E-mail Research Articles

Analysis of COVID-19 Vaccine Adverse Drug Reactions Reported Among Sultan Qaboos University Hospital Staff.

This study aimed to report any suspected adverse drug reactions (ADRs) experienced by all vaccinated staff and students in a tertiary teaching hospital following COVID-19 vaccination. This retrospective study was conducted during the COVID-19 vaccination campaign at Sultan Qaboos University and Hospital in Muscat, Oman, from August to September 2021. An online survey was generated and sent to all staff and students via email and text messages. An announcement was made on the hospital website with a link to the survey. A total of 8,421 individuals reported being vaccinated at least once with a total of 11,468 doses administered from January to July 2021; 8,014 staff and students received the Pfizer-Biotech vaccine while 3,454 staff and students received the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. The survey received a total of 3,275 responses (response rate = 38.8%). Of these, 741 individuals (22.6%) experienced an ADR after vaccination and 67.2% (n = 498) were females (P <0.001). The majority of the ADRs reported were fever and chills (19.7%) followed by localised pain and swelling at the injection site (18.8%). Other ADRs such as hair loss (0.5%) were reported, and one staff/student reported a clot in the right leg. Among the responders, 27.0% considered their ADRs as mild while 25.0% considered them as severe. In the study cohort, mild symptoms of COVID-19 vaccines were reported. Females experienced more ADRs compared to males. Long-term observation of ADRs to the vaccines and follow-up monitoring should be done on subjects to preclude any unwanted effects.

Pengelolaan Surat Berbasis Elektronik Pada Lembaga Pendidikan

An increasingly advanced, modern and sophisticated era is developing because of human needs and problems that encourage creativity and innovation. Good management of correspondence in government agencies is very important because good management of correspondence will help communicate information and communication to agencies which is a determining factor in development policies and strategies. The aim of this research is to develop an effective and efficient electronic mail management system in educational institutions, as well as determine its impact on the mail management process and service quality in educational institutions. The research studied is qualitative research using the literature review method. Literature review by utilizing information from secondary data from various published research articles. This secondary data was used as review material for a number of articles, originating from international and national scale articles. The results of this research are that the electronic letter management system includes the activities of creating, recording and organizing letters which are stored on hardware and then organized using software and controlled by the user or brainware. Implementing an electronic mail management system in educational institutions also requires training so that employees can be skilled in using it. Management of electronic incoming mail at educational institutions, namely receiving, sorting, recording, distributing and storing. Management of electronic outgoing mail, namely the concept of letters, typing, signing, recording, sending and storing letters.

EEASVI : A Voice-Driven Solution for the Visually Impaired

In the present scenario, everybody needs communication technology to connect with each other. Communication technologies are significant these days for the betterment of social and personal interaction. The combination of technologies with the internet makes communication easy. However, the person who is physically challenged suffered a lot to utilize this technology due to visual and physical difficulties. There are many technologies advancements have come though it is not possible to use like normal users. This paper aims at creating an email system that helps even new users or physically impaired people to use the system for communication without any previous practices. There is no use of keywords, only with the help of mouse actions and voice conversion the email system works. The person who is not literate can also send emails as it is based on speech recognition and text to speech. The system is completely based on responsive voice interaction to utilize the technology easy and hassle-free manner. The system is well designed to send the mails quickly. There are all the options available to send emails and perform all the functions for the email system. Key Words: Email, Internet, Voice, Speech recognition, physically challenged, Text to speech

Phishing URL Detection: A Basic Machine Learning Approach

Phishing is currently one of the most trending scam attacks in information transmission worldwide. Such occurrences can cause severe network disruption to corporate organizations, financial and/or educational institutions and even individual network subscribers. Phishing attacks would normally involve developing a malicious webpage mimicking a legitimate website. This lures unsuspecting users into giving out personal information, such as banking details, social security numbers, passwords, usernames, etc. A phishing fraudster sends an e-mail or text message to a target webpage that contains its Universal Resource Locator (URL). The result could be monetary loss, data breach, intellectual property theft, damaged reputation, and loss of customers. In this paper, we propose a simple phishing detection approach. Moreover, because the impostor is always evolving attacking techniques in a bid to evade detection, our method addresses this using a supervised machine learning system. From the website content, we extract the stochastic dynamical patterns and then use this to predict the authenticity of the website. The Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) algorithm is used to model the website features to obtain a better prediction result. The proposed technique can detect phishing websites with an accuracy of 86.6%.

Analysis and Prevention of AI-Based Phishing Email Attacks

Phishing email attacks are among the most common and most harmful cybersecurity attacks. With the emergence of generative AI, phishing attacks can be based on emails generated automatically, making it more difficult to detect them. That is, instead of a single email format sent to a large number of recipients, generative AI can be used to send each potential victim a different email, making it more difficult for cybersecurity systems to identify the scam email before it reaches the recipient. Here, we describe a corpus of AI-generated phishing emails. We also use different machine learning tools to test the ability of automatic text analysis to identify AI-generated phishing emails. The results are encouraging, and show that machine learning tools can identify an AI-generated phishing email with high accuracy compared to regular emails or human-generated scam emails. By applying descriptive analytics, the specific differences between AI-generated emails and manually crafted scam emails are profiled and show that AI-generated emails are different in their style from human-generated phishing email scams. Therefore, automatic identification tools can be used as a warning for the user. The paper also describes the corpus of AI-generated phishing emails that are made open to the public and can be used for consequent studies. While the ability of machine learning to detect AI-generated phishing emails is encouraging, AI-generated phishing emails are different from regular phishing emails, and therefore, it is important to train machine learning systems also with AI-generated emails in order to repel future phishing attacks that are powered by generative AI.

Analytical Study on the Impact of Digital Marketing Strategies and Performance of Small and Medium-sized Companies

The efficacy and strategies of digital marketing employed by small and medium-sized businesses were analyzed in this study. This study examined the influence of electronic mail marketing, social media marketing, and internet advertising on the operational outcomes of small and medium-sized Companies (SMCs) during the present era marked by evolving standards. The research investigation employed a cross-sectional survey design. Primary data for this study were obtained from 295 administrators of SMCs in Jordan through a systematic questionnaire. The statistical testing of the study's assumptions was conducted utilising multiple linear regression, with the assistance of the SPSS 23. During the new average period, social media websites marketing, using internet for advertising, and electronic mail for marketing had positive effects on performance, according to the study's findings. Therefore, the research proposed that SMCs enhance their sales and marketing performance by utilizing online advertising devices (including search engine, display, and website advertising), social media platforms (including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp), and electronic mail marketing tools (including welcome electronic mail s, electronic mail newsletters, and dedicated electronic mail promotions). Moreover, the study provides recommendations for additional research that might serve as a beneficial point of reference for prospective scholars.

Behavioral Interventions to Improve Breast Cancer Screening Outreach

Despite public health efforts, breast cancer screening rates remain below national goals. To evaluate whether bulk ordering, text messaging, and clinician endorsement increase breast cancer screening rates. Two concurrent, pragmatic, randomized clinical trials, each with a 2-by-2 factorial design, were conducted between October 25, 2021, and April 25, 2022, in 2 primary care regions of an academic health system. The trials included women aged 40 to 74 years with at least 1 primary care visit in the past 2 years who were eligible for breast cancer screening. Patients in trial A were randomized in a 1:1 ratio to receive a signed bulk order for mammogram or no order; in a factorial design, patients were concurrently randomized in a 1:1 ratio to receive or not receive text message reminders. Patients in trial B were randomized in a 1:1 ratio to receive a message signed by their primary care clinician (clinician endorsement) or from the organization (standard messaging); in a factorial design, patients were concurrently randomized in a 1:1 ratio to receive or not receive text message reminders. The primary outcome was the proportion of patients who completed a screening mammogram within 3 months. Among 24 632 patients included, the mean (SD) age was 60.4 (7.5) years. In trial A, at 3 months, 15.4% (95% CI, 14.6%-16.1%) of patients in the bulk order arm and 12.7% (95% CI, 12.1%-13.4%) in the no order arm completed a mammogram, showing a significant increase (absolute difference, 2.7%; 95% CI, 1.6%-3.6%; P < .001). In the text messaging comparison arms, 15.1% (95% CI, 14.3%-15.8%) of patients receiving a text message completed a mammogram compared with 13.0% (95% CI, 12.4%-13.7%) of those in the no text messaging arm, a significant increase (absolute difference of 2.1%; 95% CI, 1.0%-3.0%; P < .001). In trial B, at 3 months, 12.5% (95% CI, 11.3%-13.7%) of patients in the clinician endorsement arm completed a mammogram compared with 11.4% (95% CI, 10.3%-12.5%) of those in the standard messaging arm, which was not significant (absolute difference, 1.1%; 95% CI, -0.5% to 2.7%; P = .18). In the text messaging comparison arms, 13.2% (95% CI, 12.0%-14.4%) of patients receiving a text message completed a mammogram compared with 10.7% (95% CI, 9.7%-11.8%) of those in the no text messaging arm, a significant increase (absolute difference, 2.5%; 95% CI, 0.8%-4.0%; P = .003). These findings show that text messaging women after initial breast cancer screening outreach via either electronic portal or mailings, as well as bulk ordering with or without text messaging, can increase mammogram completion rates. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT05089903.

Use of Electronic Mail by Educated Older Adults in Oyo State, Nigeria

This study presents preliminary findings on the use of e-mails by educated older adults in Nigeria-based areas of residency. This study is based on a quantitative survey (n = 167) which investigated the level of awareness and use of e-mails, reasons for use and non-use, as well as continuance and intention to use e-mail by older adults in three settings (urban, semi-urban, and rural areas) of Oyo state, Nigeria. A questionnaire was used to collect data. Results showed that about half of the educated older adults were aware of e-mail with a higher percentage of those aware residing in the urban area. There was a low level of usage of e-mail, especially among the semi-urban and rural dwellers. The major purpose of using e-mail was to receive alerts for banking transactions. E-mail users at the three locations intended to continue using e-mail, although the intention was stronger among the semi-urban and rural dwellers. Most non-users in the semi-urban and rural locations were not aware of e-mail, while most did not use e-mail because they had alternative means of communicating with people and saw no need for it. Concerns about the security of e-mails, lack of awareness of the benefits of using e-mail, and lack of literacy in e-mail use are some other reasons for non-use. Most of the non-users had the intention to use e-mail in the future, especially those in urban and semi-urban areas. It is recommended that efforts be geared towards creating more awareness about the importance of e-mail among the older population as well as developing training interventions on the use of e-mail, especially among the semi-urban and rural dwellers.

Assessment of Stress and Well-Being of Japanese Employees Using Wearable Devices for Sleep Monitoring Combined With Ecological Momentary Assessment: Pilot Observational Study.

Poor sleep quality can elevate stress levels and diminish overall well-being. Japanese individuals often experience sleep deprivation, and workers have high levels of stress. Nevertheless, research examining the connection between objective sleep assessments and stress levels, as well as overall well-being, among Japanese workers is lacking. This study aims to investigate the correlation between physiological data, including sleep duration and heart rate variability (HRV), objectively measured through wearable devices, and 3 states (sleepiness, mood, and energy) assessed through ecological momentary assessment (EMA) and use of rating scales for stress and well-being. A total of 40 office workers (female, 20/40, 50%; mean age 40.4 years, SD 11.8 years) participated in the study. Participants were asked to wear a wearable wristband device for 8 consecutive weeks. EMA regarding sleepiness, mood, and energy levels was conducted via email messages sent by participants 4 times daily, with each session spaced 3 hours apart. This assessment occurred on 8 designated days within the 8-week timeframe. Participants' stress levels and perception of well-being were assessed using respective self-rating questionnaires. Subsequently, participants were categorized into quartiles based on their stress and well-being scores, and the sleep patterns and HRV indices recorded by the Fitbit Inspire 2 were compared among these groups. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to assess differences between the quartiles, with adjustments made for multiple comparisons using the Bonferroni correction. Furthermore, EMA results and the sleep and HRV indices were subjected to multilevel analysis for a comprehensive evaluation. The EMA achieved a total response rate of 87.3%, while the Fitbit Inspire 2 wear rate reached 88.0%. When participants were grouped based on quartiles of well-being and stress-related scores, significant differences emerged. Specifically, individuals in the lowest stress quartile or highest subjective satisfaction quartile retired to bed earlier (P<.001 and P=.01, respectively), whereas those in the highest stress quartile exhibited greater variation in the midpoint of sleep (P<.001). A multilevel analysis unveiled notable relationships: intraindividual variability analysis indicated that higher energy levels were associated with lower deviation of heart rate during sleep on the preceding day (β=-.12, P<.001), and decreased sleepiness was observed on days following longer sleep durations (β=-.10, P<.001). Furthermore, interindividual variability analysis revealed that individuals with earlier midpoints of sleep tended to exhibit higher energy levels (β=-.26, P=.04). Increased sleep variabilities, characterized by unstable bedtime or midpoint of sleep, were correlated with elevated stress levels and diminished well-being. Conversely, improved sleep indices (eg, lower heart rate during sleep and earlier average bedtime) were associated with heightened daytime energy levels. Further research with a larger sample size using these methodologies, particularly focusing on specific phenomena such as social jet lag, has the potential to yield valuable insights. UMIN-CTR UMIN000046858; https://center6.umin.ac.jp/cgi-open-bin/ctr/ctr_view.cgi?recptno=R000053392.

Enhancing Email Security - End to End Encryption

Abstract: Nowadays, most of people and organizations use the e-mail for different needs to exchange information between users. E-mail application is an important network application. It is significant when business1, health and educational communities use it for exchange of critical information such as business information, health patient record and so on. over the Internet or internal networks, It allows data and messages to be transferred easily between senders and receivers allowing messages to be received, responded to, stored, forwarded and broadcast among recipients. These extensive capabilities have caused the email to be widely adopted as the official communications method for many organizations. Also common for personal use, electronic mail is available through a diverse number of compatible software clients, and also via web-browser. An existing enterprise email implementation second service model adds security processing. The service provider is responsible for monitoring all threats using email as a channel , and for providing an email user interface (UI) In the enterprise augmentation model, an existing on-premise email deployment is augmented by additional cloud-based services and functionalist. This paper explores identity federation and data loss prevention and describing best practices for evaluating, developing, installing and using cloud-based email security services.1.1Intended Audience Email security services are viewed from two perspectives: the providers of these services and the consumers or purchasers of email security services. key service features is needed for both sides to be aware of and plan for and how these features are used to tackle threats to email security.

Voice based E-Mail System

Abstract: The development of computer systems has made communication much simpler. Many communication features, like texting and voice calling, are available on a mobile device. We have put forth a system that will benefit people with physical disabilities. This utility allows voice to text conversion as well as text to voice conversion. With the help of this technology, we won't be able to access anything at all using keyboards—we'll only be able to utilise speech and mouse clicks. This system is also accessible to the average individual for reading purposes. It is easy to use and effective as well.

Manfaat E-Commerce terhadap Dunia Bisnis

Electronic Commerce (e-commerce) is the process of buying, selling or exchanging products, services and information via computer networks. e-commerce is part of e-business, where the scope of e-business is broader, not only commercial but also includes business partners, customer service, job vacancies. Apart from www network technology, e-commerce technology also requires a database, email or electronic mail (e-mail), and non-computer technology as well as other delivery systems, and payment tools for e-commerce. With electronic commerce (e-commerce), customers can access and place orders from various places. Considering the increasingly advanced era of technology, customers who want to access e-commerce do not have to be everywhere, this is because in big cities in Indonesia there are many places that provide internet access facilities just by using a laptop/notebook. . or with a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) using wifi technology. Thus, currently it is very necessary and desirable for companies to implement e-commerce services. The use of e-commerce in Indonesia is still very limited. From the existing background, the author will discuss how e-commerce is utilized for business purposes.

VOICE BASED EMAIL SYSTEM FOR BLIND

The Internet is one of the revolutionary achievements of the last decade of the twentieth century. The increase in internet usage and the unlimited opportunities it offers cause people to fully use internet technology today. With the introduction of the internet into our lives, communication and access to information have become easier. As the business world moves to the digital environment, keeping up with the times becomes more important for everyone. Email is one of the most widely used functions on the Internet . Besides ordinary users, blind people also encounter problems when using the Internet. While technologies such as screen readers and Braille keyboards make it easier to access a range of applications, they still have difficulty accessing much content. The email is important and they must rely on third party help. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to provide voice services to visually impaired people without the need for help or assistance from third parties. Over the past few years, many researchers have worked to create solutions that will allow visually impaired people to use special features of email.This email system can be used by blind people as well as illiterate. The system makes it easier for visually impaired people to send, receive, create and delete emails. . Key Words: Text to speech, Speech to text, Face recognition, Machine learning, Artficial Intelligence, Blind people

Investigation of Imbalanced Sentiment Analysis in Voice Data: A Comparative Study of Machine Learning Algorithms

INTRODUCTION: Language serves as the primary conduit for human expression, extending its reach into various communication mediums like email and text messaging, where emoticons are frequently employed to convey nuanced emotions. In the digital landscape of long-distance communication, the detection and analysis of emotions assume paramount importance. However, this task is inherently challenging due to the subjectivity inherent in emotions, lacking a universal consensus for quantification or categorization.OBJECTIVES: This research proposes a novel speech recognition model for emotion analysis, leveraging diverse machine learning techniques along with a three-layer feature extraction approach. This research will also through light on the robustness of models on balanced and imbalanced datasets. METHODS: The proposed three-layered feature extractor uses chroma, MFCC, and Mel method, and passes these features to classifiers like K-Nearest Neighbour, Gradient Boosting, Multi-Layer Perceptron, and Random Forest.RESULTS: Among the classifiers in the framework, Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) emerges as the top-performing model, showcasing remarkable accuracies of 99.64%, 99.43%, and 99.31% in the Balanced TESS Dataset, Imbalanced TESS (Half) Dataset, and Imbalanced TESS (Quarter) Dataset, respectively. K-Nearest Neighbour (KNN) follows closely as the second-best classifier, surpassing MLP's accuracy only in the Imbalanced TESS (Half) Dataset at 99.52%.CONCLUSION: This research contributes valuable insights into effective emotion recognition through speech, shedding light on the nuances of classification in imbalanced datasets.

Factors influencing patient selection of orthopaedic surgeons for total hip (THA) and total knee arthroplasty (TKA).

The importance of identifying how patients choose their healthcare providers has grown with the prevalence of consumer-centric health insurance plans. There is currently a lack of studies exploring the factors associated with how patients select their hip and knee joint arthroplasty surgeons. The purpose of this study was to determine how patients find their arthroplasty providers and the relative importance of various arthroplasty surgeon characteristics. An electronic mail survey was sent to 3522 patients who had visited our institution for an arthroplasty surgeon office visit between August 2022 and January 2023. The survey consisted of multiple-choice questions, which aimed to inquire about the patients' referral sources for their current arthroplasty surgeon. In addition, patients were requested to rate the significance of 22 surgeon-related factors, on a scale of 1 (Not Important At All) to 5 (Very Important), in choosing their arthroplasty surgeon. Of the 3522 patients that received the survey, 538 patients responded (15.3%). The most common referral sources were physician referral (50.2%), family/friend referral (27.7%), and self-guided research (24.5%). Of those that were referred by a physician, 54.4% of respondents were referred by another orthopaedic provider. Patients rated board certification (4.72 ± 0.65), in-network insurance status (4.66 ± 0.71), fellowship training (4.50 ± 0.81), bedside manner/personality (4.32 ± 0.86), and facility appearance (4.26 ± 0.81) as the five most important factors in picking an arthroplasty surgeon. Television (1.42 ± 0.83), print (1.50 ± 0.88), and online (1.58 ± 0.93) advertisements, along with social media presence (1.83 ± 1.08), and practice group size (2.97 ± 1.13) were rated as the five least important factors. Patients are most likely to select an arthroplasty surgeon based on referral from other physicians, namely orthopedic surgeons, in addition to board certification status, in-network insurance, and fellowship training. Overall, these findings highlight the importance of physician credentials and reputation within the orthopaedic community in order to attract and retain patients.

AI-Powered Reminders for Collaborative Tasks: Experiences and Futures

Email continues to serve as a central medium for managing collaborations. While unstructured email messaging is lightweight and conducive to coordination, it is easy to overlook commitments and requests for collaborations that are embedded in the text of free-flowing communications. Twenty-one years ago, Bellotti et al. proposed TaskMaster with the goal of redesigning the email interface to have explicit task management capabilities. Recently, AI-based task recognition and reminder services have been introduced in major email systems as one approach to managing asynchronous collaborations. While these services have been provided to millions of people around the world, there is little understanding of how people interact with and benefit from them. We explore knowledge workers' experiences with Microsoft's Viva Daily Briefing Email to better understand how AI-powered reminders can support asynchronous collaborations. Through semi-structured interviews and surveys, we shed light on how AI-powered reminders are incorporated into workflows to support asynchronous collaborations. We identify what knowledge workers prefer AI-powered reminders to remind them about and how they would like to interact with these reminders. Using mixed methods and a self-assessment methodology, we investigate the relationship between information workers' work styles and the perceived value of the Viva Daily Briefing Email to identify users who are more likely to benefit from AI-powered reminders for asynchronous collaborations. We conclude by discussing the experiences and futures of AI-powered reminders for collaborative tasks and asynchronous collaborations.

Evaluating the effectiveness of three communication modes in promoting repeat voluntary donation behavior in first-time blood donors at a tertiary care blood center in North India

Abstract: INTRODUCTION: Due to rapid technological advancements, several new methods such as telephone (TP), e-mail, social media, WhatsApp (WA), and Short Message Services are being used as effectively among blood centers worldwide for postdonation communication with blood donors’ education and motivation to recruit and retain them as repeat and regular voluntary nonremunerated blood donors. The present study was aimed at determining the effectiveness of WA, TP, and personal communications (PCs) as modes of communication to recruit and retain first-time replacement blood donors to become repeat and regular voluntary blood donors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This 1-year observational prospective study was conducted in the Post Graduate Department of Immunohematology and Blood Transfusion in Government Medical College and Hospital, Jammu. Three hundred first-time blood donors selected for the study were divided into three groups comprising 100 blood donors each as per the mode of communication strategy adopted, namely postdonation PC, TP, and WA groups. RESULTS: The repeat donation rate was highest in the TP group (61%), followed by the WA group (47%) and PC group (37%). The mean repeat donation was found to be significant in the TP group (P = 0.007) and WA group (P = 0.021) as compared PC group while there was no significant difference between the TP group and WA groups (0.751). CONCLUSION: In our study, it was found that of the three communication modes, namely personal, TP, and WA, telephonic communication with a repeat donation rate of 61% was the most effective mode of communication in for motivating and converting first-time blood donors into repeat regular voluntary blood donors.

A targeted educational intervention increases oral anticoagulation rates in high-risk atrial fibrillation patients

BackgroundAnticoagulation is the cornerstone of atrial fibrillation (AF) management for stroke prevention. Recently, we showed that AF patients’ oral anticoagulation (OAC) rates in a large US multispecialty health system are above 80%. ObjectiveThis study sought to improve OAC rates in AF patients via an educational intervention targeted to primary care providers with low OAC rates. MethodsPrimary care clinicians were stratified by proportions of their AF patients at elevated stroke risk not on anticoagulation medication. Clinicians with the lowest rates of anticoagulation were assigned to a target group receiving an educational program consisting of e-mail messaging summarizing anticoagulation guidelines. All other clinicians were assigned to a comparison group. Data from a six-month lead-in phase were compared with a six-month follow-up period to determine if the proportion of AF patients treated with OACs had changed. ResultsThere were 141 primary care clinicians with patients who met the inclusion criteria, with 36 (25.53%) assigned to the educational intervention (EG) and 105 (74.47%) assigned to the comparison group (CG). At baseline there was a significant difference in percent of high-risk AF patients who were untreated in the EG (20.65%) as compared to the high-risk patients who were untreated in the CG (13.64%, p=0.001). After the educational intervention, high-risk AF patients without anticoagulation decreased in both EG (15.47% p=0.047) and CG (10.14% p=0.07) with greater absolute reduction in the EG (5.19% versus 3.50%). ConclusionA targeted education program was associated with increased anticoagulation rates for AF patients at high risk of stroke.

Implementation of a Spam Detector in Python for Corporate Companies

Many companies, while not categorizing spam as a form of attack, may still consider it a significant threat. When referring to spam, it represents an excessive volume of unwanted and unsolicited electronic mail sent to company email accounts [1]. Although it is often used for marketing purposes, in many cases, it is also employed by malicious actors for detrimental purposes against the company. For instance, spam can be used to propagate viruses or infiltrate corporate computers [1] [2]. Furthermore, spammers may send emails with the aim of directing users to phishing web pages, attempting to obtain confidential information from authorized personnel within the company. In general, spam is, at its simplest, an annoying form of mail, and in its worst cases, it serves as an enabler for spyware, viruses, intrusion, and phishing threats [3].

Improving undergraduate students' email etiquette with computer-based instruction.

Email etiquette is an important skill, especially in professional settings. Research demonstrates that undergraduate students follow email rules when given written instructions plus an example. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effects of computer-based email instruction on undergraduate students' email etiquette and to assess the social validity of that instruction. The email instruction package was delivered through an online learning management system and consisted of written instructions plus a model, a quiz, and quiz feedback. We measured email etiquette by scoring emails from course assignments using a checklist. The instruction package produced a replicated increase in mean email checklist scores across two sections of introductory psychology, and checklist scores were elevated when participants sent emails in a novel context. The results of the social-validity assessments suggest that the goals were important, the procedures were acceptable, and there were meaningful improvements in email etiquette for some participants.