Internet Sessions Research Articles

Comparing the Ratio of Therapist Support to Internet Sessions in a Blended Therapy Delivered to Trauma-Exposed Veterans: Quasi-experimental Comparison Study.

BackgroundBlended models of therapy, which incorporate elements of both internet and face-to-face methods, have been shown to be effective, but therapists and patients have expressed concerns that fewer face-to-face therapy sessions than self-guided internet sessions may be associated with lower therapeutic alliance, lower program completion rates, and poorer outcomes.ObjectiveA multisite quasi-experimental comparison study with a noninferiority design implemented in routine clinical care was used to assess webSTAIR, a 10-module blended therapy derived from STAIR (skills training in affective and interpersonal regulation) for trauma-exposed individuals delivered with 10 weekly therapist sessions (termed Coach10) compared to 5 biweekly sessions (Coach5). It was hypothesized that Coach5 would be as good as Coach10 in a range of outcomes.MethodsA total of 202 veterans were enrolled in the study with 101 assigned to Coach5 and 101 to Coach10. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, depression, emotion regulation, interpersonal problems, and social functioning measures were collected pre-, mid-, and posttreatment, and at a 3-month follow-up. Noninferiority analyses were conducted on symptom outcome measures. Comparisons were made of continuous and categorical measures regarding participant and therapist activities.ResultsParticipants reported moderate to severe levels of baseline PTSD, depression, or both. Significant reductions were obtained in all symptom measures posttreatment and at the 3-month follow up. Coach5 was not inferior to Coach10 in any outcome. Therapeutic alliance was at an equivalently high level across the 2 treatment conditions; completion rates and web usage were similar. Total session time was substantially less for the Coach5 therapists than the Coach10 therapists. Both programs were associated with a low, but equal number of therapist activities related to scheduling and crisis or motivational sessions.ConclusionsA blended model delivered with 5 sessions of therapist support was noninferior to 10 sessions in individuals with moderate to severe symptoms. Future studies identifying patient characteristics as moderators of outcomes with high versus low doses of therapist support will help create flexible, technology-based intervention programming.

Reflections on “Dialogues on Psychotherapy in the Time of Coronavirus”: An International Webinar Hosted by Margherita Spagnuolo Lobb and the Istituto Gestalt HCC Italy

Reflections on “Dialogues on Psychotherapy in the Time of Coronavirus”: An International Webinar Hosted by Margherita Spagnuolo Lobb and the Istituto Gestalt HCC Italy

Predictive analytics using big data for increased customer loyalty: Syriatel Telecom Company case study

Given the growing importance of customer behavior in the business market nowadays, telecom operators focus not only on customer profitability to increase market share but also on highly loyal customers as well as customers who are churn. The emergence of big data concepts introduced a new wave of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) strategies. Big data analysis helps to describe customer’s behavior, understand their habits, develop appropriate marketing plans for organizations to identify sales transactions and build a long-term loyalty relationship. This paper provides a methodology for telecom companies to target different-value customers by appropriate offers and services. This methodology was implemented and tested using a dataset that contains about 127 million records for training and testing supplied by Syriatel corporation. Firstly, customers were segmented based on the new approach (Time-frequency- monetary) TFM (TFM where: Time (T): total of calls duration and Internet sessions in a certain period of time. Frequency (F): use services frequently within a certain period. Monetary (M): The money spent during a certain period.) and the level of loyalty was defined for each segment or group. Secondly, The loyalty level descriptors were taken as categories, choosing the best behavioral features for customers, their demographic information such as age, gender, and the services they share. Thirdly, Several classification algorithms were applied based on the descriptors and the chosen features to build different predictive models that were used to classify new users by loyalty. Finally, those models were evaluated based on several criteria and derive the rules of loyalty prediction. After that by analyzing these rules, the loyalty reasons at each level were discovered to target them the most appropriate offers and services.

Relative fixed Internet connection speed experiences as antecedents of customer satisfaction and loyalty: An empirical analysis of consumers in Germany

Abstract So far, management practitioners and scholars alike assume that raises in the contractual absolute maximum bandwidth of Internet connections increase the attitudinal bonds of customers with their access provider. The present study broadens this perspective: In a sample of up to 752 German-speaking Internet users with a wireline Internet access at home, it explores two relative speed characteristics of broadband connections as potential determinants of customer affinity with an access provider. The two reference-dependent aspects comprise customer quality experiences in terms of delivered transmission speeds (1) relative to the maximum down- and upload bandwidths as per customer contract, and (2) relative to speeds emphasized in advertisements of a consumer’s access provider. Furthermore, correlations are analyzed between the frequency with which customers use speed tests to check the quality of their wireline Internet connection and their attitudinal bonds with their access provider. Attitudinal bonding is broken down into customer satisfaction with the performance of the current wireline Internet access at home and propensity to churn at the earliest opportunity. Multivariate regression analysis reveals that the impression that advertised wireline access bandwidths are exaggerated compared to the speeds actually delivered and – to a lesser extent – the perception that the contractual maximum speed is reached only in a low share of a customer’s Internet sessions significantly decrease customer satisfaction and significantly increase customer inclination to churn. The effects of the two speed assessments are not independent of one another: Perceived speed exaggerations in a provider’s ads impair customer bonds less (more) strongly if the experienced share of Internet sessions with speeds below the contractual maximum bandwidth is high (low). More frequent speed testing reduces customer bonding, especially in case that advertised speeds of a customer’s provider are experienced as overblown. The results suggest that wireline Internet access providers can increase the attitudinal bonds with their customers by abstaining from emphasizing maximum speeds in their advertising, which customers rarely reach under standard everyday conditions.

Attitudes towards digital treatment for depression: A European stakeholder survey

BackgroundThe integration of digital treatments into national mental health services is on the agenda in the European Union. The E-COMPARED consortium conducted a survey aimed at exploring stakeholders' knowledge, acceptance and expectations of digital treatments for depression, and at identifying factors that might influence their opinions when considering the implementation of these approaches. MethodAn online survey was conducted in eight European countries: France, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and The United Kingdom. Organisations representing government bodies, care providers, service-users, funding/insurance bodies, technical developers and researchers were invited to participate in the survey. The participating countries and organisations reflect the diversity in health care infrastructures and e-health implementation across Europe. ResultsA total of 764 organisations were invited to the survey during the period March–June 2014, with 175 of these organisations participating in our survey. The participating stakeholders reported moderate knowledge of digital treatments and considered cost-effectiveness to be the primary incentive for integration into care services. Low feasibility of delivery within existing care services was considered to be a primary barrier. Digital treatments were regarded more suitable for milder forms of depression. Stakeholders showed greater acceptability towards blended treatment (the integration of face-to-face and internet sessions within the same treatment protocol) compared to standalone internet treatments. Organisations in countries with developed e-health solutions reported greater knowledge and acceptability of digital treatments. ConclusionMental health stakeholders in Europe are aware of the potential benefits of digital interventions. However, there are variations between countries and stakeholders in terms of level of knowledge about such interventions and their feasibility within routine care services. The high acceptance of blended treatments is an interesting finding that indicates a gradual integration of technology into clinical practice may fit the attitudes and needs of stakeholders. The potential of the blended treatment approach, in terms of enhancing acceptance of digital treatment while retaining the benefit of cost-effectiveness in delivery, should be further explored. FundingThe E-COMPARED project has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013) under grant agreement no. 603098.

PSICOTERAPIA ONLINE: DEMANDA CRESCENTE E SUGESTÕES PARA REGULAMENTAÇÃO

A psicoterapia online é uma forma de psicoterapia, conduzida por meio de sessões síncronas via internet, ainda não permitidas no Brasil, exceto em alguns casos definidos pela resolução 011/2012, do Conselho Federal de Psicologia. Tal restrição é baseada no entendimento de que a pesquisa disponível é insuficiente para autorizar a utilização generalizada desse tipo de serviço. Estudos sobre a aliança terapêutica no atendimento psicológico, fornecido exclusivamente pela internet, mostram que o estabelecimento da relação terapêutica em chamadas online síncronas ocorre de maneira muito parecida com o que acontece em processos terapêuticos face a face, considerando tanto seus benefícios como seus desafios. Este artigo tem como objetivos ampliar a compreensão da psicoterapia online e questionar a sua simples proibição, sinalizando os perigos implicados, vis-a-vis o aumento da demanda para o serviço e seu uso crescente, em desrespeito às restrições atuais. Este artigo também faz sugestões para a regulação do serviço no Brasil.

Technologi of reconfigurable computing

The basic techniques and load balancing algorithms were investigated. Based on the research results the algorithm of analyzes the activity coefficient of the Internet sessions and the algorithm for determining the critical load were developed. With using these algorithms the software was designed which avoids system failure due to overloading. Figs.: 6. Refs.: 8 titles.Keywords: load balancing; activity coefficient; Internet session; the critical load.

Emotion expression and intergroup bias reduction between Muslims and Christians: Long-term Internet contact

The Internet can play a critical role in improving intergroup relations. The current field experiment investigated how emotions expressed by participants in intergroup contact sessions—in the form of a synchronous online chat program—predicted a reduction in intergroup bias. Here 102 Muslim and 103 Christian high-school students spent eight Internet sessions in either a Dual Identity Electronic(E)-Contact (DIEC) program integrating interfaith information and intergroup contact, or a Control program involving within-faith information and ingroup contact. Participants also completed pre- and post-program measures of intergroup bias. Using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC), a computerised text analysis program, we objectively analysed data from across the eight Internet sessions, and found that groups in the two conditions expressed emotions differently. That is, the DIEC chat groups used more affect and positive emotion words, and less anger and sadness words than the Control chat groups. Mediation analyses showed that anger and sadness mediated the intervention effect on T2, T3 and T4 intergroup bias. In other words, DIEC chat groups’ reduced expressions of anger and sadness were related to reduced short- and long-term intergroup bias. These findings highlight the significant role that structured Internet interactions can play in creating positive and long-lasting intergroup relations.

Characterization of the 2011 Mineral, Virginia, Earthquake Effects and Epicenter from Website Traffic Analysis

This paper presents an after‐the‐fact characterization of the 2011 M 5.8 Mineral, Virginia, earthquake’s epicenter and effects from the traffic observed on the European–Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) Website within minutes of its occurrence. This approach, named flash sourcing (Bossu et al. , 2011b), is based on the real‐time detection and processing of traffic surges observed on the EMSC Website after widely felt earthquakes (Bossu et al. , 2008). Such surges are common on rapid earthquake information websites such as that of the EMSC (Wald and Schwarz, 2000; Schwarz, 2004). They are generally assumed to be caused by the natural convergence of eyewitnesses who rush to the Internet to investigate the cause of the shaking that they have just felt (Bossu et al. , 2007, 2011a). Based on this assumption and on the location of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of website visitors, flash sourcing automatically detects such felt earthquakes, regardless of magnitude, maps the area where the earthquake was felt, and identifies, under certain circumstances, zones of widespread damage through the coincidental loss of existing Internet sessions at the time of the earthquake (Bossu et al. , 2011b). In a similar effort, Earle et al. (2010, 2011) show how Twitter, the real‐time micro‐blogging site, can be used to independently detect felt earthquakes without seismic‐monitoring systems. Allen (2012) reviews these methods, which may transform earthquake detection, and Bossu and Earle (2011) and Young et al. (2013) discuss how citizen involvement changes earthquake detection and science. This work aims first at validating the assumption that the traffic surge is effectively caused by eyewitnesses. Although awareness of the EMSC Website remains limited in the United States, we choose to study the 2011 M 5.8 Mineral, Virginia, earthquake, because it occurred in a continental environment and was felt at large distances (Hough, 2012), maximizing the time differences of …

Do private and portable web browsers leave incriminating evidence?: a forensic analysis of residual artifacts from private and portable web browsing sessions

The Internet is an essential tool for everyday tasks. Aside from common use, the option to browse the Internet privately is a desirable attribute. However, this can create a problem when private Internet sessions become hidden from computer forensic investigators in need of evidence. Our primary focus in this research is to discover residual artifacts from private and portable web browsing sessions. In addition, the artifacts must contain more than just file fragments and enough to establish an affirmative link between user and session. Certain aspects of this topic have triggered many questions, but there have never been enough authoritative answers to follow. As a result, we propose a new methodology for analyzing private and portable web browsing artifacts. Our research will serve to be a significant resource for law enforcement, computer forensic investigators, and the digital forensics research community.

A Caching Scheme to Support Session Locality in Hierarchical SIP Networks

Most calls of a called user are invoked by the group of calling users. This call pattern is defined as call locality. Similarly Internet sessions including IP telephony calls have this pattern. We define it session locality. In this paper, we propose a caching scheme to support session locality in hierarchical SIP networks. The proposed scheme can be applied easily by adding only one filed to cache to a data structure of the SIP mobility agent. And this scheme can reduce signaling cost, database access cost and session setup delay to locate a called user. Moreover, it distributes the load on the home registrar to the SIP mobility agents. Our performance evaluation shows the proposed caching scheme outperforms the hierarchical SIP scheme when session to mobility ratio is high.

Coaching Via Telepractice

Coaching Via Telepractice

Government access to private-sector data in the United Kingdom

The most plausible means for systematic UK government access to private-sector data is through voluntary agreements with the operators of systems and databases. This was how Internet Service Providers' communications records were accessed by police before specific statutory provision was made in the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA). Sections 28–29 of the Data Protection Act 1998 allow such voluntary arrangements for purposes related to national security, law enforcement, and taxation. Companies such as Facebook and RIM/BlackBerry have publicly acknowledged that they provide access to specific user data when UK public authorities follow the RIPA procedures, even though they are not legally required to.1UK ISPs must retain records about their customers' Internet sessions and e-mail, although not message contents, under the Data Retention Regulations 2009. The government continues to discuss new legal powers that would require ISPs to store records relating to their customers' communications on webmail, social media, and other sites, which could then be accessed on a semi-automated but particularized basis under RIPA.It is likely that for national security purposes the government's signals intelligence agency, GCHQ, undertakes large-scale surveillance of Internet data transfers to or from points outside the UK. This can be authorized under RIPA, and telecommunications providers required to facilitate interception under that Act and the Telecommunications Act 1984. Under the UKUSA2 agreement GCHQ cooperates extremely closely with intelligence agencies in the USA, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. It is likely that any access these agencies have to private-sector data will be shared to some extent. However, such activities are highly secret. The most plausible means for systematic UK government access to private-sector data is through voluntary agreements with the operators of systems and databases. This was how Internet Service Providers' communications records were accessed by police before specific statutory provision was made in the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA). Sections 28–29 of the Data Protection Act 1998 allow such voluntary arrangements for purposes related to national security, law enforcement, and taxation. Companies such as Facebook and RIM/BlackBerry have publicly acknowledged that they provide access to specific user data when UK public authorities follow the RIPA procedures, even though they are not legally required to.1 UK ISPs must retain records about their customers' Internet sessions and e-mail, although not message contents, under the Data Retention Regulations 2009. The government continues to discuss new legal powers that would require ISPs to store records relating to their customers' communications on webmail, social media, and other sites, which could then be accessed on a semi-automated but particularized basis under RIPA. It is likely that for national security purposes the government's signals intelligence agency, GCHQ, undertakes large-scale surveillance of Internet data transfers to or from points outside the UK. This can be authorized under RIPA, and telecommunications providers required to facilitate interception under that Act and the Telecommunications Act 1984. Under the UKUSA2 agreement GCHQ cooperates extremely closely with intelligence agencies in the USA, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. It is likely that any access these agencies have to private-sector data will be shared to some extent. However, such activities are highly secret.

139 Combined use of internet and interactive sessions for cell morphology validation: experience and projects of the ELN WP10 Morphological Committee

139 Combined use of internet and interactive sessions for cell morphology validation: experience and projects of the ELN WP10 Morphological Committee

Participating in a Community of Learners enhances resident perceptions of learning in an e-mentoring program: proof of concept

BackgroundCommunity learning and e-mentoring, learning methods used in higher education, are not used to any extent in residency education. Yet both have the potential to enhance resident learning and, in the case of community learning, introduce residents to basic lifelong learning skills. We set out to determine whether residents participating in an Internet based e-mentoring program would, with appropriate facilitation, form a community of learners (CoL) and hold regular community meetings. We also determined resident and faculty perceptions of CoL and Internet sessions as effective learning experiences.MethodsA six-month e-mentoring pilot was offered to 10 Radiology residents in the Aga Khan University Postgraduate Medical Education Program in Nairobi, Kenya (AKUHN) with a Professor of Radiology, located at University of Virginia, USA, acting as the e-mentor. Monthly Internet case-based teaching sessions were facilitated by the e-mentor. In addition, residents were coached by a community facilitator to form CoL and collectively work through clinical cases at weekly face-to-face CoL sessions.Event logs described observed resident activity at CoL sessions; exit survey and interviews were used to elicit perceptions of CoL and Internet sessions as effective learning experiences.ResultsResident adoption of CoL behaviors was observed, including self-regulation, peer mentoring and collaborative problem solving. Analysis revealed high resident enthusiasm and value for CoL. Surveys and interviews indicated high levels of acceptance of Internet learning experiences, although there was room for improvement in audio-visual transmission technologies. Faculty indicated there was a need for a larger multi-specialty study.ConclusionsThe pilot demonstrated resident acceptance of community building and collaborative learning as valued learning experiences, addressing one barrier to its formal adoption in residency education curricula. It also highlighted the potential of e-mentoring as a means of expanding faculty and teaching materials in residency programs in developing countries.

User class mechanisms for quality of service in network mobility

Network mobility basic support (NEMO BS) protocol was introduced by the IETF and allows a mobile network to move and maintain internet sessions. NEMO BS is an extension of mobile IPv6 where the network keeps its home address whilst it is moving. In crowded environments such as trains, the bottleneck is often between the access link and the mobile network. Prioritizing the traffic and allocating a minimum bandwidth guarantee for each user is crucial in this environment. Due to the limited and variable wireless link bandwidth the resource management in mobile network is a challenging problem. A dynamic QoS provisioning framework is designed to provide traffic differentiation according to a user class. Network Simulator, Ns-2 is used to validate the framework and to understand how the mobile network behaves on varies types of applications. Key words: Network mobility, user class, QoS differentiation, wireless network, Ns-2.

The Web as Information Source: a Case Study on the Impact of Internet Search Lessons

The use of the Web by students has increased more and more and it has become the most recurring way to find quick information for educational purposes. Given the lack, in Italy, of thorough programs for the integration of Information Literacy and Internet searches in schools and universities, the adults who are now using it are almost always self-taught. Consequently, many different approaches to the medium have spread, and with them an objective difficulty in planning Internet-research courses, since everyone has his/her own way to search and a unique perception of his/her search skills. That’s why delivering a course where every participant is forced to follow the same learning path may originate feelings of frustration, unease, or boredom, thus reducing the learning potential offered by the course. This research focuses on the Internet Search side of Information Literacy and analyzes the impact of short lessons on first and second year university students in Education at the University of Bolzano, Italy. The students are either native German-speakers or native Italian-speakers, and the research focuses, in an European perspective, on the differences in their Internet-research approaches as well. The first phase consists in interviews and test (the logs of the internet sessions are recorded by a software) to find out the perception of reliability of the Internet information and the way to find it by the students. The second phase is the course in itself, which focuses on Boolean operators, information retrieval theories and exercises, and evaluation of web pages. After the course the students are interviewed and tested again, to check if their approach to internet research has changed and in which way. The results can be used to plan courses on Information Literacy and Internet Search with individualized programs, or to propose methods to assess the learning in this field.

A secure wifi system for wireless networks: an experimental evaluation

Many web-based organisations have been penetrated through unsecured Internet sessions over TCP/IP networks. These unsecured sessions are targeted by hackers to illegally capture sensitive information. Securing these sessions, especially across wireless networks, is crucial. Here we examine a novel method of securing the data transmitted over wireless networks – a secure wifi (sWiFi) system.

GT

Much of Internet traffic modeling, firewall, and intrusion detection research requires traces where some ground truth regarding application and protocol is associated with each packet or flow. This paper presents the design, development and experimental evaluation of gt, an open source software toolset for associating ground truth information with Internet traffic traces. By probing the monitored host's kernel to obtain information on active Internet sessions, gt gathers ground truth at the application level. Preliminary experimental results show that gt's effectiveness comes at little cost in terms of overhead on the hosting machines. Furthermore, when coupled with other packet inspection mechanisms, gt can derive ground truth not only in terms of applications (e.g., e-mail), but also in terms of protocols (e.g., SMTP vs. POP3).

Seamless customer handover among multiple wireless access technologies

This paper presents a comparative analysis of alternative approaches that have been developed by IEEE, 3GPP and others for handover of PSTN and internet sessions among multiple wireless technologies including UMTS, WiFi, WiMAX, Mobile-Fi and WPANs. It evaluates these approaches from the viewpoint of provision of QoS, quality of service, for seamless handover of voice, videophone, gaming, audio/video streaming and file download and shows how QoS at the IP layer can be interworked with QoS at the wireless link layers to provide the QoS required by the user application. The method is illustrated by examples of video streaming and voice over IP.