Email Communication Research Articles

Professional Email Communication in Surgical Practice: Merits and the Perils

Professional Email Communication in Surgical Practice: Merits and the Perils

Knocking on a Locked Door: Assessing Canada’s Response to Attacks Against Human Rights Defenders

Abstract For over two decades, Canadian corporations have been the subject of severe allegations of human rights and environmental violations related to the forced imposition of their operations abroad. Despite the growing consensus within the literature and international governance community that Canadian corporations—especially within the extractive sector—are serial perpetrators of grave human rights violations and despite Canada’s international legal obligations, at present there are very little ‘hard law’ mechanisms available to hold corporations to account. Whereas much literature has been dedicated to how Canadian corporations are facilitated by advocacy and lobbying efforts at the level of Canadian embassies in home-state-countries, much less studied is how these same state actors work towards protecting and preventing human rights defenders from harm. In this article we critically analyse the implementation of the Canadian government’s Voices at Risk guidelines (2016) from the perspective of two Canadian human rights advocacy Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) supporting communities in Guatemala, drawing from email and verbal communications as well as Access to Information Requests from 2016 to 2021 regarding the Escobal mine. We assess the usefulness of advocacy at the level of embassies as a way of protecting defenders and demonstrate that, in our experience, calls for support to defenders were ignored. We argue that, within the context of foreign policy which prioritizes trade and investment over all other government policies and wherein corporate violence is met with impunity, current Canadian policies aimed at protecting human rights defenders are essentially useless as an advocacy strategy.

Assessing the Feasibility and Acceptability of Virtual Reality for Remote Group-Mediated Physical Activity in Older Adults: Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.

Physical inactivity represents a major health concern for older adults. Most social, at-home physical activity (PA) interventions use videoconference, email, or telephone communication for program delivery. However, evidence suggests that these platforms may hinder the social connection experienced by users. Recent advancements in virtual reality (VR) suggest that it may be a rich platform for social, at-home interventions because it offers legitimate options for intervention delivery and PA. This pilot study aims to determine the feasibility and acceptability of VR compared to videoconference as a medium for remote group-mediated behavioral intervention for older adults. The information generated from this investigation will inform the use of VR as a medium for intervention delivery. Nine low-active older adults (mean age 66.8, SD 4.8 y) were randomized to a 4-week home-based, group-mediated PA intervention delivered via VR or videoconference. Feasibility (ie, the total number of sessions attended and the number of VR accesses outside of scheduled meetings) and acceptability (ie, the number of participants reporting high levels of nausea, program evaluations using Likert-style prompts with responses ranging from -5=very difficult or disconnected to 5=very easy or connected, and participant feedback on immersion and social connection) are illustrated via descriptive statistics and quotes from open-ended responses. None of the participants experienced severe VR-related sickness before randomization, with a low average sickness rating of 1.6 (SD 1.6) out of 27 points. Attendance rates for group meetings were 98% (59/60) and 96% (46/48) for the VR and videoconference groups, respectively. Outside of scheduled meeting times, participants reported a median of 5.5 (IQR 5.3-5.8, range 0-27) VR accesses throughout the entire intervention. Program evaluations suggested that participants felt personally connected to their peers (VR group: median 3.0, IQR 2.5-3.5; videoconference group: median 3.0, IQR 2.7-3.3), found that goals were easy to accomplish (VR group: median 3.0, IQR 2.8-3.3; videoconference group: median 3.0, IQR 2.6-3.4), and had ease in finding PA options (VR group: median 4.0, IQR 3.5-4.3; videoconference group: median 2.0, IQR 1.6-2.4) and engaging in meaningful dialogue with peers (VR group: median 4.0, IQR 4.0-4.0; videoconference group: median 3.5, IQR 3.3-3.8). Open-ended responses regarding VR use indicated increased immersion experiences and intrinsic motivation for PA. These findings suggest that VR may be a useful medium for social PA programming in older adults, given it was found to be feasible and acceptable in this sample. Importantly, all participants indicated low levels of VR-related sickness before randomization, and both groups demonstrated very high attendance at meetings with their groups and behavioral coaches, which is promising for using VR and videoconference in future interventions. Modifications for future iterations of similar interventions are provided. Further work using larger samples and longer follow-up durations is needed. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04756245; https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT04756245.

Healthcare professionals’ preferences for the specialist pharmacy service medicines advice clinical enquiry service: a discrete choice experiment

Abstract Introduction The Specialist Pharmacy Service Medicines Advice (SPS-MA) service answers enquiries from primary care professionals in England. The preferences of service users for the way this service is provided (e.g. opening hours, speed and route of reply, amount of detail in answer etc.) are unknown. Such information would be useful to ensure the service meets the needs of users as well as possible within the constraints of available resources. Aim To determine healthcare professionals’ preferences for the Specialist Pharmacy Service Medicines Advice clinical enquiry service using a discrete choice experiment (DCE). Methods International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research good research practices were used to conduct a DCE1. Previous literature2, documentary analysis of SPS-MA policies, and interviews with four SPS-MA enquirers and three SPS-MA service providers/managers identified seven key attributes of the clinical enquiry service. Each attribute could be defined using one of 2-3 descriptions (‘levels’). A D-efficient experimental design generated 20 pairs of potential clinical enquiry service variants, each described by one level linked to each of the seven attributes. These 20 pairs were blocked into two online surveys (10 pairs per survey), which asked participants to choose which service from each pair they would prefer to contact. The 1669 SPS-MA clinical enquiry contacts with a recorded email in the year to November 2023 were randomised to receive an email invitation to complete one of the survey variants. Preferences for each attribute level were estimated using conditional logit regression. Using the HRA decision tool, this project was not considered research by the NHS. It was given a favourable opinion by the University of Bath ethics review process on 27th November 2023 (reference 1153-2222). Results 236 participants completed a survey (52% GP pharmacists, 26% other pharmacists, 22% other professional; median 15 years’ experience). Weekend opening and opening hours did not significantly affect preferences (p≥0.226). All other attributes did significantly affect preferences (p≤0.015). An answer within one hour or two days was most valued (preference weightings (95%CI) relative to five days: 0.89 (0.76-1.03) and 0.58 (0.45-0.72), respectively). Communication by email was highly valued (preference weighting: 0.62 (0.47-0.77) relative to telephone only). The availability of a website of frequently asked questions was also valued (preference weighting: 0.48 (0.31-0.64) relative to no website). Answering the telephone within 20 seconds and a detailed response were valued, but to a lesser degree. Sub-group analysis found that participants qualified for <15 years valued email communication and detailed responses more strongly than other participants (p≤0.035). Discussion / Conclusion Where clinically appropriate, the SPS-MA clinical enquiry service should prioritise speed of reply, communication by email and a website of frequently asked questions. Longer opening hours are not required. This is the first study to use of a DCE to investigate professional enquirers’ preferences for a medicines information/advice service. This allowed analysis of the strength of preferences and how they were traded off. Due to the small number of non-pharmacist enquirers to the SPS-MA service, it was not possible to investigate how professional background influences preferences.

Systematic Review and Meta-analysis on Effectiveness of Strategies for Enhancing Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting

BackgroundPharmacovigilance is essential for patient safety, but underreporting adverse drug reactions (ADRs) is a global challenge. ObjectivesThis review evaluated the effectiveness of strategies for enhancing ADR reporting by healthcare professionals (HCPs). MethodsThis systematic review was conducted following the Cochrane and the PRISMA guidelines. Five international databases were searched from inception to December 2023 and updated search to September 2024. Randomized clinical controlled trials (RCTs) and non-RCTs on enhancing ADR reporting were included. The primary outcomes were the number of overall ADR and high-quality ADR reports. Study quality was assessed using the EPOC risk of bias (ROB), and ROBIN-I for RCT, and non-RCT. All data were evaluated using a random-effects model, and heterogeneity was assessed using I2 statistic and chi-squared tests. ResultsFrom 1,672 studies, 13 studies (10 RCTs, and 3 non-RCTs) with 28,116 participants were included. Two of 10 RCTs had low ROB while the remaining were judged as unclear and moderate ROB. Most studies were in high-income countries, and the main strategy was educating HCPs through workshops. Meta-analysis showed significant increases in overall ADR reporting through educating HCPs with a rate ratio (RR) of 5.09 (95%CI: 3.36-7.71, I2=84.5%, low certainty), and in high-quality reporting with 1.31 (95%CI:1.09-1.58, I2=0.0%, moderate certainty). Subgroup analysis indicated that educating HCPs through face-to-face workshops combined with the Tawai app (RR:10.5, 95%CI:8.74-12.61), a face-to-face workshop alone (RR:6.69, 95%CI:5.43-8.25, I2=0.0%), and repeated telephone (RR:2.59, 95%CI:1.75-3.84, I2=8.8%) significantly increased the overall number of ADR reports with moderate certainty. Email or letter communications showed no significant effect. ConclusionEducating HCPs via interactive strategies like face-to-face workshops with or without a mobile app and repeated phone calls improved ADR reporting. However, long-term, high-quality studies are needed to confirm these findings before recommending widespread implementation in clinical practice, especially in LMICs.

Understanding the Importance of Email Etiquette and Addressing Email Communication Challenges Among BTVI Students

Email serves as a communication channel for students in higher educational institutions to interact with teachers on course materials, assignments, and impending tests and seek guidance on personal or academic concerns. The present research examines student-instructor email communication, explicitly identifying the problematic elements in students' emails that hinder effective communication. The study examines a sample of 50 email communications composed and sent by first-year students to their instructors at Bright Technical and Vocational Institute (BTVI) in Kurdistan. Textual analysis is a valuable method for investigating research inquiries across several disciplines. The study findings demonstrated that informal aspects of student email exchanges include the usage of slang, overuse of capitalization, unconventional spelling, symbols, and emoticons. Lack of adherence to email etiquette norms and grammatical errors. These elements indicate a need for more understanding of formality, professionalism, and the decorum expected in a university atmosphere. Thus, it is advisable to implement pedagogical intervention to develop the necessary abilities for composing and comprehending emails. Providing education and assistance on the protocols and norms of email communication may enhance students' capacity to effectively and professionally interact via email in (BTVI), hence fostering good practices and increasing future employment prospects.

EHealth profile and care coordination of primary care physicians

Abstract Background Digital health or eHealth is a vast field encompassing mobile health (mHealth), health information technology, wearable devices, telehealth, and telemedicine, and is changing the practice of medicine. While it holds promise for enhancing care coordination, its adoption is hindered by various barriers, including at the healthcare professional level. We assessed the eHealth profile of primary care physicians and its relationship with care coordination. Methods As part of the Commonwealth Fund 2022 IHP survey of primary care physicians, 1114 physicians in Switzerland completed a questionnaire on their digital health use, and care coordination practices. Based on their responses, we built a digital health score, summarizing physicians’ use of digital health tools, and a care coordination score. Associations between both scores were assessed using stratified analyses and multiple linear regression. Results Among 1114 participants (46% women, mean age 52), 83% used electronic patient records, 96% used teleconsultations for less than 5% of consultations, and 63% never used connected health tools for the monitoring of patients with chronic diseases. A total of 16% allowed for online appointments, 20% for online medical prescriptions, 52% for communicating electronically lists of medications with other healthcare professionals, and 89% the possibility of e-mail or web communications with the patient. The eHealth score was positively associated with the number of weekly working hours, being an internal medicine specialist or practicing physician, the number of full-time equivalents in the practice, and with being in a group practice setting. The higher the eHealth profile score, the higher was the care coordination score. Conclusions Physicians’ use of digital health tools was positively associated with care coordination. This could underscore the potential benefits of digital health in enhancing collaborative and interprofessional care practices. Key messages • In a large survey of primary care physicians, the use of digital health tools and care coordination were correlated. • Digital health could enhance collaborative and interprofessional care practices.

Primary care physician eHealth profile and care coordination: a cross-sectional study.

Digital health holds promise for enhancing care coordination and supporting patient self-management. However, various barriers, including at the healthcare professional level, hinder its adoption. This cross-sectional study explored the eHealth profile of primary care physicians and its relationship with care coordination. As part of "The Commonwealth Fund's 2022 International Health Policy Survey of Primary Care Physicians in 10 Countries", 1114 physicians in Switzerland completed a questionnaire on their sociodemographic and workplace characteristics, digital health use and care coordination practices. Based on their responses concerning the modality, frequency and application of digital health tools, we created a digital health score. Based on responses describing the collaboration with specialists and paramedical health professionals, we created a care coordination score. The associations between both scores were assessed using stratified analyses and multiple linear regression. Among the 1114 participants (46% women, mean age 52 years), 83% used electronic patient records, 96% used teleconsultations for less than 5% of consultations, and 63% never used connected health tools to monitor patients with chronic diseases. Further, 16% allowed online appointments, 20% online medical prescriptions, 52% the possibility of electronically communicating lists of medications with other healthcare professionals, and 89% the possibility of email or web communications with the patient. The eHealth score was positively associated with the number of weekly working hours, being an internal medicine specialist or practising physician, the number of full-time equivalents in the practice and being in a group practice setting. The higher the eHealth profile score, the higher the care coordination score. Digital health and care coordination were positively associated. This could underscore the potential benefits of digital health in enhancing collaborative and interprofessional care practices.

Information technology and its role in the activities of judicial institutions

The article is devoted to the definition of the month and the role of information technology in the activities of judicial authorities. It is established that information technology is a set of methods and tools designed for effective work with information. Regardless of how technologies change or how they are used in various spheres of public life, their main purpose remains unchanged - to ensure the collection, processing, accumulation and use of information. It is substantiated that the integrated use of information technologies in the administration of justice is considered to be one of the key elements of a significant improvement of the functioning of the judicial system of Ukraine. The possibility of online access to court registers, information on the stages of court proceedings, and electronic exchange of legal documents are just a few examples which have become possible due to the introduction of information technology into the work of domestic courts. This type of technology can be used to increase the transparency and accountability of the judiciary, thereby helping it to perform its functions and duties in a more efficient manner. Modern technologies allow judges and court staff to access large electronic databases, including case law and regulations, which greatly simplifies and speeds up the decision-making process. The ability to use e-mail and other digital communication tools has ensured efficiency and convenience in the exchange of information between all participants in the judicial process. Another important achievement is that citizens can now apply to the court electronically, making justice more accessible and convenient. This innovation reduces barriers to going to court, speeds up the process of submitting documents and allows participants in the proceedings to track their progress in real time. Thus, information technology not only facilitates the work of courts, but also makes justice more transparent, accessible and efficient, which ultimately increases public confidence in the judicial system as a whole. The use of information technology together with the Internet has opened up the judicial system to the public.

An Innovative, Collaborative, and Transformative Program to Enhance Off-Campus Clinical Faculty Engagement.

Off-campus (volunteer, community-based) clinical faculty, upon whom medical schools heavily depend, are an integral component of medical education. However, challenges hinder their involvement in medical school governance and other activities, including inadequate communication, lack of recognition, high clinical demands that may preclude teaching, and time-consuming non-clinical tasks. While faculty appointments offer benefits like free CME, access to library resources, and email communications, faculty often prioritize potential contributions to their teaching roles over these benefits. Our medical school launched a new initiative to tackle these issues head-on. We established an Office of Faculty Engagement (OFE) that leverages engagement strategies to enhance communication, broaden access to campus resources, and provide tailored rewards for clinicians. We rebranded volunteer clinical faculty as Off-Campus Faculty (OCF) to foster a more interactive relationship and innovative measures, including personalized welcome emails, a dedicated point of contact for OCF, a user-friendly website, regular orientations, faculty development programs, recognition and appreciation events, and exclusive awards. From August 2021 to December 2023, we contacted 587 OCF members; 85 faculty members experienced improved communication. This innovative approach streamlines and personalizes interactions with OCF, enhances their satisfaction, and represents a transformative opportunity to engage and involve OCF in medical education.

Digital Marketing and Consumer Nutritional Behavior

Digital marketing involves promoting and selling products and services online and it is becoming extremely critical for retailers to gain new customers. Digital marketing uses online platforms, e-mail communications and messaging services, advertisements, and multi-modal online techniques. Digital marketing techniques can be used in parallel with machine learning and artificial intelligence to provide more effective results in analyzing customer behavior. Artificial intelligence (AI) has become an important and popular tool in the 21st century, affecting almost every sector, including engineering, science, medicine, business, finance, and marketing. However, AI’s dominance in every field of life, especially in digital marketing, may cause some ethical concerns related to consumers. In addition to these moral concerns, digital marketing creates doubts about its negative impact on human health. For this reason, understanding consumer behavior and providing products according to consumer needs has become indispensable for companies today. Digital marketing is everywhere in our daily lives and is also frequently used in the food industry. Through digital marketing, food industries promote the consumption of foods that are particularly high in energy and poor in nutrients. Consequently, individuals exposed to digital marketing in the food industry may be prone to obesity-related problems. This study analyzes the relationship between digital marketing, AI, and consumer behavior specifically on eating habits along with references from the literature.

Strategies for Effective Product Roadmap Development and Execution in Data Analytics Platforms

Manufacturing is only one of several industries going through a digital transformation in this era of digital disruption. Manufacturing businesses are racing to adopt IoT-based solutions in order to innovate, increase productivity, lower costs, and gain greater market share because of the enormous transformational potential offered by Internet-of-Things (IoT) & Big Data. It is being used by industrial companies all over the world to increase flexibility while achieving cost savings, reduced inefficiencies, and better performance. It is no longer a trend for the future. But putting Industry 4.0 technology support into practice is a tough endeavour that gets increasingly harder in the absence of a common method. These are produced during the course of business operations and are kept in databases, email communication, transaction logs, free form texts on (business) social media, and other places. Businesses want to integrate data analytics methods into their decision-making processes by utilisation of these data. The field of Big Data analyses has seen tremendous progress in the IT sector in recent years. It appears that in order to deal with the extremely dynamic situations of today, new methods for product route mapping are required. This article provides an overview of the literature in science on product road mapping in order to shed light on the current state of the art & pinpoint research gaps. In order to demonstrate the influence of Industry 4.0 technological innovations on the manufacturing sector, this study provides an organised and content-focused evaluation of the literature. This paper offers recommendations for converting a legacy manufacturing facility into an Industry 4.0-compliant smart plant. Research gaps encompass topics including how to include objectives or results in product roadmaps, how to match a roadmap with the item's vision, and how to include activities related to product discovery in product roadmaps.

Comparing Email Versus Text Messaging as Delivery Platforms for Supporting Patients With Major Depressive Disorder: Noninferiority Randomized Controlled Trial.

The prevalence of major depressive disorder (MDD) poses significant global health challenges, with available treatments often insufficient in achieving remission for many patients. Digital health technologies, such as SMS text messaging-based cognitive behavioral therapy, offer accessible alternatives but may not reach all individuals. Email communication presents a secure avenue for health communication, yet its effectiveness compared to SMS text messaging in providing mental health support for patients with MDD remains uncertain. This study aims to compare the efficacy of email versus SMS text messaging as delivery platforms for supporting patients with MDD, addressing a critical gap in understanding optimal digital interventions for mental health care. A randomized noninferiority pilot trial was conducted, comparing outcomes for patients receiving 6-week daily supportive messages via email with those receiving messages via SMS text message. This duration corresponds to a minimum of 180 days of message delivery. The supportive messages maintained consistent length and structure across both delivery methods. Participants (N=66) were recruited from the Access 24/7 clinic in Edmonton, Alberta, among those who were diagnosed with MDD. The outcomes were measured at baseline and 6 months after enrollment using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), and the World Health Organization Well-Being Index (WHO-5). Most of the participants were females (n=43, 65%), aged between 26 and 40 years (n=34, 55%), had high school education (n=35, 58%), employed (n=33, 50%), and single (n=24, 36%). Again, most participants had had no history of any major physical illness (n=56, 85%) and (n=61, 92%) responded "No" to having a history of admission for treatment of mood disorders. There was no statistically significant difference in the mean changes in PHQ-9, GAD-7, and WHO-5 scores between the email and SMS text messaging groups (mean difference, 95% CI: -1.90, 95% CI -6.53 to 2.74; 5.78, 95% CI -1.94 to 13.50; and 11.85, 95% CI -3.81 to 27.51), respectively. Both supportive modalities showed potential in reducing depressive symptoms and improving quality of life. The study's findings suggest that both email and SMS text messaging interventions have equivalent effectiveness in reducing depression symptoms among individuals with MDD. As digital technology continues to evolve, harnessing the power of multiple digital platforms for mental health interventions can significantly contribute to bridging the existing treatment gaps and improving the overall well-being of individuals with depressive conditions. Further research is needed with a larger sample size to confirm and expand upon these findings. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04638231; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8552095/.

Predictors of No-Show Status: An Analysis of Pediatric Ophthalmology Patients at an Academic Ophthalmology Department in the United States.

To identify pediatric patient and appointment characteristics associated with no-show status at a tertiary care pediatric ophthalmology clinic within a U.S. academic ophthalmology department. A cross-sectional retrospective chart review was performed for all pediatric patients with a scheduled ophthalmology appointment at the Penn State Eye Center between April 1, 2022 and March 31, 2023. A multivariate logistic regression analysis assessed associations between appointment nonattendance and patient characteristics. Of 8,083 scheduled visits, 1,445 (17.9%) were no-shows. Factors associated with no-show status included appointment type (new vs return odds ratio [OR]: 1.43, 95% CI: 1.26 to 1.63, P < .001); lower median household income (< $41,374 vs > $68,957 OR: 1.89, 95% CI: 1.40 to 2.55, P < .001; $41,374 to $68,957 vs > $68,957 OR: 1.27, 95% CI: 1.12 to 1.44, P < .001); non-private insurance (self-pay vs private: OR: 5.65, 95% CI: 3.87 to 8.24, P < .001, Medicaid vs private: OR: 2.17, 95% CI: 2.32 to 3.16, P < .001); commute distance 10 to 30 miles vs < 5 miles (OR: 1.49, 95% CI: 1.11 to 1.99, P = .008); race: unavailable vs White (OR: 2.18, 95% CI: 1.66 to 2.85, P < .001), Black vs White (OR: 1.86, 95% CI:1.53 to 2.27, P < .001), Other vs White (OR: 1.47, 95% CI: 1.27 to 1.70, P < .001); ethnicity: Hispanic vs non-Hispanic (OR: 1.92, 95% CI: 1.62 to 2.27, P < .001); and language preference: Spanish vs English (OR: 1.86, 95% CI: 1.49 to 2.32, P < .001), Nepali vs English (OR: 1.60, 95% CI: 1.06 to 2.43, P = .027), other vs English (OR: 1.83, 95% CI: 1.35 to 2.49, P < .001). Appointment reminders (phone call, P = .013); text message, P < .001; other, P = .013) all resulted in a greater propensity to show, but email communication alone did not (P = .674). Certain patient and appointment characteristics that are linked to a higher rate of no-show status can inform targeted initiatives to improve health care outcomes, resource utilization, and clinical efficiency in the pediatric ophthalmology community. [J Pediatr Ophthalmol Strabismus. 20XX;X(XX):XXX-XXX.].

GRADE guidance 39: using GRADE-ADOLOPMENT to adopt, adapt or create contextualized recommendations from source guidelines and evidence syntheses

Background and ObjectiveThe Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations (GRADE)-ADOLOPMENT methodology has been widely used to adopt, adapt, or de novo develop recommendations from existing or new guideline and evidence synthesis efforts. The objective of this guidance is to refine the operationalization for applying GRADE-ADOLOPMENT. MethodsThrough iterative discussions, online meetings, and email communications, the GRADE-ADOLOPMENT project group drafted the updated guidance. We then conducted a review of handbooks of guideline-producing organizations, and a scoping review of published and planned adolopment guideline projects. The lead authors refined the existing approach based on the scoping review findings and feedback from members of the GRADE working group. We presented the revised approach to the group in November 2022 (approximately 115 people), in May 2023 (approximately 100 people), and twice in September 2023 (approximately 60 and 90 people) for approval. ResultsThis GRADE guidance shows how to effectively and efficiently contextualize recommendations using the GRADE-ADOLOPMENT approach by doing the following: (1) showcasing alternative pathways for starting an adolopment effort; (2) elaborating on the different essential steps of this approach, such as building on existing evidence-to-decision (EtDs), when available or developing new EtDs, if necessary; and (3) providing examples from adolopment case studies to facilitate the application of the approach. We demonstrate how to use contextual evidence to make judgments about EtD criteria, and highlight the importance of making the resulting EtDs available to facilitate adolopment efforts by others. ConclusionThis updated GRADE guidance further operationalizes the application of GRADE-ADOLOPMENT based on over 6 years of experience. It serves to support uptake and application by end users interested in contextualizing recommendations to a local setting or specific reality in a short period of time or with limited resources.

Amalgamating an intelligent variant of the gravitational search algorithm with decision trees for email spam detection

In today’s interconnected digital world, email remains a primary mode of digital interaction valued for its suitability in official, academic and business communications. However, despite its utility, email faces significant challenges due to the widespread presence of spam in various forms, such as phishing, suspicious attachments and deceptive content. This issue not only affects the efficiency and security of email communication but also poses a barrier to its reliability. Therefore, it is essential to devise effective methods to tackle the escalating count of spam emails. This research work presents an intriguing methodology to combat the persistent problem of email spam. The proposed method, abbreviated as AIGSADT, is an amalgamation of the intelligent variant of the gravitational search algorithm (IGSA) and decision trees (DTs). The machine learning-based DT algorithm is individually inadequate for dealing with the large amount of constructive data on a certain attribute due to its instability and ineffectiveness. The proposed AIGSADT approach integrates the IGSA algorithm, which is effective in handling large amounts of data to detect email spam. This is achieved by constructing decision trees employing gravitational forces as the means of information transfer through mass agents. Here, the intelligent factor of the IGSA algorithm prevents the trapping of GSA agents in local optima by updating their positions based on information provided by the best and worst agents. The performance of the presented AIGSADT approach is analyzed through experiments conducted on various categories available in the Ling spam dataset. These experimental evaluations aim to analyze the significance of different pre-processing modules across different dataset categories. The comparative analysis indicates the supremacy of the proposed approach compared to state-of-the-art methodologies.

Design and Development of an Emailing Management System: System Modeling

Developing a software platform that effectively handles email communication is the main goal of creating an email management system. Given the growing importance of electronic communication in various fields, its relevance in today's landscape cannot be overstated. This system encompasses a variety of features designed to streamline the process of sending, monitoring, and organizing emails with the utmost efficiency. Whether it's used for marketing, customer relationship management (CRM), outreach efforts, or internal communication within companies, it offers a comprehensive set of tools to facilitate these tasks seamlessly. Building and maintaining strong customer relationships, generating leads, promoting products or services, and improving an organization's online presence all depend on the presence of a well-designed email management system. In addition, intelligent email management serves to strengthen online reputation and ensure compliance with legal privacy standards. The goal of this effort is to create, refine, and optimize a comprehensive email management system tailored to an organization's unique requirements. Goals include improving the effectiveness of email campaigns, optimizing the successful delivery of messages, complying with privacy regulations, and providing a user-friendly interface. In this work, we will focus on the modeling of the system. UML modeling language is employed to clearly illustrate both static and dynamic aspects of the system, encompassing class, use case, activity, and sequence diagrams. To enhance the tangibility of the proposed solution, we developed four user interface prototypes.

NETIQUETTE FOR TEACHERS AND STUDENTS IN ENGLISH CLASSROOMS

Netiquette is made up of two words net and etiquette. It is rules of conduct for respectable and appropriate communication. This article brings out the role of netiquette in helping the students to improve their soft skills, prevent miscommunication, helps students to understand what is acceptable when working online in different environment. The researcher analyses that practicing netiquette is a good contribution to the positive and productive online learning environment for both teachers and students. The concept of writing this article on netiquette is to explore how teachers and students can enhance their online learning experience, build their stronger connections and cultivate a positive and inclusive digital language learning environment. In this regard, the researcher tries to explain the brief history of netiquette, types of netiquettes and the essential part of netiquette for teachers and students, as well as netiquette guidelines for Email Communication and for online education. Moreover, this article is explained with good remarks, suggestions and with proper a conclusion.

Human Firewall Simulator for Enhancing Security Awareness against Business Email Compromise

Chief executive officers (CEOs) can turn out to be the weakest link to an organization’s security and attackers know that if they successfully exploit or impersonate someone who has a high level of access like CEOs or chief finance officers (CFOs), they instantly gain great advantage. The problem comes when attacker manages to take control of email accounts of the CEOs and CFOs and sends an email to another staff in the organization, he/she is likely to take it seriously, act accordingly and quickly as possible, and may be wire cash to an account directed by the “CEO/CFO,” and/or get away with private or sensitive corporate information. Because of the nature of these attack methods, detection and protection are very difficult since the attackers take advantage of the human weakness which is the weakest link. The main aim of this study is to provide a solution to protect every surface of the organization. By developing a human firewall, working with the already existing technical solutions offers the solution to remaining problem of human weakness. This research developed a simulator to train the users with the latest trends the attackers are using making them do it right (flagging, reporting, not clicking suspicions links) and making email security part of their responsibility. This makes employee become human firewall. The results from the simulator are displayed in charts as number of employees who passed the test, number of employees who will click on the malicious links, number of employees who will download the dangerous attachments, number of employees who will reply to phishing emails, average awareness of the organization, and how individual employees performed. While organizations have made progress over the years, security is a never-ending process that requires improvement day by day. Since no one in the organization’s structure is immune including the top most in the cadre (i.e., CEO), complexity in understanding and awareness creation is more wanting than before. Integrating human firewall into existing security measures as the last line of defense in email communication against business email compromise frauds offers this solution because it has preventive as well as reactive measures both geared toward maximizing email security. A simulation of the attacks to analyze the user involvement to breaching the security followed by an evaluation simulation after integrating human firewall to the organization’s email security shows success level. The results from the test show the different success levels, that is, results from pre-assessment definitely show low success level since staff/employees have not been made aware/trained to profile or flag compared to when the employees/staff have gone through the training/awareness. Post-assessment indicates high success level because actions from employees turned into human firewall know how to take proper action, for example, flagging, not clicking malicious links. The organization should update its policies to accommodate and reinforce rules on the employees to ensure that the tool is used regularly and actions taken on user deemed a threat to the organizational email security.

Engagement with health research summaries via digital communication to All of Us participants.

Summaries of health research can be a complementary way to return value to participants. We assess how research participants engage with summaries via email communication and how this can be improved. We look at correlations between demographic subgroups and engagement in a longitudinal dataset of 305626 participants (77% are classified as underrepresented in biomedical research) from the All of Us Research Program. We compare this against engagement with other program communications and use impact evaluations (N = 421510) to measure the effect of tailoring communication by (1) eliciting content preferences, (2) Spanish focused content, (3) informational videos, and (4) article content in the email subject line. Between March 2020 and October 2021, research summaries reached 67% of enrolled participants, outperforming other program communication (60%) and return of results (31%), which have a high uptake rate but have been extended to a subset of eligible participants. While all demographic subgroups engage with research summaries, participants with higher income, educational attainment, White, and older than 45 years open and click content most often. Surfacing article content in the email subject line and Spanish focused content had negative effects on engagement. Video and social media content and eliciting preferences led to a small directional increase in clicks. Further individualization of tailoring efforts may be needed to drive larger engagement effects (eg, delivering multiple articles in line with stated preferences, expanding preference options). Our findings are likely a conservative representation of engagement effects, given the coarseness of our click rate measure. Health research summaries show promise as a way to return value to research participants, especially if individual-level results cannot be returned. Personalization of communication requires testing to determine whether efforts are having the expected effect.