Including Cell Phones Research Articles

Teenagers’ Licensing Decisions and Their Views of Licensing Policies: A National Survey

Objective: One objective was to determine teenage licensing rates on a national basis, interest in early licensure, and reasons for delay. A second objective was to learn teenagers’ opinions about licensing policies, important in states considering ways to upgrade their current licensing systems. Methods: One thousand three hundred eighty-three 15- to 18-year-olds completed an online survey in November 2010. They were drawn from a nationally representative panel of US households recruited using probability-based sampling. The panel included cell phone–only households, and Internet access was provided to those without it. Weighting procedures were applied so that the study population represented the national US population of 15- to 18-year-olds. Results: Most teens said that they were interested in getting a license as soon as legally possible, but many had not started the process. At 16, teens were about equally divided among those who had not started, those in the learner stage, and those with a restricted or full license. At 18, 62 percent had full licenses; 22 percent had not started. For those old enough to start, lack of a car, costs, parent availability, ability to get around without a car, and being busy with other activities were leading reasons for delay. The majority of teens were not in favor of higher licensing ages. Forty-six percent thought the minimum learner age should be 16; 30 percent thought the full license age should be 18 or older. The majority approved of night (78%) and passenger (57%) restrictions, and 85 and 93 percent endorsed cell phone and texting bans, respectively. When these policies were packaged together in a single law that included an age 16 start, night, passenger, cell phone and texting bans, and a full license at age 18, 74 percent of teens were in favor. Conclusions: Teenagers are not as supportive of strong licensing policies as parents of teens, but there is evidence that they will support comprehensive policies likely to lead to further reductions in teen crash rates.

Persona Concept for Privacy and Authentication

This paper describes ongoing research and development aimed at creating a trustworthy software-based model called the Persona Concept. The Persona Architecture uses web services to implement this model and is designed to provide the consumer direct control over their identity, credentials and private data. Credentials are expressed as third-party assertions encapsulated in certificates using Secure Assertion Markup Language (SAML) and are digitally signed. The architecture also supports distributed management of electronic credentials and aims at operating across various fixed and mobile platforms including cell phones and wireless Portable Digital Assistants(PDAs).

Views of Parents of Teenagers About Licensing Policies: A National Survey

Objective: During the past two decades, many changes in licensing policies have been made in U.S. states, and more are being discussed. The views of parents of teenagers can inform debates about what licensing provisions should be considered and how well they will be received. The objective was to obtain the views of a nationally representative sample of parents of teenagers on a wide range of licensing practices. Methods: Parents were interviewed via the internet in early 2010. Participants were 1226 parents of 15- to 18-year-olds drawn from a nationally representative panel of U.S. households recruited using probability-based sampling. The panel included cell phone–only households, and Internet access was provided to those without it. Weighting procedures were applied to ensure that participants reflect the national population. Results: Parents generally favored licensing policies that are as strong as or stronger than exist in any U.S. jurisdiction, including higher permit and licensing ages, long learner periods with high practice hour requirements, plus strong and long-lasting night and passenger restrictions. The majority of parents approved of tougher driving tests, including a test to graduate to full license status (75%), enhanced penalties for traffic violations (94%) and violations of graduated licensing restrictions (78%), cell phone and texting bans (96–98%), and, to a somewhat lesser extent, license status identifiers (decals) on vehicles (65%) and the application of graduated licensing rules to novice drivers 18 and older (61%). Parents in the Northeast were significantly more supportive of older learner's permit and restricted driving ages than parents in other regions, and parents in the West were more supportive of strong passenger restrictions. Conclusions: Results suggest that many parents will support comprehensive licensing policies. Many of these policies are known to reduce teenage crash involvement. For others, research evidence of their effects is lacking and needs to be established.

Book Review: iPhone and IOS Forensics: Investigation, Analysis and Mobile Security for Apple iPhone, iPad and IOS Devices

Hoog, A., & Strzempka, K. (2011). iPhone and iOS Forensics: Investigation, Analysis and Mobile Security for Apple iPhone, iPad and iOS Devices. Waltham, MA: Syngress. 336 pages, ISBN: 978-1-59749-659-9, US$69.95. Reviewed by Christopher Schulte, EnCE & ACE, LuciData Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota (cschulte@lucidatainc.com) These are exciting times for Digital Forensics practitioners. While our examinations of mobile devices (including cell phones and tablet computers) continue to bring new and sometimes hair-pulling challenges into our labs and on-site engagements, research and understanding of these tiny computers is increasing at what seems an exponential rate. This is especially true in the iOS (Apple Computer’s mobile operating system that powers the iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and Apple TV) space. The diligent work of talented computer scientists in this field allows examiners everywhere to reap the benefits of easier, faster and more effective examinations that yield more accurate and defendable results. (see PDF for full review)

Going Mobile: the In’s and Out’s of an Academic Library Mobile Site

More people are joining the mobile society and libraries are beginning to provide on the go library service. There are several types of mobile devices including cell phones, smartphones, PDAs, the iPad, etc., and one-third of all Americans accessed the web using these devices in 2009. How can your library provide an access point for mobile research? The authors will tell you how two libraries have done this for their customers, how you can create a basic mobile site for your library, and how you can provide access to databases now offering mobile interfaces.

The impact of cell phones on public health surveillance

Random-digit-dial telephone sampling of households with landline telephones has been a popular tool for conducting surveys of the population in the United States of America (USA) in the past several decades. These surveys have provided a cost-efficient strategy for conducting population-based surveys, have sound sampling characteristics and have benefited from high coverage of landline telephones reaching more than 90% of American households from 1970 to 2004.1 However, in the past 10 years the utility of random-digit-dial telephone surveys is being questioned due to another trend in telephone usage – the increased popularity of cell (mobile or portable) phones. More and more telephone users are switching from landline telephones to cell phones, reducing the number of households with landline telephones and, therefore, lowering the coverage of traditional random-digit-dial surveys that don’t include cell phone numbers.

CANCER: First Combined Analysis from INTERPHONE Inconclusive

CANCER: First Combined Analysis from INTERPHONE Inconclusive

Super-resolution enhancement technique for low resolution video

Super-resolution enhancement is the technique of increasing spatial resolution of an image from the image itself or from several noisy images of the same scene but with additional information such as motion. This paper presents a kernel regression approach to reconstruct a high resolution image from several low resolution video frames. In many applications including cell phone and webcam the imaging sensors capture low resolution images due to low cost sensors or physical limitation of the hardware. So, the proposed resolution enhancement technique could be used as an inexpensive software alternative. The performance of the proposed algorithm is evaluated with several grayscale and color video streams and found successful when compared to other state of the art techniques.

Developing Next-Generation Telehealth Tools and Technologies: Patients, Systems, and Data Perspectives

The major goals of telemedicine today are to develop next-generation telehealth tools and technologies to enhance healthcare delivery to medically underserved populations using telecommunication technology, to increase access to medical specialty services while decreasing healthcare costs, and to provide training of healthcare providers, clinical trainees, and students in health-related fields. Key drivers for these tools and technologies are the need and interest to collaborate among telehealth stakeholders, including patients, patient communities, research funders, researchers, healthcare services providers, professional societies, industry, healthcare management/economists, and healthcare policy makers. In the development, marketing, adoption, and implementation of these tools and technologies, communication, training, cultural sensitivity, and end-user customization are critical pieces to the process. Next-generation tools and technologies are vehicles toward personalized medicine, extending the telemedicine model to include cell phones and Internet-based telecommunications tools for remote and home health management with video assessment, remote bedside monitoring, and patient-specific care tools with event logs, patient electronic profile, and physician note-writing capability. Telehealth is ultimately a system of systems in scale and complexity. To cover the full spectrum of dynamic and evolving needs of end-users, we must appreciate system complexity as telehealth moves toward increasing functionality, integration, interoperability, outreach, and quality of service. Toward that end, our group addressed three overarching questions: (1) What are the high-impact topics? (2) What are the barriers to progress? and (3) What roles can the National Institutes of Health and its various institutes and centers play in fostering the future development of telehealth?

STUDENTS USE OF MOBILE DEVICES: AN EXPLORATORY SURVEY IN AN INTRODUCTORY COMPUTER INFORMATION SYSTEM CLASS

Use of mobile devices in classrooms is posing a major challenge to instructors. This exploratory research surveyed 181 students enrolled in the introductory CIS class on the use of mobile devices including cell phones. The results were compared with a similar survey conducted on teens by the Pew Research Center. Major similarities and differences between the results of the two surveys are presented.

Characteristics of Cell Phone Only, Listed, and Unlisted Telephone Households

Cell phone only households have increased from about 4% in 2004 to over 14% in 2007. Since cell phone only households are not included in random digit dialing (RDD) samples, they represent a major source of noncoverage error. To assess the extent of this noncoverage error we compared the results of a CATI telephone survey of three different samples of households: (1) cell phone only households; (2) directory listed households; and (3) unlisted households. The survey results are based on samples of at least 400 respondents per group, and show significant differences in demographics between all three groups, as well as differences in attitudinal measures. The results indicate that including cell phone only households in a telephone samples can lead to substantial improvements in coverage. Cell phone only respondents tend to be younger, single, and male, and tend to rent rather than own their home, and have either less or more education than respondents from listed and unlisted RDD samples. Cell phone only respondents are also more likely to have more than one cell phone, and to have full time employment. A significant difference was also observed for political party affiliation. The cell phone only sample also picked up the highest rate of Asian respondents. We found significant differences in the characteristics of directory listed vs unlisted households as well. Listed households are the least likely to have a computer in the home, have fewer male respondents, have the highest proportion of retired, and elderly respondents, the highest proportion of white and married respondents. The paper discusses the implications of these results for obtaining representative samples for telephone surveys.

Brain Cancer May Be the Least of Our Worries

In this paper the author looks at some of the dangers of modern life, including cell phones and their ilk.

Multi-player soccer and wireless embedded systems

Embedded systems are increasingly becoming connected through wireless networking. These devices now form the basis of many of today's consumer products including cell phones and video game controllers. In the "Software for Embedded Systems" class in the Department of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington, we used the design of a multi-player video game as motivation for the principal concepts in wireless embedded systems. Each student in the class designed an accelerometer-based game controller and then, the class as a whole, developed a multi-player video game that allowed 28 players (the number of students in the course) to play simultaneously. In this paper, we first describe the context of the course and its goals followed by the hardware/software platform we used to realize the game controller. We then detail the pedagogical approach we used to collectively design the video game (loosely based on soccer) and conclude with the lessons learned from this group design experience and how we would enhance the project and course in the future.

Meeting and Serving Users in Their New Work (and Play) Spaces

This article examines the public services component of digital and virtual libraries, focusing on the end-user experience. As the number and types of ‘places’ where library users access library collections and services continue to expand (now including cell phones, iPods, and three-dimensional virtual reality environments populated by avatars), librarians and educators need to examine the key components of these experiential environments, then establish and deploy service programs and underlying policies and procedures that exploit the affordances offered by these new usage environments. Several of the characteristics of these new service environments (e.g. the competition – or conflation – between learning and entertainment, the competition between various libraries and information services in the same space, the read–write participatory nature of many of these environments, and the arrival in a big way of multimedia – both concurrent and serial) are explored.

Cell Phone Survey Feasibility in The U.S.: Sampling and Calling Cell Numbers Versus Landline Numbers

In 2004, we conducted a nationwide dual frame survey of landline and cell phone numbers to evaluate the feasibility of including cell phone numbers in a random digit dial telephone survey. Households with both landline and cell phones were eligible for selection in both samples. This article describes our design and data collection methods; compares the results from the two samples (with an emphasis on operational characteristics); and presents the outcomes of two experimental manipulations designed to improve the cell phone response rate.

Household Telephone Service and Usage Patterns in the United states in 2004: Implications for Telephone Samples

Changes in the U.S. telephone system, especially the rapid growth in the prevalence and use of cell phones, raise concerns about undercoverage error in random digit dial (RDD) telephone samples. A supplement to the Current Population Survey (CPS) was conducted in 2004 to examine telephone service and usage in U.S. households. This article explores the potential for biases in RDD surveys resulting from the increases in cell phones by presenting estimates of the percentage of households with different types of telephone service, including the percentage of cell-only households, and giving demographic profiles of households by type of telephone service. Logistic regression models examine variables that predict whether households are without a telephone or only have cell phones. These predictors may be used for weighting adjustments to reduce undercoverage biases. We address some additional issues, including the wording of questions for measuring telephone service, that are relevant if telephone-sampling methods are revised to include cell phones. The estimates from the CPS supplement are also used to help understand some of the new sampling and weighting problems associated with selecting samples from cell phone numbers.

Wireless Telecommunications Issues: Cell Phone TV, Wireless Networks in Disaster Management, Ubiquitous Computing, and Adoption of Future Wireless Applications

This paper is a summary of a 2007 Association for Information Systems Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS) panel discussion regarding current mobile wireless issues and technologies. The invited panelists are four faculty members specializing in information systems from the United States. The covered topics included cell phone TV and misconceptions surrounding it, wireless networks in disaster management, ubiquitous computing including “anatomy of a mote” and sensors, and the adoption of future wireless applications. First, we present wireless cell phone TV as a functioning multipurpose computer, or a “Swiss army knife,” of media devices. The misconceptions are stated, influenced by preconceived notions by the media critics as well as users. Next we discuss a range of wireless technologies including wearable computing, ad hoc and mesh wireless networks as a means of providing communications for first respondents during a natural or man-made disaster. Then we examine the anatomy of motes and RFIDs, including sensors, in an era of ubiquitous computing and a world of (inter-)connected objects. Finally, we discuss the socio-cultural constructs impacting users’ intentions to adopt future wireless applications.

The State of Surveying Cell Phone Numbers in the United States: 2007 and Beyond

By the late 1970s, household telephone coverage grew to exceed 90 percent in the United States, and by the mid-1980s telephone surveying of the general public had become commonplace. Nevertheless, 20 years later, the ability of researchers to reach representative samples of the U.S. public via landline (wired) telephone surveys and gather reliable data is being seriously challenged for many reasons, especially those related to cell phones and the growth of the “cell phone only” population. However, at present there exists no widely accepted set of Cell Phone Surveying “best practices” for U.S. survey researchers to follow. Despite what some appear to believe, surveying persons reached on cell phone numbers in the United States currently is a very complex undertaking if one wants to do it “right,” i.e. to do it legally, ethically, and in ways that optimally allocate one's finite resources to gather the highest quality data, and to analyze and interpret those data accurately. This final “wrap-up” article in the special issue provides a review of the empirical articles in the issue with a focus on their practical implications for the decisions that researchers need to make regarding sampling, coverage, nonresponse, measurement, and weighting in surveys that include interviews with persons reached on cell phones. The article also highlights the practical implications of a number of legal, ethical, and other issues that relate to surveys in the United States that include cell phone numbers. Surveying the U.S. cell phone population is possible, if at a higher cost than surveying their landline counterparts, and if with less precision than currently can be done surveying the landline population. The next five years should see a considerable growth in the methodological and statistical know-how that the survey community uses to plan, implement, and interpret cell phone surveys. There is a great deal that still must be learned.

Nonresponse Bias in a Dual Frame Sample of Cell and Landline Numbers

We conducted a dual frame survey of landline and cell phone numbers in 2004 to evaluate the feasibility of including cell phone numbers in random digit dial telephone surveys in the United States. By sampling cell phone numbers, the coverage bias associated with house- holds that have only cell phones is eliminated. However, we discovered two major sources of nonresponse bias in the dual frame sample. In an attempt to reduce these biases, we applied several different estimation schemes. But a comparison to the 2004 Current Population Survey Cell Phone Supplement showed that none of the estimation schemes substan- tially reduced the nonresponse bias of the estimates. We suggest other methods that might be used in future surveys that include cell phones and discuss the need for additional data collection and research on this issue.

Automating Content Extraction of HTML Documents

Web pages often contain clutter (such as unnecessary images and extraneous links) around the body of an article that distracts a user from actual content. Extraction of “useful and relevant” content from web pages has many applications, including cell phone and PDA browsing, speech rendering for the visually impaired, and text summarization. Most approaches to making content more readable involve changing font size or removing HTML and data components such as images, which takes away from a webpage’s inherent look and feel. Unlike “Content Reformatting,” which aims to reproduce the entire webpage in a more convenient form, our solution directly addresses “Content Extraction.” We have developed a framework that employs an easily extensible set of techniques. It incorporates advantages of previous work on content extraction. Our key insight is to work with DOM trees, a W3C specified interface that allows programs to dynamically access document structure, rather than with raw HTML markup. We have implemented our approach in a publicly available Web proxy to extract content from HTML web pages. This proxy can be used both centrally, administered for groups of users, as well as by individuals for personal browsers. We have also, after receiving feedback from users about the proxy, created a revised version with improved performance and accessibility in mind.