications.

News Recommendation Systems: Impediments and Future Prospects

News publishers have reduced their usage of traditional newspapers in favour of digital various options such as webpages and specially constructed cell phone applications. In the present world, the internet has recreated information borders and, in addition to smartphone internet access, makes it the most vital medium content for everyone on earth. Users want personalized news recommendations in order to locate relevant news content and avoid information overload. With the growing number of media reports available on social media, tailored news suggestions have become more vital in assisting end users inside discovering relevant and engaging news stories. Traditional recommender systems, on the other hand, frequently fail to account for the constantly changing nature the users' preferences in addition to shifting patterns in news items. To solve this issue, this study offers a context-aware customized data system of recommendations that utilizes contextual information to improve news suggestion individualism. The method entails gathering, extracting, investigating, scrubbing, and arranging a big dataset from 22,657 English publications from 19 individual news outlets online. Four separate recommender frameworks were thought up using different methodologies, including content-based strategies like the TF-IDF Bag-of-Words, and Word2Vec, as well as a related not entirely set in stone by click demeanours. Since it’s been thoroughly explored over decades with noteworthy progress in enhancing user interaction, there encore many concerns and obstacles waiting to be researched further.

Telehealth and information/communication technologies in the care of overweight and obese adults: A rapid review

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of strategies that use telehealth, telemedicine, mobile applications, and text messages for overweight and obese adult health care. Methods: In this rapid review of systematic reviews (SRs), nine databases were searched in November 2020 and again in February 2022. Methodological quality of the SRs was assessed using Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR 2). Results: 19 SRs were included, classified as high-confidence (one), low-confidence (six), and critically low-confidence (twelve). Weight loss most often showed favorable results, followed by changes in body mass index (BMI), while for the reduction in waist circumference, the results were similar between interventions and comparators. Studies on eating habits and physical activities changes showed nonsignificant results or an advantage of face-to-face activities over electronic applications. The reduction in body fat and treatment adherence presented favorable results with cell phone applications. There is no reporting regarding the safety of the interventions. Conclusions: Interventions through computer applications, online tools, text messages, and telehealth can have positive effects on weight reduction, BMI, and body fat. Conclusions should be interpreted with caution, due to the methodological quality of the included SRs and the other limitations of this rapid review.

Using a BBWM-PROMETHEE model for evaluating mobile commerce service quality: A case study of food delivery platform

In the age of COVID-19, many governments imposed social distancing, work-from-home, and crowd control measures, which continue to affect economic development and forces service providers to be increasingly reliant on e-commerce and m-commerce platform technology. Moreover, due to the availability of 5G network speeds, cell phone applications and the Internet services have become indispensable for future smart lifestyles, prompting brick-and-mortar businesses to shift their sales models to mobile network operators (MNOs). To popularize the use of m-commerce, it is critical to ensure that service platforms operate well and give the customer what they want. It is thus essential to create a comprehensive and complete performance framework for the evaluation of m-commerce services. In this paper, a hybrid model is developed to explore this issue and the effectiveness and robustness of the model is illustrated by an application to two major food delivery platforms in Taiwan. The Bayesian Best Worst Method (BBWM) is applied to identify the criteria weights and ranks. The judgments of 14 experts are integrated to obtain the optimal group criteria weights. The performance data were obtained from a survey of 210 experienced users of these delivery platforms. The difference between the actual performance of each delivery platform and the aspiration level (AL) was calculated using the modified Preference Ranking Organization Method for Enrichment Evaluations (modified PROMETHEE) to determine an overall score for each delivery platform. A sensitivity analysis was also conducted and comparison made with other Multiple Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) methods. The results show that information security and privacy, integrity, and mobile transaction service are the most important criteria, with Food Panda performing better than the other mobile food delivery service provider. The proposed evaluation framework is useful for performance evaluation of mobile commerce service quality, and providing effective suggestions to assist decision-makers in creating development strategies.

Mobile Applications in Childhood Immunization: A Systematic Review

The central objective of this paper is to distinguish the impact of different cell phone applications on child vaccination completion. A systematic literature review was conducted to determine how mobile applications have improved the acceptance, education, and fulfillment of vaccines. To this end, an analysis of the aspects, objectives, and differentiated technologies that have fostered the growth of mobile applications and new technologies in childhood immunization is presented. In addition, the obstacles to achieving positive results reported in the scientific literature are identified. Lastly, suggestions are made for future work to improve childhood immunization coverage.

Adherence, barriers, and facilitators for the treatment of systemic arterial hypertension: rapid review of evidenceAdhesión, obstáculos y elementos facilitadores en relación con el tratamiento de la hipertensión: revisión rápida de la evidencia

To identify strategies to increase adherence to systemic arterial hypertension (SAH) treatment and describe the barriers and facilitators for implementing these strategies in primary health care (PHC). A rapid evidence review was performed. We included systematic reviews with or without meta-analyses, published in English, Spanish or Portuguese, covering adults (age 18 to ≤ 60 years) with SAH followed in the PHC. Searches were performed in nine databases in December 2020 and updated in April 2022. The systematic reviews were assessed for methodological quality using the AMSTAR 2 tool. Fourteen systematic reviews on treatment adherence strategies and three on barriers and facilitators for implementation were included. Regarding methodological quality, one systematic review was classified as moderate, four as low, and the others as critically low. Four strategies were identified as options for health policies: actions performed by pharmacists; actions performed by non-pharmaceutical health professionals; self-monitoring, use of mobile apps, and text messages; and subsidies for the purchase of medicines. Low digital literacy, limited access to the internet, work process and incipient training were barriers for professionals. The users' educational and health literacy levels, accessibility to health services and good relationships with professionals were facilitators. Positive effects of strategies related to pharmaceutical care, self-monitoring, and the use of cell phone applications and text messages were identified to increase adherence to the treatment of SAH in the context of PHC. However, for implementation purposes, it is necessary to consider barriers and facilitators, in addition to the methodological limitations of the analyzed systematic reviews.

Mobile Applications to Promote Mental Health among Breast Cancer Patients: A Rapid Review

Background: The use of mobile services for health promotion is rapidly increasing. The purpose of this paper is to review studies using cell phone applications as an intervention to improve mental health in breast cancer patients and to provide an overview of their effectiveness. Methods: A systematic search in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and PsycINFO was performed to retrieve relevant studies published from 2010 to 2020. The criteria for inclusion were included in any study illustrated about the breast cancer, English papers and mental health. Related articles were selected based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. The survey and meta-synthesis of included articles were conducted based on predefined classification.then From the selected studies, the following information was extracted: authors, publication date, study objectives, study population, study design, interventions, and results. Results: 81 papers were retrieved with databases and 46 articles were reviewed. At the end, 7 articles were selected for analysis. We identified 7 RCT studies that utilized a mental health application as a mental health intervention in breast cancer patients. The results showed all of studies effectiveness of the mobile apps on the stress, depression, anxiety, self-efficacy, social support, resiliency and coping with breast cancer. Conclusion: This study demonstrates the important role of mobile apps in promoting mental wellness of breast cancer patients. Mobile app interventions can be implemented to decrease depression through positive impacts on stress management, self-efficacy, resilience and breast cancer adaptation. We recommend that the role of mobile apps for the prevention and rehabilitation of mental health aspects in breast cancer patients would be examined through a blended delivery management approach in future studies.

DAMPAK HANDPHONE PADA SISWA DI SMA NEGERI 1 HARAU

Mobile is a long-distance communication tool that is in the form of a mini and can be carried anywhere. Mobile is very much useful if we can use it properly. If we misuse it, the negative impact will be much more that will occur. Mobile in this modern era is like a staple food for every group, especially students. The purpose of this study was to see the impact of mobile applications on student behavior at SMA 1 Harau. This study uses a qualitative descriptive approach, namely a study with field observations, then describes the data that has been analyzed to draw conclusions. Collecting data by way of observation and interviews. The results of the study show that students spend more time with mobile phones than other useful activities, causing students to become addicted to mobile phones. Excessive use of mobile phones has negative impacts such as starting to become addicted to the internet, games, and so on. Most students feel preoccupied with games on their cellphones compared to interacting with their friends in the real world. Often by holding a cellphone, sometimes there are students who don't listen to the words of their parents and some are even angry with their parents when talking to them. The positive side of using a cellphone is very much if we are smart at operating cellphone applications properly. With mobile phones we can communicate long distances, can be used for entertainment when we are bored, add friends, find out information faster, and so on.
 

INFLUÊNCIAS DE APLICATIVOS DE EXERCÍCIO FÍSICO SOBRE A SAÚDE DE ESTUDANTES UNIVERSITÁRIOS OBESOS

ABSTRACT Introduction In a scenario of continuous improvement of telecommunications network infrastructure and the maturation of related industrial chains, sports-oriented cell phone applications can meet the needs of different types of user groups due to their characteristics - close to the human body, able to collect users’ health, favorite sports, location, and other personal characteristic data in real-time. With the support of cloud computing, big data, and other techniques, the regularity of users’ sports health can be analyzed. Objective Explore the effect of obese college students’ use of cell phone apps on their exercise routines. Methods 53 obese college students volunteered for the research project. They were investigated by a questionnaire about their use of apps to aid exercise and health. Then, the participants’ exercise status was monitored, including weekly exercise time, exercise frequency, and exercise items, among other pertinent data. Finally, physical health data collected before and after the experiment were analyzed and statistically compared. Results Some obese college students did not acquire the habit of adhering to physical exercise, their psychological resilience and ability to fight frustration proved deficient, and the effect of an exercise assisted by cell phone apps left to be desired. However, for some obese college students who determined to exercise, the regular moderate exercise showed an improvement in physical health. Conclusion Exercise-focused health maintenance apps can stimulate obese college students’ enthusiasm for exercise, making the exercise process more enjoyable, controlled, and scientific. Level of evidence II; Therapeutic studies - investigation of treatment outcomes.

CPAWS: Cognitive Public Alerts to Wireless Subscribers for Enhancing Public Safety Operations During Emergencies

Disasters and the resulting emergencies are increasingly presenting situations where tele-communications infrastructure (e.g., functioning base stations) is often compromised, leading to diminished network capacity. In these situations, providing trapped populations in isolated areas with network access to be able to communicate with rescue and recovery personnel or volunteer teams is critical. Further, when network capacity is diminished, it is essential that mobile network users be alerted to “comply” and not overload the network with non-essential bandwidth-intensive traffic unrelated to the emergency unfolding. While the current evolution of the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) is able to generate and disseminate such emergency alerts, there has been no analysis or evaluation of the effectiveness of such alerts as well as the design of mechanisms that can ensure such compliance to prevent network outage. In this work, we present a framework for Cognitive Public Alerts to Wireless Subscribers (CPAWS) that is able to predict and prevent mobile network overload/outage during emergencies using a mix of behavioral studies and machine learning tools that consider real-time monitoring information of the environmental status, network situation, and user compliance. Specifically, we study the efficacy of wireless emergency alerts (WEAs) in terms of saving network bandwidth by using surveys on Amazon MTurk to test the effectiveness of seven designed WEAs on reducing users' non-essential traffic across 12 designated cell phone applications. Additionally, we design complementary access and alert control strategies to ensure that the network load remains below the diminished available capacity during emergencies. CPAWS is also backward-compatible since it extends IPAWS by adding a feedback loop for real-time monitoring and control.

Design of 13 Million Pixel Camera for Cellphone Applications

Design of 13 Million Pixel Camera for Cellphone Applications

Orthogonal Printed Microstrip Antenna Arrays for 5G Millimeter-Wave Applications.

This article presents the design of a planar MIMO (Multiple Inputs Multiple Outputs) antenna comprised of two sets orthogonally placed 1 × 12 linear antenna arrays for 5G millimeter wave (mmWave) applications. The arrays are made of probe-fed microstrip patch antenna elements on a 90 × 160 mm2 Rogers RT/Duroid 5880 grounded dielectric substrate. The antenna demonstrates S11 = −10 dB impedance bandwidth in the following 5G frequency band: 24.25–27.50 GHz. The scattering parameters of the antenna were computed by electromagnetic simulation tools, Ansys HFSS and CST Microwave Studio, and were further verified by the measured results of a fabricated prototype. To achieve a gain of 12 dBi or better over a scanning range of +/−45° from broadside, the Dolph-Tschebyscheff excitation weighting and optimum spacing are used. Different antenna parameters, such as correlation coefficient, port isolation, and 2D and 3D radiation patterns, are investigated to determine the effectiveness of this antenna for MIMO operation, which will be very useful for mmWave cellphone applications in 5G bands.

Establishing communication challenges and preferences among clinical trial participants in an under-resourced setting to improve adherence to study visits and participant retention.

Ensuring protocol visit compliance and maintaining high participant retention remain critical elements of clinical trials. In the HVTN 702 HIV vaccine trial, Setshaba Research Centre in Soshanguve, Tshwane, South Africa, experienced challenges in communicating with participants to remind them about their study visits. In order to improve participants adhering to their study visits, and study retention, we aimed to identify challenges in mobile communication, and to establish preferences in communication methods and interest in receiving study information via cellphones. We conducted a paper-based survey among HVTN 702 HIV vaccine trial participants at Setshaba Research Centre. The survey comprised of dichotomous and scale questions and was completed voluntarily and anonymously. The questions included those on their primary form of communication (calling, SMS and WhatsApp), the best time of day for the site to communicate with them, whether they were interested in receiving regular general study information updates via their cellular phone, how often they changed their cellular phones and/or network, whether they experienced any challenges with their cellular phones and what these challenges were, if any. All participants scheduled to visit the clinic from February to May 2019 were invited to participate. Thus, 90 of 380 (24%) participants enrolled by May 2019 were surveyed. The majority (68%) of participants were 26-35 years old and almost three-quarters (73%) were female. Almost all participants (99%) had a personal cellphone. Half of the participants experienced some challenge related to cellphones, these being poor network signal at home (12%), battery running flat frequently (11%), sharing their phone (9%), lack of data (9%), challenges with use of applications (6%) and their cellphones being unreliable (3%). Annually, 20% of participants made a single or multiple network changes. Communication preferences were calls by site staff (80%), SMS (16%) and WhatsApp (3%). Most preferred to be contacted in the morning (49%) or afternoon (31%). Site contact was rated as 'very helpful' (87%), and 97% were interested in receiving regular general study information updates via their cellphone. Despite participants owning cellphones, there are still technical challenges, for example, network signals, battery-charging and applications. The majority of participants preferred being called rather than communicating by text messages or WhatsApp. Future studies need to include addressing participant challenges in maintaining contact and training of participants on use of cellphone applications to optimise communication. Noting the preferred time of day for participants to be called might improve the likelihood of making contact with them. The willingness to receive updates will aid in keeping participant interest high and enhance retention.

Of milk and mobiles: Assessing the potential of cellphone applications to reduce cattle milk yield gaps in Africa using a case study

There are growing expectations that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) applications could help improve on-farm yields amongst smallholder farmers in developing countries, and consequently, food and nutrition security. However, few studies have quantified the actual contribution of ICT applications on farmers’ yields, and these studies predominantly focused on crop production. We assessed the potential of ICT applications to close milk yield gaps among small- and medium scale dairy cattle farmers in Africa. First, we developed a theoretical framework summarizing biophysical and socio-economic constraints that foster milk yield gaps and discussed which constraints can be addressed using ICT applications. Second, using a case study of a feeding advice application for dairy cattle pre-tested with farmers in rural Kenya, we analyzed how much stand-alone the application could contribute to close dairy cattle milk yield gaps. Our findings suggest that ICT applications could help address some existing biophysical and socio-economic constraints fostering milk yield gaps, including data collection for breeding programs, feeding management advice, and facilitating access to markets and capital. Our stand-alone ICT application closed yield gaps by 2 % to 6 % on representative farms. Several factors may explain the limited actual contribution of selected ICT applications to reduce existing milk yield gaps, including the quality of the input data and models used in ICT applications, and more structural constraints that cannot be addressed by digital tools. Therefore, although ICT applications could help address constraints to achieving higher milk yields on dairy farms, a significant contribution to improve yields may only be achieved when conditions surrounding their use are adequate.

Smartphone in Classroom: Yes or No?

From the 1990s onwards, several international agreements were signed with the objective of universalizing education. Such action was strengthened at the World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal in 2000, where 164 countries, including Brazil, signed a commitment to provide Education for all - EPT. To make this possible, it was established as one of the commitments to raise new information and communication technologies to support the effort to reach the EPT goals. Since then, numerous actions have been developed for the insertion of Information and Communication Technologies - ICT's in Education. However, this is not only a reality in Education, as nowadays we are immersed in new technologies, making us have new ways of interacting, communicating and learning. In this context, there has also been an expansion of cell phone use by the population for various purposes. Thus, bringing this instrument as an ally in the teaching-learning process becomes of great value. Thus, a literature review research was carried out, observing the use of cell phones from two perspectives: in general use by the Brazilian population and from the perspective of legislation, in order to contextualize the use of cell phones as an educational resource in contemporary times. At the end, as a result of this article, three studies are presented that demonstrate the use of cell phone applications in the school environment and finally expose four applications for the use of cell phones as an educational resource for continuing education and in the teaching-learning process.

Validity and Reliability of a Vibration-Based Cell Phone in Detecting Peripheral Neuropathy among Patients with a Risk of Diabetic Foot Ulcer.

The aim of this study was to determine the validity and reliability of a vibration-based cell phone in detecting peripheral neuropathy among individuals with a risk of diabetic foot ulcer (DFU). The current study consisted of 3 phases: a pilot study, concurrent validity study, and interreliability study. A 128 Hz tuning fork and vibration-based cell phone using the Vibrations-Test app was compared in the primary care setting. The pilot study confirmed that the vibration-based cell phone has an adequate reliability (r > 0.70, P < .001). The concurrent validity test involved 96 participants (aged 55.78 ± 8.32 years). The Pearson correlation test found the highest correlation in the fifth metatarsal heads (r = 0.741, right feet; 0.772, left feet; P < .001). In the 4 primary care settings, the interrater reliability between nurses of the vibration-based cell phone were k = 1.000, 1.000, 1.000, and 0.720. The concurrent validity test found moderate to strong correlation results and that the interrater reliability had a strong agreement that was almost perfect. Thus, vibration-based cell phone applications can be used as screening tools for detecting neuropathy among individuals with a risk of DFU.

The impact of digital contact tracing on the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic\u2014a comprehensive modelling study

Contact tracing is one of several strategies employed in many countries to curb the spread of SARS-CoV-2. Digital contact tracing (DCT) uses tools such as cell-phone applications to improve tracing speed and reach. We model the impact of DCT on the spread of the virus for a large epidemiological parameter space consistent with current literature on SARS-CoV-2. We also model DCT in combination with random testing (RT) and social distancing (SD).Modelling is done with two independently developed individual-based (stochastic) models that use the Monte Carlo technique, benchmarked against each other and against two types of deterministic models.For current best estimates of the number of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 carriers (approximately 40%), their contagiousness (similar to that of symptomatic carriers), the reproductive number before interventions ({R_{0}} at least 3) we find that DCT must be combined with other interventions such as SD and/or RT to push the reproductive number below one. At least 60% of the population would have to use the DCT system for its effect to become significant. On its own, DCT cannot bring the reproductive number below 1 unless nearly the entire population uses the DCT system and follows quarantining and testing protocols strictly. For lower uptake of the DCT system, DCT still reduces the number of people that become infected.When DCT is deployed in a population with an ongoing outbreak where mathcal{O} (0.1%) of the population have already been infected, the gains of the DCT intervention come at the cost of requiring up to 15% of the population to be quarantined (in response to being traced) on average each day for the duration of the epidemic, even when there is sufficient testing capability to test every traced person.

Advances in machine translation for sign language: approaches, limitations, and challenges

Sign languages are used by the deaf community around the globe to communicate with one another. These are gesture-based languages where a deaf person performs gestures using hands and facial expressions. Every gesture represents a word or a phrase in the natural language. There are more than 200 different sign languages in the world. In order to facilitate the learning of sign languages by the deaf community, researchers have compiled sign language repositories comprising of gestures. Similarly, algorithms have been proposed to translate the natural language into sign language, which is subsequently converted into gestures using avatar technology. On the other hand, several different approaches for gesture recognition have also been proposed in the literature, many of which use specialized hardware. Similarly, cell phone applications have been developed for learning and translation of sign languages. This article presents a systematic literature review of these multidisciplinary aspects of sign language translation. It provides a detailed analysis of carefully selected 147 high-quality research articles and books related to the subject matter. Specifically, it categorizes different approaches used for each component, discusses their theoretical foundations, and provides a comparative analysis of the proposed approaches. Lastly, open research challenges and future directions for each facet of the sign language translation problem have been discussed. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive survey on sign language translation that discusses state-of-the-art research from multi-disciplinary perspectives.

Developing a Low-cost, smart, handheld electromyography biofeedback system for telerehabilitation with Clinical Evaluation

Existing telerehabilitation systems require highly experienced personnel to interpret a patient’s muscle activity in a specialized lab, limiting the biofeedback available at the patient’s home. In addition, there is no contact between physiotherapists and patients remotely. This study designed and implemented an interactive tele-electromyography (EMG) biofeedback device for facilitating patients’ rehabilitation and giving the physiotherapist the ability to develop and monitor personalized treatment for each patient precisely and remotely. The device comprised a device that acquires EMG signals during muscular activity and two cell phone applications, one for the patient and the other for the physiotherapist; traced muscle activity; and enabled the physiotherapist to monitor and control the patients’ sessions through a Google Firebase database. EMG signals were acquired from five subjects, and results were compared to a certified device. The evaluation process involved two metrics, correlation coefficient and root mean square value (RMSV). The proposed EMG biofeedback device is an integrated solution with numerous features, such as low cost, handheld size, patient-friendly interface, contributions to rapid healing, and secure communication. In addition, it provides raw EMG signals for applied research applications.

Evolution of nursing teaching in the use of education technology: a scoping review.

To identify and map the technological tools of information and communication to support the teaching learning process in Nursing teaching courses. This is a scoping review whose search was carried out in seven databases and in grey literature. After an initial analysis of the selection, 88 texts were read integrally, and 29 made up the final sample. Virtual learning environment and object, simulation, hypermedia, and software or cellphone applications were the tools the nursing professors used the most. Studies highlight that the application of technology was important in the teaching-learning process, since it encouraged teaching based on safe care, motivating and developing abilities/competences, supported on significant, effective, flexible, and autonomous learning. The contribution of the technology for nursing formation stands out, but it should be highlighted that its employment must be critical, reflective, based on pedagogical theories and developed by trained professors.