Mobile Technology Platform Research Articles

Disability citizenship and independence through mobile technology? A study exploring adoption and use of a mobile technology platform

This article explores the use of a mobile technology platform as experienced by people with disability, their significant other and service providers. An interpretive qualitative study design was adopted involving observations and interviews. The data were analysed using the combined lenses of the social approach to disability and the PHAATE model which represents the factors for consideration in service design for assistive technology. The findings suggest that the adoption of the technology by those in the study could be characterised by a typology of users. The implications of the typology are discussed together with the influencing factors that affected social participation and disability citizenship.

Abstract 121: Association between Diabetes Mellitus and Angina Assessed Using a Mobile Technology Platform in Patients Undergoing Percutaneous Coronary Intervention

Background: Empiric data on whether patients with diabetes suffer a differing burden of angina are conflicting. Population studies have found similar or less angina in patients with diabetes, whereas studies in patients with ACS or MI have found more angina. Few studies have incorporated coronary angiographic findings. Methods: We examined all 203 patients undergoing non-emergent PCI at our institution who completed a baseline patient-reported outcomes survey using a novel mobile technology platform integrated with the EMR between January-September, 2014. The primary exposure was diabetes status. The primary outcome was angina burden as measured by the Seattle Angina Questionnaire (SAQ) Short Form summary score (lower scores indicate worse angina). We additionally examined SAQ sub-scores for angina severity, physical limitation, and quality of life. Additional covariates selected a priori included age, race, gender, smoking, hypertension, dyslipidemia, history of MI, PCI, or heart failure, CAD presentation (asymptomatic, stable angina, UA, or NSTEMI), and number of major epicardial vessels with ≥50% stenosis on angiography. Analyses were performed using multivariable linear regression. Results: In our study, 79 patients (39%) had diabetes. Mean SAQ summary score for patients with diabetes was 55.2 (SD 28.3) versus 64.3 (SD 25.4) among patients without diabetes. In the unadjusted model, diabetes was associated with a significantly lower SAQ summary score (B: -9.1; 95% CI: -16.83, -1.38), which persisted in the fully adjusted model (B: -7.36; 95% CI: -14.19, -0.52). This effect was driven by sub-scores for angina severity (B: -7.45; 95% CI: -14.67, -0.24) and physical limitation (B: -10.88, 95% CI: -19.03, -2.72), with no association between diabetes and quality of life. Conclusion: Patients undergoing PCI with diabetes had worse burden of angina relative to those without diabetes, despite controlling for historical and angiography findings. This effect was driven by angina severity and physical limitation. Our results can guide future clinical decision-making regarding angina symptoms in this high-risk diabetic cohort. Furthermore, our study demonstrates that using a mobile technology platform is feasible for routine assessment of angina in patients with and without diabetes undergoing PCI.

A simple method for monitoring dog leash compliance behavior in parks and natural areas

This article presents a monitoring protocol for dog leash compliance designed with public participation, mobile technology and flexible platforms in mind. We describe the protocol development and illustrate data utility by comparing results across three trail surface types. Implemented at an urban nature park in North Carolina, pilot tests indicated a high level of inter-observer reliability (>86%) for all variables. The consistency was improved further by refining the measures and the observation procedure. A total of 169 dogs were observed during the study period with an overall compliance rate of 87%. Significantly lower compliance was found on the woodchip and unpaved trail sections (71–74%) than the paved section (99%). Our results suggest this approach may serve as a reliable protocol for monitoring a common and important impact issue. Lessons learned are shared to stimulate further advancements and applications of technology in participatory monitoring of this and other indicators of sustainable recreation.

Acoustic requirements for audiometric testing and hearing protector fit-testing with mobile platforms

Mobile technology platforms present new challenges for implementing hearing loss prevention programs. Laptop computers, smartphones, and tablets have capabilities to generate 16-bit and sometimes 24-bit audio stimuli for hearing tests. For testing hearing at threshold, the noise floor of the sound card of the computer can pose a limitation. During the development of sound compression standards (e.g., MPEG, AAC, MP3), 24-bit resolution and 96 kHz sampling is necessary to encompass the requirements for dynamic level the frequency range of human hearing. However, hearing screening and fit-testing can be accomplished with 44 kHz sampling rates. However, the bit resolution deserves careful treatment to ensure that output is accurate. This paper will describe features for mobile applications for audiometric testing and hearing protector fit-testing. Several external DAC platforms on Windows 7 based laptops along with a small sample of iOS and Android devices have been tested and demonstrate differing levels of performance. Linearity of the systems and output levels for a standard audiometric headphone will be presented.

A Clinical Trial of Translation of Evidence Based Interventions to Mobile Tablets and Illness Specific Internet Sites.

This article describes a method to translate an evidence based health care intervention to the mobile environment. This translation assisted patient participants to: avoid life threatening infections; monitor emotions and fatigue; keep involved in healthy activities. The mobile technology also decreased costs by reducing for example travel to visit health care providers. Testing of this translation method and its use by comparison groups of patients adds to the knowledge base for assessing technology for its impact on health outcome measures. The challenges and workflow of designing materials for the mobile format are described. Transitioning clinical trial verified interventions, previously provided in person to patients, onto tablet and internet platforms is an important process that must be evaluated. In this study, our evidence based guide's intravenous (IV) homeCare interventions (IVhomeCare) were delivered via Apple iPad mini™ tablet audiovisual instruction / discussion sessions and on a website. Each iPad audiovisual session (n = 41), included three to five families, a mental health specialist, and healthcare professionals. Patients and their family caregivers readily learned to use the wireless mobile tablets, and the IVhomeCare interventions, as described here, were successfully translated onto these mobile technology platforms. Using Likert scale responses on a questionnaire (1 = not helpful and 5 = very helpful) participants indicated that they gained problem solving skills for home care through iPad group discussion (M = 4.60, SD = 0.60). The firewall protected videoconferencing in real time with multiple healthcare professionals effectively allowed health history taking and visual inspection of the patient's IV insertion site for signs of infection. Supportive interactions with peer families on videoconferencing were documented during discussions. Discussion topics included low moods, fatigue, infection worry, how to maintain independence, and need for support from others with their same lifelong IV experiences. The visual family interactions, discussions with professionals, and the iPad internet links were highly rated. Mobile distance care delivery can result in saved time and money for both healthcare professionals and families.

Adoption and Continued use of Mobile Technology: An Analysis of CommCare Data

CommCare, developed by Dimagi Inc., is an open-source mobile technology platform that supports hundreds of programs worldwide. This article used metadata to explore how CommCare is adopted and used over time by humanitarian workers in resource-poor settings. Data submitted by CommCare users between January 1, 2010 and October 31, 2014 were analysed. The first six months of CommCare usage for new workers showed a general upward trend, suggesting that sufficient training time should be considered by programs that are introducing mobile technology into their workforce. Following CommCare adoption, worker activity levels were consistent between consecutive months, giving programs a method to identify users with atypical work patterns. The findings from this analysis demonstrate the utility of mobile technology metadata, especially for programmatic design and evaluation.

Improving Educational Outcomes by Providing Educational Services through Mobile Technology

The use of Computers, Networks, and Internet has successfully enabled educational institutions to provide their students and instructors with various online educational services. With the recent developments in M-learning and mobile technology, further possibilities are emerging to provide such services through mobile devices such as mobile phones and PDAs. By providing the educational services using wireless and mobile technologies, the educational institutions can potentially bring great convenience to those off-campus students who do not always have time to find Internet enabled computers to get the important educational information from their academic institutions. With the mobile or M-educational services, both the students and the instructors can access the services anytime and anywhere they want. This paper discusses those M-educational services that can be moved to the mobile platform and then presents the system prototype and architecture that integrate these services into the mobile technology platform. The paper will conclude with a description of the formative evaluation of the system prototype.

Leveraging Socially Networked Mobile ICT Platforms for the Last-Mile Delivery Problem

Increasing numbers of people are managing their social networks on mobile information and communication technology (ICT) platforms. This study materializes these social relationships by leveraging spatial and networked information for sharing excess capacity to reduce the environmental impacts associated with "last-mile" package delivery systems from online purchases, particularly in low population density settings. Alternative package pickup location systems (PLS), such as a kiosk on a public transit platform or in a grocery store, have been suggested as effective strategies for reducing package travel miles and greenhouse gas emissions, compared to current door-to-door delivery models (CDS). However, our results suggest that a pickup location delivery system operating in a suburban setting may actually increase travel miles and emissions. Only once a social network is employed to assist in package pickup (SPLS) are significant reductions in the last-mile delivery distance and carbon emissions observed across both urban and suburban settings. Implications for logistics management's decades-long focus on improving efficiencies of dedicated distribution systems through specialization, as well as for public policy targeting carbon emissions of the transport sector are discussed.

Inter-generational transitions in socio-technical systems: The case of mobile communications

Many technology studies have conceptualized transitions between technological generations as a series of S-curve performance improvements over time. Surprisingly, the interregnum between successive generations has received little attention. To understand what happens in the interregnum, we study the transition from 2G to 3G in mobile communications. Our study identifies the presence of forces for both change and continuity across heterogeneous social and technical elements shaping an uneven transition between 2G and 3G mobile communications technology platforms. Unanticipated misalignments and asynchronies that emerged during the journey shifted the incentives of the various actors involved to participate. Based on these observations, we offer several conjectures as to the dynamics that can give rise to temporal discords during inter-generational technological transitions.

Low-Power Audio and Storage Input/Output Technologies for the Second-Generation Intel� Centrino� Mobile Technology Platform

Low-Power Audio and Storage Input/Output Technologies for the Second-Generation Intel� Centrino� Mobile Technology Platform

High-Performance Graphics and TV Output Comes to the Second-Generation Intel� Centrino� Mobile Technology Platform

High-Performance Graphics and TV Output Comes to the Second-Generation Intel� Centrino� Mobile Technology Platform

Second-Generation Intel� Centrino� Mobile Technology Platform

Second-Generation Intel� Centrino� Mobile Technology Platform

Comparing the performance of mobile agent systems: a study of benchmarking

In the past few years there has been an enthusiastic interest in mobile agent technology and several platforms have been developed. Some of them have only been used for research purposes while others have been deployed as commercial products. The community is now looking for applications where these platforms can be effectively used. Some comparisons about the functionality of some mobile agent systems have been presented in the literature. However, to the best of our knowledge, there has been no reported study that compares the real performance of the platforms. In this paper, we present the first results of an experimental study that compares the performance of eight Java-based Mobile Agent systems: Aglets, Concordia, Voyager, Odyssey, Jumping Beans, Grasshopper, Swarm and James. This study presents some insights about the performance and the robustness of each platform.